Joining God at Work

SERMON: 2013-02-24--ac1395--joining-god-at-work SOURCE DURATION: 00:52:28.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: All provided candidates show continuous speech content (repetition of a phrase), indicating that the material remains within the sermon structure. Therefore, the final candidate is selected. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:47:20.680-00:52:17.680 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- But I want to come back this morning then to where we left off in the Book of Acts. Just to quickly summarize, for those of you who perhaps are new here since then, the Book of Acts is called the Acts of the Apostles, but it is really the Acts of Jesus through the Apostles as he continues his work of ministry. And Acts chapter 10 and 11 mark a very significant transition in the Book of Acts because now the gospel is reaching out not only to Jewish believers, because that of course was the roots of the Old Testament community of faith, but now has begun to include Gentiles. And Acts chapter 10 and 11 tell us the story about Cornelius, the Roman centurion, who by supernatural vision in the preaching of Peter receives the Holy Spirit, and the church stands in amazement and says that even Gentiles are being included in the community of faith. You have to understand what a major transition that was, because this would be like saying to you and to me, that guy over there in prison who is the worst possible offender that you can imagine has suddenly become acceptable to God just like you are by faith in Jesus. So that's where we pick up the story this morning, because now the gospel continues to expand beyond Cornelius to the Greeks in Antioch. So listen to this and just follow along. Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. Let me pause there, continue to the next slide, and you'll see the map of what that looked like. Jerusalem, Phoenicia, Syria, Antioch, Cyprus, the island in the Mediterranean Sea, and Cyrene as well. So some of them, however, picking it up at verse 20, men from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And so for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me. Lord as we pick up our series of studies in the book of Acts, we stand amazed at how sovereignly you fulfilled the great commission as you bring men and women far removed from the fold of God into a relationship with you. Thank you that many of us here have been the beneficiaries of that, and we have experienced the touch of your divine grace. And we pray, Lord, as we look at the implications of this passage before us, that you will give us eyes to see hearts that burn for people in our circle of acquaintances, people that are part of our lives, people in whose lives you are at work, people to whom we, too, might bear witness concerning the person of Jesus. And then we pray for a mighty outpouring of your Holy Spirit in our own lives, in the life of the church, in the life of our families, businesses and relationships, so that, Lord, in every way, we might have the joy of watching your kingdom come. And now as we talk about this a bit, and as a little bit later Peter Radick shares some of his calling and vision in that regard, I just pray that you will give me the words that I need, all of his hearts and minds, to lay hold of what it is that you're saying so that, Lord, growing up in Christ as one body, we might accomplish as your purposes in our day and age, in our city, in our generation, in our world, for your glory. We pray it in Jesus' name, amen. Well chances are you won't remember this, but when last we looked at Acts chapter 11, back in June of last year, I left you with a question. Anybody remember that? I won't even dare ask you if you remember what the question was. But the question was this. The question was, when revival broke out in the city of Antioch, why was it that the apostles in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to supervise the work of God? Ever ask yourself that question? It's not an insignificant question. I believe there are two answers. The first is that Barnabas was a good and godly man. We read in Acts 11 verse 24, he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. We first meet Barnabas, you might recall, in Acts chapter 4, where the Bible tells us that he sold some of his possessions and he brought the money to the church. We meet him again in Acts chapter 9, when he is the one who takes a new convert by the name of Saul of Tarsus under his wing, introduces him to the church, when most of the church doesn't want a thing to do with him because they're scared, considering that he was the author of much of the persecution they endured. The name Barnabas meant son of encouragement, his real name was Joseph, by the way, but the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas because he was an encourager, that is to say, he could come alongside people and challenge and encourage them to follow the Lord Jesus. So yes, he was a very suitable candidate to come alongside the new believers in Antioch and to encourage them in the faith. But there's a second reason, one that's not immediately evident in the text, but also rather critical. Who remembers, who remembers where Barnabas was from, anybody? Barnabas was from Cyprus. We read in Acts chapter 4 that Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. Now notice he was a Levite, it's a very interesting little piece of history here because Levites were not supposed to own any property because God was their inheritance in Israel. So I don't quite know why he owned property or he felt guilty and felt he had to sell it and give the money to the church. At any rate, he was a good man and he was a native of Cyprus. You say what's the significance of that? Well, think back to our scripture reading. Who were the folks that were preaching in Antioch? People from Cyrene, not only in Africa, but also from Cyprus. And to see any connection. To whom did they speak in the city of Antioch? To the Greeks. So here is Barnabas. He is thoroughly a Jew, but he was raised in the Greek culture of Cyprus. Now can you see why he was sent to the work in Antioch? Not only was he a good and godly man who could encourage these new believers, he shared their culture, he knew their history, and he understood who they were. And there's a principle here that I think is very important for us to understand. I like to call it the principle of cultural homogeneity. Big word, think of homogenized milk. Cultural homogeneity really means working within your own language and culture to communicate the gospel. You see, while it's true that the gift of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was to equip the church for cross-cultural communication, that was the significance of tongue speaking in Acts chapter 2, it enabled them to preach Jesus across cultural and linguistic barriers while God empowers the church to do that, he is not averse to using normal cultural and linguistic relationships in order to accomplish his purposes. And so what that meant in the New Testament is that the gospel would typically follow first and foremost along the most natural lines within your family, within your social circle, and within your ethnic group. And that's one of the reasons then while Barnabas is used of God by the early church to help these new believers in Antioch because they are Greek in orientation, they have been ministered to by people from Cyprus, Barnabas gets it. God uses cultural homogeneity to communicate the gospel. If you don't believe that, look further on to Acts chapter 13, this is the story where Paul and Barnabas get called of God to begin their missionary journeys, and it's very interesting that these two men now are given the mission to the Gentiles, and who was it in Acts 9 and 10 who introduced the Gentiles to the gospel to begin with, his name was Peter. So Peter opens the door, but Peter's ministry remains a ministry to the Jewish people. Instead God uses Saul or Paul and Barnabas, and they become the central focus of the mission to the Gentiles, you see, because both of them were Jewish through and through, knew the Jewish scriptures, the Jewish history, but they were both raised outside of Israel in Greek culture, and they understood the greater Roman world. That's the principle of cultural homogeneity. Now if you're with me on that, please understand that that has a number of profoundly practical implications in the time that we have. Let me see how many of them I can go over with you. Number one, it means that as Christians we need to maintain relationships beyond the four walls of the church. You see what typically happens in Christian circles is that when a person becomes a believer, they could join to Jesus, they could join to the church, and pretty soon the relationships in the body of Christ become more meaningful than relationships with family and friends. Many of us here have experienced that. That's because we're baptized into one spirit, the natural divisions among and between people fall away, and we know what it is to live in the spirit. It's aggravated by the fact that many times your family members or the people that you work with don't understand the changes that are happening in your life, don't necessarily like it very much, begin to make fun of you or withdraw from you. And so the natural movement, the natural movement is to move away from the world into the body of Christ, and that's good in many, many ways because it's the church that God is building. But please understand something. The less relationships we have with people in the world, the less opportunity there is to lead people to Christ or to make an impact on society all around us. That's why in many parts of the world you've got the church living in a holy huddle, absolutely irrelevant to what happens in the rest of society because there are two entirely different classes of people, do you understand what I'm saying? And part of that is rooted in the very essence of what it is to be the church. And I don't want to expand on that too much other than to say that from the very beginning there is an inherent tension in being a Christian that produces two opposite and contradictory factors that are at work. Let me try to explain it this way. We've been looking the last couple of weeks at what's known as the Three Cs. Every church is a gathering of community and cause and corporation. The purpose of community is to enclose and to surround one another and to draw in. The purpose of cause is to reach out and bring people in. And those two are constantly at odds with each other in your life, in my life, and in the history of the Christian church. If you don't believe that, think back to when you were part of a small group. How many of you here have ever been part of a small group? All right, a good, good many of us. You'll know that a lot of small groups begin with the idea of let's invite new people in. And when the group grows enough, then let's split into two new groups. And for many years in church growth, this was a theory as to how the church could grow. It sounded great in theory, works biologically, cells split and bodies grow. But you know, stuff that looks good in paper doesn't always work in the real world. You know why? Because once you're part of a small group for a little while, and you develop a sense of camaraderie, and you've learned to open up your hearts, and you've learned to be vulnerable, and you've learned to trust each other, what happens when somebody says, well, you know, I'd like my friend to come along and meet with us the next time? You know exactly what's going to happen, don't you? All the walls go up, everybody says, well, you know, you'd have to, even if you were allowing that person to come in. That person would have to jump through so many hoops that long before he or she finished the final examination, he or she'd throw in the towel and say, listen, this is just not worth it to me. Do you see what I'm saying? The natural tendency is I want to be with my own kind. And people from out there are going to disturb my comfort zone. I'm convinced in the early church in the book of Acts, that's why they had to experience persecution. Persecution was a big bomb thrown into the middle of their very comfortable, convenient, wonderfully loving new community so that they could be faithful to the Great Commission. You see, if community is about the great commandment to love God and to love your neighbor, then the cause is about the Great Commission to go out and make disciples of all nations. So God's people can only engage the world by having relationships with the world. Now that's not without its dangers, because new believers especially tend to get sucked back into their old world. We need to be strong enough in Christ and we need to be strong enough in community, but we need to know the people around us. We need to maintain relationships with family members or friends at work. I know there are some people who deliberately volunteer for secular organizations so that in developing relationships at that level, they can invite their friends along to church or to a Bible study or into their home. Cultural homogeneity means that you and I need to be deliberate about cultivating relationships with people who are far from Christ, because those are the natural channels that God will use to bring people into the kingdom. You are listening. You are getting what I'm talking about. So the next time we have an event geared for outreach, you're all going to bring two or three neighbors, coworkers or friends with you into this place. Then what I will have said will not be in vain. Fair enough. Number two, we need to be students of our culture. Now culture is the sum total of life all around us. It's the expression of how a given society works. It encompasses things like values, beliefs, practices, fashions, hairdos, and the thing about culture is that it is constantly changing and if you don't believe that, dig out an old photo album as I did this past week and take a look at what you looked like 20 or 30 years ago. Now I had to do a little talking to my wife to allow me to allow -- to let her allow me to show you this picture. That's us. That's late 1971 or '72, she's pregnant there with our oldest son, David. We were living -- if you can believe this was my last year of school, we were poorest church mice, but we were living in the richest church congregation in the denomination. If you can believe it. The Grave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, downtown Grand Rapids, it has many, many very wealthy people and they had a custodian's apartment in the building where their previous custodian had lived, but he had retired, somebody else had taken it over, he was single living with his mother, they wanted somebody there to lock doors so that thieves wouldn't rifle through people's coat pockets and we happened to stumble upon that and for the last year of my seminary we lived in that church building and hobnobbed with all the rich and famous. It was quite an interesting experience. Things change not only, hairstyles not only change, but so do our beliefs and practices. John Roper from here and Mike Matthewson, music and youth people, attended just recently a faith conference in town here which dealt with a report put out by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. They had done an extensive survey among young adults from 18 to 34 why they had left church, why some people were coming back and what the church could do about it. And without going into a lot of detail in the report the results were rather staggering in some ways, let me read you some of the statistics, only one in three young people who attended church as children still do so today. Of the young people who left the church, 50% no longer identify with the Christian tradition. And here's one that was a surprise to me, more young people leave the church between childhood and adolescence than between adolescence and young adult years, I would have thought it would be the other way around. And more young men are leaving the church than young women, that is not so much a surprise. There are also some good things they found, among young people still engaged with the faith, 56% reported a summer camp experience, 71% of those still engaged said their faith came alive on a short-term missions trip, and 60% of young people who consider themselves disengaged with faith said they would study the Bible with a friend. And what it all pinpoints, and we don't have time to go into all the nuances of the report, is that we have a generation of young people who are extremely experientially oriented. Authenticity and experience is incredibly important. And so if they see faith that doesn't look like it works, if they see faith that doesn't look like it's real, if they see hypocrisy or a value system that is at odds with what they have learned in school or in society, then they bail in vast numbers. And studying our culture means that at the very least we get under their skin or into their minds and we begin to try to find out a little bit how the values of today's society have changed. On issues of homosexuality, for example, there is no comparison between the values of an older generation and the values of a younger generation that have been raised in today's secular environment. It means we need to listen to our culture. It means we need to listen to their music, because their music is often the expression of what lives inside. It means we need to be familiar with their entertainment and with their movies, and all of that has its own dangers. But you can't speak into the world around us unless at least we understand where they are living and how they are thinking. And most of us who have been raised in an earlier generation, I can tell you, have no idea. Honestly, we have no idea of the value system of a whole new generation. We also need to study, then, where among them God might be at work. What I find fascinating about what happens in Antioch is that here you have this whole Greek culture, people who couldn't be further away from God, couldn't be further away from biblical values. These men from Cyprus and from Cyrene, they come and they preach Jesus, and you've got this incredible revival that breaks out. And you say to yourself, "What was there among the social dynamics of the folks living in Antioch, the third largest city in the Roman Empire after Rome and Alexandria? What was there in that community that made those people so receptive to the good news of Jesus?" Isn't that something? That's astonishing. God was at work before those folks even got there and they were able to preach Jesus. So here's the question. Where in our society today is the Lord at work readying people for the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Where is he bringing people to the end of themselves? Where is the fragmentation of society becoming so powerful that people are hungry for some answer and for some solution? I don't profess to have all of the answers to that, but interestingly enough, just in the last week or two, the Toronto District School Board, the largest public school board in the whole country, published the results of a survey done in 2011, examining the student body from grade five to grade 12 as to what was happening with them and what their concerns were. And the results were astounding to the educators. And I won't take a lot of time for this, but these are the charts that appealed as part of their report. This is a chart that says student worries, grade seven and eight in red versus grade nine to 12 in the gray or the blue. Notice the issues, relationship issues, family matters, your schoolwork, and your future. 73% of kids in grade nine to 12 are worried about their future, sufficiently so to admit to that in a survey of 100,000 students for the record. And your future, again, grade seven to eight, 59% feeling all the time or often. And then here is emotional challenges, again, grade seven and eight in red and gray or blue, grade nine to 12. Kids feeling lonely, down or depressed, losing confidence, under a lot of stress, nervous or anxious. Under a lot of stress, grade seven and eight, 40% all the time, often or sometimes. Grade nine to 12, 66% and nervous or anxious. Grade seven to eight, 63%, and grade nine to 12, 72%. And you thought you had it hard when you went to school. But the pressure in society, the pressure among tweens and teens in today's culture is phenomenal. And you wonder, do you suppose that somewhere along the line in that process there may be some boy, there may be some girl who is frustrated enough with the brokenness of life, who might in fact like to know that there is a Father in heaven who cares about every hair on his head. Do you think? Do you think there might be a young person in there somewhere who might want to discover that Jesus is a friend of sinners, that he's able to save to the uttermost those that call on his name? And do you think there might be a young person in that whole group somewhere who might want to know the comfort of the Holy Spirit so that when friends and family in school all turn their back on him or her, he or she knows the stability that comes from knowing I am a child of God? Not that not to motivate some of us to bestir ourselves to say, Lord, where are you at work? And then the obvious next question, and my third point in the connection of this passage is that we need to pray for wisdom then about what our part might be in the work of God. Because what is it that Barnabas does when he goes to Antioch? The Bible says in verse 23 of chapter 11 when he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. I love that language, he was glad, and what did he do? He encouraged them. What was his name? Son of encouragement. Barnabas just had the kind of heart and the kind of gifting that enabled him to come alongside people, see their hearts, recognize the work of God in their lives, and he would encourage them to walk it out in faith, remaining faithful to the Lord with all of their hearts. He didn't just pat people on the back, no, he challenged people to live out the fullness of their life in Christ. And you know what that shows? That shows that at the end of the day the work of salvation is a fascinating combination of the sovereignty of God and human responsibility, because at the end of the day neither you nor I can ever change anybody's life from the inside out, even Jesus. The Bible tells us in John chapter 5 verse 19, "I tell you the truth, the son can do nothing by himself, he can only do what he sees his father doing, because whatever the father does, the son does also." So the question is, not only who is there in your circle of acquaintance in whose life God is at work, what might the Lord be saying to you about coming alongside that person so that you can encourage them in the faith? Sometimes all it takes is somebody to say, "I see you, I understand you, I am here if you ever want to talk, I am here to encourage you to get to know Jesus and to walk with you." I mean, how many in this community alone are where we are, because somebody was filled enough with the Holy Spirit, loved us enough, to lay aside their own issues, their own problems and their own challenges, and they looked into our hearts and they put an arm around our shoulders and they said, "Let's walk this out together." The word "encouragement," just for the record, is the word "paracletus," which is the English word "paraclete," which in John's Gospel is used to refer to what? The Holy Spirit who comes alongside the Comforter to help us on our way. Well, one more point very quickly, and then I'm going to ask Peter to come up and put some flesh on these bones. It's our job to continue to develop relationships, to study our culture so that we understand what is happening, to find out where it is that God is at work in that process, and then to ask, "Okay, Lord, what can be my part in it?" But then thirdly, or fourthly actually, we need to look for helpers who share the same vision and calling, because what does Barnabas do after he's been an Antioch for a little while? Well, we read about it in verses 25 and 26. "Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And so for a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people." Why did Barnabas go to fetch Saul? Number one, the work had become too great for him to do on his own. He was running himself ragged, undoubtedly, as anybody who's ever done significant ministry can tell you, it's hard work, even when it's in the place of your gifting and your flowing in the power of the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus got tired and weary. And you can imagine that you and I will get tired and weary, which is why it's so easy to withdraw and to just live in our own little circle. But there's another reason, and that is because he mentored Saul, he understood Saul. He knew Saul's calling towards the Gentiles because the Lord God had made that very plain early on in his ministry. And so he went to find him so that they could work together. And we need to understand that there's a biblical principle that is involved here, and the principle is this. One can put to flight how many, according to scripture, a thousand, two can put to flight how many, 10,000. There is a power in solidarity. There is a power in teaming up that you will not find on your own. Not hard to figure out why. There's a multiplying effect that takes place when you have two people working together in ministry. Jesus sent out his disciples two by two. The Lord called later Barnabas and Saul to share the mission. Saul did most of his missionary trips in the presence of young helpers, Silas or Timothy and others. And throughout the course of history, you will have found that there is a multiplying effect when there are two of you that are working together because a twofold cord is not quickly broken. And if the Lord's in it and it's a threefold cord, it is that much stronger. If the Lord calls you to something, I can almost guarantee you that if the calling is from the Lord, you will not be the only one who shares in that calling. Remember the body operates not only as cells, not only as tissue, but as organs. And if you have a passion for evangelism, there will be other people who have a passion for evangelism. If you have a passion for worship, there will be other people who have a passion for worship. If you have a passion for Bible study, there will be others who have a passion for Bible study. If you have a passion for business and you want to see God glorified in business, there will be others who share that passion. And when you preach or share that vision, those who are alive in that place, the Lord will sovereignly bring together. And in the brainstorming and in the praying that happens, you will discover that God will do to you join to others what you could never do alone. So I'm going to ask Peter to come up and he's just going to briefly share what the Lord has been leading him into in the last little while. And if you've been listening this morning to what I've been saying, then you will see just how that meshes and illustrates this whole concept of cultural homogeneity. It has always been my heartfelt desire to help those who live in the fringes of society. As I matured in my personal and faith life, I have learned to be less judgmental and more compassionate to those in need. I had to come to grips with my own shortcomings before I could more effectively reach out to others. Mayor Natha has challenged and equipped me to deal with core issues and to step out in a meaningful way. When we moved to Belleville 10 years ago, my wife and I took on a challenge to open a second-hand store in downtown Belleville. This would be a drastic change from teaching in a small rural Christian high school in northern BC. We had total faith that coming to Belleville was the right thing to do in spite of the fact that downtown Belleville was a notorious graveyard for small business. We have been blessed beyond our wildest expectations to this very day. Our clientele in the store is extremely diverse. People of all socioeconomic classes love a bargain. Being downtown, we do, however, see our share of individuals who live on the fringes. I have learned the hard way not to let myself get overly connected to the plight of all the people that we come across in our daily walk. Sometimes my heart was bigger than my brain. Two years ago, I became convicted that I should increase my territory outside the parameters of the store. Last summer, I had time to reflect and become totally convicted that it was a time to step out in faith. I was looking for a way to connect with those who were disenfranchised with mainstream society in a tangible way. Last fall, December, I stepped out in faith to rent a unit in the Mays Mall. It was to be a gathering place for those who need a place to connect. As I was working out the logistics of having a safe and warm environment, I was contacted by Ben Platts from Kingston. He was the director of a Christian-based drop-in centre for marginalized people. It did not take long to discover that we had kindred spirits with a passion to connect and enable those who had fallen through the cracks of society. The goal is to build meaningful relationships with those who need it most. Ben informed me that his organization was convicted to open a drop-in centre in Belleville. I was asked to join a vision team that would look into the logistics of opening a drop-in centre. Needless to say, I was all in. We had two meetings, and we'll continue to meet every second week until we're ready to move forward. Then we'll be looking forward for many volunteers required to serve on committees needed to operate a volunteer-based organization. You can visit the website, nightlightkingston.com, to answer most of the questions you have regarding this organization. And I will be in the front booth if you need me to write it out for you. Nightlight Kingston is committed to providing the seed money required to get the drop-in centre up and running. The drop-in centre would be under the umbrella of the Kingston drop-in centre, but we would have the autonomy required to meet local needs and requirements. Although this organization is very Christian-based, it is non-denominational in nature. It would have the heart of Christ and the historical confessions of the church at its core. I was just overwhelmed that as I was waiting to open and God to show me the way, this opportunity came across my path. The chances of this happening in the first month are somewhere between zero and none. I am very excited, but God has in store for Belleville. I will keep the church informed each step of the way. There will be many opportunities to volunteer in the planning and operational stages of this undertaking. We cover your prayers, input, and support as we go forward, and we seek the leading of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for this opportunity, and all praise belongs to God. Thank you, Peter. Just one example, one illustration of what we see multiplied many, many times over in the life of this community. So let me ask you one more time, who is there in your relationships that the Lord lays on your heart that you can cultivate a relationship with? What can you do to get inside that person's inner world to try to understand their joys, their pains, their needs? Where in that person's life do you see God at work? How can you come alongside God in that person's life? And who else is there that God may be raising up to resonate with your call and with your vision? Now, when you hear Peter cast that vision, chances are some of you are sitting here and you say that's not my cup of tea. That's fine, because we all have different cups of tea. We all have different callings. But as we grow in the Lord, those callings become plainer and plainer. And sometimes when things aren't very clear, then you just do the task that is at hand. You volunteer for this position, you volunteer for that position, and nine out of the ten things that you do may not click with you. But every so often there will be one thing that just really grabs your heart. And you know that you've heard the call of God, and that will change your life not only, but that will change other people's lives for the glory of God. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:47:20.680; remove through 00:52:28.000] You're the God of this city, you're the King of these people, you're the Lord of this nation. You are. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. You're the light in this darkness, you're the hope to the hopeless. [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:52:28.000; resume after this marked segment]