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Monday, June 15, 2015

Evangelistic praying through the Romans Road


Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.

Introduction:
The other week I heard a wonderful sermon from Oklahoma pastor Andy Taylor at the Falls Creek Conference Center in Davis, Oklahoma. The message encouraged listeners to take the commonly-used evangelistic tool – “The Romans Road”, and use it as a prayer strategy for those yet unconverted to Jesus Christ. In case the reader may not be familiar with the “Romans Road”, it is comprised of key passages in the New Testament Epistle of Romans written by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In most presentations of the “Romans Road”, the following passages are utilized: Romans 3:23; 6:23; 5:8; 10:9 and 10:13.

As Pastor Taylor proclaimed God’s Word from these passages, he then shared with the audience how he has utilized this technique of praying through the “Romans Road” for friends and family of his who have not yet been saved by grace through faith. Below I will list the “Romans Road” passages and make a few comments with reference to how they relate to praying for unsaved people. Let the reader be aware that much of what follows is heavily reliant upon the sermon referenced above.

1. Romans 3:23
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

If we were to pray for non-Christian people, we would ask God to show them the sinfulness of their sin. Unless an unbeliever is convinced of the sinfulness of their sin, and how much it has separated them from God, they will never be convinced they are sinners.

2. Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

As we pray for God to convict our unconverted loved ones and friends of the sinfulness of their sin (see John 16:8-12); we need to second pray that the Holy Spirit would show them the seriousness of their sin. Sin is serious. The wages or reward of persistent refusal to trust in Christ and to embrace one’s sin is death. The Bible records that there are two types of “death”: physical death and what will be the “second death” in the Lake of Fire following the final judgment. (Revelation 20:14) Romans 6:23 gives warning to unbelievers to send up the white flag of surrender and trust in Jesus by faith.

3. Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

I would call this third prayer point as referring to praying for God to show
the sinner the richness of His love. In the above mentioned message, Pastor
Taylor mentioned that we must pray God will remove any barrier that stands
between them and Christ. When we see in the above passage that God
“demonstrated His own love”, that tells the reader that the evidence is
uncontestable. Anyone who still persists in unbelief cannot blame God for
lack of evidence. Barriers need to be removed. Inasmuch as we can weaken
intellectual barriers, only the Holy Spirit can succeed in removing those
moral and spiritual barriers that the sinner prefers to seek refuge from Holy
Good. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 reminds us: “For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are
not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We
are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the
knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience
of Christ.”


4. Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

As we pray for God to show sinners their sin and the seriousness of their sin, we also pray that He will make known to them the riches of His love. The Holy Spirit’s work of shining into the sinner’s heart the light of the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ is what characterizes the Holy Spirit’s regenerative work, resulting in saving faith and repentance. As the Spirit works forth saving grace in the sinner’s heart, faith elicits forth as evidence of God’s free gift. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

5. Romans 10:13 “for ‘Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”’

In this final passage of the “Romans Road”, we are encouraged to pray for people to call o the name of the Lord. The verbal confession and mental ascent to trust in Jesus Christ is a supernatural work of the Spirit of God by His word. (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23) The preacher of the sermon referenced noted: “the Spirit of God uses the word of God to do the work of God.” We would pray that the confession of saving faith that comes from a willing response to the Gospel would occur – leading to true salvation.

I find it interesting that in this final thought, prayer is the form of communication that results when a converted sinner calls on the Lord to save them. Prayer is also the identical same form of communication that God has ordained for Christians preparing to evangelize unsaved people. Jesus certainly prayed for Jerusalem to be saved (Matthew 23:37-39) and for future generations of people hearing the Gospel message (John 17:9,20).

Conclusion:
Today we have considered evangelistic praying through the Romans Road. The basis for this thought was derived from a sermon recently heard preached that urged people to not only pray for their unsaved loved ones, but to tell them about how Jesus Christ can save them from their sins. Would we take these verses and the above strategy and put it to practice!

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