Prayer for the Lost

[00:00:00] We're going to begin this Morning in Romans 10. [00:00:04] So if you'd go there, I'm going to. [00:00:10] In our study of the school of evangelism, I want to cover this particular subject just this one week, because this is an important subject. [00:00:27] Surprisingly, though, there is not a great deal in the Bible on this particular subject. [00:00:35] But I think when you're talking about evangelism and what's involved in that and how to equip yourselves, how we need to equip ourselves rather to effectively reach people with the gospel, this is an important factor that needs to be taken into consideration. And as I said, it's not very frequently found in the Bible. But I think, as I hope you'll see today, that even though it's not something that's repetitively talked about in Scripture, it is in principle, especially there's other principles in scripture that support it and kind of lead to that conclusion. That's what I hope you're able to see. So let's look at Romans, chapter 10. In verse number one, the Bible says this brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. [00:01:37] All right, let's pray together. [00:01:39] Our Father, thank you for the chance for your people to meet here this morning. Lord, thank you for those that are able to be here. Lord, I know that there are some roads that are still icy in some places. And Lord, there's some among us, Lord, of your people who are suffering, who are sick. Lord, I ask you to give them a quick recovery and strengthen their bodies and give them. Strengthen their body to overcome the illness. And Lord, help us all be back together here soon. And please bless them, Lord, and help them to trust you and wait upon you even in difficulty like this. Lord, we pray that you would bless our study here this morning as we try to look at this subject, as we try to more effectively give the gospel to people, Lord, help us to help us to understand the scripture. Lord, open our hearts and help us to examine ourselves that we might more effectively use the ministry of prayer as we pray for people who do not know you. [00:02:39] And so, Lord, we commit these things to you. We ask you to be our teacher in Jesus name. Amen. [00:02:46] All right, so In Romans, chapter 10, in verse number one, remember that chapter 10 does not occur in isolation, but chapter 10 comes on the heels of chapter nine, which is a chapter that deals with. It deals with, especially with God's. [00:03:03] With his interaction with the people of Israel. That's what chapter nine is primarily about. [00:03:12] And of course, in chapter 10, so coming right on the heels of that, knowing all the things that chapter 9 covers about Israel and how God had elected Israel, and yet we find that even though Israel was God's chosen people, and they are called in one place in scripture, at least one place, they're called God's elect, yet we see that they are not saved. In verse number one, we see that Israel's not large. Now, we know there are a lot of Jews at that time who had been saved, but they were still the small minority compared to all of the Jews in the first century at that time. But notice, I want you to see Paul's heart. [00:03:55] And I'll touch on this a little bit more in just a minute as I cover something kind of as a tangent. But in verse number one, he says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. [00:04:14] So what I want us to look at this this morning is praying for the lost. Praying for the lost. Now, as I said, this is not a very frequently mentioned subject in scripture, but this is one of the places where it is mentioned. In other words, Paul prayed for Israel to be saved. So as he was going into the synagogues, I know that's kind of a high level statement. You know, we can, like, we're praying for America to be saved, you know, and that's, that's all fine and good, but that also is not very practical. Right. It's also, it's easy to pray, lord, save America. But really, really what that means in practical terms is what is lord, save America. Ken Ben's, Ben's uncle. Lord save so and so. Lord save this person, this American, that American, this American, that American. You know, that's what, that's where it's really practical. It's not this kind of, you know, we're looking for easy prayers. We can just kind of, you know, scatter our prayer over everything. And, you know, and that's, that's not, that's not really truly scriptural praying. But what we do see, although I'm sure Paul wanted all of Israel to be saved as he did his ministry, I think based upon verse one, we can assume that Paul is praying for these Jews as he went into the synagogue, as he witnessed to them, as he had opportunities to talk to them, as he learned their names and learned about them. No doubt that he was praying for them. That's what he's saying here. He's praying for them. And so praying for the lost is an important aspect in evangelism. We talked about this Before a little bit, when we were talking about watering the seed, we talked about it a little bit when we saw in Psalm 126 how that the Bible says, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. And so even though it doesn't say pray or prayer, in that case, we kind of, you know, kind of read between the lines a little bit. You can see the principle of that. Anyway, so now here's the thing, and this is one of the things I'll touch on later. [00:06:30] Paul desired Israel to be saved. Let me ask you a question. Was Israel as individuals, right? All of the people of the Jews would all of these people that were the people he is praying for, would they be saved? [00:06:46] No, that is just a statement of fact. They would not all be saved. Some would, some wouldn't. And that's across the board. That's life, right? That's life in this world. Some people will be saved, some people will not be saved. But here's the key. [00:07:02] Even though there are some that will not be saved, yet Paul had a desire for them to be saved. [00:07:10] Even though some of them would not be saved, yet Paul prayed that they would. And that tells us something. It tells us that our prayers for the lost do matter. [00:07:26] Let me make sure I say this right? [00:07:29] Does God know in the sum total of everything in eternity, does God know who will end up in heaven and who will not? Of course, God is omniscient and God is outside of time. And this is. This aspect is something that is really kind of the crux of the problems, or the questions, rather, surrounding Calvinism, is that God indeed knows. [00:08:00] From God's perspective, if you can just think, in his perspective, all of eternity is done. [00:08:10] He does not dwell in time. He is not in the. If you think of a parade, I've used this illustration before. But if you're standing on the side of the road at a parade, how many of you have ever been to a parade? Parades are not really a big thing like they used to be. I remember they were a big thing. But when you're standing on the side of the wood watching the parade and you see the different marching bands and colored guards and all that stuff come by, you see them one at a time in succession, right? [00:08:39] But from God's perspective, say you're in a blimp, you know, above the mountain, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, you're in a blimp, you know, you're at 10,000ft or whatever, you see the entire parade from start to finish. So as you're standing on the street, you cannot see the last float. You don't know how many floats there are in total, and you don't know who they are or what they are. But from God's perspective, he sees all of the floats at once. [00:09:08] He sees all of the parade, not only as it appears now to me, but he sees it as it appears to someone later in the parade and earlier in the parade because he's outside of time. So in these questions that we talk about, and this directly touches on this subject, and you'll see why in a minute. [00:09:26] We know that the Lord knows who will be saved, but that is different. [00:09:33] That is different than the Lord determining who will be saved. You say. Well, the Bible says. The Bible uses the term predestination in Ephesians 1. Well, of course we know that he uses the term predestination. [00:09:49] But there's a difference between what God knows and yet freely invites people to respond to and what God has determined to be done unchangeably. [00:10:00] All right, so you just have to draw and sometimes some of the verses that deal with this subject. [00:10:07] What were it like, for instance, when Jesus prayed, he prayed for those that would believe. [00:10:14] Okay, so this is in John, chapter 17, I believe, right in the true Lord's Prayer, Jesus prayed for those that would believe. Now, of course, he knew who those people would be through all of eternity. He knew who those people would be. Right? That's why he prayed for his church. You can't pray for the church unless you know the church is a limited group of people, is it not? It is a limited group of individuals. So he prayed for them because he knows. We don't know that, though. [00:10:45] But we are not commanded to pray just for people who will be saved. [00:10:50] Paul did not pray for just people who would be saved. [00:10:55] And from God's perspective, it's sealed, it's done. That's why we see so many times the Bible says such and such from the foundation of the world. Of course, from God's perspective, from the foundation of the world, the end of eternity. You know, speaking loosely here, the end is already done. In his mind. It's done. [00:11:17] So anyway, I'm getting sidetracked too quickly. But let's look at 1 Timothy, chapter 2, if you would. [00:11:26] The point I'm trying to make to you is that Paul indeed prayed for people who would never finally be saved. [00:11:36] And that's good. [00:11:40] But if that had already been determined, why pray? [00:11:46] Why pray for them? [00:11:48] If that had already been determined, why pray for them? [00:11:52] Look at one Timothy Chapter number two, if you would. [00:11:56] And verse number one. [00:11:58] I want to look at two things in this passage. I want to look at the. Because in the first several verses, Paul talks about prayer. He talks about a specific type of prayer. And there's two things I want you to see. I want you to see the content of his prayer and I want you to see the subject of his prayer. Okay, so look at verse number one. Paul says this to Timothy. I exhort, therefore, exhortation. That's an encouragement. That's like a step down from a command. But this is something you really have to do. All right? I exhort, therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. [00:13:15] Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and lie not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Now, in this, Paul exhorts us. Paul exhorts Timothy to be in prayer. But notice the content of his prayer is. [00:13:41] He mentions, in verse number one, he mentions all men, he mentions kings, he mentions all that are in authority. Those are the three different groups he's talking about. Now listen, what is he praying, though? We'll look at the subject of his prayer in a minute. But what is he praying? What is his request? [00:13:58] Now, you could surmise because he is praying for kings, perhaps he's praying for the well being of the king. That's a very common thing in monarchies, you know, even for us. We pray for our president and our vice president, you know, the governor. And we want. We want them to, of course, we want them to do righteousness, but we want them to be well. We don't want ill to come. We don't want ill to come upon any man, right? [00:14:22] Well, nobody's nodding. Come on, come, come, at least nod. Yeah, we don't want ill to come on any man, right? We wish and hope and pray for good upon all men and. [00:14:34] But that is not the central thing. It's not that everyone would be well in body, everyone would be well. In that they would be free of sickness and free of trouble. It's not just that. Although we pray for that, and this is, you know, it really reveals something about our priorities. [00:14:54] What is the content of this prayer? [00:14:58] He says that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. [00:15:12] The supreme reason we pray for all men, for kings, for all that are in authority, is because God wants them to be saved. [00:15:22] So the central request, the primary request here is the highest and ultimate need that every man has, that is to know God and to be forgiven of sin. Now, this, what I'm saying here is not explicitly stated, but it is implied in verse number four, based upon. And I'll get back to that in just a minute. The second thing I want you to see is this the subject of our prayer. Notice in verse number one, the subject is all men, kings, and for all that are in authority. Again, I'll reiterate a little bit. [00:15:59] Are all men going to be saved? No. Are all kings or those in authority going to be saved? No. [00:16:09] So a lot of our prayer is going toward people that will never finally enter the gates of glory, right? [00:16:18] That's exactly what we found in Romans 10. [00:16:21] But that is not a prayer thrown away because that's not a. That's not. Even though the Lord knows all of those things, that's not something that he is irreversibly and unchangeably determined for everyone. [00:16:39] So my prayer for those who in the end will not be saved is useful because who's to say that they won't be saved? You see what I'm saying? [00:16:50] So our prayers are useful. That's why we pray for all men. Now, that's a tall order, men. You know, we could say, well, lord, I pray for all men to be saved. But again, when you pray, generally you get general answers. If you pray, lord, I pray for all men to be saved. You're never going to get a positive answer in that. But the practical way we do that, we do this verse number one is by praying for all men that we are aware of and we know, right? Those are the people that we're responsible for. I'm not responsible for people that, you know, to pray for every person in Pakistan. I can't do that. I don't know them. But the people that I come in contact with, the people I know in My world, in my sphere, those, if all of us do that, what we're going to find is that probably most everybody in this, if all Christians did that, probably most everybody would be covered, right? So let me ask you a question. Do you pray for the barista at the Starbucks? Do you pray for your server when you go to a restaurant? Do you pray for the people that check out your groceries? Do you pray for your, obviously your loved ones, your friends, your family? [00:18:12] Do you pray for them to be saved? Do you pray for, do you pray for, you know, the repair guy, the repair, the car repairman, the mechanic? [00:18:25] Do you pray for the person who helps you change your tire when you ran over a nail? [00:18:31] Right. Do you pray for the linemen that repair the damaged lines? Remember, think of Hurricane Helene. There was people down from Connecticut and different places in New England. Do you pray for those? Here's the thing, if they come into our lives, we're responsible to pray for them. And specifically not just, well, Lord bless them, but for their soul. [00:18:53] Right? That's what this verse is saying. And of course that goes on to the kings and those are in authority. We should pray for our governor and Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham and we should pray for President Biden and Vice President Harris and soon to be President Trump and Vice President Vance. We should pray for, we should pray for them and our legislators. But the primary thing, number one at the top, not the only thing, but at the top, is their soul. [00:19:23] Their soul. [00:19:26] Now that's why we say all men, even though we know that many of them will not, will not in the end be saved. Now I do want to touch on the subject of Calvinism briefly. [00:19:43] Calvinism teaches this. Okay? Now I know there are a thousand different variations of forms of Calvinism, but when you go to the source documents, which is primarily the Westminster Confession of Faith, that's the primary source and every other one kind of flows from that. Here's what it says, that God has unchangeably decreed everything that will happen in the universe. [00:20:10] Everything. [00:20:12] Every good, every evil, every, as they say, every flap of a bees wing, every single thing that has happened. And of course that also therefore includes that he has. And I'm just using the term, I'm trying to explain it and then I'm going somewhere with it, okay? So just hang tight. [00:20:30] And that includes that God has quote, sovereignly decreed before the foundation of the world who would be saved and who would not be saved. [00:20:42] Alright? That is the teaching of pretty much every Calvinist believes that in some form. All right? Because that's with all the different kind of versions of Calvinism. That is one where they're all in agreement, pretty much. All right, but if it has already been unchangeably determined before the world was created, who would be saved and who would not be saved, why does God tell us to pray for everyone? [00:21:17] That's what I want you to see. And listen, I'm not trying to be a smarty pants here. [00:21:25] If you were to talk to someone who believes these doctrines, they would have an answer they dealt with. Because generally speaking, people who are into this kind of thing, they like to debate. And so they've developed answers for all of these things. Doesn't mean the answers are true, doesn't mean they're biblical, but there are answers for all of these things. But what I'm trying to get you to see is this is there's a problem when the Lord tells us to pray for all men. [00:21:58] And then assuming that's true, that God has determined that some men will never be saved, no matter what, right now you have not a paradox, you have a contradiction. [00:22:14] You understand what I'm saying? You have a contradiction because you have the Lord telling you to pray for someone you know he knows and you know full well that your prayer is never going to happen. [00:22:30] Right? We do not pray for simply for the exercise of prayer. We pray hoping and expecting the Lord to hear an answer. [00:22:41] Right? Even the very desire. Here's a question you ought to ponder. If God is irreversibly and unchangeably determined, who will be saved and who will not be saved, is it wrong then for me to desire someone to be saved that he has not determined that would be contrary to his will. Right? If that's his will. So here's my point, that when we read this, you know, it says to pray for all men. You know, some people would say, well, we, the response to this would be, well, we don't know who God is determined to save, so we pray for them all. But the problem is that this doctrine has undermined what the Lord has told us to do. And that's one basic issue with Calvinism that occurs over and over and over is the doctrines that are taught do not support and encourage what God has commanded us to. Do you understand what I'm saying? [00:23:45] I mean, if the doctrines are true, then they're really. And I know Calvinists, and listen, I know people who are Calvinists that love the Lord, they're saved, they're going to heaven, they're going to be in heaven with me. But but that doesn't mean that I'm going to, for their sake, just ignore this question. [00:24:05] But if these doctrines are true, then what a hamper this puts on missionary zeal and energy and effort. Because. [00:24:25] And of course, a Calvinist sees it in a different way. They say it actually helps missionary endeavor. Well, yeah, go ahead. [00:24:43] And here's the thing. And that's true. And here's the thing that be careful of any doctrine that someone teaches that does not support what the Lord commands us to do. God commands us to go preach the gospel to every creature. Now, we know every creature is not going to be saved, but that's a world of difference between God has determined that some will not be saved. That undermines the command that God gives. Doesn't support it. Yes, sir. [00:25:33] Personality. But that doesn't work with the Trinity, for example, because I think the challenge of Scriptures. Believe all of the Scriptures and accept them and realize I cannot fully understand God, but I can't obey what he has said. [00:25:54] Because if you set aside a lot of Scripture, the Scriptures have to be the boundary. That's not to say that every verse in the Bible is easy to explain. Oh, no. There are verses that are difficult to explain on this subject. [00:26:14] But if we use wisdom, we can identify some things that. Well, first of all, instead of trying to fit Scripture into a paradigm, into a system, we must let it stand as it stands. Let me explain to you what I mean. Look here. [00:26:31] If you accept these doctrines, here's what you end up having to do. Notice in verse number one of chapter two of first Timothy, it says, pray for all men. And then verse four, it says, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth? Verse 6, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. Now, oftentimes one of three things happens here. Usually at this point, one of three things happens. You have one of three choices. [00:27:01] And this is the way these verses are handled. So I know we're in the weeds a little bit, but just hang with me. This is the way these verses are handled. So you got to be aware of this because of the word all and the fact that the Lord's telling us to pray for all men. And then he says God wants all men to be saved in verse four, and Christ gave himself a ransom for all men. It's the same all. You can't divide it up and say, well, this all is one thing, that all is another. You can't do that. It's in the same context. You can't do that. You see what I'm saying? That's the boundaries scripture that you can't cross in order to promote the system. Okay, so accepting then that all three of these alls are the same alls, they refer to every man. Every man, woman, boy and girl. [00:27:53] One of these three things is true. You have to say that all only means the saved. [00:28:00] And there are some places, John 3:16 is one of them. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Those that embrace Calvinism fully must alter the definition of that to mean the world of those who believe. [00:28:16] They have to. But I'm trying not to get too distracted here. So it has to be all men refers to all men who are saved. But the problem is in verse number one, Kings and all that are in authority, those people are not going to be saved. Like there's a lot of them who will not. And that's self evident. So it can't refer to all, it can't refer only to the saved. Also in verse number four, the Bible says God will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. [00:28:53] So if this means all men, you have another problem. Because if God has irreversibly and unchangeably determined who will be saved and who, who will not be saved. Indeed, every action, thought, word and deed in the universe from the beginning of time to the end of time, that's actually what it teaches. But I digress. If that's what you believe, then why would God say he wants everyone to be saved? And that's when they say, well that's not talking about all men, that's talking about all believers who will be saved. [00:29:26] So God determines they won't be saved, but then wants them to be saved. [00:29:31] Yeah, the scriptures have to be the boundary. [00:29:37] The other option is, and this is what it's called. So at that point what's usually done is the will of God is redefined as the decretive will of God and the perceptive will of God. So they just divide it and say, well, whatever God decrees is what actually happens. And then whatever God prescribes them and that's what he wants to happen. [00:30:01] The will of God is the will of God. The third option is this. [00:30:06] And this I think is what is evident in this passage. [00:30:10] We know that all men, we know that God wants all men to be saved and we know they aren't. So what does that mean? [00:30:17] Sometimes God's will is not done. [00:30:22] That is the reality of living in a sinful world. [00:30:26] And this is not the only passage we could look at, and that is not allowable in the Calvinistic system. [00:30:37] If God wants it to be done, it is done. That's the way it's explained. [00:30:46] Look at 2 Peter 3. We'll have to hurry through our verses here because I want to. [00:30:53] Second Peter 3, 9. The Bible says this. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us ward not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Right? Look down at verse number 15 or verse 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless, and account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. [00:31:28] Now, what that's simply saying is this. [00:31:31] The longer the Lord delays, his return provides more opportunity for people to respond to the gospel and come to repentance. So why hasn't Jesus come? He tells us he's long suffering. That's what he's saying. [00:31:48] But notice in verse nine, he is not willing that any should perish. This, of course, this is of course redefined to refer to only to believers, right, in the Calvinistic system. [00:32:01] But compared with verse number 15, it seems evident that it must refer to all men because Jesus. [00:32:11] Well, first of all, we've already seen that sometimes God is not willing that people perish, but yet they do. [00:32:19] And he wants all men to come to repentance, which that clearly implies. There is freedom to come to repentance or not. Right. [00:32:27] Now, let's look at a few other things. I got a little bit distracted on that, but I felt like it was important because our prayers do matter. [00:32:37] It does matter that we pray for people. [00:32:40] Through praying for people who are lost, their heart can be changed. God can work in them and it can be the eternal difference for that person. It has an effect. It's not useless. [00:32:54] We're not just in some sort of play where we're just playing a part and the Lord's controlling everything. It's not what this is. The Lord is telling us to do things, and we will give an account for whether we pray for people and how that affects them, right? [00:33:14] Whether we pray for all men, whether we have a desire for them to be saved, and we pray for them to be saved. So how can we pray for people? Here's the principle I want you to take away. Is this anything in Scripture that we can identify as a work of God in the heart and life of a lost person is one way that we can pray for them. [00:33:35] Because remember, our prayer is directed toward the Lord. So anything God does in the heart of a person to draw them to himself and to repentance, we can pray to that end. And it becomes one of the ways we can pray for that person to be saved. Let me give you very quickly some examples. Look at Matthew, chapter 9, Jesus. In verse 36 of Matthew 9, Jesus saw the multitudes. He was burdened by them because they were scattered abroad. A sheep having no shepherd. And his answer is this verse 37, he saith unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but. But the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. So here's one way we can pray for a lost person, a person who is an unbeliever. Lord, send someone to them. [00:34:40] Send someone to them. [00:34:43] You know and I know that they will never be saved unless they hear the gospel clearly articulated, Lord, send someone to them. That's a biblical way to pray for a lost person. [00:34:57] You could pray all day, Lord, I pray that their heart would be tender. None of that matters if they don't know the gospel, right? [00:35:06] So we say, lord, send someone to them. Even the rich man in Luke 16. What did he pray from hell fire? What did he pray? [00:35:17] He said, lord, if you can't give me a drop of water, or father Abraham, if you can't give me a drop of water, send Lazarus to my five brethren, lest they come to this place of torment. [00:35:33] So that's the first thing. The second way is in Acts chapter 16. Look at that, if you would. [00:35:38] Acts chapter 16, verse number 14. [00:35:52] Remember, the principle is this. Anything that we can identify as a work of God in the heart and life of a person, that's an unbeliever to bring them to salvation. Anything that God does, we can pray. Look at this, verse 14, Acts 16:14. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us. Whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things that were spoken of by Paul. [00:36:23] Turn that into a prayer. Lord, open the heart of this person. [00:36:29] Is that not what he did? He can do that. He did that with her. He can do that with other people as well. That can be turned into a prayer. Another one. Look at Second Thessalonians, chapter three. [00:36:43] Second Thessalonians, chapter 3, verse number one. [00:36:55] Bible says this. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free Course and be glorified, even as it is with you. [00:37:07] The Word of God. When Paul went to Thessalonica, the word of God had free course. The Lord used it. That can be a prayer. Lord, Use your word in the heart of that person to draw them to yourself. [00:37:24] And then lastly, look at Romans, chapter 2, verse number 4. [00:37:48] Says this. [00:37:50] Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. You see that? What's the act of God? God in his goodness is leading a person to repentance. All right, so Lord, lead them to repentance. But there's another thing in this, which is this. It's the long suffering. So look at one more passage. First Timothy, chapter one. [00:38:21] First Timothy, chapter one. [00:38:30] You see, the goodness of God is often manifested by his long suffering and his refusal to judge someone immediately. [00:38:41] He's patient. He's long suffering. And that is interpreted by many people as the Lord was patient. How many of you have heard people give testimonies? Maybe you've given a testimony yourself. Before I knew the Lord, I was foolish and ignorant, and God was patient with me. He could have judged me, but he didn't. [00:39:05] That's the goodness of God as seen in long suffering. First Timothy 1:16. Notice what Paul says of himself. Howbeit for this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might first might show forth all long suffering. Notice what it says for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Paul says, God was patient and long suffering with me. He did not judge me when I was holding the clothes of those that killed Stephen. He was long suffering. [00:39:37] So one way we can pray is, lord, be patient, be longsuffering, withhold judgment, and draw them to repentance. [00:39:50] These are just some practical ways that you can pray for people who do not yet know the Lord. And knowing that your intercession for them does make a difference. [00:40:03] The Lord hears, the Lord works. So let me ask you, who are you praying for? Maybe a better question is, who in your life, in your acquaintance, are you not praying for that you should begin praying for? [00:40:19] He says, lord, pray for all men. All men. Let's pray.