Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 18 - Send Workers to the Harvest
31 Plays2 months ago
In Episode 18 of the Pray and See Podcast, Bryan reflects on Jesus’ call to “send workers into the harvest” and how God uses ordinary people to share His message of love and forgiveness. Through stories of Rich and Mary Lee, we see how prayer can lead to unexpected ways of serving others and bringing hope. Listen and be inspired to pray for—and become—someone God sends to make an eternal impact on the people in our lives.
Email pray@coyfc.org with topic suggestions, or to link up with a prayer team!
Pray & See is a ministry of Central Ohio Youth for Christ.
- Central Ohio Youth for Christ: www.coyfc.org
- Gracehaven: www.gracehavenohio.org
- WellSpring Columbus: www.wellspringcolumbus.org
- Equip Skills Center: www.equipskillscenter.com
- Equip Auto: www.equipautosales.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Pray and See Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Pray and See podcast. I'm Brian Brooks, your host. I'm glad to connect with you to share how God moves through prayer in our Youth for Christ ministries and some things I've seen in my own life.
Brian's Journey with Youth for Christ
00:00:18
Speaker
Through my journey with Youth for Christ and even in my own life and following God, one of the most compelling things for me has been seeing God answer prayer. It reminds me there's more to life I can see, that God is real, personal, He's showing Himself,
00:00:33
Speaker
to me and to the people I pray for. This is a privilege we have to pray that God would change the lives of young people in our communities. I also pray for friends I meet through music for my family.
00:00:45
Speaker
I hope, like me, you get to see God answer prayer in your own life for people you care about.
The Privilege and Purpose of Prayer
00:00:51
Speaker
If you haven't, go back, listen to episode one and the earlier episodes to get more of a sense of why we're doing this and learn helpful ways to think differently about prayer.
00:01:02
Speaker
I hope it's going to really help you. I'm glad you're here learning today because we're looking at what are things that we can pray for that line up with what God cares about.
00:01:13
Speaker
Some people don't know how to pray. We're looking at praying in a way that lines up with what God values, who he is, his mission to show his love and forgiveness to people who need it, who need to come to know him.
00:01:28
Speaker
God, like the Bible says, he offers a relationship through for real forgiveness that comes through Jesus's death on the cross. This relationship is a gift and God wants people to hear about that.
00:01:42
Speaker
He wants people to have the choice to respond. Are they going to put their trust in him? or not. The Bible says it's by grace that you've been saved through faith.
00:01:55
Speaker
It's not your own doing. It's the gift of God, not a result of works and no one may boast.
Faith and Personal Stories
00:02:02
Speaker
It's not about being a good person. Deep down, we know we're not. It's about receiving a gift of um forgiveness, of a relationship through Jesus Christ.
00:02:12
Speaker
If this is the first time that you've heard that, I hope you can hear it. I hope you can ask God, is this true? Is this real? I have found... It definitely is. It's been a game changer for me.
00:02:25
Speaker
And it was my friend Taylor who first shared that with me. God sent him to tell me. That's what we're going to be looking at today. Praying that God would send workers into the harvest.
00:02:39
Speaker
Let's pray and see what God does. God, thank you. You hear our prayers. You want an actual relationship with every person listening to the podcast.
00:02:50
Speaker
Would you show each person their need for you to be forgiven by you? Thank you that you sent my friend Taylor to tell me about you to make sure I knew what you were offering me.
00:03:04
Speaker
It's wild, God, when I think about it, that you choose to work through messy, imperfect people like me and others to share your message of love and forgiveness. Would you please send more people to tell others about you?
The Call for More Workers in God's Harvest
00:03:18
Speaker
Amen.
00:03:20
Speaker
Pray that God would send workers to the harvest.
00:03:25
Speaker
Last episode, we looked at praying to for the eyes to see people the way God does. This comes from Matthew 9, 35 through 40. Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching and synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
00:03:45
Speaker
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
00:03:53
Speaker
Jesus said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Unique Contributions to God's Mission
00:04:04
Speaker
You know, Jesus would model prayer. He would go away to pray. His followers asked, hey, how could we pray like you? And he explained in the Lord's Prayer, But these verses right here are an actual prayer request. This is Jesus saying to his followers and us, here's something to pray for.
00:04:25
Speaker
Ask that God would send workers into the harvest. The harvest is made up of people that need to hear the good news that they can be forgiven and accepted by God, that they can have certainty of what's going to happen after they die,
00:04:42
Speaker
that they can have a quality, vibrant, spiritual life with God, being a part of things that are going to last forever, loving people and sharing his message of love and forgiveness.
00:04:55
Speaker
But God works through other people to tell others.
The Importance of Hearing the Message
00:05:01
Speaker
Here's a story of two people, Rich and Mary Lee. you know Back in the day, I had a history of recruiting, of interacting with adults who wanted to serve with YFC.
00:05:12
Speaker
ah Frankly, ah really enjoyed connecting with different people, getting to know their stories. You know, I'd never know who was going to show up or who God was going to send my way. Here's a couple times where where I was actually really surprised and caught off guard.
00:05:28
Speaker
One day I met Rich. Rich was an older gentleman. maybe struggling with some health things. He um was from a small town outside of Columbus.
00:05:40
Speaker
He lost a family member, a son, who died young. And Rich grew up going to a small church. He finally understood the good news about Jesus's forgiveness as a gift.
00:05:54
Speaker
He came to know Jesus around age 40. And he leaned over the table as he's telling me a story. He said, how could I live for 40 years, be raised in church and never hear about this?
00:06:09
Speaker
He shared with me that the suffering in his life combined with hearing truth about God later in life highlighted for him the importance of being ready to go to tell other people about Jesus.
00:06:22
Speaker
And Rich would regularly go into detention facilities to tell young people, there is a God. He cares about you. He has hope and a future for you. He wants you to come to know him.
00:06:37
Speaker
A second person is a woman named Mary Lee. I would put together these follow-up you know presentations after we would do events to raise awareness to our ministries.
00:06:48
Speaker
and And these follow-up times where share with people how they could get involved, how they could s serve. We have so much going on, I felt like we need you know another meeting time to explain what people could do.
00:07:02
Speaker
So I put together a PowerPoint, which my PowerPoint skills are not great, but I invited many people over the course of six months to come in here. Some weeks, had a lot of people, others one or two.
00:07:15
Speaker
Mary Lee came in during one of those times.
00:07:20
Speaker
And she sat down, she heard the presentation and said, wow, this is you know, Brian, this is really nice, but there's a problem. I can't run around and play basketball with middle school students. I'm a grandmother. I'm going to hurt myself.
00:07:36
Speaker
And then said, well, you know, there's got to be some other ways you could get plugged in. Yeah, but I also drove all the way here and I don't like driving, especially at night. okay, um well, a lot of our things happen in the evening, so that's out.
00:07:53
Speaker
And she eventually sadly apologized and said, you know, I'm sorry that I'm the one who came here today, and I hope you find some other people. And I thought, you know, we need to pray and ask God what she could do.
00:08:09
Speaker
What we landed on is Mary Lee began writing letters to young people in detention facilities. And she's had this letter writing ministry. She sits down with a blank sheet of paper, ask God, what do you want me to write to this person that she doesn't even know?
00:08:27
Speaker
God brings thoughts to her mind. She writes them down, shares the Bible with them. And this ministry on pen and paper has changed the lives of many young people over you know the past several years.
00:08:44
Speaker
Both people, Rich and Mary Lee, were willing. They wanted to pass on the truth and love that they've received from God to other people. And I had been praying that God would send workers into the harvest, and he sent them.
Aligning with God's Mission
00:08:59
Speaker
We can pray that God would send workers into the harvest.
00:09:05
Speaker
Romans 10, 9-15, Paul says, If you declare with your mouth, Jesus says Lord, and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. It's with your heart you believe and are justified.
00:09:15
Speaker
It's with your mouth you profess and are saved. As the scripture said, anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. There's no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.
00:09:32
Speaker
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord to be saved. How can they call on the one they haven't believed in? How can they believe in the one whom they've not heard? How can they hear without someone preaching to them or telling them?
00:09:46
Speaker
How can anyone preach unless they're sent? As it's written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. Let's untangle this. You know, Paul is talking in Romans about everyone who calls on the name of the Lord to be saved.
00:10:03
Speaker
But People make that choice to believe in him after they hear. They have to hear about Jesus first. And he says, how can they hear unless someone tells them? God uses people.
00:10:17
Speaker
How can anyone preach or tell unless they are sent? And so just like Jesus said, pray that God would send workers into the harvest.
00:10:29
Speaker
We can do that. Ask God to send workers into the harvest.
Reconnecting and Praying for Ministries
00:10:34
Speaker
And we're looking at prayer requests that line up with God's values and what he cares about. Here's a couple challenges to wrap up.
00:10:43
Speaker
Find the person that God sent to tell you. This will strengthen the connection between, okay, God uses people. And ah who did God send to you to help you understand how to be forgiven by him, to have eternal life?
00:10:59
Speaker
God sent my friend Taylor. Go find your person. Find them and thank them and thank God for them. Second, you know, God carries out his mission of love and forgiveness and rescue through people who are following him.
00:11:16
Speaker
Find a ministry you care about and pray that God would send people, that he would send his followers as workers into the harvest. You can pray right now for our local team in Columbus that God would send adults who know and they're learning sign language to connect with deaf and hard of hearing teens in Columbus, Ohio.
00:11:40
Speaker
Lastly, if you've been listening to previous episodes and have been praying for family and friends who might be out of town, ask God to send other followers of Jesus to tell them about him.
00:11:52
Speaker
Well, if this episode has been helpful for you, why not share it with friends, family, students who might be interested in connecting with God or praying for their friends, people who could be encouraged.
00:12:07
Speaker
That's a lot of the motivation for why we're doing these. And if you have suggestions or ideas on content episodes, things you'd like to hear about or have questions on, send quick email to pray at C-O-Y-F-C dot org. I'd love to hear from you.
00:12:25
Speaker
We'll see you next time on the Pray and See podcast.