Prayer for Missions

Luke 10:1-4

When you go to the International Mission Board website one of the options on the menu to the left side is “Fast Facts.” When you click on that option you come to a page that lists facts about the work of the IMB. They give you a break down of who are their overseas personnel. They tell you how many are full-time career missionaries or others who are a part of their International Service Corps, Journeyman which are college graduates serving for two years, and they also tell how many seminary missionaries are a part of their team. They then tell Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Gifts for different years plus number of baptisms in the previous years. How many churches were started how many members of these churches. But they also give information concerning the evangelization of the world. There are currently 1,193 people groups engaged by the IMB. People groups that are in the Last Frontier or the oppressive regions of the world total 5,876. Those people groups constitute a total of 1.7 billion people who are unreached. They are without any access to the Gospel. At the end of 2005 the total world population was 6.4 billion people. Almost ¼ of that number have no access to the gospel. Or put it another way, the US just topped 300 million people. Six USAs are without the gospel witness in their country. Starting today for the next three weeks we will be looking at Luke 10:1-4 and seeing principles and truths of the need for world missions but also how we can be involved.

In this passage the Lord has just given the message of faithful loyalty to him and his calling, and now he is sending out the 72 that will prepare the way for him as he is about to go into these towns and preach. I wish we could see into every detail of what these 72 faced and then what happened when Jesus arrived in these towns and began to preach. What happened? How many were saved? How many were turning away? How many vocally scoffed at the words of Jesus? We are not told any of this, but we are told what he said to the 72 who would go out.

In our text today we see three instructions concerning prayer for missions.

First we see that we should pray that the Lord would prepare the ones who will serve. Beginning in verse 1 the Scriptures read, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, tow by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.” (NASB) In this verse we see that the main idea is that the Lord appointed. He did not convene a committee and ask who they wanted, but the Lord appointed. Those who are called out to serve are called by the Lord and the church should be able to visibly come to an agreement with that calling. Now there are some who say they are called that are not, and there are those who do not develop their gifts and therefore the church cannot see fruit of a true calling. But if someone is truly called to service in ministry here or abroad they should be able to have their local church confirm that calling. Now these here had a special task. They were to go ahead of Jesus and prepare the way. They were to soften the hearts. In a sense they were to go into these towns and begin to evangelize the people. They were to begin proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah so that when the Messiah comes they will be ready to accept him. Their responsibility is to prepare the way for people to the Messiah. Now why did the Lord call them? Why were these 72 chosen and not another 72? Well, somewhere along the way they were taught and discipled and prepared. Someone had to teach them and demonstrate the ways of a follower of Jesus. We here at New Hope Baptist Church can pray that the Lord will prepare those whom we call. We can pray that some of these people who may be children here at this church the Lord will call them to his service. We can pray that what they are learning now would be a benefit to them in the future and would be the beginning of the Lord working in them to bring them to his salvation and his service in the ministry or missions.

Surrendering to God Romans 11:29 "for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable."
When I was a teenager, I tried very hard to get rid of God in my life. I can even remember when I was fourteen saying to God, "This is my last prayer to you. I don't need you anymore. I'm going to get on with my own life without you." For the next six years I became my own person, doing what I liked and loving the freedom I experienced.
But soon that joy of liberation and self-indulgence gave way to drunkenness and despair, to a distinct lack of purpose and a time of self-hatred. To get me through the day, I took sedatives. To get me through the night, I drank beer. One evening, I woke up in a hospital. I had taken an overdose and had to spend three days in recovery. It was one of the lowest points in my life and perhaps one of the greatest cries for attention I have ever uttered.
I'd love to say that I learned my lesson, but the next two years seemed to get worse. I was struggling with alcohol, life and, above all, God. I was wrestling with Him on a daily basis. Eventually I couldn't fight anymore, so I surrendered to God and found myself back in His Kingdom. Within two years, I was heading to Glasgow University to begin my training as a student minister in the Church of Scotland.
God had a calling for me and it was irrevocable. No matter how hard I fought against Him and squirmed to get out of His grasp, He held me firmly in His hands. I may have let go of God, but He wasn't about to let go of me.
You, too, may have been wrestling with God for a while. You may doubt His effectiveness in the world. You may be questioning what role faith has in your life. But no matter how wayward you may be or how defiant you may have become, if God has a calling for you, it is irrevocable. Instead of struggling with Him, surrender to Him. Instead of letting go, just let God hold you. You'll never regret the moment that you finally give yourself to Him.
Prayer: LORD God, You gave each of us life and a purpose. Sometimes we falter and fail to do all that You want, or to fulfill all that You need and expect us to do. If we have been fighting You for a long time, bring our self-affliction to an end. If we have been wrestling with the truth or suppressing Your call, take away our defiance and open our hearts to Your ways, Your words, Your will. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.

Ephesians 4:11-12 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. The purpose of the spiritual gifts is for the equipping and the edifying of the believer. The reason God gave you a spiritual gift is so that His people might be built up and disciples made. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 tells us that we are to make disciples. That is the main point to make disciples. We are to be about making disciples and two ways we can be involved in that process is to be a part of the process of instruction and to pray for the spiritual well-being of others.

The second instruction that we see this morning is to pray for the Lord to call more. The passage tells us to pray earnestly. Sincerely. Not just a Lord send more missionaries, but Lord there is a great need for more workers and I plead for you to call and send more workers. As you just said Lord the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. They are few. Why? Why are the workers so few? Are there people refusing to go? Are there Christians who are so caught up in their own little world that they don’t here? Have there been so few over the years that there are fewer and fewer as time goes on? Why Lord are there so few? The harvest that needs to be reaped is the Lord’s. It is his work. I am so glad it is not my own. I am glad that this is the Lord’s work because then it is his responsibility to provide the equipment necessary to get the job done. I am thankful that I rely on Him to equip me for the work. I am thankful that I do not go it alone. As we do his work, may we pray that the Lord will send more workers into the field. It is his harvest. The Lord is calling us to reap his harvest. He is calling us to go into the fields and bring in the fruit of his spiritual labor. Here the Lord is calling us to plead with him for more workers. We want to see the world come to know our God, well, our God says to pray that he would send more workers.

The Haystack Revival

Vivid in my memory was the story of the so-called 1806 Haystack Revival at Williams College in Massachusetts. It was so named because the little band of five students who wanted to pray that night were afraid to pray on campus. The hostility toward Christians was so intense that they even kept the minutes of their meetings hidden. So they went off campus to a nearby farm to pray for revival at their school. When a storm broke out, they burrowed under a haystack for protection. But their prayers were answered; revival came to Williams College not long afterward, and with it a powerful world missions movement. The youthful leader of that prayer group, Samuel Mills, would later become one of the founders of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the American Bible Society. Today there is a plaque on the site with the inscription: The Birthplace of Foreign Missions.

John 4:34-38- Jesus is teaching the disciples that they are sharing in the work with another. He says the fields are ready for harvest, and their work of harvest is because someone else sowed. We are to pray that the Lord will send others out into the fields with us. We are to pray that someone else will join us in the work. In the passage of Luke it is understood that Jesus is talking to those who are already going, and they are to pray that the Lord will provide others to work with them.

The third instruction we see today is to pray that the ones called would be available. When the Lord calls the call is not to a life of easy living but one of serious commitment and submission. In order to submit to the call one must be available to the stipulations of that calling. Imagine that you are listening to Jesus as He is giving the instructions to go and He says to you as you are about to go on a road trip, “Do not carry any money. Do not bring a bag with extra clothes. Do not bring extra shoes. And greet no one on the road.” No extra money and this is more than just a short trip to mom’s. No extra clothes and this is more than just a quick trip to the grocery store. No extra shoes and I will be walking a lot and my shoes I’m wearing may wear out. What are you talking about Jesus? How am I supposed to care for myself? For the trip and work ahead the Lord desires that they fully rely on the work of God to care for their needs and provide for the harvest they are seeking. This work is to be focused on God and God alone. He alone is to gain the glory because He alone is the one who will provide the means to gaining the results. Greet no one on the road. What an odd statement especially when you consider that today the culture is still very similar. When I went on a mission trip to Jordan we were told to not compliment anything in someone’s home because we were not there to get from them but to give to them. If you complimented something they would offer it to you and it would be an insult to turn them down. One student accidentally took a drum home because the family learned that he loved to play the drums but did not have one. The family offered it to him, but instead of refusing he accepted. I wonder if the Lord told them to greet no one on the road because He wanted to insure that someone within the town they would be going were to provide for their needs. Otherwise they may end up in a home outside of the town or would rely on the culture of hospitality to provide for their needs and not the Lord. Today the Lord would tell us to not make a reservation at a hotel but instead go to the town and proclaim the gospel and I will provide a local home for you to stay in. Trust in the work of the Lord. Submit to his calling. Be available to do whatever he commands and calls you to do.

Charles Plumb

Charles Plumb, a US Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to- air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!" "How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform- a Dixie cup hat, a bib in the back, and bell bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said good morning, how are you or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.

Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory-he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

His experience reminds us all to prepare ourselves to weather whatever storms lie ahead. As you go through this week, this month, this year...recognize people who pack your parachute!

Who do you trust to provide for your needs in your obedience to Christ? Do you trust that the Lord will provide or do you trust in the security of your own provisions? When life’s troubles get you do you trust that God is the one who will secure your world and hold everything together or do you trust that you can manage to find an answer?

The Jesus Film

Imagine the mystery and delight of not only hearing but seeing the story of Jesus for the first time, almost as an eyewitness.

That's what happened to a primitive tribe in the jungles of East Asia, when missionaries showed them the Jesus film. Not only had these people never heard of Jesus, they had never seen a motion picture. Then, all at once, on one unforgettable evening, they saw it all-the gospel in their own language, visible and real.

Imagine again, then, how it would feel to see for the first time this good man Jesus, who healed the sick and was adored by children, held without trial and beaten by jeering soldiers. As they watched this, the people came unglued. They stood up and began to shout at the cruel men on the screen, demanding this outrage stop. When nothing happened, they attacked the missionary running the projector. Perhaps he was responsible for this injustice! He was forced to stop the film and explain that the story wasn't over yet, that there was more. So they settled back onto the ground, holding their emotions in tenuous check.

Then came the Crucifixion. Again, the people could not hold back. They began to weep and wail with such loud grief that once again the film had to be stopped. Again the missionary tried to calm them, explaining that the story still wasn't over yet, that there was more. So once again they composed themselves and sat down to see what happened next.

Then came the Resurrection. Pandemonium broke out this time, but for a different reason. The gathering had spontaneously erupted into a party. The noise now was of jubilation, and it was deafening. The people were dancing and slapping each other on the back. The missionary again had to shut off the projector. But this time he didn't tell them to calm down and wait for what was next. In a sense, all that was supposed to happen-in the story and in their lives-was happening.

Pray that stories like this will be abundant. Pray that the spiritual and cultural barriers that hinder the gospel will be broken. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will provide the means necessary to bring his gospel to the lost of this world.

For the spread of the Gospel will you commit to praying 30 minutes a week specifically for International Missions until the end of this calendar year?