The Irreplaceable Plea

Paul was such a beneficiary of grace that he moved to extend that grace to the world. 1 Corinthians 9:19 shows how Paul just wants to win as many as possible. He's not a slave to anything, he's a free man, but he makes himself a servant to everyone so that he might win some.

As this collection closes out, we're going to focus on the irreplaceable plea. We are going to wrap our hearts around the fact that God works when we pray. The city is waiting for the Church to pray for it. The city isn't praying for itself, that's our job. Praying is the power of God moving in the process of people coming to know Him.

In 1 Timothy 2:1, Paul is stepping in with us and saying that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made to God for all people. All people means all people. Paul lays out a plan of who to start with. Begin with the leader of your country, your branches of government, your state leaders, and your city leaders. Pray for those who God has placed in authority over you. It doesn't matter if you voted for or agree with them, God has called you to pray for everyone. From the top to the bottom, everyone gets prayed for. The server, the construction worker, the teacher, they're all covered. This pleases God because there's a connection between our prayers and people's salvation. God wants all people to be saved and come to the true knowledge of Him. There is only one God and one mediator between God and man; Jesus, who gave Himself for all people.

We need to see the people. Matthew 9 says that when Jesus saw the crowds He had compassion on them because they were lost. They were like sheep without a shepherd. A sheep in that position is on a path to death. They are lost and clueless...and don't even know it. Lecturing them about how terrible they are doesn't help them see the picture of life found in Christ. Sheep don't look up and survey the land around them, they just keep their heads down and eat whatever is in front of them and slowly end up miles away. They're not hostile toward God or the gospel. they're just lost and away from Jesus.

We pray when we get a sense of stewardship. There's one mediator between God and man. Jesus is it. We have been given the stewardship of being the mediator of the Mediator. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 tells us that one part of the gospel is that we are reconciled to God and the other part is we have been given the ministry of reconciliation with others. The gospel never stops with us but flows through us. We are Christ's ambassadors.

We'll pray more when we shift our understanding. It's not just praying for the people that don't know Jesus, but for us to out of the Church and find them. At the of Matthew 9, Jesus said the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, so ask God to send out workers into the harvest field. It's a bit of a curve ball that Jesus didn't tell them to pray for the lost, he said to pray for the workers. We are often the answer to our own prayers.

Jesus is saying the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. The city is ready, the Church just has to get involved. People are searching, we just have to help them see a picture of what it looks like to find something. People are longing and searching so hard for something that is going to satisfy their hearts. We know His name is Jesus. When that combination starts happening, the gospel is powerful on its' own to do its' own thing.