Heart for the Lost

Intro

Back when I wnt to Millar Bible College they had a choir and what they called a Chorale. The chorale was for people who wanted to sing in a smaller group, who could actually sing. It took more time to do. They transitioned this into a drama/singing group. At first I was like, I didnt sign up for this acting stuff thank you. but I learned to enjoy doing it. It was around this time that they started ot otur again with the group, then they also started sports team tours and stuff. Ou r chorale/dram,a group went on a tour to NW Manitoba, into winnipeg and back. Going into Winnipeg I remember passing the pennitentiary. I cant find any records of a prisoner escape, but I have memoires of a man running down the ditch between the 4 lanes of traffic wearing orange being chased on foot by police. My reaction was one of interest wondering what this guy did to deserve what was happening to Him. Our choir director saw the man being chased and said, we need to pray for him, he needs Jesus.

That struck me. My reaction to the man was one of disinterest, he deserves what is coming to Him. Her reaction was to pray for the man who so obviously needed Jesus. I have always remembered that and it challenenged the way that I looked at people since then. Even when I did my internship in missions i started to look at the 100’s of poor people I encountered and realize How little I could do to help them, but what I could do was share Jesus with them.

I was reading through the book of Romans and something in it struck me, and it asks the question what is our heart like for the lsot around us? Our purpose and mission in running Bible camp is to Glorify God, Love Each other, Make Disciples. Our goal in all we do is to glorify the Lord God. In doing that we see our duty is to love eachother and equip each other in what it means to follow Jesus and also to make disciples of those that do not know Jesus. We are not just there to have fun, but first and foremost we need to make sure that we are sharing the gospel with people and leading them to Jesus. To do that we need to start praying, asking for God’s heart for the Lost around us.

That is what leads me to Romans 9:1-5

Romans 9:1–5 CSB

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

In verse 1 we see repition, when we see stuff repeated like this, that means it is important that we take note.

You see Paul who wrote the book of Romans had done a lot of preaching to Gentile’s that is those who where not part of the Israelites. So apperantly there may have been some word that he did not lvoe His own people anymore. Paul is going to make clear that His concern for the Gentile peoples has by no means diminished his concern for His own people.

Paul tells us in Vers e 2that he has great sorrow in His heart for His own people.

Romans 9:3 CSB

For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.

This is where the heart for the lsot comes in. Paul says that he wished He himself where cut off from Jesus and cursed for the benifit of His people.

To be cursed or accursed here is looking forward to the end times when Jesus comes back again and we all kneel before Him. It is a word that says that He wished that at that time, he be excommunicated from the family of God if all he people would turn their lives to Jesus. Eternal damnation, He wishes that He could take the damnation of the people so they might Know Jesus.

This is the love that He has for his own people, that he become accursed for them.

Most people think that this is a hypothetical response. There is an author that phrased it this way.

I would pray (were it permissable for me to pray and the fulfillment of such a prayer could benifit them)

There is a story about a time about 150 years before Jesus when the Jews where being horribly persecuted. The story takes place around 167–164 B.C., when Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Greek Seleucid ruler, outlawed Jewish worship and tried to force the Jews to adopt Greek religion and customs. He forbade circumcision, Sabbath observance, and sacrifices to Yahweh, commanding instead that pigs be sacrificed to Zeus in the Jerusalem temple. Eleazar (2 Maccabees 6). An elderly scribe who refused to eat pork or even pretend to, choosing death over dishonor. He said it was better to die nobly than to bring shame to his faith and mislead younger Jews.

Nguyen Cong Chinh — An evangelical pastor working with Montagnard ethnic minorities in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. He was arrested in 2011, charged with “undermining national unity” and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Catholic News Agency+2dvov.org+2

Nguyen Hồng Quang — A Mennonite pastor and human rights advocate, arrested in 2004 for “inciting others to resist officers doing their duty.” He was later released during an amnesty. CSW+1

Than Van Truong — A Baptist pastor in Vietnam who was wrongfully held in a mental hospital for nearly a year (2004–2005) for his ministry and for sending Bibles to officials

You Get the point, there have been people that have given their lives for the sake of their people so that they might be able to hear the message of the gospel. Paul could not do this, for He was imperfect and his own sacrifice would not have won salvation for His people, but the mentality is something I want to think about for a minutes.

Where is your heart for the lost, for the fallen. Think about the people you come in contact with.

when it comes to the camp and what we do down there. We are there day and night for 3 weeks or more or less sometimes because there are kids that do not know Jesus. Some kids that do know Jesus but they need to learn and grow in Him.

So what we need to pray for is a heart for the Lost, for Jesus heart for the Lost. This must be our prayer. We sacrifice we come and give our days off and our money and our time and our gifts so that the Lord may be glorified and His kingdom may grow through Him.

I want you guys to understand that this is how we need to go into camp, into the training, into the ministry. I have seen you guy