2. Seek the Welfare of the City Jeremiah 29:1-7

3. Jeremiah 29:6-7 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the L ORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

4. Options Before Exiles 1.Assimilation – Reflect the City 2.Tribalism – Resist the City 3.God’s Desire – Love the City How do you love the city?

5. How should the Church “love” Culture? Mainline Liberal (assimilation)… –Lose doctrinal distinctives which conflict with culture. –Care for cities’ inhabitants. Conservative Evangelical (tribalism) –Maintain doctrinal distinctives. –Create Christian Ghetto (Save people from the City) Are there only two options?

6. Matthew 5:11-14 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

7. Jeremiah 29:7 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the L ORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

8. How can we seek the Shalom of the City? Serve the City… Pray for the City… –Prayer Walk 4/9, 6:30 am (Check Web for details) –Pray for the inhabitants of the City. –Pray for our hearts towards the City. How can anyone love “Babylon”?

9. Hosea 3:1-5 1 And the L ORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the L ORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3 And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.”

10. “Christians busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven… They marry and have children but do not kill unwanted babies. They share their table with all, but not their bed with all. They love everyone, but are persecuted by all. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are short of everything and yet have plenty of all things.” -1 st century Christian writer