Reaching Out

Well, this year we have three themes at Calvary, reaching out, welcoming in, and growing deep. And this morning, we recognize that Calvary Church is on the move. We have in God's grace a wonderful heritage over 80 years, but we know that Christ is still building His church, and the very gates of Hades will not prevail against it. It will be very easy as we look out nationally and internationally to be discouraged, but yet we rejoice and we believe very strongly that the church of Jesus Christ is being built. And as we think of this theme of reaching out, I want us to be challenged and encouraged as we share our faith with those who are lost. And these three themes of reaching out, of welcoming in, and growing deep, will also help us as we think of the major building expansion that is before us, Lord willing, this year. In many ways, Calvary Church is a unique church.

It's got an outstanding location here in the Carolinas. It is a lighthouse, I trust, shining for Christ, providing a biblical center for worship, for the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, for the gospel, for discipleship, for equipping boys and girls, students and adults to display and proclaim the Lord Jesus throughout the world. And today, our focus is on reaching out. I praise God that since its inception over 80 years ago, Calvary Church has had a focus on missions, on reaching out, reaching out both locally and globally. At the moment, we support over 70 missionary families with a strong emphasis on evangelism, church planting, discipleship, Bible translation. Throughout 2020, we sought to build on that mission emphasis as we adopted new missionaries, as we went on missions trips, as we focused on helping Bible translators, as we continued to feed the homeless, to go into our public schools. Thank you, so many of you who do that through the Good News Clubs and other ways as we reach the public schools here in Charlotte and area with the gospel.

We continue to feed the poor. We continue to partner with the pregnancy resource center, to being a light in our neighborhood as many of you are participating in that, as we've just heard and seen expanding our special needs ministry. Beginning in 2022, our New School Calvary Christian Academy and so on. Thousands of people, literally thousands of people are impacted through the life and ministry of Calvary Church. Think of our ministries through Cham Sports, the thousands of families that are impacted. Our Calvary Child Development Center, the concerts that we've had, both out in our fields and here in our sanctuary. I thought it very interesting in spite of the coldest Christmas Eve on record here in Charlotte and power outages, which in God's grace didn't impact this building, but impacted some of you. In spite of all of that, almost 10,000 people attended our three Christmas Eve services, where we seek to point people to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our live stream audience reaches many countries over the world.

87 countries have been impacted over the last two years, and I'm told over the last three months, 33 countries are impacted. Sometimes we know who the people are who are listening. So if I see the Faroe Islands, I know that's friends or relatives of Goodney.

If I see the UK, I think there's some people I know, but there are many countries we just don't know. Who is this person? Who is this individual who's watching this service? And if you're watching by live stream just now, again, we welcome to you.

Thank you so much. The radio program Verdict last year expanded, now broadcast in 27 states, as well as Liberia, Scotland, and the United Kingdom. Our podcast ministry continues to grow, and yesterday we reached 100,000 downloads for the Verdict and for Avizandam, the podcast. And I praise God for that ministry. You say, what on earth is Avizandam? I've at least got one person who's appreciated it, praise God. You say, what is Avizandam? You've got to listen to the podcast and you'll be told.

If you don't know, shame on you. But these are being downloaded many, many ways and many more as we thought over the past year of Calvary Church making an impact, not just here in Charlotte, obviously that is our primary responsibility, but throughout the United States and indeed throughout the world. Now as we look forward and as we think of this theme of reaching out, I want to remind us of the biblical basis of reaching out. Secondly, the message we reach out with, and then the power by which we reach out.

First of all, the command to reach out. Open your Bibles with me please to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, the last chapter in the third gospel, the gospel according to Luke, and he is concluding this wonderful gospel. And you read here in Luke chapter 24 verse 45 the following, then he opened their minds, that's Jesus, opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Remember last week I said as you read your Bible, pray for understanding. And the Lord Jesus then opened their mind. Biblical enlightenment is what we need to understand the Scriptures and said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins, notice the message, repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city, Jerusalem, until you're clothed with power from on high. The Lord Jesus is about to ascend and He's commanding His disciples, commanding the apostles and therefore commanding us to reach all nations. Did you notice that in verse 47? Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations. These are eleven men, a very inconsistent men, rather stubborn men, rather argumentative men from time to time as we read in the gospels. And here is our Lord saying to them, I'm going to leave you, but you're going to preach the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins to all the nations beginning from where you are right now in Jerusalem.

What a command. A command to reach all of the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Revelation 9, there's a wonderful picture. John writes of a great multitude that no one could un… could number from every nation, from every peoples and tribes and language are there. Understanding, John says, before the throne, the very throne of God and before the Lamb of God, think of eternity, that people from every nation, people of every tribe and language and country are going to be there in heaven with us. And praise God, if you're saved by the grace of God, that you're going to be part of this great multitude, an eternal multitude as people have come to you and me and communicated the gospel. Praise the command by our Lord. It's not just to reach all the nations, it is to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins.

We'll think a little more of the content of the message. The only one who can set us free is our Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sins, was buried, and rose again. And it is wonderful that these men took the Lord Jesus at His word, and as we read the book of Acts in the New Testament, we realize then that this small group took Christ at His word, obeyed His command, and it was said of them, they turned the world upside down. Here's an example from… of the gospel coming to Thessalonica, and this is what they did. Thessalonians 1 verse 8, Paul writes to them, "'For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere so that we need not say anything.'"

Here are the Thessalonians, they're idolaters. They turn to God from their idols. They receive the gospel. They are soundly converted, and then this early church begins to proclaim the gospel in Macedonia where they are, in Achaia, and in fact, says Paul, wherever we're going, we realize that people have already heard the message. The early church reaching out. Reaching out to make followers of Jesus Christ is the mission of Calvary Church. That's why we're here. This is not a political action station. This is not a social club.

It's not an entertainment center or an educational center or a social justice center. Calvary Church is the church of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are to obey the command of our Savior and our Lord. When Matthew records the Great Commission, he prefaces it by the words of the Lord who says, all authority in heaven and on earth is given to me. Are you going to argue with that? Are you going to think you're wiser than God? Are we going to make our own philosophy, our own ideas, our own mission, our own vision when it is clearly laid down by the Lord Jesus Christ who, I would remind you, is Lord of the church who has all authority. There's no higher authority.

There's no appeal against Him. There's no arguing with Him. He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and it is He who commands us to go and make disciples of all the nations. Martin Luther in his, I think it was one of his last sermons, he writes and says that God can't be a very good student.

You think, what a statement. Luther was quite a controversial author as you know. He said God can't be a very good student because everyone is advising God how to do things.

People are trying to change the message. It's as if we are wiser than God. And God in His grace gives us the church. And Christ is the head of the church. And you and I come and we think we know better and we're going to have a church for other purposes rather than obeying the command of our Lord Jesus Christ which is to go, notice the command, and make disciples of all the nations.

And that's what we seek to do. That is our Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel transcends all boundaries, nations, cultures, prejudices and social classes. John gives us a wonderful description of our Lord in John 4 and he repeats it in his first epistle. As the gospel goes from the Jews to the Samaritans in John chapter 4 that Jesus is described as, think of this beautiful title of our Lord, He is the Savior of the World.

Aren't you glad He's the Savior of the World? Aren't you glad that the gospel did not just come to the Jewish people? It didn't just come to Samaritans. It didn't just come to the Middle East.

It didn't just come to Rome. But in the grace of God, the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ has come to you and to me. That is, our forefathers took this command and obeyed it. This is a vision for all nations, all peoples.

This is a global vision. And so as followers of Jesus Christ, as we look at people, we don't just see them in terms of their ethnicity or their color or their culture or their social status. We as followers of Jesus Christ primarily look at people as those who are lost who need a Savior. And we are commanded to go and bring the gospel to all nations to reach out to them. I read recently that between 80 and 90 percent of new converts, I think this is in the United States, are initially contacted by individual believers within the context of their daily lives, whether at work or school, home, neighborhood.

Eighty to ninety percent of people. How did you come to know the gospel? Your home?

A neighbor? Someone at work shared Christ with you? And so we, who are followers of Jesus Christ, are to get to know people where they are. We're to relate to them as individuals. We are to accept responsibility for the place where God has placed us. There are abundant opportunities right around us, right on our doorsteps as they were, in our schools, in our hospitals, in our offices or stores or banks or neighborhoods. As you go to the gym, on a building site, wherever you are, there are opportunities.

You say, well, I try and sometimes I get nowhere. That's true of me. Bill Bailey, one of our elders and I were visiting Dennis Abbott during the week, who is recovering, as we prayed, recovering from quadruple heart surgery. And this was the day before his surgery. And we're going up an elevator. It was on the sixth floor. And a man said, six. And we said, six. And another woman said, six. I said, that's three sixes. I said, isn't that the number of the Antichrist? And I thought it might generate a conversation on the elevator. And it didn't work. The woman said, well, there could be 66 cows in a meadow. And I thought, hmm, this is taking a turn I don't really want.

And she got off at floor three and I'm thinking, but you said six. So, sometimes as we try conversations, they don't get anywhere seemingly. People are resistant.

People turn away. People patronize us. It's true.

They think we're crazy. That is true. But you know, the responsibility for the heart is God's. You and I are not the Holy Spirit. And you and I shouldn't try to do what only the Holy Spirit can do. It is God who prepares the heart.

Our responsibility is to sow the seed. So I ask you, are you reaching out with the love and the truth of Jesus Christ? Reaching out the command.

Secondly, the message. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and see how Paul, as the gospel comes to Corinth, let's see how Paul reached out to that very pagan, very immoral and decadent society. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18.

First the command, second the message. For the word of the cross, the preaching of the cross, the logos of the cross, for the word of the cross is folly, foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Chapter 2 verse 1, and I, Paul, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling. And my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Don't you love that? What's the message? Clearly laid down, the message is Christ and Him crucified. Luke 24, what is it?

It is repentance and forgiveness of your sins. The apostolic message was the message of the cross. And Paul makes it very clear that left to ourselves, we could never know God. We can't reason our way to God, or work our way to God, or empower our way to God. No, God uses the foolishness, the folly of preaching. A man dying on a cross 2,000 years ago, what an utter silly message to think that that has anything to do with me. Notice Paul, it's foolishness to the world, but to us who are saved, it's the power of God and it's the wisdom of God.

And as he comes into Corinth, there are two main groups. There's the Jews and then there's the Greeks, the Gentiles. What about the Jews? He says in verse 22, Jews demand signs. They want miracles.

And the Jews want a display of power, they want the wow factor. Show me something spectacular. Perform a miracle.

Let me experience something very exciting and then I might believe. They demand miraculous signs. On the other hand, again, 1 Corinthians 1.22, the Greeks seek wisdom. The Greeks love philosophy, they want a display of intellectualism.

God has to make sense to them, to their rational mind and their ideas of fairness as it were. So as Paul comes to Corinth, a pagan city, an idolatrous city. So there's the Jews on the one hand and there's the Gentiles on the other. The Jews are wanting signs.

The Greeks are seeking wisdom. What is Paul's response to such unbelievers? Does he pander to their felt needs?

Does he accommodate these cultural desires as it were? Paul's an apostle. He can perform miracles. One of the signs of the apostle was that they could do signs and wonders. Paul can do miracles. Can Paul enter into debates in speculative philosophy?

Yes, he can. He's well educated. He's a great intellect.

He could enter into the most sophisticated of debates. Isn't it intriguing that while Jews demand signs, while the Greeks demand wisdom, what does Paul do? Preaches Christ and Him crucified. Foolishness to the Jews. Foolishness to the Greeks. A stumbling block to the Jews. How can our Messiah be killed on a cross? No, he doesn't preach traditions. The Jewish had great pride in their religion. He doesn't preach speculative philosophy.

The Greeks prided themselves in their intellect. He preaches Christ crucified. He preaches the message of a cross. Repentance, forgiveness of sins, the Lord Jesus said as you go. Paul is in that apostolic tradition. He preaches Christ and Him crucified.

Why does he do that? The message of the cross. I want you to get this. Some of you are going to dispute it and argue with me. The message of the cross is God's only way of salvation. Did you notice what Paul says in verse 18? The word of the cross is foolishness to who? To those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved is the power of God. What is God's way of saving sinners?

It's the way of the cross. Christ crucified. Unbelievers will happily discuss and even accept an uncrucified Jesus, a Jesus who's a moral teacher, a Jesus who's an example of inspiring love. Perhaps they might even concede a Jesus who's a miracle worker, a Jesus who had some great insights into a path of enlightenment, a kind of guru. You see, an uncrucified Jesus rarely offends anyone. An uncrucified Jesus today we could say is politically correct. An uncrucified Jesus could be tolerant of the most bizarre conduct, but an uncrucified Jesus is not the gospel. An uncrucified Jesus is not a threat to anyone, but an uncrucified Jesus will never ever be saved. An uncrucified Jesus is not the gospel and as we go out it is essential we know what the gospel of Jesus Christ is. It is not that God can help you fulfill your dreams.

I mean who's not going to accept that? It's not a gospel that if you've got some health problem, listen, come to Jesus, everything's going to be wonderful. What's the message?

Are we clear on the message? Christ crucified. That's the gospel. The command, the message, and you say, John, that's quite a task to go today and to tell people that they need to repent and that the only way of salvation is through Jesus Christ who died for their sins, was buried and rose again. Then that's really difficult.

Yes, it is. But third, here is the power. Look again at Luke chapter 24. Luke 24 verse 49, Jesus again to His disciples, He's sending them out. They've got to reach all the nations with His message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. Verse 49, I'm sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

You say, when did that happen? Go over to Acts chapter 1. Luke writes his gospel.

He also writes the book of Acts, which is the history of the early church. Acts chapter 1, again the Lord Jesus is with them after His resurrection, before His ascension. Acts 1 verse 8, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. You're going to go with this message, it's going to start where you are in Jerusalem, then you're going to go to Judea, then you're going to go to Samaria, and then I want you to take this message to the end of the earth, but you're going to receive power, verse 8, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Did this happen?

Yes. Acts chapter 2, the great day of Pentecost. What happens on the day of Pentecost? The Spirit comes. The feast of Pentecost was the 50th day from the feast of Passover.

So on the day of Pentecost, described in Acts chapter 2, 50 days have passed since the Lamb of God was sacrificed on the cross of Calvary, 50 days. And now, here is this tremendous promise to that small group of followers of Jesus Christ. As you go, you're not going to go in your own strength, not in your own power, not some manufactured technique, not worldly wisdom, but you're going to go in the power of the Spirit. That is, in reaching the nations for Jesus Christ, and you and I sharing the Gospel in our family, our next door neighbor, across the street, at work, in the bank, wherever you are, we are totally reliant on the power of the Holy Spirit. You and I cannot save people.

And here's a wonderful thing. Here's an individual that you know. You have a burden to tell them about Jesus, but you know them. And you think this may jeopardize the relationship. They may think I'm a bit crazy. You possibly are.

How am I going to do this? Do you understand that long before possibly even you met this individual, God was at work in their heart? Do you realize that before an individual comes to saving faith in Christ, seed may have been sown years and years ago? How often have we had the experience of speaking to someone who we thought knew nothing about the Gospel, and then they say, well, you know, I used to go to a Sunday school where they used to talk like that, but I no longer do.

Or, you know, my sister believes something like that. She's one of these Jesus people and we realize that we're in a partnership with the Holy Spirit, a wonderful partnership, that you and I can't prepare the heart. You and I can't prepare the soil. There is hard soil.

Read the parable of the sower in Mark chapter 4. There is hard soil. There's superficial soil. There's resistant soil, but there's also good soil. Do you know where the good soil is?

No, we don't know where it is. You and I have the responsibility of communicating the message. You and I have the wonderful privilege of displaying Jesus to such people.

And to do that, I want to encourage you. I find this so encouraging that we do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is supernatural. Last week we thought of the power of the Word of God.

It's supernatural. It's the imperishable seed of the Word of God. Today we're thinking of the power of the cross. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. You ever ashamed of the gospel? You ever find it embarrassing when people think, oh, you're one of these Christians? You ever been a bit embarrassed by it?

I confess that sometimes I have been to my shame. Why be embarrassed? People are not embarrassed, but they conduct themselves in a certain way. They believe the most silly of things.

They're involved in the most bizarre and immoral conduct. They're not ashamed. Why are we ashamed of the gospel? Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. The power is not in you, it's not in me. The power is in the gospel. The power is in Christ. This is the power of the cross. I trust you've experienced that power in your own heart, that once you were resistant to God, once you wanted nothing to do with him, and now in the grace of God, your heart has been changed, your heart has been warmed. Not through some sophisticated argument, although we should be persuasive as to how we communicate, of course we should be, but the power is in the Word of God as the Spirit takes that, and souls are saved. You know, here at Calvary, we're greatly privileged.

We have wonderful resources, a wonderful campus here of 100 acres. We've got many gifted, capable, experienced people here at Calvary, but nothing, nothing will be carried out for eternity unless we're relying totally on the power of God. I was very encouraged yesterday, spoke to a man, and he said to me, I want you to know, Pastor, that when you're preaching tomorrow, there's a small group of us praying for you right now, under where I'm standing, in a prayer room. There's people praying right now.

Why? Why would you pray? Because unless the Spirit of God takes the Word and applies it to our heart, nothing is accomplished. E. M. Bounds of another era writes, the church is looking for better methods.

You know, often we put our dependence on some technique, some program, some gimmick. And of course, we are to use methods, we understand that, but Bounds is saying the church is looking for better methods, God is looking for better men, I've added, and women. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men and women whom the Holy Spirit can use.

Clean vessels. Do we have programs at Calvary? We have many programs at Calvary. Am I suggesting we abandon them all? No, I'm not suggesting that. What I am saying, that the power is not in the program. The power is not in a technique. The power doesn't come from someone writing little instruction books and getting us to follow them.

The power is in the Word of God and the Gospel. And you and I are called, yes, each one of us, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you and I are called to be clean vessels. Does God need you?

No. Paul is going to say in Corinth where, like many churches people have their favorite preacher. Oh, I like Peter. No, I really like Paul.

I like Apollos, he's a great orator. And Paul says, hey, stop it. You're behaving like babies. Stop it. He asked the question, what is Paul?

What is Apollos? Answer, nothing. They are merely servants through whom you believed.

That's it. We're only vessels. God doesn't need any of us. God's all powerful, almighty, but He graciously, as He saves us, we come. And the trust we say, as Paul did, when he would say, Lord, what are you going to have me to do?

It's called surrender. It's called submission, that we are to be holy vessels. Why do you think God has placed you where He's placed you? Some of you are very successful in your business, in your career. Praise God for that. Others of you are students at school.

Some of you are young mothers at home. God in His sovereign purposes places us throughout this city, throughout this community, and each of us then are to shine for Jesus Christ. The goal in life is not my personal happiness. The goal in life is not to be wealthy. The goal in life is to please my servant, my God rather, and be His servant. He may bless me with great finances or He may not.

Life might be quite easy for me or it might be very difficult. All under the sovereign purposes of God. Here we are.

Use us. Remember when we thought of the deadly sins, we did a study in John 15 where Jesus says, I want you to abide in me and unless you abide in me, you can do nothing. We draw our wisdom each day, our strength, our power from our Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul can say, we are just clay vessels, jars of clay so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not of us. The power was not in Paul. The power was not in Peter.

Mighty preachers they were. The power is in God. The power is in the message of the gospel. The power is in the seed. We are to sow the seed. That is our responsibility and the Holy Spirit does His work supernaturally.

And as we go, we may have the joy this year of seeing many, not just reached, not just contacted, but coming to Christ and growing in their faith. So here's my challenge as I conclude. Four things.

One, obey the command to reach out. In your situation, you know where you are. Your family, none of us are exempt here. This is for children.

This is for you who retired in your retirement home. Wherever you are, this is for us. We are to obey the command. I am to obey the command and reach people with the gospel. Secondly, and this logically is before the first, I'm putting it second, is are you saved? Have you come to Christ? Have you embraced the Savior? Has the power of the cross impacted you?

Have you obeyed the command to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved? Now if you are, we've got to be clear about the message. We've got to be clear about the gospel. It's amazing how many of us don't really understand the gospel from time to time.

We have electives in our class on a Wednesday night. We discuss these things in the Life Group. I trust I present it from the pulpit. We are to be clear as to the message we're communicating. First, obey the command.

Secondly, be clear about the message. Third, pray, pray, pray that God's power and the Spirit of God will fill you. See the early disciples, the power of the Spirit came. And you say, well that was Acts chapter 2. Things are different now. Well that was the birthday of the church.

That was true. But every true believer from the moment they receive Christ are baptized by the Holy Spirit, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. No, that is not a subsequent experience to conversion.

It is simultaneous with conversion. If you are saved, you have the indwelling Spirit and therefore as we reach out, I know it's difficult. I know from time to time you're going to be fearful.

I know from time to time you lack wisdom. What do we do? We get on our knees and pray. Give me strength.

Give me the right words. Give me the right adage that I would be gracious, that I would display Christ. Pray. Do you think God's going to answer that prayer?

Of course He is. And pray for us as a church, that we will have the privilege at Calvary corporately of reaching many for Christ. Whatever it is. Here's the fourth one. Be involved in a reaching out ministry at Calvary. I'm assuming, I'm speaking to most people, this is your home church.

If you're visiting us in your home church, be involved in a reaching out ministry at Calvary. We give the example of special needs. Wouldn't it be tragic if people came with their special needs, child or adult, and we say, I'm sorry. We can't help you. We don't have enough people to love you and care for you.

That'd be tragic, wouldn't it? Think about the homeless every Saturday. We go and feed the homeless. That'd be a ministry you could be involved in. Prison ministry.

Go on a mission trip. Good news clubs. Schools are opening for us to come and have these good news clubs. Reaching out with the Gospel. Children's ministry here has children come to us.

We always need many volunteers. Be a light in your community. Many opportunities for you individually and with your brothers and sisters here to reach out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What am I saying today?

I'm saying this. Be strong. Be courageous. Don't be ashamed of the Gospel. Be strong. And reach out to our lost world in the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Will you do that? That's one of our themes. You're going to hear it, I trust, over and over again. Reach out in the power of the Spirit with the glorious Gospel of our Savior. You bow and pray with me. Help us, Father, as individuals and corporately here at Calvary to do that.

We confess our own selfishness, our self-absorption, our narrow-mindedness, and sometimes we write people off. Give us hearts of compassion to see the fields which are white unto harvest. And even now, put on our hearts men and women and boys and girls just around us that during this year we will have the joy of telling them the old, old story of Jesus and His love. For those here who have never yet come to the Savior, who have never experienced the power of the Gospel in their lives, who have never repented and experienced the forgiveness of sins, I pray for them. Open their eyes. Open their ears. May they see the depth of their sin and the beauty of the Savior. We ask it in His name. Amen.