WEBVTT 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:14.240 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.519 an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:19.760 with dozens of nationalities worshiping together. 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:22.920 We invite you to connect with us from wherever 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:27.140 you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:31.000 mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:37.780 by this week's sermon. Good morning. It's good 00:00:37.780 --> 00:00:40.990 to see you all. Did you notice anything different 00:00:40.990 --> 00:00:44.750 downstairs on your way in? Some things are a 00:00:44.750 --> 00:00:46.409 little different than they normally are. Last 00:00:46.409 --> 00:00:50.590 Sunday, I was standing downstairs with a guest 00:00:50.590 --> 00:00:55.109 who was on his way just traveling through. And 00:00:55.109 --> 00:00:58.289 he was standing there just kind of in awe, looking 00:00:58.289 --> 00:01:00.670 around at what was happening with all the different 00:01:00.670 --> 00:01:04.390 tongues, tribes, nations represented at ECB here. 00:01:04.530 --> 00:01:06.849 And he just said, I have never seen something 00:01:06.849 --> 00:01:11.500 like this before in a church. And I said, I wish 00:01:11.500 --> 00:01:14.359 you could come back next week because it's represented 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:16.920 even more. So what a gift it is for us to be 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:20.200 able to gather like this right now. This is also 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:22.500 a time where we are celebrating and remembering 00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:25.439 that ECB, our church, Evangelical Church of Bangkok, 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:29.439 was started 60 years ago. So we're taking a season 00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:32.219 to recognize and celebrate and remember what? 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:34.579 The good things, the amazing things that God 00:01:34.579 --> 00:01:38.510 has been doing in this time. And our vision statement 00:01:38.510 --> 00:01:40.829 here is Jesus in all of life. And so we'd like 00:01:40.829 --> 00:01:44.290 to take this season to celebrate Jesus in all 00:01:44.290 --> 00:01:48.549 of life. And this morning is one of four different 00:01:48.549 --> 00:01:51.870 celebrations that will end with a climactic Sunday 00:01:51.870 --> 00:01:54.909 at the end of September to really be our anniversary 00:01:54.909 --> 00:01:58.730 celebration at that point. So today we are looking 00:01:58.730 --> 00:02:01.510 at one aspect of the fullness of what Christ 00:02:01.510 --> 00:02:04.549 comes. So when Christ came, in John 10, 10, he 00:02:04.549 --> 00:02:06.819 says, You know, there's a thief that comes to 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:10.020 steal, to kill and destroy. But then he said, 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:13.000 I came to give life and to give it to the full. 00:02:13.419 --> 00:02:16.340 And so we want to unpack that fullness of life 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:19.180 that he came to give. And one of the things that 00:02:19.180 --> 00:02:23.500 he does is he is our new humanity. Now that's 00:02:23.500 --> 00:02:25.599 a little bit of a complicated statement. What 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:27.479 does it mean that Jesus is our new humanity? 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.300 And so we're going to unpack that looking at 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:33.240 the book of Ephesians where Paul coins this phrase. 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:37.139 He uses this phrase, Jesus is our new humanity. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.599 So Father, may your will be done and your kingdom 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:45.199 come in and through this time that we have right 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:49.979 now. Jesus, our new humanity. I've got an invitation 00:02:49.979 --> 00:02:54.400 then for you to participate in something right 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:57.939 from the beginning. When you think of Jesus, 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:01.560 what does he look like? So the first image that 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:03.259 pops into your head, when you think of Jesus, 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:08.120 what does he look like? You got it? Don't overthink 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:15.180 it. The most common... version of Jesus that 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:17.599 has been spread around the world is this one. 00:03:18.669 --> 00:03:22.909 by a guy named Salman who in 1940, he was a North 00:03:22.909 --> 00:03:26.710 American and he etched this out and he then painted 00:03:26.710 --> 00:03:29.729 it and there's over half a billion representations 00:03:29.729 --> 00:03:32.889 of this around. And I said in the first service, 00:03:32.969 --> 00:03:35.210 I've been in churches in East Africa where I've 00:03:35.210 --> 00:03:37.669 seen this. I've been in the Philippines and seen 00:03:37.669 --> 00:03:41.629 it on the site of a jeepney. I've been in Egypt 00:03:41.629 --> 00:03:44.370 and seen it down like alleyways and Coptic circles 00:03:44.370 --> 00:03:47.210 in South America. This image is all over the 00:03:47.210 --> 00:03:49.789 place. And what I can tell you this morning is 00:03:49.789 --> 00:03:52.650 this is not what Jesus looks like. That I know. 00:03:52.750 --> 00:03:54.550 I don't know what he looked like, but I know 00:03:54.550 --> 00:03:58.770 he did not look like this. Ironically, this is 00:03:58.770 --> 00:04:03.909 called Solomon's head, which the painter himself, 00:04:03.990 --> 00:04:07.789 it's kind of indicating the fact that we like 00:04:07.789 --> 00:04:12.250 to view Jesus in our own image or in some image 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:15.449 that has been celebrated to us. And the invitation 00:04:15.449 --> 00:04:17.370 this morning through Ephesians is let's look 00:04:17.370 --> 00:04:20.930 at, and allow him to define himself because that's 00:04:20.930 --> 00:04:23.250 not what he looks like. And that's not necessarily 00:04:23.250 --> 00:04:27.790 what he does. So we're going to consider the 00:04:27.790 --> 00:04:31.769 fact that at the very beginning of history, when 00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:34.750 Adam and Eve, the backstory to where we are in 00:04:34.750 --> 00:04:39.029 Ephesians, they were in perfect union with God, 00:04:39.189 --> 00:04:42.509 this perfect relationship. And in a rebellious 00:04:42.509 --> 00:04:45.689 state, they decided to give their allegiance 00:04:45.689 --> 00:04:49.610 to someone else. And what that did is that fragmented 00:04:49.610 --> 00:04:52.269 everything. And what Paul is going to describe 00:04:52.269 --> 00:04:55.569 as the result of that is that there's this mystery 00:04:55.569 --> 00:04:59.009 that needed to be revealed, that God would end 00:04:59.009 --> 00:05:01.790 up taking something, this fragmented reality 00:05:01.790 --> 00:05:04.470 of what the world ended up becoming, and putting 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:07.990 it back together again. Here's what he says, 00:05:08.009 --> 00:05:10.389 Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse 1. He says, as 00:05:10.389 --> 00:05:12.290 for you, you were dead in your transgressions 00:05:12.290 --> 00:05:14.740 and sins. This is talking about that rebellion. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:17.459 So we were created to be in perfect relationship 00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:21.819 with God. We decided to resist that, to rebel 00:05:21.819 --> 00:05:24.399 against it. And because of that, what I am left 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:26.579 with, what you are left with is to create our 00:05:26.579 --> 00:05:30.759 own significance in ourselves. So Paul continues 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:33.079 on and he says, in which you used to live when 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:35.480 you followed the ways of this world and of the 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.339 ruler of the kingdom of the air. Who is the ruler 00:05:38.339 --> 00:05:41.600 of the kingdom of the air? It's God's adversary, 00:05:41.779 --> 00:05:44.439 the one who is against him. And there's other 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:46.699 rulers that we can tell about from reading scripture 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:49.399 that have kind of dominion over different areas 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:51.759 and people groups and things like that. But this 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:54.879 is specifically talking about the main adversary, 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:58.279 the one who came to kill, steal, and destroy. 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:01.779 So Paul, from the very beginning, before he talks 00:06:01.779 --> 00:06:04.839 about this new humanity, he wants you and I to 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:07.439 know what the problem is. And that problem was 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:10.980 that life was fragmented. So think about it like 00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:12.879 that puzzle picture that I had at the beginning. 00:06:12.980 --> 00:06:14.740 So you have all these pieces that are scattered 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:17.879 out on a table. And we look around and we think, 00:06:17.980 --> 00:06:21.379 maybe I have some ideas what this is, but it 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:23.439 needs to come together, right? It needs to be 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:27.480 put together for me to know what the actual image 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:31.600 is going to portray here. What all these pieces 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.949 end up becoming is our identity. So I end up 00:06:35.949 --> 00:06:38.430 looking at the green pieces and I think, well, 00:06:38.550 --> 00:06:42.250 if I'm a green piece, I think those people have 00:06:42.250 --> 00:06:45.029 it right. And if I'm a blue piece, I look at 00:06:45.029 --> 00:06:47.029 the blue ones and I think, I think those people 00:06:47.029 --> 00:06:49.189 have it right, right? Because what ends up happening 00:06:49.189 --> 00:06:52.930 is I want to build up myself, but the trap is 00:06:52.930 --> 00:06:54.790 that in building up myself, I end up pushing 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:58.050 somebody else down. And Jesus steps into this 00:06:58.050 --> 00:07:01.250 that we're going to see from Paul. But before 00:07:01.250 --> 00:07:04.389 Jesus gets into it, let me go back to a phrase, 00:07:04.670 --> 00:07:06.230 divide and conquer. Have you heard this phrase 00:07:06.230 --> 00:07:10.550 before? Divide and conquer? Now, the Romans were 00:07:10.550 --> 00:07:13.129 the first ones to really make this phrase known. 00:07:13.290 --> 00:07:16.009 And what it means is if I'm trying to conquer 00:07:16.009 --> 00:07:19.209 a land, what I do is I step into it and I point 00:07:19.209 --> 00:07:23.589 out differences among this group of people. I 00:07:23.589 --> 00:07:26.029 highlight it like a caricature and I point out 00:07:26.029 --> 00:07:28.949 these differences. Why? Because when people recognize 00:07:28.949 --> 00:07:31.050 differences and there's a sense of shame and 00:07:31.050 --> 00:07:33.910 threat, they turn against each other. And then 00:07:33.910 --> 00:07:36.970 I can conquer them. So this idea of dividing 00:07:36.970 --> 00:07:40.629 and conquering has been repeated again and again 00:07:40.629 --> 00:07:43.509 and again by almost every empire in the world. 00:07:43.829 --> 00:07:45.750 But we do this in our personal relationships 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:49.250 in different ways as well. You know what, though? 00:07:49.529 --> 00:07:51.449 We didn't come up with this. We didn't invent 00:07:51.449 --> 00:07:55.149 this. this was that adversary that had this idea. 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:57.290 And what he wants to do is he wants to divide 00:07:57.290 --> 00:08:00.949 so that he can conquer. And by dividing, he's 00:08:00.949 --> 00:08:04.250 isolating us. And the more isolated we are, the 00:08:04.250 --> 00:08:07.230 more power that he has over you and over me. 00:08:08.029 --> 00:08:10.629 And so we're left with a world that typically 00:08:10.629 --> 00:08:13.009 ends up dividing itself into different groups. 00:08:13.110 --> 00:08:19.259 And I remember a leader at one point was pushing 00:08:19.259 --> 00:08:21.660 towards a certain agenda many years ago in an 00:08:21.660 --> 00:08:23.959 institution I was working in. And he said, you 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:26.100 know what? Birds of a feather flock together. 00:08:26.420 --> 00:08:29.819 You heard that saying? It's an American idiom 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:31.819 that is saying there. And basically it says that 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:34.980 those who are like each other end up being with 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:37.580 each other. And that's true, like in a puzzle. 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:39.279 If I'm putting it together, I want to actually 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:41.980 put the different colors together as I'm planning 00:08:41.980 --> 00:08:45.370 how to build it out. But the problem is when 00:08:45.370 --> 00:08:48.309 Satan comes in and he uses that as a way to cause 00:08:48.309 --> 00:08:51.490 tension and friction and division against one 00:08:51.490 --> 00:08:56.629 another. So evil turns God -given differences 00:08:56.629 --> 00:09:02.149 into dividing lines. Here's what Paul then goes 00:09:02.149 --> 00:09:04.750 on to say in Ephesians 2. He says, for he, he's 00:09:04.750 --> 00:09:08.799 talking about Jesus himself, is our what? Our 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:11.700 peace. Now, this is actually pointing back to 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:17.360 a Hebrew word that is shalom. Shalom does not 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:20.639 mean the absence of conflict alone. Shalom actually 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:23.200 means things as they were always meant to be, 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:26.759 the wholeness, putting things together. So Jesus 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:29.500 is actually our shalom. He doesn't come just 00:09:29.500 --> 00:09:33.480 to give shalom. He is our shalom. Then it says, 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:36.590 who has made the two groups one. and has destroyed 00:09:36.590 --> 00:09:39.129 the barrier and the dividing wall of hostility. 00:09:39.750 --> 00:09:43.909 What Paul is picturing here is that Jesus actually 00:09:43.909 --> 00:09:46.350 comes into two groups that are opposed to one 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:49.129 another, and he actually brings peace between 00:09:49.129 --> 00:09:52.029 them by helping them recognize their uniqueness 00:09:52.029 --> 00:09:54.929 and their part in the bigger picture, their part 00:09:54.929 --> 00:09:58.149 in the whole reality of what God is doing. And 00:09:58.149 --> 00:10:00.710 Paul says this about Jesus. He says, by setting 00:10:00.710 --> 00:10:04.639 aside in his flesh... The law with its commands 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:08.360 and regulations. This is going back to the Torah. 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:11.620 And this is recognizing the fact that when a 00:10:11.620 --> 00:10:14.600 people group order themselves around traditions 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:17.600 and language and habits and things like that, 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:21.940 we end up saying we're in and you're out. That 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:24.860 just naturally will happen. But God's design 00:10:24.860 --> 00:10:27.639 was never for that to be the reality. It was 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:30.240 for us to turn our attention towards him and 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.399 then welcome in the entire world. into his new 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:37.299 family, the new humanity. And so Jesus steps 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:40.340 into those dividing lines and he doesn't just 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:42.899 simply erase them. He actually becomes the glue 00:10:42.899 --> 00:10:45.679 that puts us together. Colossians 1, 15, when 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.519 it's talking about the supremacy of Christ, it 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:53.000 says that all things are held together in Christ. 00:10:53.810 --> 00:10:55.970 That's you and that's me in our relationships 00:10:55.970 --> 00:10:58.690 with one another. Jesus steps into the middle 00:10:58.690 --> 00:11:01.470 of that and he becomes the unity there. How does 00:11:01.470 --> 00:11:04.529 that happen? Well, it goes back to that backstory, 00:11:04.870 --> 00:11:07.549 right? If I'm finding my significance in the 00:11:07.549 --> 00:11:12.990 fact that I am a male who was born in East Africa, 00:11:13.070 --> 00:11:16.970 who has US citizenship, and I'm this 42 years 00:11:16.970 --> 00:11:19.769 old and on and on and on, what I end up doing 00:11:19.769 --> 00:11:21.850 is building some amount of significance in that. 00:11:22.539 --> 00:11:24.580 Now, if I come into contact with you and you 00:11:24.580 --> 00:11:27.820 are somebody vastly different from me, we're 00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:32.019 both competing for significance. And who's to 00:11:32.019 --> 00:11:35.480 say which one wins? The one who is more powerful. 00:11:36.379 --> 00:11:39.399 Jesus doesn't come to divide and conquer. He 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:42.340 actually comes to give of himself to restore. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:45.039 And he gifts his life so that we can be unified 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:47.379 once again with him. And then Paul says this 00:11:47.379 --> 00:11:51.350 in Ephesians 3. For this reason, I... Paul, I'm 00:11:51.350 --> 00:11:54.690 a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you 00:11:54.690 --> 00:11:57.909 Gentiles. There's another backstory that's happening 00:11:57.909 --> 00:12:01.409 here. When Paul was writing to the Ephesians, 00:12:01.409 --> 00:12:05.129 where was he in? He was in prison. And he's writing 00:12:05.129 --> 00:12:07.409 a letter in prison. Do you know why he was in 00:12:07.409 --> 00:12:10.529 prison? Because he was preaching the gospel to 00:12:10.529 --> 00:12:14.809 the people in Ephesus. And a riot ended up starting 00:12:14.809 --> 00:12:17.730 because there was a rumor that somebody had entered 00:12:17.730 --> 00:12:20.909 into a sacred space within the Jewish community. 00:12:21.149 --> 00:12:24.970 And a riot takes place and Paul ends up being 00:12:24.970 --> 00:12:28.929 the one who's in prison for it. So he's mimicking 00:12:28.929 --> 00:12:32.190 what Jesus does. He gives of himself in order 00:12:32.190 --> 00:12:36.110 that this community ends up having new life and 00:12:36.110 --> 00:12:39.320 a new humanity. And that's the invitation. If 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:42.259 we want to be a diverse community that is unified, 00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:47.279 we are also asked to give of ourselves. We're 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:49.600 going to participate that in a small way downstairs 00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:54.100 as people, some of them stayed up all night long 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:58.000 preparing food that you'll get to enjoy, decorations 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.000 and all these things like that. This is a way 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:03.019 of gifting of ourselves so that we can be a unified 00:13:03.019 --> 00:13:06.340 community together. Paul then goes on to say 00:13:06.340 --> 00:13:10.330 that, God from the beginning was to, he was making 00:13:10.330 --> 00:13:13.450 a plan to everyone to the administration of this 00:13:13.450 --> 00:13:16.529 mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden 00:13:16.529 --> 00:13:18.990 in God who created all things. So remember that 00:13:18.990 --> 00:13:20.830 puzzle. There's this mystery and we're trying 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:22.450 to figure out, Lord, what are you doing? What 00:13:22.450 --> 00:13:24.870 have you been working towards? And Paul says, 00:13:24.929 --> 00:13:28.730 Jesus comes and reveals that mystery. And this 00:13:28.730 --> 00:13:31.389 is what he says, that his intent was that now 00:13:31.389 --> 00:13:36.009 through what? The church, us as people, what 00:13:36.009 --> 00:13:39.710 is our job? to display the manifold wisdom of 00:13:39.710 --> 00:13:44.789 God that it would be known. We are somehow in 00:13:44.789 --> 00:13:49.110 our diversity supposed to reflect the manifold 00:13:49.110 --> 00:13:52.490 wisdom of God. That word manifold is like multi 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:57.029 -diverse. It's like multi -multi -together. Does 00:13:57.029 --> 00:14:00.269 it sound a little bit like ECB? We are meant 00:14:00.269 --> 00:14:02.830 to reflect God to the nations as we just were 00:14:02.830 --> 00:14:09.970 singing there. And so what we do is little pockets 00:14:09.970 --> 00:14:13.409 of followers of Jesus come together and they 00:14:13.409 --> 00:14:15.610 cross boundary lines that normally would not 00:14:15.610 --> 00:14:18.429 be crossed. And they give of themselves in order 00:14:18.429 --> 00:14:21.509 to have community together. And in and of that, 00:14:21.629 --> 00:14:24.789 we begin to get a fuller picture. We get a little 00:14:24.789 --> 00:14:28.129 more idea of what this picture is. Jesus at the 00:14:28.129 --> 00:14:30.549 center of it. And what is it that he is building 00:14:30.549 --> 00:14:35.120 here? Well, Paul goes on to say that we are actually 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:39.039 doing this as a reflection to who? To the rulers 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:42.139 and the authorities in the heavenly realms. The 00:14:42.139 --> 00:14:45.480 primary witness of our church being diverse and 00:14:45.480 --> 00:14:49.460 unified is to show an example to these heavenly 00:14:49.460 --> 00:14:51.879 beings. Why? Because they think that dividing 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:57.279 and conquering is going to give them all the 00:14:57.279 --> 00:14:59.940 power. But Jesus comes and he says, nope, I turned 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:01.960 that over. And actually I have a new plan. And 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:03.980 so in our diversity, in our unity and diversity, 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:07.820 we declare to Satan that he has no hold on what 00:15:07.820 --> 00:15:11.720 Christ has already done. Paul goes on and he 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:13.980 says, according to his eternal purposes that 00:15:13.980 --> 00:15:16.740 he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Eternal 00:15:16.740 --> 00:15:19.539 is a significant word. I mean, forever past, 00:15:19.779 --> 00:15:22.820 forever future. God has been working things to 00:15:22.820 --> 00:15:25.279 a certain end. And we're going to look at that. 00:15:25.690 --> 00:15:27.889 here by saying that we want to celebrate Jesus 00:15:27.889 --> 00:15:31.990 in all of what we are, all of who we are, submitting 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:34.169 every part of that to him and allowing him to 00:15:34.169 --> 00:15:36.629 reshape it into what he decides is good, right, 00:15:36.669 --> 00:15:38.950 true, and beautiful, and doing that in unity 00:15:38.950 --> 00:15:42.049 together. And we begin to reflect that as we 00:15:42.049 --> 00:15:44.450 will participate in in just a moment here through 00:15:44.450 --> 00:15:49.129 the festival. There's a church in Jerusalem that 00:15:49.129 --> 00:15:52.830 has the Lord's Prayer in 100 different languages. 00:15:53.799 --> 00:15:56.639 So you can walk around this church. And I think 00:15:56.639 --> 00:15:59.460 there's one up there that's, yeah, the brownish 00:15:59.460 --> 00:16:02.399 one is Burmese. You have all these different 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:04.519 languages represented. So you can walk around 00:16:04.519 --> 00:16:08.659 and explore and just experience the multilingual 00:16:08.659 --> 00:16:11.720 reality. Remember in Revelation, every tribe, 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:14.899 tongue, and people group. This is a testament 00:16:14.899 --> 00:16:18.120 to that, that's saying, hey, God's design from 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:20.379 the beginning was that all nations would be brought 00:16:20.379 --> 00:16:23.389 into his. big global family, this new community. 00:16:23.809 --> 00:16:25.669 For those of you who are helping me with the 00:16:25.669 --> 00:16:30.990 Lord's Prayer, with reciting it to the community 00:16:30.990 --> 00:16:35.409 here, would you go ahead and come up? What you're 00:16:35.409 --> 00:16:39.009 going to get a taste of is the fact that different 00:16:39.009 --> 00:16:41.929 nationalities here at ECB come together, and 00:16:41.929 --> 00:16:45.090 often we are communicating in English, but there 00:16:45.090 --> 00:16:47.830 are many different heart languages that are represented 00:16:47.830 --> 00:16:51.679 here. And so I want to invite you to just listen 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:54.159 as these three wonderful brothers and sisters 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:58.840 are going to pray the Lord's Prayer in their 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:01.500 mother tongue. And you can close your eyes if 00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:03.639 you want, or you can just listen. I'm going to 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:05.220 go grab the mic because I forgot it over here. 00:17:17.799 --> 00:18:11.450 Thank you. Amen. I'm praying in Swahili. Thank 00:18:11.450 --> 00:19:37.859 you. Amen. Amen. And all God's people said, Amen. 00:19:47.819 --> 00:19:51.819 What this represents is that there is one father. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:55.059 There's one Lord. There's one spirit. There's 00:19:55.059 --> 00:19:58.700 one baptism. There's one faith. And we all get 00:19:58.700 --> 00:20:02.099 to find a home in that. This new humanity that 00:20:02.099 --> 00:20:06.059 Jesus has launched from the beginning. So Jesus 00:20:06.059 --> 00:20:08.339 as our new humanity means that we need to bind 00:20:08.339 --> 00:20:10.119 ourselves to him, which then binds ourselves 00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:14.059 to one another in this global family. And we 00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:17.240 begin to... put the picture back together slowly 00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:20.339 by slowly with the intent that in the end, something 00:20:20.339 --> 00:20:23.579 beautiful will happen. And in the book of Revelation, 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:28.160 it foretells what our new home will be, the new 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:31.400 heavens and the new earth. And I want to read 00:20:31.400 --> 00:20:35.059 just a few verses describing what that home is 00:20:35.059 --> 00:20:38.099 like. And before I read that, I want you to think 00:20:38.099 --> 00:20:41.000 about where the nations and the cultures and 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:43.579 the people groups, does that show up in this 00:20:43.579 --> 00:20:47.519 description of heaven? So here's what John says. 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:51.980 He says, and I saw no temple in the city for 00:20:51.980 --> 00:20:55.220 its temple is the Lord God, the almighty and 00:20:55.220 --> 00:20:58.420 the lamb. And he continues on and he says, and 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:02.079 the city has no need of sun or moon to shine 00:21:02.079 --> 00:21:04.700 on it for the glory of God gives it its light 00:21:04.700 --> 00:21:09.099 and its lamp is the lamb. By its light will the 00:21:09.099 --> 00:21:12.299 nations walk and the kings of the earth will 00:21:12.299 --> 00:21:16.480 bring their glory into it. not leave their glory 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:18.599 and their significance out of it, but actually 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:21.299 bring it in and find its place in the larger 00:21:21.299 --> 00:21:24.319 picture. This is seeming to describe the fact 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:26.859 that heaven is not going to be monolingual or 00:21:26.859 --> 00:21:29.799 monocultural. It is actually going to be a place 00:21:29.799 --> 00:21:33.119 of all tribes, tongues, and nations worshiping 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:36.349 Jesus together. What a beautiful picture. And 00:21:36.349 --> 00:21:38.089 he goes on and he says, and its gates will never 00:21:38.089 --> 00:21:41.190 be shut by day and there will be no night there. 00:21:41.309 --> 00:21:44.309 They will bring into it the glory and the honor 00:21:44.309 --> 00:21:46.730 of the nations. Again, he repeats it in this 00:21:46.730 --> 00:21:49.970 picture. There will be Japanese in heaven. There 00:21:49.970 --> 00:21:52.190 will be Burmese in heaven. There will be Kiswahili 00:21:52.190 --> 00:21:54.589 in heaven. There will be Thai in heaven and every 00:21:54.589 --> 00:21:56.569 other language that is represented here, plus 00:21:56.569 --> 00:21:59.650 so many more. And what is the picture? The picture 00:21:59.650 --> 00:22:02.069 then gets put all back together and who God. 00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:06.019 was intending to be all along. Could you go forward 00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:13.700 one? The clicker's not, there you go. We're going 00:22:13.700 --> 00:22:17.099 to get it eventually. It's a mystery. There we 00:22:17.099 --> 00:22:20.740 go. This picture of all of God's people finding 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:23.680 their place. And you know what? The way God says 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:26.859 this is that each one of us has a unique spot 00:22:26.859 --> 00:22:29.940 in his global family. Each one of us is needed. 00:22:30.019 --> 00:22:32.579 When you put us all together, we begin to reflect 00:22:32.579 --> 00:22:35.880 the manifold wisdom of who God is. When we only 00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:38.859 stick with our group of people and people who 00:22:38.859 --> 00:22:41.059 think like me and act like me and look like me, 00:22:41.140 --> 00:22:44.559 I am only displaying one tiny aspect of who God 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:48.099 is. We get an invitation to step more fully into 00:22:48.099 --> 00:22:52.779 God's eternal plan by knowing and being known 00:22:52.779 --> 00:22:56.440 by each other. If you have been welcomed by Christ, 00:22:57.019 --> 00:22:59.640 you are called to welcome others as Christ has 00:22:59.640 --> 00:23:03.019 welcomed you. If you have been known by Christ, 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:05.700 you are called to be somebody who knows others 00:23:05.700 --> 00:23:08.579 and lets them know you. You are called to be 00:23:08.579 --> 00:23:11.400 somebody who brings in Christ -like belonging 00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:15.900 to all spaces. I pray that us as followers of 00:23:15.900 --> 00:23:18.400 Jesus would know the love of Christ that surpasses 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:21.240 knowledge so that we may be filled with all the 00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:24.940 fullness of God. And now to him who, by the power 00:23:24.940 --> 00:23:27.339 at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly 00:23:27.339 --> 00:23:30.380 far more than we can ask or imagine. To him be 00:23:30.380 --> 00:23:32.839 glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all 00:23:32.839 --> 00:23:48.279 generations forever and ever. Amen. If you are 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:51.339 looking for community or are in need of prayer, 00:23:51.619 --> 00:23:54.880 we welcome you to engage by sending us an email 00:23:54.880 --> 00:24:00.240 to office at ecb .asia. If God is calling you 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.980 to support our ministries, you will find giving 00:24:02.980 --> 00:24:06.779 options on our website. And remember to join 00:24:06.779 --> 00:41:16.309 us next week. God bless you. If God is calling 00:41:16.309 --> 00:41:18.949 you to support our ministries, you will find 00:41:18.949 --> 00:41:22.849 giving options on our website. And remember to 00:41:22.849 --> 00:46:27.079 join us next week. God bless you. If God is calling 00:46:27.079 --> 00:46:29.699 you to support our ministries, you will find 00:46:29.699 --> 00:46:33.599 giving options on our website. And remember to 00:46:33.599 --> 00:46:35.960 join us next week. God bless you.