The Church That Loves the City

Jul 24, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: From Proximity to Compassion: Moving Beyond Familiar Streets

We can navigate a city for years without letting its pain disrupt our routines. Streets become shortcuts, neighbors become background noise, and suffering becomes invisible. True love demands more than physical presence—it requires seeing beyond surfaces to the hunger, addiction, and grief hidden behind closed doors. Compassion isn’t automatic; it’s a choice to let others’ struggles reshape our priorities. To love a city is to ask uncomfortable questions about its unseen wounds and our role in healing them. [26:06]

“But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.”
(Luke 10:33–34, NIV)

Reflection: What specific need in your neighborhood have you grown accustomed to overlooking? How might you move from awareness to action this week?

Day 2: Seeking Welfare in Hostile Soil: Love as Active Resistance

Loving a city means planting hope where despair feels permanent. It’s easy to critique systems or resent cultural shifts, but God calls His people to dig deeper—to confront injustice, feed the hungry, and rebuild communities while resisting cynicism. This isn’t passive acceptance but holy rebellion: creating belonging amid alienation, defending dignity in dehumanizing systems, and refusing to let brokenness dictate the future. [36:12]

“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.”
(Jeremiah 29:7, NIV)

Reflection: Where do you feel most tempted to withdraw from cultural brokenness? What one act of “holy rebellion” can you take to sow hope there?

Day 3: Starfish Theology: Faithfulness in Small Acts of Rescue

We often underestimate the power of single acts—a meal shared, a porch light left on, a trash bag picked up. Like the boy saving starfish, our calling isn’t to fix everything but to faithfully help who we can, where we are. Love thrives not in grand gestures but in daily, inconvenient interruptions that remind others they’re seen. [42:38]

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
(Matthew 25:40, NIV)

Reflection: Who is the “one” in your life needing tangible love today? How can you prioritize presence over productivity to meet that need?

Day 4: Exile as Assignment: Finding Purpose in Unchosen Places

God often plants us in difficult spaces not to punish but to purpose. The Israelites’ exile became their mission field; our neighborhoods, workplaces, or hardships are no accident. What looks like disruption may be divine positioning—a call to bloom where we’re planted, even if the soil feels foreign. [47:47]

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”
(Jeremiah 29:4–5, NIV)

Reflection: What unchosen circumstance or location have you resisted? How might God be inviting you to invest there instead of waiting to leave?

Day 5: Leaving Fingerprints of Hope: Redeeming Space Through Presence

Our legacy isn’t measured in buildings but in lives touched. A church’s true impact is seen when schools, seniors, and struggling families testify to its love. Every faithful act—mentoring, advocating, praying over porches—leaves eternal fingerprints. We’re called not to admire our history but to add to it. [01:04:12]

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:14–16, NIV)

Reflection: What broken space can you commit to “light up” through consistent presence? How will you ensure your faith becomes someone else’s evidence of God?

Sermon Summary

Jeremiah 29 becomes a hard, holy word for a church learning how to love the city. The text meets wounded people in Babylon, people who did not choose that address, did not choose that grief, and did not choose the empire that had carried them away. God does not tell those exiles to withdraw, sit bitter, rehearse the old days, or wait for heaven while people are catching hell. God tells them to build houses, plant gardens, raise families, pray for the city, and seek its welfare because “in its welfare, you will find your welfare.”

The church that loves the city does more than love living in a city. Proximity does not always produce compassion. A congregation can know the streets, the traffic, the schools, the abandoned buildings, and the property values, and still be a stranger to the wounds. The church was never called merely to occupy space. The church was called to transform space, so that hope, truth, community, and love would have an address.

Love, in this word, cannot stay as religious language. Love that never touches a wound is only sentiment. Love that never costs anything may not be love at all. Real love gets involved, interrupts schedules, crosses the street, tells the truth, challenges systems, and stays after the cameras leave. The church cannot ask only how to get more members. The church must ask how children can read, how families can remain housed, how the poor can be defended, how the vulnerable can be protected, and how the city can look more like the justice, mercy, and peace of God.

Jeremiah’s word also says that exile can be assignment. Babylon thought it conquered Israel, but heaven says, “I sent you.” Human beings may move a life, but they cannot remove God’s sovereignty. A diagnosis, transfer, election, economy, or closed door cannot cancel God’s purpose. God never wastes a placement, a season, a struggle, a disappointment, a faithful servant, or a church.

Babylon can surround God’s people, but Babylon must not define them. The danger is not only living in Babylon, but letting Babylon live inside. If the world becomes hateful, cynical, cruel, deceptive, and cold, God’s people cannot become the same thing with religious language on top. The church must reflect Christ, not the culture.

The final call is simple and searching: leave the city better than it was found. Salt does not help by staying in the shaker. Light does not help by hiding under a basket. The church must not just come to church. The church must be the church.

Key Takeaways

1. Proximity is not compassion The city can be familiar without ever becoming beloved. The church can pass the same wounds every week and still never let those wounds pass through its heart. True love asks where pain lives, not just where people worship, shop, or drive. [26:50]
2. Exile can become assignment Jeremiah’s word turns Babylon from a place of defeat into a place of purpose. God does not deny the pain of displacement, but God refuses to let pain have the last word. Human hands may change an address, but they cannot cancel the assignment God has placed on a life or a church. [47:47]
3. Love must cost something Love that remains only words becomes religious noise. Real love interrupts comfort, crosses streets, tells truth, challenges systems, and keeps serving when outcomes are not guaranteed. Compassion is not control, because faithfulness itself is the outcome. [34:06]
4. Babylon must not define identity The danger is not simply that God’s people live in a hard place. The deeper danger is that bitterness, fear, cynicism, and cruelty start living inside them. Christ’s people must not become a religious version of the same world they are called to heal. [60:17]
5. Leave the city better Jeremiah does not let the exiles obsess over how long Babylon will last. The word presses a better question: what kind of people should they be while they are there? Every placement becomes holy ground when faithfulness makes that space more merciful, more just, and more alive.

## [63:44]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[25:16] - Becoming the Church
[25:43] - The Church That Loves the City
[26:06] - Address Versus Assignment
[28:27] - Worship Near People, Love Them
[29:26] - Hope Has an Address
[32:24] - What Love Looks Like Outside
[34:46] - Jeremiah Speaks to Exiles
[36:12] - Seek the Welfare of the City
[38:26] - Love Fights for the City’s Soul
[42:38] - The Starfish and the One
[47:25] - God Sent Them to Babylon
[56:50] - Do Not Let Babylon Inside
[63:44] - Leave the City Better
[67:07] - Salt, Light, and Sending

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Jeremiah 29:4-7
“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 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. 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.’” [36:12]

Matthew 5:13-16
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” [01:07:21]

1 John 3:18
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Observation questions

In Jeremiah 29:4-7, what specific things are God’s people told to do in exile, and how many of those commands are about staying engaged instead of pulling away? [36:12]
What are some concrete examples of knowing a city well on the surface while still remaining a stranger to its wounds? [26:50]
According to Matthew 5:13-16, what do salt and light actually do, and what images does Jesus use to show that they are meant to be active and visible?
What are some of the actions that mark real love, especially when love is described as more than words? [34:06]

Interpretation questions

Jeremiah tells wounded people to seek the welfare of the very place where they were wounded. Why might that command have been so difficult, and what does it reveal about the kind of witness God wants from his people? [36:29]
If God says, “I sent you” into exile, how does that change the way a hard season, unwanted place, or painful transition should be understood? [47:47]
Love sees beauty and brokenness at the same time. How does that help a church or a believer avoid two opposite errors: pretending everything is fine, or becoming cynical about everything? [38:26]
The danger is not only living in Babylon, but letting Babylon live inside. What would it look like for believers to slowly take on the spirit of the world while still using religious language? [01:00:17]

Application questions

What place in life presently feels more like exile than assignment—work, neighborhood, family, health, school, or something else? How might God be calling faithful presence there instead of quiet resentment? [55:43]
It is possible to move through a community without being moved by it. Where does pain live around this group’s daily routines, and what would it look like to stop passing by and start paying attention? [27:06]
Love that costs nothing may not be love at all. What is one practical way love could interrupt comfort this week—time, money, attention, advocacy, listening, or showing up for someone? [34:22]
Some people want compassion only when they can control the outcome. Where is there a temptation to hold back from serving because results are uncertain, messy, or slow? What would faithfulness look like anyway? [42:30]
Babylon must not define identity. What pressures most tempt believers today to become more cynical, harsh, fearful, or numb? How can Christ be reflected in those exact places instead? [01:02:36]
“Leave the city better” can begin in very small spaces. What is one space personally entrusted right now—a home, block, classroom, office, store, team, or friendship—and what would leaving it better actually look like this month? [01:03:44]
Salt does not help by staying in the shaker, and light does not help by hiding. What is one way this group could become more visible in doing good, not for attention, but so that people can truly sense the love of Christ nearby? [01:07:21]

Sermon Clips

50s

#SovereigntyOverCircumstance

“Did y'all hear me? This is one of the the deepest theological truths in Jeremiah. Human beings may move you, but they cannot remove God's sovereignty. People can change their address, but they cannot change God's assignment. An employer may trans transfer you. A diagnosis may slow you down. An election may reshape the political climate. The economy may force some difficult decisions. Life may close one door and open up another, but none of those things happen outside the providence of God. Our lives are not ruled by coincidence. They are held in the hands of a sovereign God.”

49s

#ReflectChristNotCulture

“Our calling has never been to reflect the culture. Our calling has always been to reflect Christ. The world may repay evil with evil. We overcome evil with good. The world may divide. We reconcile. The world may discard people. We restore people. The world may tell us to protect ourselves first, but Jesus tells us what? To love our neighbors as ourselves. This is what makes the church different. This is why the church still has something the world cannot manufacture. That's hope. That's grace. That's mercy. That's truth, and that's love. So before we ever change Richmond, we've gotta make sure Richmond doesn't change us.”

56s

#RedeemYourSpace

“God says, seek the welfare of the city. In other words, wherever I have planted you, leave it better than you found it. If you're a nurse, leave the hospital better. If you're in public safety, leave that area better. If you're a business owner, leave that community better. If you're a parent, leave that child better. If you're retired, leave that neighborhood better. And if you are a church, leave your city better. Because Christians don't merely occupy space. We redeem space. What if every one of us did this? What if every member of six Mount Zion live like that from this moment forward. I'm gonna make my space better regardless of whether I like it or not.”

42s

#InvestWhereYouArePlanted

“Whoo. I'm preaching today. God tells wounded people to seek the welfare of the place where they are wounded. God tells displaced people to invest in the place of their displacement. God tells people living under the empire not to become servants of the empire, but to become agents of the kingdom while living inside of it. God help me. I know it's a tough word, but God is saying, watch this. We do not get to withhold our witness simply because we don't like the world around us.”

76s

#PlantHopeInHostileSoil

“You don't get to hold back your witness because you dislike the world around. You don't get to stop serving because the culture is confused. You don't get to stop loving folk because politics aren't ugly. You don't get to stop building because leadership is corrupt. You don't get to become cynical because injustice is start is stubborn. We do not get to fold our arms and shake our heads and wait for heaven while people are catching hell. God says while you are there, seek the welfare of the city. That means plant hope in hostile soil. Plant and build community in a culture of division. You practice generosity in an economy of greed. Tell the truth in an age of deception. Create belonging in a season of alienation. Protect dignity in systems that profit from dehumanization. Live so faithfully in the middle of Babylon that Babylon has to acknowledge there is another way to be human.”

39s

#CompassionWithoutConditions

“But real ministry is messy. Yeah. People Yeah. Get clean and they relapse. Families get it together and then they struggle again. Systems resist change because change ain't easy. Some people will misunderstand your help. Yeah. Some will criticize your motives. Yeah. Some will take longer to heal than you expected. Some will receive love and still make poor decisions. And if your compassion only survives when people respond perfectly, it was never compassion in the first place.”

47s

#GoIntoTheCity

“We know how to invite people to the building, but have we learned how to carry the love of God into their lives? We want the city to come to church, but has the church gone to the city? We want people to sit in our pews, but have we sat in their spaces? We want them to hear our sermons, but have we listened to their stories? And but we have we want them to respect our ministry, but have we demonstrated that their lives matter to us beyond a seat in the pew on Sunday morning? Because the church was never called merely to occupy space. The church was called to transform space.”

58s

#SentNotExiled

“God didn't just put you here. God sent you here. God didn't just put you here. God sent you here. Before god ever told is tells Israel what to do, god reminds them where they are. Notice the text. God doesn't say the place where Nebuchadnezzar took you. God doesn't say the place where your enemies carried you. God doesn't even say the place where life fell apart. God says the city where I have sent you into exile. God help me. Did y'all hear that? Babylon thought it conquered Israel, but heaven says, I sent you. Whoo. God, that's good. The empire thought it was in control, but god says, I've been in control the whole time. Watch this. Sometimes what looks like exile to us is actually assignment from god.”

84s

#StayAndServe

“And if I can ask you something, have we become more passionate about escaping the city than we are serving the city? The city city where where we are. Hear me. I get it. Everybody wants a better neighborhood, bigger house, quieter street, shorter commute. Nothing wrong with that. I get it. But hear me. If every Christian leaves every difficult place, who stays behind to be the salt? Who stays behind to be the light? Who stays behind to strengthen the schools? Who stays behind to advocate for justice? Who stays behind to remind forgotten communities that God has not forgotten them? Sometimes we spend more time asking God to move us than asking God how to use us. Y'all not hearing me. Maybe your office is your mission field. Maybe your classroom is your mission field. Maybe your neighborhood is your mission field. Maybe your barber shop or your beauty salon or your gym or your family gathering. Stop waiting for a better assignment. Be faithful where god has already planted you.”

49s

#LoveTheCityDeeply

“There's a difference y'all between loving living in a city and loving a city. There's a difference between having an address and accepting an assignment. There's a difference between passing through a neighborhood and allowing the needs of that neighborhood to pass through your heart and your soul. You can live somewhere for years, drive the same streets, see the same people, pass the same schools and stores, notice the same abandoned buildings, hear the same sirens, watch the same folks struggle, and still never truly know the place where you live.”

58s

#LoveWithPresenceAndAction

“So the church does not love our region by ignoring its wounds. We love our city and our region by refusing to accept those wounds as permanent. We love this city when we refuse to accept that some children will always receive less. We love this city when we refuse to believe that some neighborhoods are disposable. We love this city when we reject the idea that poverty is a personal failure rather than often the result of public choices. We love this city when we defend the humanity of people others have reduced to statistics. We love this city when our prayers are matched by presence. Our preaching is matched by practice, and our worship is matched by work. And so let me bring it even closer to you. You cannot say you love the city while despising the people who live differently from you.”

40s

#DoNotAbandonYourPlace

“And Jeremiah's message to the exiles is God's message to us. Do not curse the place where I planted you. Do not abandon the place where I have sent you. Do not retreat into religious safety while the city struggles outside your doors. Seek his welfare. Pray for his peace. Work for his healing. Stand for his justice. Invest in his children. Strengthen his family. Confront what destroys life. Cultivate what allows life to flourish because when the city flourishes, we flourish.”

50s

#MissionBeyondBuildings

“God did not place congregations and communities to become religious islands surrounded by human suffering. God planted the church in the middle of the city so that whatever despair had taken root, hope would have an address. Wherever injustice has settled in, truth would have an address. Wherever loneliness had never had become normal, community would have an address. Wherever people had been made to feel invisible, love would have an address. And for 6 Mount Zion, that address is 14 West Duval Street. But hear me carefully, that is where our buildings stand. It is not where our mission stops.”

56s

#LoveMeasuredByImpact

“Not do we say we love it, not do we pray generally for the city, not do we put community in our mission statement. Does Richmond have evidence that we, the six Mount Zion Baptist Church, love it? Can the schools testify? Can the forgotten testify? Can the poor testify? Can this neighborhood that is now filled with people that don't look like us testify? Can the people who may never join this church today still testify that that brick church that sits on the edge of a highway made our lives better? Because when god places the church in the city, God is not merely giving the church a location. God is giving the church a responsibility.”

57s

#LoveFightsForTheCity

“So pastor, why why that sermon title today? Because listen, this is what it means to love a city. Loving the city does not mean pretending everything in the city is right. Now when I say city, I mean region because I know some of y'all come from Hanover and Chesterfield and Rico and Goose and and Powertahan and all the places that you come from. So when I say loving the city, I mean loving the community where you are. And it does not mean pretending that everything is right there. Love is not blindness. Love does see clearly. Love sees the beauty, but love also sees the brokenness. Love celebrates what is good, but love also confronts what is evil. Love does not flatter a city. Love fights for its soul. The prophet does not stand outside the city throwing stones. The prophet stands inside the city crying out for justice.”

60s

#MoveThroughBeMovedByCity

“Stay with me. Babylon had already changed their address. Yes, Babylon already taken their homes. Yes. Babylon had already changed their surroundings. Yes, but god was determined that Babylon would not change their identity. That's why Jeremiah writes this letter because there's a difference between living in Babylon and becoming Babylon. Think about what god is asking. Israel is living under empire that does not worship their god. An empire built on power. An empire that believes might makes right. An empire that rewards greed and normalizes injustice. An empire that expects people to conform. Yet, nowhere does god say, become like Babylon so you can survive. Nowhere does god say, what we are living in now is right. I don't care whether they do it or not. It ain't right.”

38s

#PurposeInTheProcess

“``So stop calling it an inconvenience when God calls you to an assignment. Stop calling it bad luck when God calls it to preparation. Stop calling it punishment when God calls it purpose. Stop asking God, why am I here? Start asking God, what do you want me to do while I'm here? Because God has never wasted a placement, never wasted a season, never wasted a struggle, never wasted a disappointment, never wasted a faithful servant, never wasted a church.”

61s

#LiveWithoutBecomingBabylon

“That's what it means to live in Babylon without letting Babylon live in you. That's how we gotta live, y'all. We can't let bitterness become our testimony. We can't let disappointment steal our compassion. We can't let anger rob us of our joy. You can't let fear become louder than your faith. You can't let darkness convince you to stop shining because if Babylon can make the church bitter, my god, Babylon doesn't have to defeat the church. If Babylon can make the people of the church selfish, Babylon doesn't have to silence the church. If Babylon can make the people of the church hopeless, Babylon doesn't have to destroy the the church. The enemy doesn't always win by attacking the church from the outside. Sometime the enemy wins when the church begins thinking like the world on the inside.”

45s

#FaithfulNotFamous

“I told y'all this last week. This this city don't need another famous church. It needs a faithful church. Don't need another impressive building. It needs believers who will walk these streets carrying hope. They need more religious performances. It needs disciples who know how to love people who can never repay them. The city is asking, is there anybody who still believes every life has dignity? And the church ought to answer, we do. The city is asking, is there anybody willing to stand in the gap for little old me? The church ought to answer, we are because that's who we've always been.”

41s

#LoveThatShowsUp

“What I've learned is that real love gets involved. Real love interrupts his schedule. Real love will cross the street on you. Real love will tell the truth. Real love will challenge systems. Real love stays after the cameras leave or works when the cameras ain't on. Real love does not ask whether somebody deserves help. Real love acts what does faithfulness require of me. And this is where Jeremiah 29 becomes so powerful because the people receiving this word are not living in a place they chose. I told you last week, they are exiles.”

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The Church That Loves the City

Devotional

Day 1: From Proximity to Compassion: Moving Beyond Familiar Streets

Day 2: Seeking Welfare in Hostile Soil: Love as Active Resistance

Day 3: Starfish Theology: Faithfulness in Small Acts of Rescue

Day 4: Exile as Assignment: Finding Purpose in Unchosen Places

Day 5: Leaving Fingerprints of Hope: Redeeming Space Through Presence

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

The Church That Loves the City

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