Go Kit - 5

Lesson Aims:

• To discover the opportunity and obligation of prayer in the life of a Christian witness
• To learn the secret of praying the scriptures
• To begin to pray definitely and consistently for that which is on the heart of Christ - souls.

Opening Illustrations:

• Acts 10 - Cornelius was praying for a witness, Peter was in prayer. God brought them together.
• Forest Chen - Chinese student praying that God would show himself to him literally bumps into Scott Pauley witnessing on the campus of UT.

God has a way of using people who were intercessors for others:

• In Genesis 18 Abraham interceded for Sodom.
• In Exodus 32 Moses interceded for Israel to be spared.
• The greatest example of an intercessor was Christ, who interceded for us at Gathsemene and on the cross. Isaiah 53:12 says Jesus “made intercession for transgressors”

The dictionary defines intercessor as:

a person who intervenes on behalf of another, especially by prayer.

Our text tonight shows us the heart of an intercessor: Paul. Look at Romans 9:1-5 tonight:

”1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 4 Who are Israelites; to whom [pertaineth] the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service [of God], and the promises; 5 Whose [are] the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ [came], who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” (Romans 9:1-5)

In this chapter Paul is laying it out there. He really wants to see his countrymen get saved. He wants to see his countryman saved so much he even says he wishes he could go to hell for them.

Do you feel that way sometimes about your family, your friends, your coworkers?

Last year I had to preach my grandfathers funeral in Massachusetts, and I tried to give a clear gospel presentation and it really broke my heart to see many of my cousins and aunts and uncles who have no solid profession of faith.

So what do you do about it? Look at Romans 10. Romans 10 is the main passage in “the romans road.” It’s the passage that talks about calling on the name of the Lord and being saved. But look how it starts:

”1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

I have highlighted in my Bible the words ”my hearts desire and prayer to God and then that they might be saved.

What do you pray about? Sometimes are prayers, which should be us at our most spiritual, actually reveal our selfishness.

Tonight we are going to talk about praying for lost people, and specifically there are three things you should pray for:

1. Pray for the lost to be saved.

When we pray, God works!

I want you to think about the folks who have been saved in our church in recent years. Every single one of them was saved during a time when we were really praying. I mean crying out to God on their behalf.

In the Old Testament, God actually setup a whole tribe to pray for the spiritual needs of Israel night and day - the Levites. We are all priests, it is all of our job to bring people before God and bring God before people.

Specifically, there are several ways we should pray…

A. Pray for the advancement of the gospel.

• Pray for open doors.

We ought to pray for opportunities and open doors to share the gospel with others. Look at 1 Timothy 2:1-6:

”1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, [and] giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and [for] all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this [is] good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

We think of this as the “pray for politicians” passage - but this is actually a soul winning passage. We are supposed to be praying for all men, then living a life that witnesses to others.

Notice the heart of God here: ”who would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”. God wants to see people saved and He’s told us to pray to that end.

We need to pray for open doors and also to…

• Pray for open hearts.

I believe the gospel is simple and salvation is as easy as believing and trusting in the death burial and resurrection of Christ, but I also believe that that simple thing is hard for people and that the Holy Spirit has to get involved. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says:

”In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

People are blinded and they need their spiritual eyes opened by the Spirit of God. So we should pray that God would give us open doors and open hearts.

B. Pray for gospel to be given in power.

A priest had two main responsibilities: He was an intermediary who spoke to men for God and who spoke to God for men.

In prayer we speak to God for men. In witnessing we speak to men for God. Both are essential.

When you are speaking to men about God you should:

• Pray before you go - Pray that the Holy Spirit would prepare their heart.
• Pray as you go - Ask God to use you as you sow the gospel and claim the promise that God’s word will not return void.
• Pray after you go - Water the seed you sow with your prayers.

Illustration: George Mueller’s five friends.

2. Pray for laborers to be sent.

Did you Jesus only shared one prayer request?

Matthew 9:38

”Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

A. Pray that the Lord would send more laborers.

B. Pray for the laborers that are already sent.

That’s one reason we bring a missionary before you every Wednesday.

This is Biblical. Look at Romans 15:30:

”Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;”

We might not ever get to go to Thailand or to Germany or to Peru, but we can have a part in their ministry through prayer. We can work with them in prayer.

3. Pray for the Lord to use you.

It’s kind of hypocritical for us to pray that God will use others if we aren’t willing for God to use us. It’s hypocritical to pray and not be willing to obey.

Charles Spurgeon said this:

If you have no desire for others to be saved, then you are not saved yourself, be sure of that.

• Pray that you will be a usable vessel
• Yield yourself
• Ask for divine appointments You cannot witness to the wrong person, but we do see times in the scripture where God setup “divine appointments”. (Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunich, Jesus and the woman at the well, etc.)

Lesson Application

• Create a prayer list of the people who you know that need to be saved. Begin to pray for their salvation every day.
• Ask another believer to be your prayer partner.
• Write a letter or make a visit to someone you are praying for.

Encouraging illustration - someone in our church recently asked me to pray as they had setup a meeting with someone specifically to witness to them. I wish I got more prayer requests like that!