Revelation 19:1-9 • Here Comes the Bride

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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

 Even as the words and music of the praise team are echoing in this room, I want you to look at the passage from which those words come. Revelation chapter 19.



 Revelation 19 as the Lord opens to us the future and speaks of a wonderful feast, the wedding supper of the Lamb in which Christ unites Himself to His bride, which is the church. That's us. I know in January our schedules are a little bit in flux and as families are getting settled before return to the book of Philippians, we'll be using the month of January to think about the nature of this church to which God calls us to do His work. Let's honor God's word by standing and reading together Revelation 19 verses 1 through 9 as the heavenly host celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb to His bride. The Apostle John writes, "After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for His judgments are true and just, for He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of His servants." Once more they cried out, "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever and the 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne saying, "Amen! Hallelujah!" And from the throne came a voice saying, "Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him small and great." Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this. Blessed are those who were invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." Let's pray together.



 Because they are the true words of God, Father, write them on our hearts and radiate them through our lives. That we who believe that what you have shown us from your Word is the destiny of the Church of Jesus Christ which will be made whole in Him at the end of the ages and that the deeds of the saints in this age are contributing to that great victory. We are such saints by your calling so we pray that you would inform us this day by your word how we might serve the Lamb



 as the bride that He has called to Himself for the purposes of glory. This we ask in Jesus name, Amen. Please be seated.



 My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen. The stirring words of Martin Luther as he was called to recant that 95 theses that he tacked to the Wittenberg door 500 years ago this year. Much of Protestantism will celebrate in this 20017 the great Protestant Reformation in which the ancient truths of the church were reified according to the nature of Scripture. And yet if you were to go to that very spot where Martin Luther said those famous words, you would go and find a small nondescript plaque and in a year but this year where the nation celebrates, you would find a weed-filled courtyard marking the building that burned long, long ago where Martin Luther said those words. The weed-filled park is more than a statement of neglect. It is a reflection of the embarrassment. Much of the nation of Luther feels about the faith that he fought so hard to defend. An evangelical pastor in the region where Luther spent so much of his energies recently recorded what a day is like for an evangelical pastor in that part of Luther's land. He wrote this, "By the time the Soviet tanks moved out in 1990, we opened church doors to people who had not touched a Bible for a generation and they had been taught since childhood that believers were unscientific fools. If you identified as a Christian, not only were you ridiculed in school, your parents were not allowed the vouchers that will allow them to go to a pharmacy and get you medicine. If upon high school graduation you did not renounce your own church membership and go through a confirmation ceremony in atheistic statements of the nation, you were not only denied the ability to go to university, you could not go to trade school nor receive a trade license, you could not get housing, you could not get a voucher to get a refrigerator or a stove for your apartment. It made no earthly sense anymore to be a member of a church. So now says the pastor, "We preach and teach in the common language of atheists." For example, it makes no sense to say in this nation, "Jesus died for your sins." No one would care. They don't understand what sin is. At a wedding or a funeral we talk about love and compassion from God and with that basic message we reach a few people who will listen. Often it's only the chemically dependent looking for some lifesaver from their dependence or the sick or the dying or the elderly remnant. To such the pastor says he makes his daily rounds. But at the end of one day a young couple knocked on his door. It made his day because what they ask was that he discuss with them their newfound faith and he described how for two hours with a Bible open between them they discuss their newfound faith and its impact on their lives. But when he asked, "Would you be willing to be baptized to declare your faith in Christ and unite in membership with a body of believers for Christ's sake?" They politely declined.



 Explains the pastor in our culture people are used to hiding the spiritual dimension of their lives. Not just in his culture. Last month Gallup reported again in its church survey done annually how many of us as Americans identify as Christians. It was in December of this last year 74 percent. But only about half of those who say they are Christian are a member of any local church. And only about a third of those attend any local church regularly.



 It is plain even here that to believe the Scriptures, to stand with a body of believers, to participate regularly in the support of the work of Jesus Christ in His local church is not a common or desirable thing for the majority of our culture. So why church? And just to be personal and particular, why this church? Why bother? Is uniting for a church even here and now just for the foolish or the dependent or the sentimental or the aged?



 There is no question in an era of church hopping and shopping that if you are looking for a perfect church that will always inspire, that will never hurt you, that will never have hypocrites in it, that will supply all the hope that you need, that will supply all the services that your family want, that will teach precisely what you think is right, you ain't going to go to church.



 Because you will not find that church, particularly you will not find a church that will not ask you for time or money in an era in which churches are wanting to establish themselves in a culture that has so little desire for them. Why? Church. Perhaps



 a biblical image that may help us is in the passage that our praise team sung about and that I read to you. It is that passage in which the bride of Christ that is the church



 is described as a multitude of faithful from all ages and nations who have separated themselves from the corruptions of the world to glorify the Savior. This bride, this church of Jesus Christ is designed to honor Him, to nurture His children, to support His purposes in the world.



 When we commit ourselves to a faithful church, we are uniting our lives to the bride of Christ whose calling is to support people and purposes of the Savior. Now having said all of that, that we have some reason in the Scriptures to be united to the bride of Christ, it doesn't answer all of our questions. After all, if you are going to be united to any bride, you have some very basic questions to ask, like what's the background of this bride? What's going on in the past? What established her? What's part of this bride's background before I want to be united to her?



 You know, when I got to know Kathy, one of the things that most attracted me to her



 was her family. They loved each other. They spent time together. They had fun together. Their fights did not destroy them. They demonstrated mercy and compassion. Kathy's father, virtually all of his adult life, supported Kathy's mother's mother, who wasn't invalid.



 It was a remarkable demonstration of compassion and sacrifice. I recognize this was a family where the parents loved each other and the children honored their parents. They all loved the Lord. If I were thinking in just general terms, I would say what I recognized from my wife was that she was from good stock, you know? Good German stock. That was her background and that was attractive. That was appealing. And if we think about what it means to be a part of a church like this, something, a question that we have to ask is, just what stock are we? I mean, what's our background? And I want to use three words to identify some of our background that may strike you as unusual, but they are a statement both of our history and of our humility. Those three words that identify us are apostolic and Catholic and Presbyterian. The first two are probably a surprise to you that we would say we believe that we are an apostolic church, and yet every communion Sunday we recite the Apostle's Creed. The statement about the church that I just read to you from the book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John. When we say that we are an apostolic church, what we are doing is we are saying the church was not our idea. We did not create it. We bow to something more ancient and broad than we. It was Jesus who said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The very images of hell is a very fortress and the church of Jesus Christ as an army ramming over the forces of hell itself because of the way Christ through His apostles designed the church. And much of the New Testament is Christ by His apostles saying what we should be and how we should organize ourselves and what we should do. When we say that we are apostolic and when we recite the Apostle's Creed, we are saying that this is not our idea. We are not doing something novel of our own design, but we are continuing in the stream of something ancient that God Himself designed through His apostles. Not only do we say that we are apostolic, we believe that we should be Catholic. And to the consternation of some of you, when we repeat the Apostle's Creed on Sunday, you say, "I believe in the holy Catholic church." And you're saying, "Wait a second, I didn't think you were a Roman Catholic church." Well, that's not what we said. We said we believe in the holy Catholic church. And usually there's an asterisk on whatever document you're reading that it says that, which says the word Catholic is a more ancient word that means universal. If you were to look at this passage, you would recognize that there is a great multitude that sings, "Alleluia, Amen, salvation, and glory, and power belong to our God." And that great multitude we already recognize from the book of Revelation is made up of faithful people from very tribe and language, people, and culture. And when we say that, we say these brothers and sisters who were here from Guadalajara are our brothers and sisters because we are part of the church universal. We are a branch of that church, but we are not the only church. We bow and humility before the Lord and say, "We are just a branch of the true things that God is doing in the world." We're not the only true church. We're not the only blessed church. We're not the only church in which God is working. We rejoice that the church is broader than us, that it is doing things beyond us, that we are a part of something grander, more glorious that God is doing, and that's being part of a church Catholic, not Roman Catholic. That's a particular designation on one branch of Christianity, which we are not. But at the same time, it is recognizing that this role of being a member of a church that's much broader than this particular denomination or building is actually what we believe is important, that we don't in pride say, "It all depends upon us." No, it doesn't. We are just part of a church much broader, and it's not just across the nations. If you would look at this passage, you would recognize that at the end of verse 8, it tells us that the fine linen of the church are the deeds of the saints. And we learn even from this book of Revelation that those saints are often those who are already dead, that they have washed their robes in the blood of the lamb to be made right before the Lord and already stand before God in glory and heaven, that the church is made up of the saints across nations and also across the ages. So that when we gather here, we say we are not doing new things, novel things. We are not the first ones to be faithful. We are part of what God is doing and has been doing for generations, centuries, and ages until he claims his bride. Now saying that we are apostolic and Catholic is identifying the roots of this tree. But if you begin to say that we are also Presbyterian to identify our character, you would say, "Well, that's just a branch on the tree, and it's a branch that appeared in a particular time in that tree's history." And the time at which it appeared, many Protestant churches are celebrating in this particular 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 theses. And it's recognizing that through the Reformation there was a flowering of churches that were again saying we want to be committed not just to tradition, but to what the Scriptures say. And one of those churches were churches that identified as Presbyterian. Now I'm not going to try to from this passage identify for you everything it means to be Presbyterian, but there are certain things that are being said here that are familiar to you because you are Presbyterian.



 One of those things identifies how we organize another what we teach. If you were reading through this passage, you may remember that one of the things that is identified is that the 24 elders and the four living creatures fall down and worship God. That's verse 4. Elders fall down and worship. Anybody know what the Greek word for elder is? Presbyter. When we say we are Presbyterian, we say that the spiritual oversight of a church, of our worship, of what we do is conducted by elders, by presbyters. That's what it means. And we look to the New Testament where the Apostle Paul said that elders were to be elected out of local congregations for the spiritual oversight of the church. How do they conduct that spiritual oversight? The elders worship with the four living creatures. Now you need to know the four living creatures are not Pastor Brian, Pastor Kerry, Pastor Greg, and Pastor John. In the tradition of the church, the four living creatures are usually thought to be identified with the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Nuke, and John, that identify the ministry of Christ at the beginning of the New Testament. It's probably even better to think that what's being established is here are the ministries of the apostles and the prophets through the scriptures themselves. Because what we believe is that the elders in order to lead in proper oversight need to be guided by the Word of God. Because, as the end of verse 9 simply said, these are the true words of God. We don't ask elders when they are giving oversight to our church. Listen, every time you do something, go out and take a poll and see what the people want.



 We say, "Search the scriptures." What does the Bible say? Because we want the oversight to be that which is done according to the scriptures. Not our opinion, not some poll out there, but rather to elect those who are faithful and discerning from the Word of God what it says. That's part of being Presbyterian. That's the practice. In terms of what we teach, that is in the hallelujah. Just to remind you again, at the end of verse 1, "Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God." If you go to verse 4, "Amen, hallelujah." Verse 5, "Praise our God, all you servants, you who fear Him great and small." And then most particularly, the middle of verse 6, "Hallelujah for the Lord, our God, the Almighty reigns." Here is an understanding that we recognize God to be king. And the way Presbyterians usually talk about that is that He is sovereign overall. To Him is salvation and glory and honor. He is the Almighty One. And that has various dimensions of what we think that salvation belongs to our God. I'm not saved by what I do, but by faith in what God has done. Salvation and the power and the glory of my salvation goes to Him. I'm not going to stand before God someday and say, "God, look how good I am. Look what I have done. Salvation belongs to me." No, I will say salvation belongs to your Son. My faith is in what He has done. He is my sovereign Lord. He has power and glory in my salvation. But He is almighty. All strength and honor are His. And that means I don't just think about myself. I think about the world itself, that there is no place where my God does not rule. Even the corrupt world that I am in is by the hand of Almighty God being steered in such a way that the great glory of the Lamb will ultimately be honored. That all things are being worked together for good, for then that love God and are called according to His purpose. God in ways that are mysterious and beyond my understanding is sovereign over all. It doesn't mean that everything that happens seems good or feels good. But there is a purpose to which God is directing all things that ultimately means all should honor Him, every person in every place. If He is almighty, if all power and glory are to be His, then we say He's not just sovereign in my salvation. He is sovereign over all things. There is no place that I don't owe Him honor. All ground is holy ground. Every occupation is a holy calling. Every conversation and opportunity to demonstrate the reality of the testimony of the glory of God. For that reason, I don't just say, "Here's a holy place we do holy stuff here, and out there we do something else." No, He is sovereign over all. When I believe that, it's essential that I begin to recognize it's doing certain things to my heart. If He is sovereign over all, I do not escape His notice. I do not escape His responsibility, and yet I begin to perceive that I do not live always as I should. These ancient distinctions begin to come forward into present-day realities. And that's important because I must tell you that when I thought about committing myself to Kathy, it wasn't enough to me that she was of good stock. I wanted to be impressed by her beauty today. I wanted her present features to be what I believed were good and right and attractive and wonderful. And part of what we do when we come to a church is we begin to recognize all of these ancient things. Ultimately, our ways in which we are determining is this church, and it is immediate demonstration and reality demonstrating what I wish I would want to be in being wed to a bride of Christ. If you begin to think of the immediate features of our church, not just the historic and background ones, so much of what this church and churches like us are is is clothed kind of the wedding gown of the word evangelical. That we believe we are not just Catholic and apostolic and Presbyterian, but in a more immediate way that we are evangelical in our current context. Now, just plain talk. Evangelical is a word that takes a lot of negative baggage with it in our current political and cultural climate. In secular media and popular culture, the term evangelical is most often associated with political conservatism, homophobia, and hate speech. And none of you, I hope, define it that way. If we are trying to define what the church is, what does it mean to be evangelical? It means to be in a church whose faith is defined as being biblical and personal and missional. What does it mean to be in a church that considers itself to be defined by being biblical? That may seem obvious to you. It would not be obvious to the forefathers of this generation at all. This church and virtually every evangelical church is a product of a great controversy in this country in the early part of the 20th century, which was known as the battle for the Bible. In the battle for the Bible, there were churches who were simply saying, you know, as we have now modern psychology and science at our disposal, we're not really bound to the worldview and perspective of the primitive, ancient, naive people of the Bible. We have better ways of thinking. We have more modern ways of considering than the need to think of the Bible as true. And as a consequence of the Bible being thought of as kind of a primitive, ancient, naive book, there were those who began to teach and preach that the Bible did not have to be considered authoritative in every dimension of our lives. Churches ruptured across this country. By the way, not just Presbyterians, but Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, virtually every major denomination ruptured over this one thought, is the Bible still true and authoritative? Now maybe you just think it's obvious, but let me just take you to our Presbyterian history, where I can talk a little more humbly, I hope, about what affected us. No aspect of what the Bible meant or did no longer mean is more evident than in the 1924 Auburn affirmation, which by the way had absolutely nothing to do with football.



 The Auburn affirmation was signed by over a thousand Presbyterian ministers, and it affirmed five things that no longer needed to be believed by those who would identify themselves as ministers in the Presbyterian church. Are you ready? Here are five things that the Auburn affirmation signed by over a thousand ministers said no longer had to be believed. First thing, you no longer had to believe the Bible was true. You did not need to believe that any longer. The modern science and psychology simply made it plain. Now let's be clear. We all understand the church has made errors in translation, in transmission, in interpretation. That really wasn't the argument. The argument was whether the basic and obvious things that the Scriptures teach need to be received, believed, and honored anymore. So once you say, "Well, the Bible's not necessarily true anymore," what other dominoes begin to fall? The next of the five things that the Auburn affirmation said you did not have to believe anymore, now at the end, this is not people in the church, these are ministers,



 was the virgin birth of Christ. No longer needed to believe that. Now there's a reason the Bible teaches the virgin birth of Christ. The virgin birth of Christ is taught so that Christ would be born of a virgin and not touched by the original sin of Adam, and therefore because He would be not only perfect in origin but in life, He would be a perfect sacrifice for your sin and mine, the perfect for the imperfect. He would substitute His life upon the cross paying the penalty for your sin and mine because He was sinless. Well, if you don't accept the virgin birth, what I just described to you as the substitutionary atonement also is not necessary to believe. And that was the third thing that ministers no longer had to believe in the substitutionary atonement, that Christ died on the cross for sin. Instead, the substitution was He died as a good moral example for us of somebody living for His cause sacrificially. But substituting for our sin, no longer have to believe. The fourth thing, no longer had to believe the miracles of the Bible as they are described. These were primitive, unscientific people describing things they did not understand. But listen, if you do not believe that Jesus died for our sin and you do not believe the miracles of the Bible are true, guess what great miracle you're also probably not going to believe in. What's the last one going to be? You did not have to believe in the physical resurrection. The resurrection was just idealistic. It was just in concept. But the idea that somebody would die and rise again, what did the apostle Paul said? If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we are of all men to be most pitied because we have given our lives to saying He rose from the dead to conquer your sin. And yet here were ministers saying, you don't have to believe that anymore.



 Well, as you might guess, once that begins to fall, lots of other things fell as to you no longer had to believe in the deity of Christ. You're no longer going to believe in the Trinity. You don't have to believe in Christianity at all. All being espoused by churches that were once part of our lives. And it became hard, hard to know what to do. Churches struggled and the rupturing began to mean denomination after denomination separated and new denominations formed, peeling off. One of which was the PCA saying, you do need to believe these five things. Now it was hard stuff, difficult times. And grace itself struggles at church, didn't it? I mean, grace stayed for a long time into denomination saying you don't need to believe, hoping that things would be turned around, that they would change. But ultimately grace came into the PCA as well. But other churches did not. And as a consequence, you and I recognize that the great Christian consensus in this nature, in this nation, began to change. So great. It's not just reflected in attendance on Sunday mornings and church membership. It's what virtually every school child faces every school day. What every one of you face in work days. The notion that you stand for believing the Bible is true, that science has not undermined what God has done in His Word and for His people. But because so many things have changed, even the church began to change in its many basic concepts. The churches that no longer affirmed the Bible became subject to social agendas in the secular culture, affecting their views of science, education, gender, sexuality, origin of life, termination of life issues, all the dominoes falling, beginning with the Bible isn't necessarily true.



 We say we are biblical. Now there have been some good consequences of the controversies. These are all negative. One of the consequences is if you're part of a church like this now, you come because you believe it's supposed to be biblical. That the old days of just attending a church for churchiosity, that is part of my social resume, that I just need to identify. I mean, those are, your peers don't care. Your families don't care. If you are a part of a church, it's because you believe it's important to be at a place where we learn what the Scriptures say and learn to defend them and learn how we say science is not our enemy. If we understand science and Scripture, we actually have wonderful explanations to affirm what God has said is true and right in the world. It's not just true for the church that has been established. We actually are developing new regard and respect for the young people of our congregations as we recognize, listen, there is no peer pressure to be in a church today if you're a young person. You know, just as soon as your parents give you leave, you're gone. Unless, unless you're saying, I have a zeal, a commitment for Jesus Christ. And one of the things that has happened with the great rupturing of the church is those young people who remain in the church have an unparalleled zeal and commitment to Christ as virtually never a generation before them. Because they, they are here for the purposes that are genuine and true and we have great privilege of supporting them. It's not a mystery to you. I've mentioned it in previous services that, that one of the things that we recognize is happening is the great exodus of teens from the church just as soon as they can. But the Fuller Youth Institute, one of those institutes that studies what happens when young people begin to leave, recognize that those that stay in the church, one of the most demonstrative and definitive reasons they had going to be shown to stay is at least five adults, at least five adults have invested in their lives between the ages of 15 and 18. Which is saying, we all got a job here. That, that everybody is saying, if I'm part of establishing this bride of Christ, then that's not just for one generation. It's, it's glorifying Jesus through his church for all generations. Part of being evangelical is being profoundly personal. That I don't believe a relationship with Jesus Christ is just about some methodology or creed or document somewhere. I believe that Jesus has called the Lamb of God for a reason. He died as a sacrifice for my sin in loving compassion while I was yet his enemy. He gave himself for me. And the consequence of that is I feel profound love for him. And if I love him, I want the nations to know about him. I want others to hear about him. I want my own life to reflect his goodness. And for that reason, being evangelical is not just about being biblical and believing in the importance of a personal relationship and love with Christ. It is ultimately about being profoundly missional. That I want a multitude in heaven to cry out, hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God. And because I want that multitude, I, I will love what and whom Jesus loves. Yes, I love that we have people going to Guadalajara who believe that there's a way to take the message and the goodness of Christ to what Kike called that, that dark university. And I love the fact that we say we will go across the nations, but that is not our only calling. If I love Christ, I will love what and whom he loves. Whom does he love? The outcast, the poor, the widow, the orphan in distress, the prisoner, those that are unlovely, he says, are the object of his particular affection. And for that reason, because I have a personal relationship with the Savior, I wanted him to be personally known and loved by all that he loves. It becomes my own heart's calling and initiative. The reason I am saying these things is I recognize if we are going through this month and my saying, why church? The easiest inclination in my own heart and the expected answer say, well, we come to church so that we will be spiritually fed and comforted and inspired and encouraged. All of those are good and true answers and entirely insufficient.



 Because ultimately, if you are here for you, I will tell you what is happening. You will grow spiritually dry or disappointed or be hurt. And at some point you will feel there is no reason to be here. I just want to be honest with you. I mean, if I talk about loving the bride of Christ, I know as well as anybody how hard that is. For three decades of my life, I was in at least 50 churches a year. I think of what that means. You know, 1,000, 1,500 churches I have been in. If I have experienced the privilege and the pain of being in the church, I will tell you, it is extensive. I have never been more inspired than when I have been in the church and I have never been more ashamed than when I have been in the church. I have never experienced greater courage when I've been in the church or seen greater despicable hypocrisy. I have never been more joyous or more deeply hurt than when in the church. And I say that to you because I recognize that when I'm calling people to be members of a part of the body of Christ, I'm ultimately saying, if you're just saying, "What will this do for me?" you'll find you want to leave. I have wanted to leave a thousand times and been called back a thousand times, not because of the beautiful features of the church, because of the beautiful purpose of the church. What is the purpose of the church? It is to bring glory to the Savior. It is that the nations may know Him. It is that the children may know Him. It is not so that we will get our own. It is not so that we will have what we most want. If we are doing the work of Jesus Christ, we begin to identify the hurting people and the miserable churches that actually need godly people to help them, because God is calling His church to glorify Him. If you're not a member of any church, if you are a lapsed member of this church, if you are on the sidelines of the mission of God, I want you to think that through again.



 Don't buy the consumerism that says you need to find a perfect church to satisfy your needs. I urge you to find a church that is so messed up and miserable, it needs you. A church like this. [Applause]



 Because when we begin to recognize God is calling us to a purpose, not just a preference,



 then we begin to glorify Him in the wonders of what He is doing all around us. Our kids were here just this last weekend, and we reminisced about things. And one moment that caught us is a moment that we remembered when my second son was sitting at the computer one day, I was on the road, called back, Kathy said, "I want to tell you something, this will make your day," she said. And she said that as she was walking by the computer in the public area of our house, where we keep it, that her son, our Jordan, popped about of his chair. He thought, "Uh-oh, what's on the computer that he's getting up to?" And he said, "Mom, look at the computer."



 And in the days of chat rooms, do you remember chat rooms? [Laughter]



 There was this thread of a conversation where Jordan was with his friends, trying to convince a young woman who had come into the chat room of what it meant to have faith in Jesus Christ. And he said, "Mom, she's trying to join a church, and she doesn't even understand the grace of God that Jesus provided. I'm going to my room. Keep her on the line."



 And he begins to get his Bible and tell her verses out of Romans and Galatians that are explaining the grace of God through Jesus Christ. I think, "I'm not even there. His mom is suspicious of what's happening on the computer. But what's he doing? He's taking the ministry of adults and mentors and Sunday school teachers and parents and spiritual grandparents, and he's pouring them into his own heart and life and now through the computer, into the world. And that's what the bride of Christ is supposed to be doing as we are nurturing the family of God for the glory of Christ so that all nations will glorify Him. It's what we're about, and I invite you to be a part of it. If you're not a member of this church, be a member of some miserable church



 that God may show himself great through you." What does he say? "Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, for the Lord God all mighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt and give Him glory." Praise God. Amen. Let's pray. Father, so work in us, I pray, that we, though the bride sometimes looks filthy of sin, might still be the bride of Christ that glorifies Him, the Lamb and our Savior. Grant that we may not look for perfection but be the means by which you are bringing the message of the Lord Jesus to imperfect, hurting people across this community, across our families, across the nations. So build in us the bride's story, I pray. In Jesus' name, amen.