Matt Chandler - He Knows Your Name

Well, good morning! It’s good to see you. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab them and head to that passage in John; that’s where we’ll be camped out during our time together. My mind is doing this weird thing on me right now because of the reality that we are in—like, the Kings don’t belong there; they belong over there. Adam, you and your family belong back there; Elaine should be right here. So it’s kind of wigging me out. My brain’s like, «Wait, no, just preach to the room, Chandler. You don’t need to know where everybody sits.»

With that said, before we dive into this passage, I want to lay a couple of things before you that I think are important in light of the times we’re in. The first is actually very local. On October 2nd, Sergeant Oliver Dennis, who has served faithfully in our area for 18 years—in fact, he has been one of the uniforms in our foyer for the entire time I have been pastor of this church, close to 20 years—very rapidly, Sergeant Oliver got pneumonia related to COVID and passed away on the second, leaving a wife and two children. Although we rarely do this, there is a GoFundMe set up for Sergeant Oliver and his family, and if you have the means and are able, I would encourage you to bless them. We won’t always do this, but again, this is a man who has protected and served our city, our area, and our church for almost 20 years.

So, we want to be praying for his family, for his wife, Tony, and his two children. We want to be mindful of the good, right service, according to Romans 13, that our first responders and officers do all the time, which often goes unnoticed by us. There’s almost always a uniform in our lobby almost every weekend, and these are men and women who are serious about our community and our safety, who are serious about us flourishing and feeling secure. So, we want to honor Sergeant Oliver today, and if you have the means, I would encourage you to bless Tony and the kids if you’re able. We’re going to pray for that family here in a moment.

But we also want to pray for our president. I don’t care where your ideological lines are, and I don’t care where your political lines are—the president of the United States is sick and in the hospital. Although things are looking up, we are commanded by the Word of God to pray for him, to pray blessings for him, to pray for health, and to pray that the Spirit of God might lead him. So, we’re going to do that because our ultimate allegiance is to the kingdom of God, which makes us the best citizens imaginable. But more on that in our next series, right?

And then really, the last thing I want to mention is that the month of October for us is a massive prayer initiative. What I mean by that is, each week in October, the Village Church—alright, you know, five to six thousand of us—we’re going to prayer walk our neighborhoods, asking the Spirit of God to move, bless, and work. Each week, we’ll have a different theme; we’re kicking it off this week with the theme of repentance—everyone’s favorite subject!

Now, what we see in Daniel chapter nine is that Daniel, who appears to have no flaw in the Scriptures, prays with sackcloth and ashes on him, asking God to forgive the sins of Israel, and God hears him. So, although he seems to have no real guilt in his life, he still asks for God’s grace over the sins of Israel, and God hears and responds. This week, we’re going to pray prayers of repentance for our country—not just for ourselves, but yes, for ourselves, and for our country where we have fallen short of the glory of God. We’re going to ask God to move.

So, here’s what we’re asking: We’re going to post this on our socials. You’ll see this if you’re part of a home group; we’ll try to get this to you in every way we can. At some point this week, gather with your family and just walk the neighborhood, pray, and see if the Lord might even provide conversations with neighbors as you do that. We want to be a people that pray—more happens in our praying than in all our doing. And that’s not bumper sticker theology; that’s the truth. If you want to fight back in these dark and wild times, pray. And if you want to be subdued by the enemy, don’t.

So, if you would like to fast, many of us on staff are going to be fasting on Wednesday or Thursday. Join us for a fast, let’s prayer walk, and let’s see if we can punch the devil in the mouth!

With that said, let me pray for us, and then we’re going to dive into this passage. I love this passage. Father, we thank you for the life of Dennis Oliver. We thank you for how he stood in the gap in our area. He was present for our protection, for our safety. We thank you for how he loved this community and served this community since 2003. We pray…