Hello there, friend. When thinking about gospel conversations, we might picture a very intentionally staged scenario to have a long-winded discussion on one of the many controversial topics surrounding faith. And sometimes they do go that way.

But more often than not, what will happen is something like this: You’re having coffee with an old friend you haven’t seen in years, and they’ll ask, “How’s life been?”. And you’ll answer by describing how alive the gospel is in your life. You might not be able to preach a whole sermon—and you probably shouldn’t—but maybe, for the first time in forever, this friend is reconnecting with their faith—or being introduced to it. And God can use that small interaction to bring them back home. Don’t underestimate the eternal impact of normal, day-to-day conversations.

In today’s edition:

• How to pray for Uzbek Christians 

• What prayer actually is 

• Having gospel conversations over half-time this summer

🇺🇿 They are free… and restricted. 

The Details: Once part of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan faced strict religious restrictions, and atheism was promoted. Today, about 96% of the Uzbek population is Muslim. And only about 0.15% of the population identifies as Protestant Christians.

While the Uzbek constitution grants religious freedom, there are still laws that restrict religious activities. Uzbek Christians can face persecution and pressure from the government, law enforcement, their communities, and even their families.

The Takeaways: With pressure from the government, pray that Uzbek Christians may meet safely together in their local churches and find opportunities to share the gospel. Since leaving Islam can be costly, pray that the Holy Spirit may equip new believers with peace and endurance. Lastly, with such a small gospel presence, pray that equipped missionaries may be sent to Uzbekistan to share the gospel and establish healthy, faithful churches.

🪖 Prayer: Our wartime walkie-talkie

John Piper is the first person I ever heard describe prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie. I’ll include some pertinent (and powerful) quotes here from his book on mission in the Christian life, Let the Nations Be Glad, which I would highly recommend.

Piper writes…

Probably the number one reason prayer malfunctions in the hands of believers is that we try to turn a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom.

Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission. It is as though the field commander (Jesus) called in the troops, gave them a crucial mission (go and make disciples), handed each of them a personal transmitter coded to the frequence of the General’s headquarters, and said, “Comrades, the General has a mission for you. He aims to see it accomplished. And to that end he has authorized me to give each of you personal access to him through these transmitters. If you stay true to his mission and seek his victory first, he will always be as close as your transmitter, to give tactical advice and to send air cover when you need it.

But what have millions of Christians done? We have stopped believing that we are in a war. No urgency, no watching, no vigilance. No strategic planning. Just easy peace and prosperity. And what did we do with the walkie-talkie? We tried to rig it up as an intercom in our houses and cabins and boats and cars—not to call in firepower for conflict with a mortal enemy but to ask for more comforts in the den.

Most people (Christians) show by their priorities and their casual approach to spiritual things that they believe we are in peacetime, not wartime. Very few people think that we are in a war that is greater than World War II. Or than any imaginable nuclear war. Few reckon that Satan is a much worse enemy than any earthly foe, or realize that the conflict is not restricted to any one global theater, but is in every town and city in the world. Who considers that the casualties of this war do not merely lose an arm or an eye or an earthly life, but lose everything, even their own souls, and enter a hell of everlasting torment? Until we feel the force of this, we will not pray as we ought. We will not even know what prayer is.

I believe that’s true. I believe that we won’t know what prayer is for until we realize that life is war.

There are many places we could go in God’s Word to see this truth. But I’ve been struck recently by one verse in particular. Writing from a Roman prison, Paul says…

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul commands these Colossian Christians in verse 2 to pray continually, watchfully, and thankfully. I could preach a sermon on each of those words as they apply to prayer! But what I want to point out here is the stunning picture Paul is painting in verse 3. 

Notice how he is telling the Colossian Christians that the spread of God’s Word in the Roman prison that surrounds him is dependent on the prayers of God’s people in Colossae. It’s like Paul is in enemy territory, and he has snuck out a letter to his fellow troops, saying, “Ask the Commander to blow open a door for the good news of Jesus to be clear here.” And Paul, arguably the greatest missionary in Christian history, is saying, “I won’t be able to make Jesus clear here if you’re not continually calling out for help from over there.”

Do we realize the implications of this passage for our lives today? The spread of the gospel in places like Turkey, India, or Thailand, or among thousands of unreached people groups, is actually dependent on your prayers—and mine!

Brother or sister in Christ, let’s take this responsibility seriously today. Let’s realize that yes, our quiet time is critical for our personal intimacy with God. But let’s also realize that our quiet time is critical for the success of God’s Word around the world. 

Let’s press on and pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters (many of whom, like Paul, are in prison and need us praying for them). And let’s press further on and pray for God to open doors for the gospel in unreached places, and for God to give boldness to our brothers and sisters in those places to charge through those doors clearly proclaiming the good news of peace with God through faith in Jesus.

In other words, let’s use this wartime walkie-talkie every day—all throughout the day (what a better way to spend our time than scrolling mindlessly through our phones)—believing that God will actually use our prayers to affect change among the nations!

— David Platt

⚽ Calling all football fans! Or should we say soccer?

No matter what you call the sport, it’s time to get excited because the FIFA Club World Cup is coming to the United States from June 15th—July 9th.

Not only is this a time for sports lovers, but also a chance for countries all over the world to gather together. And as they do so, we can hope that along with games and cheering for teams, there will be chances for gospel conversations.

How to Pray: As various countries are brought to the United States this summer, we can pray that this time may be used to share and spread the gospel among the nations. As American believers and believers from around the world are gathering to watch the FIFA Club World Cup, we can pray that they may have gospel conversation opportunities and be bold in their witness. Lastly, we can pray that God may open the minds and give willing spirits to those who are presented with the truth of the gospel so that we may see more and more come to know Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior.

📍 Attention Worthy

• From vengeance to baptism, this is a refugee’s journey to Christ.

• While sending out missionaries is an urgent task, there is wisdom in churches taking time to prepare those who are sent out. Here’s how one church did this before sending a couple to Japan.

• If our heart’s desire is to honor Christ and pursue the eternal, then we must be willing to take practical steps to store up heavenly treasure. Forrest McPhail shares some ideas to truly apply Matthew 6:19–21 to our daily lives.

THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS:

Selah Lipsey, Steven Morales, Jairo Namnún, David Platt, Camille Suazo

MAKE JESUS KNOWN EVERYWHERE!