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Trinity Community Church
Trinity Community Church
In Christ - How Do I Pray for My People?
How do you love your people when words feel thin and life is loud? Mark Medley answers by taking us back to Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1 and showing how intercession becomes the most practical form of love. He begins with a raw, hopeful testimony of wandering and return from Ben Smith, then opens the Scriptures to build a simple, sturdy way to pray that anyone can use. This message continues the In Christ series and grounds prayer where Paul does: “For this reason.” Because God has already chosen, redeemed, sealed, and seated us in Christ, prayer is not striving to get His attention; it is partnership with His willingness. That reframes persistence—“I keep asking”—from pressure to participation. And it sets the tone: thanksgiving first. Before we request anything, we give thanks for our people and for the grace already at work in them.
Mark then teaches the posture of prayer Paul models: to the Father, in the name of Jesus, by the empowering help of the Spirit. Relationship gives boldness, the name of Jesus gives authority, and the Spirit supplies wisdom beyond our understanding. When words run out, the Spirit helps our weakness with groans too deep for words; when we can’t see the path, He prays according to the will of God. Parents carry unique spiritual authority for their children, friends bear one another’s burdens, and churches can shepherd on their knees.
From there, Mark borrows Paul’s language and gives seven clear requests to pray over your people: that God would work at the level of the spirit; give wisdom; grant revelation so the eyes of the heart are enlightened; restore living hope; make His calling loud and clear; open our eyes to the riches of our inheritance; and reveal the power at work in believers—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Isaiah 61 becomes a living prayer map: good news to the poor, healing for the brokenhearted, liberty for captives, comfort for mourners, and beauty in place of ashes.
Along the way, Mark names a quiet thief of our age: the algorithm. It pastors attention, shapes emotions, and drains hope. The answer isn’t shame; it’s a better diet. Curate your inputs, root yourself in Scripture, and let worship interrupt worry. The message ends where Paul ends—seeing Jesus as He is: risen, enthroned, and near. When people truly see Him, everything else takes its proper size. Watch, take notes, and try the seven-point prayer tonight for those you love. Share this with someone who needs courage to keep asking.
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I'm so excited to open the word from Ephesians 1 with you this morning. But before I do, I want to um, as an intro to the sermon, I want to invite a friend and now relative to come up. His name is Ben Smith, and he's a real follower of Jesus. And he's got a great story of how the Lord has reached him. And I think it's going to be helpful for what we're going to see in the scriptures today. So would you welcome Ben?
Ben Smith:Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Isn't it wonderful to be in the house of the Lord today? It's such a good thing to be here and worshiping with you guys. Really just felt such a uh a joy celebrating the good news of who he is in our hearts, through us, in us, for us. And um, I'm here today as a friend. I see a couple friends in the audience. There's Buddy Walker in the back in the middle. And uh it's just wonderful to be here. I come from enemy territory. I was once an enemy of God, but he's made me a friend and a brother. He's called me friend. And so he's even, you know, Romans chapter 8, it says heirs too.
unknown:Yeah.
Ben Smith:That we would suffer with him and know him and his suffering. And that's really through the love that he's offered us and extended to us. And so it's just such a pleasure to be here. And uh, I'm also from Alabama, which from what I understand is also enemy territory. Roll tide, isn't anybody? No, okay, just one or two, one cousin in the room. Oh, we got somebody that a brave soul in the back who was once part of the body and in the back as well. So I hope hopefully I won't take up too much time. Um, just wanted to share with you guys a little bit of a story. So uh in 2023, I came into relationship with Jesus. He revealed his love for me, he set me free, praise the Lord. And um I had grown up going to church, actually, I knew many, many of the people that are connected through this body, through master builders, Neil Silverberg and Shelley, um, and also just so many of the individuals that were there. And so I heard the good news, I heard of the gospel. I even had encountered God's love for me in different times and places through his grace that he's poured out for all humanity. But I didn't know him, I didn't have a relationship with him. And it wasn't until many, many, many years later, two years ago, in May of 2023, that I came to the absolute end of all of my own effort and all of my pride. And Jesus was there to pick me up and save me and set me free and make me whole. And that came through a long journey of a lot of a lot of wandering, all the wandering that I could do, but it was also through the faithfulness and the kindness and the gentleness and the longsuffering and the prayers, which I think which Mark's gonna talk today about, of family, of friends, of individuals in my life that loved me with the love of Jesus. And uh I'll just give you a small example of that. In 2020-ish or so, I had been married, I went through a divorce, made a lot of mistakes in that. I was unfaithful to my wife. And my parents came and they visited me that weekend. And my my father gave me a coat. He said, Hey, this is a big coat, it's too big for me. Would you like to have this? And I was heartbroken and just really discouraged. But I was like, Okay, I'll take the coat. Throughout the week, I found in the coat, my dad had left some handwritten notes. And one of the notes that just really struck me then was one that he wrote. He said, Your mother and I are proud of you. And so he had shared the gospel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, because he looked at me as a son. He looked at me as his in the identity of a son that didn't earn my place with him, but was established in who I was because he had said I was. And that's the heart of God for all of us. And that's the heart of God for those who don't believe yet. And so when we were worshiping this morning and we were talking about how God has called us to love as he has loved, that's the message to the lost. You know, when we're called to go out and disciple the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it's done through the power of his spirit and his fruit that is able to come forth in our life and bear fruit in the lives of others. So those people that you know in your life, if they're wandering away from God, if they don't know him, if they've if they've mocked him, I was one of those people. And so, you guys, in your prayers, you just break the roof off and lower them down to Jesus in your prayers. Break the roof off and lower them down through the acts of service and the kindness and the love and the gentleness and the self-control that you show them and the testimony of God who's overcome heartbreak. Things that would break mortal man don't break those who are filled with the Spirit. And so I just I call you guys to lift yourselves up in prayer and in faith and strengthen yourself in the life and the truth of who he is and what he's gonna do, because he said, Ask anything in my name and it will be done. And so when we cry out to salvation for those that we love, we know that it's in his will. Cry out, believe, hold fast in faith. I love you guys. Thanks for having me today.
Mark Medley:Yeah, yeah, you use that microphone to heckle me. That's right. That's that is correct. Wow. Praise God. And I know, you know, I was married into this family, you know. I know there is a lot of followers of Jesus. I mean, Amy's family has 11 kids, and Ben's family has eight kids, and so there's a lot of people praying and and a whole church praying. And uh I think we all probably would agree that prayer changes things, right? But sometimes we we feel kind of paralyzed because we're not really sure how to pray for our loved ones, especially the ones that are close to us, and we don't sometimes we don't it feels like we don't see things moving uh when we're praying for our family and friends and acquaintances. And but our passage this morning really gives us hope and it helps us with practical direction for how to pray for our people. So uh let's look at uh Ephesians 1, verse 15. Let's learn how Paul is praying for his people. Starting in verse 15, he says, uh, for this reason. Now stop right there. Okay, when whenever whenever anybody says for this reason, you have to think a minute, right? For what reason? What reason is he talking about? You can't we can't start there because he's told us something before, and we need to go back and kind of review that. So let me just give you a flyover of what we've talked about and what Paul wrote in the first few verses of this chapter. So so here's what he said. He opened this whole book saying, we bless God because God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ, and God has chosen us. It means he has set us apart as dear to himself. He chose us in Christ, he chose us before the foundations of the world. He chose us to be holy and set apart unto him because of his love, and he determined beforehand that we would be sons and daughters of his through Christ. He made us accepted in his love, accepted in the beloved one, because this is what he wanted all along, resulting in the praise of his glorious grace. And we've been bought back to God with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, released from our bondage, pardoned from our sins, because of his overwhelming grace, which he poured on us in Christ. In Christ. We in him, our anchor, he in us, our engine. It was God's plan from the beginning to conform all things to his will through Christ, resulting in the praise of his glorious grace. And we've been included in Christ since we've heard the gospel, and there's full redemption coming. And we've been sealed, marked, and kept by the Holy Spirit as a down payment, as a surety of what's to come, to live in the fullness of his redemption because of Jesus, which results in the praise of his glorious grace. All right? Yeah, that's good news. Okay, now we can keep going. That's what he told us for this reason. So let's keep reading. For this reason, because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. So, Father, this morning we ask you to open our eyes, help us to see what it is you want us to see from this passage. In Jesus' name. Amen. So Paul founded this church in Ephesus, he's the one that fathered it. And not only that, but he stayed there for three years, laying a foundation there, and he loved those people, and he loved them, and he continued to shepherd his flock even when he wasn't with his flock. He shepherded them by writing letters like this, but he also shepherded them through his prayers. You know, we can shepherd, we can actually pastor our flock by praying for them. And in his prayer, we can find wisdom as to how to pray for our loved ones. And this is really the question for this morning. How can I pray for my people? I think this is, you know, these are pretty heady words that he has here. I actually read this passage uh for many years, and I thought, wow, that's so deep. I'm not sure what it says. Uh, but it's really uh eminently practical. He he prays for his people in certain ways, and we can grab those ways and start praying for for our people as well. So, how do I pray for my people? And maybe the the first question we ask is, what is prayer? And prayer is communion with God. It's a form of communion with God. It's talking to him, it's listening to him, it's telling him the desires of our heart, it's listening to his heart as well. And it includes thanksgiving and praise and confession of sins and requests for needs and for protection and for direction. But the definition that's helped me the most in my walk uh for prayer, and you've you've heard this from this pulpit before, is prayer is an invitation into the heart and the mission of God. It's an invitation. God invites us to know him into his heart, and then from that place of knowing him into his mission, to join with him in what he wants to do. To know him and then also to make him known. So, what is the what is God's heart for my people? That's a great place to start for prayer. And you know, your people are the people that are on your heart, the people that who who you love, the people you're concerned about, the people that you pray for. It could be your family, it could be your friends and acquaintances, whoever, whoever, it doesn't matter. But what does he want to do in their lives? How can I partner with him to see that come to pass as Jesus prayed, your kingdom come, Lord, your will be done here, right here, right here in my loved one, as it is in heaven. So let's focus on a few phrases that Paul uses that can help guide us as to how we can pray for our people. Uh, first, of course, what we started with for this reason, for this reason, he starts there, all the things that God has done. So we pray for people because of all the things that God has already done in Christ. So far, in this letter, there is nothing for us to do. We've read, this is 20 verses. We've read 20 verses so far, zero commands for us, except maybe you might want to say it's a command for us to thank him for what he's done. But everything that he's said so far is uh is for what is what God has already done for us in Christ. And what he has done, he has done not because of anything we have done, right? Zero contribution from us. It is God, which is why God gets the glory. Everything is from him, everything is through him, everything is to him. To him be glory forever. So all the focuses on what is God, God has done in Christ to fulfill his purposes, resulting in the praise of his glorious grace. And I think that's a really important point to make in prayer, that it's what God has done already, it which motivates us and energizes us for prayer. What God has done in Christ is our motivation and our energy behind our prayers. So it's not something that we are like trying to whip up within ourselves. It's not something that we're trying to bring, bring God down because he doesn't want to be here. But if we whip him up enough, he'll come down. Or if we whip ourselves enough, he'll come down. No, he's already come in the form of Christ. He's already interacted with us, and he wants to continue, and he's inviting us to partner with him. So, because of this, for this reason, Paul says, I have not stopped praying, or I cease not to mention you in my prayers, or I keep asking, I keep asking, I keep asking. There's a perseverance to prayer, there's an endurance, there's a tenacity to prayer, and and it's compelled by love. Our love causes us to continue to pray for those people we love. So and model is basically Paul's just modeling what Jesus taught. And you remember in in uh Luke chapter 18, Jesus told a parable that all men should pray and not give up. And that's what he was doing. Paul is saying in other places he said, I uh pray without ceasing. He said, in later in this book, in the book of Ephesians, in chapter six, when he's talking about spiritual warfare, he says, keep on praying in the spirit at all times with all kinds of prayer. And this uh urge to pray is all through the scriptures. Like Hannah prayed for a son with desperation, like the prophets prayed for Israel with great burden, like Elijah prayed to God to show his power with great zeal, like the psalmists pray about everything in life with all of the emotions of life, like Solomon prayed over the temple with great dedication to God, like Jesus prayed over Jerusalem, weeping, weeping with burden, like Paul prays for his friends without ceasing. I keep asking, I keep asking, I keep asking. When we don't see the answers we want, I keep asking. If we don't see things happen when we want them to happen, I keep asking. Even when it looks like nothing is going on at all, I keep asking. There's something to this persistence in prayer. And I want to just uh play you a little story here, very quick story, about what the importance of keeping on asking.
Jenessa Wait:This is why you cannot stop praying for your unbelieving friends and family members that have walked away from Jesus. There was a time in my life where I totally turned away from the Lord and was living in sin and was okay with it. But then one day I was walking home, and I the best way I can describe it is like the lights turned on and something lifted off my eyes, and I realized in that moment I need God. I need to get out of this lifestyle. And later on in life, I asked the Lord, why was it just like an and suddenly moment? Like it just felt like the lights just turned on. And he told me it was the prayers of the saints. It was hundreds of people praying for me to come back to him. And then he showed me a picture of the bowls in heaven filled with prayers. And just one more prayer just tipped that bowl out and brought breakthrough in my life. So, this is to encourage you to don't stop praying for that person. It can feel redundant, but it is not purposeless. There is purpose in every prayer, and all it takes is one more prayer.
Mark Medley:Amen. One more prayer. Tip the bowl. You know, there is a such thing as that last prayer before something happens. Right? Don't stop. I keep asking, I keep asking. Your prayers are not purposeless ever. God has burdened you to pray for these people for a reason, because he wants to partner with you to bring his kingdom into their lives. So he says, I never stop, I keep asking, I cease not, I don't stop. What is he don't stop? He doesn't he doesn't stop giving thanks. I know, I never stop giving thanks for you. So prayer is begins, or Paul begins his prayer for his loved ones with thanksgiving. He thanks God for them. So there's something really powerful about being uh about starting this whole thing with thanksgiving. And so before I ask for protection or for before I ask for provision or for purpose in my loved ones, I just thank God for them. Lord, thank you. I thank you for my children, God. I thank you that we prayed for them and you gave them. I'm grateful for their presence in my life. I'm grateful for what they mean to me and how you've blessed my life through them. I thank you for the gifts you've given to them. God, I thank you for what you've already done and how you've worked in their lives already, and how you've been faithful to them, how you've provided for them, for your calling on their life. I thank you, Lord. I thank you. And that like recalibrates me, like sets me right. It puts my mind in the right position to hear the other things that God wants to speak to me about them. It's like a springboard into hearing the voice of the Lord for them. So start with thankfulness. I keep on asking, and I don't stop praying for you. And then Paul begins to see himself as partnering with God in prayer. In fact, Paul has such an understanding that he's working with God in prayer that he includes the entire Trinity in this prayer. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father, the glorious Father, would give you the spirit, capital S, of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, Father, Son, and Spirit in this prayer. He's working with the whole Trinity here to bring something into existence. And so Paul's prayer life has this growing knowledge of and relationship with the entire Trinity, the glorious Father, the saving Son, and the empowering spirit at work with me when I'm praying, really, and with you when you're praying. God is at work. So he prays, first of all, to God the Father, the Father of glory, he says, the most high, exalted, glorious God above all gods, who is loving, providing, protecting Father, God most high with us in relationship. So we are praying from a position of relationship. The first word in Jesus' prayer is Father. When they said to him, Jesus, we've seen the Pharisees pray and we've seen you pray, we prefer yours. So would you please teach us how to pray? And he taught him how to pray. And he said, When you pray, pray like this. What? Father, you start with Father before you're asking for the forgiveness, before you're even praising him, before you're asking him to deliver you, or asking for your needs to be met before anything. Father relationship. It's from a place of relationship, it's from a position of being beloved sons and daughters that we're praying, which is why we can pray with boldness. Because we're sons and daughters, and we're able to partner together with this purpose as I pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus through Jesus Christ, right? So we have a name beyond compare. I love what we sang this morning. I love everything we sang this morning. It was great about it, it was so focused on Christ and His name and His power and His position in the heavenlies. We have a name beyond compare above every name to which every knee bows, to which every power submits because of the work of the cross. All authority, Jesus says, given to me in heaven and earth, therefore go. I have all authority, so take it and go. Let's work together. Let's work together in prayer. So we're praying from a position of power, a position of relationship with the Father, a position of power, because there's a name that we wield, this name of Jesus. And Jesus is seated above in the heavenly places, chapter one of Ephesians. We are seated together with him in the heavenlies, chapter two of Ephesians, where all the rulers and principalities are working in chapter three of Ephesians, and we're wrestling in the heavenlies, chapter six of Ephesians. But we're there with him who has the name above every name. There's power in these prayers. You're not just muttering to the ceiling, brothers and sisters, when you're praying. You're not just speaking to this guy. There's power here. We're praying from a position of power, raised up with Christ, praying with authority, especially for those you have relationship with and those you love. Those you have authority over, you have authority in the spirit over too. For your prayers, parents, your prayers for your children have authority. They're special prayers. I can pray for your children, but I think your prayers are even more powerful for your children than mine, than mine would be. So we pray to the Father, a place of relationship through the Son, in the place of power. And then we pray by the empowering help of the Spirit. This is the beautiful thing, is we don't pray by ourselves, even in our own wisdom. We have the help of the Holy Spirit. So we pray from a position of wisdom beyond our understanding. You know what? The Holy Spirit is the only one who knows what to do. I don't know what to do. Most of the time when I'm praying, I'm not sure exactly what to pray for, but the Holy Spirit does know. And he helps us. And here's what Paul said in Romans 8, 26 and 27. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. He helps us in our weaknesses. And maybe you remember, we talked one time about that Greek word. He helps us in our weaknesses. It's a you might remember because it's a funny word. Does anybody remember that? I tried to get y'all to say it. You can say it, right? Sunanti lambonomai. It's a great, it's a great word. It's a great and the word means to take a hold of something opposite of together. In other words, the Holy Spirit and I are carrying this thing together. He on that side, me on this side. That's the picture here. He helps us in our weakness. I can't do it by myself, but he and I together are carrying this thing. We're working together with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is working together with us. He helps us in our weakness. I'm not sure how to pray, but he does. He does. In 1 Corinthians 14, verses 14 and 15, Paul says, If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray also with my mind. With my mind also. I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. He's talking about understanding your prayers and not understanding your prayers. He's talking about the gift of tongues in terms of praying to God. And so the Bible speaks of praying in the spirit versus praying it with your understanding or in your mind. And also it says that we're able, that prayers, when we're unable to think of adequate words, we're helped. So in those times when we don't know how to pray, the spirit himself helps us. Sometimes it's with no words at all, just deep burden. Sometimes it's with strong cries and tears. And sometimes it's with praying in the spirit, praying in an unknown tongue. And when we pray in an unknown tongue, the the first Corinthians 14 says we speak directly to God. It says that we speak mysteries with our spirit. It says that our spirit is praying, not merely our mind. And it says that we're giving thanks well. And this is why we're able to pray perfect prayers with the help of the Spirit. In Romans 8, he who searches the hearts knows what's the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. The Spirit prays according to the will of God. So you don't have to speak in tongues to receive the help of the Spirit in prayer. Okay? You don't have to. But if you don't yet pray in tongues, I want to encourage you to ask for this gift. It's a help. It's been such a help for me. I don't know how to how to do it. Ask, earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. You know, that same chapter says. And ask God for it. Or let us pray for you this morning for it. It's a gift that God gives to strengthen you, to help you to pray. But don't think that you're inadequate to pray if you don't pray in tongues. The Spirit makes intercession for you and empowers you to pray in English too. English is a language. Okay. It's a good one. And God speaks it. So it's okay. But there's but there's also a gift that you can be given. No, so you can we can pray for these and earnestly desire these gifts. Point is we're not alone when we pray. The entire Trinity is active in our prayer life. We join in partnership with the most powerful being in the universe, and we're helped in prayer. He invites us into his heart and into his mission. This is beautiful. Okay, so now we understand, as Paul understood, we're working together with God in prayer. He empowers us to pray and he works with us. So let's get practical. Let's talk about what does he actually pray? What is Paul doing here? When he's praying for us and praying for the saints, praying for his people, what does he do? How is he praying specifically? Well, he says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Okay, so first of all, he's praying for God to work on the level of the spirit. I want so, because you see, what he's talked about up to this point is so mind-blowing, he has to stop in the middle of it. All the things that God has done for us in Christ and the ramifications of what God has done for us in Christ. And the position that God's lifted us up into with Christ, He's He has to stop and say, God, just open their eyes. It's too much for any of us to really grasp on our own. It's beyond our understanding. So God, in the in on the Level of the spirit, on the level of the spirit, work in their lives. And you know, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but honestly, what we see is flesh and blood. This is reality in our lives day by day. We see real life, and sometimes what we see in the natural causes us to falter in our prayer lives because we don't always see it changing at our tempo. But God is moving in the spirit realm, which affects the physical realm. So Paul says, God, would you pray? Paul says, God, work at the level of the spirit in my loved ones' lives. Second thing is he prays for wisdom.
unknown:Yeah.
Mark Medley:Beautiful thing to pray for. If you don't know anything else to pray for your loved one, there you go. Pray for wisdom. Wisdom that they would come away from the foolishness of man, the foolish ways of the world, and they would open, their eyes would be open to see the wise ways of God. There's two ways, right? And in Proverbs, it says that there's a way that seems right to a man, but it ends in death. And in James it says we can pray and ask for wisdom if we don't have wisdom. And he gives it. And he doesn't hold it back, but he pours it out liberally. So we can pray for wisdom on our behalf. We can pray for wisdom for our loved ones too. God, open their eyes and help them to see. Help them to see your ways. Take them out of their own thoughts and what they think is right. The ways that seem right but are leading to death. Lord, would you help them to see? Which is the next thing he says, that their eyes and their understanding would be enlightened. The word here is apocalypse. Give them an apocalypse. Open their eyes, a revealing. It literally means to strip off what is hiding something from seeing. Make the truth seeable, Lord. Like on the Isle of Patmos, John was just seeing things that were already there, but we couldn't, he couldn't see before. And suddenly there's a revelation, an apocalypse, and he can see things that are real. And so this is what Paul is saying, God, just strip off all the things that distract or um or hide what's true. God, open eyes, open the eyes of their heart. Do you know that your heart has eyes? Do you know that the heart of your loved ones have they have eyes? Those hearts have eyes. It's interesting, isn't it? He says here, your loved one's heart has eyes. So it's a word that literally means physical eyes, but it's also used for eyes of your mind or eyes of your heart. It just means to give them the function of being able to see. That's what it means. Open the eyes of their heart. God, I ask you to work on the heart level so that at the very core, my loved ones get it. They get it. They get what you who you are and what you want to do. Lord, open their eyes. But you don't understand, my loved ones. They don't have any desire for God. That's okay. Their heart has eyes. You understand. They have never laid eyes on the interior of a church in their life. It's okay. Their heart has eyes. But they've never seen a real Christian example lived out before them. It's okay. Their heart has eyes. And God can open the eyes of the blind. Blind hearts He can open up. And so, and then He uses this word. I'm asking for you to open their eyes so they can see the hope of their calling. Hope. Hope. God, give my loved ones hope. Man, hope is a big one, guys. It's a big one. We forget it. It's one of the big three, right? Faith, hope, and love. We know love's important. We know faith's important, but right up there with it is hope. Hope is so important. Hope is just confident expectation that tomorrow is going to be better than today. That's one way to think of it. Tomorrow can be better than today. And all around us, people are losing hope. And I think it's, I think it's not so much that we don't have hope, it's just that we have our put our hope in the wrong things. You know, like the psalmist says, Why are you so downcast, my soul? Put your hope in God. We've just put our hope in the wrong things. And life can drain you. He can just drain the hope out of you. Because the economy fluctuates, jobs disappear, your house breaks down, your pipes leak, your team loses. I don't know. Even your even like stars burn out. This world is like burning out, you know? It's like this is not, if you just look at what you see with your eyes, you can lose hope really quickly. But the scripture says that a man or woman who puts their hope in the Lord will never be put to shame. There's a place for, there's a destination for your hope. There's a place it's supposed to be set on. It's a living hope. It's Jesus Christ, it's a person. And so we pray for our people that they would realize things can change, that they would realize they can make decisions today that can change the trajectory of their tomorrow. We ask God to open their hearts. And I think it seems to me each generation has its own um challenges to hope. But I I can tell you what I think our generation's biggest hope crusher is, in my opinion. And it's called the algorithm. Our hope is stolen, and our exam anxiety is swollen by what we're seeing over and over and over on our socials. We we you you understand, right? Algorithm means that there's a algorithm is a data tracking system that looks at what you're doing online and keeps feeding you the same thing, right? So whatever you're clicking on, it starts you you're aware of this? It keeps it keeps sending you what you're clicking on, and so it's analyzing and it's pouring this stuff into you so that you are force-fed what you're craving. And fear and sensationalism sells, and so part of this is market-driven, but also our souls are kind of bent that way, and so part of it is flesh-driven. And you put those two together, and it can be a real mess. What what are you feeding your soul? What are you feeding your soul? When uh Melissa died, and I was working through um this grief and process and learning how to how to go forward, and what is what is next steps and what is future look like. And the Lord was being gracious to me and showing me some things to help me. There's some things I knew I needed to do. You know, one thing is I needed to keep myself plugged in to my church and my family because there's my strength and there's my anchor. I also knew I needed to move my body because this is this is gonna help me. I also knew I needed I needed to fuel my body with the right things. I needed to eat the right things physically, eat the right things so that my body doesn't go into this this despair. Okay, this is just something that was important to me. I had to fuel my body for health, okay, physically and emotionally. And I'm telling you, we have to do the same thing. We have to watch what we're eating, and we have to watch what's being force fed to us through the algorithm. Because, and here's what we realized last night at our we uh last night, last week at our um at our pastor's retreat, and it was we had a we had a great pastor's retreat. But what we realized is that in a lot of ways the algorithm is pastoring our people. Yeah, you know, you may get more care from the algorithm than you do from us. Because you're paying more attention to it. And we realize that we're sometimes pushing back against what the algorithm is force-feeding you because you're clicking on things. We're pastoring against your online content. And it's tough. It's real, though. This is our generation's dilemma, right? But we're praying for your eyes to be enlightened by the word of God, that you will fix your eyes on Jesus, the living hope. We're praying that the word of God will be the loudest voice, the most compelling voice in your life. That you'll get off Facebook and get your face in his book. We're praying that you hear the call of the Lord. Yeah. Because the hope can come when you hear the calling. Lord, open their eyes to see the hope of their calling. There's the next thing, the next thing to hear the calling of the Lord. God's invitation to eternal life, God's invitation to abundant life, God's invitation as Jesus is standing with his arms open and saying, Come to me, if you're laboring and you're heavy, you're heavy laden, if you're burdened, I will give you rest. And we can exchange a yoke, and I and you can learn from me. And I'm gentle and I'm lowly. There's a calling. There's a calling to Christ, there's a calling deeper in Christ, there's a call to know him more. So pray, pray for your loved ones to hear the calling of the Lord. And then he says, to see the hope of his calling, their calling, and also the the glorious riches, the inheritance of the saints. Okay. So to see the incredible riches that God has for us because we're sons and daughters. This is what Paul is asking. The unrivaled eternal beauty of the full consummation of the kingdom of God that is ready, that's being prepared for us as saints. We pray for this for your loved ones. That you can they can see above what's going on here. They can see beyond just this world. They can see what is to come, they can see that serving Jesus is worth it. It's so much greater to follow Jesus in the long run. That eternal things will be more valuable than temporary things. God opened their eyes to the incredible riches that you have for them. Number seven, to experience the power of God. The power of God, the power that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Okay, Lord, unleash your power in their lives. Let them see your power. However, you need to do it, however, you need to show yourself strong. Reveal the risen Christ seated with authority in their lives, whatever you need to do. And I think of what Jesus opened when he opened the scroll, when he was introducing his own ministry, and he opened the scroll and read from Isaiah 61. And he talked about the power that would come through his ministry. Good news to the poor. God, give them good news. Open their eyes to see good news. Bind up the brokenhearted. God, where they're hurting, would you heal them? By your power, liberty to the captives. God, set them free where they're bound. By your power, open the prison, those who are bound. God, where they have been struggling in chains. Break those chains. God, give them an understanding that this is a year of favor for them. This is a year of change for them. God, comfort them when they're mourning. God, give them beauty for all this ashes that they've created in their lives. Oh man, this is great prayer. This is good stuff. Open the heaven and show your power, Lord. Release your power in their lives so they cannot deny your existence, cannot deny your love, cannot deny their place with you. And then the last thing is to truly see Christ as he is. The power that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Jesus Christ, the Son of God in power, the Savior of the world, raised from the dead, seated in heavens, full of authority, the judge of heaven and earth. God opened our eyes to see Jesus. Because when you see Jesus, everything changes. Everything. Whatever way you know it needs to happen, Lord. Release your power. Release the revelation of Jesus. Paul pastored his flock by praying these things for them. And we can learn how to pastor and pray for and really practically love our people, even if if even if they're holding us at arm's length, or if there seems to be distance between them, you know, there's no distance in the spirit. We can pray for them, and it's powerful, and we can love them through these prayers. So so I want to close today by doing two things. You know, the first thing I want to do is I want to pray for you. This congregation really is not just my prayer, but this is like a prayer from all of the elders over this church, and I want to pray these things over you guys. Okay, and then the second thing I want to do is I want to close by having a time where we can gather together in with a couple of people or a few people around you and pray these things for your loved ones. I mean, we should my we should do these things, right? I mean, we should just hear them and say, Oh, that was a sermon. We should actually do it. So let's practice this morning. Is that okay? All right, good. We can go beyond theory this morning, we can actually do it. This is good. Okay, so let me pray for you the prayer that we have as your elders. Oh Father. We come to you this morning as beloved sons and daughters, just in awe of what you've accomplished through your son Jesus. And we stand before you in the finished work of the cross, where your grace abounds and your purposes unfold. Lord, not by our efforts, but by your sovereign will, we stand here, Lord. And for the this reason of what you've done for us, God, partnering with you, Father of glory, saving son, empowering Holy Spirit, we don't stop giving thanks to you for this congregation. We thank you, Lord. We're grateful for each person here, for the way you've woven their lives into our lives, for blessing us through their presence and their gifts, their service, their faith, their love. We thank you, Lord, for the gift of community. We thank you for the shared journey of knowing you more together. And Father, we pray in the name above every name, Jesus, that you would pour out your spirit of wisdom and revelation on us as a congregation. Open our eyes, Lord, of our hearts, that we could see you clearly, and somehow we can understand the truth of who you are, Lord. We ask you to strip away all the distractions and all the deceptions that hide you from us, that cloud our vision, and let your word be the loudest and most compelling voice that we hear, Lord. Speak louder than the word than the noises of this world, God, we pray. May we find in Jesus the hope that changes our future, Lord. What we pray for this congregation to hear your call, Lord, the call to eternal life, the call to rest in you, the call to know you deeply. Let us all see the riches of what you have prepared for us. That eye has not seen, that ear has not heard, that has not entered into the heart of man, those things you've prepared for us. And let that be our strength and our hope for future, Lord. May you help us experience your great power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, that seated us with him in the heavenly places, Lord. Work that power in us, Lord, mightily, Lord, in ways that are unique to each of our hearts and our families. Holy Spirit, our helper, guide us when we don't know how to pray. Empower us to pray, God, with boldness and authority and wisdom and with love for those we love. Lord, we pray those among us who feel lost in fear or swayed by the noise of this world or hopeless, Lord. I pray that you would let your truth drown out all the algorithms, Lord, of anxiety and turn us toward hope in Christ. Lord, may we see Jesus as he truly is, Son of God, Savior of the world, full of authority, full of love, release your power in our lives, Lord. Heal the broken, lift the weary, God, draw us to you. And these things we bring to you as sons and daughters, Lord, in the mighty name of Jesus, with the help of the Spirit. In Jesus' name, our risen King, we trust you, Lord, to work this into our lives for your glory, resulting in the praise of your glorious grace. This is our prayer. Amen. Amen. Okay, so now why don't we do the same thing for those people that we love right now? What I want to do is um I want us to close the service uh by just joining with one or two people around us, maybe a few people around us, and just praying for each other's loved ones. We have we have the the eight things all together here on a on a uh a slide. If you forget, you can look up and you can just pray. Pray these things over your loved ones. You can pray as long as you want. I'm gonna speak a blessing over you, and I'm gonna be down here. But you know what? I realize you might be one of the people who people have prayed for so long. And this more, this morning might be the tipping point. Maybe this morning is the time, it's your time. Maybe they've been praying for you. Maybe you don't know the Lord or you knew the Lord, you've run in from the Lord, whatever. Maybe today's your day. And I'm gonna stay right down here. If today is your day and you want to respond to Jesus, I'm gonna stay here and I want you to come down. I want to pray for you. And I want us to pray for each other. And when you're finished praying, uh you're dismissed. Maybe you could dismiss a little quieter than normal and maybe be loud in the coffee bar or something, and allow people who are still praying to pray. But let's just practice this, okay? Well, Lord, I just pray you you would bless them and keep them, and may you cause your face to shine upon them. Be gracious to them, Lord. You would lift your face up on all of them and you would give them peace in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, if you just kind of gather with a few people around you and let's let's pray for our people.
