Prayer

Those that believe the mission of the Church is to populate heaven. Thus, 'you people' have a 'Great Commission'.

In reality the Church has zilch to do with populating heaven. The Church's mission is to tend to and feed the sheep that He has purchased with His own blood. Period. The Church doesn't make sheep, it feeds them.

 

I should have included here that the preaching of the gospel is an essential component of the ongoing affair of our salvation. That is the way God has intended it to be. He gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater.

For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God`s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe. 1 Cor 1:21

........and that saving is NOT a 'one time event', it is an ongoing affair.

 

Let me further define my first post. God promises to hear the prayers of His children - the saved. Although I don't know of any promise to hear the prayers of the lost, God is God and He can answer any prayer He wants. If He chooses to answer the prayer of a lost person (Cornelius) that's up to Him.

But I think it's also important to point out that Cornelius was seeking God, not just his own interests. Maybe that made all the difference.

(Just my humble, but accurate, opinion.)