Three Ways to Introduce Your Friends to Jesus (Part 1 of 2)

Today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, we'll hear from British evangelist, Jay John. He's going to encourage you to be more intentional about sharing the Gospel message with those around you. If we are going to reach our world, we have to reach our world by cultivating the web of relationships that we have already got with those with whom we have a common kinship with family and friends.

Well, thanks for joining us. I'm John Fuller. Jay John is one of our most popular guests here on Focus on the Family, so I'm excited to share this new two-part message with you.

You're going to hear some stories that will really build your faith and will motivate you to talk about the Lord with others. Jay John is an author and speaker who has been all around the world. His home base is London, England.

He and his wife, Killie, have three grown sons and a couple of grandchildren. And here now is Jay John speaking at Times Square Church in New York City on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. A missionary is not someone who crosses the sea. A missionary is someone who sees the cross.

That was very good. Repeat after me. A missionary—no, I said after me. A missionary is not someone who crosses the sea.

A missionary is someone who sees the cross. You see, in the words of the apostle Paul, the love of Christ compels me. Compels me.

It's the love of Christ that compels me. In Matthew 28, verse 19, we read this, then Jesus said, all authority. How much authority? All. All.

Yeah, not a little bit. All authority. All of it. And what do you say? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm Greek. I'm bilingual. I speak Greek. I read the New Testament in Greek. The Greek word for go means go. There is no dispute about that.

We've actually got to go. We Christians must be global Christians with a global mission because we have a global God. We have a global God. Too many Christians have taken literally what Jesus said to three disciples. See that you tell no one. Many Christians are like Arctic rivers.

They're frozen at the mouth. But the love of Christ compels me. It compels me. Acts 1 verse 8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, into us, the Holy Spirit empowers us to be witnesses. The Greek word for witness, marturia, from which we derive the word martyr.

It will cost to be a witness. Billy and I, we're now firstborn son Michael. He was about two, three, nearly three, two and a half, three, and we went to a department store. We were down in the basement. We're just looking a few things. He's with us.

And as we're looking, then we look down. He's not there. It's like, Michael, Michael, Michael, Mike. We couldn't find him. It's like, wait a minute. He was there like a minute ago. Now he's not there and we're thinking, well, and when Tilly's running around, I'm shouting Michael, Michael. I don't know. There's no way he could have gone up to the next floor. It's literally 60 seconds. And then you think, you know, has he been snatched?

Where is he? So I go up to the next floor and I go to one of the counters and I say to the lady behind the counter, I said, listen, I've lost my son. And she just looked at me. I said, do you have one of those tannoy machines where you can speak, you know, to the whole department store?

She said, yes, we do. I said, can I use it? She said, no. I said, give it to me.

She wouldn't give it to me. So I jumped over the counter. I mean, you should have seen me jump over the counter. I got hold of the tannoy. I said, all shoppers, all shoppers, emergency, please stop shopping. And they wouldn't stop shopping.

So I had to say again, stop shopping. I said, a little boy's lost. A little boy's lost. He's got a blue jacket. Just look around and see if you can find this little boy.

He's called Michael. I couldn't care less what people thought of me. Why would I care what people thought of me? Why would I worry that they said, oh, look at that stupid man?

Why would that worry me? My son was lost. That is the kind of an analogy that is used in the Bible about lost people.

So why should it worry us what people think of us? People are lost. Do you know someone who used to be a Christian, used to be a practicing Christian, and is no longer a Christian? If you know someone who used to be a Christian, who is no longer a Christian, please stand up to represent them. And if you don't mind, just stay standing. Go on, look around. I'm standing up for nine people. So I'm standing for nine people. We must no doubt be representing hundreds and hundreds of lost people.

Please stay standing for a moment. And I've brought those people to your attention. Why don't you text one of them tonight? And just say this, hi, hi, John. I thought of you tonight. It's been a little while. How are you? How about can we meet for a coffee? Just send it.

Just send it and see what happens. Lord, you know all the people that we're representing as we stand here. These are lost, lost sons and daughters. And Lord, if there is anything that we can do to help them to remember to return and to rejoice, we pray that you will show that to us. And Lord, if we do send out those texts, Lord, may your spirit just soak that message and touch the people that we're reaching out to. We pray, we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.

Please take your seats. The Great Commission and the verse in Acts, what a strategy we've got there. So the Holy Spirit came on the first disciples of Jesus as the Spirit comes on us today, empowers us to be witnesses, and they were given a strategy.

Begin in Jerusalem and then go to Judea, then go to Samaria, then go to the ends of the earth. Now, what did Jerusalem represent to the first disciples of Jesus? Well, that was where the disciples of Jesus denied him. Peter denied him publicly. Where were they at the crucifixion?

Only John was there. So Jesus was implying, I want you to start in the place of your greatest failure. Where is that for you and me?

I'll tell you where it is. Family, friends, neighbors, colleagues. If we are going to reach our world, we have to reach our world by cultivating the web of relationships that we have already got with those with whom we have a common kinship with, family and friends, with those with whom we have a common community with, neighbors, colleagues, with those with whom we have a common interest with.

We start there. Now, many churches, they will often encourage their congregations, go on a missions trip. And I say, yes, go on a missions trip, walk next door. It's cheaper.

You don't have to spend a year fundraising. Walk next door. You see, if you want them to come to church, well, you have to invite them to your home first.

Invite them to your home first before you invite them to church. We need to cultivate the web of relationships we have already got. And then it says, Judea, then you move out into the county, and then you go to Samaria. That's where our enemies live.

That's right. And then you go to the ends of the earth. Now, some people have been called to bypass Jerusalem, bypass Judea, bypass Samaria, and go to the ends of the earth.

Less than two percent. Ninety-eight percent of us have been called to reach the world by reaching our world. I've spent years thinking about this, teaching it, studying it, and my conclusion is this. We all need to become far more intentional in doing three things. One, we need to be more intentional in praying. Number one, repeat, we need to be more intentional in praying.

You see, when we pray, coincidences happen, and when we don't, they don't. There was a church that was next door to this derelict building, and the derelict building was bought by a businessman, and he was renovating the building to open it as a bar, night club, twenty-four hours a day. The church were horrified, so they had an emergency prayer meeting.

That night, lightning struck. The building, not the church, the building next door, burnt it to the ground. The owner of the building sued the church.

The matter went to the highest courts here in the United States. Before the court proceedings began, the lead judge said, I've never come across a case like this before, and this is a very difficult case because I have a businessman who is convinced that God answers prayer, and I have a church that doesn't. One of my favorite prayer stories, there was a missionary in Africa. He returned to his sending church from Scotland, and he's going there to report, to encourage, and to recruit more people to the mission field. It's a very cold night. He arrives, and he's a little bit discouraged when he walks in.

There's twelve elderly people. No, he's not discouraged that they're there. He just feels it's great that they've come to pray, but they will not be suitable for the mission field. But he still feels that he should deliver the same message.

So he delivers the same message about the needs in Africa and more laborers to come. He finishes his talk, and he says, who will go, who will go, who will go? He didn't know that the organist who was playing the organs for the hymns had a young boy that was helping him with the billows, the air.

The boy stood up. He says, I will go, I will go, I will go. That little boy's name was David Livingston. They said to David Livingston, well, if you feel God has called you to go to Africa, David, you should become a doctor first, a medical doctor, so that you can go there as a medical missionary. He does become a medical doctor. He goes to Africa, and he's a medical missionary. He's reaching people. There's one particular tribe that he's trying to reach, and they don't like it.

The chief didn't like it. He sends him a message. The message was, tonight we're going to come, and we're going to kill you and everybody in your compound. And the reason we know all these details is because he kept a diary, and it's all written in his diary.

He was very anxious. He writes in his diary, Lord, will our work be extinguished after laboring here for decades? Save us, save us. Well, they didn't come. They didn't kill them.

Years later, they reached the chief and the tribe, and they all turned to Christ. And David Livingston, he says to the chief, you said you were going to come and kill us. He said, yes, we did come. We came to murder you and everyone in your compound.

Why did you not murder us? He said, because surrounding your compound, there were 46 giants. Interesting figure. Wait a minute. Don't applaud yet. It gets better.

It gets better. There are 46 giants. Interesting number, isn't it? Forty-six giants.

And when we saw the giants, we ran away. Couple of years after that, David Livingston returned to his sending church in Scotland. He tells that story. At the end of the meeting, the secretary of the church comes up to David Livingston and said, Dr. Livingston, do you remember the date that the chief was going to come and murder you? He says, of course, it was this date. The secretary opens the church diary.

He says, look, this is the date. There were 46 of us here praying for you. Come on. When we pray, coincidences happen. Our next-door neighbors, not Christians, but they call kill in an eye. They called us the neighbors from heaven. That's not bad, is it?

At least we're not called the neighbors from the other side. The lady, she had a stroke. And as a consequence of the stroke, she fell into a coma.

And she got transferred from our local hospital, where we live in a village, to a very renowned hospital in Oxford called the John Ratcliffe. The daughter came and spoke to Killie and said, Killie, we've just met with the doctors. The doctors said she's brain dead, no brain activity.

She's on a life support machine. And we've decided that we're going to switch off the machine in five days so she dies. So we're going to have five days for the family to come and visit her. So Killie says, can John and I, can we come and visit her?

And the daughter said, please would you visit my mother, because she was so fond of you. The only day I could go was the fifth day. So now we're driving to Oxford.

Now confession time. I was in a bit of a bad mood. She was in the local hospital. We could have been there in 10 minutes. Now we've got to drive an hour. You see, a human, you know, all this comes out. And then, ah, where is the hospital?

Where are we going to park the car? So you can't say I was really tuned in spiritually. Anyway, you know, it's a bit disgraceful, really, isn't it, for a reverend? Anyway, we arrive at the hospital. She's in intensive care. I see you. We go in there and we walk into this room and I said, hello, Joyce.

I said, it's the neighbors from heaven. I thought, oh, I'll just go, give her the last right, and off she can go. And well, she's brain dead, isn't she? So I start talking to her. I said, Joyce, what we're going to do now is we're going to pray. So I took her hand. I held Kylie's hand. She held her other hand. And I said, Joyce, Kylie and I will start praying the Lord's Prayer.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. When we said, your kingdom come, she woke up. It was scary. I have to confess. It was like.

You see, you see, when we pray, when we pray, coincidences happen. I went back. I said to her husband, she woke up. He goes, don't joke.

I said, I wouldn't joke about that. I said, she woke up. He goes, no, she didn't. I said, she did. He goes, no, she didn't. I said, she did.

Ten days later, she came home. Look, you know, there's this sense of intentionality where we're praying and just letting God, God to do what he wants to do. Now, Kylie and I, every morning, every day, we pray for everyone that we know who doesn't know Jesus. Okay, these are people in our Jerusalem.

These are people we know. We pray for them every morning, every day. Currently, we're praying for 46 people. Well, why would we leave anyone out? Oh, I'm only going to pray for three people.

Really? What, who goes on the list? Who's going to go on the list? You're going to exclude 43 other people and just have, oh, I'm just going to do a prayer triplet. What do you mean a prayer triplet?

What's wrong with you? Just write down everyone you know doesn't know Jesus and pray for them every day. Bring them to Jesus. Pray that their eyes will open.

Pray that the eyes of their heart will open. And we go on prayer walks. So we went for a good walk today and we walk and we pray.

On one day, we're walking around the village where we live and so we're walking, we're praying. You're praying for the 46 people. We're praying for the kingdom of God.

Your will be done. Your kingdom come. We're praying for England.

Oh, come on, Lord. We need a revival. We're praying for America.

We need a revival. And we're walking and praying. And I see this woman. I said to Kili, is that the woman that lives like five doors up from us? She says, I think it is. I said, is that the woman who's got a very sick child?

Kili said, I think it is. Now when that happens, what happens is there's a kind of a battle in your heart. Shall I? Shantime. Have I got time?

Have I not got time? I always ignore it. I used to battle, but now I don't. I just go with it. I walked up to the lady. I said, excuse me. I said, is your name Barbara? She said, yes, it is. I said, I've heard that you've got a sick child. She says, yes, I do.

I only have one child. He's dying. She said, can you go now to the hospice? Because she said, I know who you are, she said. And then she said, can you go now to the hospice and pray for my child? And then I thought, what does she think I do all day? OK, let's just redo that.

Redo that. I'm walking around. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Yes, Lord. I get a quiver in the liver. You've had one of those. A quiver in the liver.

Yeah. A stirring. Speak to the woman. Well, I've just been praying your kingdom come, your will be done. And now she's saying, go and pray for her son. Well, of course I can go. I said, we'll go now.

Had to go home, get the car, drive to the hospice. We go there. We find him. Now, her son's called Johnny.

And he's 34 years of age. He's sleeping. Killie goes, right, we know where he is. We'll go and come back later. I said, I'm not coming back later. So I kick the bed really hard. And I really hurt my leg.

And then he kind of wakes up. And I said, hello. I said, hello, Johnny. I said, I'm Reverend J. John. I said, I just met your mother. And your mother asked me to come and pray for you.

I said, would you like me to do that? And then he stared me out. He just looked at me in the eyes and he didn't say anything. And it was so uncomfortable. I'm like, oh, Lord.

Lord, I don't know what to do. This is awkward. And then he said this, I would rather have a hug. Killie and I bent down.

He lifted himself up with the three of us held each other. And he starts crying. Killie starts crying. I start crying. He then let go.

We let him go. I said, do you want the prayer anyway? He says, look, I'm an atheist.

But if you need to pray, go ahead. So I said, I will. So all I did was Jesus opened his eyes.

And all I said was, amen. Then I said to him, hey, Johnny. We talked for a bit. And I said, Johnny, do you want me to come back again and talk to you?

He says, I'd love it. Well, we'll have to jump in right there and close today's episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Next time, we'll hear the conclusion of this really touching story from Jay John. Yeah, and we're running out of time, John. So let me just offer our listeners a real treat, a free audio collection of five programs from Jay John, including this one. Request your downloads when you get in touch with us. And if you can make a donation of any amount, we'd be happy to send you a great book from Jay John called Jesus Christ, the Truth.

I love that title. It's the perfect gift for someone who really wants to know who Jesus is. Yeah, and you can get your free access to the Jay John collection.

The link is in the show notes, or you can make a donation and get a copy of his book when you call 800 the letter A in the word family. Next time, more encouragement from Jay John. Our responsibility as Christians, what is it? It's to go into God's orchard and we check the fruit with the fruit checkers. If the fruit is right for picking, what do you do?

You pick it. Thanks for listening to this Focus on the Family with Jim Daly podcast. Take a moment please and leave a rating in your app or on the platform and share this episode with a friend who might need the encouragement. I'm John Fuller inviting you back next time as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ. If the fights with your spouse have become unbearable, if you feel like you can't take it anymore, there's still hope. Hope Restored Marriage Intensives have helped thousands of couples like yours. Our biblically based counseling will help you find the root of your problems and face them together. Call us at 1-866-875-2915. We'll talk with you, pray with you, and help you find out which program will work best. That's 1-866-875-2915.