On Wednesday evening in our prayer meeting we came across a very, very important text of scripture. It is Psalm 20 in the verse number 7. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord, or God. The context, as we saw on Wednesday night with the psalm, was the psalm was likely sung as the king went out to war. Victory was secure. And again, the Psalm permeates with that thought of confidence and assurance that God will indeed save his anointed. And of course we saw on Wednesday night, that points forward to the guarantee of Christ's victory. He is ultimately the son of David in that sense. But though victory was secure, there was still recognized by the Psalmist and by those who sang that Psalm, there was recognized the need for prayer. Though God had indeed so ordained the affairs that the king would indeed triumph, he had recognized that that triumph comes in response and even through the means of prayer. See, human nature will tend to trust in the seen and not in the unseen. That's what we're all like. It is easy for us to put our confidence in things that we see, the material, things that we can touch and set our eyes upon. We can trust those things easily. It's much more difficult to live by faith. And it is by faith that we trust in that which is invisible and the unseen. Human nature will look for good to come from our resources and not from the invisible God. In war, of course, horses and chariots are essential. Part and parcel of war in those days, they weren't sinful, they weren't wicked, but the problem came when people trusted in those things and not remembered the name of the Lord their God. Now, I applied this on Wednesday to our own church life and to our personal lives individually and as families. I didn't explicitly mention a burden for national affairs. I'd like to do that now. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we'll see the inauguration of the 47th president of the United States of America and the beginning of a new executive administration. What I'll say today, I've certainly said before in other contexts, we discussed it in various parts of this church. And what I say today, I could have said four years ago or 40 years ago. Forty years ago was the inauguration of the second term of President Ronald Reagan. By the way, just to show my age, he was my first president. The first one I was aware of over in the UK. That's 40 years ago, 1985. So whatever we're saying now could have been said at every juncture of the affairs of this nation. This is not a special message because of some special president coming in tomorrow in the will of the Lord. That's not my intent at all. But we have in our passage a direct exhortation, a command to pray for those in authority. Verse two, for kings and for all that are in authority. And I remind you, these exhortations that come through the inspired apostle come with such weight that if we do not fulfill these exhortations, we are guilty of sin, sin to omission. It's sinful not to do this, the sin of omission, to take this and not to apply it in our congregational lives. What I need to emphasize, though, is that in particular this prayer is to take place in the context of the public prayers of God's people. In some of the books of the Bible we're given direct insight as to why they were written. You take John's gospel, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so forth. Well, so it is here, look across my Bible, across the column, the chapter 3 and the verse number 14. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God. That's why he's writing here. Paul is conscious that he wants to come, again, to see Timothy, like in Ephesus. He wants to be there, but if he is hindered in some way, he wants to make sure things are set in order. in the house of God, in the church of God. Again, we saw similar things in Romans. Paul was going to Romans, he can't get there. And so he sends a letter ahead of him to really set the scene for his future visit. And so this book highlights particularly the duties and responsibilities of the people of God. Yes, in their lives, there are things like family life here, widows and all the rest. But even the section on widows, has to do with what happens in the house of God. You know, if they neglect their widows, that puts financial burdens upon the house of God. And so the whole book is written really to address the matters of church government and church practice. And so chapter two is not so much about private prayer. It's all about public prayer. Now what we'll see, I believe, has very direct application to how we pray privately. Of course it does. There should be a real overlap. How we pray publicly should, again, reflect how we pray privately and vice versa. But this section primarily addresses public prayer in the house of God. You see, public prayer must be an aspect of church life. And I don't know what the impact of a message like this will have. Again, the title is praying for a new administration, and folks may listen, and I don't know. They may listen in for curiosity. Oh, I wonder what's going to be said politically. I'm not going to say much right now because I don't want people to turn off if they are listening later on, but I hope that there are those who will listen and perhaps bring back to their church leadership the necessity of congregational prayer, of the church praying together. And in many ways, this does not, it's not fulfilled in what's just happened a few moments ago where I've prayed and I trust you've prayed with me. The context here is very much of prayer being offered by multiple people within the context of the carnegation. Not one person praying, but many people praying. And I think the obvious implication is they're praying audibly. Public prayer. You see, Matthew chapter 6 and the verse number 5 in the Lord's Sermon on the Mount addresses the abuse of public prayer. Again, when thou prayest thou shalt not be as hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. That's addressing the abuse. It's not suggesting it's wrong to pray publicly together in a corporate fashion. The language of verse number eight, I believe, indicates prayer being offered in the setting of other people. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. And then verse number nine, in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel. That's clearly public. In like manner. So the men in a public place, when they gather to pray together, they have to do this. And the women, when they're also there, that's the point, the women are also there, there to make sure they dress in a modest fashion. It's public. This is not discussing what you wear in your home. And therefore it's not discussing what you wear or how you pray in your home. And so we see here in verse number eight, Paul's addressing adult males, teaching, as we'll see later on, teaching them of their role in leading in public prayer. But it's public. See, public prayer must be a matter of church life. It's not just the duty of the minister. Again, Paul didn't say to Timothy, I will therefore that you pray in your congregational meetings. You're serving as the proxy pastor at that time. Timothy was an itinerant, but he's there serving really as a lead pastor in the work there. I'm not just telling you, Timothy, to pray, but I'm telling the men to pray. Thus, I believe prayer times are in view here when the church meets together for corporate prayer. On the Lord's day, As we do, Wednesday, other days as the Lord opens up the possibility, but it's all about the church at prayer. Now, here it's not specifying a particular day or a particular form. There'd be nothing wrong if we decided as part of our morning service to set aside a chunk of time for corporate prayer. That wouldn't be wrong. We choose to organize things as we do. We believe it's judicious, appropriate. We use the, again, sanctified common sense and prudence to organize these things. But this is not dictating how or when, but it is dictating the must. And if a church is not engaging in corporate prayer together, there is a tremendous problem with the church. It may be a maturity of thoughts. It may be spiritual poverty and backsliding. I don't know all the rhymes and reasons for it, but it should be present. And we must not be those who pat ourselves upon the back and say, aren't we doing a great job? We have corporate prayer times. Because just having them doesn't make the fact that they're good or edifying or beneficial. We must call upon the Lord that he blesses us in our prayer times. and that we seek to do those things in prayer according to his will. So what is the will of God for public prayer? Well, let's not begin with the content of our public prayer. Now, we will get to praying for a new administration, but I want to see that in context because the context is so important. If we're going to do this properly, we've got to make sure we understand what's said in this section. So you have here the words of verse number one, I exhort therefore, and again the word strong, I exhort, it's a word of pleading exhortation. I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. Just a four-fold division here describing the content of prayer. Similar division, of course, that Paul used in Philippians chapter 4. Be careful of nothing, but in everything by prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God. And even those two portions together does not therefore suggest that this is an order of prayer. It's not like a template. Pray this, this, this, and this order. It's just really giving a sense of these things should be part of your public praying. All of these things should be part of public praying. Again, there are various ideas regarding the sense of the various words, but they're not synonymous. This is not Paul saying the word prayer four times. There's nuance of thoughts in the four terms used here, supplications. Again, the word there has kind of a root idea, that concept of beseeching God. It speaks of a humble, fervent longing for particular needs. It's not general, it's specific. Praying for things. But praying for things in a humble, burdened fashion. The word prayers is used here as a more general word for worship, but it's always used in approaching God. You can supplicate your neighbor, you can supplicate someone in your life, but when it comes to prayers, that's God alone. Referring to worship. refers to approaching God in a reverential fashion. It's a prayer to God. Intercessions then are used. And again, that's likely referring to prayers for others. Christ, of course, our intercessor. He presents petitions before the Father on our behalf, part of his intercessory ministry. And so here we're praying for others. Like you see in 3 John, where John prays that you'd be in health, even as your soul prospers. praying for each other, and then giving a thanks. All things prayed for with a thankful heart. I think that's really key, it must be emphasized. Again, I mentioned what I'm saying today could have been said four years ago. But amongst the people of God, there was a very different spirit four years ago. The recognition of the difficulties perhaps that lay ahead. Things that could have come to pass that would have really done harm morally, spiritually, for our own lives and the lives of others. Even in such times, there must be a giving of thanks. You see, what can happen when we live in a fallen world? And remember, we'll see it very soon. As Paul writes to Timothy here, things are pretty awful. The people of God are under persecution. The authorities are ungodly. And yet still in such a time, Paul tells Timothy, make sure that your people, when they pray, they pray with a thankful heart. In everything give thanks. What is there to be thankful for? Life and breath and every good and perfect gift that comes from above. But for the people of God chiefly, we can be thankful for those things that we do not see. We can be thankful for peace with God and sins forgiven. Thankful for a savior who rules and reigns. We give thanks to God for those things. And you know, when you have a thankful spirit, it so colors the rest of your praying. It removes that bitterness of heart when you realize God has done great things. We're off, we're glad. There's so much to rejoice and praise God for that we then bring our needs with a very different spirit. Not in a grumbling, complaining way, but in a thankfulness for all that God has done for us. Changes everything, doesn't it? As you're seeing here, prayer, and Paul is saying, Timothy, please, Timothy, as a pastor, make sure your people are thankful. It's important to me as a pastor that I make sure I preach in a way that you are encouraged. That I help by God's grace, I help you to see, to be thankful in your souls for realizing you can rejoice in the Lord, even though for a season your soul may be in heaviness. There's a theme in the ministry of pointing forward to the goodness and the glory of God. That'll help you, won't it? It'll help you to pray with a thankful spirit. And so there are lessons regarding private prayer here, but there are lessons regarding our public prayer meetings. We need to pray for our prayer meetings. And here I want you to take this on board as a congregation. I didn't plan on preaching this message until last night. I want you to take this on board, please. I want you to pray for our prayer meetings. Privately, call upon God that we would come more earnestly, more fervently, more humbly, more intensely in the coming days, that we bring these supplications to God with the fervency of our spirit. That God stir hearts up to pray. That the recognition, if I'm going to miss one meeting, unless I can't be, I'm going to seek to be part of the prayer meeting. Maybe I can't get in a Wednesday, but I'll get in a Sunday. But I'm going to make sure I am part of congregational prayer in this place. because it's clearly taught in the Word of God. I understand there are hindrances and there are things that make it difficult, but we do all we can to facilitate you as much as possible that you're part of congregational prayer in this place. Pray for that. Seek by God's grace to come to God with variety in our praying. That we recognize there are these various dimensions, but that there is a sense of thanksgiving that permeates our praying as well. as well as bringing in the petitions, the intercessions for each other, the times of worship, honoring God in our praying, all of these things. You think of this alongside the Lord's prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. All these things we can pray for, give us a day our daily bread, praying for sustenance and refreshing, all these things, praying all of this for the glory of God, remembering in all times, When the word prayer is used here, we are praying to God and not to each other. I'm very thankful here. We don't have this difficulty at the present time, but we are not here to pray to each other or to score points to each other in prayer. When we gather for prayer, we're here to pray to God. May God help us to do that to his honor and his glory. That's the first thing, then, the content of public prayer. The second thing, though, is the consideration in our public prayers. So we've noticed here that Paul says intercessions in view as well as supplications but supplications might be personal. Intercessions clearly has other people in view and Paul states that prayers must be offered for all men. All men. Those of you who like the study of these words all and world and how they're used in the scriptures this is one of the times when the word all is used to refer Not to all men without exception, but all men without exclusion. So all men without exception means every single man. It's impossible to pray for every single man and woman. It's impossible. But we can pray for all men without exclusion. It's really Paul telling the people there through Timothy, do not exclude any particular sector of society from your prayers. You pray for male and female, bond and free, Jew and Gentile. You pray for all sorts of men, regardless of their social status, regardless of their race or gender. All of those things, you pray for everybody. All men without exclusion. But I want to emphasize that in prayer, therefore, there is a consideration of others. Prayer arises, biblical, spiritual prayer arises out of a heart that truly feels for the needs of those around us. A cold, compassionless heart will never truly pray. You see, a foundational need with respect to our prayer meetings is for God to touch our hearts with a burden of concern for one another and also for others. It starts in the house of God. We're praying for all men without exclusion in the house of God. I'm sorry, the exception, or without exclusion in the house of God. Let me get my terms right. I've got a point I'm trying to make right now. One of the benefits in a small church is that not only can we pray for each other without exclusion, we can actually pray for each other without exception. We can pray for everybody in the house of God, but it starts here. And that starts with a burden and a concern for one another. As we pray for each other, but certainly we're not excluding anybody in our prayers. We're not deliberately saying, I can pray for this one, but this, That's a very, very bad spirit. If you find yourself with that spirit in the house of God right now, I exhort you, do what you must do to resolve that problem. And make sure you can pray for everyone in the house of God without exclusion. Compassion. But of course, that goes on from the house of God into the neighborhood. There's no particular party or group that you feel you cannot pray for. It's just praying for all men with a compassionate heart. and not just for ourselves or even for our own denomination, but praying for others. Again, whether you're bond or free, Jew or Gentile, male or female, Democrat or Republican, whatever the case may be, we're praying for all sorts of men and women, doings with compassion for their hearts. Comes down to that, doesn't it? That we care for them, that we love our neighbor, and loving our neighbor will pray for all sorts of men, regardless of who or what they may be. That's the consideration. Consideration for people in our public prayers. Thirdly though, and again this comes to the crux of the issue today, it's an important area of concentration in our public prayers. Praying for all men in a general sense, Paul then moves on to exhort prayer for a particular group. Verse 1, prayers, intercessions be made for all men. I'm going to suggest to you that this exhortation comes because Paul recognized a neglect. I think that's why verse 2 is here. There's an area of neglect. And also verse 8, there's an area of neglect. And verse 9, there's an area of neglect. I believe he's dealing with problems that are present dangers in the people of God he's writing to. And they're neglecting to pray for kings and for all that are in authority. Hence he gives this exhortation. This is clearly a difficult time for the people of God. Look at chapter 9, or sorry, chapter 4. Chapter 4, in verse number 9, it says there, I need a bit of a comment on that text. By the way, the saviour of all men is again a similar language referring to the saviour of all sorts of men. And the word specially there may well be like our word namely. Savior of all sorts of men, i.e. those who believe. Let's just pass in common that text. The point of the text right now is, look what it says here, we both labor and suffer reproach. They're living in days, and because they trust the living God, and they will not say Caesar is Lord, they're suffering reproach. And that reproach has come from the highest echelons of society. And so over in 2 Timothy 3, As time goes on, as the years advance, and Paul's now at the end of his ministry, his death is approaching, he says in verse number 12, This is a difficult time for the people of God. And it is very, very possible for God's people to become embittered against ungodly authorities, to see their foolishness, to see their iniquitous, immoral lives, to see their advancing of all manner of ungodly laws and practices, and the people of God suffer as a result, and therefore they become bitter. Or perhaps there are some in the church And they believed that certain people were so far gone they were beyond prayer. You hear what they said on CNN last night? No hope for them. They're beyond the reach of God's grace. They would never say that. But that might well be the spirit that was living in Paul's day. And so we see the requirement, therefore, in this area of concentration, there is a requirement to pray for authorities. Now we read this in our own setting. We read this in our own context, living here in the USA. But this is true for every nation in every generation. Politics undoubtedly is a thorny subject. It's always been since time began. You read back to the times, even the founding fathers and the troubles they had and discussions that took place in the churches in those times. Well, that's no excuse for neglect in public prayer for authorities. We might be concerned of polarization. You know, if I pray for a particular authority, Maybe people think I'm showing some sort of political allegiance in one direction or another. I pray for a state governor or a former president. Maybe in some way I'm going to show some allegiance in that regard. And I don't want to be misunderstood in public prayer. Whatever their allegiance, whatever their particular affiliation, they are the authorities that God has placed and therefore we must pray for them. Whatever our view of how they got there or what they're doing when they're there. They're there under God's sovereign rule and we must pray for them. There's also of course the concern not only of polarization but of politicization. I practiced that word about four times this morning trying to get that root down. I'm not going to say that in the pulpit. Politicization of the church. That's a real present danger. That the church becomes a rallying call for a particular branch of government or party or whatever the case may be. The church really becomes a political rally. And you come on the Lord's day and all you hear is politics and really exhorting people to think in a certain way and vote in a certain way and all of that. I'm talking here, things I could have said for 250 years. It's not new stuff. So the danger comes. Well, if we pray in that regard, are we therefore allowing politics into the church? God himself commands that. The Lord commands that we pray for those in authority. The separation of church and state does not mean the separation of the state from God. Never meant that. Never intended to mean that. And nor could it ever mean the idea the church cannot publicly pray for the state and for those in authority. That would be unthinkable. Everything is mortal. There's nothing that the state does that does not have a moral bearing. Money is moral. Murder of the unborn is mortal. Marriage is mortal. You think of all the things that so dominate the public conversation. All of these things are spiritual and mortal, and therefore we pray for these things. Now, prayer does not require you to agree with those in authority. In Timothy's day, none of the authorities were godly. Although it's interesting that there were those in positions of influence in the civil realm. I didn't mention it last Lord's Day, but did you note the name Erastus in Romans 16, the chamberlain of the city? Or again, those who you referred to by Paul in Caesar's household in Philippians chapter four. So there are questions there on influence. But by and large, this is ungodly government, ungodly times. Hence, we are to pray for them. Well, what's the reason for praying for them? If that's the requirement, what is the reason? Well, point number one in the reason is that it is God's will to save those in authority. Didn't say all of them. But you look at the connection here from verse number two, for kings and all that's in authority. Let's leave aside the second part for now. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved. Now, all men in verse number one cannot refer to all men without exception. But it does refer to all men without exclusion, which therefore implies that God desires all sorts of men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. And he continues that. There's one God. There's one mediator. His name is Jesus. He gave himself a ransom again for all, for all sorts of men. God chooses not to call all the mighty. But God does not exclude all the mighty. And therefore, it is right and proper for us to pray, first and foremost, for the salvation of those in authority. Now, we pray that God would save their souls, give them a new heart. You must pray that today and tomorrow in the coming days. Whatever your thoughts may be politically, We need to pray for God to save. Now God knows the hearts of all men. But we ought to pray for God to save those in authority over us. It may be that God is willing to save them. And therefore we're to pray for them. That's reason number one. The second reason though is of course the influence. that the authorities have on our regular lives. That's of course the second part of verse number two. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Be careful how you pray for authorities. It may be tempting to pray in a certain way for authorities that goes beyond the bounds of the scriptures. Here we're given very clear, if you like, parameters to pray for. We're essentially to pray for them. Let me summarize this in a couple of words. We're to pray for them that they do their job. The job that God gave them to do. Not the job they choose to do, but the job that God gave them to do. And what is that job? Keep us safe. Keep us free. That's the essence of these words. It is the duty of authorities to keep us safe from harm personally or in our property, but also to keep us free, that we may live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty. That's what's being said here. And we ought to pray for that, that those in authority do not act in such a way that they hinder our safety or they hinder our spiritual experiences, the life of the believer. Again, it is always the will of God that authorities reward righteousness and punish wickedness. That's God's will. They may not know that, but that's God's will for them. We pray for that. Thy will be done. We're to pray for that, aren't we? What does that mean politically here? What is God's will for those in authority? We pray thy will be done. We're not praying for God's secret will to come to pass. That happens. We are praying for those who we're praying for to be obedient to God's revealed will. So we're praying thy will be done. We're praying that those in authority will do the will of God given to them. And what's the will of God? Romans 13. reward the good and punish the evildoer, thereby allowing all of society, including the church, to lead a quiet and peaceable life. It's God's will for us to lead just an ordinary life. Some young people, I just want to live an exciting life, just live an ordinary life and do it for the glory of God. I put the text for a memory verse this week in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 there. That ye study to be quiet, to do your own business, to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without. It's a parallel text here. Living a quiet life for the glory of God. A life marked by godliness. In other words, the freedom to practice religion. Again, a government is wrong. If it curtails the people of God gathering for public worship, we get that. But there are nations across the world where that's taking place. We have freedom here to meet in this fashion. May God preserve that. We should pray for that. But also to live honestly. In godliness and honesty, the freedom to love your neighbor with integrity and righteousness. And not to be honored. So those are just some words regarding the particular concentration here in this passage. Praying for those in authority and doing so, not according to your own imagination, but according to God's will. Leads forth and finally, and just briefly, to the conduct in our public praying. Verse eight really acts as a conclusion, a conclusive seal on this instruction regarding prayer. We have here the participants involved. Now here I'm going to be careful. I want to make this point. Those involved are especially men. Not exclusively men. The word that's used here in verse number 8 is different. The word men is different than that used previously. Up to this point, the word anthropos has been used. All men. It's a generic term for men and women used in that collective sense. When you get to verse number eight, the word that's used there has in particular adult males. Adult males is what's in view here in verse number eight. They are to take the lead in public audible prayer. Now, I don't believe this is to the exclusion of women. Now, this is a controversial area, and if we're going to differ over this, so be it. But internationally, we permit women to pray publicly in our prayer meetings. Clearly in Acts 1, there were those who are mentioned in the prayer meeting. The woman are there, Mary, the mother of Jesus. They're mentioned there deliberately in Acts 1. They were certainly present. So at the very least, you have women and men meeting together in a mixed company to pray. That's the very least. Who prays audibly? Well, again, we've got to come to that later on. But clearly it's a mixed company involved here. 1 Corinthians 11 requires the head covering for women who are praying. That has to mean something. And you can say, well, they're just praying inaudibly. But again, that kind of thought of inaudible praying is actually a somewhat modern concept in public prayer. There is the recognition in public prayer that you actually are heard. Because in 1 Corinthians 14, there has to be the ability for prayer to be understood and responded to with those hearing the prayer saying, Amen. I can't read your mind. And so what happens in your home, you pray privately. But here in the church, we pray audibly. And those who are praying, pray in such a way that's intelligible. So you're not praying in French or Spanish, we can understand what you're saying. And spiritually in such a way that we can say amen. My thought is that the woman here wearing the head covering, they were using such a way that they would pray in that way. So what's going on here is, I don't believe this forbids woman praying, but it reminds men to pray. As I said before, I think the issue here in this section is of neglect, that there are issues that need to be addressed. Again, Paul will tell Timothy later on in chapter three, this is about behaving yourself in the house of God. And men being silent in public prayer is not acceptable. That adult males in the church have a responsibility to carry the load of prayer. And you hear so many churches, who are the praying people in the church? It's the women. You talk to people in your neighborhood, discuss it with your friends in different churches. Who meets for prayer in your church? It's the women who meet for prayer. It's a common neglect. Paul is here saying, men, do not neglect your duty. Men who must be holy men, saved, sanctifying men, coming to God, praying everywhere, in every place. This is God's will. I exhort you, men, I exhort you, be a man in this church. Be a man in this church and do the will of God as a man in this church. If you're saved and sanctified by God's grace, then you come and pray. And we share the burden of public prayer in the house of God. You will have things in your mind and you will pray for things that I won't think about. Or in a manner that I won't think about. And I can't tell you how often I'm blessed on a Wednesday or on a Sunday and somebody prays for something and I pick it away and I go, ah! Amen to that prayer. I didn't think of praying that way. That's a great way to pray for that particular situation. So come, man. There's also then the issue of practice. Not just the participants, but the practice and prayer. Again, you have here in verse number eight, the words, men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands. I go back to our Bible class last Lord's Day, and you see here the use of the word holy as an adjective to discuss what God does in saving grace. He sanctifies people, he sets them apart, he makes them more like Christ. Well, they're praying in that fashion. Well, they are to lift up their hands. This is one of the times in the Bible where we see an external sign of an internal reality. Psalm 141, let my prayer be set forth before these incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Incense, it's this idea that the external sign reflects the internal reality. External behavior without internal reality is what? It's hypocrisy. And it's wicked. But if the heart is right, the external sign is not forbidden, but encouraged. So you have Ezra, or Nehemiah chapter three, Ezra blesses the Lord, the great God, and the people answered, amen, amen, with lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord. Heads bowed. hands lifted. We bow our heads. We're not so keen lifting our hands. But if one's okay, so's the other. I get it. We live in a day and generation where one particular sector of the Christian church is the corner of the market on this issue. But I cannot abide, I'll be quite honest with you, I cannot abide a sanctimonious Christian condemning someone in another context for lifting their hands in prayer and worship. That in some way that's not spiritual when it's actually commanded here. Now, it may be done for show, it may be done hypocritically, I get that, I understand that, but are you gonna judge their hearts in that moment because of their external action? What I'm concerned about is more the internal reality. You may want to sit on your hands, that's fine, that's up to you, no problem at all. You want to sit on your hands, fine, but make sure your heart is lifting up your hands in a sense of humble, dependent supplication to God. That's the sign. It's a recognition, I am nothing in God's sight. The bowed head and the lift of hands, not proud and arrogant. And if it comes from a proud, arrogant spirit, it should be done with. But if it comes from a humble, supplicant spirit, then praise the Lord. This is the spirit to bring to God in prayer. It's not about praying grand prayers that show off our knowledge doctrinally, theologically, show off our eloquence. Look what a good praying spiritual person I am. That's an abomination. That if your prayers are to be seen of men and to be commended of men, it doesn't mean you don't pray good prayers. Of course you pray good prayers. But the spirit must be that of humble supplication and dependence upon God. I am nothing. I have nothing. I need the Lord. And the hands are lifted up in response to that particular need. The practice. Which leads finally to the two prohibitions. Without wrath and doubting. Wrath and doubting. Two things that destroy prayer. Public prayer. We're looking at public prayer. We're not talking about your heart here. We're talking about public prayer. Now the word wrath that's used here is almost always used in some way with respect to the wrath of God. Not exclusively, but almost. But it's used in a couple of places. And when it's used in other places regarding human wrath, it is used with wrath in the context of church fellowship. And when there's wrath in the prayer meeting, in the context of church fellowship, the prayer meeting is ruined. That's why Paul says it must be without wrath. And so Paul says in Ephesians chapter four, let all bitterness and wrath and anger, by the way, the word anger is the word that's used there for this word wrath here in 1 Timothy. Let all bitterness, wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another. Or James chapter one, wherefore my beloved brethren, let everyone be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of God worketh not the righteousness of God. So here's a prohibition. Don't bring your wrath into the prayer meeting. What do you do? Do you stay away from the prayer meeting? No, you resolve your wrath. The Bible never allows you to harbor your wrath against a brother or a sister. It says put it away. It says deal with it. It's wrong to bring wrath into the prayer meeting. But the solution is not staying away from the prayer meeting. The solution is dealing with the wrath issue and resolving that. Because you want to be part of a church praying together. The second one is doubting. Of course, it's referring to unbelief. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, give it to all men liberally, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, nothing doubting, not with a spirit of, I wonder, is God here? I wonder do you have access to the Lord? I wonder will you hear my cries? Again, that doubting spirit is not praying in faith. So yeah, we have not because we ask not, but we also have not because we ask amiss. Or particularly here in James 1, because we ask with a doubting, unbelieving heart. And all of this, remember, is in the context of public prayer. It's also true privately, but this is dealing with our prayer meetings as a church. So we must pray for a new administration. We should do so in the context of healthy, vibrant church prayer meetings. So may tomorrow remind you, not just of the need for God's grace and mercy upon the nation, upon the president, upon his administration, we remember all those things, but it may also remind you that we as a congregation need a healthy, vibrant public prayer meeting. We are reminded of our duty, and as we gather for prayer, we are to pray not just for the good of this nation, but ultimately for the good of Christ's kingdom, that this nation would not hinder the advance of the gospel, but encourage it for the glory and honor of the Savior's name. May God hear his word. There is one way of salvation. One mediator, his name is Jesus. He's willing and able to save all who come to him, even a president. Let's pray together. Oh, eternal God, we thank you again for this time of worship together, a time around the word. And we pray you bless this word to our hearts today and help us all to honor you in all of our ways. Oh, eternal God, we do pray. We pray for the incoming president, We pray for all of his administration. We pray you'd save those who are unregenerate. We pray you'd give them a new heart, a heart for Christ above all, even a heart for Christ above nation. Oh Lord, we pray that you would raise up a spiritual band of authorities that we would see great things accomplished, even in the church for the glory of your name. Oh Lord God, hear our prayers. We pray with some even in this gathering, and they're still unsaved. Save them today, we pray. Work in their hearts for Christ's sake. We pray for every effort made in this congregation. We thank you, Father, for the private witnesses of many. We thank you for the radio ministry, the internet ministry. We thank you, Father, for efforts made in the public place. We thank you also for the recent billboard campaign. Bless that, we pray. Bring souls unto the gospel and save them by your grace and mercy. Oh, Lord God, we want to see things accomplished for Christ. We want his name to be glorified and hallowed. Oh, eternal God, pour out your spirit upon your church. We pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Keep your hand upon us today. Again, may this Sabbath day be the light to our souls. Encourage us in your word. Grant us grace in Jesus' name. Amen.