"What to Pray"

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 145
• Hymn — O Worship the King (#219)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 178
• Hymn — Come to the Waters (#444)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
• Sermon
• Hymn — Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare (#518)
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: What to Pray

Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5

I. Pray for the Progress of God's Word

A. Paul's request for prayer is consistent with his other letters (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:25)

1. Paul prays for fellow believers often and asks them to pray for him, grounded in the oneness of all who are in Christ

B. Pray for the expansion of God's Word

1. Paul uses the image of a sprinting runner — the word should "speed ahead" rapidly, as in 1 Corinthians 9:24
2. The call to spread the gospel is expansive: Jesus commands his disciples to make disciples of all nations and to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth
3. Pray not only for distant mission fields but for neighbors, co-workers, and local community outreach

C. Pray for the esteeming of God's Word

1. It is not enough for the word to spread widely — pray that it be honored, adorned, and held as most precious by those who receive it
2. Sin entered through Adam's failure to rightly esteem God's word; salvation comes when a person comes to honor and trust it
3. Self-examination: Is the word most precious to you? Does it shape your mind, habits, decisions, and hope?

II. Pray for the Protection of God's People

A. Context shapes the need for prayer: Christians live in a present evil age in which the spirit of lawlessness is already at work (2 Thessalonians 2)

B. Pray for the protection of God's Word's servants (2 Thessalonians 3:2)

1. Paul and fellow ministers face wicked and evil men — "not all have faith"
2. Threats come in covert forms (false teachers, false gospels within the church) and overt forms (persecution, imprisonment, death)
3. We pray not to protect any man's status but for the sake of the gospel going forth through faithful ministers

C. The ground of protection: the Lord is faithful (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

1. Paul makes a deliberate wordplay: though not all have faith, the Lord is faithful
2. God revealed himself to Moses as the Lord — merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness
3. Christ will never suffer the loss of one of his own: "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son" (1 Corinthians 1:9)

D. Pray for the protection of God's Word's people — the whole church (2 Thessalonians 3:3-4)

1. God's people may suffer great loss, even their lives, but Christ will guard his people to the end
2. Pray that in all manner of suffering Christ would guard believers' faith and keep them in obedience to his word

III. Pray for the Piloting to God's Love

A. Paul's closing prayer in 2 Thessalonians 3:5: "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ"

1. The directing is the Lord's work — not self-improvement or trying harder, but God himself making the way straight
2. This is a prayer of assured confidence in what the Lord will do, not merely a wish

B. The content: God's love and Christ's steadfastness

1. God's love for his people — "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son"
2. Christ's steadfastness — his endurance throughout his earthly life, obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross (Philippians 2:8)
3. The cross is the supreme display of both God's love and Christ's endurance

C. Application

1. Has your heart been brought to know God's love for you and Christ's steadfastness for you?
2. Pray this for yourself and for one another
3. The chief cause of prayerlessness is pride; the Lord connects humility with prayer (2 Chronicles 7:14)
4. May God's love for us stir in us love for God and steadfast faithfulness to his word