SPEAKER_00: We have a very short sermon text this morning.
SPEAKER_00: All of two verses, Proverbs chapter 11, verses 10 to 11.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find the text printed in your bulletin also.
SPEAKER_00: Before I read the text, as we say farewell to loved ones who will be leaving us, we welcome many of you.
SPEAKER_00: We're so thankful how many new people God is sending to APC.
SPEAKER_00: You may be ready or interested for the inquirer's class two weekends from now.
SPEAKER_00: We invite you to come on a Friday night for dinner and Saturday, lunch included, just to hear more about what this church is about, not only what we do, but why we do the things that we do in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Please do sign up if you can be part of that.
SPEAKER_00: We are in a sermon series, serving our city and our world in the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is our dismissal every week, yes, but it's also this sermon series, and right now we're focusing on what does it mean to serve our city in the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Hear the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: And when the wicked perish, there are shouts of gladness.
SPEAKER_00: By the blessing of the upright, a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.
SPEAKER_00: This is the passage that God has laid on my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Would you join me in prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Father, as we just sang, speak, O Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory.
SPEAKER_00: This is our prayer, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Plant your word deep within each of us.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, penetrate whatever is in the way.
SPEAKER_00: Bore through.
SPEAKER_00: May we see your glory.
SPEAKER_00: May we receive you, Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_00: Serving our city and our world in the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to start with just a little bit of review from two weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: The church empowered, we see in the second chapter of the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down in power, unlike any time before in the history of the world.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit came down and filled not only the apostles, but filled many believers.
SPEAKER_00: Some 3,000 people came to Christ that day.
SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't so much that Peter was such a powerful preacher as it was that the Holy Spirit was present and working.
SPEAKER_00: And he still does today.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're not ready to go and serve anybody until we have been empowered by God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: We need fresh power and supplies of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: You do, I do.
SPEAKER_00: That's just the way it is.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not going to serve anyone very well if we don't understand that, if we don't seek Him.
SPEAKER_00: And so it begins with empowering.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, it's just church.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, it's just ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, it's just about programs in a church.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not what this is about.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has so much more in mind for his church.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants to use you.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants to use me in building his church.
SPEAKER_00: And then the church gathers, as we saw in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: After these people were filled with the Holy Spirit, empty of self, they gather together and they love to gather together.
SPEAKER_00: They got together daily in the temple to praise God, to worship God, to be filled, to be blessed by God.
SPEAKER_00: And then what did they do?
SPEAKER_00: They scattered.
SPEAKER_00: They went back to their homes.
SPEAKER_00: They went back to their neighborhoods.
SPEAKER_00: They went back to their work, places of employment.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever they went, they went with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They went for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus used them in a great way.
SPEAKER_00: Kingdom impact, kingdom service begins with Holy Spirit filling.
SPEAKER_00: And don't say, of course it does.
SPEAKER_00: No, there's no of course about this.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that you can be filled with the Holy Spirit today?
SPEAKER_00: Regardless of where you are.
SPEAKER_00: You can have the Spirit come into your life for the first time in your life today.
SPEAKER_00: If you see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we forget it.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it becomes dull to our spiritual senses.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to be awakened, and we need to be reawakened.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what the spirit does.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're a Christian and you've been a Christian for a long time, you need to be filled too.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be refilled because we are people who can easily stiff arm the spirit and resist the spirit and grieve the spirit, can't we?
SPEAKER_00: But this is such an exciting journey that we're on to see the vision that Jesus has for his people to be renewed by the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: I love walking by that sign every day, multiple times.
SPEAKER_00: Unchanging truth, changing lives.
SPEAKER_00: That's what this is about.
SPEAKER_00: God's unchanging truth, changing lives.
SPEAKER_00: There's a slide that you're going to see, the hub of this ministry of the gathering on Sunday, and some of you might remember it from we've used it in years past.
SPEAKER_00: We gather on Sunday, the gospel hub.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel hub.
SPEAKER_00: We come together to worship, to retell the story of the gospel to ourselves and to others.
SPEAKER_00: And then we scatter.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you on that math?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we are the church.
SPEAKER_00: If you live right across the street like Sharon and I do, we take the gospel to Crest Street.
SPEAKER_00: Where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Where are you going to take the gospel tomorrow morning when you go back to work?
SPEAKER_00: When you go back to your neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, to our own houses.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like we don't need Jesus in our own homes, in our own families.
SPEAKER_00: We need him very much in our own families and neighborhoods and beyond.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Josh has already mentioned briefly the Covenant Fellowship Group ministry, the meet and greet downstairs afterward.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not currently in a small group walking alongside other Christians, learning together, growing together, praying together, oh, I would ask you to prayerfully consider.
SPEAKER_00: Is there a group, is there a small family that you can join for that purpose?
SPEAKER_00: The gathering on Sunday for key worship, like now, key community afterward.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you look forward to the conversations before and after?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, to see friends, but it's more than that.
SPEAKER_00: Words of encouragement to meet new friends.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's key equipping.
SPEAKER_00: That happened Sunday nights.
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, how I was so encouraged.
SPEAKER_00: And we kicked off two weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of cars in that parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of people in this church building.
SPEAKER_00: Well over 200.
SPEAKER_00: Adults who want to be equipped to be disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Teenagers who want to be equipped.
SPEAKER_00: Children.
SPEAKER_00: Little ones in the nursery.
SPEAKER_00: I think I heard there were 33 kids in the nursery that Sunday night.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: The little ones are learning about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The older ones are learning about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it's about.
SPEAKER_00: The church gathered, the church scatters.
SPEAKER_00: We are the church.
SPEAKER_00: It's not this building.
SPEAKER_00: As beautiful as this building is, it's not this building.
SPEAKER_00: It's the real builder of this builder, King Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's more beautiful than this building by a long shot.
SPEAKER_00: Have you seen his beauty?
SPEAKER_00: Are you seeing his beauty?
SPEAKER_00: The presence of the kingdom is at work wherever spirit-filled people are present.
SPEAKER_00: We take the gospel with us.
SPEAKER_00: I love that slide Pastor Josh put together.
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
SPEAKER_00: It's not up there now, but where does it start?
SPEAKER_00: Renewing me.
SPEAKER_00: That's where it starts.
SPEAKER_00: I need to be renewed.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be renewed.
SPEAKER_00: Renewing me, renewing our church, renewing our city, renewing our world.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The whole church, the whole gospel, the whole city.
SPEAKER_00: Let's break it down.
SPEAKER_00: The whole church.
SPEAKER_00: Let's start there.
SPEAKER_00: The Proverbs says, when it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: Boy.
SPEAKER_00: That's an amazing statement.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, take that in.
SPEAKER_00: When it goes well with the righteous, the city of Alexandria rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: The city of Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: How can the Bible say that?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever thought about that before?
SPEAKER_00: Well, two weeks ago when we looked at the book of Acts, we see a clear example of that.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember that phrase as God's people gathered together in the temple to worship God, and then they scattered into their homes.
SPEAKER_00: They went back to their neighborhoods.
SPEAKER_00: They met in homes, encouraging each other, studying God's word together, serving each other.
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
SPEAKER_00: They got the attention of the whole city of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what that verse said?
SPEAKER_00: And they enjoyed the favor of all the people.
SPEAKER_00: Is that even possible?
SPEAKER_00: Can a church today, like then, enjoy the favor, not every single person in the city, but many in the city?
SPEAKER_00: Can we say this?
SPEAKER_00: And it's more than saying it, it's praying it, I believe.
SPEAKER_00: Can we pray that the city of Alexandria, the city of Washington, D.C., will be glad that APC is here.
SPEAKER_00: And not just APC, any gospel church.
SPEAKER_00: Can we pray that?
SPEAKER_00: Why would they say that?
SPEAKER_00: Why would they feel that way?
SPEAKER_00: It said in the book of Acts that awe came upon every soul in their midst and all who were together.
SPEAKER_00: But it says, Proverbs says, when it goes well with the righteous.
SPEAKER_00: So we have to ask ourselves, who's he referring to?
SPEAKER_00: Who are the righteous?
SPEAKER_00: Let's start off understanding who it's not.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the perfect ones.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the religious ones.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Alexandrians and Washingtonians, they're very they're very wise.
SPEAKER_00: They know that we mess up.
SPEAKER_00: They do.
SPEAKER_00: They know that we struggle.
SPEAKER_00: They know that we're not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: You know what might get their attention?
SPEAKER_00: Is when you blow it, own it.
SPEAKER_00: That's different.
SPEAKER_00: That's different from the world.
SPEAKER_00: When you mess up, be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Ask people for their for your forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Ask people, just say, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that is the gospel in action.
SPEAKER_00: That's just one example, but it's a powerful one.
SPEAKER_00: I think far too many churches don't take that seriously.
SPEAKER_00: Just take the gospel wherever we go.
SPEAKER_00: The righteous is not referring to the perfect ones, to the religious ones, but to all who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, who are trusting alone in the righteousness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the righteous.
SPEAKER_00: The first point is the whole church.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, I got this years ago.
SPEAKER_00: I love this phrase from Ray Bakte.
SPEAKER_00: I read 25 years ago, I think.
SPEAKER_00: He came up with that phrase, at least for the first time I read it.
SPEAKER_00: The whole church.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, that means not just the staff of APC, not just the ministers of APC.
SPEAKER_00: The whole church is the whole body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That includes you, if you're a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give you an example I haven't shared in a long, long time, but it's a powerful one that the Lord brought to my mind as I was thinking about this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: The first African refugee that we received in this church that God sent to us was from Burundi in Africa.
SPEAKER_00: His name was Guy, spoke French.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you were here when Guy came to APC.
SPEAKER_00: And he had been, they had attempted to assassinate him in his home country of Burundi because his father was a prominent journalist, and he was on the other side of the political sphere's political power at that time in Burundi.
SPEAKER_00: His father was a target, which made him a target.
SPEAKER_00: He literally just escaped with his life.
SPEAKER_00: God protected him, God brought him, God put him on an airplane, he landed in Dulles Airport.
SPEAKER_00: There was a connection between our church and Ghee.
SPEAKER_00: He was arrested because he didn't have proper documentation when he arrived in Dulles.
SPEAKER_00: And they put him in a jail in Farmville, Virginia, a couple hours south of here.
SPEAKER_00: And what was God up to?
SPEAKER_00: What was God going to do using the whole church?
SPEAKER_00: Well, many people just became available and helpful to Guy.
SPEAKER_00: He was a young man, maybe 20 or so.
SPEAKER_00: Young man.
SPEAKER_00: And there was a young attorney named Kurt who was in our church at the time.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, young, in his 20s.
SPEAKER_00: And he was working at a law firm in Georgetown.
SPEAKER_00: And he spent over 200 hours working pro bono for Gee's asylum case.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of time away from his family.
SPEAKER_00: We also had a young serviceman in our church at that time named Paul.
SPEAKER_00: In God's providence, Paul grew up in West Africa with his missionary parents.
SPEAKER_00: Paul spoke fluent French.
SPEAKER_00: This is all God's plan.
SPEAKER_00: This is all God's doing.
SPEAKER_00: Many, many weekends, Kurt and Paul drove down to Farmville, Virginia to help Guy prepare his case for asylum, political asylum.
SPEAKER_00: And when the time finally came, many months later, many sacrifices made by the whole church in some ways.
SPEAKER_00: The court case came, and I remember Kurt told me, he said, you know, the partner in my law firm, one of the partners in my law firm, said, There's a very, very small chance, or at least not a great chance, that you're going to win this case.
SPEAKER_00: He said, you know, Kurt, I'm really grateful and I'm encouraged by how hard you've worked in preparing the case, but don't get your hopes too high here.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Lord gave success.
SPEAKER_00: Gee received his political asylum that day.
SPEAKER_00: But listen to what the immigration judge in Arlington, Virginia, said.
SPEAKER_00: Arlington, Virginia, immigration judge, I would like to commend your church for its commitment to this young man and for your faithfulness to the gospel message.
SPEAKER_00: You don't hear that every day in our civil courts.
SPEAKER_00: That was the power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That was people who were gathering at the hub being renewed by the power of God who were going out and serving and taking the gospel with them.
SPEAKER_00: It didn't stop when Ghee was released.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just looking around to see who's here.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I don't think, I think they're in the second service.
SPEAKER_00: The Poole family, Christian and KC Poole, just opened up their uh apartment in Crystal City with their four kids.
SPEAKER_00: And they just took Ghee in.
SPEAKER_00: Where they went, Ghee went.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Guy was just learning what it means to be accepted into a family in the United States when he no longer had his family here.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it takes it takes a lot of people who really want to serve Jesus, working together.
SPEAKER_00: And God does beautiful things when we do that.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of Christ, serving our city.
SPEAKER_00: I uh I'm gonna read this.
SPEAKER_00: This is uh a letter that I received from Guy's father, who at the time, Guy's father, was not a Christian, as you'll get from this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna read it all.
SPEAKER_00: He said, My son, Guy, has been constantly harassed by his persecutors over the last three years.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your valuable help.
SPEAKER_00: Allow me to tell you my profound gratitude for what you've done for my son.
SPEAKER_00: And then he addresses the whole church of APC.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget how he addressed it.
SPEAKER_00: Even though he wasn't a Christian, he was familiar with biblical format, he said to the church at Alexandria, he said, May you show my son Gee the best way to strengthen this Christian faith that he has.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I live in a country that has been torn apart over the last four decades by wars and violence on a horrifying scale.
SPEAKER_00: I belong to what I am used to calling a lost generation.
SPEAKER_00: I am part of a lost generation that has witnessed nothing else than genocides, bloodshed, and ethnic hatred.
SPEAKER_00: The unspeakable atrocities that I have witnessed have pushed me to draw the conclusion that God has left our planet Earth.
SPEAKER_00: And He's no longer mindful of our individual and collective plight, leaving Satan and evil in charge, filling up the vacuum, raining, and spoiling everything.
SPEAKER_00: I reached the conclusion that man has become a wolf.
SPEAKER_00: He was paraphrasing Thomas Hobbes.
SPEAKER_00: This was Guy's father's understanding of this broken world.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, members of Alexandria Presbyterian Church, you have proved me otherwise, and with my hand on my heart, I confess that I have been mistaken, and that my pessimistic conclusion has been pretty hasty.
SPEAKER_00: Definitely, God is still very much around and is overseeing human beings at Alexandria Presbyterian Church.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a visible sign of his presence in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Many thanks once again, ladies and gentlemen.
SPEAKER_00: May the Almighty God bless all of you.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we're talking about tonight.
SPEAKER_00: This morning.
SPEAKER_00: Let me finish the story just a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Guy's dad became a Christian after that.
SPEAKER_00: He came to see that as strong as evil is in this world, there's a power that's stronger than the evil.
SPEAKER_00: And that power is God's goodness.
SPEAKER_00: And when we can see God's goodness, especially in the midst of the evil, we're not naive.
SPEAKER_00: We understand that there is evil in this world, that Satan is out to wreck our souls, but God is greater.
SPEAKER_00: The power of the gospel is greater than the tactics of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: And you can believe that.
SPEAKER_00: And you can receive the king of power and look to him.
SPEAKER_00: The whole church.
SPEAKER_00: What can you do?
SPEAKER_00: What is God calling you to do?
SPEAKER_00: The whole church acting together, serving together, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, the whole gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Luke tells us that Jesus was a prophet, mighty in word and deed.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read just briefly from James chapter 2 to illustrate this, what this is supposed to look like in the local church.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 2, I'm going to begin reading at verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: What good is it, my brothers, if somebody says he has faith but does not have works?
SPEAKER_00: Can that faith save him?
SPEAKER_00: If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things that they need for the body, what good is that?
SPEAKER_00: So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
SPEAKER_00: But someone will say, You have faith and I have works.
SPEAKER_00: Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
SPEAKER_00: You believe that God is one, you do well.
SPEAKER_00: Even the demons believe that, and they shudder.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
SPEAKER_00: Was not Abraham or father justified by works?
SPEAKER_00: Are y'all paying attention?
SPEAKER_00: The Bible said that.
SPEAKER_00: Was not Abraham or father justified by works?
SPEAKER_00: Are the alarms going off?
SPEAKER_00: When he offered up his son Isaac on the altar, you see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.
SPEAKER_00: And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: So you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
SPEAKER_00: Are you confused?
SPEAKER_00: No, you understand.
SPEAKER_00: Real faith in Jesus Christ, supplied by Jesus Christ, is alive.
SPEAKER_00: It's not dead.
SPEAKER_00: It moves us.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham was justified by his works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to do a seminary lecture here, but hang in there.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible uses the word justified in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: The one that most of us are probably most used to is it means to be declared righteous.
SPEAKER_00: It's a forensic statement.
SPEAKER_00: It's a statement of the court.
SPEAKER_00: You've been brought before God, and the blood of Jesus Christ has covered you.
SPEAKER_00: The Father sees the blood of Christ covering you.
SPEAKER_00: And the Father says, not guilty.
SPEAKER_00: You're no longer guilty.
SPEAKER_00: You're righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gave you his righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: He gives you his righteousness when you come to him by faith.
SPEAKER_00: That's the sense of justified that most of us are more used to.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible also uses the word justified not to declare, but to demonstrate.
SPEAKER_00: It uses that word.
SPEAKER_00: Just like in the example of James chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, when we have real saving faith, it's alive.
SPEAKER_00: It's love in action.
SPEAKER_00: It's faith in action.
SPEAKER_00: James begins with a view of sanctification from Genesis 22.
SPEAKER_00: His faith took him to actually offer his son as a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't because God said, don't do it, but he was willing to do it.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul is usually concerned with the ground of justification.
SPEAKER_00: James here is concerned with the nature of saving faith.
SPEAKER_00: This is what saving faith looks like.
SPEAKER_00: The whole gospel.
SPEAKER_00: In word and in deed.
SPEAKER_00: So let's take James's admonition to heart.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to tell people we're not interested in your physical, material, financial needs.
SPEAKER_00: We're just here to preach.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: We're here to show and to teach people that the word of God is true.
SPEAKER_00: That God offers reconciliation, as we read, to all who come.
SPEAKER_00: But we're here also to say God cares about your body.
SPEAKER_00: God cares about your needs.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to help as much as we can with that as well.
SPEAKER_00: The last point in closing, the whole city.
SPEAKER_00: Now this might be new to some of us.
SPEAKER_00: A theology of the city.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what was going on in Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_00: Praising God and having favor with all the people.
SPEAKER_00: God loves cities.
SPEAKER_00: There is a theology of the city in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter 21.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to turn to read it.
SPEAKER_00: You know what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're going to live in a city one day.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you don't like cities.
SPEAKER_00: You're here for a while because you have to be here.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: I actually love cities.
SPEAKER_00: But we're all going to end up in a city.
SPEAKER_00: When the city of God comes down, the new Jerusalem, get used to it.
SPEAKER_00: Start building.
SPEAKER_00: Join God's building program.
SPEAKER_00: Because when the city, when the righteous flourish, the city rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: Building God's kingdom in the place that God puts us.
SPEAKER_00: Does God care only about people, or does he also care about places like cities, like Alexandria, like Washington?
SPEAKER_00: Ray Bakke said, if cities are important beyond the fact that they are collections of individuals, then our ministry in cities must be both public and private, personal and corporate.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about that more next week.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to do a deeper dive of your ministry and your place, your calling, building God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Next week.
SPEAKER_00: We are in the city, yes.
SPEAKER_00: But are we for the city?
SPEAKER_00: Do we want to be a blessing to the people who don't come here?
SPEAKER_00: Do we want to be a blessing?
SPEAKER_00: Can we be kind enough?
SPEAKER_00: Can we be humble enough?
SPEAKER_00: Can we be loving enough?
SPEAKER_00: Not argumentative.
SPEAKER_00: Not proud.
SPEAKER_00: That's not going to get their attention.
SPEAKER_00: But humility and kindness and love will.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it.
SPEAKER_00: When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: When the righteous live righteously, not living for our personal comfort.
SPEAKER_00: And we need the Holy Spirit's help to get over that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't we?
SPEAKER_00: How easy it is to live for comfort.
SPEAKER_00: How easy it is to live for our own personal affluence.
SPEAKER_00: How easy it is to live not wanting to be stretched.
SPEAKER_00: When the righteous live righteously, not living for personal comfort, not living with the fortress mentality, just protect me, God.
SPEAKER_00: I don't really care what's going on out there.
SPEAKER_00: I don't really care what's going on in my neighborhood, my city.
SPEAKER_00: Just take care of me and my family.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: That is not the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I want you to be salt.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be light.
SPEAKER_00: Don't hide your light.
SPEAKER_00: Don't put it under a bushel.
SPEAKER_00: Don't cover it up.
SPEAKER_00: Let your light shine for Jesus so that the city will rejoice that you're here.
SPEAKER_00: I want to close with just this illustration.
SPEAKER_00: A model showroom.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been to a model showroom for a house?
SPEAKER_00: You go to the property and you see the house, and there's one house, and it's all furnished and it looks beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: What's the purpose of having a showroom?
SPEAKER_00: So that you'll buy one like that, and you'll build in that neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: You see where this is going.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel of Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God is a gospel showroom that Jesus wants to build in Alexandria Presbyterian Church and around the city.
SPEAKER_00: He wants people to see what this coming world is going to look like.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be good.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be the best.
SPEAKER_00: We're here on earth to help King Jesus build his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It's not our kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we have to put something down to pick that up.
SPEAKER_00: But it's worth it.
SPEAKER_00: As I close, I just I come back to this hymn we're going to sing in a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Come to Jesus, rest in him.
SPEAKER_00: We're not here to build our kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We're not here to have big numbers.
SPEAKER_00: We're not here to be impressive just for the s whatever.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: We're here to come to Jesus ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We're here to come to find our rest in Jesus ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: And to invite other people to come and find their rest in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please pray with me.
SPEAKER_00: Father, would you please?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Spirit of God, would you please?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, would you please?
SPEAKER_00: Give us faith to believe these truths.
SPEAKER_00: Give us faith.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, our our prayer as we close is simply to see you.
SPEAKER_00: If we see you as you really are, it's enough.
SPEAKER_00: And we will join you.
SPEAKER_00: We will join you in your kingdom building.
SPEAKER_00: Gladly, gladly we will join you.
SPEAKER_00: Because we want others to see how beautiful you really are.
SPEAKER_00: But we need your rest to keep going.
SPEAKER_00: And so we come to you now, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Receive us.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.