Citizens of Heaven: Living Distinctly in a Secular World

• Grace and Transformation [00:40:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts behavioral modification with the transformative power of God's grace, identifying it as the secret to Christian living.
• Christian Identity and Citizenship [00:41:32 ▶️ 📄]
  > Discussion of believers as citizens of heaven, exiles, pilgrims, and ambassadors living in a foreign land.
• Mission in the World [00:43:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > Explaining why Christians remain in the world: to be sent on a mission to save sinners, just as Jesus was sent, while being protected from the evil one.
• Contrast Between Christian and World [00:46:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > Highlighting the distinct behavioral differences between believers (submissive, gentle, courteous) and their former non-Christian state (foolish, disobedient, malicious).
• Continuity of Jesus and Paul [00:48:28 ▶️ 📄]
  > Arguing that Paul's teachings are not abstract laws but extrapolations of Jesus's teachings, specifically linking Titus 3 to the Sermon on the Mount.
• Christian Witness and Identity [00:49:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the biblical metaphors of salt and light, arguing that Christians must preserve virtue and illuminate darkness through their distinct character and good works.
• Gratitude and Attitude [00:54:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies 'grumbling and disputing' as the primary barriers to effective witness, linking a negative spirit directly to a lack of gratitude for God's grace.
• Civil Authority and Submission [01:00:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines the Christian's general responsibility to be submissive to civic authorities, referencing Romans 13, while noting limits when government oversteps its God-given jurisdiction.
• Civil Obedience and Resistance [01:03:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the Christian's duty to submit to government, the limits of that submission when government oversteps its God-given jurisdiction, and the biblical precedent for civil resistance (Acts 5, Shadrach/Meshach/Abednego).
• Good Works and Public Service [01:09:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that grace leads to good works, urging Christians to be 'ready' (prepared) to serve in the public square with excellence and distinction, rather than withdrawing from the world.
• Interpersonal Relationships and Speech [01:13:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor outlines four qualities for relating to others: speaking evil of no one (avoiding slander), avoiding quarreling, being gentle, and showing perfect courtesy to all men.
• Christian Virtues (Kindness and Meekness) [01:20:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines kindness as taking the low road and yielding to others, and meekness as showing perfect courtesy, citing Spurgeon and biblical translations.
• Christological Example [01:22:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts Jesus's potential for domineering power with his actual meekness, explaining that his gentleness invites sinners to find rest.
• Church Application and Prayer [01:25:06 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor transitions to a corporate prayer asking for transformation into salt and light, obedience to authorities, and service in the culture without withdrawal.

• Sermon Illustration [00:45:38 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses an analogy of a parent reminding children to pack their backpacks and lunch at the beginning of the school year, noting that reminders are needed again later, to illustrate that the Christian life involves being reminded of what one already knows rather than always learning something new.
• Sermon Illustration [00:49:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the ancient use of salt as a preservative (due to lack of refrigeration) to begin an illustration on the Christian's role as the 'salt of the earth' from Matthew 5.
• Sermon Illustration [00:49:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of salt as a preservative and seasoning to explain the Christian's role in preserving virtue and adding the 'flavor of Christ' to the world. He also references the historical example of Israel complaining in the wilderness despite God providing manna and water, to illustrate how ungratefulness leads to a 'crooked and twisted' character.
• Sermon Illustration [01:04:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a humorous hypothetical example of the government mandating that everyone drink Dr. Pepper at noon to illustrate the concept of government overstepping its God-given jurisdiction and the resulting absurdity of such commands.
• Sermon Illustration [01:04:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a hypothetical scenario where the government mandates drinking Dr. Pepper at noon to illustrate government overreach and the absurdity of obeying laws outside God-given jurisdiction.
• Sermon Illustration [01:06:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the American Revolution, citing the doctrine of the 'lesser magistrate' from the Reformed tradition (Geneva) and Edmund Burke to argue that the revolution was a justified response to tyranny and taxation without representation, not mere rebellion.
• Sermon Illustration [01:11:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the Boy Scouts slogan 'Be Prepared' and 'Do a good turn daily' to illustrate the biblical concept of being ready for every good work and serving in the public square.
• Sermon Illustration [01:12:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites Joseph serving with integrity in Egypt and William Wilberforce campaigning to end the slave trade in England as examples of Christians serving with excellence in the public square.
• Sermon Illustration [01:15:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts Jesus' direct confrontation of the Pharisees with His refusal to slander them behind their backs, illustrating the principle of destroying arguments/ideologies rather than attacking people personally.
• Sermon Illustration [01:17:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor cites Ronald Reagan's ability to attack the ideology of communism while personally winning over Mikhail Gorbachev, and R.C. Sproul's approach to engaging secularists, to illustrate attacking ideologies rather than persons.
• Sermon Illustration [01:23:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a rhetorical contrast between how Jesus might act if he followed 'business journals' (bossing people around, manipulating, power plays) versus his actual behavior of inviting weary sinners to himself with meekness.

• Pastoral Charge [00:53:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor commands the congregation to perform all actions without complaining or arguing, identifying this as the key to shining as lights in the world.
• Pastoral Charge [01:11:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > To be prepared and willing to perform any good service available.
• Pastoral Charge [01:11:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > To perform a good deed every day.
• Pastoral Charge [01:25:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor leads a prayer asking for divine help to exhibit kindness, humility, and non-quarrelsome behavior within the church.
• Pastoral Charge [01:25:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The congregation is encouraged to submit to civil authorities and engage in good works within the broader culture.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:04:19] The end of the book of Psalms. Psalm 150. A glorious benediction to this book, but I struggled with it a little bit. Let me read you these words.
[00:04:34] Praise Yah. Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds. Praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness.
[00:04:53] Praise Him with trumpet blast. Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with tambourine and dancing. Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
[00:05:06] Praise Him with clashing cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise Yah. Praise Yah.
[00:05:17] And I read several commentaries and prayed about it and thought about it because the musician in me says, look at the instruments that are listed there. And then I woke up Saturday morning at about 3 a.m. and a voice inside of me said, don't be stupid. I sometimes have that voice
[00:05:38] that says, don't be stupido. It talks to me in Italian at times. And I said, I know what that is like. I've often sat on this stage as a soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In the last two
[00:05:57] minutes of that glorious piece of music, I have heard the most amazing sounds that most people will never experience. The air is literally charged. You get goosebumps. The hair on the back of your neck stands up as the chorus and orchestra collide in wave after wave of sound, bringing this
[00:06:24] masterpiece to a conclusion. It seems that the sound is pushing the air out of the room as every corner is filled with this. Sound waves are multiplied, frequencies and overtones form in ways that we don't normally experience.
[00:06:46] Our God is transcendent.
[00:06:50] He surpasses the boundaries of time, space, and human imagination.
[00:06:56] He is fully present in the entire universe, his nature filling all of space and time.
[00:07:05] And that's why occasionally we seek to model that in our worship, in our music that we would fill this space completely with everyone that has breath with the sound of praise. In eternity, it will be loud. If you look at the book of Revelation,
[00:07:30] every time it mentions this, it talks about a loud sound. And we get to experience a little bit of this eschatological promise that awaits us. So let us praise Yah with everything within us.
[00:07:49] Let's bow our heads. Father, we ask that you would guide us, that our hearts and minds would come before you in humble brokenness, desiring, Father, that we would adore you with everything that's within us. May we not be restricted by self-satisfaction, but may we offer to you the
[00:08:19] abundance of praise, the abundance of sacrifice that flows from redeemed people that you have purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ. And we ask this in our precious Savior's name. Amen.
[00:08:38] And we're going to sing together and do that by turning to number 302.
[00:08:44] Number 302, we're going to sing the hymn, Rejoice, the Lord is King.
[00:08:51] Let's stand together as we worship.

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:08:53] And if you would, turn and greet one another rejoicing.

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:13:31] Well, welcome.
[00:13:33] We are here today to worship Yahweh in spirit and in truth.
[00:13:42] Somebody asked me before the service to clarify the meaning of the word Yahweh.
[00:13:51] The Hebrew word Elohim was the generic word for God.
[00:13:57] When people talked about the gods, they used the word Elohim.
[00:14:00] Yah, or Yahweh, which we just heard in Psalm 150, is the revealed covenant name of God.
[00:14:08] it means I am that I am that God is pure being and it is the name that the people of God have used for God to call out to him as our covenant keeping God
[00:14:23] if you're a guest here welcome we are so glad that you are here there's a connect card in the pew if you would take that right now fill that out and in a moment we're going to pass the offering plate
[00:14:35] and we would love for you to put that in If you have any prayer requests, you can also write those on the Connect card as well.
[00:14:44] Our catechism this morning, if you pull out your catechism sheet, is question 83.
[00:14:55] I'll say the question and then we'll say the answer together.
[00:15:01] What are the keys of the kingdom?
[00:15:04] Answer, the preaching of the Holy Gospel in Christian discipline toward repentance.
[00:15:12] Both of them open the kingdom of heaven to believers and close it to unbelievers.
[00:15:20] Really a remarkable statement that Jesus taught us in Matthew 16 and Matthew 18, that through the proclamation of the gospel in church discipline, that we affirm.
[00:15:32] That's what we do when we bring someone into membership.
[00:15:35] We are affirming that we believe that they are heirs to the kingdom of heaven.
[00:15:41] A few announcements.
[00:15:42] If you would pick up your bulletin.
[00:15:46] First, a family announcement.
[00:15:50] We rejoice this week with Derek and Jesse Sammons at the birth of their son Lincoln this past Wednesday.
[00:16:00] So that is a praise.
[00:16:02] with Sam and his family.
[00:16:05] Where's Derek?
[00:16:05] Derek's here.
[00:16:06] I was like, wow, I can't believe that you're here today.
[00:16:09] He's here somewhere.
[00:16:11] There's so many ways to get involved, and it's so important that you are involved and that you're serving in the life of the church, and there's numerous ministries and Bible studies that are starting very soon,
[00:16:25] and hopefully all of you are plugging into a life group, but all of that is in here.
[00:16:31] And by the way, if you go to the website, go to the website and click on the events tab, that's where you will see all the signups for the different Bible studies and ministries.
[00:16:45] So go to the events tab and you'll see the different events and where you can sign up for those.
[00:16:53] Now, there's one thing I want to call to your attention because it begins this Friday and and that is preparation for our Christmas musical celebration.
[00:17:05] I know, we're already beginning right now.
[00:17:08] So we hold concerts in December, and really it's an outreach event.
[00:17:14] We'll have 2,000 people coming on this campus, hearing the music, and we'll be sharing the gospel with them.
[00:17:20] And for that event, we have special teams, we have a special choir, and we are asking if you would like to be a part of that we have the the first fellowship dinner and the first rehearsal is this Friday night so where do you register for that the events page
[00:17:43] go to the events page and and we would love for you to be a part of that that's an important outreach in the life of our church now I would like to invite our ushers to come forward and
[00:17:55] they are going to receive momentarily the offering. If you have a Connect card, please put that in the offering plate as it passes. Now, would you bow with me in prayer as we ask the Lord to bless this offering? Lord, we want to see the advance of your kingdom.
[00:18:16] Would you use the gifts that we are about to give for this purpose? Lord, we want to see sinners converted and saints grow in discipleship missionaries sent and the church expand we pray all this for your honor and your glory amen let's continue our worship if you would let's

[00:18:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:18:42] stand together as we sing in christ alone there's a reason why they were looking at me remember i told you i was stupid choir's supposed to sing and you can't pass plates when you're standing
[00:19:13] so have a seat. I'm sorry. I heard people talking to me on my left, and I thought, why are they talking? They play instruments. Choir's going to sing an old hymn,

[00:19:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:19:32] Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us. And both sound like that was an example. Let's stand together in Christ alone. Open your Bible to Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3, I'm going to read verses

[00:30:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:30:07] 1 to 5. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect
[00:30:28] courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures passing our days in malice and envy hated by others and hating one another but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared
[00:30:53] he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit Praise be to God.
[00:31:09] You may be seated.
[00:31:12] And let us go to the throne of grace in prayer.
[00:31:18] Lord, we come to you as blood-bought people, people who stand on a righteousness of another, the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
[00:31:29] And it is because you washed us, you renewed us, you changed our hearts, you called us out of a life of being foolish and disobedient and being a slave to our passions and pleasures, hating one another. You called us from that life, and you've given us every spiritual
[00:31:53] blessing in the heavenly places, you tell us. You have clothed us in your righteous robe. You have forgiven us of our sins. And so, Lord, we have a heart of gratitude to you. How can we not but
[00:32:07] serve you? How can we not call you Lord? How can we not live our lives for you? How can we not pursue sanctification? How can we not give you all the praise that is due your name? Because we are
[00:32:20] recipients of your grace. We pray, Lord, for those who are not walking underneath the lordship of Christ, who have not yet called upon Christ as Savior, we pray, Lord, that you would open their eyes, that they may see Christ, and in seeing Christ, that they would believe in him. We pray,
[00:32:42] Lord, that this morning, for those here who do not yet know Christ, that they would see Jesus, his death for sinners, his resurrection, which is vindication of that death, and they would see that He is the only Savior, the only way, the only truth, the only life that has been given to us.
[00:33:06] Lord, we pray for our missionaries all across the globe. We pray, Lord, this morning that they would be encouraged. We know that they are facing many trials and difficulties, and in the midst of all
[00:33:18] of these things, we pray, Lord, for great fruit that you would enable them to be successful in the advance of the kingdom, to be bold in the proclamation of the gospel, that you would protect
[00:33:30] their families from illness. Lord, we pray for our worship this morning. We pray, Lord, that you would enlighten our minds as we study your word. We pray, Lord, for your Holy Spirit to sanctify us.
[00:33:46] Lord, we don't want to leave here as the same person that we were when we came. We want to be sanctified. Lord, help us not to just go through the motions this morning, but renew our minds
[00:34:00] in the truth as we sing, as we pray, and as we study your word. We pray all this in Christ's name.

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:34:10] Amen. If you would look in your bulletin, you'll see a song sheet for a paraphrase to Psalm 150.
[00:34:17] We're going to end where we began this morning, singing a paraphrase of the words from Psalm 150.
[00:34:24] Let's stand together with praise the Lord.

[00:34:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:34:26] Together now.
[00:34:41] You made the starry host.
[00:34:45] You traced the mountain peaks.
[00:34:48] You paved the evening skies with love.
[00:34:55] The earth, it is your throne.
[00:34:58] From desert to the sea, all nature testifies your splendor.
[00:35:07] Praise the Lord, praise the Lord Sing His praise, all creation To where the dust is resolved Would you bow your heads with me one more time?

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:39:16] Lord, would you help us to put the distractions away from our minds?
[00:39:24] Lord, would you focus our minds on your word?
[00:39:28] And Lord, by the power of your Holy Spirit, We pray that we would see Christ this morning more fully, that we would understand your word in a deeper capacity, and most importantly, Lord, we pray that we would be changed more
[00:39:42] into your likeness, and that we would leave as holier, more sanctified people than we were when we came.
[00:39:51] I pray, Lord, now that you would speak through me in the power of your Holy Spirit, and I pray this in Christ's name, amen.
[00:39:58] I invite you to open your Bibles again to the passage that we read earlier to Titus chapter 3.
[00:40:08] And Titus chapter 3, there's a shift where Paul begins to talk about the Christian life in the world.
[00:40:16] Chapter 2, he was talking about our life in the church, and he's giving Titus instructions.
[00:40:22] Remember, he's on that island in the middle of the Mediterranean, the island of Crete.
[00:40:25] and he's telling Titus the secret to life in the church which you remember is a five-letter word in English grace for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men and it's the grace
[00:40:42] of God it's not behavioral modification that's what the therapists and the psychologists are trying to do it's grace it's transformation and Paul says that is the secret to life in the church and it is what makes Christians live differently in the world.
[00:41:01] If you look back at verse 14 of chapter 2, Paul reminds us, he says, that Jesus gave us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession
[00:41:16] who are zealous for good works.
[00:41:20] So he's purified a people of his own possession.
[00:41:24] We belong to him now.
[00:41:25] If you're in Christ, you belong to Jesus.
[00:41:28] We're part of his kingdom.
[00:41:32] And Paul says in Philippians, he says, now for the Christian, our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:41:44] He says something similar in verse 13, that we're waiting for Jesus.
[00:41:47] Our citizenship is in heaven.
[00:41:49] But as citizens of heaven, what does it look like to live in the world down here?
[00:41:59] Remember Francis Schaeffer wrote a book, How Now Shall We Then Live?
[00:42:05] How do we live in this world?
[00:42:09] Peter, in 1 Peter 1, calls Christians the elect exiles or strangers.
[00:42:20] That interesting language, that you live here in this world, your citizenship is in heaven, you're an exile, you're a stranger.
[00:42:30] He says in chapter 2 of 1 Peter that we're pilgrims.
[00:42:34] What's a pilgrim?
[00:42:34] A pilgrim is somebody who goes on a journey in a foreign land.
[00:42:39] He says that's the picture of a Christian.
[00:42:41] You're on a journey in a foreign land.
[00:42:43] Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, he says we are ambassadors for Christ.
[00:42:51] What's an ambassador?
[00:42:53] An ambassador is somebody who leaves their own country, is a representative of that country, and goes to another country, and they represent that nation that they're from.
[00:43:03] He says you are an ambassador of the kingdom of heaven here in this world.
[00:43:08] why does Jesus leave us in the world why are we still here why doesn't you know when you become a Christian why doesn't like Star Trek why doesn't God just beam you up why doesn't that happen
[00:43:22] well Jesus tells us jot down this verse I'm gonna have you turn there Jesus said this is John 17 in the upper room with his disciples he says I do not ask he's praying to the father that you take
[00:43:36] them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. In other words, don't take them out of the world. Keep them from the evil one. He goes on to pray, they are not of the world just as I'm
[00:43:47] not of the world. And then he says, as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. Why was Jesus sent into the world? He was sent on a mission to save sinners. So Jesus says,
[00:44:03] just as the Father sent me into the world, I am sending you disciples into the world. So what's our purpose here as Christians? Why, if you're still breathing, which we all are, I think, why does God have you still here? And it is because we are on a mission to win people to
[00:44:25] Christ. That's the language that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 9. He says, I became all things to all in that I might win some, win some to the gospel. So we are to be in the world, Jesus says, but
[00:44:38] they're not of the world, but we're to be protected from the evil one, and we are to be on a mission.
[00:44:45] And what verses 1 and 2 of chapter 3, these are Paul's instructions to Titus to tell the people, to tell them how they are to live in this world down here.
[00:45:02] How do we do this?
[00:45:04] And I want you to notice, just real quick, four observations.
[00:45:07] These are very simple, and then we'll get into the meat of the text.
[00:45:11] But four quick observations.
[00:45:15] First, as believers, we need this reminder of how we are to live.
[00:45:24] Notice what Paul says right at the beginning of verse 1 He says, remind them, remind them If you're a parent, have you ever had to do this with your children?
[00:45:38] You know, we are leaving at this time Have your backpack ready, lunch packed Do you think if you tell them that at the beginning of the school year You might need to tell them again later?
[00:45:50] Yes And it's the same with us, is it not?
[00:45:54] We need to be reminded Now, Paul had already told the Cretans how they were to live, right?
[00:46:00] He had already told them that.
[00:46:01] And so Paul tells Titus, he says, but you're going to have to remind them again.
[00:46:05] And by the way, we need this reminder.
[00:46:07] Most of the Christian life is not learning something new, but it's being reminded of what you already know.
[00:46:17] Second observation.
[00:46:19] Notice this.
[00:46:20] There is a distinct contrast between the Christian and the world.
[00:46:29] So there's a contrast between who the Christian is as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and those in the world, and that is very evident.
[00:46:39] Notice he describes the Christian in verse 1 and 2.
[00:46:42] He says the Christian is submissive to rulers and authorities and obedient, ready for every good work.
[00:46:47] They speak evil of no one.
[00:46:49] They avoid quarreling.
[00:46:50] They're gentle.
[00:46:51] They show perfect courtesy toward all people.
[00:46:54] That's the Christian.
[00:46:56] Now, notice the contrast.
[00:46:57] this is the non-christian he says for we ourselves were once foolish disobedient led astray slaves to various passions and pleasures passing our days in malice and envy hated by others and hating one another paul said earlier in in this book in chapter one he says
[00:47:21] cretins are he's quoting a poet he says are always liars evil beasts and lazy gluttons and paul told the corinthians and such were some of you but you're called out of that but the point
[00:47:36] is there's a contrast you see that between the christian and the world there should be a contrast and in thinking about that this is where in in preparing this week as i'm thinking about i'm
[00:47:48] trying to get into Paul's head and this is what you do when you study the word of God you think about the context you think about the history you think about how the sentences are structured
[00:47:58] together you think you think about the words and what you want to do by the power of the Holy Spirit is to think about to use your mind and think about what the author is getting at here
[00:48:09] and what I think Paul is thinking about are Jesus's words in the Sermon on the Mount so if you would turn over to Matthew 5 you see some people think that Paul taught a Christianity that was abstracted
[00:48:28] from Jesus that that Jesus taught one thing and Paul just comes and adds all these laws and rules and things like this to what Jesus taught and changed Christianity nothing could be further from the truth Paul is extrapolating what Jesus had taught the apostles and of course he receives
[00:48:47] revelation by the spirit but but everything is building on the foundation which is Christ so if you turn to Matthew 5 the Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes but then in verse 13
[00:49:03] you come to what are called the similitudes they're similes and he says verse 13 he says you you christians are the salt of the earth now what does salt do salt was used for two
[00:49:21] reasons in the ancient world first it was a preservative they didn't have refrigeration if you if you had some nice bacon for breakfast and you wanted to eat it for lunch you would salt it to preserve it from you kill bacteria keep it from going bad so it's used as a preservative the
[00:49:38] picture is, is that the Christian preserves what is good in the world. They preserve the virtues of God in this world. What would the world be without Christians? Be an incredibly dark place.
[00:49:53] Moreover, salt is used as a seasoning. You want to make something taste better, you put salt on it.
[00:50:00] And thus, Christians are to be the flavor of Christ. They are to be the taste of Christ.
[00:50:07] wherever we go what's distinct about you what makes you different well it's that i'm a christian it's that flavor and he says this this is a warning look what he says uh he says if a salt if
[00:50:24] salt loses its taste how shall its saltiness be restored it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet question have you ever taste have you ever found
[00:50:39] salt that didn't have taste like have you ever just like you know when you're swimming in the ocean and you get a mouthful of of water not tasted the salt has that ever happened no
[00:50:51] does salt really lose its saltiness no it doesn't does it jesus's point is is if if you're not preserving what is good and you're not the flavor of christ he's saying you're not really salt
[00:51:07] you're not really a Christian he moves on he says you this is an incredible this is incredible imagery you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden what makes light
[00:51:26] distinct because it illumines the darkness right it illumines the darkness darkness is of course the absence of light. Do you see that contrast? The light illumines the darkness. There is a distinction between the Christian and the non-Christian. The non-Christian world is
[00:51:47] darkness. The Christian world is light. And what are we to be, he says? He says you're to be like a city on a hill. And then verse 15, he says, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket.
[00:52:01] No, the purpose, we're not Amish people.
[00:52:06] We're not to go hide in the countryside.
[00:52:10] We're not to go up like the monastics did and hide out in caves.
[00:52:13] He says, no, the light isn't to be hidden under a basket.
[00:52:17] It's to be put forward into the world.
[00:52:20] That's the picture, to illuminate the darkness that people would see the good deeds of the Christians and give honor to God.
[00:52:31] verse 16 explanation in the same way look at this let your light shine before others so they may see your good works who else is talking about good works in our passage Paul right in Titus he's saying do good works what does Jesus say you do good works and they
[00:52:53] will see it and give glory to your father who is in heaven now I want to show you something real quick turn to the right to Philippians Philippians chapter 2 turn over to Philippians because here
[00:53:13] Paul picks up explicitly what Jesus just said in Matthew 5 so in Philippians chapter 2 look at verse 14, Philippians 2, 14. Do all things. This will get you right here. Conviction city right here, okay? Listen, do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you may be blameless and
[00:53:54] innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation now look at this look at the last prepositional phrase among whom you shine as lights in the world where did Paul get that that's straight from Matthew 5 that's straight from the similitudes
[00:54:21] right and what's the key here for the christian what is the key paul is saying in order for us to be lights in the world what's the key it's very simple he says do all things without grumbling
[00:54:38] or disputing really that's that's what you're focusing on something so simple notice that phrase the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.
[00:54:58] Do you know where Paul got that?
[00:55:01] He lifted that straight out of the book of Deuteronomy.
[00:55:07] Do you know who Moses called a wicked and twisted generation?
[00:55:12] It wasn't the Canaanites.
[00:55:15] It was Israel.
[00:55:19] And why did he call them that?
[00:55:22] Because they complained.
[00:55:25] Why did they complain?
[00:55:26] because they weren't grateful to God.
[00:55:33] It was a bad attitude.
[00:55:35] I mean, seriously, you think, you read the stories to your kids and it's like God brings them out.
[00:55:41] They have a Passover lamb.
[00:55:43] God brings them out into the wilderness.
[00:55:45] How did they know the will of God?
[00:55:47] They had a fire in the sky and a pillar of cloud that you literally followed the presence of God.
[00:55:57] We're hungry.
[00:55:58] What does God do?
[00:55:59] I'm gonna shower manna from heaven I mean can you believe this and every it's every day and I just go out and get my quota and put it in a bag I mean this is unbelievable oh man this water is
[00:56:15] doesn't taste very good you see Moses throw his staff in it and all of a sudden we're able to come and drink the water and yet what are the people that do they complain why do they complain
[00:56:34] they're ungrateful they're ungrateful now if you go back to Titus check this out look what look what he does here in Titus 3 this is what Paul is is getting at he says you are to live
[00:56:57] like this in the world you are to speak evil of no one this is verse 2 you are to avoid quarreling you're to be gentle you're to show perfect courtesy toward all people why verse three here's
[00:57:10] the answer why he says i want you to be grateful to god for what he's done for you for you we ourselves were once foolish disobedient led astray slaves to various passions and pleasures passing our days in malice and envy hated by others and hating one another but but when the
[00:57:33] goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared he saved us so in other words if you don't live differently it means that you really don't understand what the Lord has done for you in his grace you see it's about gratitude of the heart he says if you're really thankful for grace
[00:57:54] you will live differently and so it's a very sad thing to to meet someone who's a claims to be a believer and is ungrateful and has a bad attitude. And I say a bad attitude, but I mean a negative
[00:58:14] spirit. A negative spirit betrays ungratefulness to God. I mean, my goodness, how many blessings from God do we have? I mean, how many blessings? I mean, if you're in Christ, you have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. We have the printed Bible, thanks to the Gutenberg
[00:58:37] press you have it on your phone i mean we have more technology in our phones by the grace of god than they had that went to the moon we've got good coffee now i mean i wake up in the morning
[00:58:51] i got a mocha master and i you know measure out grind the the beans from costa rica and i put it in there and i'm drinking to the glory of i mean what is there any room to have a negative attitude
[00:59:10] no way jose and so that what we're talking about is christian character it it's it's a character of gratitude in the heart for what he's done so if you look at verse one and two it's a very simple
[00:59:32] outline it's it's it's very uh explanatory if you're if you're looking at these two verses what Paul is saying is, is you have general guidelines for how Christians are to live in the culture. So if you look at verse one, it's the Christian in the culture. This is general.
[00:59:55] This is, okay, these are general instructions about how we are to live in the culture.
[01:00:00] Verse 2 are specific instructions about how we are to relate to our fellow man, to other people So let's look at these briefly So first, general instructions How are we to live in this broader culture as thankful Christians?
[01:00:22] He says, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities.
[01:00:32] Now, notice those nouns, rulers, authorities.
[01:00:39] In some places, for example, in Ephesians 6, Paul uses those words to describe demonic authorities.
[01:00:47] Obviously, that's not what he's referring to here because he's saying to be submissive to them.
[01:00:52] and Paul would never ask us to be submissive to demons.
[01:00:56] What is he referring to?
[01:00:57] Obviously, this is just obvious.
[01:00:59] He's asking us to be submissive to civic authorities, government leaders, police officers, those in authority over us.
[01:01:13] And he's saying that we are to have, this is the attitude that we are to have as believers.
[01:01:18] We are to have an attitude that is generally submissive to these leaders. The verb that he uses, the Greek word hupotasso, it means to be under.
[01:01:31] It's the same word he uses in Romans 13, and it's the same verb that Peter uses in 1 Peter 2.
[01:01:38] Same word. If you want to understand the Christian's relationship to government, it's completely fleshed out in Romans 13 so that's where the theology of the Christian in government is located and if you study Romans 13 Paul says let every person same word
[01:02:01] hupotasso be subject to the governing authorities why he says first argument for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. He said it doesn't matter if they're a believer or an unbeliever, the rulers, the authorities that are present in
[01:02:19] the world, he says those are in place under the sovereign hand of Almighty God. And then the second argument he says in Romans 13 is verse 2 and 3, he says that the government is for the
[01:02:34] purpose of good he says rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad would you have no fear of the one who is in authority now if you look at Romans 13 there is a limit to the realm of
[01:02:50] government does government have universal authority over everything and we would say no Paul says in Romans 13 that they have the authority to bear the sword and that means that they administer justice if somebody kills somebody else the government is to administer
[01:03:15] justice and Paul literally do you think he's talking about a metaphor metaphorical sword no what would they do in the Roman Empire it was capital punishment right bear the sword and then also protect the people. The job of the government is to provide an army for the protection of the
[01:03:37] populace. Now what happens when government adds responsibilities to those things? You begin to have individual freedoms and liberties trampled upon. So the Christian has a general responsibility to be submissive to the government.
[01:03:59] That's our heart, that's what Paul's saying.
[01:04:01] That's our spirit.
[01:04:02] Now, are there situations where the government oversteps their bounds and the Christian is called to civil resistance?
[01:04:12] Absolutely.
[01:04:13] I mean, if the government came out today and said, I mean, this wouldn't be that bad of a thing, I guess, but if they said that we all had to drink Dr. Pepper at noon every day would we have to obey that now I would because I just like Dr. Pepper but some of
[01:04:31] you you know you're you're a coke person or a coffee person or whatever it is you're like I don't want to drink Dr. Pepper what is that well it's the government stepping beyond the realm of
[01:04:46] their God-given jurisdiction. And when that happens, then the obedience that is to be rendered is no longer necessary. It's just silly, superfluous. And I know that's kind of a silly example, but man, this stuff happens all the time. If the government asks you to violate the lordship of
[01:05:06] Christ, you remember Acts chapter 5? Peter said, we must obey God rather than men. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar sets up a statue you got to worship this statue Meshach Shadrach and Abednego say no we will not but all that being said is that a heart of defiance that they possess is it a heart
[01:05:30] that says oh I just want to rebel against the authorities I just I'm just looking for an opportunity to say no and wag my finger in the authority's face is that the spirit no in fact
[01:05:41] as if to emphasize it look what Paul says again it's a it's a point of emphasis he says tell them to be obedient he says to be obedient and that word obedient as a specific word uh it's uh like
[01:05:55] faith faith arguments it's something along those lines and it means obedience to somebody in authority that's the that's the idea that we are to be obedient to lawful authorities as much as we can underneath the lordship of christ which begs the question as americans
[01:06:18] are we all in rebellion because we had a revolution against the british empire what do you think are we in rebellion because of the revolution some some history books say that that that the american revolution was essentially the same as the french revolution it was
[01:06:37] a rejection of authority which is what the french revolution was but maybe you haven't gone back and studied the the history of the colonies but what began to happen is that the the charters for the
[01:06:55] various colonies began to be violated in parliament now the colonies they were not represented i mean can you send somebody from Massachusetts over to Parliament? No, I mean, that's just silly. You can't just cross the ocean back and forth. I mean, it was impossible to send representatives back.
[01:07:16] And all the colonies are being taxed. All the exports and imports are going to Britain and from Britain, and they're being taxed. And then Parliament said, we're going to change the we're going to overreach the charters that were initially established, and we're going to levy
[01:07:34] another tax and you remember what the the founder said that's taxation without representation and so in the reformed tradition this is the reformed tradition this goes all the way back to geneva there was a doctrine called the lesser magistrate this is very interesting
[01:07:54] and that says that when a higher magistrate acts outside of the their god-given authority or begins to exercise tyranny it is the responsibility of the lower magistrate to call that upper magistrate into question and so what happened in america was protestant
[01:08:17] civil lesser magistrates bringing those complaints back to parliament and you even had guys like Edmund Burke over in parliament calling people and saying this is overreach this is tyranny what parliament's doing so my point is is if you go back and study I don't think that the American
[01:08:43] Revolution is just a throwing off of of government authority as an act of tyranny but the general point is, it's an interesting historical lesson to think about, but the point is, we have a spirit
[01:08:59] of obedience. It's not going to some government official and, you know, saying, nana, nana, boo, boo, you know, I'm not going to do what you say to do. It's not that. It's a serious realization
[01:09:13] that we are under authority. Why? Because who put the authorities into place? God. The pagan does not obey the authorities. Why? Because they hate God. We obey the authorities because we know who put the authorities there. So our obedience to the authorities is obedience to God. And then he says,
[01:09:36] look back at verse two, he says, or sorry, the end of verse one, excuse me, he says, to be ready for every good work, to be ready for every good work. That's exactly what Jesus said,
[01:09:49] right? That by your good works, they will glorify your Father in heaven. Grace leads to good works.
[01:10:01] Paul earlier said, verse 16 of chapter 1, that the false teachers are unfit for any good work.
[01:10:08] He told Titus in chapter 2, verse 7, that he was to be a model of good works. He says in verse 14, He says we are a purified people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
[01:10:26] So he's picking up this theme in verse 1, and he's saying as believers in the world, we're obedient to the authorities, and we are ready for every good work.
[01:10:39] That word ready means prepared.
[01:10:42] Jesus used the same word in Matthew 25 when he talked about the disciples being ready, prepared for his second coming it means that you're on your toes you're ready to serve jb phillips and his paraphrase says they must be ready to render whatever good service they can
[01:11:07] so i think the idea here you know when i was in boy scouts remember the scout slogan does anybody remember the scout slogan any boy scouts here okay be a wait that's the scout motto
[01:11:21] Be prepared, the scout, come on, the scout slogan.
[01:11:26] Do a good turn daily.
[01:11:30] Let's get with it, right?
[01:11:34] The scout slogan, do a good turn daily.
[01:11:40] Where did Baden Powell get that?
[01:11:43] Right here, right?
[01:11:46] The Christians are the ones who are to be models of good works.
[01:11:53] Now, of course, we as Christians, we go bait and pal, do a good turn daily.
[01:11:57] Yes, of course.
[01:11:58] But I think here he's talking about more than that.
[01:12:01] I think he's talking about general service in the public square.
[01:12:05] That as Christians, we don't withdraw from the world, but we're lights in the world.
[01:12:11] And all these different avenues of life and medicine and politics and law and media and the military and government that just because we're christians doesn't mean that we don't touch those things no it means that we go into those things and we serve with distinction i think of
[01:12:30] joseph what did joseph do wherever he went he served with integrity he served as a god fear and he rose to the top he served with excellence and that's the idea is that the christian
[01:12:47] wherever they go they serve with excellence they rise to the top they do good wherever they go it's uh william wilberforce remember william wilberforce british statesman and he serves he campaigns and eventually brings an end to the slave trade in england so that's
[01:13:12] the Christian in the culture. That's the broad picture, the big picture. And then verse two is the Christian and personal relationships. How are we to relate to other people? Now, if you look at verse two, the translation is to speak evil of no man. I know it says no one. It's
[01:13:40] the word man, to speak evil of no man. And at the end of verse 2, he says, show perfect courtesy toward all men. I know it's translated people. What Paul's getting at is, do you think he's saying
[01:13:57] to speak evil of no believer or to show perfect courtesy just to the believer? No, that's not what he's saying at all, is it? He's saying show perfect courtesy to all men, not just the believer,
[01:14:15] all men. He's saying speak evil of no man. Wow. I mean, because there's a lot of evil people out there, aren't there? I mean, you just turn on the news and you get frustrated. It's easy for us
[01:14:33] to speak evil of others. So two negatives and two positives. So there's four qualities that Paul lists in how we are to relate to other people. First two are negative, first two are positive. He says, speak evil of no one. The word speak evil, blasphemo, where we get our word
[01:14:58] blaspheme it means to um to assassinate someone with your words it means to slander someone with your words now uh slander does it have to be a lie for it to be slander no it could be you dig up
[01:15:12] the truth of something in someone's past and then you throw it out on social media for the purpose of taking them down that's slander you go to someone else and you say did you hear what you
[01:15:26] know, Joe Smuckatelli did. You won't believe it. That's slander, where you're attacking someone else with your words. Think about our Lord. Our Lord, my goodness, was anyone ever more opposed than Jesus Christ? Wherever he went, the Pharisees and the scribes and people speaking terrible
[01:15:55] things about him. Was anyone ever more opposed? No. But do you ever see in the gospels as Jesus is walking along with Peter, James, and John, where he's saying, man, those guys, those are just
[01:16:11] terrible, awful people. I hate them. I hate them. I send them to hell. Did you ever hear Jesus talk like that about anybody? When Jesus does address people and call them names, what does he do?
[01:16:26] he speaks to them directly you brood of vipers you pharisees your whitewashed tombs he's not going to the disciples a sidebar and saying that what he's going directly to them why because he wants to lead them to repentance he's putting his finger on the spot he's never
[01:16:50] going and talking about them behind their backs here's a principle here's a principle as we engage in this world as we engage in this world we destroy we destroy ungodly arguments we do not destroy ungodly people so paul says second corinthians 10 5 we destroy
[01:17:21] arguments we destroy them and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of god and take every thought captive to obey Christ in other words secular ideas they're cannon fodder you know we're going to show why they're logically inconsistent why they're contrary to the law of
[01:17:38] God we are going to tear them apart we're going to eviscerate them but yet with others what are we going to we're going to speak the truth always in love you know one of my heroes was Ronald Reagan
[01:17:53] It's hard not to like Ronald Reagan, right?
[01:17:57] No one spoke more about the dangers of communism and socialism than Ronald Reagan.
[01:18:05] If you go to the Reagan Museum, I mean, there's a huge section in the Reagan Museum that's dedicated to Reagan's war.
[01:18:14] There was a war on communism.
[01:18:18] And yet, he was able to win over Mikhail Gorbachev, was he not?
[01:18:24] he's able to cross that bridge personally he did that because he attacked the ideology he wasn't going after the person R.C. Sproul was also brilliant at that at going after the ideologies of the world but yet mending fences with even atheists and secularists personally
[01:18:46] in order to lord willing win them to Christ second quality in terms of our relationship to other people. He says to avoid quarreling. Literally, it's a word that means without battle. That's the literal translation of the word. Amikos, the Latin word amicus. There's a
[01:19:10] legal term, an amicus brief, which is a friendly brief. The Greek word is similar. It describes the Christian as being a peacemaker, not somebody who goes to war. It's somebody who strives for peace in all that they do. Remember, Jesus said, and again, this is going back to the
[01:19:33] Beatitudes, Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
[01:19:43] Paul said in Romans 12 18 if possible so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all men are there people that won't live peaceably with you absolutely but as much as it depends upon you
[01:20:02] you live peaceably with all men now the the two positive qualities of how we are to relate to people. He says to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. Spurgeon called these
[01:20:22] last two the ornaments of the Christian life. And you can translate these words. These words are difficult to translate. There's a wide meaning, but you can translate these two words as kindness and meekness. In other words, he says to be gentle and show perfect courtesy. Show perfect courtesy,
[01:20:42] same word that Jesus uses for meekness again sermon on the mount kindness and meekness those qualities are to be descriptive of the Christian kindness the word means to take the low road to be not like the world that says get yours and and demand your rights but to yield
[01:21:10] to others. That's the real meaning of kindness. And then notice meekness. ESV translates it to show perfect courtesy toward all people. The Legacy Standard Bible translates it demonstrating all gentleness to all men. Look at that last phrase, all gentleness to all men, or all meekness
[01:21:40] to all men are all courtesy to all men notice he doesn't just say show meekness to men that would be perfect well and good if we were called to show meekness to men right and notice he doesn't just
[01:21:57] say show meekness to all men that would be a high ask to show meekness to all men what does he say He says, he uses the word all twice, show all meekness to all men. In other words,
[01:22:21] what he's saying is very simple. Be like Christ. Be like Christ. How does Jesus describe himself?
[01:22:40] he says this I am meek and lowly in heart and in me you will find rest for your souls Jesus was kind and he was meek why that's an important question why was he meek he's the king
[01:23:10] of the universe he's the awaited messiah he is god of gods and you would think if you read the business journals. He would go around bossing people around, exercising his authority, demonstrating his power, manipulating, I mean, all sorts of power plays that you see in the world,
[01:23:33] right? No. Why is he meek and gentle and kind? The answer is because he invites sinners to himself.
[01:23:47] come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Does the sinner want to go to someone who's going to beat them over the head? Is that who the sinner is going
[01:24:06] to come to? No. You see, it's Jesus's meekness. We feel comfortable coming to him. We feel comfortable coming to him we know that in his character we can find rest for our souls so what
[01:24:27] paul is saying to us is be like that are you somebody that people are afraid to come to because you're domineering or are you meek and gentle not quarrelsome not slandering people in a word are you like Christ Lord we want to be like Christ we want to be transformed
[01:25:06] where we want to be the salt of the earth we want to be the light of the world we want to live in this world as you lived in the world we want to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's to
[01:25:19] God the things that are God Lord we want to be obedient people to your commands we want to be obedient as much as we can to the rulers, the authorities that you have placed over us. Lord, we want to serve. We want to do
[01:25:33] good works in the culture. We don't want to withdraw from the culture. We want to do good works. We want to serve in the different avenues and capacities that you would have us serve in
[01:25:43] and may we serve with distinction and honor in those ways. Lord, help us to be kind to one another. Help us put the interests of others ahead of our own. Help us to be meek and lowly. Lord, may we not be quarrelsome
[01:26:01] or war fighters or slanders. Lord, heaven forbid that that would be named amongst us. Lord, we pray that this church, the King's Chapel, would become a more sanctified church as we continue to pray and to study your truth. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.

[01:26:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:26:28] If you need the words in your hymnal, it's number 303, Jesus Shall Reign.
[01:26:35] Let's stand as we sing together for our Savior.

[01:26:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:26:43] Jesus shall reign wherever the sun does his successive journeys run.

[01:28:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:28:48] Today is an incredibly special day.
[01:28:52] and at this point I would like to invite Kim and Sandra Fawcett to the platform. Did y'all know y'all were coming up here? As many of you know, yes. Why don't you come up here? Why don't you
[01:29:31] come up here? Many of you know that Kim several months ago announced his retirement at the end of the month, and so we're going to do a reception afterwards, but what we wanted to do is bring
[01:29:50] them up and recognize them, pray for them. Kim was an architect in his former life, and he was at Providence Church here in town, and he sensed God's call to ministry, and he went over here to
[01:30:06] Southeastern Seminary, and 33 years ago, right? 33 years. Jesus. Jesus ministry. He embarked on pastoral ministry, and he served in churches here in Texas, in the Corpus area, in Atlanta, and then back here at Christ Baptist, and now the King's Chapel.
[01:30:36] And when I think about what the Apostle Paul said, this is 2 Timothy, this is his last will and testament to Timothy. He says, Timothy, be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Bring it to completion. Bring it to the end. Without
[01:31:01] controversy, without doctrinal divergence, fulfill your ministry. And when I think about Kim and your life, your ministry, you've done that by the grace of God. By the grace of God and his power and his grace and Sandra by your side, you have fulfilled your ministry, praise God, and you have
[01:31:27] served with excellence and distinction. And so, brother, we praise God for you. And to acknowledge that, Kenny's coming up here. We have a special plaque, I think some flowers. Are those for Kim?
[01:31:43] No, I'm just kidding. Here, you can, yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. It has really

[01:32:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:32:30] been quite a joy to serve as one of your associate pastors here at the King's Chapel.
[01:32:38] at Christ Baptist for 19 years or so, and then as the King's Chapel this last year and a half.
[01:32:45] It's been a real joy in my life and our lives to be here, to serve you, and you've just allowed me to serve here, to serve the Lord here, to serve you guys here. You've allowed us to make some
[01:33:00] mistakes in ministry. You've allowed us to try things, and you've hung with us, and so we are so appreciative of that. And I just thank the Lord for his grace in allowing us to serve
[01:33:13] these different churches, the longest, of course, here in this place. And it's just been great. I've had the opportunity, and God has blessed me, to serve with some wonderful staff members in those churches. And, you know, when you're at a place, as long as we've been here,
[01:33:31] those staff members become family to you and it's just been a joy to serve with so many of the people here on staff and then as the capital staff came over this past year and a half or so
[01:33:47] just blended right in accepted me and just brought me in and we became here again family again and these are people that you work with every day but yet they will be friends for life and so I've just
[01:34:03] been so blessed with that and when I consider that so many of you you know we've worked together as volunteers and and done projects done banquets done ministry done conferences all those wonderful things together and there's so many people that I have just intersected with your life and it's
[01:34:24] just been a true blessing to me. So many volunteers, so many of you senior adults that are here and all those crazy trips that we took on the buses, those are great memories to have there. And so
[01:34:39] many good pastors that I have served under and served with. It's just been quite a joy, quite a blessing for me. And Grant, I would put you right at the top of that list of serving with pastors
[01:34:53] who have preached the word, who have taught us so well, you know, and I've just learned, I have learned so much under them of the Bible and how to apply that to our lives as well.
[01:35:07] And as Grant mentioned, of course, none of this would have been possible without my lifetime ministry partner, my wife, Sandra, who has served with me, served alongside of me, supported me encouraged me prayed with me prayed for me and has just been there the whole ride
[01:35:30] along when we were married she had no idea she'd be a pastor's wife so after about 14 and a half years and I was called into ministry at 37 years old and like Grant said went back to seminary and
[01:35:45] graduated at 40, she was suddenly thrust into church life herself. And she has been a wonderful ministry partner through the churches. And today is kind of a unique day for us as we celebrate the retirement. But this is also our anniversary of our very first date.
[01:36:08] she reminded me of that that was 51 years ago in 1975 August 23rd was our first date and so we've been together a long time and she's she has supported me and been with me and
[01:36:28] and like I say encouraged and prayed for me and but we both feel that we have just been richly blessed and it's by God's grace that he has allowed us to serve in these churches and to be
[01:36:41] a part of your lives. And so we just thank you all for your participation here in the churches, this church. Thank you for your encouragement. Thank you for your support. And mostly just thank you for your love and your kindness to us during all these years. So thank you again.

[01:37:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:37:11] Step up here and I'll pray for y'all. Let's pray for Kim and Sandra. Heavenly Father, we, as kim just said lord we praise you for the grace of god for the call to the gospel ministry at age
[01:37:29] 37 and and um the past 33 years of faithfulness lord and how you've used him to to bring people into your kingdom and how you use him to minister to to saints in various churches and lord we thank
[01:37:44] you for his ministry in our own lives and what a difference both he and Sandra have made to us and Lord in the impact that they have made in the way that they faithfully served it's just been so
[01:37:57] evident their love for Christ their love for the body and their faithfulness to the end and so Lord for all these things we give you the praise and the glory and we pray Lord for their years
[01:38:09] ahead. Lord, that faithful service will continue. Lord, that they will continue to walk in your grace and your fellowship, and they will know divine blessings that are promised to all of God's children, the favor of God, that that would be upon them, Lord, and that you would give them
[01:38:30] many years together. We pray, Lord, for their family. We pray, Lord, for your blessing upon their children, their spouses, their grandchildren. We pray, Lord, that you would guide and direct their steps, which we know that you will, all for your honor and your glory and your praise.
[01:38:44] We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Yeah, why don't y'all head over to the fellowship hall.
[01:38:59] So immediately following the doxology and benediction, you are all invited to the reception that will be over in the fellowship hall. And you can, we'll have an opportunity if you would like to say words about Kim or to write a note, those opportunities will be available. I think
[01:39:16] we also have food. We're Baptist, so we do. Okay, so let's do the doxology. Let's stand in just our

[01:39:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:39:27] voices. I want to fill every space in this room with praise. Praise God from whom all blessings

[01:39:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:39:40] For from him and through him and to him are all things.

[01:40:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:40:23] To him be the glory forever and ever, worlds without end. Amen.