Stats From Sunday's Sermon

Here are some statistics I wrote down during the sermon on Sunday.

33% of the world population claims to a be Christian of some sort.
40% of the world population is not Christian but has been evangelized (they have a way to hear the gospel in their location and language).
27% of the world population is unevangelized (they have not heard the gospel and currently have no way to hear the gospel in their location and language).
80% of missionaries go to areas that make up the 33% of the world population that is Christian.
17.5% of missionaries go to areas that make up the 40% of the world population that has been evangelized.
2.5% of missionaries go to areas that make up the 27% of the world population that is currently unevangelized.
For every $100 spent on foreign missions, 1 cent goes to works to reach the unevangelized.
There are over 750,000 international students from 180 nations studying in the U.S.
75% of these students will never enter the home of an American.

The global missions statistics can be checked here, here, and here.

Do You Use Prayer As A Domestic Intercom Or A Wartime Walkie-Talkie?

I have often said that one of the reasons we feel so weak in our prayer lives is that we have tried to make a domestic intercom out of a wartime walkie-talkie. Prayer is not designed as an intercom between us and God to serve the domestic comforts of the saints. It's designed as a walkie-talkie for spiritual battlefields. It's the link between active soldiers and their command headquarters, with its unlimited firepower and air cover and strategic wisdom.

This is the picture that I think helps capture the spirit of prayer in Colossians 4:2–4:

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving; and pray for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear, as I ought to speak.

Here's one way to picture what is going on here. Paul and Timothy (1:1) and Aristarchus (4:10) and Epaphras (4:12) are a unique team of storm troopers in the spiritual battle to recapture the hearts of men for God. They have made a strike at the enemy lines and met a tremendous counterforce. Paul and Aristarchus are prisoners of war. And it looks as though the enemy has a tactical victory in his pocket.

But Paul manages to smuggle a letter out of the prison camp to some fellow soldiers stationed to the rear—that's the Colossians. In the letter he asks them to get on their walkie-talkie, call command headquarters, and ask headquarters to fire a missile that will blast open a door in the prison wall and in the enemy's front line so that Paul and his squad can get on with their mission to release people from the power of Satan and bring them to God.

So the point that we are most interested in here is this: the soldiers to the rear with the walkie-talkie of prayer are very crucial in the frontline successes of evangelism. If they weren't, this text would be a sham.

Why We Need Constant, Persistent, Sleepless, Overcoming Prayer

From How To Pray by R. A. Torrey

But why is this constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer so needful?

Because there is a Devil - He is cunning, he is mighty, he never rests, he is ever plotting the downfall of the child of God; and if the child of God relaxes in prayer, the devil will succeed in ensnaring him.
Prayer is God's appointed way for obtaining things, and the great secret of all lack in our experience, in our life and in our work is neglect of prayer.
Those men whom God set forth as a pattern of what He expected Christians to be - The Apostles - regarded prayer as the most important business of their lives.
Prayer occupied a very prominent place and played a very important part in the earthly life of our Lord.
Praying is the most important part of the present ministry of our risen Lord.
Prayer is the means that God has appointed for our receiving mercy, and obtaining grace to help in time of need.
Prayer in the name of Jesus Christ is the way Jesus Christ Himself has appointed for His disciples to obtain fullness of joy.
Prayer, in every care and anxiety and need of life, with thanksgiving, is the means that God has appointed for obtaining freedom from all anxiety, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding.
Prayer is the method that God Himself has appointed for our obtaining the Holy Spirit - If we would only spend more time in prayer, there would be more fullness of the Spirit's power in our work. Many and many a man who once worked unmistakably in the power of the Holy Spirit is now filling the air with empty shoutings, and beating it with his meaningless gesticulations, because he has let prayer be crowded out. We must spend much time on our knees before God, if we are to continue in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer is the means that Christ has appointed whereby our hearts shall not become overcharged with surfeiting (overindulgence) and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so the day of Christ's return come upon us suddenly as a snare.
Because of what prayer accomplishes.

Prayer promotes our spiritual growth as almost nothing else, indeed as nothing else but Bible study; and true prayer and true Bible study go hand in hand - As I meet God in prayer and gaze into His face, I am changed into His own image from glory to glory.
Prayer brings power into our work - If we wish power for any work to which God calls us, be it preaching, teaching, personal work, or the rearing of our children, we can get it by earnest prayer.
Prayer avails for the conversion of others - By prayer the bitterest enemies of the Gospel have become its most valiant defenders, the greatest scoundrels the truest sons of God, and the vilest women the purest saints.
Prayer brings blessings to the church - Prayer will root out heresy, allay misunderstanding, sweep away jealousies and animosities, obliterate immoralities, and bring in the full tide of God's reviving grace.