We Are Called To Witness

If you're a believer, ever wonder why you've been placed on planet Earth? In a marvelous New Testament passage, our reason for being is clearly stated. It takes the form of a call by God, a call connected with our roles as members of a divine community known as the Church. Today, some clarity on why you and I are here and on what God expects us to do. From Chicago, this is The Moody Church Hour, a weekly service of worship and teaching with Pastor Erwin Lutzer. Today, we conclude a four-part series on living as God's community. Later in our program, Dr. Lutzer's message will be on the last of four callings believers share as he speaks on We Are Called to Witness.

Pastor Lutzer comes now to open our service. We're so glad that you are here this morning, and isn't it wonderful to be at The Moody Church where we have so many opportunities for ministry? And amid all of the stresses of life, let us bow our heads in prayer. Let us ask the Lord to make our souls quiet in his blessed presence. In a few moments, we are going to sing a song entitled, Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise.

And no matter where you are listening to this today, you can sing with us as we sing his praises. But let us bow together in prayer. Father, take us from the things of this world and bring us again into your presence.

And help us to remember that this is all about you, it's not about us. Enable us, Lord, draw us close to you and to worship you in spirit and in truth and to use the tongues that you have given us to declare your praise, not just in The Moody Church, but wherever you've placed us. In Jesus' name, amen. Please follow along with me in your bulletin as I read from 1 Chronicles 16 verses 23 through 31.

This is God's holy word. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and he is to be held in awe above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him, strength and joy are in his place. Ascribe to the Lord, O clans of the peoples. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Tremble before him all the earth. Yes, the world is established.

It shall never be moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, the Lord reigns. And the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein, my God is an awesome God. Hallelujah, let's give him the praise. God is good, and he's always right on time. Let's take the time to glorify the Lord.

Hold on and never let God. He is our friend, our friend indeed. Let's tell the world that he is our God. God is an awesome God. Hallelujah, let's give him the praise. My God is an awesome God. He is wondrous, and let us proclaim. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.

The world and they that dwell therein, my God is an awesome God. Hallelujah, let's give him the praise. For he has founded upon the seas and established it upon the floods.

Oh, my God is an awesome God. Hallelujah, let's give him the praise. Lift up your heads, all ye kings, and the king of glory shall come in. Lift up your heads, all ye kings, and the king of glory shall come in. Lift up your heads, all ye kings, and the king of glory shall come in.

Lift up your heads, all ye kings, and the king of glory shall come in. My God is an awesome God. Hallelujah, let's give him the praise.

My God is an awesome God. Oh, what a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! The joys of my God and King, the triumphs of his praise! He's awesome in the triumphs of his praise, the sorrows of his praise. His wisdom in the sea, his life and health and peace.

He breaks the power of man's own sin, he sets the prisoners free. His blood can make a vow to sleep, his blood a will for me. Here they be dead, please praise me God, for those still tongues and more. Give and behold your Savior come, and we'll be made for sure. My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim, to send the Holy Ghost of God. We love you, Lord, Hallelujah! Heiress for Jesus, ruler of all nature, O come, O come, and lend us some. He will I cherish, he will I honor, thou my soul's glory, joy and crown. There are the meadows, there still the woodlands, Come with the blooming light of spring. Jesus is bearer, Jesus is ruler, Who makes the noble God to sing.

There is the sunshine, there still the moonlight, And all the free things are ignored. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines cooler, Than all the angels have ever known. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations, Son of God and Son of Man, Glory and honor, praise thy holy shell, Now and forevermore, Jesus. We've been hearing a lot about what it means to be a community and let's take this moment to pray and ask God to seek his face in his presence to help us do that and do his will. In your presence we are gathered, As the people called by your name. We are longing for your spirit, Now to come and set our hearts aflame.

In your presence we are gathered, As the people called by your name. We are longing for your spirit, Now to come and set our hearts aflame. We are longing to taste the fruits of the Spirit.

We are longing for visions that sweep beyond the walls. We are longing for the fragrance of sweet communion among us. We are longing to hear again the everlasting flow.

In your presence we are gathered, As the people called by your name. We are longing for your spirit, Now to come and set our hearts aflame. We long to trust the heart that made the mountains. We long to trust the strength that made us sing. To know the joy that made the human family.

To feel the power that sets the captive free. In your presence we are gathered, As the people called by your name. We are longing for your spirit, Now to come and set our hearts aflame. Spirit, come and set our hearts aflame. Are you all doing? You're somewhat quiet today, and I hope that if you are quiet, it's because you are thinking, praying, and wondering what God has to say to us today as a church.

Let me ask you a question. What does come to mind when I mention the word church? For many people what comes to mind might be the building.

I often use it that way. I tell my wife I'm going to the church. Sometimes we use the word and most often to refer to a congregation. We speak of the church of Moody Church, the congregation, the people of Moody Church, which is the way in which the Bible uses it most often. Or else there is also the church of Jesus Christ, the body that belongs to the entire world, all those who have trusted Christ in whatever denomination they might happen to be. Sometimes people refer to that as the invisible church. And sometimes there are people who say, well, you know, I'm not joining Moody Church. I don't join any church because I belong to the invisible church.

And I want to say, I'm glad you do, but give me a break, would you please? When you're sick, I hope that there's an invisible pastor who comes to visit you. And when it's time to preach your funeral service, I hope that it's an invisible preacher who comes to say nice things about you, all of which I'm sure will be true. The fact is that in the New Testament, everyone who is called by Jesus is called to community. You are called to belong. So I speak to everyone who is listening who has any connection to Moody Church.

If God has led you here and you're a part of our body, what you should do is belong and become a part of what we're doing. You know that I introduced last time a mission statement, 15 words, and it isn't printed in your bulletin today. I wonder if you remember those 15 words.

I'll give them to you. And then I want you to say those words with me. The Moody Church is a community called by God to live passionately for Jesus Christ.

Can we say that together? The Moody Church is a community called by God to live passionately for Jesus Christ. The passage of scripture I want you to turn to again is 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9.

And today's message, ultimately, as we get to the end of it, some of us are going to squirm. But it's good to do that in the presence of God's word, especially if we're hearing God's truth. But in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9, it says you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own position that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now, in this epistle of Peter, and remember, the epistles were not the wives of the apostles, as some people think.

The word epistle means letter. What Peter does is he uses that word called in a number of different contexts. We are, for example, called to salvation. We are called out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's a wonderful calling.

That's the beginning of the calling. But as part of this call, we are also called to community because you'll notice, as we emphasized last time, we're a royal priesthood, we're a holy nation, we're a race, we are a community, called to community, but also called to show forth the excellencies of God. Now, what are those excellencies?

Well, of course, they'd be the attributes of God. We would show forth the grace of God, and the world needs to hear about the grace of God. Broken world, God cares about you and did something that can actually give you hope and help and eternal salvation. So we proclaim the grace of God. We also proclaim the judgment of God because if you don't have judgment, then grace doesn't mean very much. We proclaim the mercy of God and the compassion of God. Very clearly put, you and I are God's feet to go in places that other people might not go in the darkest regions of the world so that we might proclaim God there. We are God's hands to help those who need help, and we are God's mouth to speak good words of hope, eternal life, and the gospel. We are to display the excellencies of God.

And through our lives, people are to say, oh, that's what God is like. Now, what I'd like to do is to answer a question that people sometimes ask, and they say, when it comes to witnessing what is important, the most important, my life or my lips? The way I live or what I say? If anybody ever asks you that, you smile and you say, I have a question for you.

What wing on an airplane is most important, the right or the left? Because you can't have one without the other. Listen, if you share the gospel with people, but you don't have the integrity to back it up, what will they say? They'll say, spare me. Even if it's true, I don't want to hear it from you. If, on the other hand, you have a beautiful life and you live a life of integrity and kindness and you don't tell people about Jesus Christ, what they're going to say is, you know that this person was just born nice. It's part of their DNA. And they won't know that the reason that you are who you are is because of Jesus.

We need both the right wing and the left, both the word and the lip. Now, what I'd like to do is to talk about the very practical ways in which we show forth the excellencies of God in a way that most of us might not like, but it's in the text. First of all, Peter says, part of that undoubtedly is, verse 11, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.

If you're taking notes, you can write down honor, yes, it's going to come up in a moment, but the word purity. He says, if you want to witness for Christ and show the excellencies, you cannot become a part of what we could call the pollution of our world, the moral issues. And, of course, we think immediately of pornography and immorality and, undoubtedly, that's what he has in mind here, the desires of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Now, in war, you have two antagonists, one of whom wants to be the victor, and in this battle, there's no doubt that lust wants to control us.

It says in the book of Romans, chapter 6, verse 13, do not let these desires rule over you, but my, how they want to rule. And today, I have no doubt that I'm speaking to some of you who know exactly what the battle is like, and all of us know what the battle is like. We've all fought that battle and continue to fight it, but some of you are losing. And I'm even more concerned about those of you who have even already given up.

You've just simply succumbed to us. You're saying, I'm tired of fighting. Notice that it says that these desires wage war against the soul. And the way in which they wage the war is because of the pollution of the conscience, the defiled conscience. And that conscience keeps you from being free in Christ to be able to witness to others.

You know that. How can you share with others the excellencies of God's name if you yourself have in your mind constantly the images that you are seeing, whether it's on the computer or any other way, or if you are in an unholy relationship? You can't tell others about the excellency of God because of the fact that your own soul has been polluted by these desires. Notice that Peter is saying abstain. In other words, he must mean that there is a way in which we can fight these desires in such a way that we win.

Now I know that they didn't live in those days like we do today with the entertainment industry and technology. But even today we can abstain from those lusts even though the price oftentimes is very high. Some time ago I read about a house that was for sale and the man said, I'll sell it all to you, but I want to keep one nail in the door. The nail that was partially nailed into the door, he said, and so that I can hang whatever I want on that nail. Well, the man bought it and thought, well, I can put up with anything on that door.

Well, after it was sold, the man then took a pound of rotten meat and hung it on the nail. Isn't that the way in which it is when our souls are polluted and Peter says abstain? All that I can say to those of you who struggle is this, because this should be an entirely separate message and I have preached on these things before, is do whatever you must. Jesus said that if necessary pluck out your eye or cut off your hand. He wasn't speaking literally, of course, but he was saying do whatever you must.

You must go for help. You must make some drastic choices because if you don't, you'll not be able to show forth the excellencies of God. So purity. And then it goes on in verse 12 and talks about honor. It says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. What he's saying is, is that you have to live with integrity even when false evidence is presented against you.

This is very critical. Someday I'm going to preach an entire message just on false evidence. You are living a life of integrity, a life of glorifying God and what happens is they speak about you as evildoers. Mark my word, that happens individually, but also it's going to happen much more globally here in America as we continue to go the direction we're going. The last couple of years, eight books at least have been written to try to show that the Christians are the real problem in America.

We have no problem with jihad, no problem with Sharia law. That's nothing to fear. What is really necessary to fear are Christians who want to impose their values on society and we are becoming the enemy and false evidence of this is being presented.

But notice what he says. He said, when this happens to you individually, when they speak against you as evildoers, and really you're not, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Clearly what Peter means is as a result of your integrity and your ability to suffer well, they will come to saving faith in Christ and they'll give God the glory on the day when God visits them.

Could be visiting them in judgment or visiting them with salvation. Either way, God is saying that we have to live honorably in all aspects of conduct. So first of all, we should have purity. Second, we should have honor. And third, submission.

And now it begins to get tough. You'll notice it says, be subject to the Lord's sake for every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, to governors, sent by him to punish those who do evil and praise those who do good. For this is the will of God that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. He said, live as free. He says, fear God, but honor the emperor. Well, who was the emperor when Peter was writing? A guy who really loved the Christians, who really wanted to make sure that they had a very, a lot of freedom to proclaim the gospel. Of course not, Nero. And Nero was an egomaniac who loved to persecute the Christians and who, according to Tacitus, actually set Rome on fire.

There's false evidence. Set Rome on fire, blamed it on the Christians so that he could persecute them and kill as many as he possibly could. And here Peter is saying, fear God, honor the king, submit to those who are in authority. And I'm just going to let that hang out there for a moment and not comment on it further. Except to say that he says, submit to the government and the political authorities and those who are sent by him, his associates who rule over you. And then he talks about submission in another area. It says, verse 18, servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust.

Really, the word servants is slaves. For this is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly, for what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it and endure, this is gracious, a gracious thing in the sight of God.

Feeling uncomfortable yet? Some people who read this say that the Bible is very socially repressive because obviously it is teaching approval of slavery. So I need to comment on this. Slavery in those days was not at all what it is today when we think of slavery. Slavery in those days was not a class thing.

It was not a matter at all of a race. Slaves didn't dress differently. I think I read one time that there were 50 million slaves in the Roman Empire and slavery was really the whole fabric of society, and the slaves often were not mistreated. They could buy their way out of slavery, so you weren't necessarily a slave for life. And furthermore, also important, slaves sometimes even owned property. In fact, the distinction between the slave and the slave owner in those days was almost something like today we may think of employer and employee. We're not talking about the slavery of the 17th and 18th centuries and 19th centuries here in America. What happened in Britain and America during the slave trade was thoroughly irredeemably evil. And, of course, you know that it was Christians. It was Christians such as Wilberforce who stood against that even though he received a lot of pressure because there was a lot of money in the slave trade. And wherever you have money, you have the continuation of abuse. And so the effects of that evil, of course, oftentimes the repercussions are still evident in our country today among the African Americans but also among us thinking about the evil that was done. So we're not talking about that. When it comes to brutality, the Bible is very, very clear that God hates brutality.

It is listed as a sin in Romans chapter 1 and elsewhere, the ruthlessness of the way in which we treat people. Now, Peter doesn't stop to condemn slavery. He doesn't say, well, now what you need is an uprising. No, because this was just a part of their whole structure of society.

There was no way. What would the slaves do if they had an uprising? And so what he's saying is, be a good slave, but when you are, using the word in his context, when you are, be mindful of God. Now, that's an important phrase. You'll notice it there in the middle of verse 19. For this is a gracious thing, when mindful of God, one endures. And in a moment, we'll find out what that means, to be mindful of God. So he says, make sure that if you are punished, it's for something bad that you do, and if you are punished after doing good and you are mindful of God, he says, boy, this is very special to God. Paul says the same thing in the book of Ephesians. If your employer mistreats you and you respond properly, God watches, and it's very special to him.

Now, follow along. First of all, we're to submit to those who have authority politically. We're to submit in our workplace to those who have authority over us, and then if this isn't enough, if you still aren't uncomfortable, notice what it says in chapter 3, verse 1. After speaking about Jesus, about whom I shall speak in a moment, likewise, wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if some of them do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. So there it is. We read this today, and we say, donde esta la exceptions.

It's dangerous, isn't it, to know a few words in another language. We say, where in the world are the exceptions? I need an exception to this, because Peter's not giving me the exceptions. Pastor, tell me where the exceptions are.

Well, hear me carefully. There are exceptions. But if you hurry to the exceptions, you'll miss Peter's point that I am going to bring out from the text directly. So don't hurry to the exceptions. Yes, there are exceptions. Of course, we don't always obey the political rulers.

Peter himself, who wrote this book, said in the book of Acts, we have to obey God rather than men. There are times when we indeed, whenever we can, should seek justice in the workplace. And in America, we have those opportunities that we're not granted to other cultures.

Of course, we should always better ourselves. We should especially be willing to put ourselves out for others in terms of seeking their justice as well as our own. And yes, there are times when, within the marriage relationship, where you've heard me say many times from this pulpit, if there is abuse in the relationship, then don't walk, but run, especially if there are children, run for help. So there are exceptions.

And there may even be at times divorce might become a necessity. And so we recognize that. But if you hurry to these exceptions, you miss the point of what it is like to live for Jesus Christ and to show forth His glory and His excellencies, believe it or not. Now, your Bibles are open. Everyone has a Bible. If you don't have a Bible, you talk to one of our counselors here and they'll get you one, because you must open it to the text. You'll notice what it says here is, but if when you do good and suffer for it, this now is verse 20. If when you do good of chapter 2, if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God, for to this, are your Bibles open? How many of you have a Bible that's open? Can I see you? All right.

I won't ask how many don't. To this you have been called. What do you mean? What's the this? The this is you do good and suffer for it. To that you have been called. You say, well, I like the other calling. I like the calling out of darkness into His marvelous light. I like the calling that says that we are called to community, but this calling, we've been called to suffer well?

I don't like this. One of our staff members, when I was talking about our vision statement, Moody Church is a community called by God to live passionately for Jesus Christ, simply asked this question in a staff meeting. What does it mean to live passionately for Jesus Christ?

It's an excellent question, and in the next five to six minutes, I'm going to answer it. The bottom line is this, to live passionately for Jesus Christ means to live like Jesus lived. That's the way we live passionately for Jesus Christ. We live as He lived.

So if we can find out how He lived, we find an answer to the question. First thing that I want to point out is that the suffering that's referred to here in the text, the suffering that is referred to is not cancer, even though that also is a form of suffering that God uses. It is not health issues.

It is not even economic issues. It is a form of suffering that is even deeper and harder to accept, and that is relational suffering. It's the kind of suffering when the boss gets all the money, he has favorites, and you are being taken advantage of, and you are not being paid, and you are being mistreated, and you have a good sense of knowing that it's happening, and you endure patiently. Now, how would Jesus handle it? I'm so glad that you asked.

It's always good to ask questions. Now, what does it mean then to live like Jesus if that's the answer to what it means for Moody Church when we say we need to live passionately for Jesus? There's more to the story than I'm going to tell you today, but this is part of the story. You'll notice, first of all, that what we should do is to act as Jesus acted.

Notice what it says. You are called to this, verse 21, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example. That's the answer to the question of how do we live. That we might follow in his steps, and how did he act? He committed no sin, neither was any deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. Lesson number one, we want to live passionately for Jesus Christ when we are mistreated, and when we are sinned against, we do not turn around and sin back.

When David had spears thrown at him by Saul, David didn't take his own spear and say, Saul, watch this, and throw it back. Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, says the Lord. And that means that when we are reviled, we don't revile in return. You know that old bumper sticker, I don't get mad, I just get even? That is a sinful bumper sticker.

Get a better one than that for your car. How do we handle it? When sinned against, we do not sin back. Not insult for insult, injury for injury. You do this to me, I'll do this to you. So first of all, we act like Jesus and now it becomes even more difficult perhaps.

Number two, we also believe like Jesus. This is so critical. How do we answer the question of the need for justice? You've heard me say this before, but it needs to be said here. The woman who says, you know, my husband divorced me, went to Florida, has a good job, hasn't connected with our children, doesn't give me child support.

I have to work two jobs to bring up the kids at the same time and you're asking me to not be bitter about it, to give it over to God. Where is justice? An excellent question. We all long for justice.

It's part of our DNA, it's part of our God-likeness. Jesus longed for justice. Did he get it?

Not yet. You'll notice what Jesus did. The Bible says he kept committing himself onto him who judges righteously. Jesus said, I'm not surrendering justice. It's just that I've removed myself from the picture as the one to administrate it, I trust God to bring justice to this situation and therefore I don't need to retaliate. I don't need to pray, oh God, I pray that you might vaporize them. God, I pray that you might give him the lesson that he needs to learn, bring him into judgment quickly. Now there may be a time when we pray those kinds of prayers, but at the end of the day, what we do is we so believe in God's justice that we don't always have to administer our own. And so we're free because vengeance does belong to God and not to us.

You say, oh, this is really tough news. I know, but do you ask the question of what it means to live passionately like Jesus? And I'm simply saying it means to live like Jesus and I'm doing nothing but reading the text. There's some of you who ought to get alone with God, take an hour, take an afternoon, whatever it is, and spill out your heart and commit your bitterness and your anger and your desire for revenge to God. I've had to do that. I've had to do that. And I can tell you from experience it's not easy to do because I'm not Jesus and I suppose that you aren't either.

It may have even been difficult for him. But you see it is in that, you know, we always say, well, how do we live passionately for Jesus? I wish that there was another message in this series when I talk about witnessing for Jesus. That'll come up at some point because obviously we need to speak about Jesus too. But ultimately today I'm emphasizing the way in which we live is to be recognized that we are called to suffer relational pain. We're called to do that. Tomorrow morning it'll begin.

Even as it ended Friday evening, right? Are you ready for that? Now, what we'll do is we will act like Jesus. We will believe like Jesus and we will sacrifice like Jesus.

Notice what the text says. He himself, verse 24, bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. Now, let me say this, that Jesus died for us and that's the ultimate way for us to live like Jesus. We can't die for other people's sins, obviously. So this doesn't apply to us in every regard.

But it applies this way. Our sacrifice for others. You want to find out how do we live passionately for Jesus Christ? We are willing to be inconvenienced. We are willing to stretch ourselves to find that abused child. Rebecca's sister called to say that in her neighborhood there in Oklahoma a woman, I think she's a single mother, died of an overdose of drugs and left two or three little girls.

That just stuck in my mind for hours. Who's going to care for these little girls with their dead mother? I hope that Rebecca's sister and others who are somehow involved will become God's hands, God's feet, God's love, God's grace and show forth the excellencies of Christ no matter how much it may cost individually no matter how much of a sacrifice it is because after all we want to know what it is to live passionately for Jesus Christ and the text tells us that Jesus died for us. And so we go and we support ministries that rescue children. We support The Moody Church which helps over in India.

There are other ministries such as by the hand club for kids and it's not just children. It is others to whom we are willing to give ourselves because we say I want to live passionately for Jesus. We live with a relational pain confident that in the end God will bring justice to every situation so that throughout all of eternity we will sing just and true are thy ways thou King of saints who shall glorify thy name.

We're absolutely confident that we can live this way. Moody Church is a community called by God to live passionately for Jesus Christ beyond the walls of this church in our communities and that's why he put you in the bank and that's why he put you in a hospital and that's why you are a student today at the university that you happen to belong to. Why? Because God put you there and said right there in the midst of the challenge and the pain I want you to show forth the excellencies of God. In a moment here at The Moody Church we're going to remember our Lord's death and we're going to take the cup that reminds us of his blood and we're going to take the bread that reminds us of his body that was broken. Could you today in addition to worshiping Jesus when you do that could you pray also a prayer and say Jesus as you sacrificed for me for whom can I also be a sacrifice? The Bible says you live that way you're well pleasing to God it's what it means to live passionately for Jesus you live as he did and if you've never trusted Christ as Savior did you look at the text? He bore our sins? You say well how do I know that he bore mine? You will know that he bore yours if you in faith receive him today as Savior and say Jesus I want you to be my sin bearer and he forgives sin he cleanses us from all unrighteousness and makes us his children and then you become a part of a community that we have been talking about don't leave here unless you have come to trust Christ right where you are pray to him even as we pray here would you join me please as we prepare our hearts Father help us to understand that part of our calling is to suffer relational pain for all those today Father who are heavy who bring in their hearts as one woman explained it to me a stone of bitterness and anger and numbness today Father show them their need to so committed to you to believe that you are just and in that confidence to react like Jesus we are weak we need your help to do this but we pray that this church may be a community called by God to represent you well in every strata of society in Jesus' name, Amen On today's Moody Church Hour we heard about the last of four callings all believers have in common from 1 Peter chapter 2 we found that we are called to witness this has been the final portion of a series on living as God's community we hope this series has given you insights on the place of the church in the world and in your life it's because of the investment of many people that The Moody Church Hour is heard around the country we'd like to ask you to consider becoming an endurance partner someone who stands with us on a regular basis with your prayers and gifts for full information go to our website at moodyoffer.com and click on the endurance partner button that's moodyoffer.com or call us at 1-800-215-5001 that's 1-800-215-5001 join us next time for another Moody Church Hour with Pastor Erwin Lutzer and the Congregation of Historic Moody Church in Chicago this broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church you