1. "I stand before you today a little more seasoned, a little less cocky, and a whole lot more aware of my great need for Jesus."

2. "What makes you happy? Maybe you're in a season of life where you'd say, honestly, not much. And on one level, that's okay. It's safe to be sad at church."

3. "Sisters and brothers, our passage is about the servants of God delighting in the grace of God as seen in the church of God. And you know what makes this delight, this happiness, all the more curious, all the more striking, beloved, is that it comes in the context of the church's duress."

4. "Julius Caesar, you know, he said, I came, I saw, I conquered. Well, beloved, Barnabas, he came, he saw and he rejoiced. He was glad in the church."

5. "Jesus could say that because he's united with his people. So much so that he identifies his people with his self. We are one flesh with Christ, beloved. And that means you can't mess with God's people without messing with God."

6. "Part of what makes the good news of the gospel so good is that grace isn't just free, it's free to all. In other words, Jesus didn't just die for one type of person, but for all types."

7. "Beloved, has it ever dawned on you that perhaps the problem, perhaps the problem isn't the church, but your expectations of her? And has it ever dawned on you that we have to love the church with all her imperfections, just as God loves you with all of yours?"

8. "We never graduate from the basics of the Christian faith. And the second we think we have is the second we prove we haven't."

9. "Friends, we're not trying to win the race. We're just trying to finish it."

10. "The goal of your life ought to be to make it to the end as a faithful Christian. That's it. And I think there's a lot of encouragement for us in that. Because, friends, you might have had a horrible day, you might be having a horrible year. But if you go to sleep tonight believing, even with an ounce of faith, that Jesus died and rose for you, that's a win."

Observation Questions

1. Acts 11:19: What caused the believers to be scattered, and how far did they travel according to this verse?

2. Acts 11:20: Who did some of the believers from Cyprus and Cyrene speak to in Antioch, and what was their message?

3. Acts 11:21: What two phrases does Luke use to describe the response to the gospel in Antioch?

4. Acts 11:22-23: Why did the Jerusalem church send Barnabas to Antioch, and what was his reaction when he arrived?

5. Acts 9:4: When Jesus confronted Saul on the Damascus road, how did he phrase his question about persecution?

6. Hebrews 12:1: What does the writer of Hebrews instruct believers to "lay aside" as they run the race of faith?

Interpretation Questions

1. In Acts 11:23, Barnabas "saw the grace of God" when he visited the church at Antioch. What specific evidences of God's grace might he have observed in that community?

2. Why is it significant that Jesus asked Saul, "Why are you persecuting me?" (Acts 9:4) rather than "Why are you persecuting my followers?" How does this connect to the sermon's message about the church?

3. The preacher states that "part of what makes the good news of the gospel so good is that grace isn't just free, it's free to all." How does the spread of the gospel to Antioch in Acts 11 demonstrate this truth?

4. What does it mean to "remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose" (Acts 11:23)? How is this different from simply following religious rules?

5. How does seeing the church as a manifestation of "the grace of God" (Acts 11:23) rather than just a human institution change our perspective and experience of church life?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you felt genuinely glad to see God's grace at work in your church community? What specific evidence of His grace did you observe?

2. Which of the four practical suggestions for cultivating joy in church (pray for eyes to see grace, spend time with the church, forbear with others, be easily edified) do you find most challenging? What's one step you could take this week in that area?

3. The sermon suggests that sometimes "the problem isn't the church, but your expectations of her." What expectations do you bring to church that might be hindering your ability to see God's grace?

4. In what specific area of your Christian life are you feeling weary or tempted to give up? How does the exhortation to "keep being faithful to Jesus" speak to that struggle?

5. The sermon states that "the goal of your life ought to be to make it to the end as a faithful Christian." How might focusing on "finishing the race" rather than "winning the race" change your approach to daily discipleship?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Acts 9:26-30: This passage shows Barnabas vouching for the newly converted Saul when the Jerusalem church was skeptical. It illustrates how Barnabas consistently saw evidence of God's grace in others that others might miss.

2. 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12: Paul exhorts believers who are already doing well to "do so more and more." This passage expands on what it means to live faithfully to please God in everyday life.

3. Psalm 16: The sermon concludes with this psalm, which celebrates finding refuge, joy, and security in God's presence, even in the midst of difficulties.

4. Ephesians 2:11-22: This passage explains how Christ has broken down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles, creating one new humanity, which helps us understand the significance of what was happening in the Antioch church.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Rejoicing in God’s Grace and Faithfulness in the Church

II. This Church Is Filled with the Grace of God (Acts 11:19-23)

III. Keep Being Faithful to Jesus (Acts 11:23)

IV. Prayer for Preservation and Joy in the Lord’s Presence

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Detailed Sermon Outline

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There's no place like home.

That's what I'm going to tell my wife when I get off the plane in Birmingham tonight.

Man, it's good to see you guys. There's some new faces, of course, but plenty of old ones.

Ken and Kelly, Justin, The Barons, Roll Tide.

Eli, Gwen Johnson. To all of you, greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And thank you for the honor of preaching today. Mark, if it's okay, could I just give a brief update before we begin for any yet who might be curious about family or travels here? Yeah, the Adams family is doing well.

We have four children now, ages six and under. So now you guys know how to pray for us. No, in all seriousness, the kids are great. Megan is doing well. We celebrate 10 years of marriage this upcoming June.

Mark married us. She sends her greetings. She wishes she could have come up here this weekend. And though I miss her, this is a sweet weekend for me as I've been ministering in the churches that I grew up in. So I've been connected with CHBC in various ways since I I was a boy, but before CHBC, where I attended since I was born, was Wallace Presbyterian Church in College Park, Maryland.

That's where my family went. That's where I did some teaching this weekend. And so this really has been a family weekend for me, a special weekend for me. And beloved, if I'm honest, it's even been a heavy weekend for me. Because this was the weekend two years ago that I got a terrible phone call.

Your mom has been in an accident.

And mom, Jan, soon succumbed and went to glory shortly thereafter.

We sang oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus at her memorial service.

Many of you came to that service two years ago and I still thank you for that. I also want to thank you CHBC for your investment in me as a pastor. Beloved, I think by God's grace it's paying off. Another church, sisters and brothers, like John Allen and Salvador Blanco are being blessed because of your investment in me, your investment in us, right? So I'll just finish the internship.

He's here today. So the saints at Iron City Church, thank you CHBC and I thank you for being a church that let me cut my teeth and make mistakes and learn. And I praise God that I get to come home and see my spiritual sisters and brothers, mothers and fathers that raised me. You know, as parents, we want our kids to eventually grow up and move out and succeed in the world. Right, parents, you want your kids to love Jesus.

To love others and be loved by others. CHBC, I want you to know that I love Jesus, that I love Iron City Church, and that by God's grace, they love me. I've been at the church now for a little over two years, and these first two years were challenging. And I say that not to complain about Iron City, but because it's those challenges that the Lord used to endear the church to me and me to them. So much so that I can stand here today and say that even if someone could have told me how hard these first two years would have been, I still would have gone.

And I bless the Lord for that. So I stand before you today a little more seasoned, a little less cocky, and a whole lot more aware of my great need for Jesus.

So enough about me, because it's Him we're here to proclaim, amen? I'm sorry, I remember this church saying amen a whole lot more loudly than that. Beloved, I said it's Him we proclaim, amen? Amen. Let's pray and begin, beloved.

Preserve me, O God, for in youn I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you, are my Lord, I have no good apart from youm. As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. Father, help us delight in one another today. In Jesus' name, amen.

What makes you happy? Hmm?

What makes you happy?

Maybe it's an afternoon walk around the Capitol. Kids, maybe it's those cupcakes after church. Is that still a thing? Do y'all still do those cupcakes? Okay.

Oh, I know where I'll be. Beloved, what makes you happy? What makes you happy? Maybe you're in a season of life where you'd say, honestly, not much. And on one level, that's okay.

It's safe to be sad at church. And maybe you're in a harder season and happiness seems evasive. The Christian life is indeed filled with much sorrow. But I think even for you, dear saint, and for all of us, the Bible has a surprising answer as to what might make us glad. Turn to Acts 11.

Acts chapter 11.

The book of Acts is about the ends of the earth. Specifically, the gospel going forth to the ends of the earth. It was written by a medical doctor named Luke who wrote the gospel of Luke. So Luke and Acts is a two volume set. And Luke specifically wrote his gospel so that we might have certainty about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day Jesus was taken up.

Until the day he ascended. And it's there that the book of Acts picks up with the ascension of the risen Christ. And yet what we see in Acts is that though Jesus left the earth, he did not leave himself without witness. In fact, in Acts chapter one, Jesus says to his ragtag group of followers, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my, watch this, witnesses.

In Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And that is exactly what we see happening in our text today. We see the witnesses of Jesus going to the ends of the earth, and when they do, people, surprising people, believe. Of the family of God multiplies. And you note what that multiplication, that extension of God's grace, you know what that makes the witnesses of God happy.

Beloved, our passage is about the servants of God, delighting in the grace of God as seen in the church of God. And you know what makes this delight, this happiness all the more curious? All the more striking, beloved, is that it comes in the context of the church's duress.

Sisters and brothers, if you know the story of Acts, you know it's not the story of the church casually coming together for a potluck picnic at Lincoln Park. No, the believers were being persecuted. They're scattering. Ah, but it's this very scattering that God uses to reach the ends of the earth. Beloved, what the persecutors meant for evil, God meant for good.

Indeed, what the persecutors meant for evil, God meant for the spread of the gospel. Christian Barnes was texting me about this passage. A number of y'all hit me up this week, said you were reading the text, and Christian reminded me of Paul's redemptive perspective on his persecutions and sufferings. Remember, Paul said, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to Advance the Gospel. And Acts 11 is the story of the Gospel's advance to a city called Antioch, which is in modern-day Turkey.

Of the church in Jerusalem, where the church first started, hears about this new church and they send a man named Barnabas to check it out. And how does Barnabas react to what he sees? Let's hear it for ourselves, starting in verse 19. Look with me at Acts 11:19. Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes, Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

But There were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch in our verse for today. When he came and saw and saw the grace of God. He was glad.

Beloved, when he, Barnabas, came to the church in Antioch and saw the grace of God, he was glad. He was glad. Look with me again at verse 23. When Barnabas came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. And sisters and brothers, that is exactly what I want to do in this sermon.

I want to rejoice and to remind, to exalt and to exhort. So today's sermon has two points, an encouragement and an exhortation, an encouragement and an exhortation this morning. And my goal through all this beloved is for this sermon to be a biblical bear hug. It may feel like listening to a big thank you card being read. Sisters and brothers, the goal of this sermon is to melt your face off with encouragement.

So let's turn to it now. Point number one, the encouragement. And here it is. This church is filled with the grace of God. Point number one, the encouragement.

This church is filled with the grace of God. And this will be my longest point. Look back at our verse. Acts 11:23. It says, when he came.

This he the text mentions is Barnabas, a leader in the church in Jerusalem. Barnabas had already shown himself to be a mediator of sorts. So earlier in Acts, we meet Saul, the persecutor of the church who would drag believers to jail. And in chapter nine, we see the Lord Jesus stop him and say, and ask him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's so interesting.

Jesus doesn't ask, why are you persecuting the church? He doesn't ask, why are you persecuting God's people? He asks, why are you persecuting me.

And Saul gets saved. And you know what saved people do? They go to church.

Beloved Saul goes to church, the church in Jerusalem. And this may all sound wonderful to our ears, but the Christians there at the church in Jerusalem were a bit skeptical of Saul when he showed up. And can you blame them?

I mean, imagine the person who's been actively trying to destroy your church comes one day and says, Hey, where's Membership Matters? I'd like to join this fellowship.

I'd be like, Membership Matters is down the street, bro. You ain't joining in.

But it's Barnabas in Acts chapter 9 who goes before the apostles and the church and vouches for Saul. Indeed, where other people would see the worst, Barnabas would see the best, and Barnabas would see that in Antioch. The church in Jerusalem sends him there, and this isn't surprising, as the gospel goes forward in Acts, the apostles would send out people to check and see, okay, are these conversions here legitimate? Is the gospel actually being preached because there were already people preaching false things at the time? But notice how our verse this morning isn't simply about approval, about making sure the church is legit.

Though that's certainly happening, our text isn't a mere report card, it's a celebration. To put it differently, beloved, our text isn't just about validation, but also jubilation. Barnabas not only approved of what he saw, he delighted in it. I want to be like Barnabas. Julius Caesar, you know, he said, I came, I saw, I conquered.

Well, beloved Barnabas, he came, he saw, and he rejoiced. He was glad in the church.

Beloved, is that how you feel about your church? Do you delight in it?

We'll come back to that question, but first I want us to notice that Barnabas came. Did you see that verb in our verse? He came, brothers and sisters, from day one. It's been normal for Christians and Christian churches to visit each other, to check on each other. You know, that's why Jamie Dunlop goes to Bangkok and Riley goes to Turkey and Abigail Tanner on her drives down to Texas, pulls into Birmingham and with little to no heads up calls me and Megan.

And says, hey, I'm like 20 minutes from your house. If you could just go ahead and get the coffee pot on, that'd be great. We'll see y'all soon.

And all the Tanners are doing in that is being normal. They're being normal Christians who come and see other Christians to check on them. To laugh with them, to be glad at God's grace in them. Beloved, do you delight in your church? I'm not asking if your church is perfect.

Well, yeah, I like our church, but you know, our church, no! Sisters, brothers, of course the church has problems. It doesn't matter if it's in Birmingham or College Park or DC, any church, like every church, has problems, but a church is more than her problems.

She's not even primarily her problems. It's so interesting what Luke says in our verse. He doesn't say when Barnabas came and saw those old refugees who used to meet in a skating rink during COVID Someone said amen. You know, the text doesn't say when Barnabas came and saw a membership that sometimes feels transient and like you're hugging a parade. It doesn't even say when Barnabas came and saw the church.

No friends, look back at our text. It says, when Barnabas came, it saw the grace of God.

Beloved, the church is so near an expression of God's abundant goodness. It is such a product of his wonderful working, such a gift that we don't deserve, that to see it is to see God's grace. You remember earlier I said, I talked about Jesus confronting Saul. Jesus asked him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

But remember the context of Acts. Jesus has ascended at this point.

You know, Jesus was in heaven. So how could Saul be hurting him? He's hurting these people. He's not hurting Jesus, right? Why does Jesus say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Well, friends, Jesus could say that because he's united with his people. So much so that he identifies his people with his self. We are one flesh with Christ, beloved. And that means you can't mess with God's people without messing with God. And we get this right, parents, someone can't mess with your kids.

Someone can't mess with Otto, with Mabel, with Teddy, with Avid, without also messing with me. And in a similar way, as Jesus identified the church with himself, Barnabas identifies the church with God's grace. Do you look at your church this way? Brothers and sisters, imagine someone asking you, Hey, what are you doing this weekend? Instead of saying, I'm going to go to church, imagine saying, I'm going to go see the grace of God.

Beloved, when you're coming up 6th Street, A Street, do you come rejoicing in the fact that you're coming to see the grace of God? I mean, think about it, right? Barnabas is coming to the church in Antioch, seeing Gentiles in it, that's who the people, the Hellenists are in our verse are, they're Greeks, non-Jews, Gentiles. And so Barnabas comes to the church in Antioch, sees Gentiles in it, and realizes that Jesus meant what he said and made good on what he said in Acts chapter 1, that the gospel was for for all nations, the ends of the earth. Beloved, part of what makes the good news of the gospel so good is that grace isn't just free, it's free to all.

In other words, Jesus didn't just die for one type of person, but for all types. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, rich, middle class, dirt poor, male, female, introvert, extrovert, type A people, type not A people, You get it? Jesus died for all types of people. And that means, friend, if you're here wondering, is there any room for me in this church?

Can I belong here?

The Bible says, Yes. Yes, there is room for you. So long as you turn from your sins and trust in Christ who lived a perfect life yet died the death sinners like you and me deserve. He was raised to life three days later and now offers forgiveness to anyone who would turn from their sin and trust in him, whether they be in Antioch or Jerusalem, Birmingham or Capitol Hill. Beloved, diverse people have had believed in our text.

And what did that make Barnabas glad?

Happy.

Friends, do you see God's grace when you come in this place? If you don't, pray God would correct your vision. Pray he would give you grace goggles where you can see evidences of God's grace. They're everywhere. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to find this evidence to solve this mystery.

No, the mystery of the gospel is quite clear. The Gentiles you and me, right? Unless you're ethnically Jewish. You're Gentiles, sisters and brothers, we have been brought in. Glory be to God.

May we be glad at His grace. Grace, marvelous grace. Beloved, there's so much of it. You know, I don't think I'm happy today simply because I'm visiting home.

No, I'm happy Because when I see Christian and Dennis Mesidor, who were in the newly married small group that Megan and I led, and I see them happily married years later, and I meet little, see little Sage in the hall who's just turned two, beloved, I'm happy because in seeing that, I'm seeing the grace of God. When I see Rob and Katie Smyth here from overseas, and I think about the time I was able to go visit them, As an elder of this church, I'm seeing the grace of God.

When I see Nick Gardner, my old roommate from the bull moose, you're on staff here now? Oh, you better believe I'm seeing the grace of God.

And I am glad. What about you, beloved? What about you? What about others in the Bible? I mean, is it any wonder why in Psalm 122 David writes, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.

Is it any wonder why the people in Ezra chapter six are happy when the house of God, the temple is rebuilt? And you know what friends? The house of the Lord on this side of the cross isn't a temple. It's not a tabernacle. It isn't an ornate building at 5th and 8th Street.

It's y'all. The people of God. Diverse and living stones. You are the grace of God I get to see today. Friends, grace isn't a force that's visible.

It's not like sunshine, like particles of light visible to the naked eye. No, it's your lives.

That radiate the grace of God. And I want you to remember that because it is so easy, so easy, in this cynical and cold world to think of the church and think primarily of her problems.

But beloved, she is a trophy of God's grace. She is Jesus' bride. You better be nice to her. You better give thanks for her. The theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, if we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed.

I love that. In which we have been placed. Stop thinking you chose this church. If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even when there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith and difficulty, if on the On the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so poultry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Christ Jesus. Beloved, has it ever dawned on you that perhaps the problem isn't the church, but your expectations of her?

And has it ever dawned on you that we have to love the church with all her imperfections, just as God loves you with all of yours? Now, if you want help doing that, help in being glad at grace, let me give you four practical things to do. Four practical applications. This might be good to talk about in your small groups or over lunch with someone. Number one, I've mentioned it already, pray.

Pray that God would give you grace, give you eyes to see His grace in this place. Beloved, I trust many of you want to love the church. But some of you are trying to do that in the flesh.

And the flesh is of no use. Your own strength is of no use. Friends, love is a fruit of the Spirit. Pray to be filled with the Spirit that you might see God's grace and be glad in the church. Number two, spend time.

Spend time with the church. Join a small group. Invite people over to your house. Or accept someone's invitation to their house.

You notice all Barnabas did was really simple. He came and he saw. Friends, it would be no waste of your time this week to just take the verbs in our verse and circle them and think about them. Came, saw, rejoiced, exhort, spent time with the church. You can't love someone you don't really see that much.

Number three, forbear. Forbear. To be happy at church, bear with people's sins. Be patient with them. And if their sin is affecting your relationship with them, say something.

Jamie Dunlop taught me this rule. It has served me so well. I tell Iron City all the time, if what someone did or said is affecting your relationship with them, say something.

Otherwise, assume the best and forbear. And for what it's worth, sisters and brothers, when we assume the best, we're probably closer to the truth of the matter than when we assume the worst. Number four, be easily edified. Be easily edified. Don't sit back and demand that the church has to be great to make you happy.

You know, don't think my pastor prayed or preached like Peter at Pentecost if he wants me to be happy in Christ. Beloved, don't be like that. After all, the psalmist says we are to enter into God's gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. We don't wait to be happy, we come in happy. So be easy to edify.

I'm not saying if someone gets up here and denies the Trinity, you should be okay with that. But if the truth of the gospel is being preached, even by a young preacher in the evening, much like I was, who's stumbling through it, if the truth of the if the gospel is proclaimed, if Christ is proclaimed, rejoice. If people are being baptized, CJ, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.

And number five, I'm gonna throw in a fifth, bonus one, since we're talking about rejoicing, here it is. Remember, remember that your perspective on things, including the church, is not always God's perspective. Remember that your perspective on things, including the church, is not always God's perspective. In fact, we can get it quite wrong. Quite the opposite.

Bonhoeffer, again, encouraging us to give thanks for the church, exhorts us to remember that what may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Beloved, what may appear weak and trifling to us, a couple fish and a few loaves, A shepherd boy with a few stones. A church made up of spiritual wimps. Yeah, what may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. And it is to God you all are to remain faithful, which leads to my second point.

The first point was an encouragement. This place is filled with the grace of God. The second point is an exhortation, and here it is.

Keep being faithful to Jesus. Point number two, the exhortation, keep being faithful to Jesus.

This is the exhortation, the call, the challenge Barnabas gives in our text. Look back at it with me, Acts 11:23. When Barnabas came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and, and, and, he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. Beloved, earlier we talked about the diversity of God's church, but this text is also about the unity of the church. So in this church, as in every church, there's lots of different gifts, lots of different callings we all have on our lives, praise God.

But here our text makes clear that we all have one basic job. The same job. And that's being faithful to Jesus. Right? Barnabas exhorted them all with this one call to be faithful.

And who was it that Barnabas encouraged the church to ultimately be faithful to their pastor, to their individual visions of what they think the church should be? No, look back at the text. Verse 23, he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord.

To Jesus. Sisters and brothers, our basic job is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor who's made in His image as ourself. That's our basic job. We never graduate from the basics of the Christian faith. And the second we think we have is the second we prove we haven't.

We're here to keep doing the basics. We have to persevere, to continue in what we've learned. If you read the New Testament, so much of it is filled with the call to keep going, to endure, to finish the race, to remain as our text, as our verse said tonight or today. There is another good verbed circle. After meditating on the reality of the resurrection, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, a troubled church in 1 Corinthians 15 saying, therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. But not only them, in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul wrote to a church that was doing well and he said to them, Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and we urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. In other words, Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to keep doing what y'all are already doing. Another way he said that is in Galatians 6 when he wrote to some tired saints saying, let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Beloved, from the days of the believers in Corinth to Thessalonica to the churches in Galatia, the saints main job was to keep being faithful to Jesus.

That's what Christians have always done. And it's what we'll be doing in a thousand years if the Lord tarries. We're just trying to be faithful to Jesus. That's true of past saints all over the world. It's true of present saints right here on Capitol Hill.

Bobby, brother, I pray the Lord gives grace that it may be true of future saints in Chapel Hill that all of us, that all of you would keep doing what you're already doing, being faithful to Jesus.

Beloved, keep going. Keep going. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I exhort you to keep loving God, to keep loving your neighbors, to keep loving each other, to keep loving your leaders. Beloved, keep going. Heaven is a real place and you are really going there.

You really will see Jesus one day and be like him. You really will give an account for everything you've done, said, and thought in your life and you really will have every tear wiped away and rest in a place where there is no more pain, no more sickness, no more strife, no more sin, no more regret, no more failure, no more pink slips, no more wayward children, no more disability, no more embarrassment, no more shame, no more sons standing over their mother's graves weeping, because there in that happy land, there is no more death, amen? Mark, what do you often say to Christians but that Christian, the reality is that you will outlast all your problems.

Keep going, beloved. Keep going. Winter is hard and discouraging. It feels like it'll never end. Keep going.

You've committed the same sin for the 15th time. Keep repenting. You've been praying for something relentlessly, but you haven't seen the answer. Keep praying. You've been waiting for something to change in the church and haven't seen it yet.

Keep waiting. You've been trying to love a difficult family member or difficult friend. Keep loving. You've been sharing the gospel but haven't seen any kind of fruit. Keep sharing.

You're fighting to remain faithful in your marriage. Keep fighting. You're tired and worn out trying to be a faithful parent. Keep parenting. You wonder if coming to church is really worth it.

Keep coming. You're longing for Jesus to return already. How long, oh Lord?

Keep longing.

Beloved, keep going. You guys are doing such a good job. Holding onto the gospel, hoping in Christ, reading your Bibles, keep going. Sisters and brothers, can I keep it real? Can I keep it a hundred?

Can I keep it as tall as the cool kids say? Something I've realized in the last few years is that it is so easy as a pastor to be overwhelmed with all that you need to do.

But one of the main things I'm trying to do is make it to the end without blowing up my faith, my family, or the church.

And I want to translate that for y'all. The goal of your life ought to be to make it to the end as a faithful Christian. That's it. And I think there's a lot of encouragement for us in that. Because friends, you might have had a horrible day.

You might be having a horrible year. But if you go to sleep tonight believing even with an ounce of faith that Jesus died and rose for you, that's a win. That's not to say your suffering doesn't matter. Just that it's not the end of your story. Friends, we have overcome in Christ Jesus, so we ain't trying to win the race.

We're just trying to finish it. So if you limp through the finish line of faith, that is A-OK. If you're living an ordinary, boring, faithful life, that is wonderful. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul said, We should make it our ambition to lead a quiet life. So we're not looking for flashy disciples.

We're just looking for faithful ones. And this is why the previous point about joy at the sight of God's grace is so important because it's that joy that will keep you going in the church and in the faith, right? The joy of the Lord is our strength. And if it's not, well then church just becomes a mere duty that doesn't ever seem all that wonderful. Especially compared to the flesh and the allure of sin, sin that can seem so enticing, so pleasing, so beautiful.

But sin not only lies about what it'll give you, it lies even more about what it'll take from you. And it'll take from you everything. Which is why the writer of the Hebrews when encouraging us to endure in the faith writes, Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Beloved, that unhelpful thing in your life, lay it aside. That unhelpful Netflix show, that Spotify playlist that you would never play if Jesus were in the room with you and he's in the room with you, beloved, lay it aside.

Even if it's not sinful, is it helpful to you running your race? As a former CHBC intern, Brian Winchester once said, beloved, there is nothing worth keeping if it's keeping us from Jesus. Beloved, remain faithful to Jesus. Keep loving Jesus. Desire nothing on earth besides Jesus.

That's what we're trying to do down in Birmingham. I exhort you, sisters, brothers, moms, dads, to keep doing the same thing here in DC. Let's pray.

Preserve us, O God, for in you we take refuge. We say to the Lord, you, are our Lord, we have no good apart from you. As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all our delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply. Their drink offerings of blood we will not pour out or take their names on our lips.

The Lord is our chosen portion and our cup, you hold our lot. The lines have fallen for us in pleasant places, indeed we have a beautiful inheritance. We bless you Lord, because you give us counsel. In the night also our heart instructs us, we have set you Lord always before us, because you are at our right hand, we shall not be shaken. Therefore our whole heart is glad.

And our whole being rejoices. Our flesh also dwells secure, for you will not abandon our soul to the grave, or let your holy ones see corruption. You make known to us the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy, and at your right hand pleasures forevermore. In Jesus' name, amen.