I. Introduction to the Series (Romans 10:13-14)
A. Throughout this entire year, as we have been studying the book of Nehemiah, I have tried to emphasize how important having control of your life is as a Christian
- Not under the dominion of the world, or the flesh or especially the devil - but under the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ!
- But of rebuilding your home, and the walls necessary to keep it safe and strong, and gates that control what goes in and out of your life
B. But there is a world beyond these walls, a world that needs what you have - if you are saved
C. A world that needs some GOOD News - the Gospel!
D. But the world OUT THERE will NOT hear about the Gospel unless someone from IN HERE goes outside of these four walls and goes to them and tells them how to be saved
“How shall they hear without a preacher?” - Romans 10:14
E. We MUST go…
- Where? Beyond our walls
- EXAMPLE: Of us living in a compound in a warzone. Safe and happy, while outside the walls is war, and hunger, and disease, and death. And YOU and I could help!
- Our messed up world needs to be shown a way to come into the kingdom of God!
- Beyond our comfort
- Beyond our will - beyond what we would CHOOSE to do
- AND beyond our abilities - Beyond what we think we can do
F. What will it cost us?
- To give the Gospel to one soul?
- To win just that one soul?
- To disciple and baptize all new believers?
- To birth another church, and then another, and then another?
- What will it cost? Well, it will cost us our comfort, our time, our money (it is not free), AND our families, and even our lives
- Just about everything we have!
- We are about TWO generations removed from the kind of culture that did whatever it took to do right
G. We MUST Go BEYOND the Walls
H. And it begins with PRAYER
II. Background (Matthew 9:35-38)
A. Jesus is a very busy Man
- From the moment He was baptized, Jesus was on the go
- Going everywhere, calling upon especially MEN to leave whatever they were doing, and to follow Him
- HE was more important than MONEY, than FAMILY, than retirement, than POLITICS, than CAREERS, and more important than having fun
B. Jesus introduced this world to the Gospel of the kingdom
- The kingdom of God is something no one had imagined to be the most important kingdom of all of history
- It is a kingdom that has no army, has no palaces, no national border, and has no politics
- It is a kingdom of PEOPLE who have been born all over again on the inside, changed by the Spirit of God
C. He reached out and helped everyone He ever met
D. It was a GREAT time to be alive!
E. But there was a ‘BUT’ moment… right in verse 36
- Where Jesus looked up from the long lines of the hungry, the hurting, the lepers, the lame, the broken, and the burdened…
- And He saw an entire world of people stretched out to the horizon!
F. That’s when He turned to His young disciples, and said, WE NEED TO PRAY!
- Did you know that He never asked anyone to pray for anything that HE ever needed?
- This was His only prayer request!
III. Jesus’ Prayer Request (Matthew 9:37-38)
A. The Harvest is Plenteous
- There are so many souls ready to hear the Gospel
- Fields are white unto harvest
- The opportunity is NOW
B. The Labourers are Few
- Not enough workers
- Not enough who will go
- Not enough who will sacrifice
C. Pray the Lord of the Harvest
- This is Jesus’ prayer request
- He is the Lord of the harvest
- We are to ask HIM to send workers
D. To Send Forth Labourers
- Not just pray - but GO
- When you pray for labourers, be prepared to be the answer
- God may send YOU
IV. Application
- Are you taking Jesus’ prayer request seriously?
- Are you praying for labourers to be sent?
- Are you willing to be sent yourself?
- What is keeping you from going beyond the walls?
Jesus asked us to pray for one thing - labourers for the harvest. Will you take His prayer request seriously?