This morning, I want to reintroduce you to something that has the potential to impact your friends and family for all of eternity. I want to see you make an impact on those closest to you through a simple campaign called Prayer, Care, Share. Many of you already have this insert. If you have this with you, would you just lift your hand and hold it up?
Prayer, Care, Share is a simple plan to reach anyone with the gospel. The goal of prayer-care-share is to create natural relationships with people in your life and then find a way to tell them how Christ has changed you.
The process begins with you choosing someone you want to introduce to Christ. This is likely someone who is already in your life – a family member, coworker, or friend. Then, you pray for discernment, direction, and love toward that person.
Think of the Prayer, Care, Share campaign as a time-release capsule where the active ingredients are designed for release over time. On the back of the card, you’ll see a schedule that you can follow for the entire emphasis. Notice Prayer Care Share culminates on Easter Sunday, when you would invite the person you’re praying for to church with you. I’m getting way ahead of myself. For now, focus on the small card inside.
I’m happy to report that our church is praying for 974 friends and family members who need the love of Jesus Christ. You’ll have an opportunity to add your loved one to this growing number today.
There are three layers to Prayer, Care, Share. You might think of them as three lanes or three stages. First, you pray for your unchurched friends and loved ones daily. You call out to God to bring the people closest to you close to Him. Second, you actively show love and serve those closest to you. You can serve in a thousand ways. You cook a meal for neighbors or invite them over or out to eat with you. It’s offering to help with yard work or give them a ride – whatever is needed. Third and lastly, you share the gospel with those you love the most. Prayer, Care, Share combines two of the greatest commands Jesus gave to us: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
In the moments to come, I want to develop your prayer life for your unchurched loved ones. Throughout today’s message, I will invite you to pause and pray with me for your friends and family members to embrace Christ. In the moments to come, I will share a personal story where I prayed for someone to embrace Christ.
Sermon Preview
3. The Hound of Heaven
2. Praying for Me
1. Praying for My Loved Ones
1. Praying for My Loved Ones
1.1 Prayer Evangelism
Prayer plays a crucial role in evangelism. When you pray for someone to know Christ, you bring this person before God over and over until they are saved.1 Prayer evangelism is going on behalf of God for the unsaved person. Over the next few minutes, I want to show you a couple of passages that you can use to pray for your friends. You’ll want to write these down.
1.2 The Father Draws
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44).
Jesus said the only way you can come to Him is when the Father draws you. Let me offer you a picture of this. The word “draws” is used elsewhere in your New Testament, where Peter draws his sword to strike the high priest’s servant (John 18:10). The very same word is used with Peter hauls his net ashore after catching a large amount of fish (John 21:11). And the very same word is used to describe how Peter and Silas were seized and dragged into the marketplace because they were preaching the gospel (Acts 16:19). Does this give you a clear picture of the work the Father does before anyone comes to Christ? Whether it is hauling in a net of fish, drawing a sword, or dragging men off to punishment, God does a work in our hearts. Now, praying for your friends and loved ones is cooperating with God to ask Him to draw people to Christ. You pray that God draws them to deliverance. It’s praying that God will haul your friends and family to the hope in Christ.
1.3 Prayer Relaxes You
Praying for your loved ones to come to Christ relaxes you. This is a supernatural thing when someone embraces Christ. You don’t have to pressure or manipulate anyone. So, we pray for our friends and family members to be drawn to Jesus.
Here’s something you could pray based on John 6:44: “Father, would you overcome all my friend’s objections to faith and draw them to you? Would you draw them to you, despite me being a poor witness for you? Would you haul them to like Paul and Silas were dragged into the marketplace? You know what is better for my family members than they do. Save them from themselves. Bless them with you, Lord. Grant them faith and cause them to turn away from their broken life to put their trust in you. Please do this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
1.3 Satan
“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path” (Matthew 13:19).
Jesus shows us that we can pray for the spiritually deaf to hear the gospel. Jesus tells this story about a sower and a field in Matthew 13. He tells one of his more famous messages, which has been historically called the parable of the sower. Jesus says this guy sows seeds into different soils. You can read about the details of the story on your own time.
In this story, Jesus isn’t talking about farming; He’s talking about the gospel and evangelism. Jesus Himself is the sower in the parable. The soil is your response to the Gospel. The seed is the Gospel itself. But Jesus warns here that “the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.” Satan is active whenever evangelism is taking place. He diverts his attention and his demons (think of them as Satan’s servants) to ensure that evangelism isn’t successful. What does this look like?
1.3.1 The Screwtape Letters
C. S. Lewis, in his book The Screwtape Letters, describes a man who goes into the British Museum and sits down to read. Something he reads suggests to him a thought about God. The Screwtape Letters is a fictional book written to describe the work of Satan in the world. Screwtape is a fictional character representing a senior devil who writes to his nephew, a junior tempter. Back to the man reading outside the British Museum.
Screwtape manages to divert him with the thought it is time for lunch and that he would be in much better shape to tackle this important subject after he has eaten.
Screwtape goes on to say, “Once he was in the street the battle was won. I showed him a newsboy shouting the midday paper, and a No. 73 bus going past, and before he reached the bottom of the steps I had got into him an unalterable conviction that, whatever odd ideas might come into a man’ s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of “real life” was enough to show him that all “that sort of thing” just couldn’t be true.”2
Isn’t that a vivid picture? Many of your friends have heard the gospel, but Satan has “snatche[d] away what has been sown in [their] heart.” I challenge you to pray for your loved ones. Pray that God pushes them past all the obstacles Satan puts in front of them. Pray for Almighty God’s protection against Satan’s evil tricks. Again, Jesus shows us that we can pray for the spiritually deaf to hear the gospel. By the way, believers – how many times did you hear the gospel before you responded? Don’t give up on your friends when they’ve heard the gospel a few times. Again, Jesus shows us that we can pray for the spiritually deaf to hear the gospel.
1.3.2 Prayer Relaxes Us
You can relax; you’re not to manipulate people or trick people. Relax, there’s no pressure on you to make people disciples. It’s God who makes people believers, not you. It’s God who makes people see and hear the gospel – you don’t have that ability.
“Father, I come before you asking for you to block Satan’s ability to make [James and Jennifer] spiritually deaf. Would you give them ears to hear your gospel? Would you lovingly use your sovereign power to make the message of the gospel click in their minds? Would you give me wisdom as to know what specific pieces to share with them. I need you to do this and I am rely on you, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.”
You don’t work miracles. So, relax and pray. But you have an important role in your friend’s coming to Christ – let me show you.
1.4 Jars of Clay
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
“Jars of clay” is a reference to us. Say this with me, “I am a jar of clay.” We are the “jars of clay” with the treasure of the gospel inside of us. That is, compared to the treasure that is in us, we are clay. We are not gold. The gospel is gold. We are clay in comparison to the gold we hold inside of us. Now, if you don’t feel up to the task of sharing the gospel, you’re on the mark.3 If you feel average or below average, then you are really close to the truth because, after all, you and I are “jars of clay.” You are “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” God wants to work miracles through your life to show His power and not your intelligence.
1.5 My Dad
I’ve told this story to you so many times, I’m nearly embarrassed to tell you again. I was a young thirteen-year-old boy when God gave me a burden for my dad to come to Christ. He grew up in a religious household that occasionally attended a little Methodist church a few blocks away. But all that was gone when I came around. The Vietnam War wiped away any real belief in Jesus. So, I came along, and my mom took my sister and me to church. But my dad stays home nearly every Sunday. An engineer by training, he would tell people he was an agnostic or an atheist when he was asked. He would quickly change the subject. But I was really burdened for him as I thought about him in eternity. So, this hits me when I am thirteen, and I pray for him every night before I go to bed. All this is way beyond my capabilities. He’s too smart for me and I certainly didn’t understand the complexities of the Vietnam world. But I am burdened to pray. Have you ever been burdened to pray for anyone? I was burdened to pray. I’m losing sleep over this – not all the time, but there were times I lost sleep. So, I pray for him daily or nearly daily. And I put pressure on myself at times. How am I supposed to make Christ appealing to my agnostic dad, who was turned away from God by the evil he witnessed in war? I made a few feeble attempts at sharing the gospel, and they were feeble for sure. But then he lost his job when I was eighteen years of age. Now, I had been praying simple prayers for him for five years, “Lord, save my dad.” Now, two deacons come by our house and share the gospel. I had seen this kind of thing before when the pastor came over. Dad would figure out a way to turn the conversation into something else. So, these two guys who worked at the local plants like my dad did, came at sat in our living room. And they shared the gospel. They didn’t say anything remarkable; they shared the same message that Jesus died for your sins. And then my dad said, to my shock, “I think it’s about time I do this.” He prayed to receive Christ right there in our living room after I had been praying for five years.
When he said, “I think it’s about time I do this,” that meant he had been thinking about it for years. He never let on with anyone that I know of. Several weeks later, he was baptized at our church. It was amazing. I was a clay jar! After all, I was his son. When I say that I was clay, I mean I was clay. My witness was feeble as I was a teenage boy. My unbelieving dad convinced me I needed to make good grades and go to work despite my laziness. My unbelieving dad dealt with my lies when I said, “The teacher never told us to do this.” Yes, I was a jar of clay.
1.6 Point #1 Wrap Up
You can do this. You can pray for the people who are outside of Christ to come to Christ. Do you have what it takes to be a “jars of clay?” Do you have what it takes “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God?” Of course, you do. Relax and pray, my believing friends.
Pray John 6:44, and Matthew 13:19 over your friends and loved ones. You pray. You pray before you serve and before you share. You pray. In every single BFG meeting, you will break up into groups of two or three and pray for the people you want to come to Christ. Pray for classmates and people in the band room with you. Students, pray for the guys and the gals on your team. Pray for your family members. Pray.
1. Praying for My Loved Ones
2. Praying for Me
“Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).
Jesus commands us to pray for more people to harvest or more people to share the gospel.
2.1 Sheep Without Shepherds
In the verse above the ones quoted here, the Bible says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
People without Christ are like sheep without a shepherd. People are complex and full of needs. Jesus says they are stressed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus looks all around Him and sees amazing potential. Then Jesus changes the metaphor in verse 37 from sheep and shepherds to laborers and harvesters.
2.2 A Strange Request
It’s a strange request when you stop to think about it. It is strange that the “farm hands” should be told to beg the owner of the farm to send out more workers into His harvest. Surely, Jesus doesn’t mean to imply that God doesn’t know there is a shortage of workers! After all, the Father knows everything! And surely, Jesus doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care whether the harvest comes in! Why, then, are the farm hands told to beg the farmer to get more help?4
2.3 Evangelism Moves Thru Street Called Prayer
God designed the work of evangelism to happen through prayer. Think of prayer as a street or a boulevard. Evangelism must travel down the street called prayer. God’s way of saving many people here in the mid-cities and North Fort Worth is for a widespread movement of prayer to take hold. So, pray for yourself as well as your loved ones.
2.4 Seeing the Potential Harvest
And Jesus sees potential and hopefulness when He sees a harvest time. Do you look at your family members as potential Christ followers? Do you look at your classmates with hopefulness that they could embrace Christ? Do you see the potential harvest of peace and joy in your friends’ lives? For some of you, it’s been so long since you have shared the gospel that you have lost any hope? My friends, don’t be cynical. Don’t think this is all that can become of your friends and your loved ones. Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you. After all, doesn’t the Bible say, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8a)? Friend, don’t become cynical.
Pray that you would be filled with holy boldness to pray with eyes of hope. Ask the Lord right here and right now to give you eyes to see a harvest of hope. Ask the Lord right here and right now to give you eyes to see the potential in your friends.
1. Praying for My Loved Ones
2. Praying for Me
3. The Hound of Heaven
“And the Lord said to him, ‘Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying…’” (Acts 9:11)
3.1 Saul’s Conversion
Let me speak to the cynical and the jaded in the room right now. Consider the conversion of a man named Saul. His story is all likelihood the world’s most famous conversion story.5 Thrown to the ground by a light, the voice of God stopped him. There is no more dramatic conversion story anywhere than Paul’s. Paul’s conversion was History Changing if the front page of every newspaper in 1944 read “Hitler Converts to Judaism.”6 Nobody thought Saul would be converted. Nobody saw this coming. If DraftKings was laying down odds for people to convert to Christ, you’d have gotten better odds on a Pharisee dunk content than Saul following Jesus. Nobody saw this coming. Saul’s story teaches us to never write anyone off. If Saul came to Christ, then God is able to chase down anyone.
3.2 The Hunter Becomes the Hunted
Remember the story, Paul is on a 150-mile journey north (about a week’s travel) from Jerusalem to Damascus with one focus and one goal - to snuff out the light of the Christian faith. The hunter has become the hunted. God can reach anyone, including you. Find hope to pray for anyone breathing to find Christ by asking the Father to draw your loved ones to Christ.
3.3 The Hound of Heaven
Francis Thompson wrote a poem where he called God “the Hound of Heaven” more than a century ago. This famous poem describes God's relentless pursuit of the human soul using the metaphor of a hound chasing its prey. The poem's vivid imagery portrays divine grace as persistently following after the fleeing soul, never tiring in its pursuit until the soul finally turns to God. Saul’s story teaches us to never write anyone off. If Saul came to Christ, then God is able to chase down anyone.
3.4 Behold, He is Praying
But go look at Acts 9:11 again with me. Stare at it and study it. Notice God doesn’t pay as close attention to the pomp of a king’s arrival as He does to your prayers. God knew the street where Saul was staying: “Rise and go to the street called Straight…” God knew the house where Saul was living: “at the house of Judas…” God knew his name, and God knew where he was from: “Look for a man of Tarsus named Saul…” But all of this never calls for God to say, “behold,” which means look and listen carefully to what’s next. Only one item gets the word “behold” - “he is praying.”
God hears the prayers of His people. Just one of your genuine prayers is louder than a college football marching band in the ears of God. It is a great and glorious thing that prayer is heard in heaven. The smallest prayer of a broken-hearted believer is one of the sweetest sounds in heaven.7 Let everyone in the room clap their hands together in joy that God hears your prayers!
3.5 Invitation
I invite our musicians to come and sing over us now. Please stay in your seats. Join me in making this a holy moment.
Would you prayerfully open up the card you were given to identify the smaller card inside? While music plays and people worship, would you (believers in the room) prayerfully write down the names of those loved ones God is moving you to pray for? With eternity itself hanging in the balance for many, would you take this card seriously at this moment? Would you ask the Father to draw your loved ones to Christ? Would you ask the Father to write down the names of your loved ones in the Book of Life just as you write them down on that card?
EndNotes
1 Dave Early and David Wheeler, Prayer Care Share: The Simple Plan to Reach Anyone with the Gospel (Lynchburg, VA: MHNK Academics), 25.
2 C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: HarperOne, 2011), 2-3.
3 John Piper, “I’m Sending You to Open Their Eyes,” Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014). (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2014).
4 John Piper, “Prayer at Harvest Time: Now!,” Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989). (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).
5 The story is so potent that Luke shares it three times in Acts: Acts 19:1-19; 22:1-16; 26:9-18.
6 I owe this analogy to James Merritt and his sermon, “Man on Fire.”
7 Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Paul’s First Prayer,” in The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, vol 1 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1855), 117–124.
