back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 4/23/23 Luke 5:27-32 "Calling of Levi"
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- Good morning, welcome to Bering Community Church. 00:08:01.640 |
First of all, our welcome lunch for newcomers 00:08:13.640 |
and you wanna just meet some of the servants in the church, 00:08:23.640 |
and just let them know that you're interested in coming, 00:08:25.640 |
and they'll make sure that they have enough seating 00:08:34.640 |
and that's pretty much everybody else in between, 00:08:41.640 |
there's gonna be a family ministry roll and stroll. 00:08:44.640 |
Our brother Michael Chang is in charge of that, 00:09:00.640 |
So if you haven't registered and you are planning to go, 00:09:03.640 |
please do that as soon as possible, today if possible. 00:09:05.640 |
Then next Sunday, we'll close the early registration, 00:09:08.640 |
and after that, we're gonna have regular registration, 00:09:13.640 |
than it would be before if you do it earlier. 00:09:17.640 |
please do that as soon as possible, today if possible. 00:09:19.640 |
And then men's ministry, our quarterly men's ministry 00:09:22.640 |
is taking place on May 13th at 9 a.m. to lunch, 00:09:31.640 |
with certain things that are pertinent to men. 00:09:43.640 |
If you have children that you are going to send to that, 00:09:49.640 |
and they are still, I think, still looking for more volunteers, 00:09:57.640 |
Unless you want to come and just take the trash out, 00:10:05.640 |
As I mentioned last week, we are having a special... 00:10:10.640 |
So some of our students who are going out to Korea 00:10:23.640 |
and then along with it, you'll have a hot dog 00:10:29.640 |
as you go out, you probably saw them already. 00:10:40.640 |
and then you were basically calling me a liar, 00:10:49.640 |
It was--everything you're going to taste is homemade. 00:10:55.640 |
and they're going to taste a little bit different, 00:10:57.640 |
and we're not going to tell you which one they are, 00:11:01.640 |
have their own little flavor, and it tastes great. 00:11:04.640 |
It's worth $20, but we're going to be selling it for $10 today. 00:11:14.640 |
so if we give you time to go out and get the hot dog, 00:11:17.640 |
there's going to be tables set out in the middle, 00:11:22.640 |
you just want to buy that and then just eat it here, 00:11:26.640 |
Those of you who are going home immediately afterwards, 00:11:31.640 |
so you can also just take it with you, again, 00:11:34.640 |
and each hot dog will have these flags, okay? 00:11:48.640 |
"so why do we need to send missionaries out to Korea?" 00:11:54.640 |
has relabeled Korea as a mission-receiving nation. 00:11:59.640 |
Just in the last 100 years, Korea had a huge revival, 00:12:10.640 |
but in recent study, they found out that Gen Z, 00:12:27.640 |
have been asking us to come and join them in ministry 00:12:32.640 |
the college camp, the younger generation there, 00:12:34.640 |
and so because we have a lot of young people at our church, 00:12:37.640 |
and they are more open to talking about their faith 00:12:43.640 |
'cause they have a very negative view of Christianity in Korea, 00:12:47.640 |
but they're open to Christianity outside of Korea, 00:12:53.640 |
and so we're hoping that our first year there 00:12:57.640 |
and we'll see if there's further work that we can do, okay? 00:13:08.640 |
We'll give you a minute to give your offering, 00:13:12.640 |
again, we have a box in the back as you're heading out. 00:13:33.640 |
for the purpose of good to draw us closer to you. 00:13:54.640 |
So we pray, Father God, that even in this giving, 00:13:59.640 |
may it be multiplied for your use in your kingdom. 00:15:52.640 |
Praise in the morning, praise in the evening, 00:16:00.640 |
Praise when I'm laughing, praise when I'm grieving, 00:16:16.640 |
that surely we would never cease to praise you. 00:16:45.640 |
Praise in the heavens, join in with the angels, 00:16:53.640 |
Praise on the earth now, join in with creation, 00:17:09.640 |
that surely they would never cease to praise you. 00:23:47.640 |
A little bit of background about me, I grew up in a Christian household, 00:23:51.640 |
but I didn't really consistently go to church until my gap year after high school. 00:24:03.640 |
I can remember lying even as young as four years old. 00:24:11.640 |
learned really early on that they couldn't trust anything I said. 00:24:15.640 |
At the time, I felt little to no guilt, but as the years 00:24:19.640 |
went on, I realized that I wouldn't trust myself either. 00:24:23.640 |
To everyone else outside of my family, I presented myself as 00:24:27.640 |
the perfect child, the perfect big sister, the perfect student, 00:24:31.640 |
while I knew that I was actually a disappointment to my family 00:24:35.640 |
and a sinner against the God I claimed to love and serve. 00:24:39.640 |
It wasn't until I was 12 years old that I actually broke under the 00:24:43.640 |
weight of that sin. I was miserable, constantly in trouble, 00:24:47.640 |
and feeling as if my life was devoid of love. 00:24:51.640 |
Finally, my parents got through to me that the reason my life felt so loveless was because 00:24:59.640 |
prayer. I wasn't actually chasing him. And that night 00:25:03.640 |
was the first time I truly asked Jesus to forgive and change me. 00:25:07.640 |
But even though I was saved that night, aside from 00:25:11.640 |
fighting against the temptation to lie rather than succumbing to it, I didn't do much to walk 00:25:15.640 |
with God. I wasn't praying consistently. I wasn't reading the Bible. And so, 00:25:23.640 |
was really hard. A lot of things happened that 00:25:27.640 |
made me feel betrayed, unlovable, and worthless. 00:25:31.640 |
I began to think that many people only loved me because I fulfilled a need or a role. 00:25:35.640 |
And when COVID hit, there were many times when I felt 00:25:39.640 |
so hopeless that I considered the easy way out, even though I put up a mask 00:25:47.640 |
during my gap year after high school, I became utterly entangled in my own wickedness and sin, 00:25:51.640 |
and I blinded myself through licentiousness, the justification of 00:25:55.640 |
sin by the cheapening of God's grace. So, when I came 00:25:59.640 |
into UCI, I came with a mindset that was utterly depraved. 00:26:11.640 |
He convicted me during the first Korean college 00:26:15.640 |
Bible study of the school year, making it known that as a Christian, 00:26:19.640 |
I'm called to make Him Lord over my whole life. 00:26:23.640 |
Anything that interferes with my relationship with Him is an idol that I'm 00:26:27.640 |
sinfully worshiping. And by His strength alone, I was 00:26:31.640 |
able to cut off those idols and sinful intentions I had coming into UCI 00:26:35.640 |
so that I could truly serve Him. And that was the first turning 00:26:39.640 |
point back to God. However, being hurt so many times 00:26:43.640 |
had caused me to become jaded, and I hadn't even known it. 00:26:47.640 |
Even after redevoting my life to Christ during fall quarter, I trusted no one. 00:26:51.640 |
I felt misunderstood, unseen, and unwanted by people. 00:26:55.640 |
As I distanced myself from my new friendships, I quickly began to feel hopeless and 00:26:59.640 |
lost in my relationship both with God and with brothers and sisters in Christ. 00:27:07.640 |
He challenged my faith in a good way, and encouraged me to start reading Romans, 00:27:29.640 |
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 00:27:35.640 |
through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, 00:27:41.640 |
and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, 00:27:47.640 |
knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance proving character, 00:27:53.640 |
and proving character hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out 00:27:59.640 |
within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who was given to us. 00:28:03.640 |
After all the darkness throughout high school, the Word gave me the first ray of light I've felt in years. 00:28:09.640 |
It was the first time I experienced the true peace and overflowing joy that the New Testament promises. 00:28:19.640 |
Romans 8, 28 promises that all things work together for the good of them who love God, 00:28:25.640 |
and I felt so much peace as he taught me that that good refers not to what I perceive to be best for me, 00:28:31.640 |
but to the perfect plan that God has in place. His will is what's best for me. 00:28:35.640 |
This year I've been learning more about myself and the God who made me. 00:28:39.640 |
I'm learning to rely on him, to submit to him, and to reflect his love and grace. 00:28:44.640 |
Praise God that he is faithful even though I am not, and that he is still healing me. 00:28:52.640 |
Praise God that he has graciously opened my eyes to the truth of the way and the life in Christ, 00:28:57.640 |
and that I may truly pursue a relationship with my Creator. Thank you. 00:29:20.640 |
Do you understand when you're going into the water, you're united to Christ's death? 00:29:24.640 |
You're being united to his resurrected life. When I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:29:48.640 |
Thank you, Erica, for that powerful testimony, and for the gang of college students. 00:29:54.640 |
Thank you for coming and supporting her. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 5, 27 through 32. 00:30:11.640 |
Luke chapter 5, 27 through 32, and reading out of the NASB. 00:30:17.640 |
After he went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in a tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me." 00:30:24.640 |
And he left everything behind and got up and began to follow him. 00:30:27.640 |
And Levi gave a big reception for him in his house, and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people 00:30:37.640 |
The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at his disciples, saying, 00:30:40.640 |
"Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?" 00:30:44.640 |
And Jesus answered and said to them, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 00:30:50.640 |
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 00:30:57.640 |
Father, we come before you asking for your guidance, your teaching, and your Holy Spirit to illuminate, and not just to inform. 00:31:07.640 |
Help us, Lord God, to be changed by your word. Sanctify that our hope may be placed in Christ, in Christ alone. 00:31:17.640 |
All right, again, let me ask you a question. You don't have to answer it out loud. 00:31:32.640 |
I want you to keep that question in your heart as we wrestle through the text of the calling of Levi. 00:31:43.640 |
Levi, according to Matthew 9.9, he's Matthew, the tax collector, the one who writes the gospel of Matthew. 00:31:50.640 |
We don't know when his name change takes place, but we know that this Levi is that Matthew. 00:31:58.640 |
I remember years ago, because we thought, my wife and I thought we were going to be doing full-time homeless ministry. 00:32:06.640 |
I thought it'd be best for me to find out what it's like. 00:32:08.640 |
And I remember one particular Wednesday, I followed a group of friends that I made who are out on the streets. 00:32:19.640 |
And it was known that every Wednesday they would open up to allow the homeless in that area to come and take a shower, 00:32:27.640 |
get a warm meal, and then if you needed new clothes, they would give them clothes that were donated. 00:32:31.640 |
And so it's a gathering every Wednesday that happens, maybe about 60 to 100 people, and they're always rotating throughout the day. 00:32:37.640 |
And I happened to follow them that day to that center. 00:32:40.640 |
And obviously, I'm the only outsider that was there. 00:32:43.640 |
But what I heard and experienced during that time really, really changed my perspective of the ministry that I was involved in. 00:32:52.640 |
What happened while I was there was because they were not in the open, and they were nobody outside of me who was an outsider, 00:33:00.640 |
they were speaking very freely and talking about what their week was like and what Monday was like, Tuesday was like. 00:33:07.640 |
And I saw a group of guys who were huddled out in the corner, began to talk about what they did the night before and the week that led up to that. 00:33:16.640 |
And some of them were talking very openly about how they raped some girls. 00:33:21.640 |
Initially, when I heard that, I, you know, because this is not something that you commonly hear, 00:33:26.640 |
and initially I thought maybe they're exaggerating, maybe they're joking. 00:33:30.640 |
And as I was hanging around and just kind of hearing from the side what was happening, 00:33:34.640 |
and started to realize that it wasn't just one person, it was like a culture where this was an acceptable behavior. 00:33:41.640 |
And obviously, I was beginning to get very disturbed by what I was hearing when I realized that this is what it's like to be out on the street, 00:33:49.640 |
that a girl who is hanging out on the street is an open target, and she knows that this is coming. 00:33:57.640 |
And so there was no sense of remorse, no sense of disgust, it was just a matter of fact that this was the culture. 00:34:05.640 |
And it began to dawn on me what I was observing prior to going to that, because whenever we saw a young girl come out on the streets, 00:34:13.640 |
because I've seen some girls who were 16, 17, 18-year-old young girls, blonde hair, blue-eyed girls, 00:34:20.640 |
looked like cheerleaders at their high school, and then I could just see the natural deterioration, 00:34:24.640 |
because somehow she got hooked on drugs, and then about two, three months later, 00:34:28.640 |
you can just see her physical appearance begin to change, and they're usually men around them, just hovering around them. 00:34:36.640 |
And it was a known fact that if you're out on the street as a young girl, and you don't get connected to some guy as your protector, 00:34:44.640 |
basically you're going to get raped, oftentimes maybe gang raped. 00:34:48.640 |
I was so disturbed and disgusted by what I heard that after that, I would come out to Tuesday, and we would serve, 00:34:56.640 |
and I would see some of these same guys who was in that huddle eating, but prior to that, every time I would eat, 00:35:02.640 |
it's like, "Oh, these guys have hardship, they're out on the street, and we want to feed them, care for them." 00:35:07.640 |
But I really had to fight off my disdain for some of these guys, that this is what they do. 00:35:15.640 |
And it was normal for them to be able to do that, and as we're feeding them, as we're trying to share the gospel with them, 00:35:28.640 |
And after that, I had to make a rule that the younger girls who were coming out with us, that they're not allowed to leave our little circle. 00:35:36.640 |
Before, they would go out and sit, and they would take the food, and they would go maybe a little bit away to get the food to them. 00:35:43.640 |
And then after that, I was so disturbed by what I heard, I made all the students that I would bring out to the homeless center, 00:35:51.640 |
like, "You stick right next to me, where if I have to be able to see you, you're not allowed to go out of that." 00:35:56.640 |
I didn't really explain to them everything that I heard, because I didn't want to disturb them, 00:36:01.640 |
but I remember wrestling, going out there thinking, "These guys are not good people. 00:36:14.640 |
The reason why I share this with you is because I want you to emotionally understand what the Pharisees, 00:36:20.640 |
and why the Jews hated these tax collectors so much. 00:36:25.640 |
The tax collectors, these guys were traitors to the country. 00:36:31.640 |
These guys were not theoretically bad people. 00:36:34.640 |
Almost every Jew has been disturbed in some manner because of these tax collectors. 00:36:41.640 |
Romans, because they conquered so much land, they couldn't keep things in order, 00:36:47.640 |
so in order to collect taxes, they used what was called the tax farming. 00:36:52.640 |
Tax farming basically was, they would recruit the locals of whatever land that they conquered, 00:36:58.640 |
and they would auction off to the highest bidder, whoever wanted to collect taxes, 00:37:03.640 |
because they knew there was instant success, instant money, instant wealth that would come. 00:37:10.640 |
They would come, and you typically would attract shady people to come, and they would bid, 00:37:15.640 |
and whoever is the highest bidder would get the rights to collect the money. 00:37:21.640 |
Now, that in and of itself, you can see how that would attract certain types of people, 00:37:26.640 |
but the way that they did it was, there are two different categories of taxes in this tax farming. 00:37:32.640 |
One was the fixed flat tax, and that was based upon a census. 00:37:37.640 |
Remember when Jesus was being born, Joseph and Mary had to go back to their hometown to be counted in the census, 00:37:42.640 |
because based upon these census, they would tax the people, and that's a flat rate. 00:37:46.640 |
If you exist, you get taxed, and there's no way to fudge that. 00:37:53.640 |
And then they had what's called the duties and tolls tax. 00:37:56.640 |
Duties and tolls tax basically was just a loose set of things that you can tax, and that was spices. 00:38:04.640 |
It could be tomatoes that you had. It could be cloth. It could be the horse that you're riding. 00:38:09.640 |
It could be the road tax. It could be anything that you could imagine that they had the freedom to tax. 00:38:15.640 |
So the way that the Romans did it was they would auction it off. 00:38:18.640 |
Whoever bid, they would require of them the fixed tax to be turned in, and then they would have a certain amount. 00:38:24.640 |
And then once they reached that, everything else that collect that's left over is theirs to keep. 00:38:30.640 |
So this whole system itself was a setup for corruption. 00:38:37.640 |
It was so rare that a tax collector was not corrupt that they would highlight that this tax collector is trustable. 00:38:46.640 |
In fact, they were known to be corrupt that by their own law, they forbid tax collectors to be witnesses in the court of law in the Jewish community. 00:38:55.640 |
They weren't trusted. It was like getting a drug dealer to come and testify. 00:38:59.640 |
He said that because of his proven immorality, we can't trust his testimony. 00:39:09.640 |
That's just a maybe you're pregnant, you're on the way to the hospital, and they say you need to pay a road tax and collect money. 00:39:15.640 |
Whatever farming that you had and you collected and you're going out and give it away or sell it, they can stop that and tax it. 00:39:21.640 |
And it was a frequent act that if you were on your way, they would ask you to open up your bags, 00:39:26.640 |
open up whatever you have on your horse, whatever you're carrying, and anything that they saw, 00:39:33.640 |
And if they couldn't pay it, what they would do is pay it out of the generosity of my own heart, 00:39:40.640 |
and I'll pay it to you, and then they would charge them exorbitant amount of taxes or interest, 00:39:50.640 |
So they would come and they would confiscate your property and take away things. 00:39:55.640 |
So imagine just how much disdain that every single Jew would have encountered a tax collector at some point. 00:40:06.640 |
And then if they couldn't pay the taxes and pay them back, they would hire thugs to go after them. 00:40:13.640 |
And so tax collectors typically were surrounded by thugs and gangsters who were going to do their duty of force the taxes upon them. 00:40:23.640 |
And the best places to collect taxes is wherever there's a lot of people gathered together. 00:40:28.640 |
So imagine every time you gather together to go to the synagogue, there's a lot of people there, 00:40:34.640 |
If you're a fisherman, anywhere you docked, there would be a tax collector sitting there. 00:40:39.640 |
If there was a large road, there would be a tax collector because you know there's a lot of people traveling. 00:40:43.640 |
If there is an arena where a bunch of people are going to come together to be entertained, 00:40:48.640 |
there would be a tax booth there to collect money. 00:40:52.640 |
In fact, you can see how much they were hated in Luke 18.11. 00:40:59.640 |
It says, "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, 00:41:02.640 |
'God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers, even like this tax collector. 00:41:09.640 |
Of all these sinners, detestable sinners, thank God I'm not like this tax collector.'" 00:41:16.640 |
Matthew 21.32, "For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, 00:41:21.640 |
but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him." 00:41:25.640 |
Like all these righteous and upright people, but to highlight the worst of sinners, 00:41:32.640 |
even they believed, they mentioned prostitutes and a tax collector. 00:41:36.640 |
So you can kind of see in their mindset how they viewed tax collectors. 00:41:42.640 |
Matthew 18.17, talking about church discipline, he said, 00:41:46.640 |
"If he refuses to listen to him, tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, 00:41:51.640 |
let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." 00:41:56.640 |
A Gentile is somebody who's outside of the kingdom in rebellion, pagans, idol worshippers. 00:42:02.640 |
And he said, "Treat him like a Gentile who's not in the kingdom and like a tax collector." 00:42:13.640 |
In fact, what's interesting about this is this takes place in Capernaum. 00:42:19.640 |
Capernaum had a large road called via Maris Roman Highway. 00:42:25.640 |
And so this was a place where there was a lot of commerce taking place. 00:42:29.640 |
And as a result of that, there was a lot of money being exchanged back and forth. 00:42:34.640 |
And so whenever they deemed this an important route for the Romans, 00:42:39.640 |
they would send Roman soldiers there to make sure they're protected. 00:42:44.640 |
So a tax collector would have become very wealthy in this place because there's a lot of money being exchanged. 00:42:51.640 |
And the tax collector had the freedom to do whatever he wanted because whatever he did, they had Roman soldiers around. 00:42:58.640 |
So even if the locals hated the tax collector, they couldn't touch them because they were guarded by the Romans, 00:43:05.640 |
because the road was so important. This is where Levi is being picked up. This is where Matthew is being picked up. 00:43:10.640 |
This is where Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector, resided. 00:43:16.640 |
So the fact that they were hated people, and it only highlights even further how much more disdain they may have had toward Matthew. 00:43:28.640 |
So whenever we study the bio, especially the narratives, we know that Luke is the one who at least made an effort. 00:43:36.640 |
That's what he says in the beginning, that he is writing this letter to Theophilus to give an orderly account of the life of Christ and what has happened. 00:43:47.640 |
It's important for us to note that what happens right before this, because even though it may be two separate stories, it is connected in theme. 00:43:57.640 |
So remember, what did we talk about last week? I know it's last week, and usually you just kind of like, 00:44:03.640 |
you may remember the funny stories, but let's see how many of you remember. What happened last week? 00:44:10.640 |
The healing of the paralytic. They come, go through all that trouble to get healed, and Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven." 00:44:19.640 |
And then the Pharisees, "How can you say this? A mere man. Only God can forgive sins." Remember that's what happens? 00:44:25.640 |
And then so Jesus, as a result of that, knowing what was in their heart, he says, "In order for you to know that I have authority, 00:44:33.640 |
the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins," he says, "get up and walk." And the paralytic is healed. 00:44:37.640 |
And the whole reason why he says he does that is so that you would know that he has power to forgive sins. 00:44:44.640 |
And so if you remember, the paralytic gets up, he glorified God, goes home, the rest of the crowd, they're in amazement, 00:44:51.640 |
and then fear falls on them because they encounter God, but it tells us nothing about the Pharisees. 00:44:57.640 |
The only thing we are told about the Pharisees is that they had disdain for Jesus for saying that your sins are forgiven. 00:45:04.640 |
And then the very next scene, in verse 27, "After that, he went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth." 00:45:13.640 |
So this is not by accident. He comes out after saying that, knowing it's in their heart, "How can this man blaspheme a mere man, 00:45:22.640 |
saying your sins are forgiven?" And then he comes out and he sees the vilest sinner, that they would have been disgusted to be even in his presence. 00:45:31.640 |
And what was he doing? He was sitting at a tax booth. He was in the middle of doing his job. 00:45:36.640 |
He was in the middle of collecting taxes. So this is possibly the worst person to forgive, and he doesn't even just forgive. 00:45:46.640 |
He says, "Come, follow me." Makes him his disciple, Matthew. 00:45:50.640 |
This is not by accident, because this was the whole mission of Christ. 00:45:57.640 |
This is the whole mission of Christ, to seek and save sinners. And he chooses the worst of sinners in order to practice this. 00:46:10.640 |
Remember Apostle Paul, when he explains about his calling in 1 Timothy 1, 12-15? 00:46:18.640 |
He says, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, putting me into service." 00:46:24.640 |
Now if we stop right there, you might say, "Oh, because Paul was faithful, right? 00:46:29.640 |
Because he was a Jew and he was faithful, and that's why he was called. He earned it." 00:46:33.640 |
But right after that, it says, "Even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor, 00:46:39.640 |
yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief." 00:46:44.640 |
Paul's not saying that because he was faithful, he was called. 00:46:48.640 |
He's saying that God called him to be faithful, despite the fact that he was a blasphemer and a sinner. 00:46:55.640 |
And then he goes on to say, verse 14, "And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. 00:47:02.640 |
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all." 00:47:10.640 |
Paul says the reason why he was chosen is because he was the worst of sinners. 00:47:14.640 |
And why? Why was he chosen? Not because of his great learning, not because of his righteousness, 00:47:20.640 |
but because he was the worst. For what purpose? So that God would receive the glory. 00:47:26.640 |
Not Paul. You know, our natural tendency is, if we see somebody being used, we want to study that man. 00:47:35.640 |
If a church is growing, we want to study that church. 00:47:38.640 |
If something good is happening, what method is he applying? What gifted men are around this? 00:47:44.640 |
What is happening in this church? And so we want to copy the work of man and then try to reproduce that. 00:47:50.640 |
Because our natural tendency is to give glory to man rather than God. 00:47:56.640 |
So if you just simply say, "You know what? Why is your church growing? Why are you bearing fruit?" 00:48:00.640 |
It's because, you know, we're just practicing what the Bible says. 00:48:07.640 |
"But I, of course, I, of course you have to pray. Of course you have to be obedient. Of course you have to study the Bible. 00:48:12.640 |
But what are you doing?" We all do that. But we're not growing, so what are you doing? 00:48:18.640 |
So we have a generation where we have marketed certain churches that seems to be reproducing. 00:48:25.640 |
If we do what they do, maybe we will produce what they produce. 00:48:31.640 |
So, suddenly, we give glory to man rather than God. 00:48:34.640 |
But Paul says he wasn't chosen because he was a scholar. He wasn't chosen because he had Roman citizenship. 00:48:39.640 |
He wasn't chosen because he was more determined or disciplined or more gifted. 00:48:44.640 |
He said he was chosen for the very opposite reason. 00:48:51.640 |
In order that people may know that it was God, not man. 00:49:01.640 |
I'll bet you, if Paul was being honest, and maybe before he met Christ, 00:49:07.640 |
and maybe before he was aware of his own sin and asked Paul, "Who's the chief of sinners?" 00:49:16.640 |
He probably would have said, "The chief, oh yeah, yeah, there's actually one guy worse than me. 00:49:20.640 |
You know, that guy. You know what that guy did for a living? 00:49:23.640 |
You know the kind of people that he ticked off? 00:49:26.640 |
You know, this young poor farmer who was going and she only had a few dollars 00:49:31.640 |
and he came and took all of that. That guy. That guy's the chief of sinners." 00:49:36.640 |
Remember when they were at the Passover meal, Jesus in his last meal, 00:49:42.640 |
and he says, "You know, the one of you is going to betray me?" 00:49:51.640 |
I'll bet you, inwardly, they were thinking, "Oh yeah, that's Matthew. For sure." 00:49:55.640 |
Now they didn't want to say it because, you know, Jesus is around, 00:50:01.640 |
but I'll bet you, inwardly, they were saying, "We told you. We told you." 00:50:07.640 |
Of course he was going to turn. You know who he was before? 00:50:12.640 |
People don't change. Matthew. It's got to be Matthew. 00:50:17.640 |
They didn't say that, but I bet you some of them were thinking that. 00:50:26.640 |
You say, "Well, Matthew was chosen because he's a tax collector 00:50:29.640 |
and he would have been a great record keeper, 00:50:32.640 |
and he would have been the best person to write the book of Matthew." 00:50:38.640 |
but the real reason is to demonstrate what he just told those people. 00:50:53.640 |
Not only did he forgive him, he said, "Come. Come, follow me." 00:51:11.640 |
That disdain for other sinners prevents us from seeing our own sin. 00:51:21.640 |
You know, we always talk about being gracious. 00:51:24.640 |
We need to be full of grace, and we judge other people when they're not being gracious. 00:51:33.640 |
Until somebody hurts you personally, or your children, or your wife, or your husband, 00:51:41.640 |
We can be as gracious as we want to be when it doesn't personally affect us. 00:51:49.640 |
but when they hurt me, or my child, or my family, 00:51:52.640 |
how dare you allow them to get away with that? 00:52:01.640 |
We've got to be righteous. We've got to be holy. 00:52:05.640 |
Until the sin happens to somebody that you genuinely love, 00:52:18.640 |
The way we practice grace, the way we practice justice, sometimes, 00:52:40.640 |
See, at the root of our resistance against God, 00:52:50.640 |
See, the sin that is being pointed out to us, 00:52:56.640 |
is a struggle that every single one of us have. 00:53:02.640 |
even in the context of practicing righteousness, 00:53:10.640 |
He left everything to follow him immediately. 00:53:22.640 |
Even Judas, I can understand, at least at that time. 00:53:29.640 |
But Matthew, how are we going to walk with him? 00:53:34.640 |
How are we going to go to sleep with this guy, 00:53:39.640 |
He beats up people to take money from innocent people. 00:53:43.640 |
How are we going to sleep and rest with this guy on the boat? 00:53:49.640 |
But of all the people who must have been shocked, 00:53:53.640 |
my guess is the person who was shocked the most 00:54:05.640 |
So the fact that Jesus turned and gave him an opportunity, 00:54:15.640 |
When Jesus said, "Follow me," he immediately drops everything. 00:54:19.640 |
In Luke 18, verse 13, when Jesus tells a parable 00:54:25.640 |
and the attitude of this worst sinner and tax collector, 00:54:29.640 |
The tax collector standing some distance away 00:54:31.640 |
was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven 00:54:41.640 |
The vilest of sinners who recognizes his sins and repents 00:54:47.640 |
is far better off than somebody who kept the law all their life 00:54:56.640 |
because our righteousness comes from covering of his blood. 00:55:06.640 |
And when we stand before God beating our chest over our own sins 00:55:10.640 |
is when we are forgiven, when we become righteous. 00:55:15.640 |
He who knew no sin became sin so that we may become 00:55:19.640 |
the righteousness of God, not my own righteousness 00:55:24.640 |
And what invites that is when we are aware of our own sins. 00:55:29.640 |
As soon as this happens, he invites the other tax collectors to come. 00:55:35.640 |
I mean, think about it from a Pharisee's perspective. 00:55:42.640 |
when a bunch of them got together to have a party. 00:55:47.640 |
I know some of you guys can't stand cockroaches. 00:55:55.640 |
and there's a swarm of them coming out of your toilet. 00:56:05.640 |
Imagine, my guess is that Pharisees are looking at the swarm of these cockroaches 00:56:20.640 |
See, at this point, he gathers all those people because 00:56:24.640 |
Matthew is the best one to bring those people to Christ. 00:56:36.640 |
because they're more sympathetic and compassionate toward other sinners. 00:56:41.640 |
Those who have been forgiven much, they're more sympathetic. 00:56:44.640 |
Those people who have been walking righteously for a long time 00:56:48.640 |
or natural inclination is like, "This is disgusting people." 00:56:52.640 |
It's one thing to be outside the home, but they're invited to our house. 00:57:01.640 |
He's sympathetic toward them because he understands. 00:57:04.640 |
Instead of being disgusted, he's compassionate. 00:57:13.640 |
They are the greatest witness because they're not just regurgitating information. 00:57:17.640 |
The gospel is presented to them in power by his own changed life. 00:57:23.640 |
Evangelism isn't just learning a set of facts and making sure that we're theologically correct 00:57:29.640 |
and we get that correct information transferred from one person to another person. 00:57:36.640 |
The witness that he called us to be is when we are affected, 00:57:43.640 |
and we beat our chest because of the filth in us. 00:57:47.640 |
It gives us compassion for other sinners because when we look at them, 00:57:56.640 |
This is where I was headed if Christ didn't have mercy on me. 00:58:00.640 |
And so when we share the gospel, we share about the power of how it changed me, 00:58:06.640 |
not because I was trained theologically correct. 00:58:09.640 |
I mean, theology is, of course, very important, 00:58:12.640 |
but transferring information is not what he called us to do. 00:58:19.640 |
And in fact, someone who recognizes their plight and their forgiveness tend to be the boldest too. 00:58:35.640 |
Luke 5, 30, "The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at his disciples, 00:58:39.640 |
saying, 'Why do you eat and drink with these tax collectors, these cockroaches?'" 00:58:44.640 |
Instead of seeing the mercy of God, he said, "Why do you do that? 00:58:47.640 |
Why do you--because we were intrigued and we're considering following you, 00:58:51.640 |
but if you allow these people to come along you, how can we--if I become friends with you, 00:58:56.640 |
that means I have to be friends with them too." 00:59:00.640 |
So they're forced to be in a situation like we--maybe you're the Messiah, 00:59:04.640 |
but if you're going to have these people follow you, how can we follow you? 00:59:10.640 |
That's the same response every time in Luke chapter 51 and 2. 00:59:14.640 |
You know the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son? 00:59:20.640 |
It all was started because they saw Jesus hanging around with tax collectors and sinners. 00:59:26.640 |
By that time, Jesus had given plenty of evidence as who he is, 00:59:33.640 |
You've given so much proof of who you are, but how could you be with sinners like them? 00:59:41.640 |
And it's in that context he gives the parables. 00:59:47.640 |
If you don't know what I'm doing and you don't know why I'm doing it, then you don't know God. 00:59:52.640 |
Same response in Luke chapter 19, 5 through 7, the chief tax collectors, the Kaos, 00:59:57.640 |
going over to his house, that this is--if Levi was bad, Zacchaeus was the chief of them. 01:00:09.640 |
All of a sudden, like, you know, God changes himself. 01:00:12.640 |
In Isaiah 65, 5, it says, "Who say, 'Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you.' 01:00:19.640 |
These are the smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day." 01:00:25.640 |
When a sinner has disdain for another sinner's--because in your eye, their degree of sin is greater than yours-- 01:00:34.640 |
he says, "That's what causes the smoke in his nostrils. 01:00:40.640 |
You know, typically, the way we dismiss our sins and focus on other people's sins-- 01:00:49.640 |
And I'm not saying every time you say this that that's what you're guilty of, 01:00:52.640 |
but a lot of times we will say this, "I know I'm not perfect." 01:00:58.640 |
Many of you are already smirking because you know what comes next. 01:01:10.640 |
"But I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not like them. 01:01:22.640 |
So basically what we're doing is, "Yeah, I have sinned, but it's not as bad as theirs." 01:01:31.640 |
So our natural tendency is to dismiss the sins of our heart--bitterness and anger and rage-- 01:01:41.640 |
We dismiss that and say, "Well, I know I'm not perfect, but them, but those people, but that guy." 01:01:48.640 |
And so we have a tendency for righteous indignation for other people's sin, 01:01:55.640 |
and we have learned to accept ours is not as bad because we're not as perfect. 01:02:06.640 |
Tell me if that doesn't sound like a Pharisee. 01:02:14.640 |
But thank God I'm not like those swindlers and robbers and prostitutes and tax collectors." 01:02:21.640 |
Tell me if that doesn't sound similar to sometimes what we do. 01:02:28.640 |
This sin of self-righteousness is a problem inside of all of us if we're not careful. 01:02:39.640 |
In Matthew 7, 3 to 5, it says, "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye 01:02:43.640 |
but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 01:02:46.640 |
Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' 01:02:51.640 |
You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, 01:02:54.640 |
and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eyes." 01:02:58.640 |
Now, he's not saying there isn't time for judgment. 01:03:02.640 |
He's not saying that there isn't time for us to recognize what is right and what is wrong. 01:03:06.640 |
But he's talking about somebody who is unaware of his sins. 01:03:16.640 |
And he says, "Why are you so focused on the sins of other people 01:03:20.640 |
when you've got a log stuck in your own eye?" 01:03:24.640 |
You know, it's a log because if you have something stuck in your eye, that's a log. 01:03:31.640 |
Even if it's a little splinter that's stuck in your eye, that's a log. 01:03:35.640 |
But the fact that it doesn't bother you that it's stuck in your eye, 01:03:39.640 |
that it's impeding your vision, and you've gone through gymnastics to somehow dismiss that. 01:03:51.640 |
If it's pricking your eyes, there's blood coming out of yours. 01:03:58.640 |
Anybody that's going to encounter you and say, "Look at that guy." 01:04:05.640 |
You've got something stuck in your eye." Say, "Yeah, I know. I'm not perfect. 01:04:19.640 |
People who are so focused on the shortcomings of other people. 01:04:25.640 |
Jesus responds to them by saying Luke 5, 31-32. 01:04:30.640 |
'It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 01:04:34.640 |
I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners, to repentance.'" 01:04:38.640 |
Now, does this mean that the Levites were sinners and Pharisees were righteous? 01:04:51.640 |
In that statement, he's indicting the Pharisees. 01:04:53.640 |
And his indictment is, "They recognize their sin. You do not. 01:05:01.640 |
He's not saying that they're not sinners. He's not saying that they're righteous. 01:05:04.640 |
The Bible makes it clear. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 01:05:10.640 |
So he's not saying they're righteous, so we need to go after the Levites since you guys are okay. 01:05:14.640 |
What he's saying is, "You don't recognize that you're a sinner. 01:05:23.640 |
So the only people that are going to come to me are the people who recognize they're sinners 01:05:34.640 |
The law was given to the nation of Israel for 1,500 years. 01:05:43.640 |
Do you remember what Paul says that the purpose of the law was? 01:05:58.640 |
He patiently waited for 1,500 years for Israel to get that they're sinners. 01:06:05.640 |
For them not to simply say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. 01:06:10.640 |
No, so that it would become utterly sinful so that they would be like the tax collectors 01:06:18.640 |
When the Messiah comes, "I am in need of forgiveness. I need a Savior. 01:06:26.640 |
I am a man of uncleanness from a people of unclean lips. 01:06:29.640 |
Woe is me." 1,500 years waiting patiently to get them to that point 01:06:36.640 |
that they recognize that they're in need of a Savior. 01:06:43.640 |
And when Christ comes, He came to collect the people who recognize their sins. 01:06:54.640 |
It is very, very, very, very, very, very, very difficult to get sinners to recognize their own sin. 01:07:08.640 |
It's very easy to get sinners to recognize other people's sins. 01:07:16.640 |
Very easy to get self-righteous people to march against other people's sins. 01:07:24.640 |
Very easy to get in a group and point fingers at what other people are doing wrong, 01:07:33.640 |
But it is very, very, very, very difficult for sinners to recognize their own sins. 01:07:45.640 |
A church that is filled with self-righteous people is an ugly place to be, 01:07:53.640 |
where everybody is uncomfortable with what other people are doing. 01:07:59.640 |
They're not living up to what they ought to do. 01:08:02.640 |
And then it begins to erode the fellowship of the church. 01:08:05.640 |
People don't feel safe to share their weaknesses. 01:08:08.640 |
You highlight what other people are doing is wrong and how we need to change these other people, 01:08:12.640 |
how we need to change the program, we need to change this, so that they can change 01:08:16.640 |
and fully unaware of what's going on in their own hearts. 01:08:21.640 |
True worship, true fellowship is when we have a room filled with people, 01:08:38.640 |
And it inspires in us fellowship, compassion, grace. 01:08:43.640 |
That's the genesis, and that's the foundation of a biblical church. 01:08:58.640 |
We need to be careful that we spend more attention on what's going on outside of us 01:09:05.640 |
and be so dense about what's happening inside of us. 01:09:10.640 |
Let me give you some practical things before we conclude. 01:09:15.640 |
People who are in danger of Pharisees, those who grew up in the church, 01:09:22.640 |
because you heard the gospel so often and you repeated it, you went to VBS, 01:09:29.640 |
you heard it at home, memorized scripture, you've been inoculated by the truth. 01:09:36.640 |
So you measure everything by what you see on the surface, 01:09:42.640 |
not being aware of what's happening in your own hearts. 01:09:51.640 |
Those who have been successful in some capacity, maybe in the secular field, 01:09:57.640 |
maybe it was in the church, maybe you've led people to Christ, 01:10:05.640 |
And as a result of that, your purview of everything going around us is these are people. 01:10:12.640 |
Everybody that you see are people that should follow you so that they may also have success. 01:10:19.640 |
And if you're not careful, that slight bit of pride causes you to be dense to your own sins 01:10:29.640 |
and be so sensitive to other people's shortcomings. 01:10:37.640 |
You're so busy in the background always serving people, 01:10:40.640 |
and then eventually what ends up happening is how come other people are not serving the way I'm serving? 01:10:46.640 |
And you measure other people by what I'm doing, what they're not doing. 01:10:52.640 |
And then that becomes a stumbling block to you because you see everybody measured by where you're at. 01:10:59.640 |
So if you pray a lot, eventually it turns into why aren't they praying? 01:11:05.640 |
If you evangelize, eventually it turns into why aren't they evangelizing? 01:11:14.640 |
If you study a lot, why aren't they studying? 01:11:17.640 |
So every good work that we give, Satan puts a little bit of pride in, 01:11:23.640 |
and it turns your good works into comparison and then to disdain for others who are not doing the same. 01:11:31.640 |
And then your good work and praise turns into what's wrong with these people. 01:11:36.640 |
And if you're not careful, that can turn into Phariseeism. 01:11:41.640 |
Those of you who know more than others, you've studied a lot more, 01:11:45.640 |
and you're talking to other people and they don't understand, they don't know as much as you do. 01:11:49.640 |
So your next statement is, "What's wrong with you? 01:11:52.640 |
Why aren't you studying like I am? Why don't you know as much? 01:11:59.640 |
Every good thing that we do turns into judgmentalism when you stick in some pride in there. 01:12:09.640 |
And you know who are in the greatest danger of Phariseeism? 01:12:16.640 |
I know this better than anybody else because I've been a leader in some capacity since I was 19. 01:12:23.640 |
There is a temptation to think that because I'm a leader, I'm more mature than you. 01:12:34.640 |
And people think, "Pastor Peter must be more mature in every area of his life because he's leading. He must be." 01:12:46.640 |
Being able to exposit the text to you doesn't make me stronger than you. 01:12:53.640 |
I'm more experienced than you. I may be more older than some of you. 01:12:59.640 |
But doing this doesn't make me more mature than you. 01:13:03.640 |
This doesn't automatically mean that I pray more than you. 01:13:06.640 |
This doesn't automatically mean that I'm more humble than you. 01:13:13.640 |
Some of you are much more evangelistic than I am. 01:13:16.640 |
Some of you are so much more giving and serving than I am. 01:13:19.640 |
Some of you are so much more humbler than I am. 01:13:26.640 |
So the person that is in greatest danger of Pharisaism is leadership. 01:13:33.640 |
Because as soon as you become a leader, you put on this hat of teaching everybody. 01:13:43.640 |
And the moment that you stop becoming a student, you stop growing. 01:13:50.640 |
You spend the majority of your time examining other people and not your own heart. 01:14:04.640 |
You see why this is so important for us to know and to practice this? 01:14:09.640 |
Because the danger of self-righteousness is the root cause of the decay in the modern church. 01:14:18.640 |
Even when you're right, Satan can easily twist that. 01:14:29.640 |
God is looking for people who will worship him in spirit and in truth. 01:14:33.640 |
Every sinner who stands before a holy God should be beating his chest. 01:14:39.640 |
Because the stink in me is the closest to me. 01:14:46.640 |
Because the faucet in me, I know better than you. 01:14:53.640 |
I know how you see me because I'm up here, but I know who I am. 01:15:01.640 |
And so if I'm aware of my own, I should be the one more than anybody else beating my chest before a holy God. 01:15:09.640 |
Because he gave me salvation that I did not deserve. 01:15:17.640 |
I won't deserve it in the present and I won't deserve it in the future. 01:15:22.640 |
My sin bothers me more than your sins bother me. 01:15:32.640 |
If we're not careful, Phariseeism will creep in. 01:15:43.640 |
I want to introduce him that you know very well. 01:15:48.640 |
And I think this goes at the core of modern day problem. 01:15:52.640 |
And I'm going to ask the praise team to start coming up. 01:15:56.640 |
You know, in modern day church, there's a separation between theologians and worship leaders. 01:16:06.640 |
So people who are very passionate and emotional and they're great at leading worship. 01:16:10.640 |
But they're not, they're very loose with their theology. 01:16:20.640 |
Would you rather go to a church that is high in theology? 01:16:28.640 |
They are scholars, they're doctors, they're PhDs in these subjects. 01:16:40.640 |
Or would you rather go to a church where it's very, people are passionate, crying in worship, and it's just awesome. 01:16:53.640 |
Don't answer it because I'm going to end up correcting you. 01:17:04.640 |
Because he didn't say God is looking for people who will worship Him in spirit. 01:17:11.640 |
He said, he didn't say I was going to look for people who will worship Him in truth. 01:17:15.640 |
No, he said he's looking for people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. 01:17:24.640 |
Passionate worship that is not centered on the Word of God does not honor God. 01:17:29.640 |
What God desires are people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. 01:17:36.640 |
You know what's interesting is if you look at the whole hymns that were written in the past, 01:17:41.640 |
hymns were written by pastors and theologians. 01:17:45.640 |
The most astute, most educated, the people who knew the Bible the best, people who knew the theology the best, 01:17:50.640 |
they were the most passionate for God and so inspired them to write hymns. 01:17:56.640 |
But for some reason today we have the songwriters in one church and the Bible teachers in the other church 01:18:08.640 |
But in history, almost every hymn that you know, almost every hymn, not 100%, 01:18:17.640 |
almost every hymn that you know in the past was written by a theologian or a pastor. 01:18:22.640 |
People who knew the Word of God, knew the truth, but they were broken over their own sins 01:18:31.640 |
Isaac Watts, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, Martin Luther, Robert Lowry, 01:18:36.640 |
he's the one, a Baptist pastor in the 1850s, wrote "I Need Thee Every Hour." 01:18:41.640 |
Elisha Hoffman, and I can go on and on and on, but this is a song that I want to sing to you this morning. 01:18:52.640 |
Again, I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly, but that's how it's spelled. 01:18:56.640 |
1762, a reverend theologian penned this hymn that we all know, "Rock of Ages," 01:19:05.640 |
and he wrote it in the midst of a severe storm and in order to preserve his life, 01:19:11.640 |
he had to hide behind this boulder and waited until the storm passed by. 01:19:17.640 |
And in that, clinging for life, praying to God for survival, he's inspired to write this hymn. 01:19:27.640 |
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee, let the water and the blood, 01:19:33.640 |
from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power." 01:19:44.640 |
"Lord, cleanse me before change them, before disciple them, before correct them, change me. 01:19:52.640 |
Not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands, could my zeal no respite know, 01:19:57.640 |
could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone, thou must save and thou alone. 01:20:03.640 |
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling, naked come to thee for dress, 01:20:08.640 |
helpless look to thee for grace, foul eye to the fountain fly, wash me, Savior, or I die. 01:20:16.640 |
While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyelids close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, 01:20:22.640 |
see thee on thy judgment throne, rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee." 01:20:30.640 |
Let's all stand together for this closing praise. 01:20:48.640 |
>> Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. 01:20:58.640 |
Let the water and the flood from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, 01:21:22.640 |
Not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy laws demands, could my zeal no respite know, 01:21:37.640 |
could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone, thou must save and thou alone. 01:22:14.640 |
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling, naked come to thee for dress, 01:22:29.640 |
helpless love to thee for grace, foul I to the fountain flout, wash me, Savior, or I die. 01:23:05.640 |
>> While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in death, when I soar 01:23:18.640 |
to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne, rock of ages, cleft for me, let me 01:23:58.640 |
Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling, naked come to thee for dress, 01:24:14.640 |
helpless love to thee for grace, foul I to the fountain flout, wash me, Savior, or I die. 01:24:35.640 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that your word that has been implanted in our mind and our hearts 01:24:44.640 |
Help us, Lord God, to see a greater and greater glimpse of your glory. 01:24:52.640 |
We've sung, Lord, repeatedly about your grace. 01:24:56.640 |
But teach us, Lord, what it means to truly be under your grace, that we may have compassion 01:25:10.640 |
Lord, if there's any self-righteousness in us, help us, Lord God, to beat our chest like 01:25:18.640 |
the tax collector in need of forgiveness, in need of cleansing, in need of renewal, 01:25:27.640 |
that we may truly be a community that reflects what you have done for us. 01:25:32.640 |
Wherever you send us this week, help us to be the aroma of Christ. 01:25:36.640 |
May Christ and Christ's name alone be exalted through us and in us.