What a joy. What a joy to be with you, brothers and sisters.
What a privilege to open God's word, to be in the presence of God together.
As I was praying for you all this morning, I was just thinking of how precious it is
that Christ has sprinkled many nations already and is still doing that work,
and that Christ's church here is one small but precious example of that.
And knowing that I was going to know everyone that I'm speaking to this morning,
it's a little different than visiting a church somewhere and speaking.
And I was a little beside myself in the back during the time of worship.
What a sweet, sweet time.
So many memories as I look around.
So...
Just need a little more coffee.
That's not the issue.
So many remembrances of the Lord's grace.
So, praise God for that.
I have asked the Lord to give me...
Oh, louder.
I'm used to having a microphone.
Mike, can you hear me back there?
Okay.
Just might need to get your hearing checked, honey.
I've asked the Lord to give me something from him that would be helpful for you all,
that would sow into the laying of the foundation of this church as God is laying it.
There's one sense in which there is no other foundation that can be laid other than that which has already been laid,
which is Jesus Christ himself.
Christ crucified.
There's another sense in which the apostles use language of active foundation laying.
1 Corinthians 3, Paul says this is our work to lay a foundation.
Ephesians 2.20, the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
Christ Jesus being the chief cornerstone.
So, the foundation language is used about Christ.
It's also used about churches being established.
And that's what's happening here, is that God is establishing another local church.
He's laying foundations.
He's laid great foundations in the members who are here already.
And he's continuing that work so that, by God's grace, you may be able to bear fruit for his name in an ongoing way,
and indeed, until he returns.
And that is at the heart of my burden for this word this morning,
is to speak and lay further foundations so that, when he appears,
Christ's church will not be ashamed that is appearing.
So, you can turn with me to Isaiah 66.
I have only one page of notes, as opposed to the three or four I usually have,
which means either will be done much more quickly than usual,
or it could mean something else.
But I'm mindful of the time here.
Isaiah 66.
I would like to speak about a humble household for the Holy One.
A humble household for the Holy One.
Father in heaven, we ask for the help and the power of your Holy Spirit.
We pray, Lord, that you would open up the hearts of your people.
Let us be aware of your nearness, which is our good.
We ask, Lord, that we would hear your word in your word this morning.
We pray, Lord, that you would continue to build your church,
that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
We ask, Lord, that you would grant to us a clear understanding of your majesty,
of the gospel, of the church, of the mission.
And we pray that you would make of Christ's church a humble household for the Holy One.
We ask these things in his name.
Amen.
Isaiah 66, verses 1 and 2.
Thus says the Lord,
Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
What is the house that you would build for me?
And what is the place of my rest?
All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look,
he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
Let's think for a few moments about verse 1.
Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
Remarkable statement and reminder from the God of Israel to his people,
Heaven is my throne.
My throne is not one that has been erected or constructed by men.
My throne is not one whose power is limited by the governments of men, by the dictates of men.
My throne is not one that is temporal.
My throne has no season of rain.
My throne is in the heavens.
And in fact, there's a sense in which heaven itself is my throne.
God is reminding his people of his greatness.
And then he says the earth is my footstool.
The earth is my footstool.
This earth, which to you is so magnificent.
This world, which to you is so vast.
This earth, a sliver of which is the Grand Canyon,
and to which millions of people travel to marvel at its vastness.
The whole of the world is little more than my footstool.
The nations are as a drop in the bucket to me.
Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
This is how he's framing the question he's about to ask to his people.
What is the house that you would build for me?
That is a loaded question.
What is the house that you would build for me?
Well, as we'll find, this being the last chapter of Isaiah,
once we get to the end of the chapter, which I won't be touching on today,
so you can get to it later,
we have the ultimate fulfillment of the new heavens and the new earth in these chapters.
And God making his abode with men.
In that period where not only the prophecy that Zamir read will have been fulfilled,
but all of the prophecies regarding Messiah will have been fulfilled.
And in that context, the language is used of God making his dwelling with men.
Until that day comes, until his glorious appearing,
we are in the era of the work of this rebuilding of the tabernacle of David.
Amos 9 speaks about it in Acts 15,
tells us according to the elders and apostles of Jerusalem,
that this tabernacle was being restored as the kingdom,
gospel and government of God is spreading among the Jews and among the Gentiles.
It's remarkable.
That's what's happening right here.
This is why I'm starting here.
So as to divest or deliver or extricate us
from any sense in which we might take the gathering of the saints too casually.
Or think of it as a small thing.
So there's a sense in which God speaking about his majesty,
heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house that you will build for me?
He should put us in our place as finite beings.
But there's another sense in which his question is building towards something,
that he himself is working in the earth.
I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
What is the place of my rest?
He asks.
J.L.
Mettir says the word menucha combines being at rest and being at home.
Have you ever thought of the church as being the place where God is and desires more knowingly to be at home?
The place of his rest.
Where is the place of my rest?
Is there any place upon the earth in which I may find rest for my soul, so to speak?
As I look upon the nations and I see their idolatries, their suppression of truth,
I see their coldness, their indifference toward their creator.
There's a sense in which I am omnipresent, but there's a sense in which I don't find rest there.
It says in Genesis 6, before the flood, that God looked over the earth and grieved that he had made man.
There's a sense in which God grieves, but there's another sense in which by the power of his own holiness and grace,
he means to rest upon the earth.
And the church is one of the places in which he rests.
We'll hear a little bit more about that from Ephesians 2.
In Isaiah 11.10, the Lord says,
In that day, speaking of the end of this age, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples,
of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
This is the final fulfillment.
When the Lord returns of his resting place, finding its full-orbed expression of glory,
which will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.
Our labors in the mundane day-to-day affairs of personal gospel believing, personal holiness,
personal love of the saints, rearing our children, building up and encouraging the church,
praying for and sharing the gospel with unbelievers,
all of these are pointing toward that climactic, glorious day.
And in fact, the same spirit and glory that will be on full display then is at work in us now.
Do you believe it, brothers and sisters?
Verse 2,
Then he speaks to his people regarding their hearts.
Here is a glorious promise.
The Lord himself promises that he will look to, that means he will see to the flourishing of,
he will look with favor upon the one who is humble, who is lowly,
who thinks not highly of himself, herself, but who is humble.
The one who is contrite in spirit, which is similar but different in the sense that it connotes an awareness of our neediness,
of our being broken, of our seeing in part of our weakness.
The one who is humble before God.
The one who is contrite, broken, low before God.
And the one who trembles at my word.
These attributes that the Lord speaks of.
That brought back memories as well.
Because we used to hear the toilet flush behind us in the first meeting room at the Westport building.
Some of you guys remember that?
Sorry if you're listening to the recording.
But people have to flush toilets sometimes.
The humility to which God calls us as his people.
The contrition of which he reminds us and to which he calls us as his people.
And the trembling at his word are central to our being as God's people.
And what we desire to spread throughout Raytown and Kansas City and to the uttermost parts of the earth
is the word about the holiness and mercy of God, which is found chiefly in the gospel.
And that gospel produces a particular kind of people.
A people who are humble.
Not self-effacing and falsely humble.
Actually exalting themselves by putting themselves down so they can fish for compliments.
But truly humble.
That understand that they are before the one who made the heavens and the earth.
And totally dependent upon him.
That everything that they have, whether common or holy, is derived from someone outside themselves.
That's humility.
Humility is knowing who you truly are.
And having something of a grasp of who God truly is.
And it is that kind of people that the world is starving and suffocating to meet.
Because they don't know them.
Because the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.
Because the way of this world and the course of this age is the exaltation of self.
And the holding together veneers of image and reputation rather than contrition in spirit.
And it is the way of rebellion which does not hear the word of God, much less tremble before the word of God.
But this is the one and this is the people to whom I will look.
Humble, contrite in spirit, trembling at my word.
Let's think for a few more moments about the motif of this dwelling, this house of God from Ephesians chapter 2.
Very familiar passage to all of you.
But let's think about it perhaps in connection to the local church and the dwelling of God.
Verses 8.
I'll read verses 8 and 9 and then verses 19 to 22.
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing.
It is the gift of God.
This gives specific language to heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
And by my hand all these things have been made.
Well this is special grace.
This is his hand in special grace.
For by grace you have been saved through faith.
Not your own doing.
It's the gift of God.
Not a result of works.
So that no one may boast.
This may be one of the reasons that I was shedding tears sitting back there just hearing.
Just being reminded again of the gospel.
Just being washed again in the truth of what Christ has accomplished on my behalf.
And on behalf of the brothers and sisters I'm singing with here.
We're not boasting.
What boast do we have?
We are here because of him.
For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.
Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
That verse 10 is very precious.
And I was praying this morning that if your heart is weary.
If any of you brothers and sisters are weary.
Even in reference to your fellowship and ministry in the church.
That God would give you a renewed vision.
And in fact further establish in the foundation of this church.
The conviction that we are his workmanship.
That is works which moth and rust cannot destroy.
That's what we're about here.
This ain't no Christ church is going to be the hip thing in town.
Bellicose church is the latest and greatest.
This ain't no worldly idea of greatness.
The greatness comes from the one who gives the grace.
The one which we have derived everything good from.
And therefore we need to understand that beforehand.
That is before the world was made.
The Lord set his affections on us and called us his workmanship.
He created us in Christ Jesus.
Specifically for good works.
Which he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Just thinking about that and thinking about what the Lord will continue to do here in this church.
By way of deepening knowledge of God.
Deepening fellowship one with another.
Deepening work of evangelism and discipleship.
These are works that God has prepared for you beforehand.
That you should walk in them.
That's a precious thing.
Verse 19.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens.
But you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
Where is the place of my resting?
In the household of God.
Of which we have become members.
That household is built, verse 20, on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
In whom the whole structure being joined together.
Grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
We don't use the language of temple very often.
It was much more common in the ancient world.
Or in certain parts of the eastern world in our day.
We don't think of temple.
If someone would name their church building a temple.
It would be counted strange.
We just don't think along these lines.
Probably we have used the word temple.
Unless we're talking about Bible stuff.
More often to think about part of our head.
Than we have in reference to a conception of what the church actually is.
But the church is a place.
Charles Spurgeon called it the dearest place on the earth.
It's not just a building.
But where the saints gather.
There Christ is making his abode by the spirit.
This is something Paul is trying to teach the Ephesians.
This whole structure.
Being joined together.
Grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
It is a place for his dwelling.
It's a place for his resting.
It's a place in which he looks upon a people.
And sees the righteousness of his son.
And delights to dwell among us.
In ways that he does not delight.
To dwell elsewhere.
Elsewhere.
That is a precious thing.
Verse 22.
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit.
We could spend hours on this one verse.
But I'll spare you the hours.
And just think about this for a moment.
In him that is in Christ.
You brothers and sisters are also being built together.
Into a dwelling place for God by the spirit.
If you recognize the sacredness of this.
It will fight off a host of fleshly misconceptions.
Demonic impressions.
And worldly ambitions.
If you understand that when I fellowship with this brother.
When I submit to this God appointed elder.
When I build up these saints by encouraging them.
By leading the Lord's table.
By teaching.
Or by meeting with them and hearing them.
Whatever it is I'm doing.
I'm giving myself to the building up of this people.
Which is for God.
A resting place that he has desired.
And which his son has achieved.
Moth and rust can't destroy this.
You know there's that point in Psalm 16.
11.
In his presence is fullness of joy.
And at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
I think it's John Piper who points to that and says.
Could there be anything better than this?
Fullness of joy.
There's nothing else in the world that gives fullness of joy.
So you have full joy.
Which nothing else can compare to.
And you have pleasures forevermore.
Fullness of joy that never ends.
That's eternal life in Christ.
And the church.
Is the family.
And the army.
That has been swept up into that glorious and sweet destiny.
Destiny.
And whose labor it is.
To preach to others.
And to love others.
That they too.
Might be saved.
Paul is speaking here about a house in which God rests.
And is not grieved.
Therefore.
The local church is sovereignly composed.
By Christ himself.
Who loved us.
And gave himself.
For us.
My prayer for you.
And for.
Me.
Is that.
God would give us the grace.
Always to discern.
How sacred.
And precious.
It is.
To him.
That will drive off weariness.
That will drive off.
Division.
That will drive off.
Contention.
That will drive off.
Selfish ways of thinking about ministry.
And other things.
To understand.
That we are dealing.
With the bride.
Of the bridegroom.
Well.
I have three points.
Let's see.
How are we doing?
Oh.
Yeah.
Okay.
I have three points.
To lay as.
Exhortations.
Encouragements.
To Christ's church.
In view of these things.
Three points.
Number one.
I'll tell you the points.
And then I'll give a bit of.
Exposition of them.
Number one.
Three.
Things that I would like for you to consider.
Taking up.
Afresh.
You may feel these are already quite strong.
In my life.
By the grace of God.
Or in our life together.
But I want to lay them down here.
In this wet.
Concrete.
Okay.
Number one.
As a church.
As individuals.
And as a church.
Take the low road.
We'll think about humility.
In that.
Number two.
As individuals.
And as a church.
Take the long view.
And number three.
As individuals.
And as a church.
Take the way.
Of love.
Point number one.
Take the low road.
As individuals.
And as a church.
We're thinking about humility.
Before God.
We're thinking about humility.
Before his word.
And we're thinking about humility.
Before one another.
Don't let anything.
Brothers and sisters.
Hinder or discourage.
Your humble and joyful.
Walk before God.
Talking individually.
And I'm talking together.
As a church.
And you have to make these points.
Because we are.
Compartmentalizing types.
And sometimes.
We are.
Flourishing among the saints.
But not flourishing when alone.
And other times.
We seem to be flourishing when alone.
But we're not flourishing.
Among the saints.
And so we must see to it.
That we take the low road.
Before God.
When we are alone.
And when we are together.
Humility before God.
Is the safe place.
In which to live.
And walk.
Humility before his word.
As individuals.
Means.
That we will look to him.
As our father.
And source.
And it means also.
That we will go on.
Being conformed.
To Christ.
By his word.
It means humbling ourselves.
Before the living word of God.
As individuals.
As fathers.
That are loving wives.
And leading families.
As wives.
That are submitting to.
And loving their husbands.
As children.
To their parents.
Parents.
To their children.
Brothers and sisters.
Among the church.
Humility before God.
And his word.
Means.
We are not willing.
To go about life.
Or ministry.
Apart from increasing conformity.
To what he has spoken.
In his word.
This will be a safeguard.
For you.
That will keep your lampstand.
From being removed.
If when you have disagreements.
You come to one another.
And say.
Let us bow before our God.
And let us go.
And consult.
His word.
Together.
If you acknowledge.
The authority of scripture.
And what is taught here.
And what is practiced here.
And in how you live.
Then you will be protected.
From many ills.
And many schemes.
Of the enemy.
Brothers and sisters.
Take the low road.
Before his word.
Do not be.
Stifled.
By the enemy.
And do not be distracted.
By the schemes of men.
Take the low road.
With one another.
Let us pray for one another.
Be hospitable.
As I'm sure you're already doing.
Speaking the truth.
To one another.
In love.
As you're already doing.
Take that low road.
And do it.
Until the Lord returns.
Horatius Bonner says.
A Christian is growing.
When he elevates.
His master.
Talks less.
Of what he himself is doing.
And becomes smaller.
And smaller.
In his own esteem.
Until like the morning star.
He fades away.
Before the rising sun.
When the world looks upon a people.
Who through the grace of God.
Are making much.
Of Christ.
Rather than much.
Of themselves.
There will be great glory.
To his name.
We need backbone.
I preached a message a while back.
Someone reminded me of it.
Yesterday I think.
Or the day before.
For backbone and bowels.
For the wilderness.
And the war.
One of these.
Unusually long.
Words.
Titles.
And then it has the word bowels.
Which we only think of intestinally.
Which is why Julie is making the face.
She's making.
Right now.
But the word bowels.
The King James.
Uses.
With reference to the affections.
Of Jesus Christ.
That's because in the Greek.
It's the same word.
Used for intestines.
Bowels.
Or affections.
And based on the context.
You use it that way.
And in earlier English speaking eras.
They used bowels.
To speak of.
What's going on inside of me.
Or affectionately.
What's going on.
Inside of me.
And we as a church.
Brothers and sisters.
We need backbone.
In this era.
The church has always needed backbone.
But we need backbone now.
Perhaps in America.
Like never before.
Because the deceptions.
The twisting of God's law.
The hatred toward the church.
Is more prevalent now.
In our nation in particular.
Than it has ever been before.
And we need clarity from God's word.
We need backbone.
Unbending faithfulness to God's word.
I think.
Well I'll skip that.
Scholarly statement.
Doesn't matter.
Backbone and bowels.
Are what we need then.
We need backbone.
Not to bend.
When God's word.
Is being resisted.
And we need bowels.
Of compassion.
And affections.
For Christ.
That we might love.
As we ought to love.
In fact.
We need the kind of backbone.
And the kind of bowels.
That can produce the kind of saints.
Who can joyfully face martyrdom.
Point number two.
So.
To have that backbone.
And those bowels.
Of affections for Christ.
We must take the low road.
The low road.
Number two.
Take the long view.
As individuals.
And as a church.
Take the long view.
It is customary.
In church planting.
Not to take the long view.
It's customary.
To do a good deal.
Of administrative work.
Make sure.
As we've often thought about.
You have a good speaker.
You have a good worship leader.
You have a good kids program.
Maybe a few other things.
Good program.
Etc.
If you can do the hard work.
Up front.
To get those things in place.
You're going to have a successful church.
Well that's.
That's worldly pragmatism.
We don't care about having a successful church.
As the world defines organizations.
We care about bearing fruit.
For the sake of our Lord's name.
And therefore.
We need to take the long view.
The long view meaning.
The grand narrative.
Rather than.
What a friend of mine called.
The seduction of grandiosity.
There's the grand view.
The grand narrative.
Which goes all the way back.
To eternity past.
And stretches forward.
To eternity future.
And we are right in the middle of this.
As the church.
And to realize.
That the building of the church.
Is blood.
Sweat.
And tears.
Fellowship.
And bearing of the cross.
And offering up prayers.
And long suffering one with another.
And being.
Keeping in step with the spirit.
Painstakingly studying God's word.
And encouraging one another with it.
And rebuking error when it arises in the church.
And pressing together as a people.
Against the tide of this age.
In mission.
That.
And not just reaching the point.
Where you say we're finally doing that.
So now we can have the conference about it.
That everyone comes to.
But to say no.
We may or may not have the conference.
We may never have the conference.
But that's what we're going to do.
Until the Lord returns.
That's the long view.
Until creation.
Which has been subjected to futility.
Is released from its curse.
That's what we're going to do.
And we're going to go out.
With our.
Our sickle.
Reaping.
As much of the harvest.
As we can.
Until the time of judgment arrives.
That's the long view.
A long view personally.
With reference to our sanctification.
But a long view.
With reference to our life.
As a church.
And the ministry.
To which he has called us.
We may think about William Carey.
For instance.
Adoniram Judson.
These men were.
Missionaries.
In the.
Early 1800s.
Both of whom.
And there's actually a list.
Of about 10 of these guys.
In different places.
Going to.
Hindus.
And going to.
Islamic nations.
And many.
There's a list.
Of eight or 10 of them.
I read.
In the other day.
That labored.
For seven years.
Before they saw.
Their first convert.
True convert.
Well.
I'm not saying.
That's how it's going to be here.
But what if Christ's church exists.
For seven years.
Sharing the gospel.
Building up.
Brothers and sisters.
Being faithful.
To preach Christ.
To others.
And you don't see.
One true conversion.
For seven years.
Will you still gather?
Will you still worship?
Will you still rejoice?
Will you continue.
To build up the church?
Will you still worship?
I believe.
I believe by his grace.
You will.
But not unless you take the long view.
Not unless you say.
Jesus is worthy.
And we trust him.
We love him.
We're taking the grand narrative.
Rather than the seduction.
Of grandiosity.
We must take the long view.
If we would have a healthy church.
And quality ministry.
That glorifies Christ.
We must take the long view.
With our own families.
And with the church.
By which we're building a heritage.
As we look to his return.
We must pray.
That he would teach us.
To number our days.
That we may get a heart.
Of wisdom.
The long view.
Is the way of wisdom.
The short view.
Is the way of foolishness.
We mustn't be passive.
In one sense.
But we mustn't be hasty.
Either.
In 1 Corinthians 10.
Paul warned.
The Corinthian church.
Recounting the history of Israel.
And their sins.
And their judgments.
And said to them.
Take heed.
If you think you stand.
Lest you fall.
These things were written.
For our sakes.
And our instruction.
Upon whom the ends of the age.
Have come.
We are familiar.
Of course.
With Revelation 2 and 3.
In which.
The majority of the churches.
Were hearing.
A direct warning.
From the risen Lord.
And the divine threat.
That unless they repented.
Their lampstand.
Would be removed.
From its place.
Let us not be proud.
Or presumptuous.
As to think the same.
Could not happen with us.
Let us instead.
Take.
The low road.
And the long view.
Last point.
Take the way of love.
There is worldly pragmatism.
That I mentioned before.
But what I'm giving to you here.
By the mouth.
Of God himself.
Is a kind of sacred.
And sovereign pragmatism.
In other words.
As Paul says.
If you.
Live in these ways.
The peace of God.
Will be upon you.
Take the way of love.
First Corinthians 13.
In that passage.
Paul makes clear to us.
That.
The way of love.
Is superior.
To giftedness.
Or to worldly success.
In church.
And ministry.
The way of love.
Is the more excellent way.
The way of love.
Requires.
Supernatural grace.
Perseverance.
Affection.
One for another.
And we can be sure.
That there will come times.
Either now.
Or later.
In Christ's church.
When.
The feeling of affections.
For one another.
Will run thin.
There will be certain members.
That you are.
More attracted.
To fellowshipping with.
And there will be certain members.
That grind against you.
Perhaps this has already happened.
Perhaps this happened even today.
Where you had to pray under your breath.
Oh yeah.
Give me love.
For this sister.
Give me love.
For this brother.
If it hasn't happened today.
It's going to happen another day.
What is the excellent way?
What does it mean for the church.
To understand.
That we must take the way.
Of love.
We must take the love.
The way of love.
In reference.
To God.
We must first.
Love him.
And we love him.
Because he first loved us.
Which brings us back.
To the gospel.
Remembering the gospel.
Is the only means.
By which we may grow.
In love.
For one another.
The kind of love.
That when.
People see it.
At work.
In the church.
They marvel.
And they are surprised.
And they are convicted.
And they go out.
Saying.
Surely God.
Is among them.
May the Lord.
Increase our love.
For him.
We must love our wives.
As men.
As husbands.
Must love.
Our husbands.
As wives.
We must.
Love the brethren.
As married and single men.
And women.
We must grow.
In the grace.
Of loving one another.
We must.
Make it our aim.
To take the way.
Of love.
This is daily.
To be.
Our aim.
And we must love.
With the very love.
Of Christ.
Until he returns.
For his people.
New testament.
Love.
Brothers and sisters.
Is of him.
And through him.
And to him.
And as the church.
We must.
Take the way of love.
Not once.
Not twice.
But daily.
Until the end.
With reference.
To unbelievers.
We must take the way.
Of love.
We must have boldness.
We must be unswerving.
In our faith.
In our convictions.
In our proclamation.
But we must not forget.
To love them.
As Christ.
Showed his love.
Towards sheep.
Who were without.
A shepherd.
An instrumental moment.
In my own life.
Probably.
Eight or ten years ago.
Was coming home.
From the fire station.
As was my custom.
Needing sleep.
And so I would.
Say hello to Audrey.
And I would go and lay down.
In my bed.
And often I would put on.
A theological discussion.
Some kind of panel discussion.
Or a lecture.
Or something.
And I would lay there.
And listen.
Until the voices.
Turned into the peanuts.
Teacher.
Womp womp womp womp womp womp.
And then.
I would fall asleep.
And.
I was listening to this.
This discussion about.
Campus evangelism.
Evangelism.
Evangelism on college campuses.
And I don't remember.
Who else was there.
But I do know that.
That D.A.
Carson was there.
And one of the guys.
Piped up and said.
What do you see.
In modern campus ministry.
That you didn't see.
Say 20 years ago.
Is there any.
Approach that you've changed.
Anything you've done differently.
And the brothers brought up.
Valuable points.
I was in a.
A haze.
Tired.
Laying there.
And I was starting to.
Their voices were starting to turn into the peanuts teacher voices.
Womp womp womp.
I thought this is good.
I'm going to finally get some rest.
And.
What I didn't realize.
Was that Don Carson had something to say.
That would wake me up again.
And when he piped in.
After all of these musings.
Apologetical thoughts.
Approaches that we need to take.
New atheism versus old atheism.
The old atheism.
Denied the existence of God altogether.
The new.
The new atheism.
Accuses the God of the Bible.
Of being.
A God of genocide.
And a God.
Who is unjust.
And on and on and on.
So there's new arguments.
New approaches.
The brothers are bringing up all of these things.
And Don Carson gets on.
Who has done a great deal of campus.
College level.
Evangelism.
And he says.
Well dear brothers.
I don't mean.
To rain on anyone's parade.
But I think we've forgotten one of the most crucial things.
We've got to love them.
And whether it was partly owing to my fatigue.
Or whether it was.
An important moment for me.
I began to weep.
In my bed.
Remembering the simplicity.
And power.
Of the love of God in Christ.
To forgive sinners.
And save them.
As he had done for me.
This must mark our evangelism.
And discipleship.
We must take.
The way.
Of love.
Going to close by reading.
Here's an alliteration for you.
Two.
Pertinent.
Passages.
From Peter's.
Perspective.
Thought about that this morning.
That's.
Peter.
Thank you Adam.
I knew I could.
I actually.
I actually thought about you this morning.
I thought.
Adam's going to add to this.
A pair.
Of pertinent.
Passages.
From Peter's.
Precious.
Perspective.
Okay.
In light of the fact.
Brothers and sisters.
That God would have a humble household.
For himself.
In light of the fact.
That we must take the low road.
And the long view.
And the way.
Of love.
I'll close.
With these.
Two paragraphs.
First Peter.
Four.
Seven through eleven.
The end of all things.
Is at hand.
Therefore.
Be self-controlled.
And sober minded.
For the sake.
Of your prayers.
And above all.
Keep loving.
One another.
Earnestly.
Since love.
Covers.
A multitude.
Of sins.
Show hospitality.
To one another.
Without grumbling.
As each.
Has received a gift.
Use it.
To serve one another.
As stewards.
Good stewards.
Of God's varied grace.
Whoever speaks.
As one who speaks.
Oracles of God.
Whoever serves.
As one who serves.
By the strength.
That God supplies.
In order that.
In everything.
God may be glorified.
Through Jesus Christ.
To him be glory.
And dominion.
Forever.
And ever.
Amen.
Last paragraph.
Chapter 5.
5b.
Through 11.
Clothe yourselves.
All of you.
With humility.
Toward one another.
For God.
Opposes the proud.
But gives grace.
To the humble.
Humble yourselves.
Therefore.
Under the mighty hand.
Of God.
So that at the proper time.
He may exalt you.
Casting all your anxieties.
On him.
Because he cares.
For you.
Be sober minded.
Be watchful.
Your adversary.
The devil.
Prowls around.
Like a roaring lion.
Seeking someone.
To devour.
Resist him.
Firm in your faith.
Knowing that the same.
Kinds of suffering.
Are being experienced.
By your brotherhood.
Throughout the world.
And after you have suffered.
A little while.
The God of all grace.
Who has called you.
To his eternal glory.
In Christ.
Will himself restore.
Confirm.
Strengthen.
And establish you.
To him.
Be the dominion.
Forever.
And ever.
Amen.
Christ church.
Take the low road.
The long view.
And the way.
Of love.
And the God of peace.
Will be with you.
To the very end.
And the thing.