Keys to Effective Rescues

One website ranks the top 10 rescues of all time, including Chili's 33 minors that were trapped for two months in 2010. You'll remember that story no doubt. It includes that list does the Apollo 13 astronauts. After their command module was crippled by an explosion in 1970, I can still remember that event and praying as most of our nation did for those astronauts to be returned to Earth safely. Many of you will remember 18-month-old Jessica McClure stuck in a narrow well in Texas for two days back in 1987. That's on the list. And then most of us in this room will remember the 155 passengers that were rescued from the wings of a U.S. Airways aircraft that had taken off from New York City bound for Charlotte had to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River in 2009. That in six other events are listed in that interesting list of the most famous rescues of all time. There are several things that are true of any rescue effort like that. Number one, there are people who are in danger and will die if they are not rescued. The second thing that's true is there are obstacles in the way that make it difficult for these people to be rescued. The third thing that's always true of this kind of a rescue is that rescuers will take enormous risks to overcome those obstacles and get to those people so that they can be rescued. And the fourth thing that's always true is the reason for these kinds of risk taking rescues is that saving a life is worth whatever risk is entailed in doing that. That's why I believe the term rescue is such a good metaphor for evangelism, for reaching people with the gospel because the same things are true in the task of evangelism. There are people who are dying and are in danger of a Christless eternity if they are not reached with the gospel. There are many times obstacles between us and lost people that prevent us from easily getting the gospel to them. And so we must take some risks to do that. But it's worth it. The eternal payoff, the eternal dividend of life with Christ is worth whatever risk is entailed in reaching lost people. In John chapter 4 Jesus gives us a model of spiritual rescues. Here is a model spiritual rescue. It fits all of the definitions, all of the characteristics. There is a woman who is in deep trouble and she will die and go to hell without Christ if she is not reached. There are tremendous obstacles standing in the way of her being reached. And we'll see some of them this morning. There are racial obstacles. There are moral obstacles. There are religious obstacles. There are gender obstacles that are standing between Christ and this woman. Jesus takes a risk to reach her and it pays off. She comes to know him at the end of the day and others from the village will as well. In so doing, in this story in John chapter 4 Jesus illustrates for us six keys to an effective spiritual rescue. We are only going to look at three of them this morning. We are going to save the other three for next week. But the first one is this. In order to rescue people spiritually we must enter their world. We must go where they are. If you are in John chapter 4, let's begin reading in verse 1. Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John. Although it was in fact it was not Jesus who baptized but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. Stop right there. Jesus finds out that the Pharisees are comparing him and John and there is a little bit of a problem as we saw at the end of chapter 3 between John's disciples and Jesus ministry. They are wondering why it is now that Jesus is drawing more people than John. When John or when Jesus hears of this controversy, he decides it's time to leave town to get out of Dodge and get up back to Galilee. Because Jesus at this point in his ministry, at the very beginning of his ministry, does not want to precipitate a crisis which will lead to him being arrested or way. It's not time for that yet. And so Jesus decides just to go back to Galilee. But verse 4 makes an interesting comment. He must go through Samaria. And that would be typically the case because it's the shortest route. Let's look at this map. Why go to Samaria? Why did he have to go to Samaria? Well it looks like it's the most direct route. Jesus has been in the southern part in Judea. He's been in Jerusalem. He's been over here somewhere baptizing. And now he's going to go to Galilee which is up here. The most direct route from the Jerusalem area to Galilee goes straight through Samaria and then on up to Galilee. And so that would be the typical route. That would be the route that some Jews would go if they were going from Judea to Galilee. But if you were a religious Jew you would probably avoid that route. You probably would go over to the Jordan River and up the Jordan Valley, up to a place called Scythopolis and crossover into Galilee. The reason for that is there's a lot of animosity between Jew and Samaritan. Jesus is going to Samaria because he wants to meet a lady at a certain town in Scythopolis. Let's look at the next slide. We have a picture. This is the city of Shechem which is a biblical city but right outside of it is Scythopolis. And these are two mountains, Mount Gerasim and Mount Ebal. Mountains that were very important to the Samaritans. This was the center of Samaritan territory. Now let me explain why the Jews and Samaritans hated each other. When the northern kingdom of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians, the Assyrians repopulated that area which came to be known as Samaria. Repopulated that with a mixture of Gentile people which intermarried with the remaining Jews in that area and so they became in the southern Jews' eyes kind of a mongrel race, they were not really Jews. And so they would not be considered real brothers in the Jewish nation. And so the Samaritans and Jews both hated each other. The Samaritans would not go to Jerusalem to the temple to worship. They formed their own temple on Mount Gerasim and worship there. They had their own Bible. They would not accept all the Old Testament. They only accepted the first five books of Moses. And so the Samaritans and the Jews were very separate in many ways. Culturally, religiously, ethnically, they just did not like each other. And that surfaces a lot in the New Testament, but it's also going to be a part of this story. So if that's the case and if most Jews going from Judea to Galilee would go around, Samarit, why does it say he had to go through Samaria? He didn't have to geographically, sure it's a shortest route, but he didn't have to go that way. In fact, most Jews didn't. So why did he have to go to Samaria? It's obvious from what follows in the story that Jesus knew he had a divine appointment with an individual in Samaria, with this lady that the story centers around. Jesus needed to go to Samaria because if you're going to reach Samaritans, you've got to go to Samaria. You must go where the lost people are. Think about it. Rescues are always on the dying person's turf. Aren't they? I mean, the kind of rescues we talked about earlier. If a firefighter is going to rescue someone from a burning building, he goes into the building. He doesn't call the building and say, if you'll meet me down at the fire station, then will the minister help you and you know, help treat you for smoke inhalation? No. They go into the building where the fire is. If there's been an earthquake, the rescuers go into the rubble of buildings that have collapsed. They don't stay at the rescue center and put out, please, over fog horns come to us. And we will treat your injuries here in the rescue center. No, they go to where the people are. If you're a lifeguard, you don't holler from the lifeguard station for someone who's out there struggling in the water and going under, just get over here and I'll give you a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. No, of course you dive into the water. We have a great rescue squad building and facility here in Princeton. It's a beautiful place. Very well equipped. But rescue squad people, first responders, don't wait for folks to come there to rescue them. That's just a staging point for going out to do the rescues. Rescues are always on the dying person's turf. The church must learn that. Rescues are always on the lost people's turf. And so here's the point. In evangelism, we must go seek the lost. That's what Jesus is doing here. Jesus is not waiting for this woman to wise up and get to Jerusalem to the temple. He is going to where she is in Samaria at the very well where she will come to draw water. Jesus is going to seek the lost. We cannot expect the lost to come to our turf to just show up on Sunday morning in a church service. That will happen with some people, but the majority of lost people are not just going to walk into a church on Sunday morning. It's probably the last place they want to be. And so we have got to take the gospel to them. We must go where they are. That's why Jesus defined his own ministry in those terms. He said in Luke 19 and verse 10, for the son of man came to seek and to say that which was lost. And by the way, he said that after he had walked through the city of Jericho and paused to look up into a tree and see a Jewish tax collector who was interested in him. And Jesus focused on him and said, I've got to eat at your house this evening. He went to where he was. So Jesus came to seek out and to say the lost. It is important for us to go where the lost people are. That's why I am so convinced and have been for many years. The best kind of evangelism is lifestyle evangelism. Now a lot of people miss the meaning of that. And they think what we're talking about is just live a good Christian lifestyle and somehow people will get the idea and they'll know how to trust Christ. You will never have to say a thing. That is not at all what we're talking about. What we're talking about is living evangelism as a lifestyle. In other words, God has already placed you in a circle of influence. He has already put you in a position where lost people are. There are lost people in your neighborhood. There are lost people in your school. There are lost people in your workplace. There are lost people in the marketplace where you do business. You're already there. The lost people are there. God has placed you strategically in your mission field. And so what He wants us to do is not just wait for them to show up at church. He wants us to reach them on their turf. In your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your circle of friendships. God wants you to develop relationships there and then seize opportunities to share your testimony and show them love and help them with needs, doing good, finding every opportunity you can in that process to sow some seed of the Word of God or your own testimony and then cultivate that seed. Water that seed with your prayers and continue to help. Now I believe the church must and that's what we've been doing for 20 years. We must try to partner with you with all of us in our lifestyle evangelism. The best way we can partner with you is to create ministries that give you a beautiful opportunity to invite people to come and have special needs met. But also to hear the gospel of Christ. Over 20 years ago, we started our first outreach ministry, what we call target ministries. It was divorce care. We started it as a summer ministry on Wednesday night, expecting you run at 13 weeks and stop. It hasn't stopped yet. That was really our first outreach like that. And so we began to develop others, grief share, mobs, mothers of preschoolers, men's fellowship breakfast. We had one of those yesterday and there were some unsaved guys here yesterday. They'll come eat breakfast with a friend and then they'll hear somebody give a devotional, challenge about the Lord. Some of those men would never walk into a Sunday morning church service but they'll come eat breakfast with their friends. And so those are the kinds of ways that we want to partner with you to help you in your lifestyle evangelism when you're getting to the point where you're starting to reach someone, you have someone, you some place you can bring them to. Maybe the Awana ministry for their kids. It may be DMAs where we have some unsaved people coming to that senior saints ministry. It may be divorce care for kids. It may be a teen activity or a children's activity. Two of the ministries that we have seen to be the most successful in the last couple of years have been the 3D archery ministry and celebrate recovery. Those are ministries that are developed to meet special needs of people. They target needs or areas of interest and they provide you an opportunity to reach out and say, come on, come with me. We're not going to a Sunday morning church service where you're going to hear a preacher necessarily but we're going to a ministry that you'll enjoy. We're going to a program that will be a help to you and there they will hear the gospel. We've seen dozens of people come to CR and to hear the gospel because we decided there was a need that needed to be met, a huge need in our area of people's habits and hurts and hang ups. So that ministry is drawn sometimes as many as 100 people on Thursday night and they're getting saved. They're getting connected with the church. Why? Because in one sense we've gone where people are. You see we go to people's turf by going where they are geographically and physically in our neighborhoods and homes and schools and workplaces but we also go where they are emotionally and spiritually and with needs. We go to where people are. What they're struggling with, what they're dealing with and that gives you an opportunity to bring someone and we partner with you in your own lifestyle evangelism. That's the way Jesus is doing it. If you reach Samaritans you've got to go where the Samaritans live and so Jesus entered their world and reached them where they are. I realize I grew up in this day and I began ministry in the 70s in this day where we would have revival meetings and unsafe people would come out by the score. That day's gone my friend. That day doesn't happen anymore. I wish it would but reality is that day is gone and so we have to be more strategic about how we reach people and all along Jesus has been showing this. Go to where the people are. He's placed you in the workplace in the neighborhood and given us the opportunity to partner with you to give opportunities to bring people where needs can be met and thus see people say that's typically how we see people get saved today. So enter their world and then Jesus does something else. Once he gets to Samaria the next few verses give us the second key element to a spiritual rescue and that is this focus on one person. Focus on one person. Look at what happens in verse 5. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sikar near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there and Jesus tired as he was from the journey sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink? His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. Now I want you to notice the strategy of Jesus. I believe that Jesus is aware. Obviously he is God. He is aware of this divine encounter that has been prepared for him by his father. He is operating every moment on the father's timetable. He knows what is going to happen but he makes himself available to meet with this one individual. He focuses on this one person. Jesus did not go into the village to hold a mass crusade or public meeting or preach on the street corners. Nothing wrong with any of those things but that is not what Jesus did here. Jesus did not go into the village of Sikar and start knocking door to door or handing out leaflets. That is fine. Nothing wrong with that. Jesus shows us one of the most effective ways to do evangelism is to focus on one person. He is going to reach this one lady and then she will reach her village. She will reach others in the village. Now Jesus did preach to crowds. Certainly he did that. He preached to large crowds and that is the way of evangelism that God gives some people, a public ministry and evangelistic ministry of preaching to large crowds. Jesus did that too. But you would be amazed at the number of times if you just did a search on this through the gospels, the number of times Jesus ministered to one person. Over and over and over again Jesus focuses on one person. There is Nicodemus. There is the woman of the well. There is Zacchaeus. There is Bartimaus. There is the man lowered down through the roof who is paralytic. There is the man at the pool of Bethesda. There is the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus is walking through a huge crowd and someone tugs on his garment and he stops and focuses on that one woman time and time and time again. The widow at Nain and her son, the centurion's son, over and over and over again. Story after story after story where Jesus is focusing on one person. One individual. A tremendous way to do evangelism. We heard video clip earlier from one of the professors at Piedmont about evangelism and the new class is going to be held this summer. What a great class. If you really want some practical tools to know how to do evangelism better, I encourage you to sign up. It is on Sunday nights. You can't come on Sunday nights on Monday night. It is a great, great training time. You heard that gentleman say, Matt Smith. You heard him say, one of the reasons why people don't do evangelism is because they don't know how or they're afraid. One of the reasons why we're afraid is the job just seems too big. How am I going to reach everybody? Think in terms of one person. Just pick one person. God is not necessarily asking you to win your whole neighborhood or your whole workplace or your whole school. Focus on one person. In fact, I would challenge each of us today. I've got someone in mind. I would challenge you this morning to think of one person you're going to try to witness to this year. One person. And just think if all of us would pick one person and witness to that person this year, if that person did come to know Jesus, think of doubling this group here this morning. And then think what would happen if those people each focused on one person with a heart felt prayerful spirit of reaching them with the gospel. That was the strategy of Jesus over and over and over again. Yes, the crowds, but also to focus on one person. And here's the reason why evangelism is a multiplication process. Again, God is not necessarily asking you to reach your whole workplace or school or neighborhood. Focus on one person and you will see God multiply that. One of Jesus disciples Andrew focused on one person when he was introduced to Jesus. And it was his brother, Peter. God used Peter to reach 3,000 people and they have been a cost. Peter would not have come to Christ though if it hadn't been for his brother focusing on that one person. And so God can use you to reach one person, one particular youth pastor who was working at a college campus actually tells the story of their particular campus life group. He was challenging them one night to do this very thing to find one person. And after the meeting Janet came up to him and said, you know, I think God's laying on my heart to try to reach Susan. And the youth pastor, the college pastor was kind of thinking, that doesn't sound like that's going to be a good match. You see Susan was a sorority sweetheart. She was top of her class academically. She was a beauty pageant finalist. I mean, she was one of the girls on campus that was just a real standout to everybody in every way. And Janet, while she was a likable girl, was not very good academically. She wasn't involved in any campus activities and it just didn't seem to be possible. And so the college pastor was surprised when three weeks later Janet shows up and there's a cute little redhead at her side named Susan. Susan gave her heart to Christ that night. Went home and told her sister Debbie who was a cheerleader at that college about Christ and Debbie trusted Christ. And those three girls got together and said, let's choose one person we each want to reach. And that college pastor said after one year, there are 38 people on that campus who had come to know Jesus through the testimony of these girls. You see evangelism is a multiplication process. You reach one person and if both of you covenant, the reach one person, you see how that works? It really is a multiplication. God is not necessarily asking you to reach everybody. So focus on one person, one person. And then the story goes on. Beginning in verse nine, Jesus demonstrates another key element in spiritual rescues. And it's this create spiritual curiosity. Now creating spiritual curiosity is something that we are told to do in other places in the New Testament. In fact, Jesus gave us an example of a word illustration of it in Matthew chapter five and verse 13 when he said, you are the salt of the earth. He's talking about our relationship with unbelievers. And one of the word pictures he uses to describe what we should be is salt. Now salt does a number of things and there may be a number of things packed into that word picture. But one certainly is that it creates thirst. Salt creates thirst. And what Jesus is saying is we ought to live in such a way that makes people spiritually thirsty, that makes them want what they see in us. We have also not only an illustration of that, we have a command about that in first Peter chapter three and verse 15 where Peter says, in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Now that's the command. Revere Christ. Place him in your life as Lord of everything. Live in such a way that he is the Lord of everything you do and say and think. If that is the case, then that's going to have an effect on other people. We're going to start noticing. So he goes on to say, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. You see what Peter is saying is if you start living a lifestyle where Christ is Lord, it's going to generate some questions on the part of people about how you've got this hope in you. Why don't you get mad when this happens? Why don't you react this way? What's wrong with you that you do this or that? What's going on with you? Questions start asking about what they see in you. That is hope. They see you going through a tragedy in your life and you do so with hope. And they start asking questions because Christ is your Lord and you're submitting to him and drawing strength from him. And they ask about the hope that is in you. This passage is more about personal evangelism than it is about apologetics. It has an application to apologetics but it's not necessarily talking about apologetics. It's talking about people noticing a difference in your life because Christ is Lord and they see some hope there that they don't see anywhere else. They certainly don't have. And so they start asking questions and you be ready to seize that opportunity to share with them the reason for the hope that's in you. Now Christ has made a difference in your life. So we have an illustration of creating spiritual curiosity. We have a command about that and here in John 4 we have the model. Jesus Himself presents the model for creating spiritual curiosity in people's lives, the example of it. And notice how He does it. Verse 9. Well actually back to verse 7 when the Samaritan woman came to draw a water Jesus said to her, will you give me a drink? Now verse 9. The Samaritan woman said to him, you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman, how can you ask me for a drink? And then John adds this in parenthesis for Jews do not associate with Samaritans. For all the reasons I mentioned earlier, just no contact or love between those two at all. Now notice what Jesus did in beginning this conversation of creating some spiritual curiosity on her part, he starts with common ground. And that is a great place to start. Think of it, there are all kinds of obstacles between them. We talked about them earlier. There are religious obstacles. He's a Jew, she's a Samaritan. She will even bring that up later. Two people worship in Jerusalem, we worship here. We've got our own temple, who's right. So there are religious obstacles here. There are also gender obstacles. It was not considered appropriate for a man to speak in public to a woman other than his wife in that culture. And so there are some cultural gender obstacles. There are racial, ethnic obstacles here. Jews hate Samaritans. They look down on them ethnically. It's not right, but they did. And Samaritans felt the same way about the Jews. So there are moral obstacles. We will find out this woman has a very checkered past, a very immoral past. Well, it is still living that way. Jesus will point out so there are great more. There are huge obstacles between the two. So how do you overcome those obstacles? How do you even begin to talk to someone about spiritual things? Jesus shows us exactly how to do it. Start with common ground. What does Jesus have in common with this woman? Water. Jesus is thirsty. She's come to draw water. They don't have anything else in common. Everything else is a huge obstacle between them, but they have water in common. And so that's where Jesus starts with water. When she shows up, he asks her, will you give me a drink? Now that raises the curiosity level. Because she can tell he's a Jew. She's a Samaritan. Not only that, she's a Samaritan woman, she says, how can you ask me for a drink? Now who's asking the questions? Who's curiosity is up now? Hers. Jesus has drawn her into a conversation based on common ground that they have. And now she's asking the questions. So Jesus is going to amp up the curiosity level, another notch or two in verse 10. Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God, now the wheels are already turning in her mind. What are you talking about? Gift of God. If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink. Now there would be another question. If I knew who it was, well then who are you? You know, he's really raising the curiosity level here. You would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Well she is really curious now. You first of all ask me for water and then you say, you'll give me water and it's living water. In that day living water would mean water from a stream, running water rather than a well or a system which is still water. What are you talking about? He has really raised the curiosity level, but he is also changing, turning the conversation towards spiritual things. So notice her response, verse 11, sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep and by the way it is, it's been excavated, it's 138 feet deep. So she asked the obvious question, where can you get this living water? And I think the next statement, verse 12, is a little bit sarcastic. Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself as did also his sons and his livestock? He has just said, if you only knew who it was that was asking you and she's basically challenging him on that. Well who do you think you are anyway? You think you're better than Jacob? Our father who gave us this well? Her curiosity is now reaching peak level and Jesus doesn't let it stop there. Look at his answer in verse 13. Jesus answered, everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water, I give them will never thirst. Boy, I can just see the wheels turning in her mind now. Indeed the water, I give them will become into the spring of water, welding up to eternal life. Now we read our New Testament knowledge back into that and we know what Jesus was talking about later on in John 7. You'll talk about the same thing and it refers to the Holy Spirit which comes to live within us and produces a continual spring of water and we have because of life in him we have eternal life that results from that. So Jesus is talking about all that but she's just her mind is spinning. She doesn't get it yet but she knows enough to know whatever he's talking about she needs and she would like. So verse 15, the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to come keeping here to draw water. Now she still doesn't understand what he's talking about. She just knows if there's a water I can get where I don't have to keep coming to this well. I'll never thirst again. That's the kind of water I want. But you see her curiosity level is high now. She's asking questions. She's probing for answers and they're all started with common ground. Jesus started with something to head in common that opened up the conversation. Find something you have in common with that one person you want to reach. Is it knitting? Is it sports? Is it woodworking? Is it cars? What is it? Something you would have in common with them. You can find something you have in common with a neighbor, with a coworker, with a friend and start with that and then look for ways that God may turn those conversations around to spiritual things. That's what Jesus did. How he started the conversation. Now there are other ways you can create spiritual curiosity. Show the love of Christ by meeting a need. Find out what your neighbor needs, your coworker needs. Do they need a babysitter? Do it. Do they need food? Take some food over to them. Do they need transportation? Cause their cars broken down? Help them out with that. Do they need yard work? Help them with that. Visit them when they're sick. Give a listening ear. Remember their birthdays. Do whatever you can do. To reach out and show the love of Christ because Jesus tells us in Matthew 516, in the same way that your light shines before men, that they may see what your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. A part of our witness to people and a part of us finding common ground and meeting their needs and raising the curiosity level is by meeting a need, showing them Christ's love. Jesus is actually doing that here. We can also be different, but in a good way. Some of us are different in a bad way. We're obnoxious. We try to cram spiritual things down people's throats before they're ready. Some of us are obnoxious in the fact that we're self-righteous. We don't want to be around lost people. We're separatists. We're going to be holy. Well, that's the way the Pharisees were. And Jesus taught them a thing or two about that. Go where they are. Be where they are. Get into their world. Some of us are obnoxious in that we're just strange. We look strange. We talk strange. We act strange. So nobody can relate to us. That's not the kind of different we're talking about. We're talking about being different in a good way. In your workplace, be the most conscientious and caring employee there. In your neighborhood, be the most kind and helpful neighbor you can be. In your school, be the most dedicated student you can be. Or the most dedicated athlete you can be. Or if academics and athletics are not your deal, then be the most wholesome friend you can be. And God will use those things to create spiritual curiosity and give you a ground, a platform for speaking out about Jesus and what He means to you and sharing the gospel with people. Create spiritual curiosity. The most impressive aspect of the rescues I mentioned early in this message is the determination of rescuers to pull them off. Haven't you wondered at the bravery of those firefighters on 9-11 walking into buildings that were burning and everybody else was running away from them? The absolute determination of people to be rescuers. And to try is not an option. Once you begin quitting is not an option. They find a way to get to those who need help. And we need that holy determination to rescue lost people. To go where they are, enter their world, focus on one person and begin with common ground to create spiritual curiosity that will give you then a platform to share the gospel. Now Jesus will do much more with her, the story is not over, but we are going to stop there today. I would challenge you today to do this. Focus on one person you want to reach this year. One person you want to share the gospel with. And begin cultivating the opportunity to serve them, to love them, to show them Christ's love. And to have an impact in their lives. I could tell you stories and I don't have time, but there are tremendous ways to do this. My wife has just been so amazing at this, especially since she retired with our neighbors. And I could tell you all kinds of stories of how she's getting into their lives and their homes and getting to know them and ministry and serving them in ways that are opening up spiritual conversations and we're confident and focused that some of them are going to come to know Christ. Do whatever it takes. Enter their world. Focus on one person. Create spiritual curiosity. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the example of Jesus that he gives us. I pray, Father, that you would help us to take this seriously, not just the hope that it's going to happen sometimes somehow, but to begin today focusing on one person, thinking, praying about that one person that we can begin to reach. Help us to enter into their world where they are, become interested in the things that we have common ground with and begin to talk about spiritual things. Help us to make that commitment in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.