Celebrate Jesus 2000 by Praying

TEXT: Luke 10:1-2

TOPIC: Celebrate Jesus 2000 by Praying

Bobby Earls, First Baptist Church, Icard, NC

November 2, 1997

Luke 10:1-2 “1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Please take your bibles and open to Luke’s gospel, chapter 10. I am going to return to a subject I preached about back in September. Many of you will remember the Sunday we joined with other area churches in a Celebrate Jesus 2000 rally at Central Baptist in Hildebran. While that event and the subject of Celebrate Jesus 2000 is still fresh on your minds I want to hit that subject again.

Some of you may be wondering what exactly is Celebrate Jesus 2000? I’m glad you asked. Celebrate Jesus 2000 is a global strategy to pray for and share Jesus Christ with every lost person on the earth by the end of the year 2000. It is designed so that every person in every community, neighborhood, town, city and village be given the opportunity to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Some of you who are long time Southern Baptists will remember the adoption of Bold Mission Thrust in 1976. Southern Baptists meeting in annual convention voted to take God’s word seriously and the Great Commission. We adopted on that day to seek to share Jesus with every person on the face of the earth before the fulfillment of the year 2000. Celebrate Jesus 2000 is the final leg of Bold Mission Thrust.

Briefly, the four-part strategy of Celebrate Jesus 2000 involves:

1. PRAYER - 1997

2. PERSONAL WITNESSING - 1998

3. PROCLAMATION - 1999

4. PRESERVATION - 2000

Our goal is TOTAL PENETRATION of every community by TOTAL PARTICIPATION of every church member.

Now you may ask how is this possible? How can we ever hope to accomplish such a evangelistic strategy with such ambitious goals? The answer is prayer. Someone has said, “Celebrate Jesus 2000” will never get off its feet until we get on our knees.

Before you leave church this morning I am going to give you an opportunity to get on your knees so Celebrate Jesus 2000 can get on its feet.

But first let’s look at a passage of scripture in Luke’s Gospel chapter 10. (Read the scriptures) Here our Lord Jesus Christ is preparing his disciples to launch out into ministry. He has been with them. He has taught them and trained them. Now it’s time for each of them to penetrate the communities, villages, and towns of their day with the good news about Jesus Christ.

I. THE STRATEGY OUR LORD JESUS USES, Luke 10.1 “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.”

A. The Appointment. 70 or 72? Ministry involves more than the twelve. Far more were called to follow Christ.

B. The Assignment. Sent into “every” city and “every” place.

C. The Activity. “two by two” see also Luke 10:3-5 “3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’”

The point is this: The Lord Jesus developed and used specific strategy to reach the masses of his day with his message. We should do the same.

II. THE STATEMENT OUR LORD JESUS SAID, Luke 10.2 “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

“the harvest is truly plentiful, but the workers are few.”

It’s interesting that our Lord makes this statement following an attempt to enlist three additional workers. In each instance, the men made excuse as to why they could not help.

III. THE SOLUTION OUR LORD COMMANDED, Luke 10.2 “And he said to them, “Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Pray. Pray to the Lord of the Harvest. God is the source of provision. He is the Lord of the harvest. He is responsible for sending forth more workers.

IV. THE STRATEGY WE WILL FOLLOW

We are invited to be a part of the Lord’s harvest. We are invited to be a worker in our Lord’s fields.

The celebration of Jesus begins with prayer. Did you notice that our Lord’s first instructions or assignment to the 70 was to pray? To pray for even more laborers!

We will Celebrate Jesus 2000 by doing two things: Praying for Laborers and Praying for the Lost.

1. PRAY FOR LABORERS

Ask God to remove excuses and fears that prevent His followers from being harvest laborers. (With conversion comes the responsibility of sharing the good news!)

Ask God to give His laborers boldness to clearly present the gospel until everyone has heard the good news.

Ask God to help His laborers to recognize the opportunities He gives them to share His gospel each day.

Ask God to make you a laborer in His harvest.

Ask God to convict every Christian of the need to be a harvest laborer.

Pray for those who plan, prepare, work and lead Celebrate Jesus 2000.

Pray that the goal of presenting the gospel to every person on earth by the end of the year 2000 will be achieved.

2. PRAY FOR THE LOST

We should pray for the salvation of the lost because:

It is God’s command. 1 Timothy 2:1

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone -- (NIV)

It is God’s desire that the lost be saved. 1 Timothy 2:4

Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (KJV)

The lost need someone to share the good news with them. 2 Corinthians 4:4

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,

Those who do not believe will perish if they do not accept the good news. John 3:36

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (KJV)

Because all of this is true, we will celebrate Jesus 2000 by praying….

For every person in our community by name.

We will pray by name for every person in the telephone directory. We will cut a phone directory in small sections, assigning approximately 50 names to church members to be prayed for over the next few years.

Are you willing to pray for the lost by name in our community? It so, I’m going to give you an opportunity to make that commitment today.

Begin prayer walks through every neighborhood.

We will begin today to enlist members of our church who will be willing to walk through their neighborhoods and assigned areas praying for their neighbors, house by house, trailer by trailer.

Just as Jesus sent out the 70 two by two, so we will assign a walking/praying partner who will join you in your prayer walks.

Finally, we will simply use our existing prayer ministries, and prayer organizations.

To help us obey our Lord’s command to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers,” and “to pray for the lost,” we will encourage every organization, the WMU, Brotherhood, Sunday School classes, Promise Keepers, Women’s ministry groups, deacons, prayer teams, prayer meeting, etc. to pray.

Jesus said, “Pray, you pray, that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into the harvest.” Are you willing today to accept our Lord’s challenge?

(Heads are bowed, every eye closed)

1. How many of you would be willing today to commit to praying for our community by name, taking as many as 50 names to pray over them on a regular basis. Would you raise your hand?

2. How many of you would also be willing to join with another prayer partner and form a prayer walk team in your neighborhood or assigned area and begin to walk through the streets of your community praying as you go? Raise your hands.

3. How many of you finally, would be willing to pray for laborers and the lost as we Celebrate Jesus 2000 by participating here at church in prayer? Raise your hands.