Praying, Caring, Sharing

You know when you travel on an airplane...

and sometimes the person next you asks,...

what you do for a living.

Well, a preacher wanted to be a bit creative,...

when he was asked by a passenger next to him,...

of what he did for a living.

So one day he sat next to this lady on the airplane...

and he turns to her and says “hello,”

she says oh “hello” and they start talking.

And the pastor asked her “where are you going?”

and she said “Singapore,”

then she asked him, “where are you headed?”

And he said “I’m going to Australia,”

Then He asked her “what do you do?”

So she told him and then she asked the pastor, “what do you do?”

And he said well….(pause)

“I work for a global enterprise.”

She said to him “do you?”

His response was “yes, we’ve got outlets in nearly ever country of the world.”

She said “have you?”

His response was “yes, we’ve got hospitals,

and hospices, homeless shelters, orphanages,

we have feeding programs, we do justice work,

we do reconciliation work, we do marriage work.

Basically we look after people from birth to death.

And we deal in the area of behavioral alteration.”

And she went WOW!!

Like really loud, that all turned around and looked at them.

So she asked, “what’s it called?”

he said “CHURCH have you heard of it?”

You know friends, it is really good for us to realize that as Christians,

we are part of a global enterprise.

And as Christians, we are to be the hands and the feet of Jesus...

blessing and serving both locally and globally, Amen?

Just imagine for a moment that a family has three sons...

and let’s just say that the father says to his sons,

Hey guys we haven’t had family time in a while,

can we hang out together for a day.

Let’s go to the park and have a picnic...

and just have a nice day to catch up.

And of course the boys are all excited...

and the whole family, mom, dad, and the three boys...,

head off to the park for a day of fun and adventure.

And then at the end of the day...

the family packs everything up...

and the parents realize they’ve got only their youngest son with them,

let’s name him, Benjamin

but they lost the other two, let’s call them Michael and Simeon.

So they say let’s go into the forest and search for them.

They search around the forest...

and they can only find Simeon,

but they can’t find Michael.

And the father says, “oh never mind let’s just go home.

we win some and loose some.

Do you know what I mean? we lost two and got one back.

we lost two and got one back.

Sometimes you just got to count your losses. Right?

NO! No! what would the parents do?

They would search for Michael until he would be found, right?

That is the kind of analogy that is used in Scripture...

to inspire us, and to encourage us,...

to serve, love, seek and to save people who are lost.

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to (Read),

here we have the story of a shepherd who lost one sheep.

Did the shepherd say, oh well, I still have 99?,

you win some, you lose some.

Or did the shepherd come after the one lost sheep,

to seek and to save.

Jesus came to this planet to seek and to save the lost,

and even if there would be only one lost person...,

Jesus still would’ve come for that one to seek and to save.

Now how is Jesus seeking and saving the lost today?

Well before we answer that question...,

let’s look at another story Jesus shares here in , look at verses 8-10.

Notice this time it is not a shepherd, but a woman who loses one coin.

Where does she lose the coin?

She loses the coin in the house.

Is it possible to be in church and still be lost?

Jesus is looking for the lost ,both in the house and outside the house.

And how is Jesus looking for, seeking for the lost today?

Let’s turn to (Read).

The way Jesus looks for the lost today...

is to empower His followers with the Holy Spirit...

that they may be His hands and feet...

and through His followers to seek those that are lost.

when the Holy Spirit came on the first followers of Jesus,

the Holy Spirit empowered them to be witnesses.

Now as a Christian, whether you like it or not, we are a witness.

So either we’re a good witness or a bad witness.

And the problem with so many Christians...

is that they seem to have taken literally what Jesus said to three disciples...

“see that you tell no one”.

But the Spirit empowered us to be witnesses...

and one of the dangers being a Christian is that we enjoy amazing worships.

I love worship, I just soak it in.

you are tuning into the melody of heaven and you want more. Right?

And many of us are constantly worshipping...

and receiving, receiving, receiving.

But as we keep receiving, where is all that going? where is it going?

And the problem with many Christians is we’re a little bit constipated.

It’s like we want more, yeah I want more,

I want more worship, what else is there I want more….

But because it’s not going anywhere, we are totally constipated.

It’s got to go out, If it does not go out anywhere,

I think then we’re gonna have this frustration.

You see a missionary is not someone who crosses the sea.

A missionary is someone who sees the cross.

when you’ve seen the cross,

when you’ve understood the cross, the cross of Jesus.

What Jesus was really doing on the cross.

He was dying on the cross to cleanse us,

he was dying on the cross to heal us,

and his Spirit empowers us to be witnesses of this,

to be witnesses of Jesus, to be witnesses of forgiveness.

To be witnesses of healing,

to be carriers of His presence,

that’s essentially what’s about in .

It says the Spirit came on the first followers of Jesus...

to empower them to be witnesses...

and then he gave them a strategy.

First, be witnesses in Jerusalem,

then in Judea, then in Samaria...,

then to the ends of the earth.

What did Jerusalem represent to the first disciples of Jesus?

Well that was where they denied Jesus.

Peter denied Jesus publicly.

Where were they at the crucifixion?

Only John was there.

So Jesus says I want you to start in the place of your greatest failure.

Where is that for most of us?

Could be Family, friends, neighbors, colleagues.

So if we are going to reach the world,

we need to do so by cultivating the web of relationships that we’ve already got.

Kinship, family, friends...,

by cultivating those with whom we have a common community with,

neighbors and colleagues.

By cultivating the relationships that we have with those that we have a common interest with.

We might belong to the same gym or something like that.

That’s our world.

You see some people have been called to bypass Jerusalem,

bypass Judea, bypass Samaria...

and go to the ends of the earth,

but that’s probably 2% of Christians.

98% of us have been called to reach the world by reaching our world.

Now I’ve been thinking about this and here is my conclusion.

Three things we could do to reach out to those around us with the good news.

We are going to reach our world by first, praying.

By intentionally praying for our family, our friends, our neighbors, and our colleagues.

My husband and I try to do a few miles of walking...

or some sort of exercise for health reasons,

we do it because its good for us, its healthy.

I try to do two miles, or three miles,

he does more like six miles or seven miles.

And we spend about 45 minutes to an hour of exercise.

And I use that time to listen to music or sermons...

or lately as I am looking out the window and I started praying while walking.

Doing something that is good for me...

but also using that time to pray...

and I’m constantly praying about the kingdom of God.

Your will be done, touch this person, touch that person,

speak to this person about this.

Speak into this world, into that situation.

I use exercise as my time for praying, praying for my world, my Jerusalem, my network.

And I’m praying in the kingdom.

I never go longer then a few minutes without praying, I give all to God all the time. But I use that as my time for praying, praying for my world, my Jerusalem, my network. And I’m praying in the kingdom. Asking for God’s will, God’s presence, God’s kingdom.

Asking for God’s will, God’s presence, God’s kingdom.

IT really is incredible when we’re praying in the kingdom, in people’s lives.

What happens… things get transformed.

One time there was this young lady...

just complaining to her pastor about her husband,

how horrible he was.

He is so horrible that he does not do anything right.

Is he a Christian? The pastor asked,

“no,” responded the wife.

Well, he is missing Jesus in his life.

So the pastor asked her “well, when was the last time you had a romantic evening with him,”

she was like “what?”

“Yeah, when was the last time that you had a romantic evening with him?

“Well” she said, “never...,

because he is horrible, I don’t want to even think about it.”

The preacher then said “well, perhaps you better tell him that you want to go out with him on a date,

yes, text him right now and let him know.

And perhaps pray as you dine with him,

pray for a transformation, as you treat him with kindness.”

She looked at the pastor very funny thinking where is he going with this.

So she left and then came back to the pastor six weeks later.

“You remember me?” she asked. He said yes.

What you told me worked!!

So no matter how horrible the situation is,

pray about it and keep praying about it,

keep loving and keep praying...

and let me tell you friends, prayer always works.

So #1, we are to be praying…

And #2 we are to be caring…

Caring, you see our sociology has to reflect our theology.

Our Christianity is not only verbal but its visual.

And that’s very important. We’ve got to care.

The reason we have our service day today

and have ministries is to be the hands and the feet of Jesus,

that visually we may show our care to everyone around us.

One day, an evangelist with his wife went for a walk,

as they usually do in their neighborhood...

and they always prayed as they would do their walk.

They prayed “Lord your kingdom come, your will be done.

Use me, help me serve, Yes, Lord, Come soon, I am your servant,”

And he was having this divine moment.

And all of sudden after this evangelist finished praying.

He saw a woman and he asked his wife...,

isn’t this the lady that lives five doors from us,

whose son is really sick and is dying.

And the wife said, I think it is.

And at that moment he had this feeling that he needed to do something.

And he was like, is this God?

what shall I do? yes, No, yes, no...,

oh I will go talk to her.

He approached her and asked her is your name Barbara?

yes it is. “Am I right that your son is very sick? yes he is dying.

She asked can you go NOW to the hospice,

because she knew who he was.

Can you go NOW to the hospice and pray for him.

He thought what does she think I do all day?

But you see he has just been praying for the kingdom of God,

he was just praying your kingdom come, your will be done.

You see when you are praying, the Lord will prompt you to care.

So He said, yes. That woman was not a Christian, did not know Christ, did not believe in Christ.

HE said yeah, yeah I will go now.

Together with his wife, they went to the hospice, found him there.

The guy was sleeping, so his wife said let’s go home, he’ sleeping,

He said, “no I am not coming back, so he kick the bed...,

he kind of woke up like that.

His name was Johnny,”

he said “Johnny I just met your mother and I am a pastor,

and your mother has asked me to come pray for you would you like that?

And the guy just stared at him.

Literally he just stared at him with this look...

and made the air a bit uncomfortable.

And then he said I would rather have a hug.

So he and his wife bent down, and lifted him up....

and lifted him up....

and the three of them just embraced each other.

The guy started crying,

the evangelist’s wife started crying,

and then the evangelist started crying.

And they held him for a long time until he let go.

And when he let go they laid him down...

he said would you want a prayer anyway?

And the guy said, sure, go on with the prayer then.

The evangelist said, “I’m just going to put my hand on you and I’m gonna say a little prayer”

and the dying young man said, “Alright .

And he just prayed a little prayer. A little prayer.

But he prayed a different prayer inside.

He didn’t want the prayer inside to come outside.

So he started visiting him, he was an atheist...

and he helped him on his journey to see Jesus.

We must serve for Jesus, when the need is present,

not put it off for a more convenient time.

See, we are the people that can introduce people to Jesus.

As the evangelist kept visiting this sick, dying young man,

one time as he knocked and opened the door,

there was the mother crying, she said that he passed away.

And then looked at the evangelist, and asked, “Would you speak at his funeral?”

He said “of course I’ll speak at the funeral.”

The evangelist didn’t know that this young man was really famous DJ in that area.

He was only 27 years old when he passed away...

and in that city, he was a well known DJ.

At the funeral there were 800 people...

and he spoke at the funeral about hope in Jesus.

He finished speaking and as he came down from the stage,

all lined up to speak with him.

I need to speak with you,

I need to speak with you also…

what did you mean you can get to heaven through the King’s Cross.

HE explained it all to them in more detail,

but here it happened that as he was walking around his community,

praying your kingdom come, your will be done.

Your kingdom come, your will be done.

Lord reach out to people, use me.

Praying leads to caring.

And his praying led to him sharing Jesus with so many people.

And so praying leads to caring...

and caring leads to number 3, sharing.

sharing the good news, sowing the seed into people’s lives.

You see the job of a Christian,

the responsibility of a Christian is to go into God’s orchard.

Okay and what we do is we check the fruit,

we look at the fruit, we check the fruit.

IF the fruit is ripe for picking what do you do? You pick it.

Because if you don’t pick the fruit that is right for picking,

one of two things happens.

One, it over ripens, falls to the ground and dies,

or two, the world picks them up.

You see if you and I are not going to pick it,

the world might come in and pick the fruit.

Now, if the fruit is not ripe for picking,

you don’t pick it. You don’t pick it.

You don’t kind of see a woman and go oh are you expecting?

“oh yes, I am actually.”

Oh how many months? Oh six months.

Six months….well push it out, push it out.

You can’t push it out.

And that’s sometimes what some do,

they go to extremes, where either they are like push it out,

or its ready and we don’t pick it.

I love john chapter 4,

John chapter 4 is when Jesus meets a Samaritan woman, its incredible.

What do I mean that its incredible,

Jesus meets a Samaritan woman,

and she ‘s living in adultery, He’s the high priest.

So you got a moral barrier.

Okay, women didn’t speak to men in those days,

So you’ve got a social barrier.

She’s a Samaritan, he’s Jewish,

you‘ve got a racial barrier,

she’s a Samaritan, he’s Jewish,

you‘ve got a religious barrier.

Four barriers. Social moral, racial, religious.

How did Jesus break down the barriers?

Well, Jesus was here, he wanted to get to Sychar...

but if anyone else wanted to do that journey,

they’d walk around Samaria because Jews hated Samaritans.

The first thing Jesus did was to break long-standing traditions,

he went straight to it, stopped at a well,

a woman comes, moral barriers, social barriers, racial barriers, religious barriers.

HE didn’t focus on what they didn’t have in common.

He focuses on the one thing they have in common,

she wants h2o, he wants h2o.

you want h2o, I want h2o and he talks about h2o,

then he transforms it into living water,

he speaks into her life,

she drops the pots and pans, she goes into the village...

and comes back and brings everybody,

A Samaritan revival takes place.

Notice this in John chapter 4, let’s look at verses 9, 11, 15, 19, 29.

Notice, the first time she speaks to him she says jew,

but if you read it in its original context its like this Jew, psss.

Now the second times she speaks to him she says sir!

The third time she speaks to him she says prophet.

The fourth time she speaks to him, she says Messiah.

So she moves from Jews-sir- prophet-Messiah.

What often happens to us, they meet us and might think we are a bit different,

then ten minutes later, they might like us a bit,

and later hopefully as we are His faithful witnesses,

they like us more and praying that they start knowing Jesus through us.

Praying, caring, sharing the seed, sowing the seed.

So you can be intentional this week, this sacred week.

Be intentional in praying for your family...,

your friends, your neighbor’s, your colleagues.

Can you show some kind of care,

you can’t help everyone but you can help someone.

Praying, caring, sharing,

Give them an invite, make that call.

Send an email. Go and visit someone and say.

Hey I really want you to come to church next week.

How about breakfast on a random day during the week, or for a lunch,

and then I can pick you up for church next Saturday.

We go a day earlier to church to beat the Sunday church traffic.

You could tell someone, Listen, listen it’s my birthday,

And you tell your friend, “I want you to give me a birthday present.

And you say, do you know what my birthday present is this year?

I want you to come to church with me.

That would be the best birthday present you can give me.

Whatever it is do it, do it.

Get involved in one of the ministries.

Why? And I conclude with this because...,

why am I a Christian? Why should we all be Christians?

One because its true!

Its true ,Jesus rose from the dead...

and his resurrection authenticates everything he said, everything he did.

Why Am I a Christian? because I need forgiveness.

Everyone needs forgiveness and it was paid on a hill,

on a Friday that’s called good.

Why am I a Christian? because it works. It actually works.

Listen it’s true, you and I need forgiveness, it works, it really works.

A famous artist went back to the village where he was born.

Looking around he saw an antique shop,

in the antique shop he saw one of his master pieces,

one that he painted years before he was famous.

The frame was broken, the picture was dirty,

it was scratched, but it was his.

But he could not go into the antique shop...

and say hey that’s my painting give it back to me.

If he wanted it back, he had to buy it back,

before he could clean it, restore it, reframe it.

That’s what Jesus did.

He bought us back to clean us up...,

to restore us, to reframe us.

If you need cleaning, restoring and reframing...

turn to Jesus and then start praying for those around you,

and prayer will lead you to care.

Let’s care for those around us,

let’s serve, let’s get involved in caring, what do you say?

And as we pray and care,

let’s start sharing the love of Jesus with everyone.

May the Lord help us to pray, care, and share His love. Let us pray.