Living Godly and Dignified Lives Through Prayer

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First of all then I urge that supplications prayers intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people for Kings and for all who are in high positions that we may lead and then the first way of describing the life that he hopes we will lead in in the result of our prayers to God for kings and those in high positions in other words may you lead Kings and those in high positions Lord to think in a way feel in a way act in a way that results in a space for Christians to go about their peaceful ordinary lives of good deeds and then he adds Godly and dignified thoroughly in every way no little part of your life ungodly no the part of your life undignified but through and through Godly and dignified. [00:18:00]

Godliness uh in its pure lexical meaning that is the the very parts of the word itself means a a a well directed uh reverence and well directed you um Sia well means to God in fact there is another word that's not just you well directed reverence but the seaya which means god directed and that's certainly what it supposed to mean everywhere Paul uses it so godliness is a is a god directed reverence that has great power in it for Christian Purity and living Holiness love. [03:40:00]

Godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and for the life to come so godliness is a key to usefulness in the present life and it's a key to inheriting eternal life so godliness probably stands for the the large entirety of the effect that it has on our lives when we see God as really is in Christ and feel a trembling kind of reverence that is called out to live life in the presence of directed toward God. [04:22:00]

Godliness is the kind of thing that you can improve yourself in like you can train for bodily strength and you can train for strength in God liness depth in godliness and it's the opposite of being preoccupied with silly things that go nowhere and just result in confusion and controversy. [05:19:00]

Great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness I think mystery of godliness means godliness that flows from Mystery that is something that has has been concealed for ages and is now revealed and that's what he mentions here so this is the mystery right here that results in godliness Christ was manifest In the Flesh Vindicated in the spirit seen by Angels proclaimed among the Nations believed on in the world taken up in glory when that takes hold of your life it yields the godliness it is the mystery of godliness in the sense of the mystery that gives rise to this kind of life the life that flows from that kind of Glorious weighty truth. [06:00:00]

Godliness is a life of of well directed that is God directed Christ directed reverence that has power in it for a life that is sat ated with God oriented on God directed to God with all of the the accompanying morality and disciplines. [06:54:00]

Dignity is part of how you prevent the Christian faith from being slandered now here's my summary effort to Define these to see whether we can be this way so godliness is a heart and a life internal and manifest in the external life of God directed reverence that's built into the word I think with fitting manifestations of holy morals religious disciplines and spiritual power rooted in trusting Christ. [08:02:00]

Spiritual power it's not a weak thing it's not a showy thing so that's my effort to say that's who we are as Christians and that's what we want to be able to do while we have peace and quietness under God's Providence. [10:04:00]

Dignity a heart and life I use the same two words a heart and life of serious Joy serious joy weighty joy grave Joy with a ballast of weighty Truth so your your life is not bouncing all over the waves of trouble when they come you have balast in your life if you're a dignified person and it keeps you cutting a deep current or your your boat is is cutting deep through the water so that you're stable and strong producing an Earnest demeanor of sincere conviction and love. [10:37:00]

Earnest demeanor not flippant flighty frivolous silly demeanor but Earnest life is serious this person is not unacquainted with suffering sincere conviction and love that walks with a mature healthy Poise between gravity that can't be glad and gladness that can't be grave you can hear what I'm trying to do there there are there are sick serious people they're unhealthy you can tell you don't want even be around them and then there are sick glad people they seem to be endlessly joking and unable to be grave and serious about anything. [11:58:00]

One of the ways to tell whether dignity has become unhealthy is how a person acts around children a truly dignified person with true earnestness and true seriousness and true gravity isn't so serious that he can't get down on the floor and play with children or he can't hear of a situation of hilarious uh turn of events and laugh with a great Belly Laugh fearing that he will look undignified. [12:42:00]

Dignity a heart of serious Joy a ballast of weighty Truth producing an Earnest demeanor of sincere conviction and love that walks with mature and healthy Poise between gravity that can't be glad and gladness that can't be gravy I think those are two beautiful descriptions of what we are to do with our Christian lives while we have a measure of of peace and quietness in this world. [13:04:00]

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