SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jacob, and praise team.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we had a great morning this morning in our Chaffee campus.
SPEAKER_01: It was our preview service and uh practice run through everything.
SPEAKER_01: And even though it was that, we had visitors as well, so it was really fun to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, as Matt told you, I had I uh stopped by to get a donut on the way in between campuses, and I pulled through my favorite donut shop, and they were out.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, all the Baptist churches buy them all on Sundays.
SPEAKER_01: No, it was great.
SPEAKER_01: We had a great morning, and I know you guys had a great morning in Bible study here, and uh, so we are just excited about what God is doing.
SPEAKER_01: As you know, we have been praying for the schools in our area, and we have our prayer wall out there, and thank you for all of you so far who have taken prayer cards and you've signed up and committed to pray for schools, and please continue to do that.
SPEAKER_01: If you haven't had a chance to do that yet, we want to invite you to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And this is a timely thing here in our state uh Wednesday by proclamation of the governor.
SPEAKER_01: Wednesday is Pray for Arkansas Schools Day.
SPEAKER_01: Several years, a number of years ago, they passed a statute where they said that each year there's going to be a day set aside for Arkansans to pray for our schools.
SPEAKER_01: And uh by the governor's proclamation, that day was set aside as this Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01: So if you've signed up for schools and all that, make sure that you're praying on Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01: And folks all over our state will be praying for our schools.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine how it will bless and move the heart of God to have the body of Christ across the state of Arkansas praying for our schools?
SPEAKER_01: And so let's do that.
SPEAKER_01: Use that as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: So I want to do right now is for us just to join together as a church family and pray.
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna pray for our schools, and then we're gonna ask the Lord to draw us all into prayer on Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01: So pray with me, church family.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we thank you for today, and we we thank you for the opportunity we have to be reminded to pray for our schools.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that we live in a state where uh legislators and leaders acknowledge the validity of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the case in a lot of places in our country, but we thank you that we live in a state where we still have that influence and the church still has that standing.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Father, today we want to be the church.
SPEAKER_01: If we're gonna be in a state that gives us this opportunity and calls us to prayer, I pray that our church and the body of Christ across their state that you will stir our hearts and that you will lead us to your throne to pray for students and schools.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray for the schools in the River Valley.
SPEAKER_01: We pray for preschools and elementary schools and middle schools, we pray for our high schools, we pray for our homeschoolers, we pray for the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and that campus.
SPEAKER_01: We pray for the medical school out near our new Chaffee campus.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, on every one of those, there are lives that have needs that need direction and that need you.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we pray that you will open the doors for the gospel in every one of those campuses.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of those campuses also has students who've given their life to you, and they are your children.
SPEAKER_01: And so we pray your grace and your protection and your hand on them as they walk through the schools.
SPEAKER_01: There are Christians on all those campuses, there are Christian teachers on all those campuses, but there are also ungodly influences in those places.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray that you will protect all of our students from anything that the enemy or the culture would throw at them.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray that our students that are Christians, that are followers of Jesus on those campuses, you will empower them to be salt and light and protect them and give them a sense of your grace and your presence and guide them.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray for teachers and principals and administrators and bus drivers and custodians and coaches and all of the people involved on those campuses.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we pray for all of those adults that you will give them a clear sense of your presence, that they will know that you are there.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray that you'll take that calling they have as educators and that you will empower it with your grace where they will love on students.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we pray for the gospel to flourish in our schools.
SPEAKER_01: We pray these things in the saving name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And all God's people said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be moving into our final week of uh in the classroom of prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We've been studying a very practical series from God's Word about how to pray.
SPEAKER_01: And we've literally been walking through how to pray.
SPEAKER_01: And you receive these journals that the staff has put together, and each day what you have is a verse to meditate over, and we use the term brew here.
SPEAKER_01: So we've been brewing scripture, and that's just a shorthand way to describe meditating on a verse.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're meditating on these verses and we're praying as God leads us through those verses.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, that brew thing, we it's just a shorthand for believe that God has something to say to you, and there's a little promise verse that you pray before you start.
SPEAKER_01: You read and repeat that verse of the day over and over and over until you get comfortable with it, until it registers in your mind.
SPEAKER_01: And then each word, you slow down and you break down each word, and you just and you just briefly describe what each word means.
SPEAKER_01: We have a spot where we take one word and we give you a description of that to kind of get you started, and then some space for you to write the rest.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's a place at the end for you to write down something that God taught you from that morning.
SPEAKER_01: It's been a great testimony here from our folks, how much they're enjoying this, how God is speaking to them.
SPEAKER_01: I had some guys at the Chaffee campus this morning say, Pastor, here's what God told me through that.
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's an incredible thing, and I want you to find somebody that you know in your community group here and share with them what God has told you in your prayer time.
SPEAKER_01: And this week, we're going to be praying through this topic.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, we when we looked at how to design your prayer life, there were some fundamental areas, and then there were some categories of things that God asked us or commanded us to ask for in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And so today we're going to talk about praying for evangelistic impact.
SPEAKER_01: Praying for evangelistic impact, praying for it to flourish in the areas where we are.
SPEAKER_01: This is, we're going to see one of the things that Jesus commanded us to pray for.
SPEAKER_01: So I want you to read with me here in your Bibles in Matthew chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: It's a simple passage, but it is a powerful, powerful passage.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is one of my favorite pictures of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he was real and he walked around in the historicity of the person of Jesus, that he really did step out of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: He really did live as a man.
SPEAKER_01: And these descriptions in the gospel, like this one in the book of Matthew, are very real.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Jesus did and who he was, told by eyewitnesses who were there.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what the Bible tells us in verse 35.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what happens is Jesus is going town to town and person to person, and picture those moments where somebody brings a child or a friend or a loved one to Jesus and he casts out a demon or he heals a blind person or someone who can't walk.
SPEAKER_01: He raises them up and they're able to walk for the first time in their lives.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine all of these moments.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is telling them the good news that the Messiah has come and God is going to provide a way of salvation, and he's doing all of that, and people are responding, he's interacting, he's hearing their stories and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: As he engages in all that, the Bible gives us a description of how he responds.
SPEAKER_01: When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: That is the heart of our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: He loves you.
SPEAKER_01: He sees you.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever is going on in your life, whatever questions you have, whatever struggle you're in the midst of, right here, this verse describes for you Jesus loves you and he sees you with compassion, and his heart is moved for your life.
SPEAKER_01: Don't ever let anyone tell you that Jesus does not love you, and that wherever you are and what is going on, Jesus is right there in your life, and he wants to bring hope and good news, just as it says here.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, you see all of that brokenness and all of that struggle and all of those questions.
SPEAKER_01: What is Jesus' response to that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, the Bible tells us he said to his disciples, The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus' response is to see a harvest and then to command us to pray for workers for the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: And so this prayer we're going to walk through this week, and we're going to study this morning, and you're going to pray through this week, is literally a command of Jesus, one of those areas where he tells us to ask for this.
SPEAKER_01: This is how I want you to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there are three concepts I want you to see this morning in this particular passage of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's a lot in there we could go over, but in talking about that command of prayer, there's three concepts I want you to focus on.
SPEAKER_01: The harvest, the workers, and the prayer.
SPEAKER_01: So let's look first at the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: He describes this specifically as a harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this comes from his walking around out there in the crowd and seeing all of these needs.
SPEAKER_01: And so what we need to see in this picture of Jesus is we need to learn to see what Jesus sees.
SPEAKER_01: You see, he is seeing brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: He's seeing needs.
SPEAKER_01: He's seeing questions.
SPEAKER_01: He's seeing opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: And we need to walk through life in a way where we literally see those same needs.
SPEAKER_01: Those things should call to us the way they call to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We should recognize them the way that Jesus recognizes them.
SPEAKER_01: And that's hard sometimes for us as church folks.
SPEAKER_01: If you're been in church a long time, you're involved in church, man, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: We're excited to be in church, and we need to think as a church person, but sometimes that keeps us from seeing other things out there, seeing the needs in the way that Jesus sees them.
SPEAKER_01: We see the world and we think, man, there's a lot of evil out there, and there's a lot of problems out there.
SPEAKER_01: We see that's wrong, and that's wrong, and that's wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And we sort of have this mindset where we think it's us versus the world and that old rotten world out there or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the way Jesus sees things.
SPEAKER_01: My life, I grew up in Memphis, as we talked about before, and it was a long time before I really was able to learn and see what Jesus sees and understand that.
SPEAKER_01: I grew up in church.
SPEAKER_01: My parents were Christians, they grew up in church, their parents were Christians.
SPEAKER_01: Janet has a very similar testimony, and so my whole life was steeped in church and church people.
SPEAKER_01: We went to church every single morning, every Sunday night.
SPEAKER_01: We used to do that back then.
SPEAKER_01: We went on Wednesday nights.
SPEAKER_01: I went to youth group on Sunday afternoons.
SPEAKER_01: I played on the church baseball team.
SPEAKER_01: I played on the church basketball team.
SPEAKER_01: We had practice two nights a week.
SPEAKER_01: We'd go to church to practice.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I spent my entire life in church.
SPEAKER_01: And then when I was a third grader, my parents enrolled us in Briar Crest Baptist High School, Briar Crest Baptist School System.
SPEAKER_01: So from the third grade through the 12th grade, not only was I involved in church all the time, but I went to Baptist school every day of my life.
SPEAKER_01: We had devotions in school every day.
SPEAKER_01: We had chapel once a week.
SPEAKER_01: In high school, I've shared before in the past, we had uh Spiritual Emphasis Week.
SPEAKER_01: Basically, we had a revival in the school once a year.
SPEAKER_01: And one year, uh a former evangelist from this church, uh, Angel Martinez, preached that time.
SPEAKER_01: It was a really watershed time in my life.
SPEAKER_01: So I graduated from high school, and six days a week I was in Baptist church setting, right?
SPEAKER_01: And you just began to take on that mindset, and then I went to college, and all of a sudden I discovered not everybody was like me.
SPEAKER_01: Not everybody grew up in church.
SPEAKER_01: Now I went to the University of Memphis.
SPEAKER_01: I graduated from the University of Memphis, and there as I went through college, I didn't get any reaction when I slipped that in right there.
SPEAKER_01: I practiced that for an hour last night, and y'all gave me nothing out of that.
SPEAKER_01: But it was really truly it was in college when I realized, oh my goodness, most people around us are lost.
SPEAKER_01: Most people around us need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'll never forget the first science class I went to, and all of a sudden there were people that didn't believe that God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, how did you be a professor?
SPEAKER_01: You're really stupid.
SPEAKER_01: And then I realized, you know, man, there's a whole lot of people out there that really don't believe.
SPEAKER_01: I'd heard my pastor say that every Sunday of my life.
SPEAKER_01: I'd heard my youth minister teach us that, and that we were supposed to invite people to church and pray for our lost friends.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I went to a Baptist school.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what all of a sudden I get in this college setting, and there's all these people and all this language and all these needs, and they're doing all these things, and there's all this drinking, and there's all this alcoholism, and there's all this stuff going on, and there's all these people with these different worldviews, and all of a sudden I thought, oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01: And then I was a little overwhelmed, and I tried to back away from all that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, this is a different world.
SPEAKER_01: And then I went to law school, and um and again I began to realize on a whole nother level.
SPEAKER_01: Man, there's a whole lot of people, man, they just flat out don't think the way we do.
SPEAKER_01: The first time I got into an argument at a law school, I thought, a law school?
SPEAKER_01: Like, this is the law.
SPEAKER_01: People understand this.
SPEAKER_01: And we're arguing about abortion and the murder of babies, and I'm thinking, like, you people have lost your minds.
SPEAKER_01: Do you not understand?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: I was so naive in a lot of ways that I was told a story to some somebody the other day, um, the way you get a job as a lawyer most of the time when you're in law school that first summer and that second summer, you intern at a law firm.
SPEAKER_01: They call it clerking.
SPEAKER_01: And so I got an internship, got a clerkship at a large law firm in Memphis that I later went to work for, and it was great.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm interacting with all these people, and and I'm such a naive Baptist kid at that point.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we'd go out and the associates would take us all, the associates in the firm would take us all out, and they'd take us to dinner, and they'd buy us lobsters and steak, and and they were drinking and all this stuff, and they were doing all this stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, you know, whatever, this is what you have to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm going to dinner with them, I'm doing all this stuff, and I didn't realize that these young attorneys that weren't getting paid a lot, they got an opportunity to have the firm credit card and somebody to pay for their dinner, and that's what they were doing.
SPEAKER_01: And they called it recruiting when they would take us out as the clerks.
SPEAKER_01: And then I thought, you know, how am I going to sort all this out?
SPEAKER_01: And then the first time somebody said, Well, Greg, why don't you drive?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we we respect your faith and belief.
SPEAKER_01: Why don't you drive?
SPEAKER_01: And it took me about five times before I realized they're just abusing me so that I am the designated driver so they can drink as much as they want to.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was such a naive Baptist guy working through all that.
SPEAKER_01: And I and it took me a journey to begin to realize the brokenness around us and the questions that people have, and that God has put you in this school, in this neighborhood, in this family, in this job, in this place, because there are people there just like Jesus described them.
SPEAKER_01: They have desperate needs, disease, and sickness, and they're weary and they're worn out, and they're living lives that Jesus did not prepare for them.
SPEAKER_01: They are like sheep without a shepherd, and we're going through life, or even worse, we're treating a lost world as the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: When did the lost world become the enemy?
SPEAKER_01: People who disagree with us on issues, listen, they're not the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: They need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Our call is not to ridicule people or tear people down or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we stand for the truth, and yes, we state those things, but listen, it is our job to tell people Jesus loved you so much that he died on the cross for your sins.
SPEAKER_01: He rose again, conquering death and sin, so that you can be spiritually forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a relationship with God, he can work in your life, you'll have the privilege of coming to him in prayer, and you will have the promise and hope of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we are to do, and we're to see what Jesus sees.
SPEAKER_01: And there is a change that has to go on in our hearts as church people where we don't just see church people, but we see the people that need Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus' response is oh man, dudes, y'all look at this.
SPEAKER_01: You see all these people hurting.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't get mad they were hurting, he didn't get mad they rejected him, he didn't get mad at the culture, they didn't huddle in church group think to talk about how rotten the culture in the world was.
SPEAKER_01: Now, it is those things, and we have to recognize those things, and we have to learn how to speak into them.
SPEAKER_01: But here's Jesus' response to all that.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all, that's a harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Fellas, all that need out there, the good news of the kingdom of God, that the Messiah has come, that salvation is available, all of that right there, that means folks can get saved.
SPEAKER_01: We have the answer to those questions and those needs.
SPEAKER_01: And what Jesus saw was needs created a harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Needs created an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Questioning created a chance to give the answers.
SPEAKER_01: Brokenness and struggle created the opportunity for the power of God to step in.
SPEAKER_01: And because Jesus understands that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, he saw a harvest in the needs of people.
SPEAKER_01: Man, we live in a culture that's searching today.
SPEAKER_01: We live in a time where people don't understand and they got all kinds of weird ideas.
SPEAKER_01: But we also live in a time where people are searching.
SPEAKER_01: I read something this weekend where it tells us that all of a sudden, with all of these questions and openness, that Gen X and Gen Z people are attending church on average more times a month than you are as a 50, 60, or 70-year-old.
SPEAKER_01: Their averages are higher than us because they are returning to church and they are searching.
SPEAKER_01: If that's not an opportunity, I don't know what is.
SPEAKER_01: And we have an opportunity through the power of the gospel, if we believe that the gospel saves, to step into a harvest.
SPEAKER_01: A harvest.
SPEAKER_01: And so, because of that, we get to our second principle.
SPEAKER_01: Our second principle are workers.
SPEAKER_01: Look what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
SPEAKER_01: Now, there's two things I want you to see about this worker deal.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, if the Lord of the harvest sees an abundant harvest and he sees that the workers are few, he's not gonna ask us to pray just for the minimum number of people to function church.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: If he sees an abundant harvest, what's he gonna tell us to do?
SPEAKER_01: If we're praying for workers, we're praying for how many workers?
SPEAKER_01: An abundance of workers.
SPEAKER_01: If you see acres and acres and acres of fields that are white to harvest, man, you're praying for God to raise up as many people, as many soul winners, as many people who are serving people, as many people who invite people to church as you can possibly find.
SPEAKER_01: You're praying for as many people.
SPEAKER_01: People to get involved as you can possibly pray for.
SPEAKER_01: We need everybody to get involved out there because there are hundreds of thousands of people that live in the river valley, and we need every worker that God can possibly raise up.
SPEAKER_01: If we don't see the harvest, we don't get the connection to the abundance of workers.
SPEAKER_01: But the more we see the harvest, and the more the needs and the questions trigger in us, praise God, Jesus can answer that.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God, Jesus can answer that.
SPEAKER_01: And the more we see that, the more we see the opportunity of the harvest, the more we begin to get moved to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we you've got to raise up more folks.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we've got to have more folks.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we've got to have more Sunday school teachers.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you need to, we need to get our people inviting people to church.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, you've got to stir the hearts of our congregation to work on their love list.
SPEAKER_01: God, you've got to raise these people because we got hundreds of thousands of people that need Jesus in the river valley.
SPEAKER_01: God, you've got to raise up some folks.
SPEAKER_01: He says, pray for workers.
SPEAKER_01: In an abundant harvest, that means a lot of workers.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the next thing we see from that picture.
SPEAKER_01: There are no special requirements for workers.
SPEAKER_01: It's just the willingness to work.
SPEAKER_01: That's the only requirement.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't tell them to pray for more preachers.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't tell them to pray for more worship pastors.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't pray for more student pastors.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, pray for more children's pastors.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say pray for more leaders.
SPEAKER_01: You doesn't say pray for more denominational leaders.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say pray for more deacons.
SPEAKER_01: He says, pray for workers.
SPEAKER_01: Workers.
SPEAKER_01: What's the requirement of a worker?
SPEAKER_01: You just pick up a sickle or whatever kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: You're going out there to cut the wheat and you grab a basket and you just go get busy.
SPEAKER_01: You just put some gloves on and you go to that vine where they're drawing those grapes and you just start pulling grapes.
SPEAKER_01: You walk up to an apple tree and you just start pulling apples.
SPEAKER_01: It's just work.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, listen, we're praying for workers.
SPEAKER_01: I just need people who are willing.
SPEAKER_01: If the Lord of the harvest is raising them up and it is the power of God, gospel is the power of God and salvation, the worker doesn't need to do anything but have his eyes on Jesus and go follow and get busy.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what he calls us to do.
SPEAKER_01: Followers pray for more workers.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's the beauty of this.
SPEAKER_01: There's two sides to this.
SPEAKER_01: You are commanded to pray for workers, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for more workers.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: I'm praying for workers, and the folks on this role are praying for workers.
SPEAKER_01: So as they pray for workers, y'all are the workers.
SPEAKER_01: But as I'm praying for workers, y'all are the workers.
SPEAKER_01: You are praying for workers, but you are also the answer to someone else's prayer for workers.
SPEAKER_01: All of us are included in the workers.
SPEAKER_01: We are praying for more workers.
SPEAKER_01: We are modeling what it means to work.
SPEAKER_01: We are being faithful to work.
SPEAKER_01: We are praying for people to come work alongside of us because we all see the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: And so no one is excluded from being a worker.
SPEAKER_01: If you have given your life to Christ, or in 10 minutes you give your life to Jesus in this service because you're seeing this picture of Jesus, and somebody told you about Jesus in your Sunday school group, and somebody's been praying for you, and you give your life to Jesus, this afternoon you can be a worker.
SPEAKER_01: The only requirement is for you to know Jesus as your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: You can go home this afternoon as a brand new Christian and you can tell your family what happened.
SPEAKER_01: You can invite your friends to church next week or students Wednesday night or men's discipleship or Wednesday shops.
SPEAKER_01: You can invite and ask somebody to come on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_01: You can immediately get involved in harvesting because your testimony is the only requirement that you have.
SPEAKER_01: And remember what we say about testimony here.
SPEAKER_01: When you've given your life to Christ, it is eternally powerful and it is eternally valuable.
SPEAKER_01: It changed your life forever that Jesus saved you.
SPEAKER_01: And every testimony here, however your testimony happens, however it is you met Jesus, whether yesterday or grew up as a child in church, whatever it is, it is valuable because it costs Jesus to shed blood on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And so your testimony equips you to be a worker.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, the prayer.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, Jesus makes it very clear, this is a prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Pray to the Lord of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Now it is a command.
SPEAKER_01: This is an imperative statement.
SPEAKER_01: Pray.
SPEAKER_01: He sat there with those guys and he said, fellas, you see this right here?
SPEAKER_01: Fellas, I am telling you, you pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's a command.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're going to practice that this week.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the other deal: we know that God answers.
SPEAKER_01: So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.
SPEAKER_01: He hears, he answers, and he sends those workers.
SPEAKER_01: He raises up people.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say right now, thank you to our team that is going to Chaffee.
SPEAKER_01: God raised them up and has sent them as workers.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: Aren't you proud of them as a church family?
SPEAKER_01: We are so excited about our team that went out there and who's going.
SPEAKER_01: Next week we have one of our Sunday school classes.
SPEAKER_01: They're going to go help us on opening Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Man, He has raised them up for that opening day to go and to serve.
SPEAKER_01: I am so grateful that God answers this prayer and He raises up folks to serve.
SPEAKER_01: And there's so many ways in our church.
SPEAKER_01: Teaching in student ministry, teaching in children's, all those places where God is raising up workers.
SPEAKER_01: But we need more.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the other thing: when we are praying to the Lord of the harvest to send workers, when we are praying to ask God to send workers because the harvest is abundant, it focuses us on the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: The more I pray about the harvest, and the more I pray for workers in that part of the field and the harvest, the more it focuses my heart on the importance of pleading with the Lord of the harvest for workers.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what we're going to do.
SPEAKER_01: We talk often about love list here.
SPEAKER_01: We talk about our love list.
SPEAKER_01: That's three people God has placed in your life.
SPEAKER_01: That is an up-close part of your harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Three people that God has placed in your life that you know need Jesus, and we pray three things for them.
SPEAKER_01: First, we pray that you will invite them to church and they will listen and come when they are invited.
SPEAKER_01: And then we pray for a chance to share your salvation story.
SPEAKER_01: Again, if you're a worker, that's the only tool you need, is to tell people how you meet Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And then the third thing is we are praying for them to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: We are praying because we have seen that the harvest is plentiful.
SPEAKER_01: We have seen that Jesus has a heart for them.
SPEAKER_01: We have seen that the gospel is the power of God into salvation.
SPEAKER_01: We have seen that He is the Lord of the harvest, and we're asking, Lord, we see the harvest, Lord, bring the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: We want to see people saved.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this week, what we want to do is I want you to take your love list, be praying it, but I want you to pray for our church in this way.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to pray using your love list as a guide to pray for workers.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: So we're just going to go through those three things, but I want you to pray in this way.
SPEAKER_01: So first, I want you to pray for X number of people to invite someone to church.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in a Sunday school group, half your Sunday school class.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for half your Sunday school class to invite somebody to church.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe you know someone, you've been talking with them, they're in your community group, and y'all are friends, and you can put their name in there.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for Greg to invite that person to church they've been talking about.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for whoever to invite that person to church.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for Susie to invite that person to church.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, an abundant harvest means abundant workers, and I want us to think in an abundance.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want you to pray for a number of people, a volume of people to begin inviting somebody to church.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what Jesus said?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not making it up.
SPEAKER_01: The harvest is abundant, the workers are few.
SPEAKER_01: Pray a command to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to be obedient.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to pray, and I want everybody to have a number, and I want you to pray that that many people in your group, in your ministry, wherever it is, the row where you sit, the Sunday school class you're in, you're in the choir, student ministry, whatever it is, pray for this many people and invite somebody to church.
SPEAKER_01: I have been blessed this week.
SPEAKER_01: I've had people all week long tell me the specific person that they are inviting to Chaffee next week, that that opening service creates a window that they are interested in into coming to church.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: It is such a blessing to hear you as a church say, hey, Pastor, pray for this person.
SPEAKER_01: I have invited them and I am offered to bring them to church.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Let's do that every week.
SPEAKER_01: Let's do that at both campuses.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for X number of people to share their salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: However many people in your class, pray for 20% of them, or pray for half of them, or I don't know, whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Pray for X number of people to have an opportunity to share their salvation testimony.
SPEAKER_01: If you know somebody that's been talking about a friend that needs to be saved or something like that, go to them and say, listen, I want you to know I am your prayer partner.
SPEAKER_01: I am praying for you, and I'm praying for you to have an opportunity to share your salvation testimony, and I'm praying for your faith to do that.
SPEAKER_01: And now I'm praying for you.
SPEAKER_01: And then you go ask them.
SPEAKER_01: You see, it's harassment if you tell them to do it.
SPEAKER_01: But if you tell them you're praying for them to be able to do it, then it's spiritual encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: You see the difference?
SPEAKER_01: Man, we want to encourage each other in this.
SPEAKER_01: And the third thing is we want to pray for a harvest of souls.
SPEAKER_01: We want to see people saved.
SPEAKER_01: We are praying for that first Sunday as just an iconic moment when we baptize in both campuses on the same Sunday.
SPEAKER_01: Amen?
SPEAKER_01: We are praying to see people saved.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if God starts bringing that abundant harvest, we're going to start four more campuses.
SPEAKER_01: There's an abundant harvest that needs Jesus all around us.
SPEAKER_01: Praise God for the opportunity we have to step in and to pray for people to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord of the harvest brings the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: He is the Lord of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: And we want to pray because we want God to know, as the Lord of the harvest, that we will be faithful workers.
SPEAKER_01: They're going to get saved.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we're here.
SPEAKER_01: Let us help.
SPEAKER_01: Let us be a part of it.
SPEAKER_01: We want to be a part of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: All of this begins with you as a worker being equipped by your testimony.
SPEAKER_01: Do you have a testimony?
SPEAKER_01: Have you recognized how much Jesus loves you?
SPEAKER_01: That he has compassion for you, just as it's described right here in God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: That He has the good news of God's plan for us.
SPEAKER_01: It says that Jesus was preaching the good news of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: What that means is he's preaching the gospel that he was the Messiah, God sent to die on the cross for our sins, to pay the price for our sins, that he is going to be raised from the dead to conquer death and sin and offer us the good news of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Your sins can be forgiven.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus died on the cross to forgive them if you will place your faith in him.
SPEAKER_01: Him who has compassion for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, in the moment I'm going to pray, God's people are going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: Then we're going to stand and sing a hymn, and we'll have pastors ahead of these aisles.
SPEAKER_01: And they're going to be here for you to come and to give your life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That is why we are preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: We are all workers.
SPEAKER_01: Sharing our testimony with you that Jesus saved.
SPEAKER_01: Give your life to Him.
SPEAKER_01: If you're watching on television or online, listen right there where you are.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to come here to get saved.
SPEAKER_01: Just get right there.
SPEAKER_01: Tell the Lord, I know I'm a sinner.
SPEAKER_01: In your own words, just let him know you understand that your sin is sin, that it must be punished, and that you know that Jesus loved you so much with compassion.
SPEAKER_01: He died on the cross to pay the price for your sin.
SPEAKER_01: And when he rose again, conquering death and sin, he created the opportunity for you to surrender your life to him as Lord and Savior of your life.
SPEAKER_01: He'll save you right there if you'll pray and talk to him and surrender your life to him.
SPEAKER_01: Church family here in the room, I want you to bow your heads as we pray.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to pray for freedom to respond.
SPEAKER_01: And church family, I'd like for you to pray this morning that you are going to commit to this prayer time during this week.
SPEAKER_01: Best I can show you this morning, I have shown you that this is a command from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The invitation is not just an opportunity for people to be saved, but it is an opportunity for every one of us to leave here different than we were when we came in.
SPEAKER_01: And for many of us, it is to be reminded of the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm going to ask you, please make a commitment this week to pray with all of us for workers and the harvest.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we come and we give ourselves to you now.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I ask for freedom to respond.
SPEAKER_01: I ask, Father, that you will speak to the heart of every person here who needs Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that even in the midst of talking about evangelism, they are overwhelmed with this picture of Jesus, of his compassion, and of his good news.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray you will give them the freedom to give their lives to you as their Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, for those of us who are saved, if someone needs a church home, I pray, Father, they'll come and make this a church home, that they'll step back in to the harvest and be a worker.
SPEAKER_01: For us as a church family, Lord, I pray that you will galvanize in each of us an obedient to a commitment to this week pray for workers.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, this is our prayer.
SPEAKER_01: We pray in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And all God's people said.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.