Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

John Fuller: Today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, we’ll hear from British Evangelist J.John. He’s gonna encourage you to be more intentional about sharing the gospel message with those around you.

Rev. Canon J.John: If we are gonna 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.

John: Well, thanks for joining us. I’m John Fuller.

Jim Daly: Uh, J.John is one of our most popular guests here on Focus on the Family, so I’m excited to share this new, uh, two-part message with you. Uh, you’re going to hear some stories that will really build your faith and will motivate you to talk about the Lord with others. J.John is an author and speaker who has been all around the world. His home base is London, England. Uh, he and his wife Killy have three grown sons and a couple of grandchildren.

John: And here now is J.John speaking at Times Square Church in New York City on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

J.John: A missionary is not someone who crosses the sea, a missionary is someone who sees the cross.

Audience: Ooh.

J.John: That was very good.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Repeat after me. A missionar… No, I said after me.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: A missionary is not someone who crosses the sea.

Audience: A missionary is not someone who crosses the sea.

J.John: A missionary is someone who sees the cross.

Audience: A missionary is someone who sees the cross.

J.John: 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 28:19, we read this, “Then Jesus said, all authority.” How much authority?

Audience: All.

J.John: All. Yeah, not a little bit, all authority, all of it. And- and what did he 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.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: There is no dispute about that.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: We’ve actually got to go. We Christians must be global Christians with a global mission because we have a global God.

Audience: Amen.

J.John: We have a global God. Too many Christians have taken literally what Jesus said to three disciples, “See that you tell no one.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Many Christians are like Arctic rivers, they’re frozen at the mouth.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: But the love of Christ compels me. It compels me. Acts 1:8, “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, it, the Holy Spirit empowers us to be witnesses. The Greek word for witness, mártyras, from which we derive the word martyr, it will cost to be a witness.

Killy and I, when our firstborn son Michael, he was about two, t- uh, three, nearly three, two and a half, three, and we went to a department store, we were down in the basement, we were just looking a few things, he’s with us. And- 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- he was there l- like a minute ago, now he’s not there. And we’re thinking, where? And we’re r- run- Killy’s running around, I’m shouting, “Michael, Michael.” And, uh, he, there’s no way he could have gone up to the next floor, it’s literally 60 seconds. And then you think, uh, you know, has he been snatched? Uh, 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, I, we do.” I said, “Can I use it?” She said, “No.” I said, “Give it to me.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: She wouldn’t give it to me, so I jumped over the counter. I mean, you should have seen me jump over the counter.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: I got hold of the- the- the Tannoy. I said, “To all shoppers, all shoppers, emergency, please stop shopping,” and they wouldn’t stop shopping. So I had to s-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: … I had to say it 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- why would I care what people thought of me? Why would I worry that they said, “Oh, look at that stupid man.” Wh- 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?

Audience: Amen. (Applause)

J.John: 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. But, 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 n- no doubt be representing hundreds and hundreds of lost people. Please stay standing for a moment. Now, 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.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: These are lost-

Audience: Yes. Yes.

J.John: … lost sons and daughters. And Lord, if there is anything that we can do to help them to remember, to return, and to rejoice-

Audience: Yes.

J.John: … we pray that You will show that to us.

Audience: Yes.

J.John: 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 and we ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.

Audience: Amen.

J.John: Please take your seats. The great commission and the verse in Acts, what a g- 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- 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 J- 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 yo- if we are gonna 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- a common interest with. We start there.

Now, many churches, they- they will often encourage their congregations go on a missions trip. And I say, “Yes, go on a missions trip, walk next door.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: It’s cheaper.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You don’t have to spend a year fundraising.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: 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. Ah, “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 2%. Ninety-eight percent of us have been called to reach the world by reaching our world.

John: You’re listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, and today we’re featuring British evangelist J.John, and his insights are so, um, deep and profound and challenging. Um, now we want to encourage you to reach out to others with the free audio collection featuring five messages from J.John, including this one, and, uh, the J.John Collection is available at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast, or you can call for details 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. Let’s return now to more from J.John.

J.John: Now, I’ve spent years thinking about this, teaching it, uh, 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, um, 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 nightclub 24 hours a day. The church were horrified, so they had an emergency prayer meeting. That night, lightning struck the building, n- not the church, the building next door, burnt it to the ground. The owner of the building sued the church.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: The matter went to the highest courts in the United, 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.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: One of my favorite prayer stories, there was a- a missionary in Africa, he returned to his sending church in S- 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 12 elderly people. N- no, he’s not discouraged that they’re there, he- he- he just feels, ah, 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?” Now, he didn’t know that the organist who was playing the organs for the hymns had a- 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 are 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 ah, anxious, “Lord,” 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 gonna 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.”

Audience: Whoo.

J.John: Uh, interesting figure. Wait a minute, don’t applaud yet.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: 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 gonna 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.

Audience: (Applause)

J.John: When we pray, coincidences happen. Our next-door neighbors, not Christians, but they call Killy and I, they call us the neighbors from heaven.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: That’s not bad, is it? At least we’re not called the neighbors from the other side.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: 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 Radcliffe. The daughter came and spoke to Killy and said, “Killy, we’ve just met with the doctors, the doctor said she’s brain-dead. No brain activity, she’s on a life support machine. And uh, we’ve decided that we’re going to switch off the machine in five days so she dies. So we’re gonna have five days for the family to come and visit her.”

So Killy says, “Well, can- 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.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Ah, she was in the local hospital, we could have been there in 10 minutes, now we’ve gotta drive an hour. You see a- a human, you know, all this comes out. And then, “Oh, where is the hospital? Where are we gonna park the car?” So I, you can’t say I was really tuned in spiritually. Anyway.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: You know, it’s a bit disgraceful really, isn’t it, for a reverend?

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Anyway, we arrive at the hospital, she’s in intensive care, ICU. We go in there and we walk into this room, and I said, “Hello, Joyce.” I said, “It’s the neighbors from heaven.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: I- I- I thought, oh, I’ll just go, give her the last rites, and off she can go. And, um-

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Well, she’s brain-dead, isn’t she?

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: So I’m start talking to her. I said, Joyce, “What we’re gonna do now is we’re gonna pray,” so I took her hand, I held Killy’s hand, she held her other hand. And I said, “Joyce, Killy 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.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: It- it was scary, I have to confess.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: It was like…Ahh! 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.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: I said, “I wouldn’t joke about that,” I said, “She woke up.” He goes, “No, she didn’t,” I said, “She did.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: He goes, “No, she didn’t.” I said, “She did.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Ten days later, she came home.

Audience: Whoo.

J.John: Look, you know, there’s this sense of intentionality where we’re praying and- and just letting God- God to do what He wants to do.

Audience: Yeah.

J.John: Now, Killy 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. We kn- these are people we know. We pray for them every morning, every day. Currently, we are praying for 46 people.

Well, why would we leave anyone out? I’m only gonna gonna pray for three people. Really? Well, who goes on the list? Who’s gonna go on the list? What, you’re gonna exclude 43 other people and just have, “Ah, I’m just gonna do a prayer triplet.” What do you mean, a prayer triplet? What’s wrong with you?

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Just write down everyone you know who doesn’t know Jesus and pray for them every day, bring them to Jesus. Pray that their- 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. And on one day we are 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- 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 Killy, “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?” Killy said, “I think it is.”

Now, when that happens there, what happens is there’s a kind of a- a battle in your heart. Shall I? Shan’t I? Have I got time? Have I not got time? I always ignore it. I used to battle, but now I don’t, I- I just go with it. I walked up to the lady, I said, “Excuse me,” I said, “Is your name Barbara?” She says, “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?” ‘Cause 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?

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: Okay, 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.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: 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. Killy 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.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: And I really hurt my leg.

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: And then he kind of wakes up, and I said, “Hello.” I said, “Hello Johnny.” I said, um, “I’m- 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 dunno what to do. This is awkward.” And then he said this, “I would rather have a hug.”

Audience: Aww.

J.John: Killy and I bent down, he lifted himself up, th- the three of us held each other, and he starts crying, Killy 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.”

Audience: (laughs).

J.John: So I said, “I will.” So all I did was, “Jesus, open 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.”

John: Well, we’ll have to jump in right there and close today’s episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Uh, next time we’ll hear the conclusion of this really touching story from J.John.

Jim: 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 J.John, including this one. Uh, 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 J.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.

John: Mm-hmm. Yeah, and you can get your free access to the J.John Collection at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. And while you’re online with us, consider making a generous donation and getting a copy of J.John’s book, or call if you’ve got questions or you’d like to donate over the phone. Our number is 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. Next time, more encouragement from J.John.

J.John: Our responsibility as Christians, what is it? It’s to go into God’s orchard and we check the fruit, we’re the fruit checkers. If the fruit is ripe for picking, what do you do? You pick it.

John: Thanks for listening today to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.

Day Two:

Rev. Canon J.John: Many churches, they, 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.

John Fuller: Well, he does have a point there. Our mission field can be right in our own neighborhood. That’s J.John, and we’re continuing a message from him on today’s episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

Jim Daly: As usual, J.John is bringing his trademark humor and fascinating stories to a serious topic. Uh, the mandate from Jesus known as the Great Commission, where He instructed us to share the gospel with everyone we meet. And if you missed part one of J.John’s presentation yesterday, uh, please get in touch with us. We are offering this message as part of a free collection of audio downloads featuring J.John. Or you can get this message on CD.

John: And you’ll find those at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Or give us a call, 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. That’s 800-232-6459. Here’s J.John speaking at Times Square Church in New York City. We’re gonna start with a brief recap today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

J.John: I walked up to the lady, I said, “Excuse me.” I said, “Is your name Barbara?” She says, “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?” We go there, we find him.

Now, her son’s called Johnny, and he’s 34 years of age. I said, “Hello, Johnny.” I said, um, “I’m, 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 dunno what to do. This is awkward.” And then he said this, “I would rather have a hug.” Killy and I bent down. He lifted himself up while the three of us held each other, and he starts crying. Killy 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 open 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.” You see, before someone’s a Christian, they’re in minus territory. When they become a Christian, they step over a line. They’re saved. They’re born again. They’re in Christ.

Now, when you are in minus territory, it goes up to minus 100. He was minus 100. I kept visiting him, minus 90, kept visiting him, minus 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30. Every time I went, I could see he was getting nearer and nearer and nearer and nearer. And then I went. And he was in a lot of pain, it wasn’t the day to discuss, but his countenance had changed. And I just stood. I held his hand. I didn’t say anything. I just prayed.

Next morning, very early in the morning, knock on our door. Open the door. It’s the mother. He’s died. She said, she said, “Would you speak at my son’s funeral?” I said, “Of course I will.”

Now, the mother is a new ager. She asks me to speak at the funeral. I didn’t realize that her son was famous. I meet all sorts of people. I don’t know who they are half the time. He was a really famous nightclub DJ. There’s 800 people at the funeral. Okay, let’s just reenact this. I’m walking around the village with Killy. “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done. Oh, Lord, oh Lord.” Quiver in the liver. Talk to her. Go and see her son. Pray for him. Keep visiting. He passes away. Speak at the funeral. 800 people at the funeral, 800 people at the funeral.

People go, “Well, well, how does it work?” Well, you just walk around. “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done.” You know, it’s like, it’s not difficult, is it? You know, you, you don’t have to say, “Where are the non-Christians?” They’re everywhere. They’re everywhere.

And look, we’ve got a station in London. It is called King’s Cross. Okay? It’s an underground station. It’s called King’s Cross. When I finished speaking, I stepped down. When I stepped down, I was mobbed. I was mobbed. There were people here trying to talk to me. There were people pulling, pulling my, my hand, “J.John, Reverend J.John, what did you mean? That we can go to heaven via King’s Cross?”

Well, you do know that, don’t you? You know, you can only get to heaven if you go via the cross of the King. King’s Cross. Yeah. And my whole sermon was, go to heaven via King’s Cross. That’s it. You see, that’s, we gotta be more intentional in praying. Number one, more intentional in praying.

Audience: More intentional in praying.

J.John: Number two, oh, just warming up. Right? Two, more intentional in caring. Number two?

Audience: More intentional in caring.

J.John: You see, people don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. They don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. You know, there’s a scripture in Peter. “Always be prepared.” You gotta be prepared. Now, in my coat in England, which I forgot to bring to New York, ugh. ‘Cause we thought the weather was gonna be good. But in my coat, in the pocket, there is a pair of socks, a toothbrush, a cross, and a little evangelistic booklet. Always.

Why? Because every time I see a homeless person, I will stop. “Would you like a clean pair of socks?” “Oh, yes, please.” “Would like a toothbrush?” “Yes, please.” “May I give you this cross?” I always carry one with me, a little wooden cross from Bethlehem. “May I give you this cross?” No one has ever refused it. One man, homeless man, he put the cross in his hand, and, and he was down on the floor. And he was like, “Oh, oh.” And then, and then I just said, “Th- this is what I believe about Jesus.” And I said, “God loves you.” And he said, “I know He does.” I said, “How do you know?” He said, “Because you came.”

You see, you’ve gotta be prepared. If you are not prepared, then you’re not gonna be able to do it. Now, outside Macy’s, there’s, there’s a lady, homeless woman in a wheelchair. If you’re ever around Macy’s, she’s there in her wheelchair. Her name is Rosemary. Now, I’ve not met Rosemary, but the man who brought me to Christ called Andy Konamides, when he came a few months ago and actually came here on the Tuesday night, he met Rosemary and he kept meeting her. And on one night he felt he should go and look for her. And he went to look for her. And he had conversations with her.

He text me yesterday. He said, “John, I want you to go down to Macy’s and find Rosemary and give her a hundred dollars.” You, you gotta be intentional. Now, I I don’t just mean, mean homeless people. Anybody. You, you’ve gotta express that you care. Killy and I, we were in San Diego, and, um, amidst all the different meetings and the conferences, we had like half a day free. And we thought, “Ah, let’s just go to a shopping mall and just wander around.”

But we didn’t wanna ring the church and ask them to take us. So we got an Uber. So, got in the Uber, and as soon as we got in the Uber, I said to the driver, “Is there something I can pray for you?” That’s right. I didn’t, I didn’t say anything else apart from hello, where we’re going. “Is there something I…” He said, “Would you pray, would you pray for my mother? She’s got Alzheimer’s?” I said, “Yes.” I said, “We, my wife and I,” I said, “We will pray now.”

And we start praying. As we are praying, the Uber driver, he does this. “Oh, I’m sorry, Jesus. I’m sorry, Jesus. I will go to church. I’ll go to…” I didn’t mention Jesus. I didn’t mention the church. I’m just praying for his mom. That’s all I’m doing.

Anyway, we get to the mall. We get to the mall. We, we just walk around the mall. To be honest, all we, all we did is have a coffee and have a little wander around. Right? It’s time to go. It’s getting a bit dark. Our Uber app isn’t working. No. Oh, no. Why’s it not working? You know, and our phone wasn’t, wasn’t working. Oh, no. What are we gonna do? It’s kind of like, it’s getting dark. And it’s like, “Well, what do we do now? I said, “Killy, ask that woman if she knows why our Uber app isn’t working.” Killy goes up to the lady and says, “I’m sorry. Do you know anything about Uber apps? Because ours is not working.” And she says, “Oh, no, dear, I don’t know anything about that.” She says, “Where, where are you staying?” “Oh, well, we’re staying at this hotel.” “Oh,” she says, “I know where that hotel is. It’s around 20 minutes away.” She says, “I’ll take you.”

Oh. You know, your first thought is, “Oh, is she gonna take us somewhere else? You know, has she got…” You don’t know. Do you? It’s getting dark. We get in, I say to Killy, “You sit in the front. I’ll sit in the back.” We get in the car. We get in the car. She starts the journey.

I say to the lady, “What’s been happening in your life?” She says, “Well, where do I begin? Two weeks ago, my son died of an overdose.” I believe God stopped the app from working. I, I’m convinced He stopped the app from working, because the moment we got to the hotel, it started working. We spent 20 minutes talking to her. We got to the hotel. We asked her to wait. We rushed upstairs. We got a whole load of resources. We brought back the resources. We prayed for the woman. We invited her to church.

You know, look, you gotta, you gotta be more intentional in praying. You gotta be more intentional in caring. And there are numerous opportunities everywhere. Everywhere. Whether it’s, it’s an Uber driver, whether it’s a homeless person, whether it’s a neighbor, whether it’s a colleague, whether it’s a friend. They’re all lost.

When I got baptized, I said this, my friend Andy built a bridge from him to me. And when he did Christ Jesus walked over it. Let’s build bridges. Let’s be more intentional. Let’s be more expectant. I mean, I’m so grateful that the first Christian I ever met, the first Christian I ever met, I became a Christian. The first person to speak to me about Jesus, and I, I come to Christ. I mean, what if he hadn’t told me? I’d be running a Greek restaurant in London. I wouldn’t be here, would I?

John: You’re listening to British Evangelist J.John on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. And we’d like to encourage you with a free audio collection featuring five messages from J.John, including this one. Uh, you can request that, uh, the J.John Collection at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Or you can call for details. Our number is 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. Let’s return now to more from J.John.

J.John: Be more intentional in praying. Be more intentional in caring. Number three, be more intentional in sharing. Number three? Be more intentional in sharing.

You know, there’s a beautiful story in John 4. Jesus and the Samaritan woman, I love it. Okay, let’s do a quick Bible study. Jesus is, is here. He wants to go there. Every other Jew would’ve walked around Samaria, ’cause Jews and Samaritans hated each other. So the first thing you read about the story is, Jesus broke longstanding traditions. Just because every other Jew walked around Samaria didn’t mean He was gonna do that. So He breaks them.

Now, some traditions are fine, but sometimes we adopt traditions that hinder people rather than help people. Jesus walked that way. He stops at a well, a woman comes. When the woman arrives. Jesus and the woman. What was the difference between the woman and Jesus?

Well, first of all, there’s a moral barrier. She’s living in adultery. He’s the high priest. Secondly, there’s a social barrier. She’s a woman. He’s a man. Thirdly, there’s a racial barrier. She’s a Samaritan. He’s Jewish. Fourthly, there’s a religious barrier. She’s a Samaritan. He’s Jewish. See, you’ve got a moral barrier, a social barrier, a racial barrier, and a religious barrier. Well, how did Jesus break down the barriers?

Well, He focused on what He had in common. He only had one thing in common with her. H2O. “Oh, you want water? Oh, I love water. Oh, mm, lovely. Spring water. Oh, mm. Don’t you love water? But I know about a different water. If you drink this other water, you won’t be thirsty.” “What do you mean?” “Well, there’s this other water. You, if you drink it, you won’t be thirsty.” “What do you mean?” “Well, there’s other water.”

And so He starts clarifying it. He speaks into her life. She drops a pot. She goes and gets everybody. And what happens is, huh? The Samaritan revival begins. Now, this is incredible, though. She addressed Jesus four times during the conversation. The first time she addressed Jesus, she calls Him Jew. And when you read it in the Greek, it’s a little bit like this. Jew. Then she says, Sir, then she says, Prophet. Then she says, Messiah.

And we normally have the opposite effect. Look what happened. Look how her attitude changed. Look at how He, He drew her in. Jesus went out of His way, broke longstanding tradition, spoke to one woman, ignites the Samaritan Revival.

We need to be more intentional in praying, in caring and sharing. You know, every Christian is a witness. And in a court of law, you have a witness. Now, the witness gets up and says, “Let me tell you what I know.” You just share what you know. “I was this, but I discovered that,” you know, “I was in darkness. But then I discovered the light.” You know, “I, I, I was discouraged, but then I was encouraged. This is what happened. I was in need and God provided.” And you just tell stories. That’s a witness. That’s a witness.

But then you have the attorney, and the attorney gets up and presents the facts in such a convincing manner as to get the jury to make a decision. That’s what I do. That’s what an evangelist does.

We’re not all evangelists, but we’re all witnesses. Every single one of us is a witness. I spoke at this one meeting in a university. I finished speaking. I stepped down. Students were talking to me. And while they were talking to me, this girl comes along, interrupts us really rudely, like really rudely. She said, “I hated what you said.”

Ah. I said, “I’m so sorry.” She says, “Well, I can tell you that church ruins people’s lives.” I said, “I’m very sorry that you feel that and think that.” I said, “But look, have you got some time?” And she’s like, “Why?” I said, “Well, if you’ve got a few minutes, how about you and I, we’ll just go and have a coffee.” “All right.” So we, we, you know, it’s like that. So we go to the local refectory on the campus, like just a few yards away. We get the coffee. I said, “Why? Why are you so angry?” And it’s like, ah, all this stuff comes out. And, you know, I’m not there to kind of argue with her. I try to say a few things, you know, I said things like, “Medicine is great. It’s good. God provided medicine. But a lot of mistakes are being made in the name of medicine.”

Mm-hmm. “Surgeons have made mistakes and people have died. Pharmaceutical companies have made mistakes like thalidomide. But we don’t throw out the whole of medicine because of some mistakes that have been made. Yes, some mistakes have been made in the church. And men, some of the followers of Jesus have not been a good example. But Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” So I, I said to her, “Look, that was a Monday. Come and hear me Tuesday and we’ll have a coffee.” She came, we went for coffee. I said, “Come and hear me Wednesday. We’ll go for coffee.” She came, went for coffee. I said, “Come and hear me Thursday, and we’ll go for coffee.” She came, went Thursday. I said, “One more meeting Friday. Come and hear me Friday.” Friday, she’s ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven.

Five coffees. Five coffees, a bit of preaching, and five coffees. We gotta be far more intentional in praying. Far more intentional in caring, far more intentional in sharing.

I went to get my haircut. And I, I noticed that the, the lady cutting my hair by her mirror, she had a key ring, uh, and on, uh, with her keys. And on her key ring, she had a rabbit’s foot. I said to her, “Why? Why have you got a rabbit’s foot on your key ring?” “Oh,” she said, “That’s to bring me good luck.” I said, “The rabbit wasn’t lucky.”

I said, “How can an unlucky rabbit bring you any luck?” She goes, “I never thought of that.” She bent down, she took the rabbit’s foot off, she shoved it into the trash can. The next 20 minutes, we are talking about superstition. Mm-hmm.

Audience: (Laughing).

J.John: Mm-hmm. Why do, why do hotels have floor 12 and then 12A? I mean, you don’t have, are you, are we stupid? We know that 12A is 13. Some people won’t fly on an airplane if they’re on row 13. Oh, lightning’s just gonna take out row 13. So we talked about superstition. And then after the 20 minutes, I said to her, “My wife and I, run a class in our home called Agnostics Anonymous. Would you like to come?” She says, “I’d love to come. Can I bring my husband?” “Yes, of course.” They came every week for 16 weeks.

You know, people go, “I don’t know how to do it.” What do you mean? “Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done.” A quiver in the liver. Go and speak to somebody. You know, Lord, give me eyes to see things. Our responsibility as Christians, what is it? It’s to go into God’s orchard and we check the fruit. We check the fruit. We’re the fruit checkers. Check the fruit, it’s, check the fruit. If the fruit is right for picking, what do you do? You pick it. Pick the fruit.

Pick the fruit. Don’t let other people pick the fruit. We know, don’t we? Listen, without Jesus, we have a hopeless end. With Jesus, we have an endless hope. We have an endless hope.

We have good news. Good news. Listen, if you don’t yet know the truth of, of what I’ve been speaking about, uh, the good news of Jesus, it was explained earlier on, basically the heart of being a Christian is this. We are all broken people and we can only be healed in the broken body of Jesus.

That is the message. Every single one of us, whether we’re a homeless person with not even a dollar, to a billionaire and anyone in between, we’re all broken. All broken. Only Jesus can heal us. Only Jesus can save us. Only Jesus can deliver us.

And there’s a beautiful verse at the end of the Bible in the book of Revelation 3. And it says this, “Jesus stands at the door and He knocks.” If you hear the knock open the door. Let Jesus in. Listen, if you haven’t let Jesus in. Let Jesus into your life and experience forgiveness from the past, new life here today and our hope for the future.

John: And we’re gonna close a great message from J.John right there. Uh, but he and his wife Killy went on, uh, in that message to pray with their audience at Times Square Church. And their prayers are very rich and detailed. Let me encourage you then to visit us online to hear that extra content and maybe pray along with them. We’re including it in the free J.John collection of audio downloads. Or you can get this complete message on CD.

Jim: That’s a great idea, John. And I think we should all take J.John up on his challenge to pray for each specific person we know who doesn’t know the Lord. That’s what it’s about. Uh, pray for them every day. Or if you have a big list, split it up so that you’re at least praying for each person once a week. And then let us know what happens. It might take weeks, months, or years, but I’m sure you’ll have a story to tell.

And if there’s someone who is really heavy on your heart, please give us a call. Our friendly staff would count it a privilege to listen to your concerns and pray with you. And if needed, you can also request a call back from one of our Caring Christian Counselors.

And I’d also recommend that you get a copy of J.John’s book called Jesus Christ – The Truth. It’s an in-depth look at the life of our Lord. And it might be the perfect book to pass along for one of the people you’re praying for. And we’ll send that out to you when you make a donation of any amount to Focus on the Family to help us continue our evangelism efforts as well.

Our research shows that over 290,000 people made decisions for Christ through Focus on the Family in the past 12 months. And we’d like to see that number grow. So partner with us if you can.

John: Yeah. Be a part of what God’s doing through this ministry. And you can get your copy of J.John’s book and the free audio collection at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Or give us a call to learn more. Our number is 800, the letter A and the word FAMILY.

And this quick reminder that we’d love to have you come visit Focus on the Family this summer. We have a wonderful welcome center where you and your family can relax and have a bite to eat at our soda shoppe and let the kids play in a safe, indoor environment. They won’t get bored, that’s for sure. Plus, we have a terrific bookstore. We hope to see you sometime in the coming months. On behalf of the entire team, thanks for listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.