The pastor of a Missouri church could feel a robbery was coming as four masked young men entered a recent service.

He fought back with prayer.

Pastor Marquaello Futrell was leading the Sunday morning service on Feb. 12 at All Creation Northview Holiness Family Church in Ferguson when the incident took place. He moved to the back of the church and began asking the four men their names.

“In the purple, tell me your name. I can’t hear you," Futrell said, as seen in a livestream of the church service on Facebook.

Although he looked unruffled, he had been watching the situation develop, beginning with the arrival of a man carrying two bags, according to KSDK-TV.

“I asked the director to lock the doors and keep the children safe," the pastor said. “I immediately just had the hairs on the back of my neck, I’m like, 'OK, something’s about to happen.’”

“Being a former police officer, I immediately noticed their waistbands, I’m like, 'There’s something there,'" he said, adding that one church member saw a gun dropped.

“I immediately directed my media team to zoom in on them because I knew we needed some face recognition," Futrell said.

But on the service livestream, he seemed the picture of welcoming ease.

"You all saw the church and decided to come? Talk to me," he said in the video.

As the men sat, Futrell kept talking.

“What the devil meant for evil,” the pastor said.

"Don’t you play with me," he said. "I've still got a cop anointing and I still know what's going on and I still know what's about to happen. God's about to change the enemy. Lift your voices and shout unto God!"

Then came an inspiration.

“Would you guys permit me to pray for y’all?” he said as he moved closer to the four men.

Futrell and other members of the church placed their hands over them. Later, he signaled someone in the congregation to watch the four.

“See, that wasn’t so bad, brothers," he said afterward. "Thank y’all for letting us pray for you. And we’re thankful that for whatever reason, the Lord let y’all come here. That when you walked on the ground, you walked on Holy Ghost turf. When you stepped foot on All Creation parking lot, you encountered the move of the Holy Ghost, and I just believe that you all will never be the same again.”

The pastor's encounter with the young men begins around the 54:45 mark in the video below:

“Praise God for them coming,” he said later, adding, “I believe they felt the power of God lifted in their hands, then they left."

Futrell said his mind was working the entire time.

“The Bible speaks of watch and pray, so while we’re being spiritual, I’m also watching around, trying to protect the congregants," he told KSDK.

'I believe they felt the power of God': Ferguson pastor saves his church from robbery through prayer https://t.co/8xi10i1Ey7 via @ksdknews

— Rev. Rodrick Burton (@BurtonRev) February 22, 2023

Futrell followed up about the incident with a Facebook post.

[firefly_poll]

"Very interesting weekend. I believe I must be doing something right! he said.

"Next step… security plan for our church/churches! The devil is trying show he is tough but I got 1 John 4:4 to back me up!! Just watch and see!" he wrote.

1 John 4:4 says, "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.