WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:10.620 Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us. 00:00:12.700 --> 00:00:18.760 It is our privilege to have with us this morning, Reverend Tony Miles. 00:00:19.580 --> 00:00:25.179 Tony and Tanya and their family have been here with us for the PCA's Mercy Conference 00:00:25.179 --> 00:00:29.839 that was hosted at Southwood this weekend. Many of you got to be a part of. 00:00:30.620 --> 00:00:34.619 Tony is a senior pastor of New City Fellowship Church in St. Louis, 00:00:35.219 --> 00:00:39.700 and we're delighted he and I are alumni of the same seminary 00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:46.340 and have been friends now for like 36 hours or something like that. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:51.340 So we're so excited that he's here to open God's Word for us this morning. 00:00:51.939 --> 00:00:54.620 Tony, thank you so much for being with us. 00:00:55.140 --> 00:00:57.579 Thank you, the rest of you all, for making the trip with him as well. 00:00:57.659 --> 00:00:58.859 We're delighted to have you all here. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:08.760 He likes handheld mics. 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:09.340 I do. 00:01:09.340 --> 00:01:15.240 Good morning. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:21.420 It's a joy and a privilege to be with you this morning. 00:01:21.500 --> 00:01:27.460 I bring you greetings from your brothers and sisters at New City Fellowship in St. Louis. 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:33.200 I want to thank Pastor Will for giving me this opportunity to share God's Word with you 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:40.859 and thank my dear friends, Robert and Deneen Blevins, for their hospitality over this weekend. 00:01:40.859 --> 00:01:43.120 It's been a joy to be here. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:50.880 And we're traveling back today so you can pray for us as we get on the road and head back to St. Louis. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:56.159 I want to open up God's Word, Zechariah chapter 9. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:14.000 And I'm actually going to read verses 9 through 12, although I'm going to pull from several places in this chapter as we hear from God's Word this morning. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:18.259 But listen to God's Word, Zechariah 9, beginning at verse 9. 00:02:18.259 --> 00:02:23.919 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:26.859 Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. 00:02:27.019 --> 00:02:29.179 Behold, your king is coming to you. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:32.859 Righteous and having salvation is he. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:37.000 Humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:41.580 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem. 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:46.060 And the battle bow shall be cut off and he shall speak peace to the nations. 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:51.280 His rule shall be from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:59.439 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 00:03:00.180 --> 00:03:05.939 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope. 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:11.900 Today I declare that I will restore to you double. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:13.800 This is the Word of God. 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:17.560 Thanks be to God. 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:19.300 Let's pray. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:31.659 Father, we pray this morning that as we open up your Word, that you would do that work in us through your Word and by the power of your Spirit, we pray. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:35.580 Make us more like your Son and our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:03:35.580 --> 00:03:42.280 And now, Lord, may the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight. 00:03:42.940 --> 00:03:44.100 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:03:44.980 --> 00:03:45.300 Amen. 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:55.880 In January, I took a trip to Rwanda with a couple of pastors from my church to the capital city of Kigali. 00:03:56.900 --> 00:04:07.680 And we went to meet with some pastors there to explore partnership around theological education for pastors, as well as support for widows and orphans in Rwanda. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:14.939 And on the first day, our host pastor decided to take us to the genocide memorial in Kigali. 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:29.280 In 1994, more than a million Hutus and Tutsis were killed in a three-month period in a genocidal war in Rwanda aimed at exterminating the Tutsi people. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:37.919 Moderate Hutus who had refused to join this evil were killed with their Tutsi brothers and sisters. 00:04:38.179 --> 00:04:44.219 Needless to say, this memorial left me and our team completely undone. 00:04:44.220 --> 00:04:51.240 More than 250,000 men and women and children are buried at this memorial. 00:04:51.980 --> 00:04:56.900 Family members attend the memorial each day to pay respect to their lost loved ones. 00:04:56.940 --> 00:04:57.960 And I couldn't make it through. 00:04:58.020 --> 00:05:02.480 I couldn't make it through the memorial because I was overwhelmed with grief. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:09.760 At the kind of evil that men and women could unleash upon one another. 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:22.599 And I was left asking the question again, is there any real hope for substantial change and healing to come into our communities and into this world? 00:05:24.459 --> 00:05:28.120 I mean, add to what I saw in Rwanda, the history of our own country. 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:32.759 And the continued brokenness that exists across racial lines. 00:05:32.759 --> 00:05:38.659 Or the continued division that exists across socioeconomic lines and really all other lines. 00:05:38.740 --> 00:05:46.539 And one is left to ask, can we break through the walls of race and class that we keep erecting and sustaining? 00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:52.019 Can we heal the divisions that exist in our communities and even in our churches? 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:56.199 Is there hope for peace and healing and change? 00:05:56.599 --> 00:05:59.759 And if there is hope, from where will it arise? 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:01.420 Who will bring it? 00:06:01.620 --> 00:06:09.199 Who or what can we turn to in confident expectation for change? 00:06:10.579 --> 00:06:22.959 It's in the face of these questions and questions like this that the people of God turn to the message of God in his word like that which is before us in Zechariah 9. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:42.179 We turn to the message of God, the narrative of our Lord, which tells us who are in Christ that into a world where sin and death and evil and oppression and violence and injustice has reigned, God sent forth his son. 00:06:42.180 --> 00:06:43.180 He sent forth his son. 00:06:43.180 --> 00:06:44.180 He sent forth his son. 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:53.620 He sent forth his king to put down that rule and reign, to crush the ultimate oppressor and his oppression on the one hand. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:11.480 And along with that, to rescue those who are trapped under the dominion of sin and death and evil and oppression and violence and injustice, to set them free into a kingdom of righteousness, justice, mercy, and peace. 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:27.400 Brothers and sisters, that message, which is at the center of our living and being as the people of God in this world, is the very message which is meant to drive our mission in this world. 00:07:27.400 --> 00:07:36.060 Whether we are here at home or abroad, the true king has come and he has already begun to set things right in this world. 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:48.879 He is, as the shorter catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith says, he is right now restraining and conquering all of his and our enemies. 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:53.340 Y'all excuse me, I'm going to get happy in a minute and I'll get a little louder. 00:07:53.579 --> 00:07:55.779 I apologize for that. 00:07:55.779 --> 00:08:07.599 It was, of course, into a world where these enemies of which I have been speaking existed that this prophecy of Zechariah came. 00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:15.659 The people of God in Zechariah's day, they knew the realities of sin and brokenness and death and injustice and violence. 00:08:15.739 --> 00:08:16.779 They knew it all too well. 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:19.579 They had come out of exile in Babylon. 00:08:19.799 --> 00:08:23.659 They had seen and experienced the oppressive power of that kingdom. 00:08:23.660 --> 00:08:33.040 In fact, they had experienced in their own kingdom through the oppressive rule of certain kings throughout their own history and through the rebelliousness that was in their own hearts. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:47.540 And I know I don't need to tell you this, but I will anyway, that if you lift up your eyes into this world, these enemies rear their heads in the cities and nations of the world in our day. 00:08:47.539 --> 00:09:00.699 We see it in the clear example, examples of the abuse of authority of those who are meant to protect and serve, but some of whom instead use their authority to oppress and abuse. 00:09:01.099 --> 00:09:08.019 We see the reality of these things when we look around our community and we see fatherless children whose fathers are alive but not present. 00:09:08.019 --> 00:09:16.960 We see it in young people who are finding little acceptance at home, have chosen gangs, who resolve disputes with violence rather than communication. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:23.779 We see it in churches who have retreated from engaging the brokenness of the cities and communities into which Christ has called them, 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:30.379 who have forgotten the call to be in the world and not just of it. 00:09:30.379 --> 00:09:39.419 And of course, we can add many other ways in which the realities of sin and death are at work in this world. 00:09:39.419 --> 00:09:46.220 And we would be undone, all of us in this room, we would be undone in the face of all of it. 00:09:46.220 --> 00:09:58.200 But for the truth that resounds throughout this passage, through this prophecy, that the Lord has answered all of it in the person and work of his king and our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:03.860 And he has deposited that truth into his community, into his church. 00:10:05.180 --> 00:10:17.160 And it is this deposit of truth in the church that makes us as the people of God in the midst of this world, a people of profound hope. 00:10:17.560 --> 00:10:22.640 Prisoners, in fact, as Zacharias says, prisoners of hope. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:31.000 You and I, you and I, you and I, we are meant to be prisoners of Christ to convey this hope to the world. 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:38.100 And keeping with Zacharias' prophecy, under the leadership of our Lord and savior, King Jesus, 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:44.439 we are called out into the world to actually fight for the establishment of God's hope in the world. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.200 Only we do not use the weapons of this world to fight for that hope. 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:55.100 We fight as our king did in humility and loving sacrifice. 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:57.720 We fight with deeds of righteousness and peace. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:05.400 And so this morning, I want to give you three aspects that I think define this hope that we are meant to take out into our world. 00:11:05.520 --> 00:11:08.300 Just three points and then I'll get out of your way, all right? 00:11:08.299 --> 00:11:18.259 The first aspect of this hope that we are meant to convey, brothers and sisters, is that the Lord sees. 00:11:19.359 --> 00:11:21.079 The Lord sees. 00:11:21.379 --> 00:11:27.219 I want you to listen to what is said in verses 1 and 2 of Zachariah 9 and then verse 8. 00:11:27.220 --> 00:11:28.879 It says, 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:46.480 And then in verse 8, it says, 00:11:46.480 --> 00:12:13.920 Brothers and sisters, one of the themes in this prophecy, one of the aspects of hope that you and I carry as the people of God into this world is that the Lord, our God, sees. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:14.120 He sees. 00:12:15.219 --> 00:12:15.919 He sees. 00:12:16.959 --> 00:12:21.740 The text says he has an eye on all mankind and on all the tribes of Israel. 00:12:21.939 --> 00:12:24.339 He sees the sin and the death. 00:12:24.439 --> 00:12:25.959 He sees the evil and the oppression. 00:12:26.099 --> 00:12:28.979 He sees the violence and injustice that is in our world. 00:12:29.079 --> 00:12:34.419 He sees his people and indeed all of mankind trapped under those realities. 00:12:34.659 --> 00:12:37.439 And of course, God's seeing is not like ours. 00:12:38.419 --> 00:12:39.980 God doesn't see like we see. 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:44.680 We see and maybe, maybe we're moved to respond or not. 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:47.700 We see and perhaps we shrug our shoulders. 00:12:48.100 --> 00:12:51.560 We see and maybe we turn our heads and our hearts away. 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:54.080 We see and condemn. 00:12:55.240 --> 00:12:56.600 But God's seeing is different. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:12:58.940 God's seeing is different. 00:12:59.639 --> 00:13:04.899 He sees and behind that seeing is a commitment to act, 00:13:04.899 --> 00:13:09.259 to do something about what he sees. 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:14.279 I want to tell you this morning, God saw the evil and oppression of his people, 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:17.500 the evil and the oppression that his people were under, 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:21.679 and he acted to bring down that evil and that oppression, 00:13:21.819 --> 00:13:26.819 to rescue his people and all those who would put their trust in him from under its power. 00:13:26.820 --> 00:13:31.920 God saw the pride and arrogance of the world and its rebellion against him. 00:13:31.980 --> 00:13:36.820 He answered it and he brought salvation and redemption by sending his own son, 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:38.140 his king into this world. 00:13:38.300 --> 00:13:39.720 God sees people. 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:44.780 God sees people trapped under the powers of sin and death and all that flow from them. 00:13:45.020 --> 00:13:49.040 And God responds to what he sees. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:55.319 And a huge part, a huge part of the hope that you and I are meant to take out into this broken world, 00:13:55.459 --> 00:13:58.679 that we are meant to fight for as the people of God in this world, 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:04.719 we are meant to go out into the world and tell them our God sees. 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:06.259 He sees you. 00:14:09.059 --> 00:14:10.860 He sees what's going on in your life. 00:14:11.980 --> 00:14:12.719 He knows. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:14.179 He knows. 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:14.219 He knows. 00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:21.959 And he has bound himself in his son to bring salvation and deliverance. 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:29.679 You and I are meant to be messengers through our words and our deeds that God is a God who sees. 00:14:31.479 --> 00:14:34.319 He sees the fatherless child that I spoke of earlier. 00:14:35.699 --> 00:14:41.599 He sees the victims of brutality, both physical and legal, by those in authority. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:44.759 He sees the women trapped in sexual exploitation and violence. 00:14:44.899 --> 00:14:53.759 He sees, he sees the pride and arrogance of those who perpetrate injustice in this world. 00:14:54.120 --> 00:14:55.019 He sees it all. 00:14:55.899 --> 00:15:03.779 And in the person and work of his son is freedom from the power and dominion of it all. 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:12.579 Southwood, this is a part of the message of hope for which Christ has made you his prisoners, 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:20.899 that you might go out and declare to a world that is broken and in need of the hope that Christ brings, 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.919 that you may go out and tell them God sees you. 00:15:24.839 --> 00:15:25.860 God sees you. 00:15:25.860 --> 00:15:27.240 God sees you. 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:27.759 God sees you. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:38.919 In 2009, we took a trip to Congo to connect with a group of churches there that we partnered with around caring for orphans and education and medical care. 00:15:39.300 --> 00:15:43.980 And while we were there, we had the opportunity to visit some of the churches we are connected with there. 00:15:44.300 --> 00:15:48.340 And on one particular evening, we went to worship at one of the churches. 00:15:48.340 --> 00:15:54.320 And when we entered the church, they were already singing and they were worshiping God vibrantly. 00:15:54.920 --> 00:15:59.100 And it's customary there to sing and worship even before the service itself has begun. 00:15:59.379 --> 00:16:03.340 And on this particular evening, I was in something of a spiritual fog. 00:16:03.940 --> 00:16:05.399 It was my first time to Africa. 00:16:05.560 --> 00:16:07.160 I was overwhelmed by what I was seeing. 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:11.360 The poverty there was hard to come to grips with. 00:16:12.820 --> 00:16:18.259 As the choir sang, one of our party, a brother named Steve, was looking out over a hill. 00:16:18.540 --> 00:16:25.500 On which this church sat and a group of women who were cooking around a small fire they had made outside their home. 00:16:26.680 --> 00:16:31.120 The house was little more than a brick structure with a tin roof, no doors. 00:16:31.940 --> 00:16:35.000 Among these women sat a little girl in a wheelchair. 00:16:36.660 --> 00:16:42.460 How she had gotten there, was it disease, an accident, some other sort of violence that had been done to her? 00:16:42.460 --> 00:16:46.580 We don't know how she got there because we never had the opportunity to speak with her. 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:55.100 But as the choir sang, Steve noticed these women start to dance around the fire as they cooked. 00:16:55.639 --> 00:17:02.759 And all of a sudden, this little girl began to lift her hands and join in the praise of God that she was hearing from the church. 00:17:03.400 --> 00:17:08.000 The choir was singing a song in one of the languages of Congo, Lingala. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:09.740 The song was entitled, Ameniona. 00:17:10.619 --> 00:17:11.140 Ameniona. 00:17:12.140 --> 00:17:14.559 Ni tam wi buia buana. 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:16.380 Kwaku wa ye ye. 00:17:16.859 --> 00:17:17.420 Ameniona. 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:19.680 I'm sure I just murdered that, but it's something like that. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:26.740 But the translation is, I will sing to the Lord because he sees me. 00:17:26.740 --> 00:17:34.500 I will sing to the Lord because he sees me. 00:17:35.500 --> 00:17:42.460 Here was this little girl in the midst of deep poverty, physical brokenness, who knew that the Lord took notice of her. 00:17:43.460 --> 00:17:45.400 How had she come to believe that? 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:52.400 No doubt in my mind it was because the people of God there were proclaiming it to her and her family. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:57.860 They were declaring, God sees you and he knows you. 00:17:58.580 --> 00:18:03.500 And he has come to bring his glory and salvation into your life. 00:18:03.740 --> 00:18:13.660 The challenge for us here, the challenge for us here, is to be active in the world on an individual and corporate level to announce to the world that our God sees. 00:18:13.660 --> 00:18:32.420 On an individual level, the events sometimes that are exploding all around us in our world present us with the opportunity to be present with those who are hurting, who feel crushed, who are oppressed, and to say to them in their condition that the Lord sees you. 00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:36.320 The world may not, but God does. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:54.599 And I've been very glad for believers who have participated in peaceful protests from our church at times in our community who have sought to communicate the truth that God sees in justice and oppression and that he cares. 00:18:54.599 --> 00:19:20.759 I want to pray that God will continue to lead individuals from this church into declaring his goodness and his hope to those around you and to those in your community for you to go out and say to those who are in despair, God takes note of you and his eye is on you. 00:19:20.939 --> 00:19:22.099 Amen, brothers and sisters. 00:19:24.599 --> 00:19:25.039 Amen. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:36.859 The second thing here, the second aspect of this hope that you and I are meant to declare, one, the Lord sees, two, the nations are reconciled. 00:19:36.919 --> 00:19:41.559 Let me read this to you from Zechariah 9, verse 7, and then verse 10. 00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:43.299 God says this. 00:19:43.379 --> 00:19:47.279 He says, I will take away its blood from its mouth, its abominations from between its teeth. 00:19:47.379 --> 00:19:49.959 It, too, shall be a remnant for our God. 00:19:49.959 --> 00:19:54.039 It shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites. 00:19:54.599 --> 00:20:04.679 In verse 10, he says, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, the war horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations. 00:20:04.819 --> 00:20:11.819 And his rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. 00:20:11.819 --> 00:20:25.759 Another theme of this prophecy, an aspect of the hope for which we are prisoners, is that the Lord is king over the nations, and his kingdom is one in which the nations are reconciled together. 00:20:25.859 --> 00:20:29.200 They are drawn together in one family. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:40.559 I want to suggest to you this morning that the preaching of peace to the nations is not simply that the nations would hear the gospel and that individuals in those nations, having heard it, would be saved. 00:20:40.840 --> 00:20:43.880 Instead, it is a message of peace between enemies. 00:20:43.880 --> 00:20:54.120 It is those who were once enemies of God and his people being drawn into the community of God's people, into the same family together. 00:20:55.260 --> 00:20:57.280 This is what is in view in verse 7. 00:20:58.820 --> 00:21:10.520 The imagery of taking away blood and abominations from the mouths of the Philistines is a message of God's commitment to put an end to the idolatry of that nation and, indeed, the nations of the earth. 00:21:10.519 --> 00:21:13.859 And in these words, it too will be a remnant for our God. 00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:18.819 It shall be like a clan in Judah, and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:23.599 I want you to listen to what one commentator says about that verse. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:29.639 He says, the Ekronites will be melted up with the people of God, like the Jebusites with the Judeans. 00:21:29.779 --> 00:21:36.519 Those who were once separated are now brought into the life of the community of God's people. 00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:50.180 Those who were once enemies, those who were once enemies, are now made the people of God. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:52.940 And that's good news. 00:21:54.220 --> 00:21:58.480 Because every single one of you in here, you were once an enemy of God. 00:21:59.579 --> 00:22:01.359 And God reconciled you to his son. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:07.839 But he not only reconciled you to his son, I just came to tell you this morning, God has more kids than you. 00:22:08.919 --> 00:22:11.459 And they actually look different than you do. 00:22:12.219 --> 00:22:18.599 And God has brought them together into his family to unite them together with you. 00:22:19.819 --> 00:22:22.139 And make us together one family. 00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:25.639 Former enemies are now reconciled. 00:22:25.740 --> 00:22:27.339 And make no mistake, people of God, 00:22:27.339 --> 00:22:31.859 This is a huge part of the message of hope that we are meant to carry into this world. 00:22:31.939 --> 00:22:37.159 This world that is still in so many places and in so many ways divided. 00:22:37.740 --> 00:22:41.579 The cross of Christ has brought peace between us and God. 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:44.759 Yet that same cross, according to Ephesians 2, 00:22:44.899 --> 00:22:50.319 has brought peace between man and man across all the lines that divide us. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:23:01.779 I love to tell people the preaching of the gospel is the preaching of God's reconciliation of us to himself. 00:23:01.779 --> 00:23:11.819 But if Ephesians 2 is right, and it is, it is also the proclamation of God's reconciliation of his family Jew and Gentile together. 00:23:11.819 --> 00:23:23.819 The reconciliation of Jew and Gentile is the model of the reconciliation between all clans and all tribes under the rule and reign of King Jesus. 00:23:24.619 --> 00:23:29.720 We are part of the same family because we have together put our faith in Jesus Christ. 00:23:29.720 --> 00:23:36.259 But I want to tell you this morning that if you give yourself to what it means to be prisoners of hope in this world, 00:23:36.460 --> 00:23:40.000 part of what that will mean is that it will mean, Southwood, 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:44.680 it will mean for you embodying this message of reconciliation, 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:53.640 the reconciliation of the nations together in your own city and in this world. 00:23:56.039 --> 00:23:56.519 Amen. 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:56.579 Amen. 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:00.120 Amen. 00:24:01.120 --> 00:24:09.799 This call, I want to say to you this morning, this call to reconciliation actually means that we hang out in zip codes where Jesus hangs out. 00:24:11.740 --> 00:24:17.420 And with people in those zip codes that Jesus hangs out with. 00:24:18.380 --> 00:24:22.779 The call to reconciliation is not just racial, it's socioeconomic. 00:24:22.779 --> 00:24:30.180 It's no accident that we often find Jesus in places and with people whom society has written off. 00:24:30.500 --> 00:24:33.420 And it's no accident that when he is engaging those in authority, 00:24:33.420 --> 00:24:39.240 he is often speaking or acting on behalf of those who have been crushed by that authority. 00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:50.720 I was telling the folk yesterday that if we're really going to be a church that reaches the poor, 00:24:50.819 --> 00:24:54.839 if we're really going to be a church that communicates the good news of God to the poor, 00:24:54.980 --> 00:25:00.039 then we have to be a church that is willing to be a family to the poor. 00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:05.220 I don't even go to Southwood. 00:25:05.319 --> 00:25:07.539 You hear I'm using the we, the collective we. 00:25:09.579 --> 00:25:11.139 But that's God's call for you. 00:25:12.579 --> 00:25:18.420 It's for you to be a church that embodies this message of reconciliation across all the lines of division 00:25:18.420 --> 00:25:27.000 that you might declare to the world that in Jesus, God has proclaimed peace to the nations of the earth. 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:31.720 Amen, people of God. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:41.099 We need God to awaken us to the call of reconciliation that calls us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus 00:25:41.099 --> 00:25:47.960 who sat by a well with an outcast Samaritan, ate dinner with rejected sinners, 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:51.940 touched disenfranchised lepers and sick folk. 00:25:51.940 --> 00:25:55.640 If our message of hope is going to resonate in this world, 00:25:56.019 --> 00:26:02.140 it's going to resonate only as you and I become a community in which folk like us are not simply ministered to, 00:26:02.519 --> 00:26:06.080 but become truly a part of our family. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:08.559 Amen. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:14.579 This hope for which God has made you a prisoner 00:26:14.579 --> 00:26:21.919 is a hope that you are meant to declare to the world. 00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:24.399 The Lord sees you. 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:28.700 The nations are reconciled. 00:26:30.019 --> 00:26:31.480 Here's my last point this morning. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:33.319 The people of God are victorious. 00:26:35.059 --> 00:26:35.480 Amen. 00:26:35.480 --> 00:26:39.400 The people of God are victorious. 00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:44.299 Listen to what Zachariah says in verses 13 through 17. 00:26:45.980 --> 00:26:50.860 I have bent Judah as my bow, and I have made Ephraim its arrow. 00:26:51.799 --> 00:26:56.200 I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior sword. 00:26:56.299 --> 00:27:01.200 Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning. 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:05.340 The Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. 00:27:05.400 --> 00:27:07.460 The Lord of hosts will protect them. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:13.420 And they shall devour and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, 00:27:13.460 --> 00:27:15.960 and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. 00:27:16.080 --> 00:27:21.420 On that day the Lord their God will save them as the flock of his people. 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:26.759 For like the jewels of a crown, they shall shine on his land. 00:27:27.180 --> 00:27:31.860 For great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty. 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:34.960 Amen. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:40.539 I said this earlier, but let me say it again. 00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:47.480 Sin and death and Satan, they have been defeated in the person and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:27:47.600 --> 00:27:50.960 He has triumphed over them through his death and resurrection. 00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:55.460 That truth is central to our life and our witness in this world as a people of God. 00:27:55.460 --> 00:28:02.460 But you know if you have walked any significant time among the broken, among the hurting, among the poor, the vulnerable, or the needy, 00:28:02.620 --> 00:28:06.819 that these realities, though they have been defeated, are still at work in the world. 00:28:07.640 --> 00:28:13.380 Indeed, even in our own lives as believers, we still do battle with sin and death and the evil one. 00:28:13.420 --> 00:28:18.700 But in terms of our mission into this world, we are going to confront these realities, 00:28:18.700 --> 00:28:25.220 and they do exercise an influence and empower in the world that can sometimes feel overwhelming. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:35.700 Tyre and Sidon were real enemies who exercised a real oppressiveness in the world against the people of God. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:43.440 And to Israel and the surrounding nations, it would have appeared as if nothing could conquer them. 00:28:44.759 --> 00:28:46.600 Any of you all know what I'm talking about? 00:28:46.599 --> 00:28:53.179 Any of you all ever felt like the weight of the world was going to crush you? 00:28:53.859 --> 00:29:03.379 You've ever felt that sense of despair at the brokenness in your own heart, 00:29:03.959 --> 00:29:06.379 at the brokenness in the world around you? 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:11.259 Indeed, when we come face to face with the brokenness of our world, 00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:16.319 with some of the things I mentioned to you earlier, like fatherlessness and racism and violence, 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:24.379 it can feel like those realities are winning in the world. 00:29:27.019 --> 00:29:29.000 It can feel like they can't be conquered. 00:29:29.460 --> 00:29:30.299 They can't be overcome. 00:29:31.619 --> 00:29:36.139 Indeed, if we're honest, when we are faced with these things, our natural reaction is to despair. 00:29:36.140 --> 00:29:46.480 But because of what Christ has done, because he has, through his death and resurrection, conquered all of these enemies, 00:29:46.660 --> 00:29:54.140 you and I have the freedom to go out into the world and to announce that in Jesus Christ, there is victory. 00:29:54.140 --> 00:30:00.940 We have the freedom to confront the brokenness of our cities and our world, 00:30:01.460 --> 00:30:06.240 prayerfully asking that God's kingdom would come, that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.800 Because of the ultimate victory, somebody said amen. 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:13.020 Thank you so much. 00:30:13.080 --> 00:30:14.259 Somebody over there said amen. 00:30:14.259 --> 00:30:20.700 I was going to say it earlier that I'm a black preacher and I love calling and response, 00:30:20.819 --> 00:30:22.980 but you must have felt me on that. 00:30:27.140 --> 00:30:29.940 But because of the ultimate victory of Christ over these enemies, 00:30:30.059 --> 00:30:33.299 we can have the good hope that in this life, 00:30:34.339 --> 00:30:38.500 we will see, as we engage the brokenness of this world, 00:30:38.500 --> 00:30:42.579 we will see God's victory breaking out into people's lives 00:30:42.579 --> 00:30:46.039 and in the communities in which we live as we wait the day 00:30:46.039 --> 00:30:48.819 for Christ to bring victory in all of its fullness. 00:30:50.380 --> 00:30:53.319 And I want to tell you this morning, you are prisoners of hope, Southwood. 00:30:53.880 --> 00:30:57.279 You are prisoners of hope to announce that victory to the world. 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:01.519 There's a song, and the words are, 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:05.440 In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:07.740 we have the victory. 00:31:08.779 --> 00:31:10.039 In the name of Jesus, 00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:12.240 in the name of Jesus, 00:31:12.380 --> 00:31:13.840 Satan, you have to flee. 00:31:13.960 --> 00:31:17.019 Oh, what can ever stand before us 00:31:17.019 --> 00:31:19.920 when we call on that great name? 00:31:20.820 --> 00:31:23.680 Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, 00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:26.519 we have the victory. 00:31:26.940 --> 00:31:30.160 The reason I love that song is because it recognizes two important truths. 00:31:30.980 --> 00:31:32.480 Our victory as Christians 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:35.880 is ultimately rooted in the Lord 00:31:35.880 --> 00:31:37.599 and not in ourselves. 00:31:38.259 --> 00:31:39.039 Number one. 00:31:40.660 --> 00:31:43.140 Number two, this isn't a triumphalistic proclamation. 00:31:43.500 --> 00:31:46.200 It is rather a confident expectation, 00:31:47.200 --> 00:31:48.440 a projection of hope 00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:50.539 that God and his people 00:31:50.539 --> 00:31:52.420 will ultimately triumph 00:31:52.420 --> 00:31:55.140 over the evil that is in this world. 00:31:55.360 --> 00:31:56.799 Amen, people of God. 00:31:56.799 --> 00:32:02.839 The way in which we bear witness to this victory 00:32:02.839 --> 00:32:06.700 is through the visible demonstrations of the gospel's power 00:32:06.700 --> 00:32:09.099 to heal and to restore and to change. 00:32:09.819 --> 00:32:11.519 Every time, listen to me, 00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:15.379 every time you take your resources 00:32:15.379 --> 00:32:18.500 and use them to help someone in need, 00:32:18.539 --> 00:32:19.559 in the name of Jesus, 00:32:19.940 --> 00:32:21.779 you are demonstrating the victory 00:32:21.779 --> 00:32:23.700 that has come in Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:32:23.700 --> 00:32:29.400 When you walk alongside a family 00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:30.559 or you adopt a child 00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:32.640 that has been abandoned, neglected, or abused, 00:32:32.740 --> 00:32:34.640 you are announcing the victory of Jesus 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:35.559 over this world 00:32:35.559 --> 00:32:37.200 and his power to deliver people 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:39.039 out of the brokenness of this world. 00:32:39.120 --> 00:32:40.220 When you stand up 00:32:40.220 --> 00:32:43.620 in the face of injustice 00:32:43.620 --> 00:32:44.840 and you cry out 00:32:44.840 --> 00:32:46.700 for justice, 00:32:46.700 --> 00:32:48.759 you are announcing the victory of Jesus 00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:49.460 over this world. 00:32:49.539 --> 00:32:50.740 When you build relationships 00:32:50.740 --> 00:32:53.460 with people who are not from your tribe, 00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:55.279 you are announcing the victory of Jesus 00:32:55.279 --> 00:32:56.079 over the divisions 00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:57.460 that are still at work in this world. 00:32:57.660 --> 00:32:59.160 In all of these ways and more, 00:32:59.259 --> 00:33:01.519 we are meant to be the Lord's prisoners of hope 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:03.839 to announce the victory that starts now 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:05.420 and will be fully established 00:33:05.420 --> 00:33:06.339 when the Lord returns. 00:33:06.900 --> 00:33:09.059 So I want to encourage you today, Southwood. 00:33:10.500 --> 00:33:12.120 I want to encourage you to ask God 00:33:12.120 --> 00:33:13.099 to show you ways 00:33:13.099 --> 00:33:14.940 that you might enter into 00:33:14.940 --> 00:33:17.480 announcing this victory of Christ 00:33:17.480 --> 00:33:19.200 in your community. 00:33:20.579 --> 00:33:21.720 Look for opportunities 00:33:21.720 --> 00:33:24.380 to be the hands and feet of Jesus, 00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:26.220 to love, to serve, to help, 00:33:26.339 --> 00:33:27.519 to bring God's healing 00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:28.579 into the lives of others. 00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:29.460 And trust me, 00:33:29.539 --> 00:33:31.519 if you ask for the Lord's help 00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:33.120 to discover ways 00:33:33.120 --> 00:33:34.400 to enter in 00:33:34.400 --> 00:33:35.420 and announce his victory, 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:36.220 can I tell you, 00:33:36.700 --> 00:33:38.599 the Lord will hear you 00:33:38.599 --> 00:33:40.140 and he will show you. 00:33:45.140 --> 00:33:46.200 Brothers and sisters, 00:33:46.200 --> 00:33:52.900 we are prisoners of hope. 00:33:55.480 --> 00:33:58.000 We know that in Christ 00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:58.920 and him alone 00:33:58.920 --> 00:34:00.860 is the redemption 00:34:00.860 --> 00:34:02.480 that the world is crying out for. 00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:06.299 You and I have tasted that hope ourselves. 00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:08.760 If we have put our faith in Jesus, 00:34:08.900 --> 00:34:10.599 we've tasted that hope ourselves. 00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:13.480 And it is this hope, 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:14.820 this redemption, 00:34:14.820 --> 00:34:16.220 that we are called 00:34:16.220 --> 00:34:17.280 to announce to the world 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:19.180 with our words and our lives, 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:20.960 to say to the broken, 00:34:21.140 --> 00:34:22.000 to say to the hurting, 00:34:22.180 --> 00:34:23.580 to say to the needy 00:34:23.580 --> 00:34:24.220 and the vulnerable, 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:25.280 to say to the poor, 00:34:25.380 --> 00:34:26.440 the Lord sees 00:34:26.440 --> 00:34:27.760 and is mighty to save. 00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:31.160 To say to the nations, 00:34:31.940 --> 00:34:32.660 in Christ, 00:34:33.080 --> 00:34:35.120 we are part of the same family. 00:34:36.400 --> 00:34:37.620 And to say to those 00:34:37.620 --> 00:34:38.580 who are in despair 00:34:38.580 --> 00:34:40.019 and hopelessness, 00:34:40.019 --> 00:34:41.460 in Christ, 00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:43.579 there is victory. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:46.440 May Christ empower you 00:34:46.440 --> 00:34:47.139 by his spirit, 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:48.000 Southwood, 00:34:48.599 --> 00:34:49.739 to be those 00:34:49.739 --> 00:34:50.699 who give yourselves 00:34:50.699 --> 00:34:52.759 to carrying God's hope 00:34:52.759 --> 00:34:54.639 into this very broken world. 00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:55.199 Amen? 00:34:55.980 --> 00:34:57.259 Let me pray for you. 00:34:58.380 --> 00:34:59.280 Father, thank you. 00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:01.699 Thank you 00:35:01.699 --> 00:35:04.559 that you have deposited 00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:06.480 this hope 00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:08.900 into our hearts. 00:35:09.940 --> 00:35:11.920 Through the victory of Christ 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:13.119 over sin and death, 00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:13.480 Lord, 00:35:14.019 --> 00:35:15.420 there is hope. 00:35:16.699 --> 00:35:18.059 Hope because you see. 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:20.760 Hope because in you 00:35:20.760 --> 00:35:22.719 is reconciliation. 00:35:23.199 --> 00:35:24.519 Hope because in you, 00:35:25.019 --> 00:35:25.559 Lord Jesus, 00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:26.440 there is victory. 00:35:27.099 --> 00:35:27.619 I pray. 00:35:27.619 --> 00:35:29.760 I pray for Southwood. 00:35:29.880 --> 00:35:30.740 I pray for this church, 00:35:30.900 --> 00:35:30.980 Lord, 00:35:31.059 --> 00:35:32.199 that you would make it 00:35:32.199 --> 00:35:34.859 a place 00:35:34.859 --> 00:35:37.079 where people encounter 00:35:37.079 --> 00:35:38.799 this great hope. 00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:39.759 Make them, 00:35:40.099 --> 00:35:41.219 make them together 00:35:41.219 --> 00:35:42.319 prisoners of hope 00:35:42.319 --> 00:35:42.799 for you. 00:35:44.259 --> 00:35:44.619 Lord, 00:35:44.739 --> 00:35:45.299 empower them 00:35:45.299 --> 00:35:46.039 by your spirit 00:35:46.039 --> 00:35:47.859 to declare that hope 00:35:47.859 --> 00:35:48.500 in this world, 00:35:48.659 --> 00:35:49.079 we pray. 00:35:49.319 --> 00:35:50.439 And ask it in Jesus' 00:35:50.819 --> 00:35:51.539 mighty name. 00:35:52.219 --> 00:35:52.599 Amen. 00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:52.739 Amen. 00:35:56.239 --> 00:35:57.739 For more information, 00:35:58.119 --> 00:35:59.039 visit us online 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:00.339 at southwood.org. 00:36:02.199 --> 00:36:03.579 frowns. 00:36:03.819 --> 00:36:06.019 We'll be right back. 00:36:08.419 --> 00:36:09.019 예요. 00:36:09.799 --> 00:36:23.839 Orca