Several years ago, because of all the tornados in the area, a developer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, offered an optional tornado-safe room in the new homes he was selling. Nine of the first ten buyers opted to pay the extra $2,500 for the room, which can also be used as a closet, bathroom, or vault when not needed for safety. The tenth couple, the developer said, were 75 years old and opted for a hot tub instead. (“Americans Are Facing More Disasters,” USA Today, 5-23-00; www.PreachingToday.com)
Their priorities were different. Given their age, they were not concerned about prolonging their lives all that much longer. They just wanted to live the rest of their lives in comfort.
It makes me wonder about our priorities here at Bethel Church. Founded in 1865, we are 145 years old this year. Do we just want to be comfortable in our old age, or does God have something much more important for us to do?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy 2, where we see God’s top priority for any church at any age.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 I urge, then, first of all [i.e., of first importance, above everything else], that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (NIV)
God wants us to offer every kind of prayer (vs.1) – requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving – for every kind of person - i.e., for everyone, including kings (vs.2) and those in authority.
And what does God want us to pray for? Verse 4 says, He wants everyone “to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
That’s our number one priority. That’s the first thing God wants every church to be about – not working for the comfort of its own members, but praying for the salvation of those outside the church.
Chuck Swindoll tells the story of a crude little lifesaving station on a dangerous seacoast, notorious for shipwrecks. Actually, the station was merely a hut with only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the turbulent sea. With little thought for themselves, they would go out day and night, tirelessly searching for those in danger, as well as the lost. Many, many lives were saved by this brave band of men who faithfully worked as a team in and out of the lifesaving station. After awhile, it became a famous place.
Some of those who had been saved, as well as others along the seacoast, wanted to join this little lifesaving station. They were willing to give their time and money to support its efforts. New boats were purchased. New crews were trained. The station that was once obscure and crude began to grow.
Some of its members were unhappy about the unattractive and poorly equipped hut, so they tore it down and built a more comfortable place. Emergency cots were replaced with lovely furniture. Rough, hand-made equipment was discarded, and sophisticated, classy systems were installed. By then, the life-saving station had become a popular gathering place. It was now used as a sort of clubhouse where people got together just for the fun of it.
Fewer members were now interested in braving the sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired professional lifeboat crews to do the work. Lifesaving motifs still prevailed in the club’s decorations, but beyond that there was not much lifesaving activity in the clubhouse itself.
Then a large ship was wrecked off the coast and the boat crews brought in loads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were dirty, terribly sick and very lonely. The beautiful new clubhouse suddenly became messy and uncluttered. A special committee saw to it that a shower house was immediately built outside and away from the club so victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting, there were strong words and angry feelings, which caused division among the members. Most of them wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities and all involvement with shipwreck victims. “It’s too messy,” they said. “And besides, those dirty people ruin the atmosphere of the clubhouse.” There were a few, though, who insisted that saving lives was still their primary objective, that their only reason for existence was helping those who were drowning. They were voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of people who were shipwrecked, they could start their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did!
As the years passed, the new station experienced the same old changes. It evolved into another club…and then a third lifesaving station was begun. History continued to repeat itself…and if you visit that coast today, you’ll find a large number of exclusive, impressive clubs along the shoreline owned and operated by slick professionals who have lost all involvement with the saving of lives.
Shipwrecks still occur in those waters, but now, most of the victims are not saved. Every day they drown at sea, and so few seem to care, so very few. (Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, pp.98-99)
Do WE care anymore? Have we, like those lifesaving stations, lost sight of our mission?
My friends, we must never forget why God put us here 145 years ago. Our first priority is the salvation of the lost even if it does mean being a little uncomfortable sometimes. So if we don’t do anything else as a church, we must at least…
PRAY FOR PEOPLE’S SALVATION.
We must plead with God to continue using us to rescue men & women from shipwrecked lives. We must entreat the Lord to keep on using our church to bring many to faith in His Son, who alone can save them from their sins.
Notice, the text doesn’t say (vs.1), “I urge then, first of all, that you PREACH the gospel…because God wants all men to be saved.” No. It says, “I urge then, first of all, that…PRAYERS…be made for everyone…because God wants all men to be saved.” As important as preaching the Gospel is, prayer is even more important for the salvation of the lost.
God used Charles Spurgeon’s preaching in the 19th Century to bring thousands of people to faith in Christ. Even so, Charles Spurgeon himself once said, “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.” That’s because he knew it was not his preaching that brought people to Christ; it was God drawing people to Himself in answer to prayer.
Andrew Murray, another great 19th Century preacher, put it this way, “The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history.”
God has always worked in answer to prayer.
Paul and Silas, in the middle of the First Century, were the first Christian missionaries to Europe. They found themselves on the Macedonian peninsula in a little town called Philippi. In that town, there was a small group of women praying at the riverside where Paul and Silas met a businesswoman from out of town. They introduced her to Jesus Christ and she led her family to the Lord.
Later, Paul and Silas introduced a demon-possessed, slave girl to Christ, but they were thrown into prison because that slave girl had earned a lot of money for her owners through her fortune-telling.
It was not a good start for these Christian missionaries, but while in prison they prayed and God sent a violent earthquake. The jailer was so shook up he came running to Paul and Silas and cried, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved.” That jailer and his family came to Christ and became a part of the first core group of the first church in Europe (Acts 16:11-40).
It was the start of a movement that spread throughout Europe and eventually to the United States as European Christians came to this great land for the express purpose of bringing the Gospel here. You and I are Christians today, because two men prayed in a jail in the little town of Philippi nearly 2,000 years ago.
God works in answer to prayer.
I have a suggestion: Write on a 3 x 5 card the names of at least 5 people who don’t know Christ yet. They may be some of your own family members or friends. Put that card in a conspicuous place that you will see everyday. It may be on your computer, your bathroom mirror, or even your refrigerator. Then every time you see that card, pray for the people on the card. Ask God to give you an opportunity to introduce them to Jesus Christ or at the very least to invite them to church.
If you will commit to praying, I believe God will move heaven and earth, just like he did for Paul and Silas, to give you those opportunities to share. People will be coming to you with questions that will open the door for you to introduce them to Jesus Christ.
Over the years, I’ve planted three churches (one in Michigan and two in Kansas), and I gave this assignment to the people in the core groups of each of those church plants. As a result, God answered our prayers and we consistently saw people coming to faith in Christ.
Let me tell you: God can do it here if we pray! This has to be our number one priority. If nothing else, we must pray for everyone’s salvation. Specifically, we must...
PRAY THAT PEOPLE COME TO THE FATHER THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON.
Pray that people get connected to Jesus, who is the only way to God and the only way to be saved.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (NIV)
Jesus is the only way to God. He is the only mediator between God and man. Christ, and Christ alone, brings us to the Father. There is no other way to God! We cannot come through Buddha. We cannot come through Muhammad. We cannot come through Indian Spirit Guides. We can get to the Father only through the Son.
Actually, there might have been another way to God, if any of us were capable of going that way. Jesus said if you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, all you have to do is “be perfect…as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). That means you must never sin and always do what’s right for the entire time that you are alive. The only problem is none of us qualify for that plan. “All [of us] have sinned and fall [far] short of the glory of God,” the Bible says (Romans 3:23).
So God had to come up with another plan, and that plan was Jesus Christ. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). He was the only perfect person who ever lived, because He was God. He came to show us what God is like, and as God He died on a cross for our sins and rose again.
Now, all we have to do is trust Him with our lives and establish a relationship with Him. Then we can get to God, the Father, through Jesus, the Son.
Rick Warren talks about Ron Dunn, a friend of his, who took his young son to a carnival one time for his birthday. His son had picked six boys to go with him, so Ron bought a roll of tickets. Every line he’d come up to, he’d pull off seven tickets and give them to all the kids. When they got to the Ferris wheel, all of a sudden there was an eighth little kid with his hand out.
Ron said, “Who are you?”
The kid said, “I’m Johnny.”
Ron said, “Who are you, Johnny?”
Johnny said, “I’m your son’s new friend. And he said you would give me a ticket.”
Ron asks, “Do you think I gave him one? Absolutely.” (Rick Warren, What Difference Does Easter Make? Leadershipjournal. net, 4-10-06; www.PreachingToday.com)
Why? Because that little kid had come to the father through the son.
So it is with our Heavenly Father. The only way we can get to Him is through His Son, Jesus Christ. We must be in relationship with the Son to receive anything from the Father.
Jesus is our only hope of heaven. That’s why we who know Him must pray that our family and friends get to know Him too. This must be our number one priority. We must pray for people’s salvation. Specifically, we must pray that they come to the Father through Jesus, the Son, because there is no other way. Then...
PRAY THAT PEOPLE FIND FREEDOM THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, THE SAVIOR.
Pray that people trust Jesus who alone can release them from bondage to sin.
There are people on Washington Island who are held in bondage to alcohol, which is destroying their families. There are people on Washington Island who are held in bondage to pornography, which is destroying any chance they have for a healthy and happy marriage. There are people on Washington Island who are held in bondage to anger and un-forgiveness, which is eating them up with bitterness on the inside. There are people on Washington Island who are held in bondage to not keeping their word, which is destroying their integrity and the ability to do business on this island. There are people on Washington Island who are held in bondage to self-righteous pride, which keeps them from God. There are people on Washington Island who are held in bondage to sin, which is destroying their lives at every level.
My friends, people without Christ are in bondage, but Jesus came to set them free!
1 Timothy 2:6 [Jesus] gave himself as a ransom for all men – the testimony given in its proper time.
Jesus paid the price of His own shed blood to set us all free. Everyone’s release has been paid for. Everyone can go free. The sad fact is most will choose to remain in bondage. Most will choose to remain in their sins.
What are we to do to help the people here in our community? There is only one thing we can do, and that’s PRAY! PRAY that they get to know Jesus, who alone can set them free.
Several years ago, a pastor of a small church in rural Pennsylvania decided to convert the two hours a night he spent watching TV into prayer time. Soon after that, there were some gang members in New York City who had been involved in a brutal, senseless murder. As he labored in prayer, God gave this pastor a vision to reach out to those New York City gangs.
The pastor’s name was David Wilkerson, and God used Him to lead many gang members to Christ. He eventually started a ministry called Teen Challenge; and today, Teen Challenge is all over the country, leading scores of young people to Christ every year. But it all started when one man decided to turn TV time into prayer time. (David Wilkerson, The Cross and the Switchblade, pp.11-12)
How about you and me? Will we commit to praying for our family members and friends? Will we commit to praying for those we know in this community who need Jesus?
There is a group of us who meet at 7 o’clock every Wednesday night in Memorial Hall to do just that. Every Wednesday night, we are here praying that people come to know the Savior, and I invite you to join us. Give up your TV time just one night a week and pray with us for your family members and friends.
If you can’t join us on Wednesday night, then please find some other time to pray, because that’s the only way people will be set free from the sin that is destroying their lives.
In verse 7, Paul says, "And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles." (NIV)
Paul’s sole purpose in life was to see men and women set free from their sin. It was his number one priority, and it should be ours as well.
More than anything else, we must pray for people’s salvation. Pray that they come to the Father through Jesus, the Son. & Pray that they find freedom through Jesus, the Savior.
Robert Bellah is the Elliott Professor of Sociology, Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Throughout his academic career, he has been very interested in the influence of religion on society. In an interview in Psychology Today, several years ago, he said, “We should not underestimate the significance of a small group of people who have a new vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision.” (John Stott, “Christians: Salt and Light,” PreachingToday, Tape no.109; www.PreachingToday. com)
Did you hear that? It takes only two percent of the population to make a difference. On any given Sunday, we have anywhere from 5 to 10 percent of the population of Washington Island right here at Bethel Church. Imagine what would happen if we all banded together in prayer. & Imagine what would happen if God, in those prayer times, would give us a vision for what He wants to do through us here.
Would you commit yourself to prayer? In fact, let’s do it right now before we dismiss the service. Get together in groups of 3 or 4, and pray for your friends who don’t know Jesus yet. Pray for the Washington Island community. & Pray for Bethel Church that God would give us opportunities to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ.
Hymn #313 Lord, Lay Some Soul upon My Heart
