Our Calling is our Culture | 21 June 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Flying with Open Hands: Releasing Control in Unexpected Places

When life feels like an unexpected detour – a job transfer, health crisis, or unplanned season – God’s people are called to release their grip on "how things should be." The Babylonian exiles were told to stop clinging to temporary survival mode and instead build homes in foreign soil. True rest comes not from controlling outcomes but trusting the One who carries us. Where are you white-knuckling your plans instead of surrendering to His placement? [47:10]

“Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters… Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7, NIV)

Reflection: What circumstance feels like a “detour” in your life right now? How might God be inviting you to release control and invest where He’s planted you?

Day 2: Planted by the Gardener: Trusting God’s Placement in Barren Soil

Samuel Rutherford’s metaphor of God as the master gardener reminds us: we don’t choose our soil. Exiles in Babylon were called to grow where they were transplanted, not resent the dirt. Spiritual growth happens when we stop comparing our “plot” to others and sink roots into His presence. What bitter roots of resistance need pulling so you can flourish in this season? [54:51]

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2, NIV)

Reflection: Where have you been resisting “the soil” of your current relationships, work, or community? How might God be pruning you to bear fruit here?

Day 3: Building with Eternal Bricks: Investing Where God Plants You

Exiles build temporary shelters; kingdom people lay eternal foundations. God told His people to construct homes in Babylon – not just physical houses, but legacies of faithfulness. Every act of love, integrity, and prayer in our workplaces and neighborhoods becomes a brick in God’s unseen city. What daily choices feel mundane but actually shape eternity? [56:22]

“By faith Abraham… made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country… For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:8-10, NIV)

Reflection: What ordinary task or relationship this week can you approach as an act of eternal significance?

Day 4: Seeds in Unlikely Soil: Embracing Small Acts of Faith

An apple seed seems insignificant until it becomes an orchard. The exiles were called to plant gardens in hostile territory, trusting future harvests. Justine’s vision of seeds reminds us: our small acts of kindness, truth-speaking, and prayer are kingdom seeds. What feels too small to matter might feed generations. [58:15]

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants.” (Matthew 13:31-32, NIV)

Reflection: What “small seed” have you hesitated to plant due to doubt? How will you intentionally sow it this week?

Day 5: Praying for Babylon: Loving the City That Isn’t Home

Praying for those who oppress us transforms exiles into intercessors. God commanded the displaced Israelites to seek Babylon’s peace – not through agreement with evil, but through radical love that changes spiritual climates. Our cities need less criticism and more knees on floors. [01:01:28]

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44-45, NIV)

Reflection: Who or what system in your city feels like an “enemy”? How can you pray blessing over them this week?

Sermon Summary

Jesus opens the morning by inviting the weary to come and rest. His call lands on fathers: take my yoke, learn from me, and lead from His ease rather than from pressure or proving. His grace carries the weight that fatherhood cannot. The Spirit then strengthens the inner person, so that Christ dwells by faith and fathers root themselves in love that is wider, longer, higher, and deeper than knowledge. Leadership at home starts here, not in hustle but in abiding.

God then fixes placement. Nothing about where a person lives or works is random. Jeremiah speaks to exiles who feel abandoned, and God says the opposite: I carried you. Babylon is not a mistake, and exile is not an excuse to hide. The command is shockingly ordinary and deeply missional: build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce, marry, have sons and daughters, and increase, not decrease. Seek the peace and prosperity of the city, and pray for it, because if it prospers, so will those who serve it. God refuses bunker mentality and calls for presence, patience, and public blessing.

The picture shifts from camping to constructing. Suitcase living is replaced by long-term investment: marriages to nurture, friendships to deepen, work to do well, and seeds to sow. A single seed carries orchard potential. Apple logic becomes kingdom logic: small acts planted in faith multiply beyond sight. Samuel Rutherford’s image bears it out: the Master Gardener plants His people in a particular plot until He Himself transplants them. Faithfulness looks like staying where He planted and growing there.

Jesus names the posture for such a city: salt that keeps its taste and light that does not hide. Presence is not loudness but brightness. It is the kind of public goodness that makes others give glory to the Father. Bags of seed by the door and a combine harvester in the field picture a church where everyone sows and all reap together. The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. The Lord of the harvest is ready to send.

So the call is simple and searching: what will be done with the seed already in hand? Build His city, not a private tower. Pray for the city. Lead families toward eternity with ordinary, steady practices like praying at the table, blessing children, and trusting Jesus to do more with the seed than anyone can see.

Key Takeaways

1. Jesus gives fathers a restful yoke [36:18] Jesus does not add to the load, He trades it. His invitation removes the world’s yokes and replaces them with His easy one, where learning happens at His pace. Fathering from rest is not passivity but Spirit-empowered steadiness. Leadership that abides in Christ becomes durable, gentle, and fruitful over time. [36:18]
2. God carried His people on purpose [50:15] Exile was not abandonment but escort. When God says “I carried you,” placement becomes providence and hardship becomes holy ground. Seeing life as carried reframes complaint into calling and fear into prayer. The city stops being an accident and starts being an assignment. [50:15]
3. Build, plant, and increase where planted [50:30] Construction, cultivation, and multiplication are acts of trust. Long-term investment resists suitcase living and signals faith that God will meet tomorrow’s needs. Planting small and steady makes room for God’s multiplication, the kind that turns a seed into an orchard. Increase in Babylon confesses that God’s future is stronger than today’s fog. [50:30]
4. Pray for your city’s prosperity [01:01:44] Interceding for a place that feels hostile is a radical form of love. Praying shalom over streets, schools, businesses, and leaders bends the heart outward and invites heaven into ordinary life. As the city flourishes, the people of God also find space to serve, to witness, and to thrive. [61:44]
5. Live salty and bright in public [01:02:38] Salt heals and preserves only when it touches what is decaying. Light helps only when it is set where others can see. Public goodness is not performance, it is presence that points beyond itself to the Father. Ordinary works done in Christ’s name become signposts in a weary world. [62:38]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[35:58] - Father’s Day greeting
[36:18] - Come to me and rest
[39:35] - Ephesians prayer over dads
[41:45] - Don’t move on too quickly
[44:13] - Bold airline story about zeal
[47:10] - Exile backdrop to Jeremiah 29
[50:00] - What God actually says in exile
[50:30] - Build houses and settle down
[51:21] - Increase, do not decrease
[60:46] - Simple family discipleship practices
[61:44] - Pray for your city’s prosperity
[62:38] - Salt and light in public
[63:57] - Bags of seed and harvester
[65:27] - Harvest is plentiful, ask and go
[66:10] - Respond to Jesus and next steps
[69:03] - Baptism invitation and close

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Jeremiah 29:4-7 (ESV)
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 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. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Matthew 5:13-16 (ESV)
“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. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Observation questions

What specific instructions does God give to the exiles in Babylon through Jeremiah 29:4-7?
How does Jesus describe the role of believers as "salt" and "light" in Matthew 5:13-16?
What metaphor does Samuel Rutherford use to describe God’s placement of His people, and what does it emphasize? [54:51]
What practical actions does the sermon highlight as ways to invest long-term in where God has placed us? [56:47]

Interpretation questions

Why do you think God commanded the exiles to build, plant, and seek the prosperity of Babylon—a place that felt hostile to them?
What does it mean for salt to “lose its taste” in modern life? How might this happen in our daily choices or priorities?
The sermon mentions “suitcase living” versus “long-term investment.” How does settling down and building reflect trust in God’s providence? [56:22]
How does praying for a city’s prosperity, even when it feels uncomfortable, align with Jesus’ call to love our neighbors?

Application questions

What “yoke” (pressure or expectation) have you been carrying that Jesus is inviting you to exchange for His rest? How can you practically lean into His grace this week? [36:18]
Where has God planted you right now (neighborhood, workplace, family)? What is one intentional step you can take to “build” or “plant” there instead of living like a temporary resident? [50:30]
Identify a “small seed” (ordinary act of faith) you can sow this week—like a conversation, prayer, or act of kindness. How might God multiply it beyond what you can see? [59:00]
What specific area of your city (school, business, leader) can you begin praying for regularly, even if it feels challenging? [01:01:44]
How can you be “salt and light” in a public space this week (e.g., work meetings, social media, community interactions) without performative effort? [01:02:38]
What ordinary family practice (praying at meals, blessing children) could you start or deepen to root your home in Christ’s love? [01:00:46]

Sermon Clips

38s

#PrayForOurKids

“a pressure and a challenge on us as parents to think, well, what is my kid gonna do when they leave school? Where they gonna spend the next three or four years? Where they gonna study for the next three or four years? But actually, a bigger question is is where are they going to spend eternity? Where are they gonna spend eternity? We gotta pray for our kids. We gotta pray for our family for an encounter with the living god. So train up a child in the way he should go, the bible says, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

45s

#SeedToMultiply

“But you plant one of those seeds and that seed grows into a tree. And that tree bears many apples, which bears many apple seeds. And it's just a supernatural, all the, this miraculous multiplication that happens, and we don't know what is, what is a seed that God is asking you to plant? One seed. And who knows what's going to happen with that seed? Who knows what God can do with that one little seed that he's asking you to plant? Then God speaks about family again. Increase multiplication. He says, Mary, have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage. That they too may have sons and daughters increase in number.”

38s

#BeSaltBeLight

“Increase in number. I love that. In a place of Babylon, of pain, doubting, wrestling, hardships. God says increase. Come on. Increase. Get into the city. Get into homes. Get into workplaces. Go where I want you to go. Be the salt. Be the light. Get into people's homes. Get into society. Increase in number. I mean, from the beginning of time, God says that. Go forth and multiply. You carry my presence. You carry the spirit of God upon you. Go with me. Says increase in number. Do not decrease.”

38s

#PlacedOnPurpose

“And we might think, well, I just applied for that job and I happened to be here. Or I came for a family emergency and now I'm I'm living here. Or I was just passing through Mpanguinea. I didn't even know it existed. But I was just passing through, and I happened to stop here. And then and now I'm I'm working here, and I'm living here. You gotta believe that that is not by chance. That God the Bible says clearly that God has determined the times and the places that we should live. Why? So that perhaps people would reach out to him. Because of what he's doing in you and what he wants to do through you.”

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Our Calling is our Culture | 21 June 2026 | 8am