Where Were You?, Part 3

Today I listened to CJ Mahaney's sermon from September 16, 2001. In it, he addresses the question of how Christians are to respond to the despicable acts of terror perpetrated on our country on 9/11. Mahaney gave a passionate, eloquent message based on Romans 12:9-13:5, explaining the difference between the role of Christians as members of the body of Christ vs. the role of our government as "the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath." You can listen to the sermon here, or read it here. The sermon climaxes in Mahaney's closing prayer. I highly recommend downloading the mp3 file, if only to listen to the prayer, which is about the last 6 minutes. Text doesn't do it justice, but here is an excerpt from the prayer:

Lord, we pray that you would have mercy on all those who have been involved in this atrocity. By your Spirit, through your Word, through your church, throughout the world, we pray that there would be conviction of sin upon all those who have participated and perpetrated these acts. We pray that you would awaken their consciences; we pray that they would recognize the sinfulness of what they have done. We pray that they would recognize that they have offended you and have aroused your wrath. We pray that they would fear you and we pray that they would flee to the Cross and appeal for forgiveness of their sins.

Lord, we pray for there to be conversions among these various terrorist networks. We pray for a mighty work of your Spirit, the glory of which can only be ascribed to you. We pray that in the months and years to come, we will hear of individuals who have been genuinely converted by the grace of God through the proclamation of the gospel. Father, we as your church, representing you, and in obedience to your Word, do not repay evil with evil, but instead join our voices together to appeal to you to have the same mercy on them that we experienced when we heard the gospel, when you forgave our sins, when you regenerated our hearts. Extend that mercy to yet another group of undeserving sinners, we pray for the glory of your Son.