LWGHD — Renewal - Jeremiah 29:4-14 (MT)

Renewal

Intro - TRY NOT TO VAMP

‌When you first moved here my wife’s parents wanted to take us on a trip to the Outer Banks they had never been we had never been in so we went so we sat out on our journey. Rachel and I were in the backseat. I had an iPad watching movies, comfy, Rachel was watching stuff on her phone and listening to music. My mother-in-law was in the front seat reading my father-in-law was driving. We’ve been on the road for a little while and stopped for gas and I checked the map and it turns out we were a good two hours off course, the phone that had the GPS on it, announcing directions in the front seat was muted, and we had been comfortably coasting in the wrong direction for two hours

Segue into Look what God has done

why preach a series like this?

A rally call to be all in at Mission Church (some things won’t change, some things should) A chance to celebrate all that God has done and will do in us and through us. A reminder of who we are as a church

And that is the heart of our mission, the reason we exist

Mission: To live on mission for Christ's Kingdom.

In other words our mission — what God has called us to — is to be a family of disciples that makes disciples and our vision is

Vision: To see Morganton, Burke County, and beyond transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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CHECK OUT THIS GRAPHIC

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The Core Values of the church are the intentional, culture-shaping distinctives.

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What happens often is our strategy goes all over the place without values, without a sense of why do we do what we do.

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Today we are looking at our values, specifically Renewal.

Here is how we define Renewal

Renewal: Rooted in the Gospel, we champion continuous spiritual growth and transformation.

When we hear words like transformation, renewal, or growth, we usually think of those benefits as being primarily personal and internal—my transformation, my growth, the gospel’s renewal of my heart.

And look the gospel is personal and internal.

But it’s also much more than that.

When God’s grace is working on us and in us, it will also work itself out through us.

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The internal renewal of our minds and hearts creates an external propulsion that moves us out in love and service to others.

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That’s what we want to talk about this Morning.

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We want to talk about how as the church gathered we want to foster the internal renewal of the gospel in the hearts of our people so that we can then scatter with an outward movement of love for God and others.

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Each of our values focus on the church gathered and scattered. How it works as we gather together as his people and as we scatter out to love our city.

So let’s jump in first and see this Morning:

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1. Renewal Gathered

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Jeremiah 29:8–14 (ESV) For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.

“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

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See the context of our passage is that many had been deceiving the nation of Israel who had once again because of their sin and rebellion fallen into captivity.

Israel is now in captivity to Babylon

The false prophet Hananiah, who could not imagine Israel’s life in Babylon long-term, dishonestly prophesied that God would bring Israel back to Jerusalem within two years.

However that is not to be the case.

In stead they will remain there for 70 years.

This text is perfectly relevant because It gives us a picture of a vibrant church in the midst of a challenging city.

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As we’re gonna explore in a moment the challenge given by Jeremiah was to be an engaged people in the life of Babylon.

In the midst of there exile they were to yes love the city, but they were also to be renewed as they waited upon the Lord.

For us as a church as we consider this renewal it is so important that we are renewed in our hearts and minds so that as we leave this place, as we leave from Sunday, we are fueled to take the gospel on mission to love our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our loved ones.

So I want to look specifically at how we as a church do this.

In our definition of this value we see Renewal working out as a church gathered we’ve said:

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Gathered: Fostering growth in the body by transformative teaching, intentional leadership development, submitting our hearts to the reign of Jesus.

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So let’s break that down.

Transformative Teaching

-Note about how this series is topically exegetical and should feel different

We believe firmly in Expositional Preaching.

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Expository preaching grounds the message in the text so that all the sermon’s points are the points in the text, and it majors in the texts’s major ideas.

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‌It aligns the interpretation of the text with the doctrinal truths of the rest of the Bible.

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‌And it always situates the passage within the Bible’s narrative, showing how Christ is the final fulfillment of the text’s theme.

‌In other words, we look at a part of scripture in the context of the whole of scripture recognizing and proclaiming that all of it is the story of Jesus.

‌And that story is the final word for us. It is the authority, the decision making power that shapes our entire worldview.

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So we are committed to preaching the truth of Scripture, seeing and rehearsing the gospel story so we can see real transformation happening in the life of Mission Church. Far too often sermons become soapbox where the pastor grinds an ax or a personal subject they love.

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We seek instead to let God’s word shape us.

We don’t shape God’s word around us the way we want it to be.

So we start here saying that we will commit to faithfully teaching scripture, that we would be transformed and renewed to take the gospel to our hurting world.

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Leadership Development

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The greatest challenge every organization faces is the continual need for more leaders.

Any organization that doesn’t have a multiplying leadership culture has no future.

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Jesus’ church is no different. His church needs leaders who are mature, not prone to gossip or slander, reliable, and who promote unity, not division (2 Timothy 2:2). Because of this, Mission Church makes leadership development a massive priority.

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The church was never intended to be a group of individuals who paid someone else to do ministry but rather to be a family of disciples making disciples.

Within that there are certainly leaders, but not only pastors, but lay-leaders as well.

We desire to keep our focus not on just the here and now, but on the kingdom and on the future.

In every realm of Mission Church, we seek to consider questions such as these:

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Who is behind that person being trained?

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What potential leaders are in our midst?

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How can this person realize his or her potential as a Christian in the workforce?

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How can we expand and take risks, and what other leaders are necessitated by that?

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Our goal is to give people grand visions of how God could use them, things they can’t quite imagine, and thoughts they even resist at first.

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Submitting Our Hearts To Christ Rule & Reign

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As we talk about teaching and leadership development, one thing we want to push is individual renewal.

This is why we put an emphasis on Spiritual Disciplines.

Coming soon we are going to be pushing Discipleship Groups where we will explore how to practice these disciplines well.

As part of my New Year goals I am doing something called the DEF Reset. It stands for discipline equals freedom. And it’s so true. See, it’s easy to think of spiritual disciplines as something we know we ought to do and feel shame for not doing. As I put into practice the discipline of being in the word this week I had this moment of clarity. As I am sitting in my office, in the still quiet hours of the morning. Yes I am doing something technically — I had to physically wake up and physically open the bible to read. But to be renewed…is to receive. Each morning as I sat reading it was closer to eating a meal than physical labor. That is what renewal is. That is why the disciplines matter.

What about you? Is Jesus Lord of your life as much as He is your Savior?‌

See you might not always notice, perhaps you will now that I point it out, but Billy and I try our best to refer to this space as the church building — not as “the church”

The Church is not a building. The church is a people.

‌So on Sundays, we gather for worship, but we don’t cease to be the church just because it’s a Tuesday and our schedules are full.

We gather throughout the week as well to continue to live on mission.

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Community Groups are the lifeblood of our church. If you have been here for a while and feel disconnected from a lot of us its likely because you have yet to become involved with a community Group.

They are an essential part of our ministry and mission in Burke County.

In Community Groups the people of Mission Church can build authentic community.‌

Community Groups are where the discipleship happens.

We read the Bible together, pray for each other, and help each other get closer to Jesus.

That’s the case whether you’ve had no connection to Jesus before in your life or you’re a committed follower of Jesus.

As we grow in our understanding of the gospel together, in community, we can challenge each other to allow God’s Word to penetrate our hearts more deeply and work itself out in our lives.

‌It’s been said that the church is the ordinary means that God uses to preserve us - to maintain us in Him.

Community Groups are the place where the Body of Christ can really be His body as we live life together.

That means we laugh together, celebrate together, shed tears together, and build real, loving relationships with each other as we live out the gospel on mission for Christ’s kingdom.

So Renewal happens as we gather.

But let’s look back in our passage and see how this works out in the church scattered.

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2. Renewal Scattered

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Jeremiah 29:4–7 (ESV) “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

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Again we have defined each of our values as the church gathered and scattered.

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So how does Renewal work in the church scattered?

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Well here is how we defined that:

Scattered: Participating in God’s will, through mission, to do justice, show compassion and make peace here as it is in heaven.

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So to understand this value let’s look at the context of our passage.

‌Israel, because of sin and rebellion finds themselves in captivity in Babylon.

What was Babylon like?

‌Well, a major part of their empire strategy was to eradicate the spiritual identity of its conquered peoples.

So the tribe of Judah is deported, moved to Babylon, the hope being that the the children and grandchildren of the Israelites would assimilate and lose their identity as distinct people.

So here they are in Babylon, and the false prophet Hananiah, dishonestly prophesied that God is going to bring them back to Jerusalem within two years.

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Had the exiles listed and followed Hananiah’s advice, they would have remained disengaged in Babylon, waiting indefinitely for God’s imminent deliverance.

Instead God, through the prophet Jeremiah, contradicts both the Babylonian’s strategy and the false prophet’s counsel.

You see on one hand, God tells his people to increase in number there; do not decrease (v. 6), He wanted them to retain their distinct community identity and to grow.

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But God also tells the to settled down and engage in the life of the great city.

They are to build homes and plant gardens.

Not only that, perhaps most striking, is that God calls them to serve the city. - to seek the peace and prosperity of the city and to pray to the Lord for it.

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While living in Babylon they are not to simply increase their tribe in a ghetto within the city; they are to use their resources to benefit the common good.

This is mind boggling.

From Genesis to Revelation, Babylon is represented as the epitome of a civilization built on selfishness, pride, and violence.

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It is the ultimate city of men.

The values of this city absolutely contrast with those of the city of God.

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…Yet here the citizens of God’s city are called to be the very best residents of this particular city of man.

God commands the Jewish exiles not to attack, despise, or flee the city…but to seek its peace, to love the city as they grow in numbers.

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Now listen God is still primarily concerned with his plan of salvation.

He must establish his people; the gospel most be proclaimed; human beings must be reconciled to him.

Yet he assures his people that serving the good of this pagan city is part of this very plan.

vs. 7 - in its welfare you will find your welfare…if it prospers, you too will prosper.

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Loving and seeing the city not only shows love and compassion, doing so also strengthens the hands of the people of God, who bear the message of the gospel to the world.

Mission Church…we seek Renewal in Morganton.

We take the gospel on mission to our city.

We want to be for Morganton.

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A lot of churches are just IN the city = we gather and do programs for the city, but we’re not really impacting the city

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Some churches are AGAINST the city = we’re good...the city is bad. God’s people are good, the city people are bad...don’t be with them, don’t go with them, don’t hang out with them. It’s us against them

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Some churches are WITH the city = being culturally relevant without being salt and light...so bent toward culture that you’re not making an impact or a difference at all

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We want to be FOR the city = If we closed our doors, would the city care? Jesus is the center of our church, and for the sake of the gospel and Jesus, we care for our city.

‌Morganton should be a better place because we are here.

‌We long for this surrounding neighborhood, down town, and even your neighbors to see a group of people that perhaps they don’t understand or agree with, but they are glad we are here.

Proverbs 11:10

[10] When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. (ESV)

-Story of Casey

He came to our facility meeting

It’s not us - but Christ in us that would be attractive

See we want to model our church this way because that is what we see in the heart of God put on display in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus!

Christ was not simply among the people. And he was deeply among them. But he rubbed shoulders with people. He saw them. He noticed them. He had compassion on them.

He was not against the city. He wept for it.

He was so for the city that he would be wrongly accused, beaten beyond recognition, and walked out away from the city to die a criminals death on a tree.

He died, was buried, and yet three days later He walked out of the grave.

He appeared to many and before ascending into heaven he sent his disciples to be on mission to make disciples.

Jesus’ parting command was the beginning of the Church and it is why we are here.

Look at Titus

Titus 3:4–7

[4] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5] 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, [6] whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (ESV)

See, God’s grace is the driving force of all renewal.

God’s grace has both an inward and an out- ward movement that mirror each other.

Internally, the grace of God moves me to see my sin, respond in repentance and faith, and then experience the joy of transformation.

That’s why we talk about making certain we are effectively preaching, raising up leaders, and making disciples to see renewal happen in the church gathered.

Externally, the grace of God moves me to see opportunities for love and service, respond in repentance and faith, and experience joy as I see God work through me.

In other words, the gospel is not just the answer to your internal sins, struggles, and heart idols.

It is also the answer to your failure to love others, engage the culture, and live on mission.

If the gospel is renewing you internally, it will also be propelling you externally.

It must do so, because it is “the good news of the kingdom” (Matt. 9:35), and the kingdom of God is not personal and private!

Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

When we pray for the coming of God’s kingdom, we are praying both that Jesus would reign in the hearts of people (internal) and that his will would be done everywhere just as it is in heaven (external).

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What does this look like practically?

‌I had to rework this section because most of it was a story from Billy. Rachel joked that I would say “Billy had an old co worker”.

Well it just so happens that I also have a story about a job I used to have. A story that has been told before here.

I had the hardest time at Starbucks. I was wrestling with identity and being a provider for my household. I didn’t feel like it was a “real job” because I took such an incredibly massive pay cut from my previous work. When I first started I was opening all the time. I hated it. I could not stand the day in and day out and I let everyone know it. I … had my eyes fixed on myself.

God used you.

Let’s say I didn’t lead worship on Sundays. I could just come to church, hear the word, say hello to some folks, have some good interactions then go back to my life throughout the week living in isolation. Work my job and hating it. Living a double life as I lift my hands in worship on Sundays yet having no capacity for anyone but myself as I worked a job I couldn’t stand.

But God used you.

As I shared, probably way to often and open, God used my community group, God used people I fellowship with on Sunday mornings, God used you, now, Mission Church — to shape my heart and bring about renewal!

‌See the church scattered is nothing at all without the church gathered.

We can’t just exist on our own, text each other now and then, and call that church. Obviously not.

Neither can we solely gather on Sundays, and gather with our community groups throughout the week, and not be lovingly pushing one another to be on mission for Christ’s kingdom!

‌See, it has to connect! That is the entire reason behind our original name!

And just to be clear - if you haven’t caught it so far - we still live lives Coram Deo! All of life lived before the face of God!

So as we gather we are renewed, so as we scatter we seek renewal for others!

As the gospel renews your heart, it will also renew your desire to move out in faith into the relation- ships and opportunities God places in your path.

To put it simply, the grace of God is always going somewhere—moving forward, extending his kingdom, propelling his people toward love and service to others.

As we learn to live in light of the gospel, mission should be the natural overflow.

As this works in us and we began to ooze gospel. We want that to define us.

God’s grace brings renewal internally (in us) so that it might bring renewal externally (through us).

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Conclusion

In Closing today, to give a recap, we want to be rooted in the Gospel, and champion continuous spiritual growth and transformation both gathered and scattered. We want to foster growth in our own body by transformative teaching, intentional leadership development, and submitting our hearts to the reign of Jesus. We want to join together, on mission to seek justice, show compassion and make peace on earth as in heaven.

This means we will do things like our care closet, but we will also go to major cultural events and participate and speak the hope of Jesus into those things.

‌We will look at the refugee and immigrant and feel a commonality as we are part of another kingdom but actively living in our city. We will seek their welfare.

We will serve our neighbors, love our co-workers, and in all of this make much of Jesus.

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So what about you?

We talk about what we love so naturally. Oh that we would be renewed together by the gospel of Jesus Christ — that the joy of our salvation would return, that we would be so caught up in the love of Christ we might burst into song, we might hug our neighbor, or better yet proclaim good news that we have tasted and seen and know that the Lord is good!

N‌ow it might be your inclination to leave this sermon feeling like you need to read your bible more and pray; like you need to get out there and share the Gospel with someone.

If that is your inclination - good. Praise God. Let’s do it together. Let’s be renewed together. You won’t make it on your own. I won’t make it on my own. Our motivation will dwindle and our hearts will be revealed to be driven by a desire to feel better about ourselves.

But if we disciple one another. If we disciple one another and make disciples together. Let’s see what God might do in us and through us!

1. What are the ways I need to be renewed by the Gospel?

2. Am I consistently engaging in spiritual disciplines like reading God's word, prayer, and worship?

3. How do I contribute to the church's mission of renewal, both when gathered and scattered? What specific actions can I take to foster this?

4. How am I contributing to the positive impact on my city? Am I actively involved in the renewal of Burke County?

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