Beholding the Glory of Christ's Church

Providence Baptist Church

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I see you Margie. 2025.

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Somebody's excited I'm preaching. 2025. I remember thinking about the year 2000 and I remember thinking boy that's gonna get here one day that'll be a long time and then now we're 25 years from the year 2000.

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What a world we live in today. I think about the things that have happened this week and I hope that you are staying up with the news to an extent we should think about what's happening in our world today and the terrible events as the year has started the terrible events of of terrorism that have already happened in our in our own nation.

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What a time to to be alive and so I think about that and I think about what is the most important thing happening in the world today.

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I think about well some might say maybe it's cryptocurrency and is that going to usher in a new revolution of monetary value or whatever the case may be with that or or maybe it's the the inauguration is coming up in just two weeks from tomorrow.

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We'll usher in a new president of our country and I know that we're we're grateful for that or maybe you're afraid or you think about well maybe the most important thing that's happening today is is somewhere there's like a mission impossible mission happening where where terrorists are constructing some sort of bomb but maybe the

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CIA or or or other organizations are are working to stop that.

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A lot of important things are happening in the world today but I'm going to submit to you this morning unequivocally

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I believe that the most important thing that's happening in the world today is the gathering of God's people in local churches.

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The local church is the most beautiful thing on earth and I don't mean to minimize these other things that are happening

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I just mean to maximize that there is nothing more consequential truly happening in the world today than what's happening in places like Perryville, Arkansas, El Pechote, Mexico, Tuxla, Gutierrez, Chiapas, Azle, Texas, Ontario, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

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These are local churches and God loves them more than anything else in the world.

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Maybe that's a bold statement. Let's let the text speak. Psalm 87.

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Would you stand with me as we consider beholding the glory of Christ's church. Just to know a pastoral note the little line at the top not the bold line not the not the not the bold editorial line heading but the little line that says a psalm of the sons of Korah a song.

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That's actually scripture. That's actually God -breathed scripture. So a psalm of the sons of Korah a song.

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On the holy mount stands the city he founded. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

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Glorious things of you are spoken O city of God. Selah. Among those who know me

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I mention Rahab and Babylon. Behold Philistia and Tyre with Cush.

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This one was born there they say. But of Zion it shall be said this one and that one were born in her.

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For the Most High himself will establish her. The Lord records as he registers the people.

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This one was born there. Selah. Singers and dancers alike say all my springs are in you.

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Father we need help today. There is a beautiful song written about the glory of your church and we don't we don't hear it well enough.

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We don't know it well enough. We much rather sing about all these other things in our life sometimes about our children or maybe our family or maybe even about other things.

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We don't sing a lot about the church. And yet here we have this beautiful, inspired song that shows us the glory of the church.

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Father forgive us for not prizing her enough. For not loving her enough.

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For not understanding her beauty enough. Because she doesn't end in and of herself.

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It's not that we just see her beauty. It's that the more we understand the church the more we understand and see and bask in the glory of the gospel and what our

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Lord Jesus has done. Oh God be with the preaching of the word this morning.

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Help us to understand we need you Holy Spirit to be in our midst. I need you.

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I'm not I'm not prepared enough. I'm not ready enough. I'm not I'm not holy enough. I can't do any of these things in and of myself.

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If you leave me alone I'm sunk. So be with me. Help me.

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And the same to the hearers. May they hear. We need Christ. We need to see the church rightly.

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We need to behold her glory. In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated.

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This psalm breaks down pretty nicely with the Selahs. So you have verse one through three

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Selah. Verse four through six Selah. Verse seven. So we'll go that as our outline point number one.

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The city. On the Holy Mount stands the city he founded.

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The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things of you are spoken.

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Oh city of God. Now a question to ask here and it's going to lead us to a little bit of interpretive translation issue is what is this city?

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Now in verse one the word city is actually the Hebrew word there. It's not in the text.

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This is reflected in the King James and also the LSB. They both just say this in verse one

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I think actually is the way our psalm was in verse one. His foundation is in the holy mountains.

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Okay so why does the ESV choose to use the word city? Well one because it is the context of 87 but two the word translated the

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Hebrew word translated for foundation in the text I actually think it should it should be translated with the word city it implies city in the context so I'm not actually in love with the

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King James LSB or the ESV in in the translation so if you will I'm going to say it's something like this his city foundation his city foundation is in the holy mountains but if you're like I don't know about all that well then you can at least look at verse three and you can see in verse three that the

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Hebrew word is explicitly used of city there in that verse so glorious things of your spoken

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Oh city of God but the question we haven't answered right the question we are asking right now is what is this city of course in the immediate historical context it's unquestionable that we are talking about Jerusalem in 2nd

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Samuel 5 7 this happens around 1000 BC David takes

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Jerusalem from the Jebusites and the verse says nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion that is the city of David now we can argue maybe about what the word

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Zion means different people have different thoughts but apparently the word was originally a name for one of these high points these high places there of Jerusalem and then the word

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Zion becomes synonymous with the city itself so what is this city well

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I'm telling you in the media context we think of Jerusalem however you may have imagined you may have seen it even as we just saying that song surely you thought man there's something more got more going on here and you're absolutely right without a doubt it's unquestionable that this city also points us to the church and I know all come on now really let me give you three reasons

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I'm gonna give you three reasons I'm gonna prove to you why three reasons I'm gonna give you an exegetical reason that is from this text secondly

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I'll give you a biblical reason I'll show you some other verses and in thirdly I'll give you a theological reason so number one a exegetical and exegetical reason and that is if you go down to verse five and six so just think about verse five and six with me let me read those but of Zion it shall be said this one and that one were born in her for the

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Most High himself will establish her the Lord records as he registers the people people's this one was born there now we're going to discuss this more at length later in the sermon but for now just note this the text is speaking of those from other nations and those from other nations are now being said to have been born in Zion so there is something that can happen to a person whereby no matter what country of origin they derive from they can be said according to the text to have been born in Zion now if you're already from another nation how you can't be born in two places right where was

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I born I was born in 1986 in Killeen Texas that's the only place

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I was born why were you born there I wanted to be close to my mother right I was born in Killeen Texas I can't be born anywhere else right so how is it that these people are born in Egypt and Phylicia and Tyre but they're also born in Zion what's the answer the text is start talked about being born again and so we understand from the text itself that it's impossible that Psalm 87 is just pointing to a physical city it's pointing to something greater whereby people will be said to have been born again in this place or at least by this place's activity so exegetical from the text secondly a biblical reason and by biblical

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I mean that was biblical too right but by biblical I mean there are other places in the Bible that would help us to see that more is going on here than just physical

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Jerusalem so a few places 1 Matthew 5 14 you've heard this verse your whole life and I would say that you might not have ever made the right connection here

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Matthew 5 14 Jesus says this to his disciples you are the light of the world a city set on a hill cannot be hidden that's

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Jesus's metaphor his disciples metaphorically are his church is metaphorically a city on a hill that's what

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Jesus is saying well that's all you know Jesus you just came up with that right there well yes he did come up with that but he didn't just come up with that right there did he right

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Jesus isn't instructed in his humanity in the Old Testament he understands this is a metaphor out of thin air it's a metaphor from the

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Psalms your disciples you're a city on a hill and that also means that when

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Jesus says you're the light of the world he's not just talking about you individually though that's important let your light shine yes that's good that's right but it's also together that's the point okay there's more in the

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Bible so Hebrews Hebrews 12 22 it's she can't get around it it says but you have come now have come that's important not will come you have come you have come to Mount Zion you can't get right he's telling the believers he's telling the churches you have come to Mount Zion the church is

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Mount Zion because that's where you've come from that's what he's saying you've come to Mount Zion and to the city of the

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Living God you've come to Mount Zion you've come to the city of the Living God the heavenly

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Jerusalem and to innumerable angels and festal gathering now it's interesting but I'm gonna just say to you this way in one sense we'll never talk this way this will never catch on and that's okay

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I don't know that it necessarily should because it's just a metaphor you say you could say when you get up Sunday morning where you're going you could say

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I'm going to church or you could say I'm going to Zion right I'm going to Zion right because in a way we are we're gathering that's what the text is saying because in Psalm 87 the text is speaking more than only a physical city and then thirdly

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I'll mention Revelation 21 2 and I just want you to hear how the church is described

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John says and I saw the Holy City New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband

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I'm just saying to you bride is a metaphor for the church we get that but you know what another metaphor for the church is from that text and others with city so there's a sense certainly that we're looking ahead to the city that is to come but there's also a sense that we've seen from these passages that the city is now the city is the church so that's an exegetical and a biblical argument and let me just offer one more argument here a theological argument verse 3 glory sorry verse 2 the

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Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob so here's a theological argument does

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God's love change does God change God's immutable does this love change is he on a whim is he like is he like a high school young man that last thing of God has

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God gone from loving the physical city of Jerusalem so he used to love that but now he loves the church or or some would actually try to say this it's very odd and I would say dangerous does

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God love the church less than Jerusalem of course the right answer to all of those questions is no and it's actually very simple to understand it's very simple

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God's love for the gates of Zion never terminated in a geographic location or in an ethnic heritage or in specific measurements

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God's love for the city of Zion is about his people and his worship that's what it's always been about so the physical city of Jerusalem represents something that transcends the city itself it is the place where God's people were gathered it is the place where people came to worship and where God's presence dwelt with his gathered people so the question we have is what is this city and I'm saying the

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Psalm is ultimately in our Bibles don't miss this this Psalm Psalm 87 is ultimately in our

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Bibles we're not meant to sing it to just be longing for physical Jerusalem let's take a trip over and see no no this

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Psalm is in our Bibles because it is pointing us to the very heart of the glory and beauty of the church glorious things of you are spoken

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Oh city of God now here's another question why is the city so glorious is it because her walls are bigger is it because she's had great kings well she's glorious first of all because she's

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God's verse one his city foundation on the

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Holy Mount stands the city he founded God's city is the church and because the church is

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God's it makes her glorious and because she is

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God's God is there God dwells there the mountains are holy because our triune

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God is present but the church is also glorious not only because of who she is whose she is but also because of how she is built what does

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Jesus say in Matthew 16 18 interesting I wonder if you can even really understand

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Matthew 16 18 if you don't understand the Old Testament background what is

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Jesus saying like just comes out of nowhere if you don't understand and he's just not then explain himself he just says what's he saying

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Matthew 16 18 I think it's very interesting in light of Psalm 87 Jesus says to Peter in Matthew 16 18 you know the verse and I tell you you are

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Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it the church that is the city is built on a mount that is it's built on a rock and don't count me as rude for saying this but how unintelligent does a person have to be to believe that the rock the church is built on is the

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Pope of course just like the owner you read the Bible of course Jesus is not saying that at all the church is built upon the rock of the confession that Jesus is the

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Christ and the church is built upon the confessors that is those who like Peter say in faith you are the

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Christ those who follow the king of the city the church is glorious because of whose she is and she is glorious because of how she is built listen to me now

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Jesus built the church with his own sweat and blood Jesus beautifies the church at great cost to himself the beauty of the church came at a cost to the son we are the stones

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Jesus uses to build his temple church and how did he purchase these materials acts 20 verse 28 says with his own blood sweat equity and blood price the plan of God from before the foundation the world was to build a city where he would dwell with his chosen people forever and this is what the work of Christ is about this is what you hear me this morning

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Providence this is what the work of Christ is about entering into humanity with this singular focus the glory of God in the building of the church that's what's happening but for God to dwell with the people of course they must be righteous and you have passages we'll get to in Romans Romans 3 verse 10 none is righteous no not one so the city builder comes to fulfill all righteousness he has to secure a righteousness for his people by his law keeping by his obedience to God and then we know the gospel

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Jesus had to pay the penalty due for our law breaking for our sins he bled and died under the just wrath of God the chief cornerstone was then laid in a borrowed tomb and on the third day he rises again from the dead in triumph hear me church

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God crushed the Sun in order to build a city so that this city would be inhabited by those declared righteous by what

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Jesus has done and forgiven of their sins by what Jesus has done or in case you're not understanding this let me put it very very plainly the gospel alone builds the church it's the gospel glorious things verse 3 of you are spoken

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Oh city of God glorious things are spoken of the city because of who she is and how the city was built and after saying all that we have this word that we don't say a lot but it's there say la some people think it just means like a climax of the music others think it means like a pause a reflective word to stop and think either way

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I'm good but boy in this a great place to pause reflect to think this is the church behold

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Christ Church this is the city now secondly first the city secondly the citizens verse 4 among those who know me

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I mentioned Rahab and Babylon behold Philistia and Tyre with Cush this one was born there they say but of Zion it shall be said this one and that one were born in her for the

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Most High himself will establish her the Lord records as he registers the people this one was born there honestly this is probably one of the most underrated passages in all the

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Bible is actually quite beautiful before we get to that let me lay up some

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Bible history for us God builds a city you know men build cities to men build cities to in fact the word the first time that the

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Hebrew word for city is used it's actually in Genesis chapter 4 and it's in Genesis chapter 4 when

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Cain after he's killed Abel his brother and now he's gone away from the presence of the

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Lord east of Eden to the land of Nod and you know one of the first things he does is build a city hey that's why we should live in rural area right now there is something to be said about the maximizing of sin when a bunch of people get together in a city but we see the first city is built as Cain leaves the presence of the

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Lord then we have another city in Genesis Genesis 11 and this is this is important enough

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I want to read from verse 4 so Genesis 11 verse 4 then they said come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens and let us make a name for ourselves lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth

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I find that fascinating why because God has a city to build he's going to build a city that's his plan but here in Genesis 11 men have this idea we're going to build a city and the city that men built is a challenge to God's city

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I mean not a real challenge but it is challenging it's seeking to challenge the city of God man's city is a direct act of defiance to God your own work take note will never build

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God's city so what does God do at Babel you know the story he scatters the city he confuses the languages he disperses the people from there over the face of all the earth but that doesn't stop people from building cities does it you can look and archaeological records actually so I think that the

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Tower of Babel is probably like a ziggurat type thing because all over the world you have those kind of structures so it seems to me like God disperse the people and they kept trying to build towers so God disperses the people and they keep building cities and I'm gonna use that figuratively alliances groups false religions idolatry opposed to God men continue to rage in fact think about Psalm 2 so you're there in Psalm 87 you got to flip a lot but go to Psalm 2 for just a second so you get all the way so you get think about Babel what happened in Genesis 11 but that didn't stop that didn't stop

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God judged the nations at Babel but that doesn't stop the nations from continuing to build their little cities and to rage against God and so Psalm 2 says why do the nation's rage and the people's plot plot in vain the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the

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Lord and against his anointing saying let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us the nations are raging they're still raging if God is going to have a city men are not going to build it men want to name for themselves men want to overthrow

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God and his anointed one the text says his Messiah King Jesus okay so men aren't going to build a city

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God's going to build a city problem if God builds a city who's gonna be there because the nations are raging against him all you have is these unrighteous people right all you have these unrighteous nations who could possibly be the citizens of God's city and you might say well you don't you understand that's the whole point of the

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Old Testament God chose the Jews and that's the Jews are gonna no no no you misunderstand the

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Old Testament if you read it that way that God did choose the Jews but the Jews were unrighteous too that's Paul's argument in Romans 3 and so now you come here and you're like okay well who's gonna inhabit the city and then we come to the text and the text in verse 4 says this among those who know me

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I mentioned Rahab that's Egypt and Babylon behold

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Philistia and Tyre with Cush this one was born there they say but of Zion it shall be said this one and that one were born in her for the

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Most High himself will establish her the Lord records as he registers the people this one was born there say law okay so these nations

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Egypt Babylon the Philistines Tyre Cush these both represent the enemies of Israel and the nations of the earth as a whole so think for just a moment what is

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God going to do with these rebellious nations what is God going to do with his enemies what is

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God going to do with these nations that are raging against him they're shaking their fist at him they're plotting against Christ what is

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God going to do now Psalm 2's right he who sits in the heaven laughs so surely he's going to bring judgment surely they deserve judgment yes they deserve judgment and don't miss this judgment is coming judgment will come but before judgment comes

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God is going to reverse Babel he's going to what is

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Babel Babel is the scattering of the nations what would be the reversal of Babel the end gathering of the nations into the city of God the city that Christ builds

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God in his sovereign grace built his city not with righteous people not with people who are good and he brings them in but people who are rebels people who are unrighteous

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God justifies who not the godly but who the ungodly but he doesn't leave them that way remember verse 6 the

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Lord records as he registers the people this one was born there so this is what's being said this is what's being said this one from Rahab and this one from Babylon and this one from Philistia and this one from clean

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Texas and this one from Arkansas and this one from Mexico and this one from Germany and this one from Kenya they are now members of Zion through the gospel they're born again by grace and they're collected into God's city they are citizens of a new country

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I want our nation to be a Christian nation but I just want you to know something that's never promised it's never promised in the scriptures but what is promised is that God is building a holy nation the church first Peter 2 9 but you are chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

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God is taking from among the rebellious nations and he is creating one new holy nation one new people one glorious city in the church mercy reigns

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Ephesians 2 22 says in Christ you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the

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Spirit God dwells in this city the gospel is going forth the good news of Christ the good news that he is equal with the

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Father in his divine essence the good news of his virgin birth the good news of his righteous life obedient fulfilling the law the good news of his obedience going all the way to the point of death even death on a cross for sinners the good news of his victorious resurrection the way to be reconciled to a holy

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God is declared we preach it is finished and with this gospel sounds forth the call to all persons repent of your sins and lay hold of Christ by faith alone that is

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Christ is offered to all freely but as this is happening the Holy Spirit of God is working he's with us and he is causing sinners to be born again first Peter 1 3 says according to his great mercy and through the heralding of Christ's gospel and what is happening the church is being built this is the church this is true eschatological

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Israel this is God's holy nation this is God's city and this is fulfilling with Psalm 86 so you just go back one song this is fulfilling with Psalm 86 verse nine says all the nations you have made shall come and worship before you oh

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Lord and shall glorify your name this is the city and these are the citizens the nations who by grace alone are born again through the gospel united to Christ and united to one another and then the psalmist gives us that word again say law stop and think about that for just a moment think about this rebellious world think about what happened in the days of Noah and God judged the whole earth through a flood and think about it was after the days of Noah that you have the the days of Babel and then it's after the days of Babel you've had all though the the ugliness of the world and people driving their cars into places and shooting people up and blowing people up and bombing people and and all the things that we've created and and even the the corruption sometimes in our in our food industry or maybe in the in the medical industry or or the corruption in our government all these wicked things happening in the world today and what is

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God doing about all this he's gathering the nations in his mercy what a glorious God what a gracious sovereign holy wonderful God and that leads us to this last point and then some application so you have the city and you have the citizens and now you get verse 7 and you have the celebration singers and dancers alike say all my springs are in you well it's clear one thing it's clearly a celebration maybe what's not clear what's being said all my springs are in you

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I actually changed the gunner doesn't know probably because he was singing and it was up on here but I changed

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I changed a word in the psalm that was saying it's just a capital letter but at the end of the psalm we sang at the end it said all my springs are in you and had to you capitalize

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I change it to a lowercase because the you capitalize would indicate what all my springs are in Yahweh all my springs are in the

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Lord well there's truth in that okay absolutely in one sense it's true but here's something interesting about the text so the you in verse 80 verse 7 verse 87 chapter 87 verse 7 the you is feminine so that means that the you like we don't have nouns like that in English pronouns you can mean whatever but a feminine noun has to be a feminine pronoun has to be attached to a feminine noun so what's the feminine noun it's not

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Yahweh Yahweh is not a feminine noun it's masculine so he says all my springs are in you the feminine noun that the plural pronoun is the antecedent of is the city interesting isn't it interesting all my springs in other words are in the church okay but what does that mean all the springs of life are flowing in and through the church it's not minimizing

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Christ and it's certainly not exalting the church to an equal status with our

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Lord rather this is seeing the church like God sees her this is seeing the church through God's eyes the springs of life flow through the church because the church stands as an emblem of God's redemptive work and the fountain of his grace and the springs of joy and hope and new life in eternal life flow through the church because the church alone is the one charged with the heralding of the gospel which is the means by which

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God converts sinners from among the nations singers and dancers alike say all my springs are in you all my hope all my joy all my solace all my peace all my focus all my priority all my springs are in the church not as equal to Christ and not above Christ but and insofar as she is the expression and result of the love of God and the work of Christ in the world today so when

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I sing about the church I'm looking past the church to her creator to her builder to her sustainer to her founder

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I love the church because I love Christ maybe similar if you praise my children

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I'm behind them receiving the glory right you understand you want to encourage a parent praise their child because when you praise their child who's being praised the parent just a maybe a analogy there off the top of my head but the point is the citizens of this great city celebrate the city as it is the work of God and the glory of King Jesus Psalm 87 is a song celebrating the church so that's the city the citizens and the celebration

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I ask for a few more moments to give you some very important application

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I understand that's I kind of feel like that was a lot of heavy lifting maybe in a sense but let's talk about the application there is nothing that God loves more in this world today than when his people from among the nations assemble for corporate worship in local churches that sounds strong it is strong it's what verse 2 is telling us the

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Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob before I press that a little further let me just ask you this how can what

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God loves most be considered so low a priority for us I'm not saying there aren't reasons that we miss church

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I get it but how could we let such paltry things get in the way of this glorious gathering with God's people the

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Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob now let me be clear about something we're not setting the tents of Jacob in opposition to Zion in this way so let me just let me back up let me just make it real plain bottom shelf here

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God loves individual Christians amen God loves when you wake up in the morning and you open your

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Bible and you spend time with him God loves that God loves your times of prayer does

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God even care about my prayer yeah he does and he loves it he loves when you come and you ask him things and you break open your heart to him he loves the time when your family gathers together or in the living room before bed or around the table before bed and you sing and you do family worship and you pray

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God loves these things he loves when when men are with men in the church and discipling one another and when women are with women in the church and disciplining and sharpening one another

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God loves these things he loves the tents of Jacob he loves the dwelling places of Jacob there's not a doubt in my mind he loves and we should not minimize or despise these realities but friends brothers and sisters it's the plain exhortation of the text that says he loved the gates of Zion more he loves his city more there is something very special and very glorious and very meaningful happening when the church gathers it's the most beautiful place on earth it has

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God's heart like nothing else does God is here in the church in the gathered church he is present in the church in a special and a unique way that he's not present in other places he is present everywhere but he's present in the church in a special way

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God loves the church he loves the gathering of the church in such a way that there's nothing on earth today that is comparable to her beauty and when you understand that and when you understand and see that the

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Bible is replete this isn't just one obscure Psalm the Bible is replete with this kind of teaching and it makes people who say things like I don't have to go to church to be a

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Christian seem to me to be almost biblically illiterate now I'm not trying to be rude we should be kind we should be patient we should have patience we should show grace but how could you read this how can you read this book how can you open it from Genesis 1 1 all the way through the end of Revelation 22 and how can you come away with you don't want application from this book

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I read is you don't got to go to church to be a Christian no you can't get no you can't get you might get that from a meme but you can't get that from this book this book won't allow you to think that why because God loves the church if you say to me and I don't think anybody in here would say but if you say you don't have to go to church be a

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Christian I would say you're all I'm here and you're saying that what I'm hearing you say is I don't take the Bible seriously because God has such a love for his gathered church he meets with this gathered church unlike meeting with individual

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Christians his presence is with the church in a special way he had this doesn't minimize your time alone with God of course it doesn't if you do this it is good read your

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Bible it is sanctifying we need this daily but I'm just saying can't you see it in the text there's an emphasis in our text upon the gates of Zion upon the gathering of God's people this glory and beauty and mystery is almost more than we can contain

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God loves this place yeah God loves America God bless

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America God loves China God bless China you talk about all these things on well I I can parse all that we can work through all that I don't know but I can't say this

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God loves his church above all of it he loves his gathered church the corporate worship of true churches is the most glorious and significant act that is happening on the earth today don't despise this reality it follows in does it not that we must be diligent in seeking the church's purity and caring about her beauty so if God loves his gathered church so much does this not make our hearts ache to have her ordered well so you get a phone call this would be cool in it let me know if you get this you get a phone call

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Donald Trump's coming to your house next Friday or Elon Musk or some person of note they're coming to your house what are you gonna do oh here comes the white gloves right you're gonna you're hey the ceiling fan ain't been dusted in seven years but you're dusting it now right you're cleaning you're cleaning you're dusting you're thinking what kind of food should

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I have you're thinking what kind of clothes should I wear you're thinking what kind of what kind of conversation should

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I have you're thinking about these things you're in and you're not wrong for doing it you're intentional you're thinking about these things because a famous or wealthy person is coming to your house friends this is the

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Lord's house this is his city this is where God dwells this is the place that he loves above all other places so then must we not do our due diligence to see this place beautiful in God's eyes must we not protect her gates the

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Lord loves the gates of Zion I'm not trying to be crazy here but I did think about this gates have keys right the keys of the kingdom are given to the church

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Jesus gave the church the keys to the kingdom so shouldn't we be diligent about who the church says is in and who the church says is out of the city must we not care about the church's discipline right church discipline and must we not care about church membership their churches today like well

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I don't care about church man God does look at verse 6 just a silly example maybe but I don't think it's that silly the

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Lord records as he registers to people's this one was born there the

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Lord keeps a registry the Lord keeps membership so if the

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Lord keeps membership don't you think that the church to ought to practice formal church membership we keep if God keeps a registry why wouldn't we keep a registry right and why wouldn't we try to make sure that our registry matches

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God's registry why wouldn't we do that why would we be okay with hundreds of people on our church roll that don't come to church like why would churches do that well we love

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Zion's glory we love her beauty we love the church well that's hard work that's hard work that you're talking about that's a that'll take a toll on a man's body that's hard yes it's hard a healthy church is hard work but it's good work and Christ is worthy we care about the church's leadership we care about who stands behind this pulpit we care about qualified elders qualified deacons

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Jesus gave us a blueprint he is the architect of the city and we are called to follow that we care about the church's worship we're not haphazard in worship we care about the church's order of the worship order and structure we search

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God's book to understand God's will in worship so in other words you don't get to worship however you want

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God has ordained how he wants to be worshiped and we do we follow that well why are we doing all this stuff because God loves this place the

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Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob glorious things of you are spoken

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Oh city of God God loves this place and it's special to him his people's gathering it's it's dear to his heart and so when we gather we desire to please him and to honor him and to love him and to adore him and to sing to him and and we recount the gospel here you remember verse 7 all my springs are in you so the focus again is not glory glory in the church above Christ rather it's glorying in in Christ by glorying in his finished work and it's fruit so this is why we have a high view of the

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Lord's Supper so while we have a high view of baptism we want to do these ordinances rightly because they recount the gospel to us so we sing the gospel we sang the gospel this morning we pray the gospel here listen to some of the people praying here you hear the gospel being prayed we read passages of the gospel

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I'm not ashamed of the gospel we read that day we preach the gospel we pray we financially we give our tithes and offerings are a giving as an outflow of the gospel you understand

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Jesus is the righteous one who kept the law died in the place of unworthy sinners rose again from the dead and this call to all persons is to repent of their sins and believe this truth and because of verse four and five we take this gospel to the streets you think about that you think about that among those who know me

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I mentioned so he's just mentioned a few but Rahab and Babylon Philistia Tyre with Cush because of this we take the gospel to the streets because God himself establishes the church it says there in verse 5 for the

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Most High himself will establish her so God himself is building establishing the church by building her with regenerate souls and because this text and the rest of the

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Bible talks about the nations then we take the gospel to the nations because we love the church and let me say this too in our mission we invest in the church other institutions can be helpful sometimes but can

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I just remind you again that verse 7 all my springs are in the

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North American Mission Board that's not what it says all my springs are in the

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Southern Baptist Convention all my springs are in fields of faith or whatever

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I don't know like whatever organization would say I'm not saying that every extra biblical organization is wrong but I am saying that the focus and the clear exhortation from the text the clear song of the text is about the church it's about local churches the mission of the church is about the church it's about the glory of remember his mission the glory of God in the building of his church what's our mission the glory of God in the building of the church so our focus and our priority and our structure and what we're doing it's around and in and through and for local churches you get it from the text all our hope and mission and ministry is centering in around for and under the authority of local churches there's no other way to be faithful to Christ's mission

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I was going to tell you today so many professing Christians in our area today maybe even some of you in this room today you have not made the connection that Psalm 87 has made the

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Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob glorious things of you are spoken

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O city of God for some of you maybe the church is just part of your life

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I don't want to blast that but it's just a side thing that you do you certainly wouldn't say that it's not important if someone asked you this church matters so yeah yeah it matters but your heart listen if you're honest your heart has it embraced the beauty of the church like this song has and so you'll get all sorts of priorities out of whack your time and your money the things that you worry about the things you focus on you're gonna spend it on so many other things and then you don't have that much time left for the church now

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I don't know when this clicked for me I really would say it began probably around at this point 16 years ago then

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I came here not almost nine years just about nine years ago and things really even more solidified and I just had this sound like I'm okay it's it took a while I'm not you know patient sanctification

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I'm not perfect I'm just like okay I'm going all in I don't know what else to do glorious things of you the city the church glorious things of you are spoken

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Oh city of God and then in the last couple of years all that's done is ramp up and increase to honestly let me just be transparent sometimes

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I actually I actually wonder this and you probably already wondered this but I actually wonder this too am I crazy am

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I crazy isn't there something else like I spent a lot of time a lot of hours of my day tangibly caring about the church and honestly maybe

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I should just pull back a little maybe I'm honestly maybe I'm just giving too much effort too much concern too much focus what maybe let me just back off and live a little you know

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I'm just like can I just like get this burden off my shoulders I just do something else man can

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I just think about something else and and live a different way maybe and you know just kind of look at the church like a lot of people look at the church and and just show up on Sunday and you know

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I just it'll be important to me but it just won't be this great and heavy weight on me maybe

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I should just do that then

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I read this and I realized

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I don't love her enough this is

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God's church he loves her he he dwells in her he delights in her

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Zephaniah 317 says he sings over her this is his bride this is his building this is his body this is his city oh what more could

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I possibly want to do what more could I possibly desire to build my own city this is the most beautiful place on earth there's nowhere else like it behold the glory of Christ Church so I just had to resolve a few years ago really

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I just said you know what I'm all in I'm all in on Christ Church I'm all in I want you to go with me

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I want you to be with me I want us to be together I want us all to see the beauty of Christ Church but I'm just gonna tell you if you try to pull me away from this one singular focus

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I'm not going I'm all in on the church come with me let's go together but this is the way

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I'm going and I'm staying on this path and I believe I will not be put to shame because the church is gonna win

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Christ is her head he protects her he intercedes for her the

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Bible says he's returning for her our hope is not in numbers our hope is in God our hope is not in our budgets our hope is in God our hope is not in ourselves but God our fear is not in man but God friends don't misunderstand me

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I'm not saying like get out of here I'm like let's do this together but I'm just saying I'm going don't you see the city upon the mountains don't you see her incomparable beauty the nations are coming in even in little

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Perryville Arkansas have you ever just done an assessment to think about the people that are in this room we have members of our church who are born in China Connell's family is from his grandfather's side is from Germany she's just saying about that we just have people in our church in this little bitty town in Perryville Arkansas that represent the nation's even here is a microcosm of what

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God is doing the nation's have come in sinners plunging neath the flood of the fountain of Christ's blood washed redeemed forgiven united to Christ adopted into his family united with one another covenanted together in a visible local church are you a citizen of this city

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I'm laying in the plane I know I preach too long I know

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I do where's your country of birth where is your name registered if you love this city here's what

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I say behold her glory again and rejoice hope in Christ let us see this city become all that God has decreed for it to be and let us do her do our due diligence and caring for her beauty let her good and Christ's glory be ever at the forefront of our hearts and minds let our bill let us build our lives around a healthy church make the connection here make the connection and make the effort we cannot love

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Christ Church too much Lord give us eyes to see for those who stand outside the gates this morning here's what

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I say to you come in the spirit and the bride say come come everyone who thirst come to the waters and he who has no money come come by and eat come buy wine and milk without money and without price come into the city come here the gates of mercy are open come come to Christ he will heal you he will forgive you he will redeem you come and pledge your allegiance to his nation come and join yourself to his body turn from sin repent and believe upon Christ believe the gospel place your faith in him behold the glory of the church