WELCOME

Pastor Chris Paavola:

Well, hey everyone. Good morning. It’s good to be with you guys. My name is Chris Pavila. I’m the senior pastor here at St. Mark and happy March Madness to all who celebrate. Actually, blue people are still happy, green people are still happy. So we’re burnt orange people. So we’re still dancing. And if you’re not, my condolences, but Ohio State fans. But it’s great to be with you guys this morning. Actually, I was watching, did you guys see the High Point game? It was like the first Cinderella story of the season or of the March Madness. And the guard for High Point, I don’t even know where High Point is as a school. I couldn’t even tell you what state it’s in, but they upset, I think it was North Carolina, but the Guard for Hyde Point, like right at the end of the game, they had … Oh, it was Wisconsin.

Yeah, yeah. And he had written on the back of his shoes, Acts 2024.

I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work the Lord Jesus gave me – to tell people the good news of God’s grace.

​​​​​​​​​​​Acts 20:24 NCV

And I was like, huh. You don’t usually see that written on … You see John 3:16 or Ephesians, whatever, Philippians, I can do all things. So I was like, “What is that one?” And so I looked it up and I don’t care about my own life. The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me to tell people the good news about God’s grace. I’m like, “All right. Yeah. Right? I see you. ” And here’s this kid who figured it out, man. He’s not a basketball player who happens to talk about Jesus. He’s a missionary who happens to play basketball, man. And that’s probably why he played so well because he’s like, “My life is just a game. My real purpose is telling people about Jesus.” I’m like, “This guy gets what it means to reach one.” And that’s what we’re talking about in the series that we’re in.

SERIES

Each one, reach one, and we’re wrapping it up today, you guys. Each week we’ve been talking about how God so loves the world, he sent you and embracing that idea that you are a missionary. And so in week one, we talked about a heart for one, that this is not you trying to conjure this up, that a heart to reach anyone starts with God’s heart for each one. That’s within you if you’re a believer. It’s beating and burning and pulsing within you. It’s God’s heart to save the world. It’s within you. And we talked about how you could be callous to that or sensitive to that. And we started talking about ways that we can become more in tune, attune and sensitive to that. And then in week two then, we talked about how we’re all sent ones. Everybody is sent. Every saint of Saint Mark is sent.

You are sent by God. And this idea of just like a basketball player, it’s like he’s sent … Okay, he plays basketball. That’s where you’re sent. We talked about wherever you are, that’s where you are sent by God to tell people about Jesus. And that was week two. And so it doesn’t matter if you’re in a basketball court or folding laundry in a living room or crunching numbers at an office, that’s where you’re sent to tell people not just about God, the J word, Jesus and talk about him. And then in week three, we talked about invite one, right? So you’re not debating and arguing people that you’re just inviting someone to come meet someone else. Like, “Hey, you should come.

You should meet Jesus.” And whatever happens after that is between the two of them, but you’re just inviting people to meet someone else. And we talked about who are you inviting? We handed you tickets on your way out the door. And by the way, we have more tickets today for you guys. I know some of you guys were asking for some more because you only took two. So on the way out, one of our lovely and talented hospitality crew members will be at the door with a basket. Grab some tickets. Grab them for your waiter, your lawnmower guy, the gas station attendant. Just grab tickets. I was handing Easter tickets to all the construction workers this week. I’m like, “You should see it on a Sunday.” And actually, praise God, a couple of construction workers have been coming to services. So we thank God for that.

So we talked about invite one, and then we’re wrapping it up today with kind of this important step that I think … Well, I think we don’t quite fully understand it. We’re talking about pray for one. That’s today. And I know … Okay, so right away, some of you are thinking, Chris, I’ve been praying for this person in my life who doesn’t know Jesus or doesn’t have faith in Jesus for years.

I got it. Can I leave? No, don’t leave. But just this idea of praying for them. And I think we all understand that we should be praying for the people we invite, but today I want to push in a little bit. And I think as I do, it will challenge and unsettle you because it challenges and unsettles me. And we’ll talk about that and we’ll get there.

16 I have not stopped praying for you…

Ephesians 1

But I think because again, we all understand the basic premise of we should pray for someone like the Apostle Paul who was talking in Acts 20:24 on the back of the dude from High Point Shoes. He also wrote these words, “I have not stopped praying for you. ” And I think we all get that. Like, “Oh, I should pray for the people in my life. I don’t know Jesus. The people I’m inviting, I should pray for them.” And just quick side note, by the way, telling somebody that you’re praying for them is not the same as actually praying for them, right?

So praying for you is not praying. Just putting that out. And also while we’re at it, praying emojis on somebody’s Facebook post is not a prayer, y’all. You’re not praying. You’re just putting up an emoji and letting people think that you’re praying and you haven’t prayed yet. So pray, but pray for you. And I think we do this all the time. I think we do this all the time. And we’ll say when we share prayer requests or we talk to people about that we’re praying for them, we stop there. We stop short. We’ll say, “I’m praying for my uncle who lost his job.” Or, “If your sister is sick, I’m praying for my sister who has the flu.” And we stop there. But there’s another side to this. And I’ve talked about this before, but I think this is a great example. Take a look at this.

17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father , may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you., the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Ephesians 1

After Paul says, “I have not stopped praying for you. ” In verse 17 of Ephesians one, he says, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance and his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” Beautiful. I’ve prayed those words often. I love it. You can just open Ephesians one and just pray that if you ever don’t know what to pray for someone. I’ve prayed those words for you this morning, actually, this morning. I was getting ready. I get here very, very, very, very ungodly early. I shouldn’t say ungodly in church.

Very early. It was very dark out when I got here. But I prayed those words for you guys. I’ve prayed those words. I’ve prayed those words for my kids that God would open their eyes, they may know the hope to which he has called them and then comparably great power available for them. And you could pray that for the people in your life. Now, when Paul prays that, I’ve not stopped praying for you. He goes through the next step where so many of us stop short and he doesn’t stop at the fore. He continues with the that.

The that. That, God may give a spirit of wisdom and that they may know him better. That their eyes may be open. That they may know the hope to which he has called them. The that. And think about how we pray now in our prayer requests. So you’re praying for your uncle who lost his job. I pray for my uncle who lost his job. That he finds a job that pays better and he enjoys more. Or I pray for my sister who is sick. That she would be miraculously healed. Or I pray for my friends who lost their parents. That they may know the hope of the resurrection.

And that changes the prayer all of a sudden, doesn’t it? Now, now we’re looking with expectancy. Praying for is easy. Praying that stretches our faith.

PRAYERS FOR THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE FAITH IN JESUS

It’s especially true when we pray for people who don’t know Jesus. What do you pray that? What happened? The people in your life who don’t know Jesus, what do you pray that? What happened? And by the way, if you’re here today and you’re just looking into this Jesus thing, I get it sounds like I’m talking about you like you’re not in the room. I know you’re in the room. I know you’re watching online. We’re so glad and so grateful. Every once in a while, we need to have just an honest conversation about this kind of stuff. And today you get to listen in. And I hope none of this comes across as insensitive or treating you like a project.

Actually, I think it might be kind of refreshing to hear a Christian be honest with our views. And so that’s my heart and my hope for you as you listen today. But what I want to talk about today is the that. Six prayers, four people without faith in Jesus. That you can pray. And this is something that came out of our last prayer night. Our last prayer night, we have these once a month. Awesome. I would love for each and every one of you guys to be a part of it, but at these prayer nights, we pray for different things. And this last one, because we’re in this series, we were praying for friends who are lost or we would say don’t know, have faith in Jesus. And I talked about this at the prayer night and then we did this exercise and I got done and I asked some leaders, I’m like, “Should I do that on a Sunday?

Should we talk about that on a Sunday?” And it was just like, “Absolutely. Are you kidding me? That was powerful.” And so today, if you’ve never been to a prayer night, well, you get to experience a prayer morning and see what we do at a prayer night. And you’re going to see how we did this. Okay?

6 PRAYERS FOR THOSE WHO DON’T HAVE FAITH IN JESUS

And so, I’m going to talk through the six different thoughts that I think we can pray and then we’re going to pray in kind of a different way. So I’m going to go through these quickly and then you’ll see how we’re going to pray. And it’ll be a little bit of a different sermon this morning, but I think it’ll be a blessing and edifying to you. So on this idea of praying for people without faith in Jesus, I kind of took a step back and I’m like, “Well, what would scripture say?” And as I just kind of started thinking through scripture and flipping through it, thinking about people who do not have faith in Jesus, what types of things would scripture compel me to pray?

And I found six of them. Maybe there’s more, maybe there’s less or maybe there should be less. I don’t know, but there’s six and I think these are helpful. This will challenge and unsettle you. You will pray things today that you’ve never prayed before. I promise you, and I think that’s a good thing. So starting with this idea of like no one in words of Jesus, he says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.” You can’t come to Jesus through a debate or an argument or an intellectual ascent. You can’t come to Jesus because you took a pilgrimage and walked and kneeled and did the thing and the dance. And now you can’t do that. The only way you come to Jesus is if our heavenly Father draws you. That’s it.

1: THAT GOD WOULD DRAW THEM

Paul will talk about in a letter called Ephesians about how faith is a gift. And so there’s our first that. As you pray for people who don’t know Jesus, you pray that God would draw them. He’d reach out his hand and draw them towards his son. He’d move by his Holy Spirit in their lives, arranging and marshaling events and circumstances that draw them to Jesus like a magnet, that things would just happen where they just come closer and closer to him and that God would give them the gift of faith. That’s what you pray. That’s the first that.

2: THAT GOD WOULD SEND HIS WORD TO THEM

And then we kind of get to the second that and that we read or we heard from the reading that granted. We prayed that God’s word would come to them. Sower went out and sowed seeds, right? We prayed that a seed would fall in their life of the word of God. Romans 10 talks about, how can they believe unless they hear? How could someone in the rainforest of Amazon call on the name of Jesus unless somebody goes to them and says, “Have you heard about Jesus?” How can they believe unless they are since? How can they hear unless someone tells them? And so in this, when we pray for the people in our lives who are without faith in Jesus, we should pray that that God’s word would come to them. And I mean, all of his word, even the hard parts. In week one, I talked about, why do you need a savior if you don’t need to be saved from anything?

3: THAT THEY WOULD HAVE EARS TO HEAR

And so we pray that God’s words about their condition would come to them, that they would hear their lost and perishing, that they would hear Jesus say they’re in darkness, at risk of an eternity apart from God and a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, even that hard word. And that they would also hear God’s word that God so loved them. He sent their son to save them and die for them for their forgiveness and that they would hear God’s word that says, Jesus Christ rose from the grave, conquering death and that by believing in him, we have life in his name. Amen. That word would come to them and ring and resonate in their eardrums and come across their eyes, that word so they can believe. Because how can they believe unless they hear that word? So when you pray for people without faith in Jesus, you pray that God’s word would come to them.

And that gets to like the other part of the parable that Grant read. He said, “He has ears, let them hear.” This is the teenagers playing video games. Did you hear what I said? Uh-huh. What did I say?

Smart. Right? The doom scrolling. Did you hear what I said? Uh-huh. No, you didn’t. Whoever has ears, let them hear. Let them receive that word, that seed. And so in the parable Jesus talks about there’s ears that are hard of hearing because the ground is too firm to receive the seed, or it’s choked out by worries of this life and greed, or that it’s shallow soil because of stones and rocky ground from hard times, and it scorches the good seed. And he’s like, “Let if you have ears hear this thing.” And so we pray that they would have ears to hear, that their hearts would be soft to receive the seed.

And then on the other side of that is this idea of that, they have ears to hear.

4: THAT THEY WOULD HAVE EYES TO SEE

And then the apostle Paul talks about how the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. So they can’t see the light of the gospel. They’re blind. There is a fog over them. It’s cloudy. They cannot see. Their eyes are closed. They’re blind. And so as you pray for ears to hear, you also pray for eyes to see that the wisdom of this age and philosophy of man and cultural norms would not cloud their judgment to see the truth of Jesus, that the light would pierce through the darkness, penetrate the confusion, and they would see and believe that just like Jesus touched the ear of a blind man and said in Aramaic, Ephphatha,  be opened, that he would also put his hands on their eyes and say, Ephphatha, be opened.

And they would see and believe and find life in his name. And so we pray for people without faith in Jesus, that they have eyes to see.

And then it gets kind of hard because if you read scripture and start reading about what it claims about people who are far from God, there’s two other things that it leads us to pray that I think no one in this room prays. And the first one is this idea of that you would pray that they would feel empty, but think about it. There’s a hymn that we sing every once in a while in here called Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, look full on his beautiful face and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. You’re praying that things grow dim, but the indulgences and the luxuries of life, the delicacies of life would start to feel hollow, that their leather interior and their bling and their drip and their clothes and their cars would start to feel meaningless.

Like Solomon once wrote, vanity, meaningless, meaningless. It’s just meaningless.

Like what I said earlier, why would you need a savior unless you need to be saved from something unless you’re in peril? Same thing. Why would you come to Jesus for purpose unless you feel purposeless, unless the things that you’ve pursued just kind of feels empty, that your golf game in your 401k and you’re souped up 2026 four by whatever just made you happy for a little while, but that didn’t give you joy. Saint Augustine’s famous words, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in the oh Lord.” So you’re praying when you pray this, that they are restless. It’s the cliche of there’s a God-shaped hole in our hearts and nothing can fill it except him. That’s what you’re praying, that they realize it’s a foundation of sands, that they realize the idols in their life cannot save them and they smash them looking for something more.

5: THAT THEY WOULD FEEL EMPTY

That’s what you pray. When you pray that, they would feel empty. And I don’t know if I’ve ever heard anyone pray that their loved ones would feel empty and meaningless, but I think that’s where scripture pushes us.

6: THAT GOD WOULD BIND THE STRONGMAN

And this last one, this is also very challenging and there’s a lot of scripture that talks about it, but in the next chapter over from what we just read this morning, Jesus says these words.

29 How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

​​​​​​​​​​​Matthew 12

“How can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.” What, Jesus? Yeah. Then you can rob from the strong man. “Whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” What are you talking about?

You guys, this is war. We are engaged in spiritual warfare. The apostle Paul talks about how our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms fought with weapons of warfare of the spirit. There’s this idea that there are two kingdoms. We pray thy kingdom come. It comes at the expense of another kingdom. It’s the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, and there is no neutral territory. And you are a part of one of the kingdoms, period. That’s the claim of scripture. And when one kingdom advances, it does so at the expense of the other kingdom. That’s the claim. And Jesus says,” We are laying siege to the gates of hell that God may rescue us and bring us into the kingdom of his son whom he loves, that we may declare the praises of him who rescued us.

“Amen? That’s what scripture says.

And so we pray in this prayer as we pray for people without faith in Jesus, we pray that God would bindthe strong man in their life, that he would send his holy angels, gripping flaming swords to bind the spiritual forces of darkness and evil in their life so they might receive faith in Jesus, that he might plunder the house, bind the strong man so he can rescue the captive inside and bring them into his kingdom. That’s redemption. That’s salvation. That’s rescue. And that’s the picture scripture gives us. That is what we pray. When we pray that God would bind the strong man.

PRAYER CARDS

So, here’s how we’re going to do this. I’m going to ask Nate and Rob, if you guys want to grab, we’ve got little business cards. Double time it there, Rob. There you go. Oh, it’s right there. Okay, good. It’s like, let’s go. Let’s go. They’re waiting. We got little white business cards. They’re blank. Okay? On one side, I want you to write the name of the person that has been on your heart while I’ve been talking. It’s the person who’s come to mind again and again and again and again and again and again. Write their name on the card. And on the backside of that card, write down anyone else that you’re inviting, anyone else that you think needs to be with God’s house, with God’s people. Last week we talked about the four knots. Anyone who says things are not going well, things that I’m not from around here, I’m not religious and I’ve not been to church in a while.

Any of those four people that you’re inviting, just write them on the backside of that card. Just fill up the card with names. And then as you come forward for communion, you’re going to put the names or the cards in this basket. This is from the eight o’clock service. And you’re going to put these names in here. And then we’re going to lay our hands. I’m going to lay my hands on this basket and we’re going to pray for and intercede for these people that are so real to you, these people that you love deeply. We’re going to pray for them. And we’re going to intercede in their behalf. The six that we’ve talked about this morning.

And so guys, go, yeah, you don’t need to wait on me. Come on. Yep. Yep. You guys go ahead and grab a card, fill it out. And then we’re going to have communion and you guys will come forward. And then after the end of communion, we’ll pray. We’re going to take some really intentional time to pray for these people.

PRAYER

Let’s get our hearts ready for communion by saying the words of the Lord’s prayer that Jesus taught us, talking about a kingdom coming as we say together.

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil,

For thine is the kingdom,

And the power,

And the glory,

Forever and ever.

Amen.

I invite you to stand as we pray. I’m going to lay my hands on these names, these names of people that you love dearly. And I invite you to raise a hand towards these names as we pray together. Heavenly Father, we speak the name of Jesus over these names, these people whom we love, that you’ve sent us to tell the good news of Jesus to. We pray for them that you would draw them, Heavenly Father. You would reach out your hand and draw them to you, arrange circumstances and events and bring them closer to you by your Holy Spirit. Draw them to your son.

And as you draw them, God, I pray that your word would go out, that they would hear your word, Lord. Your word that talks about their condition apart from you. Other lost or perishing or blind. Your word that talks about the gift of your son, Jesus, his death and their place for the forgiveness of their sins, your word that says he triumphed over the grave and rose again. And that by believing in him, we have life in his name. God, give them ears to hear. Take out the stones, till up the hard soil, uproot the thorns in their life that they may hear, and then it may reach down and find good soil. Your seed may reach down, find good soil in their hearts that they may believe and bear much fruit for your glory.

Give them eyes to see. Open their eyes. Remove the scales. Lift the veil. Pull back the cloud that covers them. The philosophy of this age, human wisdom, make them like little children. And just hearing and receiving your word and faith, pierce the darkness with the light of your truth, oh Lord. We pray, God, that they would feel empty. They would feel purposeless and without hope that their golf game or their 401k just doesn’t satisfy. I And you show them, God, these are good things, but not ultimate things. They may look to you with a hunger and thirsting for you. And God, we ask that you bind the strong man in their life. Spiritual forces of evil and darkness that work to keep them from your kingdom. God, bind them. Send your Holy Spirit and your holy angels and rescue them. Plunder the house, Lord. Deliver the captive.

Loose the chains and bring them into your kingdom that the gates of how will not prevail. We pray all of these things for them. Let your kingdom come, Lord Jesus. It’s in your name, we pray. Amen.