Gentleness | The Power of Good | Pete Nicholas

Hi, my name is Ashley Spilker and I'm the music director of women's and family ministries. I want to personally welcome you to worship with us today.

If you're new here or even new to the Christian faith, you're in the right place. We are a community that seeks to be renewed by the gospel, seeking to live for Jesus in the city. So whether this is your first time tuning in or you've been with us for a while, we're so glad you're spending time with us.

We'd love to connect with you. In the video description below, discover ways to stay connected, explore upcoming events, and follow us on social media. We'd also invite you to join us in person, and would be thrilled to see you at one of our Sunday services at 10:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m.

Our service is about to begin. You'll find a link to our digital bulletin below to help guide you through today's worship. Thanks again for joining us. I don't know. How are you? One more. >> Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. >> me. >> >> Heat. Heat. >> >> Well, good morning. Welcome to Redeemer Downtown. If I haven't met you yet, my name is Will Anderson. I'm the youth pastor here at downtown.

Our vision at here at this church is that we would be a community experiencing renewal by the gospel, raising up generations of disciples living for Jesus in the city. And today we're going to get a a few glimpses of that renewal at work in the generation that is rising up. Uh beside me and behind me, we have the Fireplace youth band. This band, yeah, give a round of applause. >> [applause] >> This band is composed of teenagers from across New York City. Several of them from our very own downtown congregation. And fire. Yeah. Another round of applause. [applause] Fireplace Youth is dedicated to igniting spiritual revival here in New York City. And however you come here today, whether uh whether you are uh coming from afar, from from near, however you come today, renewal, whether for ourselves, for our friends, for our family, for our city, is something we all long to experience, for it to take hold of us. And in worship, that's exactly what's happening. When we sing, when we pray, when we listen, our God is taking hold of us strongly and gently and he's renewing us. And so whether this is your first time here or you are a regular, welcome. I invite you to stand if you're able. Sing with us and be renewed. Welcome to worship. >> We're creation suddenly articulate with a thousand tongues to lift one cry. Then from north to south and east to west we'd hear Christ be magnified. Were the whole earth echoing his eminence. His name would burst from sea and sky. From rivers to the mountaintops, we hear Christ be magnified. Oh Christ be magnified. Let his praise arise. Christ be magnified in me. Oh Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified in me. And every creature finds it in most heart and made of cry. Oh then in one and rapured hymn of praise will sing Christ be magnified. Oh Christ be magnified. Let his praise arise. Christ be magnified in me. Oh Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified in me.

I won't bow to idols. I'll stand strong and worship you. And if it puts me in the fire, I'll rejoice cuz you're there, too. I won't be formed by feelings. I'll hold fast to what is true. And if the cross brings transformation and I'll be crucified with you. Cuz death is just the doorway into resurrection life. And if I join with you in your sufferings, then I'll join you when you rise. And when you return in glory with all the angels and the saints, my heart will still be singing. My soul will be the same. Oh Christ be magnified. Let his praise arise. Christ be magnified in me. Oh Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified in me. Oh Christ be magnified. Let his praise arise. Christ be magnified in me. Oh Christ be magnified from the altar of my life. Christ be magnified in me.

This week for the church family song. Uh we're gonna have the fireplace youth continue to guide us and lead us and show us what it means to worship along with our teenage brothers and sisters. I searched the world, but it couldn't fill me. Men's empty brace and treasures that fade were never enough. Then you came along and put me back together. And every desire is now satisfied here in your love. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing nothing is better than you.

I'm not afraid to show you my weakness. My failures and flaws, Lord, you've seen them all and you still call me friend. Cuz the God of the mountain is the God of the valley. There's no place your mercy grace or find me again. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing, nothing is better than you. You turn morning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into gardens. You turn bones into armies. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into gest. You turn bones into aries. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing nothing is better than you. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you, Lord. There's nothing, nothing is better than you. You turn morning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You search shame into glory. You're the only one who can. You turn graves into garens. You turn boats into armies. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. [applause]

Please join me in the call to worship. Remember, at one time we were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promised, without hope, without God in the world together. But now in Christ Jesus, we who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness and into his wonderful light. Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God. Once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. Praise be to our God.

Please join me in prayer. Praise be to our God, our heavenly father. You are powerful yet gentle, just and merciful. You hold all things in your capable and loving hands with wisdom and patience. Your love is better than life. You are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. You are the same God who walked with the Israelites in the wilderness and you ride the subways with us today. You are faithful in every generation. God, we worship and adore your holy name. You hold back nothing that we truly need. Embrace us and you pour out unending patience and grace to develop, shape, discipline, and guide us. And through your son, Jesus Christ, you have redeemed, adopted, and renewed us. In all our wanderings and failings, Lord, you sought and you seek us still. How good it is to be in your presence, under your wing, running, tripping, soaring, crying. God, you see it all and we see you. And so with one united heart, with one united voice, we respond and come to you praying the prayer that your son Jesus Christ taught us to pray, saying together, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Glory to the Father. Glory to the Son. Glory to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as it is right now and will be forever, world without end. Amen. Glory to the Father. Glory to the Son. Glory to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, as it is right now and will be forever. world without end. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. world without end. Amen. Amen.

You may be seated. Now, as youth pastor, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the sovereignty and the humor of our God in this youth focused Sunday, having it fall on June 7th, as some of my students may have already observed. 67 67 Yeah, that's right. I said it. I said it. I don't even know what it means. In fact, In fact, we often say things that we don't know what they mean. Transitioning to confession, what does it really mean to confess our sins to God? Simply put, it means to acknowledge the ways that we live independent from him. as if we don't need his help, as if he doesn't even exist. Now, sure, going our own way might seem appealing in the moment, but ultimately ultimately it leads to lives that are marked by anxiety, endlessly striving, cutting corners, putting our needs above others, and much worse. All evils, big and small, come from this. And in confession, we honestly name we honestly name these realities before God. We come to him with that sorrow and our desire to change and our need for his redemption and his restoration. And in response, he does just that. He meets us in his gentle grace, restoring power and renewing, transforming us. And so with that in mind, please join me in the prayer of confession found on the screen behind me.

Almighty and merciful father, you have called us to be your people and have made us one body. Yet we have not lived like we were one body. We have not loved one another as we ought. Selfish ambition has gripped us and we have failed to look out for our others interests above your own. Conceit has gripped us and we have failed to associate and care for those who are different from ourselves. Forgive us for our offenses against you and others. By the power of your spirit, make us a community which shows forth your acceptance, kindness, and love in our relationships through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Take a few moments now in silence and make this prayer your own. Lord, we thank you that you pour yourself out for us and you never tire in doing so. You are gentle, powerful, wise, and loving. And we praise you in the name of our sweet savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

You may stand for the confessional response song. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other f I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Nothing can forone, nothing but the blood of Jesus, not of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. So preious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other found I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my rightousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fountain I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. So precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No no other found I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Now hear these words of assurance of pardon for all those who put their hope and faith in Jesus Christ. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. This is the good news.

Thanks be to God. You may be seated. And I'm going to ask for the those students who are going to come and take their vows to come up to the stage. The students that you see coming up to the stage now are another glimpse at the way in which God has been renewing and revitalizing the next generation. These students have gone through the communicant class, the six weeks of uh gathering for breakfast and discussing and going through the the doctrines of the faith as well as meeting up with mentors and discussing things elements of the faith with their families. And so we're delighted to have each of them here with us today. I'm going to introduce and go down the line here. We got quite a few of them. We got first we have we have Saurin Schmidt. And Saurin is 14 years old. He's going to be heading to uh Brooklyn Tech in the fall going into high school. He loves soccer. He's looking forward to the World Cup this summer. And if he had an unlimited quantity of something, it would be hours of summer break. Next to him, we have Michael Thong. Michael is 13 years old. He currently goes to the Sulkq School of Science and he's also heading into high school next year. Uh Michael plays the cello and this summer he's looking forward to doing some travel to visit his grandparents in Hong Kong. Next to him we have Ella Son. Ella is 14 years old. She's going to be heading to high school next year as well. She's heading to Bronx Science and she plays the piano. She's a creative and this summer she's looking forward to some resting, some reading and doing art. Next to her we have Samuel Tao. And Samuel is 13 years old. He's going to be heading to Stacent High School in the fall, but right now the thing that he's looking forward to the summer is doing no homework. And so, soak it up. Soak it up. Next to him, we have Lena Bernard. Lena is 14 years old and she wins for the shortest commute to school as she is uh does that in the home. And Lena loves to sing, she crochets, and she's looking forward to spending time with some family this summer. Next to her we have Miles Schmidt. Miles is 13 years old. He goes he's in seventh grade and he goes to uh St. Stannis Laos. He loves soccer. He's looking forward to spending some time this summer with his grandparents. And he loves free time. Uh next to him we have Joshua Laauo. And Joshua is 12 years old. He's in the sixth grade and he goes to PS126. He plays the double bass and would love an unlimited time to do everything and anything. And this summer, he's looking forward to going to Australia to visit some his grandparents there and to eat some of that good Australian food that you can't get here. It's not the same. All right. Next to Joshua, we have Mave Woo. Mave is 12 years old. She's in the sixth grade and she goes to the Anderson School. It's a good name for a school, I think. She loves spending time with her family and friends, and she's really looking forward to doing some traveling this summer with her family and swimming in the ocean. Next to her, we have Johnson Cow. H Johnson is um he's 11 years old. He's in the sixth grade, and he goes to the Simon Baroo School. He's looking forward to his birthday this summer. And if he could get uh an unlimited quantity of something, it would be Legos. And uh his hidden talent is agitating his brothers. He's a He's a delight. Uh, next up we have Summer Estafon. Uh, Summer is 11 years old. She's in fifth grade at Sacred Heart, New York City. She loves biking, camping, free time, and especially hanging out with her friends. And she's looking forward to going to Korea this summer. Next to her, we have Ako Obani. Ako is 10 years old. He's in the fifth grade at Grace Church School. He plays the drums and the piano. He loves rockets and good food and he's looking forward to going into a sleepa away camp for the first time. It's gonna be exciting. Very good. All right. And next to Aka, we have his brother Kenna. Kenna is 10 years as well. 10 years old as well. He's in the fifth grade and also goes to the Grace Church School. He loves playing soccer. Uh he has an amazing ability to recall the statistics uh for all top five soccer leagues. I'm not going to put you on the spot right now, but maybe later. And I'm sure you're looking forward to the World Cup as well as uh going to that uh that that uh camp, that sleepaway camp this summer for the first time with your brother. Good to have you guys. Next up, we have Micah Law. Micah is 11 years old. He's in fifth grade at the Bank Street School for Children. He holds a talent for drawing, hidden talent for drawing. Uh nothing would make him happier than an un unlimited supply of happiness. and uh and he's looking he's a very smart guy and he's looking forward to going to Indonesia this summer with his family. Next to him we have William Schmidt. William is 11 years old. He's at St. Stannis Los Stannis Laos along with his older brothers Saurin and Miles over there. Uh he loves roller coasters. He knows a lot about roller coasters. And if he could get an unlimited supply of tickets to Cedar Point Amusement Park, I'm guessing it's to ride roller coasters. And last, but certainly not least, we have Hope Elen. Hope is 11 years old. She's in fifth grade at a Fant A a Fantis, and she's a talented chess player. She would love an unlimited supply of popcorn, and she's looking forward to traveling to Malora this summer. Well, there you have it. These are our students who are up for uh for saying their vows now. And as students, I'm going to go through these vows. And after each vow, if you would please respond with I do. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure, and without hope save his sovereign mercy? If so, say, "I do." Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the son of God and savior of sinners? And do you receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered in the gospel? Do you now resolve and promise in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ? Do you promise to support the church in its worship and work to the best of your ability? Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the church and promise to study its purity and peace? I do. Let's give them a round of applause. [applause] [applause] And now [applause] And now I'm going to call I'm going to call four of them out. four of them are going to be coming out to be baptized. And so I'm going to ask for Ella, Ella and Samuel and Johnson and Mave to step forward and we're going to go through and I'm just before we get baptized um I'm just going to say a little bit about what baptism is. Baptism is it's a sign it's an it's an outward sign of an inner reality. It's that God has placed his name on you. And so I want you to remember these these moments can go by quickly, but I want you to remember the feeling of this water as it as it hits you that God has washed you. He has cleansed you. He has grafted you into his family. Your identity is secure in his. And so now let us baptize each of you. Karen, you can This is Karen uh Gerard, our family, our our youth uh sorry, children's director. Children, family, youth. It's all in there. All there. All right. LSON, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May God's blessing dwell with you this day and forever more. Amen. Samuel Chow, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May God's blessing dwell with you this day and forever more. Amen. Mave Woo, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May God's blessing dwell with you this day and forever more. Amen. And Johnson, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May God's blessing dwell with you this day and forever more. Amen. Another round of applause. [applause] You guys can hear them. [applause] I'm going to invite you to stand as we pray for our communicants here. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you, God, for your faithfulness in every generation. You know us, Lord, before you even knit us in the womb. You walk with us through every part of our life and even our faith, God, is a gift from you. Lord, I thank you for these students here and I thank you for the ways that you have um gifted them your faith and fan that flame of faith in them through the through their their community, through their uh family, through their mentors, through their uh friends. Lord, I pray that you would continue to walk with them, that you would strengthen them, help them to fan into continue to fan into flame to declare your goodness, your mercy, your grace. Lord, we thank you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. All right, another round of applause here. [applause] We come now to the time of the passing of the peace and the passing of the peace. Um, oh, you guys can actually hold up one second. Uh, uh, so, uh, we are delighted here at downtown for to be able to offer programming for our younger children from 0 to four years old. And if you want details for that, you can check those out in your bulletin. Uh, I'm going to invite out the the family the uh the children's ministry volunteers to comment them out along the stage. You can hang on to your kiddos as I go over a few instructions for us today. Uh, first of all, middle schoolers, you are staying in the service today, but we do have classes for kindergarten through 5th. If your child has not checked in yet, but would like to attend class, they can go out to the lobby and you can get set up with that them there. Um, if your child would like to stay for the sermon today, you can please uh and they have already checked in, please bring their tag up to the front so we know not to expect them. In just a minute before we dismiss, I'm going to uh give us uh an icebreaker question for all of us to meditate and kids. This is for you to to partake in as well. The icebreaker question is, what are five games or tasks that you can think of that require gentleness. Five games or tasks that you can think of that require gentleness. All right, think of those. Get ready to share those with one another. With that said, we're going to take some time to pass the peace. The peace of the Lord be always with you and also with you. Take some time and greet one another in Christ. Amen. You guys can head off.

All right. Okay. Well, good morning and welcome to Redeemer Downtown. Again, my name is Zachary. I am one of the youth in Redeemer Downtown. [applause] I have a couple of quick announcements to give for the upcoming weeks. So, first after the service today, we're going to have a new Oh, newcomers lunch. Oh, yeah. It's really small, actually. Sorry about that. They're all in the same slide. Okay. Um, we're going to have a newcomer's lunch today at after the service. So, if you're new to Redeemer Downtown or you're just uh want to get connections, then you're more than welcome to come. If you don't if you didn't RSVP like I don't for a lot of you things, then you're more than welcome to come as well. Um, for next week after both the 10 a.m. and the 5:00 p.m. service, we have our annual congregational meeting. So, if you we're going to elect new church officials. We'll talk about church finances. Um, members are extremely encouraged to join us for that. Um, and in the following weeks, we have our men's both uh breakfast and father's day lunch. Uh, no, sorry, father day's breakfast by a children ministry in two weeks. So, come uh before the service to have that. And then we have a summer happy hour, which I guess the RSVP got lost in my email because I didn't get one. Um but that will be at Robert Wagner Park. And finally, we have prayer and praise tomorrow. That's going to be at St. Paul's in Chelsea. So, it'll be a night of prayer and praise and a lot of good worship. Um, but yeah, so I'm gonna hand it back over to Will. Actually. Yeah, you can put that right there. All right. Thank you very much, Zach. Uh, in just a minute, Eevee Leong is going to come for us and read for us today's scripture, followed by Pete Nicholas, who will give us a teaching on the passage. But before we come to the word of God, let us bow our heads in prayer.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for your goodness and your gentleness, that you speak to us, that Lord, that you don't um that you're not heavy-handed, but that you are so good and gentle and wise. And so, Father, as as we hear the scripture read, as Pete preaches, Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would be here convicting us that you would change hearts. Lord, we know that you are good and you are faithful. You will do it. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

A reading from the book of Matthew 12:es 15- 21 found on page 793 of your pew Bibles. Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him and he healed all who were ill. He warned them not to tell others about him. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out. No one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. [applause]

Thank you Eevee very much for reading the passage. Let me add my welcome to Wills. I'm Pete Nicholas the senior pastor here. I mean, what a joyfilled service it's been this morning, hasn't it? Amazing. I'm going to give you a spoiler alert. You definitely want to stick around if you're able for the postlude when the youth band will be back up playing that well-known Christian classic, Don't Stop Believing. So, we'll enjoy that a little bit later. Well, we're continuing our sermon series um looking at the nine aspects of the fruit of the spirit and we're looking at gentleness um this morning. And as we've been going through this sermon series, we've given it the title, the power of good. And that seems particularly poignant as we think about this virtue of gentleness because if there is a virtue I suppose which shows us the two paths that are available to us particularly in the US and in western society in general at the moment I think it's gentleness. On one hand we all want to live powerful and impactful lives. We talk of making our mark, leaving a legacy. um you know, we want to be able to leverage and do things and transform the culture and that seems very important. And therefore, in light of that, gentleness just seems like too weak a virtue for us to really inhabit. Um you know, we know the phrase, don't we? In order to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs. It doesn't feel very gentle, but it kind of gets the job done. And I think that's what we feel in society at the moment. The world is a complicated place. There are significant forces at work for good and ill. And therefore, if we have to kind of sacrifice some of the less powerful virtues like gentleness to get the job done, so be it. And yet at the same time, that kind of leaves us with a a sense that we're missing out on something. And we read these famous words describing the character of the servant from Isaiah picked up in Matthew to describe Jesus of Nazareth, that a bruised reed he would not break and a smoldering wick he would not snuff out. We find it intuitively beckoning and attractive. And so we want to be able to live powerful and impactful lives for Jesus in the city. And at the same time, we also want to be gentle because we find that attractive. Is there a way of doing both? That's why this sermon series is called the power of good because real power comes from the ultimately good life that Jesus of Nazareth lived and his death and his resurrection. And the power of the spirit he gives us to live this out. a life full of the fruit of the spirit including gentleness. So let's see why gentleness is actually probably not quite what we think and why it's so needful today. We're going to think about under three headings. First of all, the strength of gentleness. Secondly, the justice of gentleness and then we're going to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ uniquely can gentle us. How we can become gentled. Okay, that's where we're going. Let's look first of all at the strength of gentleness. You can see gentleness here beautifully and memorably described in Matthew 12 19. He will not quarrel or cry out to the servant, this person of Jesus. No one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break. A smoldering wick he will not snuff out. The imagery here is of a a reed um by the reed bed of the banks of the Nile or something like that and it's swaying in the breeze and then the wind gets a bit too strong and it breaks and snaps and bends over and you know if you've seen a reed like that it won't stand up again. You can try and stand up but it keeps falling over and so you might just snap it off and say well it's all done with. But not the Messiah know he restores and stands up those who feel beaten down by the sin and the ills of the world. a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. It's a picture of an embers at the end of a candle. The flame has gone out, but it's just there. You can just still see the slight glow as the smoke mists off the top of it. A picture of faith. And here is a person who's doubting and struggling, maybe feeling beaten down or beaten up by the difficulties of life. And it would be so easy just for them to be snuffed out. Just a breeze, just a touch would do it. But not the touch of Jesus. No, that touch is a healing touch. He gently kindles and fans even the faintest embers into the full fire of faith. So attractive, isn't it? So gentle, so restorative. And we look at this and we think, well, intuitive we want to be like that. And then you read the pages of the New Testament and you realize this is no hyperbole. This is not just beautiful poetry, but it's more memorable because it's a description of reality. As you read through Matthew's gospel and you see Jesus, you see the blessing of his words that they bring life, they build up. They don't tear down. You see the grace of his demeanor. That those who have been most bruised, most pulled down and broken down by the world are the ones who run to him. Little children, the marginalized, the wounded, those needing healing. They just gravitate towards Jesus. such as the grace of the way he carries himself. You see the compassion of his heart. He looks out on people and he looks through all of the facads and the masks and the filters and he sees you, the real you. And he sees that you are like a sheep without a shepherd. And he moves towards you in tender compassion, feeling with your pain, not distance from you, but actually the more you suffer, the closer he comes to you. You see the restoration of his actions. Whatever the need, whether physical healing, whether forgiveness, whether community restoration, Jesus steps in and always seems to know the right thing to say and the right thing to do. Never compromising justice. will see that but moving towards us with forgiveness and restoration. Here is a God who doesn't come to tear down but to build up. Here is a God who doesn't come to bring death but life. Not condemnation but construction, lifegiving. This is gentleness embodied. You want to know what a gentle life looks like? Look at the life of Jesus. And so the call for us to be gentle is the call to have a tender disposition that seeks the restoration of others. Let me say that again. A tender disposition that seeks the restoration of others. Gentleness is all about restoration. Now properly understood, gentleness therefore is not weakness. Actually gentleness is true strength. You actually see that in the passage after this description of gentleness. we get until he has brought justice through to victory. In his name, the nations will put their hope. That's impactful. That's powerful. That's transformative. Justice brought all nations seeing the impact of the servant. This is not a weak life. Far from it. No, this is a strong life. But it's the right type of strength. One of the words in the New Testament that's often used for um gentleness is a word sometimes translated also meek. It's there in uh Matthew 5 at the beginning of the sermon on the mount. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. The word is prow and prow means strength under control. Strength tempered by great self-control and skill. The picture that's sometimes used for prow is of a a powerful warhorse ridden by a masterful rider who has it completely under control so that it could touch its hoof just down. Doesn't bring about death and destruction but instead brings about healing and victory. That's the imagery here. And I think intuitively we know this. I mean think of a more modern day example. Let's imagine that there's a car crash and the car is all bent out of shape and someone is injured and inside the wreckage and the uh emergency services are called out and the fire crew are there and they [sighs] are highly trained and highly skilled to use very powerful instruments that can cut away the metal. But it's no good just kind of coming in there with a massive tractor and riding over the top of the car and crushing the car and crushing the person inside. No, they use great skill, great focus, great control to cut away through the metal and to release the person inside so that they can get the help. That's gentleness. And so it does for us in life that many people that we will see in life, maybe ourselves included, sometimes feel like we're crushed under the wreckage of living in a life, living in a world that is this side of the fall, marred by what the Bible calls sin, our own appetite for destruction, the ways we turn away from God and all of the effects of that. Broken relationships, broken souls, broken communities. Doesn't take long to walk around New York City and to see the wreckage, the kind of metal bent out of shape. And you can hear the cries of the people trapped inside the wreckage of the sin of this world. And to be a restoring and a healing presence requires great strength, but requires gentled strength. the skillful counselor who can cut through the twisted up metal of a distorted life story and wrong narratives that people are telling them about themselves. The uh person who with great skill can marshall their way through a broken community which has become acrimonious as people are in dispute one with another and they can't even really remember what they're arguing about or what started it. They just know that they are unreconcilable with each other. the city problems we face, food insecurity, poverty, all effects of sin and the fall. And it requires gentleness. That is strength tempered with great skill and focus. True gentleness to restore. We see it perfectly in the life of Jesus Christ. And that is the call of his people. Gentleness properly understood is this tempered strength seeking the restoration of others. It is not weakness. Far from it. Actually, it shows an immature power, an immature strength when people don't know how to wield it when they just go ahead and leave wreckage behind them. That's why children have to learn self-control. Learn gentleness. Temper their strength as they grow up. Fathers, I'm looking at you particularly mothers. Model this to your children. Learn even the simplest things of counting to 10 before you speak, lest an ungentle word come out your mouth. Model it in the way you talk to one another. Model it in the way you talk to yourself sometimes. Temper the power and the control. Hone it for restoration, for good, for healing. That's true strength. The strength of gentleness. Secondly brings us to the justice of gentleness. Next we need to see that gentleness is not at odds with justice but rather gentleness properly understood is the right deployment of justice. One of the areas where we frequently are most ungentle and I think I you know I think this is true of all of us is when we have been wronged or when we see wrong that's when the ungentle words come out right that's when the ungentle actions start to flow that's when we need to restrain our power and our words and what we might say or do and they need to be tempered because in those moments when injustice has happened either to us or we see it happening to other people the anger can be kindled But it can be more than a hint of unrighteous anger, of excessive or over-the-top anger. And in that anger, we become ungentle and we start to tear down, break reads, snuff out the embers of faith. And so we need to understand how gentleness is also related to justice. Um as we've been going through these uh virtues of the um uh fruit of the spirit, we've been engaging with some of the ancients um in their uh understanding of these virtues and particularly Thomas Aquinas and Augustine. And interestingly, both of these great theologians spoke a lot about the way that gentleness related to justice. So Thomas Aquinas in his summer theologica talked about the way that gentleness is a temperance on excessive, hasty or rash anger. Gentleness is a temperance on excessive hasty or rash anger. In other words, the moment you're wronged and you throw your hands up in the air and you say, "I can't believe she did that to me. I can't believe he cut me up in the road. Did you see what they did?" Or when the social media pylon starts that someone we're not even related to. we have no moral proximity or social proximity to. And we hear of an injustice and suddenly everyone as the Twitter warriors are wading in with their cancel culture statements full of condemnation and not at all tempered by gentleness. In those moments when we our anger becomes aroused and to be clear it's not saying that something wrong hasn't happened. It's just saying that our reaction is excessive. Then we need to understand how gentleness is about seeking the proper type of justice and is about tempering our anger and injustice. St. Augustine talks about this in the um incident with the woman caught in adultery in John chapter 8. He uses it as one of the great illustrations where we see Jesus therefore in um embodying gentleness. You remember the story perhaps in um John 8. a woman is caught in adultery and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law bring her before Jesus in a public setting to shame her and also to put Jesus on the spot. And of course, they're trying to catch Jesus on the horns of a dilemma. To be clear, this woman has actually committed adultery. And therefore, she has done something wrong. The Bible does not condone that at all. And the dilemma that they want to get Jesus on is he's either going to have to uphold the standard of justice in which case he will condemn her and so his attractive gentle demeanor that has been drawing the crowds to him will suddenly be gone and he'll no longer be as popular. That's dilemma on on one side or on the other side he's going to be gentle and gracious to her and forgive her and let her go. But then what about the moral cost of what she's done? And it shows that the Messiah is not concerned about justice as the Pharisees think that they have him and caught in that dilemma. And all eyes train on him as this woman is there dejected, thrown down at his feet waiting for the sentence with all of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and the crowd looking on with condemnation and excessive anger. And then Jesus remarkably says this. Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. At this those who heard began to go away one at a time until only Jesus was left. Then Jesus straightened up and asked heroman, "Where are they your accusers? Has not one condemned you?" She looked around. "No one, sir. Neither do I condemn you, he declared. Go now and leave your life of sin. Please notice here Jesus is not condoning sin. She had done something wrong. There was real moral accounting that needs to be done. We'll talk about that in a moment. He says go and leave your life of sin. He doesn't say you do you. Don't let anyone constrain you. Follow your heart. No. No. He says leave your life of sin. It's very clear. God himself in human form giving her a clear command. This is sin. Don't do it. He doesn't condone sin and the wreckage that it leaves about in lives and communities. But norther does he condemn her. Woman, where are they? Those who are condemning you. She says, there's no one here. Then neither do I condemn you. The gentleness, the restraint on anger, not excessive, not hasty, not rushing in. What does the Bible say about anger? In your anger, do not sin. Because that's when we often sin. Because nothing arouses our propensity to sin like self-righteous anger. Oh, we love to leverage that. And all the anger suddenly spills over and all the breaking down and the condemnation. I can't believe they did this. Really? You've probably done it 20 times this week, right? We cut people up in the road when we're driving. And when people cut us up in the road, we're furious. We shoulder check people as we're going to the subway, but if anyone shoulder checks us, better watch out for them. We speak ill of other people, but then we take to social media to speak ill of of others, and then if they speak ill of us, oh my goodness, they've got to be canceled. Have you seen what they're doing? We're a culture full of self-righteousness and ungentled anger, and it's pulling us apart. Not least, of course, in the political sphere. This is not saying that there aren't standards of justice. is not saying there aren't important discussions, but those discussions are going to be more meaningful. They're

going to build up, not just tear down if we check our anger first. We need to be careful about anger towards others. But a lot of the reasons we're so angry towards others, if I can put it this way, it's because we are actually deep down angry towards ourselves.

Let me give you an example. About two years ago, uh we were at home in the apartment and um I was just walking around and I heard my oldest son just um he made a mistake, dropped something and he just turned around and said to himself, he just, "Oh, you're so stupid." And it shocked me hearing him speaking that way to himself. And I went over to him straight away. I said, "You know, son, you're we we don't call each other words like that, stupid. You're not you're not stupid. You're great." And he said, "Ah, but dad, that's how you talk to yourself." And Rebecca was standing in the kitchen and I I went to justify myself. I was going to say, "Oh, that's okay cuz I'm an adult and you know adults can talk to themselves that way and you're a child, right?" And just as I was about to say those words, Rebecca know me well kind of just looked out the corner of eye and I caught myself because she wonderfully was catching me and I just said, "Yeah, you're right. I'm really sorry. I I shouldn't talk to myself that way."

You know, we all have these voices in our heads, don't we? Often they're the voices that echo from resound from our past. A lot of people in New York have this. It's part of what makes you good at the things you do. The unrelenting standards. Good enough never is. Try harder. Be better. Do more. And maybe it's different figures in our lives. Maybe it was a father who intended well for you, but it just got the better of him. And he was always giving you excessive standards or a mother as well. For me, it was certainly lots of sports coaches. You know, you didn't win. Why didn't you win? Do better. Go train harder. And the voice gets embedded in your head. It's not a gentle voice, is it? It presses you. It pushes you down. It bruises you. It snuffs out your enthusiasm for life. Because even when the good things come along, it's never enough. There's never good enough. There's always another mountain. There's always another horizon. Do better. Be more. And so we impose it on God and we think that's how God sees us. Oh my friend. We won't be gentle with others until we can be gentle with ourselves. God is not looking at you as his son or daughter saying, "Do more. Be better. Keep my commands endlessly." No, he looks at you with grace and gentleness and restoration. Read the New Testament. See the person of Jesus Christ. Let his words correct your distorted, internalized words. Let his narratives correct your internal narrative. Be gentle to yourself and you'll learn to be gentle to others. The strength of gentleness, the justice of gentleness.

Lastly, how can we be gentled? I know because I always enjoy interacting um with members of the congregation after the um service and we talk about the sermon. And and I know now that there'll be a number of you who are thinking, okay, but you've let a lot of the meat on this bone peep because we've been talking about justice and we've been talking about not condemning, but what about when people really do things wrong? I mean, think of the woman caught in adultery. She really did commit adultery. We don't hear about the family, but there was a family and there is wreckage in that situation as a result of her actions. So, it sounds lovely, doesn't it? Be gentle. Go and be gracious. Don't condemn people. But what about when people really do wrong? Or what about when the narrative of be gentle is used to um get off scot-free when someone's actually really done wrong? How do we deal with that? I'm so glad you're asking thoughtful questions. That's exactly what we need to deal with. And this is why the gospel of Jesus Christ uniquely uniquely gives us the resources to become gentle people to be gentled. Because Jesus does not overlook justice. Hopefully, you saw that in the passage. We're told that God will put his spirit on him. Verse 18, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will be gentle. Verse 20, until he has brought justice through to the victory. Notice how gentleness is framed either side with justice. Here's the thing that we need to know. We cannot be gentle unless we know that justice will be done or the justice has been done. You know sometimes there are parts of the world where there's no justice system or at least no functioning justice system. And what happens there? Vigilante justice. And vigilante justice is never gentle. It's never gentle. It's always excessive. It's always overstated. It always tears down rather than builds up because justice entrusted into our private hands is going to bring about damage because we are not the people who are going to best steward justice.

So there's two applications at least from this. Number one, in order to be gentle in a community, we have to trust that the community has actually got mechanisms and processes of justice. That's so true in church. I know that many churches have decided to cover up injustice because they favor their own reputation. and let that never be said of Redeemer Downtown. We have processes on this. We have a safeguarding team. If you see injustice being done, you don't need to be the expert. You don't need to share it with 100 people. You just need to bring it to the church leadership. And there's a clear accountability there. You can go to the website, find out more about how that happens. That's vital because unless you trust that justice is going to be done, you'll try and take it into your own hands and then gentleness and condemnation, sorry, condemnation and lack of gentleness spills over. But what happens at a micro level is so true at a gospel level. Romans 12 verse 19, we're told this. Do not take revenge, my dear friends. Why? But leave room for God's wroth, for it is written, "It is mine to avenge. I will replace, says the Lord." You're thinking, "That doesn't sound very gentle." No, actually, that's the very key to gentleness. You can't be gentle to other people unless you really know that God is just. You can't be gentle to other people unless you really know that God is just and he will one day give a full moral accounting. And is that not what the cross is all about? The cross is God himself in human form saying, "I will pay for the injustice. I will be condemned so that we can forgive sin without condoning sin. I will take on all of the righteous anger, all of the just implications of sin, of the ways we turn away from God. I will take them all on me. I will pay the price so that their full moral accounting has been done at the cross. And therefore, every human being will either have their sin paid for at the cross or they'll pay for it at the judgment day. But they will be paid for in God's economy. Justice has been done and justice will be done. And therefore, because we live in the light of that, we can be gentle now because it's not down to us to be the enforcers of justice. Someone slightes you, leave it in the Lord's hands. Someone wrongs you, trust the institution to deal with it. And even if that's imperfect, one day God, the perfect judge, will deal with it. And it's only if you know that deep in your soul that you don't try to take justice into your own hands and become ungentle.

But the second implication of this, the cross is also the way that we become gentled. There's a man called Richard Sibs. He was one of the great Puritans and one of my favorite um preachers and authors. Um, he was such a gentle preacher that his congregation in Cambridge um in England nicknamed him the sweet dropper. The sweet dropper because his words were so sweet and gentle. By the way, no nicknames here, please. Um, Richard Sibs preached a series of sermons and it got turned into a book called The Bruised Reed, all about this passage from Matthew and Isaiah. And he says this in his sermon, and we're going to close on this. God sees fit that we should taste of that cup of his son drank so deep that we might feel a little of what sin is and what his son's love was. But our comfort is that Christ drank the dregs of the cup for us and will sucker us so that our spirits may not utterly fail under that little taste of his displeasure which we may feel. He became not only man but a curse, a man of sorrows for us. He was broken that we should not be broken. He was troubled that we should not be desperately troubled. He become a curse that we should not be accursed. Whatever may be wished for in an allsufficient comforter is to be found in Christ. He's saying this, how do you become gentled? You have to drink a little, just a little of the cup that Christ drank. He drank it all to the dregs. He drank it all for you. But this means that to the extent that you have a sense of what he's done for you, that will gentle you. You know, when you're flying off the handle because you've been wronged, how do you restrain yourself? You look at Jesus and you think, "He didn't condemn me. He's died for me. He took the punishment for me. He took the anger that should be on me on himself. He was gentle and restorative for me. He didn't bruise me or snuff out my faith. Neither will I do that to another. When you have really got some wounds, they need to be bound up. You take them to Christ and you say, "I've wounded you and yet your grace is that such that it binds up my wounds. Let me be a healing presence in other people's lives." When you're struggling to forgive because you've really been wronged and your internal narrative is far from gentle, how do you approach the other person? And this is not easy, but with great prayer and support from your friends, you approach them knowing that you are forgiven and therefore you're going to labor to forgive that person. Not because you've not done anything wrong, because you're a sinner just like them. You've wronged others like them. You've wronged God like them. You drink a little of the cup and as you take that in, it starts to make you gentle and turns you into a person who lives in the power of good, a life of gentleness in the spirit. Let it be so. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, thank you for this passage and this call for us to be gentle. Forgive us for all of the ungentleness of our demeanor and our words and our internal narratives and the ways we conduct ourselves. Lord God, may we see that gentleness is strength. Gentleness is about restorative justice. And then make us in the power of your spirit. A people who are gentled as we drink a little of the cup that Christ has drunk fully for us. We pray for his name's sake. Amen. I'm going to call up the bands to the stage. We're going to pray our offetery. Offer is a time for us to respond as we think about what God is calling us to and also as we offer up our financial gifts in response to what God has done for us. Hey, [music] [music] hey, hey. Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [applause] >> Would you please rise as we approach the Lord's supper? The Lord's Supper is a time for us to be nourished in our faith. And for centuries, Christians have been uh relying and and presenting the the catechisms and the confessions in order to outline the contours of that faith. And so, please would you join me in the H Highleberg Catechism? Christian, what is your only comfort in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death. to my faithful savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly father, not a hair can fall from my head. Indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him. Having stated our faith, we move forward in action. And uh in that action, we we offer up our prayers to God. And so, please join me in this responsive prayers of the people. It's time for us to pray not for our own needs, but for those of our uh our city and our world. Heavenly Father, God, you are the God of all generations, Lord of all places. And so, Father, you call us to be one people. Grant almighty God, that all who confess your name may be united in your truth, live together in your love, and reveal your glory in the world. Lord, in your mercy, here our pray. Grant that the youth of our congregation, particularly those that have to publicly profess their faith today, may grow in their knowledge and love of you and seek first your kingdom in all that they do. Lord, in your mercy, here our pray. >> We pray for all the graduating seniors throughout the city and especially this church as they graduate and move out into the world. enable them to participate fruitfully in your purposes of compassion, justice, and grace. In all their endeavors, may they be an abiding have an abiding sense of your accompanying presence. Lord, in your mercy, here our pray. >> Guide the people of this land and of all the nations and the ways of justice and peace that we may honor one another and serve the common good. Lord, in your mercy, here our pray. Give us all a reverence for the earth as your own creation that we may use its resources rightly and in the service of others to your honor and glory. Lord in your mercy, >> here our pray. >> Bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours and grant that we may serve Christ in them and love one another as he loves us. Lord in your mercy, >> here our pray. >> Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind or spirit. Give them courage and hope in their troubles and bring them jo the joy of your salvation. Lord in your mercy, here our pray. >> Let us take some time now in silence to pray for our own needs and for the needs of those of others. Lord, we thank you that you always hear us, the words and prayers of our of our thoughts and our minds and our hearts. Lord, your children, we thank you and praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Well, this table that we're about to take part in is a reminder of the gentleness, the justice, and the mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He didn't leave anything undone. It is finished. He poured out himself. He was broken so that we don't have to be. He drank to the dregs all of the injustice and it was poured out on him. And so he's turned that injustice and that wrath into sweetness. And so today we get a small taste instead of bitterness and injustice. We get a small taste of the sweetness of his goodness and his grace. Let that be a reminder of what has been done for you. A reminder that he is with you and nourishing you now. A reminder that you will see him face to face one day. This is the God who is present with us at this table. And so we say, the Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them up unto the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give him thanks and praise. You may be seated. And heavenly father, dear heavenly father, we thank you, Lord. It is right and fitting to give you thanks and praise. Lord, you have held back nothing, given us your even your even your the body and blood of your beloved son. And so that we can all come to this table now regardless of whatever our past might be. And so we thank you for showing us that you love us more than we could ask or imagine, more more than we in fact love ourselves, Lord. Would you bless now these simple elements of bread and wine in Jesus name? Amen. The Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed he took bread and after giving thanks he broke it saying this is my body. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way after the supper he took the cup saying this is the cup in the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink this in remembrance of me. For the apostle Paul says that whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim his death until he s until he comes. That is to say that we proclaim that the limitless love of our savior God until we see him face to face. I'd like to invite at this time the those who are serving the elements to come and join me on the stage and as they come up I'll give some instruction as to how we partake of the Lord's supper here at downtown. Uh, this is a family meal and what that means is that all who partake of this have a commonality that we all are all resting uh in our in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on him alone. And so much like uh our communicants today who have witnessed and uh professed their faith. We're to remember our own and renew our own faith and then to feed on Christ to be nourished to see fe to feel our need for him and to also see his willingness to nourish us. And so you come here and let it be. So if you are uh still on your journey trying to discover who Christ is and what uh um who the Lord is, we are so grateful that you are here today and we ask that you would uh invite you to take this time to reflect what it might mean to partake of this meal at some point in the future. There will be pastors and officers up front after the service who would love to process any of that with you after the service. For anyone who is coming up, you can follow the usher's guidance as well as the instructions that will be on the screen. Uh, communicants, just a a gentle reminder that the the wine is in the middle and the the the grape juice is around the outside. With all that said, let us boldly proclaim the mystery of the faith. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, the gifts of God for the people of God. The gifts of God for the people of God. Draw near with faith. >> [music] >> Blessed [music] asssurance, Jesus is mine. He's been [music] my fourth man in the fire time after time. Born of his spirit, washed in his blood. [music] And what he [singing] did for me on [music] Calvary is more than enough. Oh, I trust in God, [music] my savior. The one [music] who will [singing] never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God my savior. [music and singing] The one who will never fail. He will never fail. [music] Joy in [singing] submission. All is [music and singing] at rest. I know the author of tomorrow [music] has ordered my steps. [music] So this is [singing] my story [music] and this is my song. [singing] [music] I'm praising my risen [singing] king and savior [music] all the day long. Oh, I trust in God, [music] my savior, the one who will [music] never fail. He will [music] never fail. I trust in God, [music] my savior, the one who [music] will never fail. [music] He will never fail. [music] >> You bought me, Lord, with your blood and you saved me. You bought [music] me, Lord, with your blood and you saved me. You bought me, Lord, with [music] your blood and you saved me. That's why I trust him. That's why [music] I trust him. You bought me, Lord, with your blood and you saved me. You bought [music] me, Lord, with your blood and you saved [singing] me. You bought me, Lord, with your blood [music] and you saved me. That's why [singing] I trust him. That's why I trust him. You bought [music] me, Lord, with your blood and you save me. You bought me, Lord, with your blood [music] and you save me. You bought me, Lord, with your blood and you save [singing] me. That's why [music] I trust him. That's why I trust in God, [music] my savior. The one who [singing and music] will never fail. He will never fail. [music] Oh, I trust in God, my [music] savior. The one who will never fail. He will [music] never fail. I trust in God. [music] Please stand for our final song. >> [music] >> Worthy [singing] of every song we could ever sing. Worthy of all [music and singing] the praise we could ever bring. Worthy [music and singing] of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. >> [music] >> Jesus the name above every other [singing] name. Jesus [music] the only one who could ever sing. >> Worthy [singing] of every breath we could ever [music] breathe. We live for you. [singing] We live for you holy. There [music and singing] is no one like you. There is none besides you. Open [singing] up [music] my eyes in wonder and show me who you [music and singing] are and fill me with your heart and lead [music] me in your love to those [singing] around me. [music] >> [music] >> Worthy [singing] of every song we could ever sing. [music] Worthy of [singing] all the praise we could ever bring. [music] >> Worthy [singing] of every breath we could ever breathe. We live for you. [music] Jesus, the [music and singing] name above every other name. [music] Jesus, the only [singing] one who could ever say, worthy of every breath [music] we could ever [singing] breathe. We live for you. >> [music] >> Holy, there is no one [singing] like [music] you. There is none besides you. Open up my eyes [music and singing] in wonder. Show me who you are and [music and singing] fill me with your heart and lead me in your love to those [music and singing] around me. [music] >> [music] >> And I [singing] will build my life [music] upon your love. It is [music and singing] a firm foundation. And I [music and singing] will put my trust in you [singing] alone. And [music] I will not be shen. >> I will [music and singing] build my life upon your love. [music] It is a firm [singing] foundation. And I will put my [music] trust in you alone. [singing] and I [music] will not be shen [singing] holy. There is no one like you. [music] There is none [singing] beside you. Open up my eyes in [music] wonder [singing] and show me who you are and fill me [music] with your heart and lead me in your love to [music and singing] those around me. Holy, there is no one [music and singing] like you. There is none beside you. Open up my [music and singing] eyes in wonder. Show me who you [music and singing] are and fill me with your heart and lead me in your [music] love [singing] to those around me. [music] will build my life upon [singing and music] your love. It is a firm foundation. [music] And I will put my trust [music] in you, [singing] oh Lord, and I [music] will not be shen. Please join me in the prayer of mission found on the screen behind me. Oh God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you. Bring the nations into your fold. Pour out your spirit upon all flesh and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. A few brief announcements before the benediction. If you are in need of prayer or would like to process anything, we will have uh officers and leaders of the church up front and in the balcony after the postlude who would be delighted to pray with you. Uh, also if you are new here, we would be delighted to meet with you uh at the at the coffee hour which is outside on the steps. We have a welcome table. We have a gift for you and we'd love to help you get plugged into our church family here at downtown. Uh, as I mentioned, coffee hour is outside on the steps. Everyone is welcome. Parents, we remind you to go and collect your little ones uh before attending coffee hour. And also a reminder that um our newcomers lunch is taking place in Mumford Hall and that is downstairs. Two flights you can get head there down this way. Uh, that is at 11:45. Walk-ins are definitely welcome and you can enjoy us even if you've registered not not yet registered. And also just a reminder to the youth we have our lunch and activities today happening in Railton. And with that said, let us raise our hands and our hearts to God and receive his benediction. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us go forth proclaiming our Savior's death until he comes. Thanks be to God. >> Go in peace. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Here [music] we go. [music] [music] [applause] Thank you for joining us online for worship today. We gather in person [music] every Sunday from at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the Salvation Army in Union [music] Square. And you're welcome to join us. If you'd like to take the next step or learn more about our upcoming community events, please visit our website. [music] There is so much happening at Redeemer Downtown and we would love for you to be a part of it. We look forward to connecting with you soon.