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00:01 uh during the era where travel was mainly by horses and carriages. That
00:06 means before the time that we had cars and this minister needed a horse, okay,
00:12 to get around for his pastoral visits. So one day he went to a horse breeder
00:18 who was also a member of his church uh to buy a horse because he needed to
00:23 travel. So he told the man that he needed a horse and uh and and and and
00:29 the man when he saw his pastor, he said, "Pastor, I just have the right horse
00:36 just for you." I said, "I've named this horse Emmanuel."
00:41 All right. And he said that I've raised Emmanuel to respond to spiritual
00:47 phrases. So like when you want to want him to
00:52 run, you just have to say hallelujah
00:58 and he would run. And when you want him to stop, you just have to say praise the
01:04 Lord and he would stop. Wow. The pastor was so impressed that
01:11 this horse, you know, could respond to spiritual praises like this. And so he
01:17 bought the horse without thinking, you know, he said, "Yeah, without second thought." He just bought the horse and
01:23 he mounted on it and and uh and the breeder said, "Let me get you started,
01:28 pastor." And he said, "Emmanuel, hallelujah." And true enough, you know, Emanuel
01:35 started trotting and then uh slowly he started pacing and running and then he
01:42 got faster and faster and faster and the pastor suddenly got worried. I mean it's
01:47 like he tried to stop him but he couldn't. Soon enough, Emmanuel was just
01:52 racing through the valley and and up into the hills and and the pastor got
01:57 quite panicky and all of a sudden he forgot what was the phrase to use to stop Emmanuel. I mean it's like he tried
02:06 amen amen and he wouldn't stop and then he tried in the name of Jesus.
02:12 He wouldn't stop either and he ran faster and faster and soon the pastor realized that they were coming to a
02:19 cliff and he doesn't stop both Emmanuel and him will just plunge off the cliff and and and die and and then suddenly
02:28 suddenly he remembered oh yeah you know it is praise the lord I could say praise
02:35 the lord and he shouted out praise the lord praise the lord and emanuel came to a screeching halt just centimeters away
02:43 from the falling cliff. The pastor was so relieved. He was so thankful to God.
02:50 We sweat away his eyebrows. He cried out, "Hallelujah!"
03:02 The story of Jonah is a story of a man running from God,
03:08 you know, until he couldn't run anymore. And all of Jonah's praise the Lord. I
03:15 got away from God. And then in chapter 2, hallelujah, the Lord God is greater.
03:23 All is brought together in chapter three where he's exactly where God has him to
03:29 be, which is to go to the city of Nineveh.
03:36 And of all the cities, the fact that God would call Jonah to Nineveh is
03:43 noteworthy because Nineveh was the greatest city the world
03:48 had known at that time. And in order, you know, it was such a in
03:54 in in in ancient estimates, I mean, in order to walk through the city, it would
03:60 have taken three days. And in those days, it was big. It had an
04:05 impregnable fortress. There was military might and economic might and cultural
04:12 might. And the city was just all of that. And so it was a great city. And
04:18 nobody in their right mind would even think of besieging the city because to capture the city,
04:26 you got to get an army to surround it. And there was no such army, no such
04:32 great army in those days to come around the circumference of the city.
04:37 But God used just one man, Jonah. And he brought the entire city into
04:47 repentance. And with that, Jonah became the national hero. He became a city changer.
04:55 You know you watch we all we we we you know we we watch movies today uh so many
05:01 many movies have the same theme you know it's a theme is always a heroic quest of
05:07 someone who comes to save the world against impossible odds in fact there's
05:14 no other story line you know that attracts people young and old alike it is every child's dream you know that
05:22 battles against evil must be won and the good must always triumph over evil. And
05:29 these movies kind of appeal to all of us. And I think the reason is because people cuz deep down inside of us, we
05:37 all want to make our lives to count. You know, we we want to live, we want to
05:43 ensure that justice and righteousness actually eventually shine. We want to
05:50 see uh mercy flood the world. And you know as kids kids we all grew up
05:58 dreaming of some kind of a greatness. That's why if you talk to children and you ask them what do you want to be when
06:04 you grow up and almost instinctively the child will tell you I want to help
06:10 people and you will choose a profession you know that will help people and we look
06:15 at the kid and say oh yeah that's correct you know no kid will say I want to be a drug addict and no one will say
06:21 that right I mean he wants he wants to help people and and and in other words
06:26 what he's saying is what we resonate in our hearts as well as adults, you know, I want to live a life with a cause.
06:34 I want to live a life that make a difference to other lives, you know, and so but then when we grow
06:40 up to become adults, people somehow we lose that, you know, we we lose that desire to make
06:47 a difference. Somehow we get so addicted and chained to comfort.
06:54 We just don't realize how addicted we are to comfort.
06:59 you know and and and and we be we we we addicted to to be entertained you know
07:05 to the good life and and we soon forget that we are actually called to greater things
07:12 and Dorothy says is is one amazing amazing writer and if you read any one of her
07:18 books I mean you you you really feel cut to the heart uh because she's so direct and and in in in in oh yeah I I think I
07:26 should go this way right and she says it's already up there. And she says, "The sin of our times now is not power-
07:33 hungry materialism. It's not even permissive spirit of lawlessness, but
07:39 rather the sin that believes in nothing." That's the problem. The sin of the ages
07:45 is a sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, and therefore
07:53 enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive. But there is nothing
07:59 for which it will die. Put it another way, people. What she is
08:06 saying is that the sin of the age is that as soon as I start to live my life
08:12 for the next condo, for the next car, for the next vacation,
08:19 why just the next meal? you know, I actually begin to live for
08:25 nothing because all I'm thinking about is my comfort and my entertainment
08:31 and and and and my security and and the the the purpose of my life therefore
08:36 becomes very very small. you know, I I may have a lot of friends
08:42 and, you know, I may be a great socialite and I may be well known in the community and all of that, but if all I
08:48 do is to live for myself and if it's all about me and my comfort
08:53 and my security and my interest and my happiness, then I'm really living a very
08:59 insignificantly small life because I am making no difference to anybody.
09:08 And I'm I'm I'm changing nothing. In fact, I could die
09:14 and after a little while, nobody's going to miss me. Certainly not the world and I'm not
09:21 making any impact. So to put it another way, the
09:28 the bigger I get in my own eyes, the smaller I really become.
09:34 If it's all about my interest and my happiness, it's that is all it's all about, then I'm really a very small
09:40 person on the inside. And that's exactly where Jonah was.
09:48 I mean, when God gave him a call in the beginning, you know, he didn't want that call. He didn't want to do anything
09:54 bigger. Of course, not Neneva. I mean, he was out to protect the
09:59 security of his own people and his own city. and he wasn't interested in a
10:05 people different from himself. In fact, Jonah literally was living for
10:10 nothing and he wanted to stay that way. That's why he was running from God. But
10:18 you know what? God would not give up on him and he would keep pursuing him. And
10:23 that was the grace of God upon his life because otherwise Jonah's life would
10:28 just shrivel up. It would his soul would just become so small. People let me tell
10:35 you this that God is pursuing every one of us all the time.
10:43 You know like Jonah we all tend to run away from God's call.
10:48 you know uh we we get too preoccupied like Jonah he
10:54 was just so preoccupied with own his own comfort and security and addictions and
10:59 to different degrees we all are guilty of that
11:06 but God wants us to live greater lives and he calls us to live with a cause
11:12 because that's what will bring us into greatness and so God took Jonah not just one man, a reluctant prophet, a man with
11:20 a divided heart. Because later on, if you go on into chapter 4 and all of that, you do you discover that, you
11:27 know, his heart was so divided. He was like, you know, had he had so many struggles inside. A man who was not in
11:34 the beginning familiar with the grace of God, but God touched his life and turned him around and gave him a
11:42 cause. And there are three things I want to share with you uh this morning people
11:47 that brought him to the place to be a man with a cause. And I think these same
11:53 three things we need to hear for our own lives so that we live lives that God means us to
11:60 live a life with a cause and a purpose greater than just ourselves. First of
12:05 all, it's God's grace on his life. The next is God's calling on his life. And
12:10 finally, God's power in his life. So let's look at the first one. The persistent grace on of God in his life.
12:17 Now I stand amazed that it says the verse chapter 3 verse one uh that we
12:23 just read begins this way. Then the word of the Lord came to him a second time.
12:31 And he said go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give to you. The word of the Lord came
12:39 to Jonah a second time. Now you know it it it kind of like Jonah had let God
12:46 down the first time. You know why would what why do you go
12:51 back to a person who has failed you? If you want to send a person in a mission and let's say for example that you know
12:58 if you were to if you if you're a general in the army you have an officer right there who is under court marshal
13:05 and then you know would you command him back to go back into the battlefield? I mean this guy has failed you. You choose
13:13 the best, the most faithful, the loyal, the cream of the crop, the person with the track record.
13:19 You don't choose, you don't come back to a person who has failed you and ask him, "Would you now go back again?"
13:27 I mean, when God does that to Jonah and calls
13:32 him back, the only the only thing we understand from it is the is that he's
13:39 such a gracious God. That was just God's persistent grace in
13:44 his life. That's not only true of of of of Jonah. I mean it's true of the apostles uh if
13:50 if you look at the apostles other than Judas who was the one who had the worst track strike record
13:57 Peter right and and during the passion the death of Jesus Christ that's the guy who
14:03 ran away that's the guy who denied Jesus it was Peter and he's the one that Jesus
14:10 puts in charge of the rest of them after he ascended now what does this tell us people tells
14:18 us simply is that in God's economy, it's failures that makes you useful.
14:25 And that's kind of comforting to all of us. But then you ask yourself this question, why does God choose people who
14:32 falter and fall and fail? Why does he do that? I mean, it's a
14:37 pattern with God. You look through scripture and you realize character after character. people who fail, people
14:43 who falter, people who, you know, who run away, people who deny God, he he
14:50 calls them back and he uses them mightily. Why?
14:55 Because failure and suffering people does three things to us. Basically,
15:04 first of all, if you fail and you suffer, suffering actually makes you into a servant.
15:10 This happens at a human level, right? If you have a handicapped child, you will help other people with handicapped
15:17 children. I mean, if you if you were a former drug addict, you feel like you want to help
15:24 current drug addicts. If you have been widowed and you suffered grief, you want to help other
15:31 widows or widowers who are suffering similar grief. Like your suffering makes
15:38 you a servant. It is suffering, trouble and failure
15:44 that turns you to become a servant. And not only that, suffering and trouble and
15:50 failure also humbles us because and then all of a sudden we are no longer looking
15:55 down at everybody else. We are no longer judgmental. Now we stop judging others. We become
16:02 more approachable. Our hearts kind of opens up to people and that makes us more effective in the lives of other
16:09 people and over above that failure and suffering makes us compassionate.
16:17 We kind of you know our heart just reaches out to other people and therefore failure and suffering makes
16:22 you a servant. It makes you humble and makes you compassionate. And if there's anyone here if you think
16:28 that you know you're a big big failure you know it's like like you know you you you you you're too your failure is just
16:35 too big for God to use you. You got to go back to scripture. You got to consider people like Manasse, for
16:41 example, one of the nastiest kings of Judah. In the Old Testament, the city ran with
16:47 the blood of his own children that he was sacrificing at the altar. And yet, when he humbled himself and when he
16:54 repented before the Lord, the Lord received him and restored him to be the king of Israel again.
17:00 So you look at these failures. God uses Jonas and God uses Peters and God uses
17:05 Manasses and God uses Masimos. Yeah. You know, I mean those of you who
17:14 know Masimo and I I I got to know him this last past year. I know his amazing
17:20 story and his past and his his failures. And yet when you see him today where he
17:25 is, I mean incredibly the grace of God upon his life and how God has pursued
17:31 him in his grace. And his story is our story too. I mean it may not be as
17:37 dramatic but we all have a similar story of the grace of God pursuing us and
17:42 never giving up on us though we have failed him so many times. And today people as you commission him as a church
17:51 as a as an urban missionary you are celebrating God's grace in his life
17:59 and we do that together for all of us. You know if you have ever said no to God but at one time you know if someone come
18:06 had come to you and say hey would you serve the Lord in this and no no no I I can't do that. I want to tell you this.
18:12 God will come back to you a second time and he will come back to you a third time and he will come back to you again
18:20 and again because of his persistent grace to you. Don't you ever turn around and say that don't keep on coming back
18:27 to me. It is God's grace upon your life that he because of his love for you and because you know he he wants to use you
18:35 despite your failures and your sufferings and despite your former denials he will still want to use you
18:41 because he never gives up on you and he will strengthen you and he will rescue you and he will give you a cause
18:48 and a purpose so that you enter into your greatness and that's God's legacy
18:55 for each one of us. Secondly people
19:00 the calling you know God by nature is a sending God
19:05 he is a calling God and when God comes back to Jonah he he doesn't say to Jonah
19:12 Jonah you know I I know that you have had a very rough time in the lower gastroint in in intestinal tract of that
19:19 fish it must have been very smelly very bad very hard down there you know you need some rest you know so would you
19:27 take a a one a month's vacation, you know, and then come back and I'll tell you what to do. I may send you to
19:33 Neneva. I may send you to Hollywood. It's up to me, you know. You know, it
19:41 doesn't happen that way, you know. So, the moment he he got out of that fish,
19:46 God said, "Go straight away." Which means to say people that the mission is
19:53 not for the well-rested. You know, it's like it is not for people
19:58 with a lot of time in their hands. You know, it's not for people with a lot of money. It's not for people without
20:05 any money. It is it's not for people who have an outgoing gift of the gap.
20:11 It's for anybody who would say, "Lord, I really belong to you and my life is yours and God, I want to serve your
20:17 purposes. I want to answer your call for my life." And we are not talking about full-time
20:23 here. Okay? That's that's that's one category. But I but I'm I'm talking about every one of us here. You know,
20:29 whatever your profession, wherever you are, whatever your station in life is today,
20:35 God has a call upon your life. And God is God is a sending God. He's a
20:41 calling God. And and he's always asking the question that he asked Jonah, will
20:47 you go for me? It doesn't matter how young you are, how old you are. It doesn't matter what
20:53 station you are in life and you know what people when you say God I'll go for
20:59 you it simultaneously means that you are going to get out of something
21:05 and for most of us is getting out of the familiar is getting out of the comfortable.
21:12 It is getting out of what we are secure with. Every time God calls you, he calls you
21:18 to step out of the familiar. and step out of the comfortable and the
21:24 secure. That's what I'm excited for Masimo. He's he's answering a call
21:31 and that means he has to get out of what is secure and familiar. And I'm excited
21:38 and so proud of this church. You know, because you you are answering the call to send
21:44 him out and it's probably costing the leadership to have to let go of a good
21:50 man, you know, and and to answer that call. And I know what it is like. I'm the
21:56 senior pastor of another church in in Singapore. And when when one of my guys says that, you know, would you send me
22:01 out? It's like, oh yeah, you know, it's a sacrifice on our part, too. So you
22:08 know but let me ask each of us this question people what are you doing now that is out of
22:16 your personal security that is out of the familiar with you
22:24 know some of you may be afraid of they're very afraid I mean you may think oh you know what if I sign up for this
22:29 ministry or if I just get involved with this person's life and and and oh mine
22:35 it's going to take so much commit commitment and to some of us it's a very bad word
22:41 commitment now we're so afraid of it you know that person will have a piece of me
22:47 you know that ministry will take a piece of oh yes it will take a piece of you it's going to take your time it's going
22:53 to take your energy it's going to take part of your life I mean if you're going to join that ministry if you're going to
22:58 be part of this you know it will take a piece of you yes and and and and they could call on you
23:06 anytime time and then you say oh my very like that you know I mean it's like I I
23:12 won't even have my life I really have so little time it's going to cut on my into my time into my budget into my this my
23:20 work is so demanding my family is so demanding absolutely yes
23:26 but that's what it means to answer the call of God and I tell you people until you get out
23:32 of that security zone you really cannot be a healer or a helper or a rescuer.
23:39 See a lot of time God heals us and he touches us and he rescues us and he
23:45 fills us so that we will go out there and be a healer and be a helper and be
23:51 the one you know who who who is a blessing to somebody else. If you look
23:56 at Jesus Christ that's exactly what he did and we all called to be Christlike, right? I mean Jesus, you know, was many,
24:06 many years after Jonah. He left the ultimate security zone,
24:11 the ultimate comfort zone. What could be more comfortable and secure like heaven
24:18 and he left heaven. He has zetted everything. He gave up everything. He
24:24 paid every price possible in order to come and reach out to us. And and and
24:31 what did he do? He got involved. So involved. He wrestled. He hurt. I mean,
24:38 he said some unpopular things which transformed some people and he made other people angry. So angry that they
24:46 wanted to kill him. And that's the way it is. You know when when you start to
24:51 when you want to be a city changer when you when you when when you want to transform uh other people's life and
24:57 change other people's life you know you some people will love you other people want to kill you
25:03 you will be praised and you will be persecuted you will be received and you will be rejected it's in inevitable and
25:10 yet by humbling himself Jesus Christ was exalted by God and
25:18 people if That's the pattern he set for us so that we could be delivered and we
25:23 could be rescued out of our gratitude and worship for him. We should do the same and get out
25:30 of our own comfort zone. It's very easy to say that yeah I'm a Christian
25:37 and I'm living for God when day in and day out actually we are living for
25:42 nothing more than for our own schedules and our own career and our own goals and
25:49 our own happiness. What are you living for? Are you living for chocolate cake and milkshake,
25:57 Iron Man and Superman? What are you living for? Can you say here the places that I'm
26:04 making my life uncomfortable for the sake of Jesus Christ? Here's where I am moving out of the
26:10 familiar. Here's where I'm giving myself to God. I'm giving myself financially, emotionally, relationally. I'm giving
26:17 myself here am I, you know, walking out of that which is familiar to me to serve
26:23 the Lord and other people. Then people, you do enter into greatness. Answer the call. Get out there. Go bless the city.
26:33 Live for a cause, you know, beyond beyond your own comfort and security and
26:39 step out of the familiar. Close. Finally, people, the last thing.
26:45 The power, the power of God makes the cause of God in your life a possibility.
26:52 You know, in this chapter, in chapter three, it literally says that the king of Nineveh heard the news and he
26:59 repented. He he called and made this decree. And
27:05 in in Hebrew, it literally says when the word touched even the king, he turned to
27:12 his subjects and said, "Let's turn from evil ways and turn away from our
27:18 violence." And Ninevea was famous for their evil ways and their violence. And this is
27:26 every church planter, urban church planter, every psychologist, every
27:31 pastor, every counselor, every social worker wants to see this happen in their
27:36 city. You know, if only the people in our city would turn away from the evil ways. If
27:43 only they would turn away from violence. If only you know there is no oppression and crime and injustice. You know all
27:50 the problems in our city will be resolved. If only that would happen. Jonah got it.
27:58 I mean how did Jonah get it? How was he able you know to turn the city around?
28:05 What made it possible? And people, the scripture tells us that Jonah got it through one means only,
28:14 repentance. He led the people to repentance.
28:19 And but he could never have led the people to repent. Listen people, he could not have led the people to
28:25 repentance unless he himself was walking in repentance.
28:33 God led Jonah into repentance so that Jonah could lead the city into
28:40 repentance. God led Jonah to understand grace so
28:46 that he could then lead the city to understand grace. And this is our problem.
28:53 We want to change the world without first allowing God to change us.
29:00 We want to spread the fires of revival. Yes. But we are not dealing with the idols in our own lives. We are not
29:07 getting them to be burned down to ashes first. In 1956, Martin Luther King Jr. was a
29:16 young Baptist minister. It's nice in a Baptist church to make the Baptist a
29:21 little bit more emphatic. He was a young Baptist minister in
29:27 Montgomery, Alabama. And after this lady Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat on a bus.
29:35 King found himself leading a bus boycott against the racist policies of the city
29:43 and he lived under constant threat for his life.
29:50 Uh threat to his life. on January the 27, 1956. He was woken up in the middle
29:55 of the night by a phone call. The voice on the on on the line said that if he
30:02 wasn't out of the town in 3 days, they were going to kill his family.
30:07 After he put down the phone, he couldn't go back to sleep with his wife and his and his and his infant daughter in the
30:14 next room. He made himself a cup of coffee in the kitchen and sat there trying to figure out how to escape,
30:21 how to run away from this threat. He later admitted in his writing that he
30:26 was scared to death. That you know that he was paralyzed by fear. The only thing
30:32 that occupied his mind that night was the fact that of self-preservation, my security, my family. And in the one
30:40 moment of of of of thread, his whole world became very small. But you could understand. I mean, you and I in that
30:47 situation would definitely think that way, right? And he lost his appetite for
30:52 greatness at that one moment. He cared only about his own security. And we would say that's rational. That's very
30:58 logical. But then something unexpected happened
31:05 that very night. Gripped with fear, king cried out to God.
31:13 sitting at a kitchen table on January the 27th, he confessed all of his fears to God. He repented to God of his
31:21 covetousness and he cried before God that he that he cannot do this that it's
31:28 costing him just too much if it's going to cost his family he just cannot do this.
31:34 But then his prayer began to change as he started praying and repenting and he turned to those who were victimizing him
31:41 and he started praying for them and he started repenting on their behalf.
31:47 started repenting for their sins and for the threat that you know was thrown at him and he broke down and he
31:55 cried and cried that he is departing from the glory of the Lord
32:00 and dear people that's true repentance
32:06 through all that repentance and prayer and crying king suddenly felt a stirring
32:12 there was an inner voice that spoke to him and he said stand up for the righteousness Stand up for
32:17 righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo, I will be
32:23 with you even until the end of the world. And he wrote this in his journal.
32:28 He said, "The voice promised never to leave me. Never to leave me alone. No,
32:35 never alone. He promised to never leave me. Never to leave me alone."
32:42 That night, King experienced a visitation from God and it changed the
32:48 way that he saw the world. It took away his fears.
32:53 He saw that God was with him. His imagination for a world without
32:58 racial and color differences begin to fire him up all over again. And that encounter in his kitchen with
33:05 God where God said to him, I I and he he said this at the end of it. He said, I
33:11 will I I I can now stand up without fear. I can face anything. There is a
33:16 cause and I will give my life to God for it. And he made a commitment to God that
33:21 night. He experienced a personal revival. They came out of repentance
33:27 and and and and his new experience, God experience, was about to be tested four days later,
33:35 four four nights later on January the 31st, 1956,
33:40 he was speaking at a rally when someone ran in and shouted that his home has
33:47 been bombed with his wife and his daughter inside. He ran out and and as
33:53 he came to his house, there was an angry mob assembled in front of of his office,
33:58 still burning house. And by some miraculous means, his family was okay. They were safe. But there was this mob
34:05 of people, angry Africanameans with guns and beds ready to riot. And his his his
34:13 whole community was just totally enraged. And king stood up,
34:19 you know, behind him with this smoldering porch behind him. He addressed the crowd and he said, "He who
34:26 lives by the sword shall die by the sword." I want you to love your enemies.
34:33 You know, be be good to them, love them, and let them know that you love them. For we are doing what is right, and we
34:40 are doing what is just, and God is with us.
34:45 And the mob just put down their guns and their beds. And then slowly someone
34:52 started singing a hymn, Amazing Grace.
34:57 And everyone else joined in the chorus. Historians look back at that night and
35:03 say that that is the turning point to the civil rights movement. It was the night that non nonviolence and love were
35:11 put into practice and it changed America over time.
35:16 But you know what really was the turning point? The real turning point in the civil
35:22 rights movement was four nights earlier when King sat at his kitchen and he
35:31 repented before God and he encountered Jesus
35:36 and he found grace lifting him up to new heights. It was the night he exchanged
35:41 personal security for a great greater cause that God has called him and he
35:48 received the promise that God would never ever leave him. People God's power
35:55 is channeled through the repentant soul. Sky Jetin one time editor of uh
36:02 Christianity today in his book divine commodity says this. He says the sociologist can no longer differentiate
36:09 the lives of Christians from non-Christians or the behavior of churches from corporations. We have
36:15 abandoned the vision that Christianity is an alternative way. Christianity is a repentance way.
36:23 The Bible teaches us a city's problem can only be dealt with through repentance.
36:29 Repentance is not just an emotional upheaval. It is thoroughgoing change of one's
36:36 life. And when the gospel is clearly preached and the grace of God is
36:42 revealed, the Holy Spirit brings repentance. And that's what changes lives and that's what changes
36:49 everything. But for the gospel to be preached people everywhere in a global city like this
36:57 like Kale, we need men and we need women to walk in their own repentance
37:03 and leave their their their place of comfort and go. And we need churches like this church
37:10 that would dare to send them out. You know, cities are growing at a very
37:16 rapid rate. Young people are pouring into cities like never before.
37:22 Cities therefore need more and more churches and and more and more repentance
37:28 preaching God- centered gospel- centered churches are needed.
37:35 And this morning in commissioning Mimo to be sent out as an urban missionary who focuses on church planting.
37:42 Each one of you is participating in this call in commissioning him together with the
37:48 elders. You are saying this. You're saying we believe in this call. You're saying we we want to more and more be a
37:55 go. We want to see more and more gospel- centered churches in our city. We want
38:01 to see repentance translating into revival in our city. And we want to live
38:06 that higher call and the high that higher purpose that God has for us.
38:12 And while you do that together as a church in just a little while, personally, may I challenge you, each
38:18 one of us here, to walk in repentance. Masimo, may I challenge you to continue to walk in repentance
38:24 because it's repentance that changes lives. It's repentance that changes families and it's repentance that
38:32 changes cities. Would you bow your heads with me? Let's pray.
38:40 And Father, we thank you, Lord, that you're a God who calls us regardless of our failures.
38:48 That you love to use us, Lord, despite the fact that
38:53 we failed you and we disappointed you and we disregarded you in the past.
39:01 You still call us, Lord, and you sent us into the city to change
39:08 it. Father, give us a heart of repentance.
39:14 Help us, Lord, each one of us, whatever our walk of life is in this room, that
39:20 day by day, Lord, we will walk in humble repentance,
39:27 dependent on you that God, that we will allow you to first change us
39:33 so that we can be city changers.
39:42 Father, empower us Lord
39:48 to lift our comfort zone, our security,
39:56 our addictions to serve your greater purposes, Lord.
40:01 That's what makes a great life.
40:07 a wonderful life. Father, this morning as we come Lord
40:12 into this time of commissioning,
40:17 Mercimo, we pray Lord that you will engage us not only with the commissioning but you
40:24 engage our hearts with you that each one of us will participate in this believing in this call
40:31 and believing of Father God.
40:36 for your work and your kingdom to advance in this great city.
40:42 We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.
