The scripture reading comes from Acts chapter 3, starting from verse 1 we read.
!
He asked to receive alms.
And Peter directed his gaze at him and did join and said,
Look at us.
And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said,
I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
And he took him by the right hand and raised him up.
And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
And leaping up, he stood and began to walk and enter the temple with them,
walking and leaping and praising God.
And all the people saw him walking and praising God
and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple,
asking for alms.
And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
While he clung to Peter and John,
all the people, utterly astonished,
ran together to them in the particle called Solomon's.
And when Peter saw it, he addressed the people.
Men of Israel,
why do you wonder at this?
Or why do you stare at us?
As though by our own power or piety, we have made him walk.
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus,
whom you had delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate.
When he had decided to release him,
but you denied the holy and righteous one
and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.
And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead.
To this we are witnesses.
And his name, by faith in his name,
has made this man strong, whom you see and know.
And the faith that is through Jesus
has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
And now, brothers,
I know that you acted in ignorance, as is also your rulers.
But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets
that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
Repent, therefore, and turn back,
that your sins may be blotted out,
that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,
whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring
all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Moses said,
The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.
You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.
And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet
shall be destroyed from the people.
And all the prophets who have spoken,
from Samuel and those who came after him,
also proclaim these days,
You are the sons of the prophets
and of the covenant that God made with your fathers.
Sing to Abraham,
And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
God, having raised up his servants,
sent him to you first,
to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.
This is the word of God.
Okay, let me pray for us before we dive into God's word.
Father, we come before you.
God, you are king forevermore.
Your word is life,
and your word is true.
God, as we look into your scriptures,
Father, we pray through your spirit,
would you reveal the treasures that are found in here?
Would you speak to all of us,
as individuals and as a church,
to love you,
to serve you,
to give all of ourselves away to you, God,
for you are worthy of it all.
And we glorify you.
So God, come,
be glorified in these things.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Church,
if you don't know me,
my name is Alan.
I'm one of the staff here at Watermark.
It is such a joy to bring God's word to us this morning.
If you've been with us for the past few weeks,
about four weeks,
we've been going through the book of Acts.
And it's a volume two written by Luke,
and which basically tells us about what happened
after Jesus ascended into heaven.
And through the chapters,
we've been seeing the pouring of the Holy Spirit,
through which Peter stands up
and gives incredible sermon,
preaches the gospel,
and you have all this crowd,
about 3,000 people coming
and believing and being baptized.
And after which,
just last week,
we heard about this community that starts,
a community that's formed by God,
and in one short sentence,
it was a community,
a church,
that belonged to God
and belonged to one another.
It was an incredible community,
a church.
And apart from the people in that community
devoting themselves to the teachings of the apostles,
apart from them breaking breaks,
praying,
praising God,
as people come together to sell their possessions,
so that anyone in their midst
that were in need was given and provided for,
one of the other things that we also see
was that there were wonders and signs
that were being done through the apostles.
So, Luke,
who we know is a physician,
a doctor,
now seems to take out one of those wonders and signs
and talk about it in chapter 3 that we just read.
Now, today,
one of the questions
that it's going to help us answer
is a question that all of us
needs to answer
every day of our lives.
It's a question that we as a church,
as a group,
needs to answer
every day of our lives.
And the question is this,
what matters to you most?
What matters to,
what matters the most to us as a church?
And what we just read is that
we're going to talk about the miracle
that Peter does,
and for the second time,
he's going to stand up and explain it
and talk about
what is actually more important
than the healing.
And the healing and the miracle
is almost going to act like a signpost
pointing us towards that.
So, if you have your Bibles,
you can follow along.
Let's dive into God's Word
where the first thing we encounter is
the sign.
We're going to look into verses 1 to 10.
Now, Peter and John,
they are on their way to the temple,
and on the way there,
they encounter this lame man.
Verse 2 tells us that
this man was carried there
so that he could beg
in a gate called
the Beautiful Gate.
Since giving of alms,
or giving of money
to poor people or beggars
were something that was good
in the Jewish religion,
so that means
the place to sit
right at the temple gate
was the ideal spot.
What is more is that
in the same verse,
we see that this is a man
that was lame from birth,
which makes this miracle
even more miraculous,
and also chapter 4 tells us
that this man is actually
over 40 years old.
Now, so here is this lame man
sitting at the gate,
most probably shouting
the same thing
he has been shouting
for over 40 years.
And when suddenly
these two strangers
walk up to him,
stop before him,
look at him directly,
and one of them, Peter,
goes on to say,
I have no silver and gold.
And I'm sure the lame man's
heart must have sank,
because he believed
that that was what
he needed the most.
And that's a terrible thing
to say to a beggar.
I don't have any money.
But, Peter does not stop there.
I have no silver and gold,
but what I do have,
I give to you.
And in the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth,
rise up and walk.
And the man is instantaneously healed.
Peter takes him up by his hand
and raises him up,
and he begins to stand,
he begins to walk,
he begins to leap.
Maybe that's leaping
as something he might have seen
one of the children do
in front of the gate.
For the first time in his life,
he's leaping,
walking,
and jumping in joy.
It was quite a sight to behold.
Now, one of the things we see
in the book of Acts
is how the work of Jesus
after he ascended into heaven
is being continued.
Jesus came to proclaim
the good news of the kingdom,
which is continued by the believers
that take the gospel
to the ends of the earth.
We see that Jesus came
to draw people to himself,
to create a people
that belong to God,
and which we saw last week,
which is being done
through the apostles
as people are coming
to be one people
that belong to God.
Now, in chapter 3,
we just read about a healing,
which is interestingly
very similar to the healing
that is done
in Luke chapter 5.
So now, the question is,
is God still
in the miracle business?
Does God still heal
and do the supernatural things?
There was a man called
Lee Strobel.
I'm sure most of you
might have heard of him.
He's a very famous,
very well-known,
former investigative journalist,
someone who investigates
news and things.
So who, when his wife
became a Christian,
went on this journey
to investigate Christianity
just to prove his wife wrong.
But at the end of the journey,
he finds out that there's
an irrefutable evidence
for Christ and resurrection,
and at the end of it all,
he becomes a Christian himself.
Now, later on,
and he actually does
another investigation.
Later on, he's curious,
and he says,
okay, I'm going to investigate miracles.
Does miracles really happen?
So for two years,
he travels the world.
He goes,
interviews skeptics.
He talks with people
that have experienced miracles,
travels in the places
of the world
where there's reportings
of miracles
and supernatural things,
investigates it,
and at the end of it all,
he writes a book called
A Case for Miracle.
And from this book,
here's a spoiler,
here are his three conclusions.
One,
that actually God is still
in the miracle business.
Two,
that there are actually
more miracles happening
than we think.
And three,
and most of his miracles
are actually more better documented
than most skeptics think.
I mean,
my own mother
had blood cancer
and she was healed.
But I also know
of people
that are faithful,
devoted Christians,
dear friends of mine,
that were not healed.
In one of Lee Strobel's interviews,
he interviews a woman
called Barbara Snyder,
a woman who had
instantaneously been healed
from a disease
that was documented
by well-known doctors,
incredible healing.
And at the end of the interview,
he stands up
and goes to Barbara
and says,
Barbara,
can I give you a hug?
And then he asks her,
Barbara,
why you?
Why not my wife
who has chronic illness
and is in pain every day?
Why,
where is her healing?
But why you?
And Barbara looks at him
and says,
I don't know.
But what I do know
is that our God
is sovereign.
That his ways
and thoughts
are above ours.
That he sees things,
he knows things
that we don't.
And at the end of it all,
ultimately,
one day when Christ returns,
all of his children
will be healed.
There shall be
no more pain,
no more suffering,
no more diseases,
no more death,
no more sin.
You see,
God is still
in the miracle business,
but we should know
that he's sovereign too.
And he does
what is good,
even though we do not see
the good in right now.
Now,
I want us to note
that the title
of this first point
is the sign.
It's not healing
or miracle.
Because throughout
the book of Acts
and actually throughout
the New Testament,
one thing we're going
to see is that
wonders,
miracles,
and signs
are actually meant
to point us
to something
or is either meant
to authenticate
something.
For example,
in the previous chapter,
chapter 2,
verse 22,
Peter addresses the crowd
and he says,
men of Israel,
hear these words,
Jesus of Nazareth,
a man attested to you,
proven to you by God
with what?
With mighty works
and wonders and signs
that God did
through him
in your midst.
Later in chapter 4,
when Peter and John
are caught by the
religious leaders,
the religious leaders
are debating
what to do with them
and one of the things
they find it hard
is to deny
the notable signs
that these two men
have done
while the 40-year-old
layman was standing
right beside them.
You see,
miracles and healings
and signs
and supernatural things
are meant to either
point us to something
or to authenticate
something or someone.
So,
in this chapter 3,
what is this healing
or sign meant
to authenticate?
What is this sign
pointing us towards?
What was it that mattered
so much more
than the healing
and the excitement
that was building
around Peter and John
as people gathered
and were astounded
by what they were seeing here?
Well,
now,
Peter is going to stand up
and he's going to address
the crowd
and he's going to
explain the healing
but at the same time
he's going to help us
answer that
which leads us
to our second part,
the object
of this sign.
Now,
let's focus on
verses 11 to 16.
So,
the crowd gathers around.
They're astounded.
Verse 11 tells us
that.
They're astounded.
They're amazed
by what they're seeing.
I mean,
here's a man
that has been
in the gate
for 40 years,
right?
I mean,
I'm sure we all
go to work
and there's certain
things we see
on our way
which we get so used to.
Could be our security guards
and we're like,
we see this person
every day
and one day
when he's not there
we're like,
where did this guy go?
Must have been
the same experience.
Where is this man?
And suddenly you see
this man is standing
and leaping and jumping.
They're astounded
and Peter takes
this opportunity
as crowd gathers
to see this
and which is very similar
to chapter 2,
right?
In chapter 2
something supernatural
happens
and Peter stands up
to explain.
In chapter 3
again something
supernatural happens.
Now Peter's going
to stand up
and he's going
to address the crowd
and he basically
begins with the
caution,
right?
He says,
why do you wonder?
Or why do you look at us
as if we did it
with our power
or as if this happened
because we are
so godly people?
You see,
the sign of healing
that was happening
was them saying like,
hey,
he's not pointing this,
this sign is not
pointing you guys
towards us.
He's not authenticating us
nor is this power
that the sign
that you've seen
we don't have
the power to do this
nor are,
did we do this
because we are
so godly.
But what it was
pointing towards
or what it was
really authenticating
was what Peter
was about to say.
And in one short
sentence,
what Peter was
about to preach
or say
is this,
is the gospel
of Christ Jesus,
is the goodness
of him.
I mean,
look at verse 13
with me.
Verse 13,
Peter says,
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
the God of Jacob,
the God of our fathers
glorified his servant
Jesus whom you
delivered over
and denied in the
presence of Pilate
when he had decided
to release him.
Now that's very
interesting of what
Peter is doing here
because Peter is
saying two things
at the same time.
He's saying,
this is who Jesus is
and this is what
you have done to him.
I mean,
he's saying,
this is Jesus,
the one who
our fathers chose.
He's the chosen
servant of the
God of our fathers.
But you denied him,
you delivered him
and denied him
and killed him.
Verse 14,
he's the holy
and the righteous one
but you denied him
and asked for a
murder in his place.
Referring to the time
when Pilate
gave people a choice
to either release
Jesus or release
this murder
called Barabbas.
Verse 15,
he's the author
of life
but you killed him.
And in the end,
Peter says,
and that Jesus
is the one
through whom
this man has been healed.
Now that's a very
funny
or interesting way
to answer the question
how did this healing happen?
I mean,
Peter could have just
gone and said,
hey guys,
this man was healed
because of Jesus.
We prayed in the name
of Jesus
and we had faith
in him
and this man
was healed.
Peter could have
just said that
and got it over with
and not gone on
this long,
long paragraph.
But you see,
Peter is very intentional
about what he's doing.
Peter knows what he's saying
because,
you see,
Peter was not interested,
not just interested
in telling them
about the healing
but he was actually
more interested
in telling them
about the source
of the healing.
He was not interested
in telling them
how great this healing was
but he was more interested
in telling the people
how great the healer was.
You see,
when Peter was talking
about Jesus here,
I want us to note,
he was not talking
to a group of people
like us
who had heard about Jesus
2,000 years ago.
He was talking
to a crowd of people
that had actually
seen him,
seen Jesus
just a few months back.
Maybe seen,
heard Jesus teaching.
Maybe this is a group
of people
that have seen
the miracles of Jesus
that have maybe
some of them
have been healed
by Jesus themselves.
Some of them
might have been
shouting,
crucify him.
Or maybe there's
people in the crowd
that have actually
seen Jesus died.
And Peter is standing
in this crowd
and he's saying,
yes,
that's the Jesus
that I am talking about.
Whom you all know,
have seen,
and whom you all know
perfectly well
that had died.
But Peter is also saying,
but guess what?
Jesus is not just
any other man.
Yes, he died,
but there's more.
And in verse 15,
he says,
yes, he died,
but God raised him up
from the dead
to which all of us,
we too,
Peter and John,
are witnesses.
In fact,
there are a lot more witnesses
the fact that Jesus
was risen
and he's alive.
So this is what
Peter is saying.
Yes,
he's truly the chosen one.
Yes,
he's truly the glorified
servant of God.
He's truly the holy,
the set apart,
the righteous,
the perfectly moral,
perfect being.
He's truly that Christ.
He's the author of life,
the source of life.
Can you think about that?
Jesus is the source of life,
the very air that we breathe,
the very bodies that we have,
the very souls that we have,
the very nerves that we have.
Jesus is the one
who gives us,
he's the source of life,
he's the author of life
and he's not just dead,
he's truly risen.
This is Christ,
this is what Peter is saying
to them.
But Peter is also saying,
but guys,
you killed him.
You denied him.
You chose a murderer
to be set free
instead of him.
Now I'm sure
among that crowd,
there must have been
few people that have,
must have been thinking,
whoa, whoa, whoa,
wait Peter.
I was not even in town
when they killed Peter.
They killed John,
Jesus.
I was in the other side of town
preparing my family
for Passover.
I mean,
I didn't even shout,
I didn't do any of the things
that you said.
I mean,
this guy might have did it,
but I don't know,
it's not me.
And beloved friends,
maybe that's what we think too.
Maybe we literally are
in the way we live.
But it is true,
you see,
none of us in this hall
was there to nail Jesus
at the cross.
None of us was there
shouting crucify him.
But there's an old hymn
that might help us.
And there's an old hymn
that we do sing at Watermark
and it goes like this.
Behold the man upon a cross,
my sin upon his shoulders.
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin
that held him there
until it was accomplished.
His dying breath
has brought me life.
I know that it is finished.
Church,
it might not have been
our hands
that nailed Christ
to the cross,
but it was definitely
our sin
that took him
and held him
at the cross.
1 Peter 2.24
tells us,
he,
Jesus himself,
bore our sin
in his body
at the cross.
And this could be a place
where we could take a pause
and think,
church,
how much do we ponder
about that?
How much do we ponder
about our sin
that nailed
and held Christ
to the cross?
You know,
in my life,
I'm very quick
to ask for forgiveness
and say,
thank you,
Jesus,
and move on
with life.
Which is not bad.
But there is wisdom
in actually pausing
and meditating
over the depravity
and the terrible nature
of our sin.
You see,
this is a quote
that was taken
from an article
from a website
called Desiring God
written by a man
called Greg Morse.
And at the end
of the article,
he says this.
He says,
I've watched
The Passion of Christ,
which is an old movie
about the death of Jesus.
I've watched
The Passion of Christ
each year
for four years
being moved
every time to tears,
which I'm sure
all of us can relate.
And all the while,
I was not truly born again.
All the while,
my life was not
really changed.
And I thought myself
better for crying
as if my sins
would be passed over
if I had tears
painted on the doorpost.
You see,
it did not take
a regenerate heart,
a changed heart
to weep over
the sufferings of Jesus
while our world
is full of unbelievers
who cry over sad things.
But it did take
a regenerate heart
to mourn over
what I rarely mourned over.
And it was my sins.
Church,
how much does our sin
make us weep?
When was the last time
we fell on our knees
and mourned over
our sin
that took our Savior
to the cross?
And there is wisdom
in staying there.
But there is also
this news that
and there is also
this truth
that the burden
of sin
is something
none of us can bear.
Which is why
Jesus took our sin
upon Himself
on that cross.
None of us can bear
the burden
and the penalty
of our sin.
Jesus took it
on Himself
on the cross.
He died
and rose again
paying the penalty
of our sin
that none of us
could do.
Freeing us
and feed us
from the power
of sin
and ultimately
one day
when He returns
there shall be
no more sin.
Jesus did that
and Peter knew that.
Peter knew
the people
that were listening
to Him
could not bear
the burden of sin.
Which is why
thankfully
He continues
His sermon.
Because you see
the goodness
of Jesus Christ
the gospel
does not
just end there.
The gospel
ends
in an invitation.
An invitation
to come
invitation
to come
and turn away
from our sin.
Which leads us
to our last point.
The call
to turn away.
Let's look at
the last few verses
from verse 17
to 26.
Verse 17
Peter begins
and says
you have acted
in ignorance.
Or in other words
you did not know.
Well God knew
but you guys
did not know.
And that's very
interesting because
isn't that one
of the things
that sin
does to us?
Sin makes us
blind
to our own
sinfulness.
Sin makes us
blind to our
own depravity
our own
disgusting nature
of sin
that lies within.
That's what sin
does and that's
a very sober
warning to hear
this morning.
Because
and the question
is are we
blinded by our
sin?
so much
that we
are
unresponsive
our hearts
are unresponsive
to God's
word
and godly
counsel.
That's a
legit warning
here.
Well and Peter
goes on
then he says
well
repent
turn back.
he says
that in
verse
19
repent
therefore
turn back
that your
sins
may be
blotted
out.
And that
is what
repentance
is isn't
it?
To turn
back
to turn
and 180
decrease
turn away.
And many
times we
think that
repentance
is sober
and serious
and many
times
many ways
sad.
But actually
if you really
look at what
Peter is saying
he's actually
very joyful.
At times
yes
repentance
is serious
but at the
same time
repentance
is also
joyful
and full
of great
celebration.
I mean
it's like
a child
that is
wondering
if his
mother is
still angry
with him
or not
and suddenly
sees a
smiling face
and an
open arm.
It's like
two friends
that have
been quarreling
for a long
time
and finally
after a
long
conversation
they have
a reconciliation.
And in
this case
it's our
loving
father
against
whom we
sin
which brings
this massive
chasm
between us
and a holy
God
but instead
of us
paying the
penalty of
sin
he pays
it
by sending
his son
Jesus Christ
so that
whoever
turns to
him
whoever
repents
and looks
towards him
will be
reconciled
joyfully
to the one
who knows
us
who created
us
and who
loves us
truly
I mean
Jesus
in Luke
15
talks about
the son
who returns
to his
father
who turns
back to
his father
and as
the father
sees him
walking in
the distance
he runs
to the son
and in
great joy
embraces
the son
kisses him
and throws
him a
massive
feast
you see
repentance
yes
is serious
but repentance
is also a
call
to come
and be
reconciled
to the
father
who loves
you
it's a
call
to come
to enter
into
his joy
I mean
let's
come back
to Acts
3
look at
what
Peter
says
tells
the
crowd
verse
19
he says
turn
away
so that
why
so that
your sins
may be
blotted
out
the sin
that
kills
us
the sin
that breaks
our
relationship
with not
only God
with one
another
so that
that sin
would be
blotted
out
verse
20
so that
a time
of refreshing
may come
verse 25
so that
blessing
would come
through you
to all
nations
and verse
26
so that
you would
be freed
from
wickedness
this is
what Peter
is calling
the people
into
to come
enter
into a
place
where you
are truly
freed
where you
are truly
in joy
at peace
one with
the one
who made
you
and loves
you
the place
where
your
souls
are
truly
satisfied
well
Peter
doesn't
just
stop
there
he
doesn't
just
stop
telling
people
to
turn
away
he
actually
tells
them
one
more
thing
and he
says
yes
turn
away
but
there's
something
you gotta
turn
towards
he
also
tells
them
what
to
turn
to
now
look
at
the
end
of
verse
21
where
he
was
saying
about
that
hey
Jesus
is in
heaven
and one
day
he'll
return
according
to the
words
of the
great
prophets
long
ago
now
it seems
that
Peter
is
again
switching
gears
right
and he's
switching
gears
to
reverse
he's
going
backwards
almost
and what
he's
saying
in
from
verse
22
onwards
he goes
on
to
say
is
that
hey
you
remember
Moses
the
great
Moses
our
prophet
Moses
he
actually
pointed
to
Jesus
I
mean
he
says
in
verse
22
Moses
said
the
Lord
will
raise
up
for
you
a
prophet
like
me
from
your
brothers
who
you
shall
listen
to
him
whatever
he
tells
you
and
it
shall
be
that
every
soul
who
does
not
listen
to
that
prophet
shall
be
destroyed
I
mean
Peter
is
saying
the
great
prophet
Moses
is
talking
about
Jesus
is
the
better
Moses
that
came
here
now
not only
this
verse 24
onwards
he says
guys
all
the
prophets
beginning
from
Samuel
actually
pointed
to
Jesus
what's
more
verse 25
the
promise
that
was
made
to
Abraham
the
most
important
person
in
the
Jewish
religion
that
Abraham
the
promise
made
to
Abraham
is
actually
all
fulfilled
in
Jesus
do
you
see
what's
happening
here
how
Peter
is
changing
gears
you
see
Peter
is
not
just
telling
them
to
turn
away
from
sin
towards
Jesus
but
he's
telling
them
to
turn
to
Jesus
who
is
not
just
Jesus
but
is
actually
someone
who
is
unimaginably
more
than
they
think
I
mean
just
think
of
this
whole
chapter
three
right
the
healing
gets
Peter
the
healing
starts
and
Peter
stands
upon
among
the
people
and
he
tells
that
the
first
thing
he
tells
them
is
Jesus
is
more
Jesus
is
holy
righteous
Jesus
is
the
author
of
life
and
yes
you've
killed
Jesus
is
the
one
that
all
prophets
pointed
towards
Jesus
is
the
one
that
is
better
Moses
Jesus
is
the
one
that
the
promise
made
into
Abraham
is
fulfilled
church
your
life
you see
that is
a very
important
question
because
it's
going to
shape
the
way
we
live
the
way
we
think
the
way
we
organize
our
time
the
way
we
set
our
priorities
and
if
you
look
at
chapter
3
what
mattered
the
most
in
chapter
3
was
not
that
much
the
healing
or
how
the
healing
happened
but
it
was
how
great
Jesus
is
and
how
great
the
good
news
of
Jesus
is
you
see
chapter
3
starts
with
the
healing
but
is
dominated
by
Peter
declaring
the
greatness
of
Christ
Jesus
calling
people
to
repent
and
again
going
back
showing
them
as
they
turn
back
to
him
that
this
Christ
Jesus
is
much
more
greater
than
anyone
has
ever
imagined
so
what
is it
that matters
most in
our lives
you see
if we
think
or if we
say
that it
is money
then
the way
we think
our value
or other
people's
value
is going
to be
shaped
by how
much
people
earn
our
time
would
be
invested
more
in
earning
money
versus
spending
time
with our
families
or other
things
if we
say
that
our
reputation
is
more
important
is the
most
important
thing
in our
lives
then
we
would
spend
most
of
our
lives
putting
on a
mask
being
perfect
by the
same
time
suffering
under
the
burden
of
being
good
but
then
but what
if the
thing
that
matters
the
most
in
our
lives
is
the
greatness
of
Christ
Jesus
and
his
work
the
gospel
then
how
would
that
change
our
lives
maybe
the
way
we
arrange
our
times
and
resources
would
be
different
maybe
our
relationships
would
be
different
even
in
times
of
conflict
in
the
way
we
move
towards
reconciliation
maybe
this
would
be
the
source
of
our
joy
when
we
are
pursuing
relationships
or
when
we
are
struggling
with
singleness
how
about
for us
as a
church
what
would
it
look
like
for
a
church
that
the
thing
that
mattered
most
was
Christ
Jesus
the
glory
of
Christ
Jesus
and
his
good
news
maybe
it
would
be
a
church
that
encourages
that
focuses
on
each
other
encouraging
one
other
to
love
Christ
more
to
him
more
maybe
it's
a
church
that
celebrates
transformation
of lives
and
baptisms
it's
a
church
that
longs
to
see
people
know
Christ
in
this
city
and
so
much
more
you
see
there
are
good
things
that
can
distract
us
good
things
that
are
needed
like
programs
and
events
and
courses
but
what
matters
most
what
has
to
matter
most
is
the
good
news
of
Christ
Jesus
who
is
more
glorious
than
so
church
here's
an
invitation
for
us
all
come
and
see
this
incredibly
glorious
Christ
Jesus
here's
an
invitation
for
all
of
us
whether
we
are
Christians
or
not
Christians
come
and
see
the
Christ
Jesus
who
is
unimaginably
more
beautiful
and
majestic
than
we
think
be
in
awe
of
him
Christ
Jesus
not
being
distracted
by
things
good
things
in
our
lives
good
things
but
having
our
lives
centered
around
the
gospel
the
truth
of
God
Christ
Jesus
and
what
he
has
done
to
be
consumed
by
the
glory
of
Christ
because
you
see
Jesus
is
the
fulfillment
of
all
scriptures
he
is
the
fulfillment
of
all
promises
and
only
in
Christ
Jesus
is
where
we
have
reconciliation
with
the
father
who
forgives
our
sins
who
blots
our
sins
away
who
brings
healing
in
our
lives
whether
that's
physical
or
spiritual
or
emotional
who
brings
us
refreshment
and
blessing
come
and
be
in
awe
of
Christ