Week 1: Prayer as the Foundation – The Lord’s Prayer Part 1

12 Week Sunday School Series on Evangelism

Grace OPC, Sewickley

Winter/Spring 2025

Goals:

To stir the church to God-centered prayer aimed at the salvation of the lost

To help every member embrace the Great Commission as the work of the whole church

To sharpen/deepen understanding of the Gospel 

To equip people with some tools for witnessing to and reaching the lost

εὐαγγελίζω

euaggelizo

This is where we get our word “evangelize.”

This word shows up 54 times in the New Testament mainly in Luke/Acts and Pauline Epistles. Most often translated as “preach/proclaim good news/gospel.”

Evangelism is something that Jesus does, the leaders of the church do, and ordinary believers do.

Acts 5:42 - Apostles are evangelizing

Acts 8:4, 12, 25, 40 - ordinary believers are evangelizing, Philip, James and John

Acts 11:20 - ordinary believers evangelized Gentiles in Antioch

Acts 15:35 - Paul and “many others” are evangelizing

Witness (μάρτυς - martus) - witnesses have a testimony

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

Mark 5:19 “And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”” (cf. Luke 8:38–39)

John 4:39 “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.””

John 9 - man born blind testifies to Pharisees that Jesus must be from God

Witness to what end?

Glory and authority of Jesus

Matthew 28:18–20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Greek literally: “make disciples [as/when you are] going”

Great Commission is given to the Apostles on behalf of the whole church - includes us

We can’t properly do this in our own strength. Even the Apostles were told to wait for the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:4 “And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me;”

The Apostles’ response to this was to pray. When the Holy Spirit falls on them at Pentecost they are in the middle of a prayer meeting.

Prayer is the necessary foundation of all evangelism

The Lord’s Prayer teaches us what the content of our prayer is to be

Matthew 6:9–10 “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The first section (petitions 1-3) gives us the AIM of all Christian prayer: God’s Name (worship), God’s Kingdom (regenerated souls), God’s will (sanctification)

Q. 101. What do we pray for in the first petition? (p. 975 TPH)

A. In the first petition, which is, Hallowed be your name, we pray that God would enable us, and others, to glorify him in everything by which he makes himself known; and that he would cause all things to work for his own glory.

Q. 190. What do we pray for in the first petition? (p. 965 TPH)

A. In the first petition, (which is, Hallowed be your name,) acknowledging the utter inability and indisposition that is in ourselves and all men to honor God rightly, we pray, that God would by his grace enable and incline us and others to know, to acknowledge, and highly to esteem him, his titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, works, and whatever he is pleased to make himself known by; and to glorify him in thought, word, and deed: that he would prevent and remove atheism, ignorance, idolatry, profaneness, and whatever is dishonorable to him; and, by his overruling providence, direct and order all things to his own glory.

Q. 102. What do we pray for in the second petition?

A. In the second petition, which is, Your kingdom come, we pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed; and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it, and kept in it; and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.

Q. 191. What do we pray for in the second petition?

A. In the second petition, (which is, Your kingdom come,) acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fullness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished with all gospel officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever: and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.

Q. 103. What do we pray for in the third petition?

A. In the third petition, which is, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, we pray that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.

Q. 192. What do we pray for in the third petition?

A. In the third petition, (which is, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,) acknowledging that by nature we and all men are not only utterly unable and unwilling to know and do the will of God, but prone to rebel against his Word, to grumble and murmur against his providence, and wholly inclined to do the will of the flesh, and of the devil: we pray, that God would by his Spirit take away from ourselves and others all blindness, weakness, unwillingness, and perverseness of heart; and by his grace make us able and willing to know, do, and submit to his will in all things, with the same humility, cheerfulness, faithfulness, diligence, zeal, sincerity, and constancy, as the angels do in heaven.

The Great Commission flows from these petitions: When the Lord’s Prayer becomes the content of your heart, the Great Commission becomes the content of your life.

Week 1: Prayer as the Foundation – The Lord’s Prayer Part 1

Week 2: Prayer as the Foundation – The Lord’s Prayer Part 2

Week 3: The Message of Evangelism: Defining the Gospel

Week 4: The Messenger in Evangelism: Gospel-Produced

Week 5: The Man to Whom You Speak: Understanding Sin and the Sinner

Week 6: Evangelistic Contexts

Week 7: Getting the Conversation Started

Week 8: Come and See: The Power of Invitation

Week 9: Sharing the Gospel: Communicating the Message

Week 10: Calling Someone to Respond

Week 11: “Sharing Christ”: Introducing People to Jesus

Week 12: Review/Q & A

Week 1: Prayer as the Foundation – The Lord’s Prayer Part 1

Primary Text: Matthew 6:9-10 - First Section (Petitions 1-3)

Supplemental Text: Mt 28:18-20

[Action: make salvation prayer list available and ask people to write down two people they have a relationship with and interact with regularly and for whom they have a burden to see come to saving faith. Begin praying daily for their salvation]