Evangelist Joan Pearce: Leaving the 99 to Reach the Lost

Evangelist Joan Pearce brings one message to this service: God’s heart is for the lost, and every believer can leave the 99 to go after the one. Teaching from Luke 15, Luke 16 and Luke 17, Joan Pearce tells true stories of the Holy Spirit leading her to hungry, hurting and backslidden people at exactly the right moment, and she calls the church to put souls ahead of busy schedules. The service opens with the host pastor’s short word on laying up treasures in heaven, and Joan closes the message on that same passage.

Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the service, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical ways to reach someone this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This service was posted on August 3, 2020, and runs about 88 minutes. It begins with worship, a short Scripture reading on treasures in heaven, a report on the week’s outreaches, announcements for NTC Christian Academy and prayer for a church member. The host introduces Joan Pearce as a friend of about 40 years whose ministry is always about souls.

Joan then preaches from three chapters of Luke and returns at the end to Matthew 6. Her stories run through the whole message: groceries left on a pastor’s porch, a grandmother walking home with heavy bags, two homeless men who prayed for lunch, two men who jumped off a freight train, and a leper colony where the sick helped set up a crusade.

Treasures in Heaven: Focus, Not Finances

Before Joan Pearce speaks, the host pastor reads Matthew 6:19–21, where Jesus says to lay up treasures in heaven, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Whatever you sow into, promote and build, he explains, is where your heart will go. He links it with Colossians 3:1–2: if we are risen with Christ, we set our affections on things above.

Affection, he says, is not liking a hot dog or cheering for a team. It is what you are really consumed with. He remembers calling the girl who became his wife so often on a shared party line that neighbors struggled to use the phone, and riding his bicycle for miles to see her. That is the kind of focus Jesus is describing.

To people who say the church just wants money, he answers that the issue is not the finances but the focus. In his words, “it’s not about finance it’s about focus.” He encourages tithing, pointing to the promise of a blessing too large to receive in Malachi 3:10, and to seeking first the kingdom of God in Matthew 6:33.

He then shows where that focus bears fruit. A children’s outreach drew 34 children, and 26 gave their lives to Jesus. An adult outreach served 168 people from 52 families with over a hundred lunches, and over 50 adults received Christ. With a visiting mission team, almost 80 people were saved in a town of a little over 9,500.

Asking for school volunteers, he recalls the Lord saying He could not hide His plans from Abraham because Abraham would train his children in the ways of the Lord (Genesis 18:17–19). A heart for children, he says, brings you into an inner circle with God.

Joan Pearce on Leaving the 99 for the Lost Sheep

Joan Pearce opens her Bible to Luke 15:4–7, the parable of the man with a hundred sheep who leaves the 99 in the wilderness to find the one that is lost, lays it on his shoulders and calls his friends to rejoice. There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 who need no repentance.

She becomes emotional as she speaks, because she has a heart for the lost. There is a world right now, she says, that needs you and me. Many people are walking in fear and will not even leave their homes. God’s heart is that all be saved and not one fall short, which is why Jesus came as the Good Shepherd to pick up the ones who are hurting.

Her practical challenge is simple. Pray in the Holy Spirit and ask Him who is hurting, who is lost and who needs a word of encouragement. Take a piece of paper, write down the names He puts on your heart, and call them. Ask how things are going and whether they need anything from the store.

For families who have been out of work, she suggests a box of groceries or a gas card left at the door, even if it is only ten or fifty dollars, with a tract or a kind note. You do not even have to say who it came from. What the world needs, she says, is love in action, and believers are the ones who can carry it.

She shares how, about six months after she was saved, the Holy Spirit told her to buy groceries for her pastor. She argued, since he drove a Rolls-Royce and lived in a near-mansion. She obeyed anyway and kept quiet, since your right hand should not know what your left hand is doing (Matthew 6:3). That Sunday the pastor admitted they were behind on payments and had no money for food.

Lazarus at the Gate: Too Busy for God’s Agenda

Next Joan Pearce reads Luke 16:19–21: a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen feasted every day, while a beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, lay at his gate hoping for crumbs. She brings it into modern days with a gated community, where a resident must stop at the keypad every day beside a poor man and still passes him by.

Her question is pointed. Do we pass people every day who need a touch from heaven? Could we be like the rich man, too busy running through stores and errands to offer a helping hand? Sometimes, she says, we are so busy with our schedule that we have no time for God’s agenda, and “only what’s eternal is what matters.”

She tells of driving to a meeting in Kennewick, Washington, when she saw an elderly woman carrying bags of groceries with two small children, one dragging a heavy milk carton. The Holy Spirit said to pick them up. She drove on, worried about being late, and then the Lord asked her, “what’s more important to you your meeting or souls.”

She turned around and offered a ride. At the house, the daughter recognized Joan from church and started shouting, because she had sent a friend driving the very same model, year and color of car to pick her mother up. That is why the woman got in so easily. The family invited Joan inside, everyone received prayer, and three of them accepted Jesus.

Returning to Luke 16:22–24, she notes that the beggar was carried to Abraham’s bosom, while the rich man in torment begged for a drop of water. What you sow, you reap: the man who would not share crumbs now asked for help himself. She adds that giving money to every sign is not the only way to minister.

Led by the Holy Spirit to the Right Place

At a burger restaurant, her husband Marty ordered far more than the two of them could eat, then pointed to two men in the corner and told Joan, the evangelist, to go witness. When she said God had supplied their lunch, one man kept saying he had told his friend so. He had led his friend to Jesus three days earlier, and minutes before, they had prayed for someone to bring them lunch.

Another time, while praying for hours at Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey before a Sunday service, she watched two men jump off a slow freight train. The Holy Spirit said to buy them breakfast. She brought food and coffee and told them, “I just want you to know that God bought you breakfast today.” She shared the gospel for about fifteen minutes, and both were saved.

The table below compares four of the stories she tells, showing how the same pattern repeats each time.

She also urges kindness over pressure. Do not cram Jesus down people’s throats, she says, and do not preach condemnation, because Jesus did not condemn the woman who brought her alabaster jar to the Pharisee’s house. Learn to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and you will be in the right place at the right time. “God almighty did not give us the spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7).

As in the Days of Noah: Keep Your First Fire

In the middle of the message Joan Pearce pauses for an altar call. She explains that we were under the influence of Satan, but Jesus came to restore what he stole. He took our sins and our sickness on the cross, and while dying He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). God is not mad at anyone, she says, and she leads viewers in a prayer to receive Christ.

From Luke 16:25–31 she shows the great gulf fixed after death. You have one trip through life, she warns, and many good, generous people will be lost because Jesus is the only door. The rich man begged for his five brothers, but faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

Luke 17:26–30 says that as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, people ate, drank, married, bought, sold and built until judgment came. Some plan to get saved once the signs appear, she says, but no one knows the day of their death. Waiting is playing Russian roulette with your life, and with the lives of loved ones you could have told.

She recalls reading that in the last days the hearts of many grow cold (Matthew 24:12), alongside Paul’s list of the unthankful and unholy in 2 Timothy 3:1–3. She assumed it meant sinners. Then the Lord asked her what made her think He was talking about sinners. He meant the church.

Remember the day you got saved, she urges, when the sky looked bluer and you told everyone about Jesus. She rebukes saints who tell new converts they too will settle into a rut. Like a frog in slowly heating water, believers grow used to one compromise after another. God, she says, is going to have a radical church without spot.

Her most moving story comes from a leper colony of about 3,900 lepers and 20,000 residents. Lepers left the hospital to help set up her crusade. When she hesitated, they told her, “sister joan don’t worry us two men can make one man.” A former Baptist pastor, missing his fingers, turned the pages of his pocket Testament with his tongue as they went house to house, telling her they would serve “as long as we have breath.”

Where Your Treasure Is, One Soul at a Time

Joan Pearce closes on the host pastor’s text, Matthew 6:19–21. Early in her ministry a wise man told her “you can tell where a man’s heart is by looking at his check register.” If every entry is vacations, clothes and a new truck, the heart is there. If more goes to missionaries and ministries than to our own kingdom, the heart is with God.

Yet she insists it is not just about money. If you have to force someone to give, do not do it. Give from the heart, and give your time. Even when people cannot gather, you can pray through the phone book, let the Holy Spirit highlight families, and call to ask whether they have needs or want prayer.

Reading Matthew 6:33–34, she says that seeking the kingdom first means God takes care of food, clothes and tomorrow. Once, with only 39 dollars before a conference, she planned to wear her old shoes. Someone the Lord spoke to bought her a whole new wardrobe and shoes. How do you advance His kingdom? In her words, “one soul at a time.”

She ends with what she calls a made-up story. A man reaches heaven and is led past beautiful mansions near the throne, then farther and farther out, until he is shown a house with no roof, just unfinished boards. The angels explain they could only build with what he sent up to work with. Then she prays over every listener for the heart of an evangelist.

Living It Out: Reaching the One This Week

Joan Pearce’s closing prayer asks God to put His heart in ours and to drive out fear. Here are the practical steps drawn from her message:

• Ask the Holy Spirit for names. Pray, write down who He puts on your heart, and call them to ask how they are doing.
• Meet one practical need. Leave groceries or a gas card at the door, with a tract or kind note, without signing your name.
• Look at your own gate. Notice the people you pass every day, and treat them as God’s agenda, not an interruption.
• Obey the first nudge. When the Spirit says pick them up or buy them breakfast, do it before your schedule talks you out of it.
• Rekindle your first fire. Remember the day you were saved and tell someone about Jesus with that same joy.
• Check your register. Let your giving, time and prayer show that your treasure is in heaven.

Her final words invite everyone to pray one line with her: “god put your heart in my heart.” It is a prayer anyone can make before reaching for the phone or the car keys.

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 Worship: running into the Father’s arms
• 11:54 Set your affections on things above
• 14:12 Outreach report: children and adults saved
• 15:34 Not about finance, about focus
• 18:43 School volunteers and Abraham’s children
• 36:24 Prophetic word: I have called you
• 41:55 Welcoming Evangelist Joan Pearce
• 44:15 Luke 15: leaving the 99
• 49:14 Groceries for the pastor
• 51:11 Luke 16: the rich man and Lazarus
• 53:14 The grandmother in Kennewick
• 59:48 Two men who prayed for lunch
• 1:02:34 Invitation to receive Christ
• 1:08:08 Five brothers and faith by hearing
• 1:10:18 No spirit of fear; the Monterey train
• 1:13:52 Luke 17: as in the days of Noah
• 1:16:08 Remember when you first got saved
• 1:19:22 The leper colony crusade
• 1:22:19 Matthew 6: treasures in heaven
• 1:25:22 Seek first the kingdom
• 1:26:10 The unfinished house in heaven
• 1:28:06 Prayer for the heart of an evangelist

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to give money to every person holding a sign?

Joan Pearce says no. She does not think you should always give money to people with signs, because there are thousands of them, but there are different ways to minister. Her stories show food, a ride, a phone call or a few minutes of conversation. The key is listening to the Holy Spirit, who knows exactly which person is ready and what will open their heart to Jesus.

What if I have never heard the Holy Spirit speak like this?

She suggests starting deliberately: pray in the Holy Spirit and ask Him who is hurting, then write down the names that come to mind. Her own story shows that even a six-month-old believer can hear Him, and that arguing first is common. What matters is turning around and obeying. Over time, she says, you learn to be in the right place at the right time.

Why does she warn church members as well as unbelievers?

Because the Lord corrected her own assumption. Reading that hearts grow cold in the last days, she thought it described sinners, and He showed her it described the church. She is concerned about believers who lose their first love, discourage on-fire new converts, and slowly accept compromise like a frog in warming water. Her answer is to remember your salvation day and tell others again.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Luke 15:4–7 — leaving the 99 for the one lost sheep
• Luke 16:19–21 — the rich man and Lazarus at the gate
• Luke 16:25–31 — the great gulf and the five brothers
• Luke 17:26–30 — as in the days of Noah and Lot
• Matthew 6:19–21 — treasures in heaven
• Matthew 6:33–34 — seek first the kingdom
• Colossians 3:1–2 — set your mind on things above
• 2 Timothy 1:7 — not a spirit of fear
• Romans 10:17 — faith comes by hearing

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

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