"The Man God Wants" | Pastor Steve Gaines

first Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 8 I want to talk to you today about the man God wants what kind of man does God want does God wants you to have the greatest mind in the world to be smarter than everybody does God wants you to have more money than everybody what kind of man does God want does God wants you to have more muscles than everybody you know I think that those are some of the areas and some of the ways that the world looks at men do they have a bright mind do they have a lot of money do they have muscles but you know what you can be a great man and have none of those things God wants you to be a man of God what kind of man does God want look there in first Corinthians our first Timothy rather chapter 2 look at verses 1 through 8 first of all then Paul says first of all I urge that entreaties and prayers petitions and Thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men for kings and for all who are and authorities so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity this is good this is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved now some people ask me why do you believe God wants all men to be saved because the Bible says God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth for there is only one God and there is only one mediator also between God and men and guess who it is it's the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all some people ask me why do you say that Jesus died for everyone because the Bible says Jesus is the ransom for all the testimony given at the proper time for this Paul says I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and I'm telling the truth I'm not lying as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth and then he lowers the boom and he tells the guys what kind of man God was look at verse 8 well the best verses about manhood and all the Bible therefore I walk them in I like that I could just stop right there and preach a sermon God wants the men to be men of God therefore I want the men in every place to do what to pray to lift up holy hands without wrath and dissension what kind of man does God want you to be today you say well there's no there's no blanks to fill in today no there's a big old blankets called an empty page take notes I did the best I could with what I had this week ok number one write this down God wants praying men he wants a praying man sir if I could encourage you to do anything that would change your life more than anything else it would be start praying go to the next level in your prayer life he says in verse eight therefore I want the men in every place to pray Paul was talking to a younger preacher named Timothy and he said that God wants men that will spend much time before the throne of grace in fervent prayer Paul was a soul winner Paul was a missionary Paul was a scholar Paul was all these things but Paul was a prayer warrior and the apostle of the Gentiles understood that God would do some things whether he prayed or not but he also understood that God would do some things only if he and other believers prayed prayer is the most powerful tool that God has given to any Christian I want to say that again prayer is by far by far hands down by far the most powerful tool that God has given to any Christian all things are possible to the people who pray in faith and the Gospels record that there's only one thing that the disciples of Jesus his original disciples sought for him to teach them they only request one thing they did not say Lord teach us to make disciples Lord teach us to write books or read books Lord teach us to dress in a sir Manor are to learn a certain theology are to preach good sermons are to establish seminaries and Bible schools are to saying the correct praise music according to what we like he didn't say Lord they didn't say Lord teaches too how to have an impact on social media or how better to serve the poor no they looked at Jesus they saw his example and they said in Luke 11:1 it says it happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place after he had finished finished what finished praying one of his disciples said to him Lord teach us to say it out loud good and strong pray teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples they knew how important prayer was to Jesus some of them knew that he had been baptized the Spirit of God came down upon him and while he was being while he was being baptized immediately came out the water he started praying and that's when the Spirit of God came down they knew that they knew about he had told them about the time he had gone out in the wilderness and prayed and fasted for 40 days to defeat Satan and the temptations that the devil threw at him they knew that Jesus would have a busy day but like it says in mark 1:35 in the early morning he would go out and depart to a lonely place and there he would be praying that knew also that he would often take prayer retreats Luke 5:16 they knew that he would often slip away I like that not drawing attention to himself but slipping away and he would go to the wilderness and there he would pray they knew that he spent the whole night in prayer before he chose them the twelve disciples they knew that he prayed over the little boy's lunch when they fed the five thousand men plus their families probably about fifteen thousand people they knew that Jesus had prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane so much so that Luke 22:44 says that his sweat was like great drops of blood falling down to the ground he prayed so fervently the Bible says some of them heard him pray on the cross there are seven statements of Jesus from the cross three of them are prayers and two of those prayers are him quoting scripture as he prayed he was praying back Scripture I do it all the time this morning I did it even in my Sunday School class today and I was praying a scripture that I was reading while the the teacher was was giving the lesson Steve weary my Sunday school Claire I'm sorry lifegroup excuse me so much all right but it's good to Jesus prayed Scripture while he was on the cross from the Book of Psalms he also prayed at Emmaus after his resurrection he prayed over the food before he put a morsel of bread his resurrected mouth Jesus prayed and what's he doing right now Hebrews 7:25 says that right this very moment Jesus our high priest ever liveth to make intercession for those who draw near to God through him he's praying for you right now let me tell you something these disciples knew that prayer was paramount it was very important to Jesus and they said you know what we are going to pray Lord teach us to pray men God is calling you to pray you need to pray God does some things only when we pray we need to pray and talk to God more than we need to talk on the phone to other people we need to be more engaged in prayer and in conversation with God than we are with social media we need to be more concerned about vertical conversation than horizontal conversation and we need to unplug some of this horizontal stuff and get in tune with God how do you learn to pray you pray that's how you learn to pray you just start praying pray with somebody that knows how to pray give us somebody that knows God start praying with them and learn how to talk with God when the men in America start to pray god I believe with all of my heart is going to move powerfully you know what God can still move mountains did you know that how does he do it with prayer Jesus says in mark 11:22 through 24 jesus answered and saying to them have faith in God truly I say to you whoever says he's talking about says in prayer whoever says to this mountain be taken up and cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart now listen but believes that what he says is going to happen it will be granted him he says therefore I say to you all things for which you prayed the whole context is prayer all things for which you pray and ask believe that you have received them and they will be granted you did you catch that praying min or to pray in faith there to speak in prayer to mountains the hardships of life the difficulties of life that was a metaphor of the the difficulties we face in life to pray about those things that are bothering us we don't doubt in our hearts when we pray the more we pray the more we trust God we speak in faith we pray in faith because we believe in God and God will grant us miraculous answers when we pray in fate just this week one of our staff members has can't had cancer and I've been praying for a month and a half for that person to be healed and got a call she's totally healed went the doctor totally cancer-free they thought she was going to die can I make a statement God is still in the miracle business amen still in the miracle business I believe that when we pray God moves it's our job to ask it's his job to answer and what good is a prayer list preacher what good is a prayerless staff member a prayer list Deacon or a prayer list teacher or a prayer list disciple maker a prayer list Christian what good is a prayer that's conservative I want to say this to you the power that we need for this country to turn around is not in ourselves it's not in our money it's not in our bright minds it's not in our strong muscles it's in the power of kneeling before a holy God and saying God we don't know what to do this great multitude has come against us Lord we don't know what to do but our eyes are on you our hearts throne you God we're gonna be if nothing else we're gonna be people who pray and you need to stand by praying you need to stand tall by bowing low you need to stand before God and say God I'm gonna pray for my family I'm gonna pray for my children I'm gonna pray for my grandchildren I'm gonna pray for this nation I'm gonna pray for the president whoever that is I'm going to pray for my leaders I'm going to pray for this church I'm gonna pray for the Southern Baptist Convention and I'm going go down praying listen if God moves it will only be because his people are praying if my people called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven forgive their sin and then I will heal their land guys I'm asking you take it to another level in your prayer life get off the television get off the internet get on your knees and start praying to God what kind of guy Amanda does God want he wants a pray man number two God wants a praising man he wants a man that will worship the Lord look at verse 8 therefore I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands now I know some people say well I'm a Baptist I don't do that well I'm not saying that you're any more holy if you lift up hands but I will tell you this all throughout scripture lifting up holy hands is just simply a method of worshiping the Lord it's a means by which we express our worship floor just like kneeling down on our knees you don't have to kneel to pray you don't have to lift your holy hands to praise but I want to say this to you if anybody does that don't ever fault them because like it or not it is all over scripture and I believe it's a beautiful picture of them like they used to put the altar the sacrifice on the altar I think it's a beautiful picture of that also you know we've got nine grandbabies one on the way and I love it I got to tell you I love it when they walk in pepper and they run like this now what do I say to them put those hands down you're a Baptist do I do that do I do that no I got since I say come a home baby of bat-ball what do you want you want a car what do you want one you can have Nonna's car alright great she and I will walk that's fine there's just something about you know and by the way have you ever seen scene you know like when soldiers they capture prisoners what do they do they give up that's what you need to do the Lord you just need to give up to the Lord this surrender to the Lord you need to be so happy when you see Jesus you say hello Lord it's okay I know if you don't want to do it that's fine I'm just saying all over the Bible it's a symbol of praising God it's all over the Bible it's right here in the New Testament and that's also in Psalm 28 verse 2 listen to my prayer O Lord for mercy as I cry out to you for help as I lift my hands towards your holy sanctuary Psalm 63 for I will praise you as long as I live lifting up my hands to you in prayer Psalm 134 verse 2 lift up holy hands in prayer and praise the Lord Bible says about Jesus right before he ascended back to heaven in Luke 24 verse 50 he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up hands and blessed them Jesus Christ blessed them with those nail-scarred hands there's just something about praising God you know King David was a man's man King David would he was a strong man and yet he was a man after God's own heart he worshiped and he praised God all the time he slayed the giant Goliath but he also played a harp and he wrote praise songs I assure you David is proof that you can be a man's man and still sing praises to God at church high I've grown up in Baptist churches and I've seen some and I've known some men they just say well that's just for the women do that's for the young kids do but I'm not gonna sing I can't sing anyway let me say this to you God is not interested in whether or not you have a beautiful voice God is interested in if you will worship Him and praise Him don't let the devil steal your song don't let the devil steal your joy he can't steal your salvation the psalmist said Lord restored to me the joy of the joy of thy salvation Lord I want my joy back and some of you have lost your joy you don't worship the Lord and you know what your children need to see that and all you granddad is after your your your grandkids need to see their papaw they need to see their granddaddy worshiping the Lord that they know that you're in love with Jesus Christ David this great warrior was a man who loved to worship God he said in Psalm 100 shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth served the Lord with gladness come before him with joyful singing know that the Lord himself is God it is he who has made us and not we ourselves we're his people the Sheep of his pasture enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise there it is gift thanks to him bless his name why for the Lord is good is the Lord good sure is good we need to praise him for that his loving kindness is everlasting his faithfulness to all generations and you know God wrote this book called Psalms it's a hymnal and he took all the accompaniment out and the left the message the message is what's most important and the tune can adapt with any generation but the words are the same and here's how God closed out his hymnal Psalm 150 praise the Lord praise God let's let me back up let's read it together let's all read it good and strong here we go back to verse 1 here we go praise the Lord praise God in His sanctuary praise him in his mighty expanse praise him for his mighty deeds praise him according to his excellent greatness praise him with trumpets sound praise him with harp and lyre praise him with timbrel and dancing praise him with stringed instruments in pipe praise him with loud cymbals praise him with resounding cymbals let everything that has breath praise the Lord praise the Lord can have an Amen how many of you are breathing out there by the way right now anybody what are you supposed to be doing if you're breathing not complaining God didn't give you breath to complain and gripe and be negative God gave you breath to praise him and to tell other people about Jesus so let's get busy about God wants us to be praising been praising God oh if the men of God would praise the Lord the church would be changed and then thirdly God wants you to be a purified man a purified man verse 8 therefore I want them in in every place to pray lifting up what kind of hands what kind holy you said brother Steve I'm not holy I get it I understand what you're talking about nobody feels worthy hey you want to feel it you want to feel unworthy you want to feel unworthy get elected to be that the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church you want to feel unworthy you know that you know trying to follow people like Adrian Rogers who I just felt like you know probably had never even had a bad thought much less anything bad everything else such a godly man one of my favorite heroes in the faith I remember hearing our Geely preach when I was just a kid and thinking these guys are right there next to God and dr. Pollard and hurt in lo Bostick heard about all those guys you want to feel that you want to feel like you're not a pure guy that you just feel like you know you feel like Isaiah when he stood before the Lord he saw the Lord he said woe is me first thing he did when he saw the Lord is what was me but let me tell you that that's the way we all feel that's the way we all feel we all feel unworthy when they elected me to be the president of the mass Commission that I felt so unworthy you know why I am and so are you but praise God for Jesus praise God that Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all iniquity his blood and his righteousness cleanse us the Bible we sang one of my favorite songs it was a song written by Lenny LeBlanc who will ascend to the house Lord where do you get that I believe that's David Psalm 24 3 and through 5 who may ascend into the hill of the Lord who may stand in his holy place he who has clean the cleansed hands and a purified heart who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood who has not sworn deceitfully he shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the god of his salvation I'm talking to somebody right now and you want to worship the Lord but you feel so unworthy he's the old brother Steve if you knew about me you wouldn't even like me let me tell you something there is not a sin in the book that's not been committed by somebody in this room listen to me God is a merciful gracious God and nobody in here including yours truly has it all together we're it not for the grace of God we'd any of us would go to hell but it's the blood of Jesus that cleanses us we come to him and we repent and we say Lord we are asking for forgiveness for all of our sins we confess them to you we don't want to do that anymore Lord we repent we return to you and we ask you to forgive us and the minute we do that the Bible says he takes our sins and puts them in the sea of forgetfulness he cast him as far as the East is from the West and he tramples on them he will remember them no more he puts them behind this baggage okay that's gone forgetting what lies behind let's reach forward our lives ahead let's move on for the glory of God that's where you've got to come you've got to be a purified man if you've never been saved hear these words from Romans 10 if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe simultaneously in your heart that God raised him from the dead you shall be saved for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness with the mouth you confess resulting in salvation verse 13 whoever whoever whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved I'm talking to somebody right now you need to be saved you need to give your heart to Christ you need to be cleansed from all your sin I'm talking to somebody I know you're a Christian but you've got sin in your life and you felt so filthy and you felt so alone God wants you to confess it to forsake it and to get close to God and let the Holy Spirit forgive you you didn't lose your salvation you've lost the joy of his salvation come back to him repent today if you're a Christian living in sin stop it admit it and then quit it and then and then forget it give it to God and move on and walk in the forgiveness of God whatever it is therefore I woke them in in every place to pray lifting up holy hands hands and that are attached to a heart that's been cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and there's one more thing God wants us to be praying men praising men purified men he also wants a peacemaking man a peacemaking me and not a peacekeeper but a peacemaker proactively intentionally going about bringing about peace he says therefore I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and without dissension without division God wants peacemakers God's not looking for troublemakers God doesn't use troublemakers God disciplines troublemakers some people sometimes I think they've got the gift of criticism my predecessor dr. Rogers said takes no size to criticize it's not your job to tell everybody what's wrong with the church we already know that we don't have a perfect church because we are members we also know that we don't have a perfect church because you're a member so we get it the rather than pointing the finger and being divisive God wants you to be a peacemaker God does not want you to go around with wrath and dissension and picking on people all the time and we saw that so beautifully displayed that the Southern Baptist Convention God wants us to be peacemakers jesus said in Matthew 5:9 blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God read that with me off the screen blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God the psalmist said in Psalm 133 verse 1 behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity it's like the precious oil upon the head coming down upon the beard even Aaron's beard coming down upon the edge of his robes it's like the dew of Mount Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion for there where the place of unity there the Lord commands the blessing what's the blessing life forevermore I believe that if churches will be together if denominations will be together if Christians will come together there is a unity that flows from the top down and all of a sudden there's the blessing their life forever more people will get saved people will be turned on to the Lord we will see that great awakening that we've been praying for for years now at Bellevue we'll see God moving our country again and that's our only hope but it starts with people who are peacemakers who are saying Lord we're not going to nitpick at everybody's little faults Lord we've got our own faults we're just gonna pray dear God that you would bring us together may we be one in the bond of love and may we walk together even if we have some little differences here and there Lord may we walk together may we as my wife tells me all the time my wife says this all how many of you guys that are married thankful for your wives today anybody out there I want to say this to you other than the Holy Spirit in Scripture your wife your wife will be the next way that God speaks to you I can remember when grant was little bitty he was praying one night he was praying he was 2 years old and he's crying out to God he said Oh God thank you for God thank you for Jesus and thank you for my mom I thought I said you replace the Holy Spirit right there God Jesus mom okay all right my wife is always telling me put everybody you see in the best light put them in the best light you know after 35 years of pastoring if you're not careful you can get I wouldn't say cynical but dangerously close suspicious maybe and you don't really know if somebody's being sincere Donna's always whispering my mirror put them in the best light think the best about them don't and I'm gonna taste it says to you if you will live your life that way you'll be a better person you're not gonna be naive God won't walk you into a trap I'm not saying that but I saying you need to be a person who is proactively intentionally doing everything you can to bring about unity in the body of Christ not division not division what kind of man are you sir are you a praying man you say well no I don't really pray that much are you a praising man well no I I really don't praise that much are you a pure man well I'm not really doing great there either brother Steve are you a peacemaking man no I I don't really bother anybody but I don't go out of my way to try to bring about unity Hey look at me we can all do better can't we can't do anything about the past can you accept give it to God ask God to forgive you but do you think maybe from this day forward the 19th of June forward do you think maybe this would be a day where you'd like to say you know I can't do anything about that what I've done in my life before but I can do something about today in the future some of you right now have a lot of regrets over your parenting experience being a father maybe your marriage didn't work out and you got a divorce maybe you're not real close to your kids I get it I understand I've talked to a lot of people that I dearly love have gone through a divorce I've got family members have gone through a divorce I get it I don't live off in some hole somewhere I get it I want to tell you what I tell tell them you can't change the past you got to give your pass to God and you got to start right where you are and you got to go forward the devil has robbed you of some glorious things in the past but don't let him rob you of the blessings that God wants to give you in the future so regardless of where you've been that should not define where you and God want to go you need to say starting today starting this day on this first day of this week on this Sunday I want to be a man that God wants I want to be a pray man lord I don't know how I'm gonna learn to pray but I'm gonna learn how to pray God and I'm gonna start praying God I'm gonna take it to another level of a prayer life Lord I'm gonna start praising you and worshiping you and god I'm gonna be pure I'm gonna ask you to get all the sin out of my life get all the junk out of my life God if I have to fast if I have to pray memorize Scripture go to church fifty five times a day whatever I have to do Lord I'm gonna be with godly people but I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you to cleanse me and I'm not gonna live in bondage the rest of my life god I'm gonna be a pure man and Lord I'm not going to be a troublemaker anymore I'm not gonna make snide remarks at people I'm not going to talk bad about people I'm gonna look at people and treat people the way I want them to treat me and the way I want you to treat me God I'm looking for forgiveness so I'm gonna forgive them god I'm looking for mercy so I'm gonna be merciful to them God I'm looking for you to look at me in the best light through Jesus so I'm gonna look at them at the best light I'm gonna give them what I want you to give me and god I want to be a man of God therefore I walk the men I want them in in every place to pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension and all God's people said Amy and happy Father's Day let's thank the Lord again for our dads okay amen you

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 20,431

Rating: 4.900208 out of 5

Keywords: The Man God Wants, Christian Manhood, Pastor Steve Gaines, Bellevue Baptist Church, Bellevue Memphis, Bellevue Church, Steve Gains

Id: BNGpdnvRTUs

Length: 29min 51sec (1791 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 21 2016