And Now for Something Completely Different

This is just for fun and is a must see...

Link to the video for you receiving this via RSS - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDvSx0KKCRY

Praying for the Lost by Name - Part 2 of 2

Question: Is it more important for believers to pray to keep Christians out of heaven or lost persons out of hell?

I'm being a little sarcastic here to prove a point. So much of our praying in church today is focused on the physical and temporal needs of people. If people are healed, if they are provided for, if their temporal needs are met while their greatest need - salvation - is neglected, then what profit is our praying to them?

Paul said of Israel in Romans 10:1 ESV , "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved." He was so burdened for their salvation that he said, "...I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh." "Romans 9:3 ESV"

That is a heavy burden.

Would you be willing, if it were possible, to forsake your own salvation in order to see others saved? In case you were wondering, my answer to that question is: no comment.

We should be burdened for the salvation of people. This is especially true when you consider their spiritual condition apart from Christ. The bible says that people apart from Christ are...

• Matthew 15:24 – LOST.
• 2nd Corinthians 4:3-4 – BLIND.
• 2nd Timothy 2:25-26 - BOUND.
• John 3:18 - CONDEMNED.
• John 3:36 - DESTINED FOR HELL.
• John 6:44 - HELPLESS.
• Ephesians 2:12 - WITHOUT HOPE.
  

I would encourage you to get your Bible read each of the passages from the list above and meditate on them.

Here are a few ways that you can start a ministry of praying for the lost in your church...

Begin an Operation Celebration ministry in your church. (This is also known as Operation Andrew.) This is a list praying method. You begin praying for lost people by name on a daily basis. Download the training manual and the Operation Celebration brochure from our website. It is free.

Fishbowl Fishing - During prayer meeting, have people write the names of their lost friends and relatives on slips of paper. Collect them in a fishbowl and place them on the altar. During each prayer meeting, have people take a slip from the fishbowl and pray for that person(s) by name. Return the names to the bowl and keep praying for them at every prayer meeting until the person comes to faith in Christ.

Prayer Triplets - This is a variation of the list praying method. Find three people to partner with. Each person identifies three people that need Christ and begin praying for them by name as a group. If possible, find a time to meet together each week for prayer.

Prayerwalking - Prayer walk your neighborhood specifically to pray for the salvation of lost neighbors. If you don't know your neighbors by name, collect their addresses and use a service like www.411.com to do reverse address look ups. For the most part, it should give you the names of the people in your neighborhood. (For those living in the USA)

I would love to hear your suggestions on how to pray for the lost by name. You can list them in the comments section. Most importantly, pray for people who need Jesus as part of your daily walk with Christ. J. Sidlow Baxter said, "...men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons - but they are helpless against our prayers."

Lost - Part 2

Sorry for the delay in writing part 2 of this article. My wife and I have had a serious case of new born baby interrupt-us. Please continue to pray for us – especially my wife who is experiencing some minor complications with her c-section incision.

Now for the post…

I believe one of the greatest challenges facing today’s church is not reaching people with the gospel, but convincing believers that people need to be reached with the gospel. In other words, we must help Christians see the lost.

It is difficult for some to think of their loved ones, friends and neighbors as being lost. Most of us tend to think the best about people. We see the good that they do and think, "how could God send such a good person to hell?"

Jesus, in John 3:18 said, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." [Emphasis added]

The condemnation that the lost are under is not based upon their sins, but upon the fact that they are sinners. The Bible also describes the lost as being, dead in their trespasses and sins, under Gods wrath and controled by Satan (See Ephesians 2:1-5)

Even though most people are capable of doing great good, their nature is to gravitate toward sin. That is why we believe that people have a sin nature - because they tend to sin. Even my "innocent" little 4 year old son tells lies and disobeys his parents.

In Acts 17:16-34, Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens. The running joke in Athens during that day was that there were more Gods than men in Athens. As Paul looked around the city, the bible says that His spirit was "provoked" within him at the sight of so many idols. Literally, he was exasperated because he saw the desparate spiritual condition of the Athenians.

This led Paul to start preaching Jesus in the synagogues, among the gentile believers and in the marketplace. His understanding of the lostness of the people of Athens led him to take action.

I am convinced that once Christians truly understand the lostness of the people in their circle of influence, and the consequences of that lostness - eternal separation from God, they will take action and announce the good news.

If we never see a need, then we will never sow the seed!

The Price of Friendship

Today, I read an article on our state newspaper’s website, the News and Observer, about a woman who shelled our $25,000 to her veterinarian for saving her beloved pet dog Tony. Tony suffered from a ruptured disc. He underwent major surgery and spent 30 days on a ventilator in recovery. The $25,000 bill doesn’t even cover the expensive physical therapy that the dog will need to return to health.

Tony’s owner put most of the bill - $16,000 – on one of her credit cards and plans to have a yard sale to help cover the rest of the cost. The article stated that the bill showed how far her owner was willing to go to maintain a relationship.

First of all, I think it is tragic that our society has become so affluent that we can afford to treat our pets better than we treat human beings. Having traveled extensively in the past 10 years – and not to tourist destinations mind you – to see the way the rest of the world lives in light of this excess is astonishingly criminal! (I am by no means against capitalism. I am against the misuse of the blessings of capitalism.)

Second, I think of the many Christians I know of that would indulge in the same kind of, or similar, excess yet fail to give more than a mere pittance to God for building His Kingdom. Many American believers live in houses much larger than we need and drive $40,000 SUVs. We buy $150 tennis shoes for our children and entertain ourselves with $3000 televisions. Truly sinful!

Now, to my point…I wonder, what would happen if Christians placed this kind of value on human relationships - especially relationships with lost people? Is there a price too high to pay when it comes to reaching people with the gospel? Our pets become a part of our family, but we refuse to tell a neighbor, friend or co-worker how to become a member of God’s family?

Meditate on that thought…

Building Friendships for Eternity

FriendFluence: actively pursuing relationships with people in order to win them to Christ, build them in faith and send them back into the world to influence others.

One of the most distressing things I have seen in modern Christianity - at least in the western world - is our apathy toward sharing the greatest message of all - the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in the gospel of John that He "came so that people might have life and have it in abundance."

According to the teaching of the Bible, Jesus died on the cross, was buried, rose from the dead on the third day and ascended to the father in heaven so that the sins of the world could be forgiven. By faith, anyone who turns from their sins (repents) and believes in Him can find that abundant life which is for now and forever more. In my book, that qualifies as good - no...GREAT news!

Yet, I am baffled when I meet Christians who say that they have met Jesus, yet have no desire to see other people experience the joy of knowing Jesus personally. Could it be as Billy Graham once said: "the greatest hindrance to evangelism today is the poverty of our own experience." In other words, Christians don't tell others about Jesus because they never met Him in the first place. God forbid...

FriendFluence is about teaching believers to look for ways to build relationships with people who have never met Jesus Christ in order to introduce them to Him, build them in their faith, and teach them to influence others in the same way.

This Blog is dedicated to the development and teaching of a Bible based curriculum called FriendFluence which was created by Evangelist Darrel Davis of Foundation Ministries. The goal of this curriculum is to change the mindset of believers when it comes to spreading the message of Jesus Christ and equip them to take an active role in reaching people.

I welcome your constructive input through comments and suggestions. Keep checking back for more posts and updates on the development of this curriculum. My desire is to equip Christians to build Friendships for eternity.