RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Evangelism – 2
Sammy Tippit: I want to welcome you to back to our session where we’re talking about sharing Christ with other people. As we’ve learned to grow in our relationship with Christ and walk with him… We need to be sharing what he has done for us, not holding it in. So I’m with Wayne Jenkins, who has been a dear friend for so many years.
We’ve been talking about that. Wayne, you’ve trained so many people in sharing Christ. We talked about the importance of this in our last session. I think that probably most people know, “Yeah, I need to be doing that, but…” There’s always kind of that but in there.
Wayne Jenkins: Yeah.
Sammy: “I’m not sure about how to do it.” There’s fear and lots of emotional issues that are involved in that, so I want to talk about how to overcome that. I think that today, the starting place is prayer.
Wayne: Exactly.
Sammy: Because before Jesus sent his disciples out into the world, after he had died, been buried, risen from the grave, and appeared to them, he told them to go and preach the gospel to all of the nations. But then he said, “Wait in Jerusalem.” There was this balance between prayer and going to share Christ with others.
Wayne: Right.
Sammy: I’ve been talking about prayer a lot in the previous sessions, but not specifically about how it affects our sharing. There are two things. The first is how it affects us, and the second is how it affects the people we’re sharing Christ with. Let’s talk today about what role prayer plays in enabling us to share our faith in Christ.
Wayne: Sammy, one of the principles is that you pursue what you pray for. If I’m going to buy a piece of property, I’m driving around looking for property while I’m praying for it. Or whatever it may be… If I’m going to purchase a new car, I’m going to car lots while I’m praying to God that he would reveal to me what I should do.
So you pursue what you pray for. If we can get people to pray for unbelievers and pray for laborers… If we can get them to do that, they’ll begin pursuing those people they’re praying for. That’s part of the premise of the praying, evangelistic praying, we’re talking about. There are so many passages that deal with prayer that are related to this. The passage in 1 Timothy 2 that talks about… “First of all, I urge you…” It’s a priority. He goes on. It talks about praying for those in authority.
A lot of times, we’ll put a period after that, and we’ll just say, “Okay, we’re to pray for those kings, those leaders, and those people who are the leaders of nations.” But it goes on to say, “So that they might come to Christ.” That’s what it really talks about. That ought to be our prayer for these leaders: that they would come to Christ. That is the responsibility, he says, not only for them but for all people. We are to pray. Matthew 6:9-10 is a part of the…
Sammy: Kingdom praying, praying for…
Wayne: Kingdom praying. When you pray that the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven… Well, when did it come to you? When did the kingdom come to you? The kingdom came to you when you trusted in Christ, when he became King and Lord of your life. So we’re praying for people in that way. So that forms a basis for our praying.
Even in Colossians 4, when Paul talks about how our speech is involved and our outward deportment is involved, he talks about praying and praying that we might have the right speech. He talks about praying that we might have opportunities. So prayer becomes a vital part when you look at the principles.
Sammy: I think that in Matthew 9, Jesus talks about how the harvest is ripe but the laborers are few and how we ought to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers. So we’re actually commanded to pray for the Lord of the harvest, who is Jesus.
Wayne: Yeah.
Sammy: We ought to pray for the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into the harvest.
Wayne: That’s right.
Sammy: So we need to be praying that way. I think that one of the things a lot of people probably struggle with is fear. They want to share Christ with others, but they’re afraid. What I have found is that when you pray… As I defined in our last level, prayer is the communion of two hearts. God is love, and when you come into the presence of God’s love, all fear is cast out. In other words, fear brings you inward. Love brings you outward.
Wayne: That’s exactly right.
Sammy: So prayer enables us to tap into God’s love. Would that be accurate?
Wayne: Yeah. I think that is. The thing I find we’re to pray specifically for… He says in Matthew 9 that it’s to pray that he would send forth laborers because there are not enough laborers in the field. As we pray for those laborers… It becomes specific in the Scripture how we pray for those laborers. We’re to pray that they have opportunities. That’s what Colossians says.  Paul asked for that. For instance, I know a person in Baton Rouge, where you and I both grew up… I’ve known this person in Baton Rouge for years, and he’s lost. I’m not in Baton Rouge. I don’t live there, but I know where this person works. I know where he goes most of the day because of the work he does, and I know that much about him.
I know that at one of the places he goes is a godly man who runs that business he deals with all the time, so my specific prayer becomes, “Lord, would you help that individual to have an open door to share with this person, either to sow a seed or water a seed that has been sown in his life? Or maybe this may be the day for the increase.” That’s a specific way to pray for a laborer who is going to deal with him, that he would have opportunities.
Sammy: Opportunities.
Wayne: Yeah.
Sammy: Okay. Encourage.
Wayne: Yeah. Encourage boldness. In both Ephesians and Acts, the Bible talks about boldness and how to ask for them to have boldness, that they might do it, that they might have boldness to share the gospel. I don’t think most of us are naturally bold. Some people are. You talk about how you are, but then you have this person who’s not naturally bold. But the boldness does not come from our personalities; the boldness comes from the Holy Spirit, which we’ll talk about later.
Sammy: Yeah. We’re going to talk about that later. One of the things I’ve discovered is that if you’re bold apart from the Holy Spirit, you can do more damage.
Wayne: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Sammy: That’s where we need to pray, because that prayer then gives us a spiritual boldness that’s not ugly or mean. It’s kind and gracious, but it’s courageous.
Wayne: Yeah. I think the other thing you pray specifically for is that… Paul says, “Pray that I may do it with clarity.” Now I’m thinking to myself, “If Paul needs prayer for his clarity, surely I do, and surely does everybody else.” When we deal with people, we need to pray that we’re clear with what we say. So when we pray for that laborer, we pray not only that he might be bold and have the opportunity but that when he has that opportunity and he’s bold to walk through it, he might speak with clarity.
I think the final thing I see is that when you see… In that passage, back in Matthew 9:38… You go to chapter 10, and the ones he’s talking to are the very ones who answer the call to go out. I think we ought to pray, “God, while I’m praying for the other laborers, I’m praying that I might be the laborer and be willing to go myself.”
Sammy: Okay. So really quickly, let’s review those four things. First, we pray for opportunities.
Wayne: Opportunities.
Sammy: That God will open doors for opportunities to share. Just in life, there are all kinds of opportunities.
Wayne: Yes.
Sammy: We probably ought to pray that we would see those opportunities to share Christ with others.
Wayne: Right.
Sammy: Second, boldness.
Wayne: There’s boldness.
Sammy: We pray that we would have courage. That comes from really drawing near to God and being filled with his love. The third thing, then, is…
Wayne: Clarity.
Sammy: Clarity, that we would be able to do that. We’re going to give some things that will help them to be clear later on.
Wayne: Yeah.
Sammy: Then we say, “Here am I. I’m the one, Lord. You send me. You help me to be that laborer in your harvest field.” We can pray for others, but if we’re not willing, it’s going to be hard to pray that prayer. So you be willing to let God take you and use you to be a laborer in his harvest field. There are people who are hurting. There are people who are lonely. There are people who are needy. There are people God has for you to share with. So you pray for those four things, and God will answer. You’ll see him do great and mighty things.