Sermon Transcript:
Courtney, appreciate you so much. Thank you guys for being here. I can tell fall is among us. We have some supporters of various teams now it tends towards Dallas Cowboys, I understand that. But yeah, so we have some fans out here. And I noticed that there's others as well. And so be sensitive to those who may not support the Cowboys. And then if you are not a Cowboys, fans also be sensitive to the Cowboys fans next week, because who knows what the score is going to be? All right, so and that's not prophecy one way or the other. I'm just a pastor. Okay. And so we'll just go right into the lesson today, of course, is on preparing our hearts for serving the city, I think I talk a lot about seek the good of the city, I might even say the word seek the peace in the Hebrew term, and Shalom. You may have heard that before. But it's that holistic idea of the good of the city, but I'm not sure I've ever shared exactly where that comes from that idea. There's a there's a very clear passage in scripture that really helps us to understand what we're doing, why we're doing it, what we hope to accomplish in these days together. So it will be in the book of Jeremiah and Jeremiah is an interesting book. It's very thick, it's very long. It's one of the longest prophetic books in the Bible. It is found in the Old Testament. When you think Old Testament I know you've probably heard about the nation of Israel, there's a there's a nation state Israel today, I get that it worked a little bit different in the Old Testament, because in the Old Testament, when you think about Israel, it was also a people and the land, right. And so they had, we live in a democracy, they had a theocracy. So the idea of God and government, we're all intertwined. And one of the things that you see and understand in the ancient world is that there were times when other nations would come and ransack places. And so you see, the, the idea of the United Kingdom, the idea of Israel in its glory days would have been about 1000 BCE, around the time of David, that would have been Solomon's temple, you may be heard of Solomon, the wisest man on earth. But that United Kingdom didn't last very long, they became the breaking of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722. The southern kingdom fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC. Now I just saw this as a this is history, but it's also biblical history. And it helps us to understand kind of where the Bible's at when the southern kingdom of Jerusalem fell. In 586 BC to the Babylonians, they decided to take some of them into exile back to Babylonia, them, and they did this very strategically, they said, We're going to take the leaders, the the province, the priests, the the skilled workers, any community leader they could find, and we're gonna bring them for a generation or two into another land, because that would assimilate them. And so when they did that, the Israelites were rightly so thinking, what are we supposed to do? And so their, their gut instinct was, let's, let's huddle to ourselves. Let's sort of build a wall around this community and wait for God to take us back home. And so that was their instinct. And Jeremiah comes along, and he says, no, no, no, you have got to think about your being in a different land a foreign land in a different way. And that is where we're at this morning, in terms of Jeremiah, addressing that whole issue of the people of God being in an area that they don't find, love very much like home. So beginning in verse four of chapter 29 of the book of Jeremiah, this is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel says to the captives, he is exiled to Babylon, from Jerusalem. So I've already kind of told you that story. It's interesting, the way the Bible looks at things is that everything is ultimately under the plan, and the will of God. And so even though a pagan, non Israelite, non Christian nation came to take these people out of their home says that God, of course, allows all this and so, what's going on here? God digital says to all the captives, he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem, build homes, plan to stay plant gardens and eat the food they produce, marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren multiply do not dwindle away. And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it for its welfare will determine your welfare there. So you can see right there, it's just that whole idea of when a city thrives, you will thrive as an individual this is just kind of basic spiritual things the way it works. Now this would have sound. God, are you sure you know what you're talking about? Because these are a what opposing enemy that has brought us as what people not who willingly left their homeland, but that were dragged out of their homeland, brought to a land that they did not know, not speak the language and understand the culture and are now here for a little while. Their gut instinct and urine eyes gut instinct would be let's, let's retain something of what we have. And let's not go out there and be among these people. They're different than us. They, they do not think like us, they don't do things the way we do. And so one of the first things I want us to see this morning, though, it's very clear, is that when El Paso prospers, you will prosper. Now, that seems so counterintuitive for a lot of reasons. And I'll get into some of those. But I just want to throw that out there. That's what I see from this passage. It's that whole idea of when the people of God go into a city, and they are not only concerned about themselves, but they're concerned about how things work and function in the place that they live, that they would function smooth that they would function, right that they would go into things that would help the city be beautified and to do well financially, when all that occurs, that you yourself that I myself, will get prosperity. Now, this is so countercultural in that day, and in our day, because everything in us, pulls us towards self, right? We don't have to teach little kids to say me or mine, right? We teach them to say, Mommy, we seem to say, Daddy, but somehow they pick up very early Mine, mine me, right? Why? Because we are bent or pulled towards our own individualism. And then of course, this is, this is heightened by all the advertising that you and I are inundated with, not only on television, and radio has in days gone by, but in our own very devices that we have in our pockets. It's all about spending money on self now. Sounds like No, no, no, I have some history here. And so there is a sense of my people, my familia, my family, my ethnicity, my tribe. That's the other thing that we're sometimes pulled to think no, no, I'm not only just pulled towards self, but I have an understanding of my people. But Christianity really smacks both of those down. And what God was trying to say to the people of God, then and he's trying to say to us now is that Christianity is always others centered. It's always other center. It's not just about me, it's about you. It's like, how are you? How are your needs. Think about this in terms of any sort of marital relationship, if you've ever had a relationship with a spouse, or if you've observed spousal relationships, you know, that only takes one to be all about self to really wreck that relationship. But if you're in a marital relationship, and you're not only concerned about your needs, but you're actually caring and concerned about the other's needs, then you have a hope for prospering and thriving, it's already been mentioned, but that is the first and the second commandment. And so the point is, at this passage, you can't get rounded according to verse seven and following, which is make this your home as long as you're here. Now, some of y'all are still like, no, wait
a second pastor, you don't know how I got here. You don't know the social dynamics of what brought me here, I didn't choose to go to El Paso I am married in or I just got stuck here somehow on the side road or the military sent me here or some other job or I was born here, or a generation or two back, we came over through waters and this was just the first place that my ancestors stopped. And so that's why I'm here. And what we fail to see is all of that is over the sovereign. Under the sovereign plan of God, however we got here, whether it was through our own means or whether through our own will or against our will, because that's what the people of God were faced with in Jeremiah's time. They didn't choose to go to Babylon, Babylon chose to come and get them and take them to a place that was not theirs. do this do this idea of making a place your home, even when everything isn't quite right. Now, how are we able to do that we're able to do that because the people of God has all have always seen themselves at some level as sojourners and wonders as exiles in this land. And so that a lot of times will cause us to retreat. You see this sometimes in Christianity, and maybe you are a part of that or you've been a part of a church or faith community that was somewhat scared of the world. And so they wanted to build up walls and say, no, no, no, no world bad. Jesus Christianity, church, our Christian family good. And so we're going to try to create that separation and what is going on here, the book of Jeremiah says, Don't do that. Figure out a way to make this your home to work alongside because when you seek the good of the city, you yourself will be prosperous. But that's a weird thing. Because because we're supposed to do this fully realizing this isn't our home, we're to do this without taking on the values of the culture around us. That's where the tension lies, right? It's almost like that phrase that you've maybe heard before, from a legal sense kind of a resident alien, it's idea that we're residents here, but yet we feel like like, we're aliens, why? And that's just that whole idea of like, we know that it's not quite our home. And that's how the people of God have thought about this world for a long time. But we know that this is not our final resting place that someday will go to glory. So is that all that has to say here? No, it goes on verse eight. This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel says, Do not let your profits and fortune tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you do not listen to their dreams, because they are telling you lies in my name I've not sent them says the Lord. This is what the Lord says, you will be in Babylon for 70 years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised. And I'll bring you home again, For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, their plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen if you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me I will be found by use as the Lord. I will injure captivity and restore your fortunes, I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home, again to your own land. Now I want to tell you something about the Old Testament is that a lot of times you can see our narrative as the church and as the people of God. It's not a one for one correlation. But you can see the symbolism from the Old Testament and how God dealt with Israel, is how he deals with the people of God to this day, both individually, and corporately. So what they were looking for the Old Testament folks is they were looking for a literal land. That's what they thought God had for them was a literal land. That's why when Jesus came, He came and said that I am a Jew. I'm one of you, I came from you yet I'm for the whole world. It's not about this land here. It's about a kingdom that is to come. It's not about me establishing myself in a literal city. It's about a city on a hill. It's about a city that has become a new Jerusalem. So all that to say that when you read the Old Testament, all the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus. So that's true about Jeremiah. Maybe you've even heard those phrases before Jeremiah 2911. For I know the plans I have for you. You may have even received that on a card or had that written to you as a note from a fellow believer, how are we to receive that because we understand that was for a nation like Israel, it's because ultimately we come up under the as the people of God when Jesus comes right, because he can not only for the Jewish people, but for the whole world. All right, little side thing there. But number two, God has a plan. God has a plan, we've got to believe that because all of us sort of want to put an asterix on that, you know, I know not me, because I got drug here I didn't, I was just born into this, or I just wandered into this church for this day, or I'm only here for a short time, I'm not sure that it really applies to me that I'm to seek the good of the city. I'm just here to, you know, go to a couple of restaurants kind of get done when I need to maybe buy a house and hope that equity is greater when I leave than when I got here. I mean, I've just got some I got some thoughts. Maybe we have a nicer car than what I used to have before. And all that is is really absent of what does God have for you and me, not just to live for yourself, not just to live for our tribe, or our people but to ask ourselves what does it mean to live for the peace and the prosperity of the city all the while knowing and believing that this home is only temporary that we will ultimately had to glory? Israel story is one of exile and then brought back into the land. Remember, he tells him it's going to be seven years now you can always find someone to tell you what you want to hear you understand. That's what fortune telling is. I mean, there's some sort of not good things about it spiritually even it gets into some demonic things. But a lot of times all fortune telling is is is someone hearing what you're saying and repeating back to you something that would sound good to you She'll continue to slap down money to get you to continue to hear things that your ears and your heart want to hear. They're saying, Don't do that. Because they're telling you this is only gonna be here a little while I am telling you as a prophet of God that you're gonna be here seven years, you're gonna be here a little while. So you better sink on in and figure out a way to create some permanency here. So this is a story that we that we carry with us as believers that were here for a little while. And then we had to glory we had to heaven here is not our permanent home. But we are seeking a city which is to come the idea of Hebrews 11 and 12. But if your synagogues and everything and I don't I don't believe that yet, you'll think I don't I don't know about that heavenly
mindset that sort of is. Pastor, I just struggle with that. Because I remember as a child I heard about Christianity, or I've heard about Christians are all about kind of getting into heaven. What does that mean? Well, if it means that you're have no earthly good, because all we're thinking about is the next world, you haven't got the point of this passage, because the very point of this passage is, is that we live in this world that we engage in this world, while not fully embracing those things which are counter to the world and to the things have gone, we don't build a wall between us in our city, we go in, and we serve, and we fight the good fight among them, when they are doing things that are consistent with what God would have for any community that hopes to prosper and do well in this world. And that's what's interesting is this whole idea of, I know the plans I have for you, they are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a hope, and a future. It's not us taking those and asking God to baptize our plans. I don't know if you've ever been there. Have you ever you've heard the phrase from any sort of person who's been on this earth long enough? If you want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans. Right? You ever heard that before that concept? Or maybe you yourself have thought that God I thought I told you what my plans are, I've got a plan, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna get this job, I'm gonna go this location, I'm gonna marry this person. And it's gonna go, great. It's not in reverse. It's the idea that God's saying, I've got you, I've got this situation. You don't have to worry. If you're in my will. If you're in my hand, if you're doing things my way that I will take care of you. And I will ultimately bless you, as you bless them. I don't pester I don't want to do this. Like you don't realize that in my city. Not only are we politically divided, but they're doing some stupid things, or they're actively against me, or they could care less who I am or what I'm doing. Do you think the Babylonians were pro Israel or pro Israel's God, not in the least, they were trying to bring their leaders into a different land to assimilate them. Babylon was crazy, powerful and crazy rich, if you remember from school that there were seven wonders of the ancient world, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World in Babylon, that they would have seen through King Nebuchadnezzar is the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. But all that to know that God's got this, and that we have the strength to put one foot in front of the other and to do the right thing, even when it's hard, even we don't feel like it. Because we know God has got us and he's got this, he's got this idea, this plan, it's not absent minded. You're not in El Paso in September of 2023, by mistake, he's got you here for a season. And while you and I are here, let's make this our home. And the best that we can. It's that whole idea. There was an old song that was written in the 20th century, because he lives and if you know the lyrics of that song, it's an older song you may have sang it. It's been redone several times. But it's that whole idea that because Jesus came in because he died and because he lives I can face tomorrow, because he lives all fear is gone, because I know he holds the future and life is worth living, just because he lives. Then one day I'll cross the river and fight life's final war with pain. And then as death gives way to victory, I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know he reigns because he lives I can face tomorrow and it goes on and life is worth living just because he lives but you understand that those lyrics directly correlate to what we're talking about today. Then we're not crazy when we go in there and love even in spite of hard things and hard times, even when we're in pain ourselves, even when we're missing certain aspects of relationships or, or we're grieving the idea that our city, our country, our culture, our world is involved in certain things. We turn our eyes towards the city because we believe that as El Paso as the border land prospers, so we will prosper. There's no doubt that cities are going to continue to grow. And our city especially, I was reading some just basic stats that you can find there any Google search online, and we're the sixth most populous state in Texas City, sorry, sixth most populous city in Texas, we've consistently grown anywhere from 10 to 20%. Since World War Two, and we continue to jump in 1920, we were about 100,000 people here in El Paso County. Today, at the 2020 census, we're at 865,000, just on this side of the border in El Paso County, we're the 22nd most populous city in America, just think about that for a minute. And the impact that we can have, I'm going to move into our partners here in a second. But I just want you to think about just what we can have the impact of us we're about 300 or so strong, regularly attend, we're about 600 people who call Life Church home, and just us and the impact that we can have by just being faithful stewards of what God has given us in our hands while we're here. Okay, so let's just look at some of the opportunities we have Fellowship of Christian Athletes, if you're not familiar with this, they are in multiple schools all throughout the city, they help our athletes come to know Jesus and to grow in him, they have an inlet into our public schools are legitimate inlet, so that they can share with people the love and the knowledge of Christ. And so we have actually two opportunities for them, they're going to move from one location to another, and so we're going to help them move, this is all going to happen next Sunday, all these projects are going to happen about the time you would typically go to church. So often we're gonna happen somewhere between 9am and noon. Next Sunday, we're gonna have opportunity to sign up there, or you can sign up online. So Fellowship of Christian Athletes, we're gonna make baggies for all the athletes at Pebble Hills High School, we're gonna have opportunity to deliver them the following week, it's just gonna be a glorious thing. Also, we're going to help them transition some of their services. Child Protective Services, as you may or may not be aware, a lot of times they are sympathetic towards faith based leaders and communities and, and places. And so we have our own faith based representative. She's been here a couple of times, we've done adoption or foster care initiatives. So we're going to work with them to help clean up some of their toys and really be a blessing to them. We did this last year, it's a very family friendly project, they'll pass a migrant center, I don't think I know you're aware that migrants come and go and a lot of them float through the El Paso area, you may not be aware that there are places that share the love of Christ as they helped me tangible needs. And so they'll pass them migrant centers through our association that we're a part of. And so what they do is they help with just basic toiletries, basic food and clothing. So we're going to help sort that that's another family friendly site, guiding star Coalition for life. As you guys know, Christians make no bones about the fact that we are life people. And so we believe in life from beginning to end, because we're all creating the image of God. And so this really helps with some of those issues. They're redoing a whole floor to help just with families, and there's opportunity to kind of help set the stage for a playground they want to build in downtown Paso del Norte center of hope that's our human trafficking organization that helps with that issue. We've partnered with them several times from this stage, as we help combat human trafficking here in the borderlands. They need help with sorting some donated items that they have as well. Salvation Army has a thrift store. And so they're getting pallets of material to come and help with the various migrant surgeons and other people who find themselves in a passive for a variety of reasons to help sort and build bags to really bless people as they come into our city or Reynolds home. That is a place in our city where vulnerable mothers vulnerable children go and they can find a place of home and refuge and rest for however many days they need to be there. They have some areas that need to be cleaned and up kept. And that's going to be something we're going to do kings kids, great organization, national organization, we have a chapter at a interesting ranch on the other side of town from the old 1800s. They were gifted that many, many years ago. So they help with kids doing little kids day camps throughout the year here in our border region, to really help them have a safe place, but they also give them Jesus. And so it's just an amazing organization. We've been down there a couple of times as a church, pre COVID Grace Community Centers, probably our newest partner up there. They're only two years old. And what they do is they help what would used to be what we normally call people who are homeless or vulnerable to really have a warm meal, a place to hear about Jesus. They have a room that we're going to redo and kind of help with painting and fan and putting on some linoleum flooring and then Finally, a Youth With A Mission YWAM. Some of y'all may or may not be aware, we support Tom and Connie hellmouth they're out of our church, they have an El Paso location, they also have a water as location where they help with little kids and so, but at the El Paso location, we can always kind of help tidy up that area, that building that is a launching point for ministry throughout our city for Youth With A Mission, again, a national organization. So these are 11 opportunities, that we have to step into what God has for us as a church
this coming week, and I want to tell you, just in engaging with these partners, this week, and the weeks gone by, they are so excited, and they're so blessed, that live church would do this, that we would care enough to give up our Sunday to come down there and to serve them, it is such a big impact. You just really and I really just have no earthly idea because it just, it has legs. You know, a lot of times we think about how negative things and gossip has legs. But you guys are aware that also leaning into what God has for us and doing the good things that God calls us also has legs and impact way beyond what we could think or imagine. Now, finally, I just want to say that God has a plan, and he wants to do things like this. Okay, I mean, this isn't anything, you know, divinely inspired in terms of these exact locations. It's just ones that we found partners in our city, but he wants us to serve, I can tell you that that is biblical and divinely inspired, and he wants to accomplish it through us. But if you and I don't do this, just rest assure the consequences are devastating. Now, I don't mean that to say the consequences are devastating. If you don't participate and be rich, I think you ought to it's part of our church, if you're consider this your church home, I think you should if you're new around here, great. Come on, join us. I'm not that kind of Pastor, I don't manipulate in that kind of way. And this isn't that kind of church. But I will tell you though, biblically, if we just find ourselves just about self, just about our individual self, just about our ethnicity, our tribe, or whatever, if you and I only consume, if we find ourselves only consumers and not those who give of ourselves, don't pour into others don't give back, we only use our resources to serve self. Here's what I know, biblically. And practically, eventually, even what we do have will be taken away from us or disappear. So clearly a biblical principle in the Bible, and I'm not going to read the rest of the chapter of Jeremiah, but if you were to continue to read the following verses, it's very clear that, okay, there's also going to be great things for those who are obedient to what God calls them to do. But to those who choose not. There's great devastation and destruction. This leads to my last point, which is if you and I squander, we will perish. Again, I don't use this as some sort of, you know, threat to get you to do the next thing that we're doing here as a church. I don't mean it that way at all. I just mean it as a clear, biblical warning, when I read the Bible, I can't get over the fact that we think that we can have some sort of neutrality, okay, I'm not gonna do good to my neighbor, because I can just do good to my neighbor tomorrow. And what we see over in the Bible is, is that what'll happen is, is that if we don't take seriously the first and second commandment, even what we have, will be taken away. I think about the parable of the talents, where you had different people, their hands, their feet, their various talents, both financial and their literal ability to do things, the talents that God had given him. Those that put it to good use, were always praised and those that decided to bury it or to do nothing with it always met destruction. But I want to end on a positive note, but I didn't want to kind of go over that and not not talk about the warning. So verse seven, let's remember what this whole thing is all about this whole be rich project and this idea that we've been doing this long before me, which I do this annually, around the fall of the year, verse seven, and worked for the peace and prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile. If you're more curious about that whole idea of exile it was talked about living James and we'll talk about it again, when we preach to First Peter, praying to the Lord for it for its welfare will determine your welfare. Do you understand that we're prayer? Think about what we've already done so far with worshipping and Shelby and others leading us in prayer. We are to pray for El pasa. Have you ever thought about that before? Now keep in mind that the Jewish people were called to pray for a pagan nation that drugged them from their homeland. At worst you and I found ourselves in El Paso because we made certain decisions that we weren't quite aware or maybe our parents or our grandparents made decisions that we aren't aware and and so it was I know this is my home. I love this place great. You've already embraced that which God has for you, but are Have you moved the needle in terms of spiritually thinking about the city with spiritual eyes and began to pray for it or to consistently pray for it. It says pray for the place to prosper. Pray for peace holistically, one of the Things that I can't get over when I read the scriptures is just how much that God is concerned about our physical well being, meaning tangible needs, he's concerned about our mental health, right how we are mentally. Again, all we can see is the inside and the outside, people can't see the inside, but we can, we can do some things that are going on based off of the response. How much of us would be helped mentally, how many people would be helped mentally, if we just began to see that it's not about self, that we have to look outside of ourselves? We want holistic peace for our pastor, not only physically, not only mentally, but finally spiritually. And again, we know what our lane is, we know what we're trying to do here at Life Church, that we're trying to help people see and know the love of Jesus Christ. But rest assure, when we pray for the peace of an area, like the border land, we're talking about this holistically. Right? Don't you want that for your own life? Don't you want to be healthy? Mentally? Don't you want to be healthy physically? And don't you want to be strong? spiritually? I know I do. And as we want that for ourselves, what does the Scriptures tell us over and over again, we should want that for others, those around us, when we work for the welfare of the city, the good, the prosperity, we're doing the hands and the work of God Himself? Why are we doing this, you're gonna have an opportunity next week, to maybe you know, paint a brush or certain sorts of clothes, you know, you're gonna rub shoulders with people, we have an opportunity to show them the love of Christ, and also to open up our mouths and tell them about the hope that we have within us. Oh, let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you that you didn't just leave us wandering or wondering why we're in El Paso that you have told us to make this our home. Whether we're here 11 months, or we've been here hundreds of years, generations back. We want to be a people who are obedient to you for the time and the season that you have as here, Father help us to do that when we're struggling with that. When we're struggling with past mistakes, whether it is connected to El Paso or not, when we're struggling with just getting out of bed or struggling to Love You to Know you to pursue you to pray for anything. Much less praying for a city that sometimes seems indifferent towards us or doesn't care or at worse, maybe has opposed us in something help us to lay down our lives because you lay down your life for us. Oh Lord, it's in that Jesus, that we pray and offer up our praise this morning.
