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We are currently in a series at RVC called FAQ. We’ve been getting our community to submit questions and have been answering them from a biblical perspective. The questions have been great and it has been a lot of fun answering them. It’s clear the devil has a lot to say on these issues. I did this interview with him at the beginning of our message this past weekend. Here it is:

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For The City

I created the video below for the kickoff of our 50th Anniversary Celebrations at RVC.

The last seven weeks we have been going through the book of Nehemiah. It’s an amazing story of someone who was used to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

As the church it is our mandate to join God in the rebuilding of the spiritual city (the church) within our city. For those of who us have grown up in church we hear the verse Jeremiah 29:11 thrown around a lot. It’s a great verse, but I think we can often take the verse out of context. Often we apply it to ourselves as individuals, not realising what precedes verse 11.

Israel once again is in exile. This time to the Babylonians. You would think that if you were taken into exile by a particular people that you would expect your God to say “stay away, don’t interact, and shun the pagan culture around you.”

That’s exactly opposite of what God tells Israel to do. In Jeremiah 29:5-7 God says,

⁵ ”Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

What’s the context of Jeremiah 29:11? That’s not a statement from God to an individual. That is a statement from God to a community of people (Israel) who have been taken over by a pagan culture, yet God instructs them to flourish even in exile.

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city! That’s what the church is called to do. We are not simply to be in the city, we are called to be FOR the city!

May 31, 2010

We’re Going Public With This

I am starting to appreciate when short film is really well done in the church. This was done for Hillsong’s short film festival. We showed it Saturday at our City Celebration.

April 16, 2010

Clarification Of The Gospel

I am thankful for groups like The Resurgence and The Gospel Coalition that continue to help articulate what the Gospel is. Daniel Montgomery is pastor of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville and he does a good job at articulating what the Gospel is.

One of the things that we believe at Royal View is exactly what he says in the video. All theology is practical and practice is rooted in theology.