Power of Praying Evangelism – How to Unleash Heaven’s Forces audio video notes. How many of us honestly believe someone praying had something to do with your coming into the kingdom of God? Most of us believe prayer had something to do with our coming to Jesus. Why is that? What is it prayer does that seems nothing else can do to bring people who are far from God and make them devoted followers of Jesus Christ? We want to talk about this today.
Seven Personalities Of Evangelism
Power of Praying Evangelism – How to Unleash Heaven’s Forces
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Power of Praying Evangelism – How to Unleash Heaven’s Forces
Scriptures: John 6:44, Acts 10:1-4, Psalms 141:2, Acts 10:5-6, Acts
10:24-28, Galatians 3:28, Acts 10:34-48, 2-4
I want us to see today how our praying for people far from God not only begins and continues a chain reaction effect eventually bringing them into the kingdom. It also helps keep us aware and sensitive concerning unchurched, far from God’s people.
Let’s read together our scriptures for today’s lesson.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
Acts 10:2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always.
Power of Praying Evangelism
1 Timothy 2:1-4
1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone –
2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
(These requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving are made for others, not ourselves. 1 Timothy 2:1 says “everyone,” and verse 2 says even “kings and all those in authority” are affected by our prayers. Is anyone immune to the prayers made in requests, intercession, and thanksgiving? No one is too hard or too mean or too far from God that prayer can’t reach out and bite.)
Prayer is a tremendous power given to the believer (Act 1:8) to help God save people and bring them to the knowledge of the truth.
Power of Praying Evangelism
PRAYER HELPS KEEP ME ON TASK.
In addition, prayer not only reaches out and brings people far from God into the kingdom. Prayer also helps keep the believer thinking about people far from God. Praying for specific people (impact list) to come into the kingdom of God does several things to help me keep my heart right for people far from God. I want to mention a few of those things.
I mentioned an “impact list.” Do we have a list of people we pray for daily or frequently about coming to Christ? Should we?
Keeps Me Aware
I tend to get caught up in my job of daily duties, administration, and ministering to Jesus Christ’s followers. If I do not pray for specific people to come into the kingdom, I will become dull toward people far from God. I won’t think about them as often as I should. But when I consistently pray for specific people (my impact list), I am extremely aware and sensitive to those I am praying for and for other people far from God.
For example, I told you about my nephew Brian, who went fishing with me during our vacation in Florida. I had the opportunity to witness to him. I have been praying for Brian nearly every day since then. Because of that, I have called him several times, and just this past week, I had a really good conversation with him. I am aware of him.
Power of Praying Evangelism
When we talk, he opens his heart to me and I am able to bring him closer and closer to Jesus. If I weren’t praying frequently for Brian, I would get busy and forget about him. Praying always for Brian keeps Brian on my mind. I have several people I pray for nearly every day. Prayer keeps me aware of them.
Keeps Me Listening for an opportunity
I believe we are each given daily or nearly daily opportunities (divine appointments) to talk to people about spiritual matters. If I don’t pray, I will miss hearing an opportunity. Let’s say in a day I have five opportunities to talk to different people about spiritual things. It can be as simple as someone telling me a problem and my responding by saying, “I will be praying for you about this.” If I haven’t been praying for specific people to come into the kingdom, I will miss some, if not all, of my opportunities. I won’t be tuned in and looking for a window to say something.
I was talking to someone the other day, and they were telling me about their baby’s illness. Plus, I was listening for a place to share something of the Spirit. I had a spot and said, “Bring the baby by the church sometime, and let me pray for her.” Do you know what? It happened just a few days later. Not only did the person bring the baby, but brought his wife as well. That’s exciting to me. That’s a high point for me. What if I had not been listening for the opportunity? I would not have heard a place to share. Prayer keeps me listening.
Power of Praying Evangelism
Imagine the conversation in those days between the husband and wife bringing the baby. Maybe it went something like this. “I talked to Pastor Delbert today and told him about our baby. He said to bring her to the church, and he would pray for her. What do you think?” “Well, I guess so. When can we do it?” “He said any day…” They were talking about and thinking about coming to church for several days to receive prayer for their baby. That’s exciting to me.
Keeps Me Watching
Prayer reminds me how God must go before me before any evangelistic effort will transpire.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Father God must first pull on a person’s heart before a person can truly come to Jesus. I am always watching for signs showing me Our Father is drawing.
The Greek word translated “draw” is anistemi {an-is’-tay-mee} and means to cause to rise up, raise up, raise up from the dead.
Power of Praying Evangelism
draw – anistemi {an-is’-tay-mee}
to cause to rise up, raise up, to raise up from the dead
Biblical death is separation from God (Adam, the day he ate of the tree, didn’t physically die, but was separated from the Lord.). The picture the word gives is God will reach out to a person and begin to lift the person from a living death and draw them to Jesus.
I remember this experience well when God began lifting me from a living death. It was many decades ago, but I still remember it. I remember feeling something inside of me lifting and drawing me toward Jesus. I know now it was Father God himself. Later I learned people had been praying for me to come to the Lord.
My aunt had been praying for me from Florida. My wife’s grandfather had been praying for us for years. Some of my friends had been praying for me. God was pulling on my heart and lifting me toward Jesus. Before a person can come to Jesus, Father God must pull and lift and draw that heart. Prayer keeps me watching for His drawing.
Power of Praying Evangelism
How do I recognize when God is drawing and lifting a person? It happens differently with different people.
With me, I suddenly had a bunch of questions and an interest in the Bible I had never had prior.
Before that time, I was a hard-hearted man toward God. When people would talk to me about God or invite me to church, it was like they were beating a concrete sidewalk with a pickax. Then suddenly, nearly overnight, I softened. I wanted to know about God. It is a good sign God is drawing when a person begins to ask questions about the Bible, church, or God. Don’t miss it.
For some strange reason, I wanted to go to church, but not just any church.
It had to be a church where I had seen someone’s life actually change. I didn’t want to be a salvation notch on someone’s belt. If someone got me, they were going to have to work and help change me. I wanted a life-changing experience. There was really no big drama going on in my life at the time. I simply wanted to change.
It is a good sign God is drawing when people desire to go to church. I will never forget how one Sunday morning I was in bed awake waiting for Judy to wake. When she did, I said, “Do you want to go to church today?” She was not expecting me to ask her that question, but I did. We got the family ready and went to church.
Power of Praying Evangelism
I also came under tremendous conviction.
I didn’t know it was conviction then, but I did know I didn’t like me anymore, and I didn’t want to continue doing what I was doing. Also, I didn’t like my life. I hated some of the things I had done that hurt my wife and family. I had done some bad things to some people, and I remember I couldn’t wait until I could see one man and tell him how truly sorry I was for something I did to him. In my mind, I had planned out what I would say. One day, I saw him and said it.
A good sign God is drawing a person is when a person begins to dislike themself and hate things they have done to others. It’s conviction.
Those are a few things I experienced when Father was drawing me. I know had I not experienced those things, I would never have come to Jesus. People could talk to me about Jesus until they were blue in the face, and it had no effect. However, when Father drew me to God things could not happen fast enough. No man can come except the Father draw him (Joh 6:44). I watch for those things around people. Prayerstyle evangelism does this for me. It keeps me praying for specific people and keeps me thinking about and watching them.
Power of Praying Evangelism
Evangelism Styles –
Before we look at today’s Biblical example of prayer evangelism, I want first to refresh us on the different evangelism styles.
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Intellectual Style (Paul at Athens)
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Confrontational Style (Peter – Day of Pentecost)
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Relational Style (Levi – Luke 5)
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Invitational Style (Woman at well)
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Serving Style (Tabitha)
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Testimonial Style (Man born blind)
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Prayer Style (Cornelius)
Each of us moves fearlessly in at least one of these styles. That is how we defeat the terror of evangelism. However, as we are learning, we actually have an evangelistic style mix.
Power of Praying Evangelism
Power of Prayer Evangelism
This truly is an evangelism style we can all do. Prayer keeps our hearts soft for the lost. Prayer keeps us listening for opportunities to minister for Jesus, and prayer sets in motion a chain of circumstances through which Father God will draw the unchurched into the kingdom. We see this in a story given in Acts 10 about a man named Cornelius.
Acts 10:1 There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,
Acts 10:2 A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.
Cornelius was an officer in the Roman army. He was devout, or we could say he was devoted. He was devoted to God, his home was godly, he gave alms, and he prayed always. The NIV Bible says Cornelius “prayed to God regularly.” He was a man of prayer. We immediately see some results of his prayer life. His entire house “feared God.” If your entire house knows God then you know the amount of prayer necessary for this to be accomplished.
Power of Praying Evangelism
Acts 10:3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
Acts 10:4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
As Cornelius was praying about three o’clock in the afternoon, the Lord sent an angel to visit Cornelius. This visit was in direct connection to Cornelius praying frequently and giving alms. A person who finds time to pray at three in the afternoon is a person of prayer. As devoted as I am, I can’t remember a time when I had a personal prayer time at 3:00 pm.
The prayers of Cornelius worked. Do we ever feel our prayers don’t work? Cornelius also felt this way. One version says, “Your prayers and charities have not gone unnoticed by God!” (TLB). Obviously, Cornelius had felt his prayers had gone unnoticed by God. We all feel this at times. We should be encouraged by these verses. Our prayers do not go unnoticed by God.
Neither does our giving go unnoticed. We will usually find people who pray a lot are also people who give a lot. I just want to add this thought: Some of you are big almsgivers. You give tithes, offerings, and alms big time. I want to tell you that you also need to pray a lot. The combination of prayer and alms is powerful, but we are talking about prayer today.
Power of Praying Evangelism
Memorial offering
Actually, the prayers of Cornelius “came up as a memorial offering before God.” The Lord told Cornelius He, the Lord, was going to do something big. This was going to be a memorial. It would be something people would be talking about two thousand and three thousand years down the road. It was monumental, and it was going to happen because Cornelius prayed.
The Lord said prayer is an offering given to him. We give our money, talents, and time as an offering, but I don’t know if we think of prayer as giving an offering. The Lord does.
Psalms 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Prayer requires the sacrifice of one of our most valued possessions: our time. We only have so much time and giving a good portion to the Lord in prayer is big. Prayer often requires we sacrifice what we would rather do and instead spend time with our Father God. Also, prayer requires we actually talk to God and requires the faith to believe we are. Prayer rises in the spirit realm as a memorial offering. Perhaps we have never thought of prayer this way, but the Lord does. Prayer is an offering. It is a sacrifice.
Power of Praying Evangelism
The angel gave Cornelius instructions.
Acts 10:5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.
Acts 10:6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
Usually, the Lord will give instructions during prayer. I don’t think the Lord is all that interested in our telling him how wonderful he is when we pray. What he is looking for are people who will receive and act upon his instructions. We need to ask, as did Cornelius, “What is it, Lord?” Then we listen. Instructions come. Sometimes, they come as an impression. Sometimes instructions come as a thought from our spirit man, and, as we see with Cornelius, sometimes they can come from talking to an angel.
Cornelius’ instructions were to send men to Simon’s house in Joppa and bring Peter to Caesarea. Peter would then come and preach the gospel to the Gentiles in Caesarea.
Power of Praying Evangelism
Why didn’t the angel tell Cornelius the gospel?
Have you ever thought about why this angel could not tell Cornelius the gospel of Jesus Christ? Think about it. There stood an angel from the Lord talking to Cornelius. Why didn’t the angel tell Cornelius what Cornelius needed to know about Jesus? Why get Peter to come all the way to Caesarea? What’s up with that? Evangelism is not designed to work through angelic beings. The gospel comes through a believer.
Delivering the gospel to another person is an honor reserved for you and me. Paul said if an angel from heaven preaches any other gospel than I preach, don’t believe it (Gal 1:8).
Allow me to refresh our memories with the following part of the story: Cornelius sent men to Joppa to find Peter. Of course, the angel was correct. Peter was there at Simon’s house. Just before the men arrived, Peter was taking a midday nap. During that nap time, Peter had a vision. The vision was a sheet coming down from heaven by its four corners. In the sheet were all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds (Act 10:12).
Power of Praying Evangelism
A voice spoke to Peter, saying, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Peter said, “Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke back to Peter saying, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times, and Peter awoke. As Peter was attempting to understand what he dreamed, the Spirit spoke to Peter telling him three men were there to find him. Peter was to go with the men. The Holy Spirit informed Peter He, the Holy Spirit, sent the men. The next day, Peter went to Joppa with the men.
Acts 10:24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
Acts 10:27 Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.
Cornelius utilized relational evangelism and invitational evangelism as he brought together his relatives and close friends to meet and hear Peter. I would imagine there was some testimonial evangelism used there, also. He most likely said to those relatives and close friends, “I was praying the other day, and an angel came to me. He told me God was going to do a memorial here. Also, he told me to get this guy named Peter to come to my house. He will be there tomorrow. I don’t know what is going to happen, but it’s got to be good. You need to be there!”
Power of Praying Evangelism
We need to use all the styles/powers we possibly can, but let’s not forget how all these styles were set up with prayer. No matter what evangelism style we move fearlessly in, it must be preceded with prayer. Prayer begins a chain reaction.
Peter preached the gospel to the relatives and close friends of Cornelius.
Acts 10:28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
What is Peter saying? Peter figured out the meaning of the vision he had at Simon the Tanner’s house. It meant one nationality is not cleaner or more accepted by God than another. In Peter’s case, the Gentiles were no longer to be seen as unclean. This was big! This is really big, and this was monumental! It truly was a memorial. The Jews were no longer superior in Our Father’s program. In Jesus, we are all equal.
Peter was raised to think and taught to think that the Jewish people were God’s special people, but the Lord showed Peter differently. In Christ, we are all the same. In the words of the Apostle Paul,
Power of Praying Evangelism
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Every person matters and is loved by God. This was the monumental part of what Peter was to tell those at Cornelius’ house. God would prove shortly with a sign that Jews and Gentiles are equally important to God. All people matter to God. Peter then said,
Acts 10:34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism
Acts 10:35 but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.
The King James version says, “God is no respecter of persons.” This is a tremendously important truth. The revelation came to Peter because someone prayed, and it was given to us Gentiles because a man prayed.
Peter preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to Cornelius, his relatives, and close friends. Peter preached about how God sent Jesus as Lord of all. Also, Peter told how Jesus did good and healed all under the power of the devil. Peter preached how Jesus was crucified, died, and was raised from the dead. Peter told them there were witnesses who saw Jesus after he was raised from the dead. He told them how Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the prophets (Act 10:36-43). Then…
Power of Praying Evangelism
Acts 10:44-46
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.
45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.
46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God…
The proof that Jews and Gentiles were equal in God’s sight was that Gentiles received the Holy Spirit exactly as the Jews did. This was monumental. Now, the Gentiles were the same as the Jews. This proved that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation. How big was that?
The Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius, his relatives, and his close friends. Cornelius’ prayers not only brought Peter to Cornelius, his relatives and close friends. Prayer also brought a revelation to Peter. Prayer brought the Holy Spirit to Cornelius and his loved ones. Cornelius prayed those people into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. God truly was no respecter of persons. The Lord God does not show favoritism.
Power of Praying Evangelism
Acts 10:47 “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”
Acts 10:48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
The key thought in this passage is that God does not show favoritism. This was a big deal for the church. Peter would have to go back to Jerusalem and explain himself. It was a monumental event.
Peter said to baptize the Gentiles exactly as the Jews were baptized because there was no difference. God now treats all those in Christ identically. He does not show favoritism.
Power of Praying Evangelism
Does God show favoritism?
At this point in our study, we would say, “No, God does not show favoritism.” But then, when it comes to prayer, do I believe he responds to my prayers as he did to Cornelius’s? Does he have favorites when it comes to prayer? We know he does not. My prayers are a memorial offering, just as were Cornelius’s.
My prayers begin a chain reaction that will literally release the Holy Spirit to come upon the lives of people, and my prayers can bring a person far from God and make him a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. The person and I can equally be children of God. It is this way with your prayers also.
I close by reading the passage in 1 Timothy.
1Timothy 2:1-4
1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone –
2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
The power of prayer evangelism is absolutely necessary. There is no one God does not want to be saved. People matter to God. God loves people. There is no person prayer cannot affect. Prayer produces monumental events. My coming to the Lord was monumental. Your coming to the Lord was monumental. Every time a person far from God comes to God, it is monumental. It happened because someone prayed.
Power of Praying Evangelism – How to Unleash Heaven’s Forces
Power of Praying Evangelism – How to Unleash Heaven’s Forces
Other Related Sermons:
Evangelism Seven Styles audio video notes
Hungry for God audio video notes
Seven Personalities Of Evangelism
Also see: