Real World Evangelism: Lesson 2Praying for the lost!

Rom. 10:1-3 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be

saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to

knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish

their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God!

1Tim. 2:1-6 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet

and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of

God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For

there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave

Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

I often wonder how much good could be done for the cause of Christ, if God’s people

would learn to pray!■Not only do we need to seek the lost, we

need to be praying for them!

■We need to become “people of prayer!”

○Mt 9:37-38 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

Every child of God must develop a proper prayer life!

There is “power in prayer!” (Js. 5:13-18)■Our Lord would often take time out of

His day to go to the Father in prayer!○Mt 14:23 And when He had sent the

multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.

○Lk. 6:12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

I. Pray Has the Power to Change Lifes! Act 10:1-4 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,a devout man and one who

feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to

God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in

and saying to him, "Cornelius!" And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, "What is it, lord?" So he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before

God.

As a result of this man’s prayer Peter is sent to him to teach him the Gospel of Jesus

Christ!(Acts 10:30-48)

■The Lord has put in the hands of men the power of the Gospel! (2 Cor. 4:1-7)

■How often do we pray that God will send someone our way so that we may teach them the Gospel?

■How often do we pray for the missionaries & ministers of the church?

II. Prayer Has the Power to Correct Lives!

■We began today by reading (Rom. 10:1-3) where Paul is praying for Israel!○“My heart’s desire & prayer to God”

○Paul was praying that God would help them see the error of their ways and come to the knowledge of the truth!

The Child of God is to correct his/her life by prayer!

■Acts 8:22 "Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.”

■Js. 5:16 “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

When we sin we are told to pray!■We need to again realize our need to depend

on God & trust in Him!

■We need to correct our direction!

○Prayer is all about position, our position in regards to God!

○Sin takes us away from God, prayer bring us back to God!

■It has been said that, “seven days without prayer, makes one weak!”

■Prayer helps us to see that we need God in our lives & we can’t do it alone!

III. Prayer Has the Power to Comfort Lives!

■There is something overly comforting about prayer!

○It is amazing to find the peace that prayer can bring when we are at the end of our rope!

■“Lord save me!” (Mt. 14:22-33)

○Whenever we take our eyes off the Lord, we are asking for trouble!

○We must learn to focus on the Savior and not the storm!

How this is designed to work! Php 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything

by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the

peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ

Jesus.■How often do we turn to the wrong things for

comfort?

○To a pill, a drug or drink, when the only one that can truly help us is Jesus!

○Prayer is where we acknowledge we need God to help us! (Heb. 13:5-6)

Conclusion:■I do hope & pray that we become “prayer

warriors” for the cause of Christ!

■Never take for granted the power of prayer for the lost!

■The child of God is even commanded to pray for our enemies! (Mt. 5:43-48)

■After we come to see our need to “seek” them, we must begin “praying” for them!

■If you are here and not yet a Christian, then know this “we are praying for you!”