If We Have No Heart for Souls, We Miss His Heart

Sermon outline

God is willing to save everyone, so praying for the lost is part of "Thy kingdom come": people are bound and blinded by the enemy, and our prayer and witness carry the light, while we trust the Father for our own needs instead of driving the car ourselves.

1. God is willing to save the world

   The Lord is not willing that any should perish, and desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth through the one Mediator, Jesus Christ. If we have no compassion for the lost, we do not have the Father's heart, and we need to check our motives.

   “When we as Christians don't have a heart for souls, then we are not carrying the Father's heart.”

   • 2 Peter 3:8-9
   • 1 Timothy 2:3-5

2. Praying His will is not only about our needs

   God hears us when we ask according to His will, but if that only covers our wants, our Christianity is unbalanced. Christ did not die so we could have a bigger house and car; He died that every person would come to know God. Pray for the lost in your family, your street, your children's school, your workplace and wherever you go on holiday. We leave entitlement when we stop treating God as the cashier at McDonald's.

   “Christ did not die on the cross that He will just give us things.”

   • 1 John 5:14-15
   • Hebrews 12:1

3. The human element will never fall away

   Almost all of us came to Jesus because somebody shared the gospel, invited us to a home cell, or reached our parents and grandparents. YouTube and social media are full of videos about Jesus, but the human interaction will always be necessary. Your life has value in this.

   “There will never come a point in time where the human interaction or the human element will ever fall away.”

   • Revelation 12:11

4. The lost are bound by Satan

   Those who do not know Jesus have been taken captive by the devil to do his will, and the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience energises them. He warns that a Christian who knows the truth and chooses another path walks the same way. When the stronger man comes, He overcomes the strong man, strips his armour and divides the spoils; but a Christian who stops praying and only ticks off Sunday leaves his own palace unguarded.

   Illustration: The weakest Christian has power over the enemy, but if he does not know it, he lives one step forward and two steps back and wonders why.

   “If we do not have the love for the lost, that means that we have taken for granted what Christ has done for us.”

   • 2 Timothy 2:25-26
   • Ephesians 2:2
   • 1 John 5:19
   • Luke 11:21-22

5. The lost are blinded, so pray and then go

   The god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, and the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. The light of the gospel reaches them first through our prayer and then through telling them about Jesus, as the Spirit inside us shines into them and the scales fall. Prayer is the foundation, and you cannot expect to lead the lost without it.

   “Praying for the lost is the foundation in your effectiveness in winning the lost.”

   • 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
   • 1 Corinthians 2:14

6. Christ destroyed the works of the devil

   Through death Jesus destroyed him who had the power of death and released those held all their lives in bondage through the fear of it, saved or unsaved, until they understand who Christ is. The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil; what we bind on earth is bound in heaven; and at the cross He disarmed principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them. Fasting keeps the heart soft and builds intimacy, and should be done often.

   “We cannot take our Christianity, we cannot take our Christ nature for granted.”

   • Hebrews 2:14-15
   • 1 John 3:8
   • Matthew 18:18
   • Colossians 2:14-15

7. Is life not more than food and clothing?

   No one can serve two masters. The worries Jesus named two thousand years ago are still ours: we are consumer driven, fighting in the shops for the right brand before Christmas, working shifts in a system that is close to slavery. Increase, promotion and blessing come from the Lord, so stop being God and let Him drive. Come to Him like a little child, and move from a need mentality to a thanking, grateful one.

   Illustration: A young man applied for a job last year, and he told him it was his. For months the young man stressed and worked out worst-case scenarios, took another position, and then received a letter apologising for the delay and giving him the job. He asked him: in all your manoeuvring, where was God?

   “So in your maneuverings, where's God?”

   • Matthew 6:22-33
   • 1 John 2:15

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