Prayer-Care-Share: Your Circle Of Influence Series

Pastor Sandy Boller...

Prayer. Care. Share. Building Bridges in Linn County. Loving our Community to Christ!

Last week, Marty introduced the Prayer.Care.Share initiative that some 30 churches in Cedar Rapids are participating in. These churches are choosing to pull our ministries together for the ONE specific purpose of Prayer. Care. Share. Building Bridges in Linn County. Loving our Community to Christ.

Marty outlined for you a schedule of some of the things that all of these churches will be doing in this effort on the same Sundays over the next 3 months. For the next 3 months we will become intentional in praying, caring and sharing with those that God has put into our lives that they will see an increase of major God activity in their lives.

Next Sunday, we’ll be choosing 3-5 names to place on our PCS Bookmarks. My job today is to help you in that preparation.

Great Evangelist Charles Spurgeon: “ There can be no reason for praying if there be no expectation of the Lord’s answering.”

Twofold call to prayer: Lord wants to raise our expectation level that He does and will answer prayer. And He want us to PRAY! Where do we start?

1 Thes.5:17 says “pray continually” Praying as a lifestyle, as you go, always, unceasingly, continually.

Luke 18:1-8 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Our commission then is to pray...pray and NOT give up! If an unworthy judge who feels no constraint of right or wrong is compelled by persistence to deal justly with a helpless individual, how much more will our compassionate Father God answer prayer.

So...assuming we get it...PRAY & NOT GIVE UP.

WHO DO WE PRAY FOR? WHO does God want you to pick for your 3-5 names on your PCS BOOKMARK?

God gives us all a Circle of Influence.

Influence: to produce an affect on others both directly and indirectly. From the moment we are born we begin affecting others. We have influence or an affect on others the moment we are born.

Fact: In any average lifetime, each of us will influence 30,000 people, one at a time. Good or bad.

Whether this influence is strong, or weak, great, minimal or downright ugly, we all have circles of people that have been put into our lives. It is up to us what kind of influence we will have on them. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help we can be a better influence.

With this Prayer, Care, Share initiative we have been given a window of opportunity to get on board, participate with others to pray for those in our circles of influence. A season of being intentional about prayer for those we influence in some way or another.

Who is in your circle?

Plot out your circles. Picture concentric circles with you at the center. The first circle consists of those you have the most influence with like family. Then moves to those that you have less influence with like a neighbor.

It is not – those I absolutely love and adore, to those I like, to those I like a little, to those I can’t stand to be with. Who are you influencing? Affecting?

Here are some possibilities: (we used some "funny" pics on Power Point to make the point)

Your eccentric neighbor.

Your co-workers,

Your hairdresser or barber.

Your brother-in-law in the service.

Your long-lost relatives from the Ozarks.

Example: Kids in the neighborhood who come to your house when they are hungry. (Our daughter & son-in-law: Jenny and Sean)

So...now that I’ve picked my 3-5 names...What do I do with these people when it comes to persistent, believing PRAYER?

BE INTENTIONAL. We must be intentional about loving our neighbor. Have a plan. That’s what PCS Bookmarks are all about.

BE OTHERLY. Sisterly, Brotherly

Jesus said the greatest commandment is this: Luke 10:27 (Message)“ That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence-and that you love your neighbor as you do yourself.”