Approaching God 1 Timothy 2:8-15 - Calvary …

1 Approaching God 1 Timothy 2:8-15 Approach Attitude Appeal Action Connection point Calling on God necessitates preparation. One would not barge into the president's office unannounced and unprepared; neither should we with God. This sermon provides the proper way for Approaching God. Introduction People on an airplane and people in a church have a lot in common. All are on a journey. Most are well-behaved and presentable. Some doze, others enter in a mindless trace, and a few gaze out the window. Most, if not all, are satisfied with a predictable experience. For many, the mark of a good flight and the mark of a good worship service are the same.

2 "Nice," we like to say. "It was a nice flight/It was a nice worship service." We exit the same way we enter unmoved, unchanged, unaltered and we're happy to return next time. Enter a church sanctuary and look at the faces. A few are giggly, a couple are cranky, but by and large we are content. Content to be there. Content to sit and look straight ahead and leave when the service is over. Content to endure. Content with the mundane. Content with a "nice" service. A few, however, seek more. And those few leave wide-eyed with the wonder of having experienced worship rather than have merely endured worship. The destination of worship is to meet God.

3 As with any journey, we need to make the proper preparations so that we experience God rather than endure worship. We want a memorable, not a mundane trip. What does our flight-check require? Travel demands preparation. Paul was more stoked about Ephesus than any other place, it seemed. 8 But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. 9 For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 Ephesus was a place known for worship and prayer, among other things. In fact, the Temple of Diana in Ephesus was four times larger than the Parthenon in Athens, Greece the size of football field. It had a population of about 250,000.

4 He considered Ephesus his great opportunity, and stayed there longer than any other place. The people of Ephesus heard more teaching from Paul than did any other people, which is the reason he could write to them the deep truths contained in this epistle. The church that Paul planted in Ephesus thrived, at least for a while: This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver.

5 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. Acts 19:17-20 In Miletus during his final journey to Jerusalem, the Apostle Paul sought to meet with the elders of the church in Ephesus. When Ephesus' church elders arrived, Paul warned them: For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore Acts 20:29-31 A few decades after this warning to the Ephesus' church leaders, Revelation attests to Jesus commending the church of Ephesus for having heeded the warning about false teachers, but warning in turn that unless they repented and returned to loving God as they first did, the lampstand church would be taken from them.

6 To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent.

7 " Revelation 2:1-5 They failed to heed Jesus, who made good on His words. The weed-covered desolation symbolizes the state of Christianity today in Turkey, where Ephesus is located. Turkey, once the heartland of Paul's ministry to Asia Minor, is 99 percent Muslim and devoid of Bible-based Christianity today. That's too bad for Turkey, but can the same thing happen to Europe or North America? Europe is already a spiritual wasteland, where Bible-believing Christians are a miniscule percentage of the population. North America, meanwhile, has mixed materialism and self-help psychology with the Bible to concoct a deviant form of Christianity that sees God not as a God to worship and serve, but a genie who produces health and wealth on demand.

8 Savage wolves indeed have ransacked the flock and spoken perverse things to draw away the disciples. That's what happened to a church that didn't return to its first love but did manage to keep out false apostles. What do you think will happen to churches that can't do either? The lampstand already is being removed from North America, and unless we repent and return to our first love, Christ the Word of God we will not be spared the weed-covered desolation above. Approach-in Prayer? A strong desire is needed. Desire coming from disparity. I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; Desire is understood to mean the resolution of the spirit, and as desire or inclination, as the wish of the soul Therefore because of.

9 :1 First Paul urges prayers, supplications, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all people. Men need to take the lead and pray in all places; everywhere. What the church needs today is not more or better machinery, not new organizations, or more novel methods; but men whom the Holy Spirit can use men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. Bounds Everywhere can be translated in every situation : the workplace, marriage, children, families, finances, In prayer, it is better to have heart without words, than words without heart. Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin entice a man to cease from prayer. The spirit of prayer is more precious than treasures of gold and silver.

10 Pray often, for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan. John Bunyan Approach in Position of Prayer outwardly- Prayer was men praying with hands open towards heaven and looking upward to God, as to be releasing the burdens and also receiving the blessings. Our prayer should not be focused on outward expression as much as an inward conviction and place of our hearts. Actually, there are many prayer postures found in the Bible: standing with outstretched hands (1 Kings 8:22); kneeling (Daniel 6:10); standing (Luke 18:11); sitting (2 Samuel 7:18); bowing the head (Genesis 24:26); lifting the eyes (John 17:1); falling on the ground (Genesis 17:3).