Latest / HBCWestminster / 2.20.22 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Pastor Sam Porges

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2.20.22 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Pastor Sam Porges · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, we're going to be in 2 Corinthians 5 this morning, and if you are able and would stand in the honor of reading of God's Word, we're going to be in verse 17. We'll finish in 21, but 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says this, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.
• 0:35
  and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
• 1:08
  Lord, this is your word. It is truthful and it is also challenging. So this morning as I speak, I pray that your spirit would speak through me. And as we, as a body, consider what our mission in the world is, I pray that our hearts would be stirred afresh to glorify Jesus and to make him known. We pray in his name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated.
• 1:44
  You know, songs have long possessed what I call gathering power. Gathering power, the ability to assemble people under a commonly held idea or value. You think of the Psalms, which have been sung by God's people for thousands of years. Or you think of Martin Luther's hymn, A Mighty Fortress, which defied the papacy. You think of the...
• 2:11
  Vietnam War era protest songs, right? I Ain't No Senator's Son. You think about the anthems of the 80s, which to this day are played at every wedding, and they are sung on every road trip, and they are sung at every karaoke party. But what song do you sing when a country or a people tears itself apart? What do you sing when there's no unity to be found?
• 2:42
  What do you sing when there's no banner under which to gather? During the U.S. Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865, our country was deeply divided over the issue of slavery, and the North was fighting for its abolition while the South was fighting to retain it. And American brothers fought against American brothers, and American fathers fought against American sons. In November of 1861,
• 3:13
  A song emerged for the North that became their battle cry in the face of drawn battle lines. And poet Julia Ward Howe was encouraged by a preacher to rewrite the lyrics of a famous abolitionist tune during that time. And she had expressed that she had often wished to do so but had not yet accomplished it.
• 3:39
  And so the following day after being encouraged by this preacher, she awoke and with a great stroke of inspiration began writing down the words to what we now know as the Battle Hymn of the Republic. This song quickly spread through the Union troops and on this very day, February 20th in the year 1864, a man by the name of Charles Cardwell McCabe
• 4:06
  A Methodist chaplain whose singing made this hymn famous, he sang it for President Abraham Lincoln in the White House. And upon finishing the song, Lincoln cried, Sing it again! And so he did. And when he had finished the second time, Abraham Lincoln remarked, Take it all in all, the song and the singing, that was the best I ever heard.
• 4:30
  This hymn, you may know it, is littered with biblical imagery, and we are likely to be familiar with it. Look at these lyrics. And when I see these, I can't not in my head sing it as, mine eyes have seen the glory of the, right? But mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. We'll do that next Sunday. We'll sing it like that. Just kidding. There's no way.
• 4:56
  He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. And we know the lyrics to the chorus. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. And she continues.
• 5:29
  And then listen to the lyrics of this last verse. And then here it is.
• 5:48
  Let us die to make men free while God is marching on. I love those last few lines. As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free while God is marching on. Now those words were obviously aimed at slavery, but I find that they still bear great significance for us today. You may have noticed that on our sign out front,
• 6:17
  We tell people that we historically are a Baptist church, and so we are. But even more than that, we are an evangelical church. And our identity as an evangelical church is bound up in this idea. We must share the gospel. The very word evangelical comes from the Greek word euangelion, which means good news.
• 6:45
  We believe that the Great Commission in Matthew chapter 28 and in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 apply to us. That when Jesus says, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them, that wasn't just for the apostles. That's for us. Historically, four words have characterized what it means to be an evangelical. And if someone were to ask you today, well, you say evangelical, what does that word even mean, right?
• 7:11
  Here are the four words that describe us, and these words might seem a little bit complicated, but they're not. The first value of evangelicalism is biblicism, which means we love the Bible. We will teach the Bible. We will believe the Bible. We will preach the Bible. The second is crucicentrism, which just means we believe that the cross is the center of our faith.
• 7:38
  We rely on it. We will teach it. We value the cross. The third is conversionism. We believe that in order to be saved, you have to be converted. You have to be born again. It's not just about coming to church or going through certain rituals like taking communion or being baptized. That's not what makes you saved. You must be born again, as Jesus said in John chapter 3, or you will not see the kingdom of God. So conversionism, and then lastly, activism. Now, activism here does not mean
• 8:07
  how it is used today. Activism just means that we as evangelicals are proactive in using means for the advancement of the gospel and for doing acts of mercy. We as evangelicals place high value on evangelism, and we believe that evangelism is a required course, so to speak, in the life of Christianity. It is not an elective. We do not get to choose whether or not we want to share the faith.
• 8:38
  We must share the faith because our Lord commands it. As evangelicals, we are willing to, as the song says, we are willing to die to make men free. God is currently marching on in the world, and he is saving for himself people from every tribe, nation, and language. Now think about the significance of that statement.
• 9:07
  Even as we sit here, God is doing things in the world that we don't know anything about. He is marching on. And people in the remotest corners of the earth are coming to faith in him. And the crazy thing is that within that mission of God, you and I are invited to be a part of it as his faithful witnesses. I've titled this morning's message, Faithful Witnessing.
• 9:39
  And what we're going to do is we're going to explore three of the foundational elements of faithful witnessing, three hurdles that are going to seek to get in our way and how to jump over those, and then three practical ways to cultivate our faithful witnesses. And so let's get to the foundation first. The first element in the foundation of faithful witnessing is that you all are full-time Christian ambassadors.
• 10:06
  You all are full-time Christian ambassadors. I'm going to go back to that passage, 2 Corinthians 5, and I'm going to walk through a little bit more slowly with some comments here or there. But this passage really establishes for us this idea. He says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Now, church, are you grateful for that verse? The old has passed away. The new has come.
• 10:33
  To be in Christ is to be united to Christ by faith. It is to let the old you with all of its sinful impulses and desires die and let the new you, the Jesus you, live. So the old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. And then he says this, all this, all of this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
• 11:03
  I love this idea because it's like God is discipling us in how to fulfill this or complete, carry out this ministry of reconciliation. God reconciles you and me to himself through Christ, but he never intends for his reconciliatory work in your life to end with you. The ministry of reconciliation is by nature a multiplying ministry.
• 11:30
  He continues, he says, that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. And then here it is, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. God never intended the work to just stop with us. God is making his appeal to...
• 11:59
  your neighbors and your coworkers, but he's doing it through you. And not even just through us pastors, through you. You are ambassadors. And so God intends for that reconciliation to be multiplied through us, right? And then verse 21, it's a good one to memorize. What is the message of reconciliation? What are we telling people, right? The message is this, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin.
• 12:34
  For our sake, God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin so that in Christ, in him, we might become the righteousness of God. What is the message that we share? It's that we are sinners and there's a holy God that we do not get to approach. But because of the graciousness of God in sending his own son for us, we are brought near.
• 13:05
  And all of your sins and your trespasses against him are forgiven. And it is only through faith in the work of Christ that we get to be saved. And so whereas you and I deserve to be hung on a cross for all of our treasons against holy God, God says, no, I'll put my son there in your place as a substitute, and he will bear the penalty for your sin, and you in turn get his righteousness.
• 13:37
  That's really, really good news. This, this verse 21, this is the song that we sing, right? And so when we get saved and we're made new in Christ, God then gives us the responsibility of being ambassadors. Now, here at Highland, we have teachers, businessmen, contractors, students, bankers, cops, retirees, et cetera, right?
• 14:08
  And while there may be a diversity of occupation, right, how we make our money, we all share one common vocation, one common calling, which is to be ambassadors for Christ. Now, what is an ambassador? An ambassador is someone who lives in a foreign country, but who represents their home country, right, in that foreign country. As believers, this world is not our home.
• 14:40
  is it? Because it's not. Hebrews says that we have a better country that awaits us. And Philippians 3 says that your citizenship is in heaven from where Christ will come back one day, right? So our ultimate citizenship is in heaven, and we are here on earth as mere ambassadors, here to represent God and to spread the message of reconciliation.
• 15:10
  And so the gospel is the song that we sing, right? I love Paul in 1 Corinthians 2.2. He writes to the Corinthians. He says, I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. This is the tune of his life, and so should it be for us. And so that's first, the first foundational element. You are all full-time Christian ambassadors. Second, the ultimate goal of faithful witness is discipleship.
• 15:41
  The ultimate goal is discipleship. Conversion is just the first step in a lifelong commitment to Christ. We must seek to make disciples, not just converts. And I think that there's a danger within American evangelicalism to be satisfied at Christian conferences or Christian camps or rallies or whatever, to be satisfied with how many people come forward and make a decision for Christ without
• 16:10
  any thought to where they go after that moment. I have not, and I'm sure some have done it, but I have not been to events like that where a bunch of people, you know, come, like, oh, come to the altar, right? They come to the altar, they give their hearts to the Lord, and then there's a row of church leaders and pastors in the back, and they say, okay, now your job is go get connected with one of them so that you can continue this life of faith. It's just like, man, look at how many people gave their hearts to the Lord, but we are not successful.
• 16:37
  If those people remain baby Christians for the rest of their life, that's not what we're called to. Jesus, in the Great Commission passage, right? Matthew 28, 19 to 20. He says, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. That takes some time, right? So our goal is not just to make converts. Our goal is not short-sighted by witnessing in your neighbors and...
• 17:07
  in your neighborhoods and workplaces, you must aim to see people come to know Christ and to participate in a lifelong, ongoing discipleship relationship in a local body, whether it's here or somewhere else, right? But we're not just aiming to make converts, we're aiming to make disciples. That's the second element of the foundation. Third, faithful witnessing is primarily relational.
• 17:34
  it's primarily relational. Too often, I think evangelism is conceptualized as this like stranger encounter. Like we're going to go knock on people's doors or we're going to hand out tracks to people that we don't know at all. Now, those things are very good. But I think that there's a more effective paradigm for evangelism. And that paradigm involves taking advantage of the relationships that you already have. You just use what God has placed.
• 18:05
  in your life. The relationships you already have, like your neighbors, the other parents at your kids' sports games, your teachers, your mechanic that you see consistently, right? The barista you see every morning or however often you get coffee. You take advantage of these relationships. And if you want your Christian witness to be visible, you must be willing to build relationships with those people and not content yourself with saying, thanks for the coffee, I'll see you tomorrow.
• 18:35
  right? We have to build relationships with these people. And as you gain trust with people, you build what I'm sure you've heard us call relational capital. Now, capital, that's a finance word. It's a money word, right? But think of it in terms of relationships. As you have a relationship with someone and build trust, that trust is like stored up in an account. It's like your relational account, right?
• 19:03
  And when the day comes when you need to share the gospel or you need to tell them some hard truth, you can cash in some of that relational capital without completely bankrupting the entire relationship. In stranger evangelism, if they don't like what you say, they'll just say, man, you don't even know me. I don't have to listen to what you say. And then the relationship is done, right? But when you know people and you've built relational capital, your chance of evangelistic success goes up
• 19:35
  them. Relational capital is one of the greatest tools for evangelistic success, and there are many avenues of ambassadorship for you all, but one of the most, I think, successful is your workplace. This is one of the primary avenues of ambassadorship for you. Work is not an interference in your witness. On the contrary, it may just be your greatest opportunity for evangelism. And if you believe that God is sovereign,
• 20:07
  that he is a providential God outside of whose control nothing happens, if you believe that he's sovereign, then you must also believe that he has placed you in your workplace on purpose. Does that make sense? He has you there on purpose. Now, I don't know if you guys have ever played the old board game Risk, right? I love playing this board game with my students because I'm way better than them at it. And so we'll play.
• 20:39
  I'll just crush them and then I'll say, see you in youth group on Wednesday and leave. And they're just like wallowing in despair and defeat. And it just feels really good. No, but this game is fun. It's a board game about world domination, right? And so the board is a map of the earth and it's got a number of different territories on it that can be controlled by any one player at any time. And every player has little, you know, little pieces, little army men or cavalry, whatever.
• 21:08
  that are a certain color. And as the game progresses, you're attacking other people and you're defending when they attack and you're trying to take over other people's countries and ultimately you're trying to take over the entire world. And this game involves a lot of strategy. At the beginning of your turn, when you get a little garrison of troops to place on the board and reinforce your territories, you do it very strategically. You don't just willy-nilly.
• 21:35
  Put them on the board, unless you know you're gonna lose, and then it's just like, whatever, it's fine. But strategically, that's not a good move. You place them where you need them, right? And as we think about the mission of God and what God is doing in the world, I like to picture it a little bit like risk. Things are happening on other sides of the world where God is raising up believers to advance the kingdom there at a time that is appointed. And then here, he's saving people and doing things through churches.
• 22:06
  And he's advancing the kingdom of God, right? But one day, I mean, Jesus said it's like a mustard seed, right? The kingdom will advance and the gates of hell won't stand against it. And so God, in his perfect wisdom and strategy, is doing things in the world and in your workplaces. And so as Christ's ambassadors, you get to live and work in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ.
• 22:37
  And just because you don't work at a church doesn't mean that you should consider your work meaningless or unholy. I love this quote from Eugene Peterson, who has become a friend of mine, even though I've never met him, and he's dead. He says this, most of what Jesus said and did took place in a secular workplace in a farmer's field, in a fishing boat, at a wedding feast, in a cemetery, at a public well, asking a woman he didn't know for a drink of water.
• 23:08
  on a country hillside that he turned into a huge picnic, in a courtroom, having supper in homes with acquaintances or friends. In our gospels, Jesus occasionally shows up in synagogue or temple, but for the most part, he spends his time in the workplace. 27 times in John's gospel, Jesus is identified as a worker. My father is still working, and I also am working. Work doesn't take us away from God. It continues the work of God.
• 23:35
  God comes into view on the first page of our scriptures as a worker. Once we identify God in his workplace working, it isn't long before we find ourselves in our workplaces working in the name of God. God has placed you at your work and in your neighborhood strategically, purposefully.
• 23:58
  And when we take advantage of that purpose, then we can see the kingdom advanced. And so three foundational elements of our witnessing. Number one, you guys are all full-time Christian ambassadors. Number two, the ultimate goal that we should have is discipleship, not just conversion. And then thirdly, faithful witnessing is primarily relational. So that's kind of the foundation. Now let's look at three hurdles that seek to get in our way, and let's see how we can jump over them. I imagine an Olympic athlete, right?
• 24:26
  running to the finish line, but there are hurdles in his way, and he doesn't want to trip over any of them lest he lose the race. I have three kind of major umbrella-type hurdles for us this morning that I want us to consider and then jump over. The first is seeing the lost as your enemy. Seeing the lost as your enemy. In John 15, Jesus promised that the world wouldn't get along with his followers.
• 24:57
  And as you and I evangelize, we will likely encounter pushback, which will tempt us toward two errors. Number one is separatism, where we go, I'm going to separate from the world. I'm not going to have anything to do with them. I'm not going to talk to anybody. I'm just going to have my own little life, my own little community over here. So we separate. That's an error. The second one is to view them as an enemy. Like you push back against me, I'll push back against you, right? It's an error. So to jump this
• 25:27
  hurdle. First, we have to recognize that separatism goes against Jesus' prayer in John 17, 15, where he prayed, Father, I do not pray that you would take my disciples out of the world, but rather that you would keep them from the evil one. Jesus could have just snatched us up to heaven, but he didn't. He has us here in the world, but not of it. Secondly, our enemy is not ultimately people, but Satan.
• 25:56
  Ephesians 6.12 says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Satan is our enemy. And man, just as Jesus prayed compassionately for forgiveness on the people who just crucified him, so too should we have compassion on the lost.
• 26:26
  Let's not fall into the trap of complaining that people who don't know Christ are living as if they don't know Christ. It doesn't mean that sin is excused, but it does mean that we can see through behavior into the heart and have compassion. Like, you don't know Jesus. The problem is not just your outward behavior. The problem is your heart. So we can have compassion on them. Third, we can remember that God has lavished grace on us. God has lavished grace on us.
• 27:00
  You know, the more clearly we understand God's forgiveness in our own life, the easier it is to forgive other people. And we cannot forget, as we consider the effects of sin in the world, how it affects not only individuals, but also systems, corporations, governments. As we consider this, we can't forget that, man, as Paul said in, I think it's 2 Corinthians 6, he says, such were some of you, but you were washed.
• 27:32
  You were cleansed, but that's who you were. We must not make the mistake of 2 Peter 1, 9, where people forget that they were cleansed from their former sins. Like, you're not better than people because you're a Christian. I'm not better. And so we can't see them as our enemy, this us versus them kind of mentality. No, we work for their good. We share the gospel for their good, right? So that's the first hurdle.
• 28:05
  The second hurdle is impatience, impatience. Sometimes in evangelism, we want to see results immediately, and we can kind of play it out in our head, like I'm going to share you the gospel, and then you're going to fall on your knees, and it's going to be this dramatic, beautiful moment. And then when it doesn't happen, we can say, all right, then I just give up. I give up. I'm not going to say anything. I'm going to not try to talk to anyone about the gospel, or we can kind of force it on them aggressively, right?
• 28:31
  It's like we had to give up or we're like, all right, I'll show you the gospel. But it's a mistake. We have to trust in the sovereignty of God. We have to trust that God is doing things in the world and in people's hearts that you and I can't see. I love this quote from John Piper. He says, God is doing 10,000 things. He's always doing 10,000 things in your life and you may be aware of three of them. You guys, God is doing stuff that we can't see.
• 29:03
  And so even when we receive pushback, we gotta entrust ourselves to him. And as we wait patiently for God to move, we need to be ready to jump at any evangelistic chance we have. Right, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. And sometimes in those out of season moments, it can be like, oh man, I'm not ready to talk about Jesus right now. We can't do that. We have to be ready for when those opportunities arise because they are often unforeseen by us.
• 29:33
  We can also remember regarding impatience that Jesus was never in a hurry. He never was. He did the works of God and he spoke the words of God and he just entrusted himself to the Father. And so if he wasn't in a hurry, we don't need to be either. We can trust the Lord. That's the second hurdle. Impatience. The final hurdle is fear of rejection. Fear of rejection. Now, let's not kid ourselves and say when people reject you, you shouldn't care what men think.
• 30:09
  Just shake the dust off from your feet and move on. You guys, rejection hurts. It hurts because those who reject us reject the Lord. And rejecting the Lord has eternal consequences. You know, during our evangelism training seminar, which we hosted last March, at that seminar, we were just trying to equip you guys with practical ways to essentially get better at evangelism, right?
• 30:40
  And during that night, I took a poll of everyone who came about what are the reasons why you hold back from sharing the gospel. And two of the most common answers were, number one, fear of rejection, and number two, which was by far the most voted, fear of social awkwardness. In a culture that really values social coolness, being awkward is like a cardinal sin, right? And it can be scary sometimes.
• 31:13
  Going into an evangelistic conversation, that is awkward, but I want to give you an encouragement. There may be a time when you are rejected, when the message is rejected, but you cannot let rejection have the final say and the final word in your life. You cannot let rejection hold you back from doing what the Lord has commanded. And so to jump over the hurdle of rejection, I just want you to know Jesus empathizes with you when you are rejected more than anyone. Jesus knows what it's like to have friends leave.
• 31:48
  and abandon you, to have family think that you're crazy, to be hanging on a cross all alone, and to have even the Father turn away from him. He knows what it's like, and yet he didn't let rejection deter him from obeying the will of God. But as 1 Peter 2.23 says, he continually entrusted himself to the Father because he loved the glory that comes from God more than the glory that comes from man.
• 32:18
  And Highland, if you and I are going to claim to be Jesus' followers, we must also care more about the glory that comes from God and his approval than the opinions of man. Man, Brother Michael in youth group reminded us this last Wednesday, John 5, 41, Jesus says, I do not receive glory from people. He was not concerned with being popular or being liked. He was concerned with being truthful.
• 32:50
  And if Jesus was faithful in that way and we say we're his followers, we must follow in those footsteps. And so those are three hurdles. Seeing the loss as your enemy, impatience, and fear of rejection. Now I want to quickly get to three practical ways you can cultivate your faithful witness. And these are going to be three real quick and easy ones. I'm sure you already know them, but they must be said nonetheless. Number one, persist in prayer.
• 33:17
  Persist in prayer. You guys, in prayer, present yourself to God as a ready worker. Ask him to open doors for the gospel in your life. God, I know that this is something I should do, so please help me make it happen. Pray. Man, I've seen times when I was praying for someone whose heart was hard, and I said, I'm not going to say anything to them until I'm basically done praying. And then God turned them around. Man.
• 33:48
  God turned them around and they called me and said, God is trying to get a hold of my heart. I don't know what to do. And that was my brother. And so, just pray. Ask the Lord. Number two, keep your testimony. Keep your testimony. God has called us to be holy. And your witness is validated by your life. Your witness is validated by your life.
• 34:13
  Faithful witnessing involves so much more than just speaking the right words, right, than just speaking the gospel. It also involves living the gospel, living rightly. This includes acting ethically, speaking truthfully, loving authentically, living justly, serving humbly, and working excellently. Our words and our works must align because, church, we cannot kid ourselves into thinking that if we don't live for the Lord,
• 34:42
  that we're going to be successful in calling other people to live for the Jesus that we don't follow. That will not work. We must call them to Christ, whom we are following, okay? So pray, keep your testimony, and then thirdly, there comes a point when you just have to decide to share the gospel. You just have to make a choice. I know this has been said from this pulpit before, but if you and I wait for the perfect moment, that moment may never come.
• 35:17
  And I don't think that we will get to hear well done, good and faithful servant on that last day when God asks us like, why did you never share the gospel? And we say, well, I just, the perfect moment never came. Like people are in hell and the perfect moment is not an excuse for us. We don't get to say that on that final day. And so we must take a step of faith and you just gotta choose. You just gotta choose to share your faith. So I hope this morning that you and I are reminded of what God is doing in the world.
• 35:53
  and what our mission is as ambassadors of Christ. Right now, God is drawing men and women to himself, and he's pushing the kingdom of God forward, and he's trampling on the works of the devil. And God is doing things that have never been done before, and he invites you to join with him. And as Easter is approaching in just eight weeks, we're approaching a time when people might be more inclined to talk about spiritual things. And so take advantage of this time.
• 36:23
  Strike while the iron is hot. I would encourage you, if you would like, we've got a bunch of these cards in the fellowship hall back there on one of the carts. And on this card, it just explains a simple gospel acronym that you can either memorize, which I would encourage you to do, or hand out to people as you talk with them about Jesus. But as Easter is approaching, take advantage of this time.
• 36:46
  People's souls are at stake. And inviting to church is great. But even more than that, you're called to be an ambassador out there. And so embrace that identity and have conversations with people about our Lord. I hope that as we look on our nation, which is tearing itself apart on every front, that our battle cry would be, as he died to make men holy.
• 37:14
  So we will die to make men free while God is marching on. And I honestly think that when three to 400 Christians, which is about how many people come to Highland, if three to 400 Christians say yes to God's invitation and say, I will not be held back by fear. I will embrace my identity as an ambassador because this world is not my home. I believe that we could really see the kingdom of God gain ground in our midst. You go in the name and authority of Jesus Christ, the King.
• 37:47
  And you have the message that can save people. And so let us be faithful with it. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for saving us in Jesus Christ, for making us new, for letting the old us pass away with its desires and giving us new desires for righteousness. I pray that we would not forget why you have us on this earth, God, that it's not just to dwell securely in
• 38:31
  personal peace and affluence, but it's to be ambassadors of the King. Free us from the illusion that this world is all that there is. Give us heavenly minds, Father, that we could consider Christ and where he is seated. I pray that you would use these men and women in their neighborhoods and in their workplaces to tell people about Christ, that we would not be content with keeping quiet.
• 39:11
  about the gospel. God, we want to see you move in our day and in our city. We want to see people get saved. We want to see people transformed. And so I pray that you would make it happen, but that you would make it happen through us. I pray that many people would be in heaven one day because we told them about it. Go with us, give us confidence, remind us of the truth continually, God, and most of all, be glorified.
• 39:52
  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.