1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:04,280 Hey, I just want to give a quick testimony that as we were 2 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,480 singing those songs, as we were worshipping, something came 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:10,400 across my mind, something that is just something that's been on 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,320 my heart. And and so I just, you know, 5 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,640 right over there, sitting right there or standing right there 6 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:18,800 decided I'm, I'm just going to go to God with it. 7 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:20,920 And so I started praying about it. 8 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,320 And within a couple minutes, I mean, the heavens didn't open 9 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:25,880 up. There wasn't lightning. 10 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:28,480 You would have seen that. You would have noticed that, but 11 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:34,640 God just gave me a real clear, just a nudge to say I got it. 12 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,480 And so I just wanted to tell you, just before we even get 13 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:40,720 into God's Word, I want to tell you that God is good and He's 14 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:42,360 faithful and He's always working. 15 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,520 And those songs that we sing, I trust the Lord. 16 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:47,920 I sought the Lord and he heard any answer. 17 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,240 That's my story today. It's always been my story. 18 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,320 God is faithful and He's good. And so I'm thankful that we get 19 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,040 to worship Him together. Today we're starting a new 20 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,560 series, the Love Triangle. Before we do that, have any of 21 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:07,160 you driven on 75 S or, yeah, 75 S and then got on 275 W going 22 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,960 out towards Indiana? And if you go and you pass 747 23 00:01:11,960 --> 00:01:15,880 and then you pass Route 4, and then you get to the next exit 24 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:20,160 and there's this huge gaping hole on the right side where 25 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:23,120 there used to be something. You know what I'm talking about, 26 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,920 talking about Forest Fair Mall, huge mall that for years was a 27 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,560 big part of Cincinnati and it's it's gone now. 28 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 It's just a big empty area. The world's changing a little 29 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,920 bit, isn't it? I think about like tri-county 30 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:42,040 Mall there. I mean, a lot of the places that 31 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:47,000 growing up we used to hang out or spend our time have gone away 32 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:51,560 and it seems like just things are always changing, whether 33 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:53,800 it's bowling alley. I just drove by the bowling 34 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,080 alley here in Mason the other day and it's got other things. 35 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:58,400 I, I don't know if it's still bowling alley or not, but it had 36 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,320 another company sign and all this stuff on and I just 37 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:02,840 thought, man, is that one going too? 38 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,640 And growing up it seemed like we spent our times at malls and 39 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,560 putt putt places and bowling alleys and skating rinks. 40 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:12,240 And those are becoming harder and harder to find. 41 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,720 In 1995 a movie came out. I'm telling you how old I am. 42 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,280 If you want to know exactly how old I am, it was the year before 43 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,760 I went to high school. 1995, a movie came out and I was called 44 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:26,320 The Net. How many of you remember the 45 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,960 movie The Net? OK Sandra Bullock. 46 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:30,840 Yes, Sandra Bullock was the star of it. 47 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,560 And, and at the time the movie seemed pretty far fetched. 48 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,600 See, Sandra Bullock's character in the Net was a person that 49 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:42,120 stayed at home. She did all her work, all her 50 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,280 shopping, everything at home. She never left the house. 51 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,400 She didn't have interaction with hardly anybody else. 52 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,440 She just stayed at home and her whole life was contained there. 53 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,920 And in 1995, we thought that's insane. 54 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:02,160 No way. And in 2026, here we are. 55 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:08,920 What used to seem far fetched, what used to seem no way is a 56 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:10,480 reality for a lot of people today. 57 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:14,320 We order our food online, we shop online. 58 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:16,880 We've a lot of people get their groceries online. 59 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,120 We meet people online. We communicate with the people 60 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:25,800 we know online. Some of you today are going to 61 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:29,200 church online. That's a lot of people go to 62 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:30,680 church online. That's a thing. 63 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,720 And listen, I'm glad you chose to join us, but it just seems 64 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,760 like what was far fetched in 1995. 65 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:40,520 It's completely plausible today that someone could just live 66 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:45,040 their life contained without ever really interacting with a 67 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,600 lot of other people. And so our culture has changed. 68 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,680 In fact, in the church, I thought about this growing up. 69 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,080 I was a pastor's kid. We had Sunday morning, Sunday 70 00:03:54,080 --> 00:04:00,440 night, Wednesday night, and after service we stayed for at 71 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,200 least an hour every Sunday as the pastor's kid, it seemed like 72 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,800 2 hours. We stayed in the sanctuary and 73 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:07,240 talked. We went out in the parking lot 74 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,640 and talked. We hung out in the common areas 75 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,480 and talked. And now it's like, no offense 76 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,120 guys, but it's like we're cockroaches that when the light 77 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,440 comes on and service ends, we all go boom and we're gone. 78 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:21,880 You're not cockroaches, you're good people. 79 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:26,560 Forgive me and and listen, it's just things have changed. 80 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,960 We're busy, right? I say all this and my son has a 81 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,880 1230 basketball game downtown and so is when service is over, 82 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:35,880 boom, I'm out. I got to go. 83 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,240 But culture has changed a lot. Well, we're in a new series, the 84 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:41,840 Love Triangle. And, and here's what I want you 85 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:46,120 to understand that we are created for relationship. 86 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,880 We are created to be in relationship with God, our 87 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,680 creator, and we are created to be in relationship with each 88 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,720 other. Life that God has for us 89 00:04:56,720 --> 00:05:00,720 involves relationships. And so the love triangle, I want 90 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,200 you to picture this. If you're on one corner and then 91 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:06,920 others are on the other, but then God is at the top of the 92 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,200 triangle. The closer you go, you grow to 93 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,040 God. Guess what, the closer you're 94 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:14,160 going to get to other people. That's the idea. 95 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,760 First John is, is the book we're in and 1st John is actually 96 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:19,880 amongst all the books of the Bible. 97 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:27,160 It has the highest usage of the word love of any book. 46 times 98 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:32,520 in First John, in five chapters. 46 times is love mentioned. 99 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,640 Now it's mentioned more in Psalms, but it's a lot bigger 100 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:38,280 book. It's less than one time per 101 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:42,920 chapter in Psalms, but but in First John 46 times in five 102 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:47,040 chapters. We were created for 103 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,400 relationships and to love each other. 104 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:53,480 In fact, when when someone asked Jesus, what's the greatest 105 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,520 commandment, what did he say? He said, go to church on Sundays 106 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,800 and don't cuss, right? No, he said, he said, love the 107 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:03,040 Lord your God with all your heart. 108 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,520 So mind and strength. And then the second one is just 109 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,160 like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. 110 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:13,920 Relational commandments, love God, love others. 111 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:16,520 So we're in first John chapter 1 today. 112 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:18,320 Will you stand with me and honor God's word? 113 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,720 And we stand because we believe that God wants to speak to us 114 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:27,400 today through his word. Even though this was written a 115 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,520 long time ago by John, we believe that that even in his 116 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,640 writing, God was inspiring John and that God not just wanted to 117 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,280 speak to the people of that day, but God wants to speak to us 118 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:40,600 today. And so we stand and honour God's 119 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:42,120 word. We stand in a position to 120 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:45,360 receive God's word. And we sang earlier that 121 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:47,920 everything I need, my father has it. 122 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:52,360 And my prayer is that whatever you need today, that God will 123 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:56,440 speak to you and give it to you. Whatever you need, God has it 124 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,040 today. Let's hear His Word. 125 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:01,120 And my prayer is that He will speak through His Word. 126 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:03,680 First. John chapter 1 says that which 127 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,200 was from the beginning, which we've heard, which we've seen 128 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,240 with our eyes, which we've looked at and our hands have 129 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,640 touched, this we proclaim concerning the word of life. 130 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,600 The life appeared. We've seen it and we testify to 131 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:22,520 it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the 132 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,440 Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have 133 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,640 seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. 134 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,080 And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus 135 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:39,000 Christ. We write this to make our joy 136 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,440 complete. This is the message we have 137 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:43,920 heard from Him and declare to you. 138 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:48,200 God is light. In Him there is no darkness at 139 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,720 all. If we claim to have fellowship 140 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:54,360 with Him and yet we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not 141 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:58,240 live out the truth. But if we walk in the light as 142 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,040 He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. 143 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:07,360 And the blood of Jesus His Son purifies us from all sin. 144 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:11,800 Praise the Lord, have a seat. Three parts of this that we're 145 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,360 going to look at today. Three parts. 146 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:19,160 The 1st is this the source of life, the source of life, say 147 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,520 the source, the source of life. The second is the joy of life, 148 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:26,320 say joy. Do you have joy today? 149 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,000 Good, the source of life, the joy of life. 150 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,840 And, and the third is the path, say the path, the path to life 151 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:37,320 and to joy. So that's the three things we're 152 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:39,120 going to see in this text. The 1st is going to be the 153 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:43,200 shortest of the three and it's the source of life. 154 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:46,840 John says that which was from the beginning, which we've 155 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:51,840 heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we've looked at in 156 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:56,560 our hands, have touched this. We proclaim concerning the word 157 00:08:56,560 --> 00:08:59,040 of life. The life appeared. 158 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:04,000 We've seen it, identify to it, and we proclaim to you the 159 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,920 eternal life which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 160 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:12,640 What is John talking about here? He's talking about Jesus. 161 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,520 Jesus, the life, the way, the truth and the life. 162 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:18,800 Jesus Christ. This is written by John. 163 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,040 Some people dispute that. It doesn't say it's written by 164 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,320 John, but it it's given his name. 165 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:29,320 And this is obviously written by an eyewitness, somebody that it 166 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:33,040 says here we, we've seen him with our own eyes, we've looked 167 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:34,800 at him, we our hands have touched him. 168 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:37,800 We proclaim the word of life. The life appeared. 169 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:39,800 We've seen it and we testify to it. 170 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,720 So John, clearly the person that wrote this was an eyewitness of 171 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:46,800 Jesus. In addition to that, we have 172 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:51,160 John's gospel, which actually uses a lot of the same exact 173 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,320 phrasing. And so we we understand that 174 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:58,960 John wrote this and he's writing to proclaim a message. 175 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,560 You know what that message is? It's Jesus. 176 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:09,040 The message that John wants to proclaim is Jesus, the life, 177 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:13,120 eternal life. There's a lot of different 178 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:17,360 messages we hear in our world today, to be honest, there, 179 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:20,320 there's some different messages you can hear in churches today. 180 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:23,360 Some of them are the power of you. 181 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:27,880 You know, if you just, if you figure it out, if you become the 182 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,880 best version of yourself, then you can have life and you can 183 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,120 have it to the fullest. And it's all about you and you 184 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,360 figuring it out. And guys, that's a false 185 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:40,000 message. What about the, the message out? 186 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,680 One of the things I see a lot is the experience. 187 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,080 You know, come and get the experience and, and it's this 188 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:49,440 idea that, that, that it's all about experience. 189 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,000 And the third is, is something we see quite a bit. 190 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:57,400 It's, it's the works and prosperity that if you will do 191 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:01,120 certain things, if you will follow this certain plan, then 192 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:03,880 you will have life. And so these messages are all 193 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:05,360 different things. There's lots of different 194 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:07,800 messages. But but John says the message 195 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:13,040 that we proclaim, the message that we preach is Jesus, the one 196 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:19,520 God who came in the flesh, the Son Jesus that we've seen, that 197 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:25,680 we've heard, that we've touched. He is the way, the truth and the 198 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:29,880 life. This is significant guys, John 199 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:35,600 and the the disciples. John spent time with Jesus and 200 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,400 now here he is probably about 50 years later. 201 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:42,440 He's, he's an old man now and he's writing and he's saying the 202 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:45,320 message that I want to get to you, the thing I want to 203 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:49,280 proclaim to you is Jesus. He's life. 204 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:55,160 He's everything. I love the song we just sang. 205 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:56,760 I sought the Lord and he heard the answer. 206 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,760 That's why I trust him. It's a proclamation that he's 207 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:03,960 good, that he's faithful. And that's John saying it's all 208 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:08,160 about Jesus. Jesus is the source of life and 209 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:10,720 Jesus is the source of eternal life. 210 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:14,040 Listen to me. If you want to have life today 211 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,680 and life the way that you were created to have it, there's one 212 00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:23,040 way, It's through Jesus. If you want to have eternal life 213 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:25,920 today, if you, you know it's not a fountain of youth that's 214 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,000 buried in South America or Florida or any of those places. 215 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:33,560 If you want to have eternal life, there's one way and it's 216 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:37,520 through Jesus. You can have some existence. 217 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:41,480 You can have some sort of life, but the life you were created 218 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,200 for, life to the fullest only comes through Jesus Christ. 219 00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:50,360 Eternal life only comes through Jesus Christ, and so the message 220 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:57,640 that John proclaims is Jesus, the source, say source is Jesus. 221 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:03,960 All right, The second point, the joy, say the joy, all right. 222 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,200 So the source is Jesus, the joy of life. 223 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,080 Here it is. We proclaim verse 3 to you what 224 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:15,360 we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship 225 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:20,200 with us and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son 226 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:24,760 Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy 227 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:28,680 complete. So the source John says is 228 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:30,520 Jesus. He's the way, the truth and the 229 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,640 life. He is the way to life and 230 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:34,720 eternal life. But then he goes on and he says, 231 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:40,640 we proclaim this to you so that you can have fellowship with us 232 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:45,040 and our fellowship exist with God and with his Son Jesus. 233 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:49,720 Why do we proclaim the gospel? Because it's not just for me, 234 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:54,760 it's for all of us. There's fellowship and following 235 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,760 Jesus this term. Fellowship. 236 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:00,240 I know it's a churchy term. They don't use it a lot outside 237 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,960 of the church, but but fellowship is, is a, is a key 238 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:06,120 concept in chapter one of first John. 239 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,720 So the the word love is used 46 times. 240 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:10,600 We're going to be talking more about that in the next couple 241 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:12,840 weeks. But the word fellowship is used 242 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:16,520 four times and they all happen in the 1st chapter here. 243 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:20,440 And the word fellowship refers, it's the word Koinonia. 244 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:25,640 And that let me get that slide. Koinonia that this is from 245 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,360 Strong's Concordance. Koinonia expresses active 246 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:35,840 participation in a common life. At at its heart are the ideas of 247 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:41,240 sharing, of partnership, of communion, of mutual 248 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,840 contribution. The term gathers spiritual, 249 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:47,840 relational and material dimensions and to a single 250 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:52,480 reality, the life believers hold in common with God through 251 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,440 Christ and with one another in the Spirit. 252 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:01,400 So, so Jesus is the source of life, and the source brings us. 253 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:06,800 We proclaim the message so that we can have fellowship with each 254 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:11,160 other and with God and Jesus Christ. 255 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:16,160 Fellowship, say fellowship. We have fellowship halls in the 256 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:18,760 church. We we used to have fellowship 257 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,000 activities. We don't say that word as much, 258 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,400 but fellowship is a big part of what God has for you. 259 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:29,720 We proclaim the gospel so that you can share in the life and 260 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:34,360 the eternal life that Jesus has. John wants others to take part 261 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:36,560 in this. He he says, I experienced 262 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:38,880 something amazing. The source of life and eternal 263 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:41,600 life is Jesus Christ. And he came and he walked this 264 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:43,440 earth and I saw him and I touched him. 265 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:48,200 And I want to share it with you so that we can all be 1 266 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:50,320 together. We can have fellowship. 267 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,200 You like to share things with other people, don't you? 268 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,720 When you experience something really cool, you want to share 269 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,000 it, don't you? How many of you have seen a 270 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,960 really good movie? And probably one of your first 271 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,760 moves was to go tell someone else how awesome that movie was, 272 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:06,520 right? Are you like me? 273 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,360 Do you like showing movies that are awesome to other people? 274 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:12,320 Like you want people? In fact, it drives me crazy when 275 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:13,560 I'm like, hey, this is a great movie. 276 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,920 And we sit down to watch it, and then the person doesn't pay any 277 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:18,360 attention and I'm like, you're missing it. 278 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,360 It's a great movie. Come on, Brad. 279 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:25,840 Poland. Oh my word, that dude just talks 280 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,640 and laughs and I'm like, Brad, pay attention to the movie. 281 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:31,560 When we see a good movie, we want to share it. 282 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:36,000 When you have a good meal or go to a new restaurant, you want to 283 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:37,600 share it, don't you? Not your meal. 284 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:41,560 You don't want to share your meal, honey, get your own meal. 285 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,320 But when you have a good meal or you have you go to a good 286 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:47,360 restaurant, you want to share it with other people and you say, 287 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:49,320 hey, you need to check out this place. 288 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,040 It's so good. Oh, man, you need to have this 289 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:53,240 on the menu. I trust me. 290 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:57,800 It's the best. We we like to share food. 291 00:16:57,800 --> 00:16:59,320 What what about places you've ever been to? 292 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,480 Somewhere really amazing? A few years ago, we went to 293 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:05,359 Squamish, which is in British Columbia. 294 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,319 It's above Seattle. And we had no clue what we were 295 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:11,280 going to, but we got there and it was the most amazing place. 296 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:13,960 And since then we've thought, man, we want to, we want to take 297 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:15,560 other people there and we haven't. 298 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,079 But it was such a cool place. One of the highlights of the 299 00:17:20,079 --> 00:17:23,839 last few years for me was that when I was in high school, I got 300 00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:27,440 the opportunity to go to Kenya and I went to African Nazarene 301 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:29,400 University. And it was so cool A couple 302 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:33,160 years ago when I got to take my son Sam, who's up here singing, 303 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:36,800 I got to take him back to African Nazarene University and 304 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:38,360 show him like, this is the place. 305 00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:41,360 That's the basketball court that I worked on, and that's where we 306 00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:43,880 stayed. And look, here's such a cool 307 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:47,000 thing to share. We like to share places right in 308 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,000 Estes Park, Co. It's in the mountains of 309 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,040 Colorado. There's a place the YMCA 310 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,160 campground. How many of you are excited 311 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,360 about the idea of a YMCA campground? 312 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:01,080 You should be Estes Park YMCA campground is amazing. 313 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,680 It's up in the mountains and there are elk everywhere and 314 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,120 it's just beautiful. And if you go past it, if you go 315 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:10,520 up the hill and you go off the property, see, we had a another 316 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,320 pastor that a couple nights or the night before we got there, 317 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,760 he had gone on up off the property and driven up the hill 318 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,240 and he got to the very top and he said, guys, you got to come 319 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:21,720 with me. It's amazing. 320 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,640 And so the next day he drove us up the hill and we got to the 321 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,680 very top of the mountain and there was this amphitheater, 322 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:31,520 that theater that was looking out over the mountains. 323 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:33,920 Incredible. I went back once or twice before 324 00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,280 I left, I went back and just sat there and worshipped. 325 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,680 What an incredible experience. Guys, if you're ever with me in 326 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,360 Estes Park, we're going up to the amphitheater. 327 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,160 We like to share things that are awesome. 328 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:47,560 Just the other day, I'm sitting there with some friends and, and 329 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:50,040 my friend Jayden Bird walked in. He was one of our interns 330 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:52,200 several years ago. And I said, oh, you guys got to 331 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,720 meet Jayden. He's the best and sure enough, 332 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:56,720 within a couple minutes, we're all laughing and having a good 333 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,200 time. We want to share things with 334 00:18:58,200 --> 00:18:59,840 each other, right? That's what John's doing. 335 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:03,920 He's saying, listen, I experienced Jesus, the life, the 336 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,560 eternal life. He's the message I proclaim to 337 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:08,120 you. I want to share him with you 338 00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:10,760 because we need to have fellowship together. 339 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,960 We need to share this together, guys, there's nothing. 340 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:20,200 Good meals, cool places, good movies, friends, there's nothing 341 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,920 that you have that's more important to share than Jesus 342 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,880 Christ. He's the way, the truth, and the 343 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,920 life. He's the only thing that can 344 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:36,280 give us life. And so following Jesus leads us 345 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,600 to fellowship with each other and fellowship with him because 346 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,760 we share together a common sharing, a common spirit, a 347 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,880 common worship. We share together in the 348 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,720 fellowship of Jesus. As I was thinking about this 349 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:57,200 sermon, a movie came to mind. I'm not a big Lord of the Rings 350 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,080 fan. I've watched them, but you know, 351 00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:01,640 it's cool if you like them, that's great. 352 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:06,000 But I thought about the the Ring, the 1st movies called The 353 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,080 Fellowship of the Ring. And I thought about that ring 354 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,640 that they called the Precious. And it was crazy because the 355 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:17,360 closer you got to it, the more it pulled you away from other 356 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:20,760 people, the more it pulled you away from what you were supposed 357 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,240 to. And so, so the idea of this ring 358 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,000 is that if you got it, there's this idea that it's going to 359 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,480 make my life great. But the reality is what it did 360 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,720 is it tore you away from other people and relationships. 361 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:38,440 Guys, the gospel, Jesus Christ is not something to take and 362 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,160 hide. The gospel is not something that 363 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,920 we experience that that Jesus does something great. 364 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:47,360 And we say, awesome, I'm going to go lock myself in my house 365 00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:50,640 and think about it. It's something that's meant to 366 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,640 be shared. It's something that's meant to 367 00:20:53,640 --> 00:21:00,440 be fellowship with each other. And, and so I noticed I got 368 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:02,280 really nerdy for a minute and I was like, wait a minute, It's 369 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:03,560 called the fellowship of the ring. 370 00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:06,120 What's that all about? Well, the fellowship was in 371 00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:10,760 trying to destroy the ring because it LED people astray. 372 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:12,760 Listen, there are all sorts of things in our lives. 373 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,680 There's selfishness, there's all these different things, there's 374 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,160 all these different messages, there's all these different 375 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,480 things that will pull us away from each other, that will 376 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,440 divide us. You want me to name a few? 377 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:32,040 How about politics? How about sports? 378 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,320 Sure, sports can bring us together, but I see quite a few 379 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:40,360 fights and arguments and a lot of hatred that revolves around 380 00:21:40,360 --> 00:21:44,560 sports of all things. There are all these different 381 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,120 things that that tend to divide us and we think that they're 382 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,040 going to give us joy and they're going to give us peace. 383 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,560 But the truth of the matter is they just pull us apart from 384 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:55,600 each other. In Christ. 385 00:21:56,360 --> 00:22:00,320 We have fellowship together and it goes on at the end and it 386 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:05,440 says, we write this so that our joy may be made complete. 387 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:07,440 Are you getting the picture here? 388 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:09,760 God is the source of eternal life. 389 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:11,520 He's the message that we proclaim. 390 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,280 The message leads us to fellowship with each other and 391 00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,560 with Him, and that brings US joy. 392 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:23,160 God's greatest joy comes in following Him and following Him 393 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:28,600 together with others. God's gift of joy is through 394 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:30,560 fellowship with each other and with God. 395 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:32,680 Guys, I'm going to be honest. I like to preach. 396 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,840 But if my job were sitting in an office writing sermons, I would 397 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:42,480 hate my job. If my job were just planning in 398 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,880 an office by myself, I would hate my job. 399 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,560 My favorite part of this job is that I get to spend time with 400 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:54,840 you wonderful people. It's the best part of my job. 401 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,600 Going to lunch, coming to visit, going to hospital visits. 402 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:01,600 This week, I had multiple opportunities to spend time with 403 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:03,440 people. And, and you know what, most of 404 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,920 the time I do most of my writing and stuff like that at home 405 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:09,920 later at night when I'm by myself because I want to spend 406 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:16,560 my time here with fellowship. That's where joy comes from. 407 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,960 See, God is relational. We believe in the triune God 408 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,480 that before the earth was created, the Father, Son, and 409 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:29,840 Spirit existed together as one in community and fellowship with 410 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:32,480 each other. They're three, but they're one 411 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,800 and they were together. God and by nature is relational, 412 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:43,400 and He created us to be relational as well, to invite us 413 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:47,480 into fellowship. Not that we become God, but that 414 00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:50,560 we can have fellowship and unity and common sharing. 415 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:54,120 That we can be of one purpose and one mind and one spirit. 416 00:23:55,320 --> 00:24:01,720 And so God's gift of joy comes through fellowship. 417 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:08,080 Not sitting by yourself, not locking yourself away, but 418 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:12,600 spending time sharing life, worshipping together. 419 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:19,200 It's what we were created for. So #1 God is the source of life 420 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:22,800 #2 the joy of life comes through fellowship. 421 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,400 Now #3 we put those first two together. 422 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:30,160 If Jesus is the source and if the joy of life is fellowship, 423 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,200 how do we have life and fellowship to the fullest? 424 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,080 Well, verse 5, this is the message we've heard from him. 425 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:42,320 And we declare to you, God is light, and Him is no darkness at 426 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,640 all. If we claim to have fellowship 427 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,120 with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live 428 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:49,960 out the truth. But if we walk in the light as 429 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,120 He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. 430 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:57,680 And the blood of Jesus His Son purifies us from all sin. 431 00:24:58,880 --> 00:25:01,600 How do we have life and life to the fullest? 432 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:06,120 Through the source. Jesus is the source. 433 00:25:06,120 --> 00:25:09,360 He's the way, the truth, the life and the joy that we have 434 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:11,440 comes through fellowship. So how do we have it to the 435 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,720 fullest? We go to the source, it says God 436 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,520 is light. Last week we had sunrise service 437 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,760 at 7:00 AM. Some of you don't like to be up 438 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:22,840 at 7:00 AM or you don't like to be here at 7. 439 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,360 AMI understand sunrise service is worth it. 440 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:29,640 Guys, there's something beautiful about Easter morning 441 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:33,200 coming together and gathering in the front foyer with the windows 442 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,720 and seeing the sun come up. It's like we're running to the 443 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:41,160 tomb and we see it empty and we understand that Jesus is risen 444 00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:44,280 and the light of the world comes up and we get to physically 445 00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,240 watch it. I have a buddy who's a pastor 446 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,560 and he said, oh, at our church, we meet at like 8 for sunrise 447 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:51,880 and the sun's already up and I'm like, well, you're doing it 448 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:54,600 wrong. The whole point is to see the 449 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:57,080 sunrise. That's fine. 450 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:00,160 Worship is always good. But but there's something 451 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:05,400 beautiful about seeing the light rise because God is light. 452 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:10,720 Jesus is the light of the world. You know that when there's an 453 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,920 absence of light, usually we're not experiencing life to the 454 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:15,640 fullest. Is that true for you? 455 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:21,040 And there's an absence of light? We're usually not. 456 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,040 It's experiencing life to the fullest. 457 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:30,320 Our family rented a cabin in Hocking Hills probably about, oh 458 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:33,720 man, probably 8 years ago or so, we rented this cabin in Hocking 459 00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,560 Hills. Great cabin, huge cabin, nice 460 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:38,400 stuff. It had a pool inside. 461 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,800 It had this huge gathering area that was perfect. 462 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,360 It was this great place for us to gather in the the last night 463 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,080 there was a storm and the power went out. 464 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,080 And you know what happens in Hocking Hills in the middle of 465 00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:54,440 nowhere when the power goes out? Nothing. 466 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:59,520 It's dark and all of a sudden this great place with the pool 467 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,040 and all this stuff, there was nothing to do. 468 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,800 What are we going to do in the dark other than sit there and 469 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:10,080 not see each other? Luckily we found something. 470 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:16,240 You know what we found? Come on, a light and all of a 471 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:20,800 sudden we could play some cards. We had some life, but in the 472 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,000 absence of light and darkness, we're not living life to the 473 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:25,240 fullest. And in addition to that, 474 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,760 darkness seems to be a breeding ground for evil and wrong. 475 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,080 My mom used to say nothing good happens after midnight. 476 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,200 That's why my curfew was midnight. 477 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:42,440 I didn't agree with her. She was right, at least as far 478 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:44,960 as I was concerned. Nothing good happens after 479 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:46,440 midnight. That's where I got in most of my 480 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,760 trouble after midnight. You know, we went, I talked 481 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:53,160 about the trip to Africa and they said on the trip, they said 482 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:56,440 it once it gets dark, you're not allowed to go out of your, your 483 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:57,880 room. You got to stay in your room. 484 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:01,720 And I thought, I'm a grown man. If I want to go outside in the 485 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,960 dark, I'll go outside. And they said, well, let me tell 486 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,520 you, I didn't say that to him. I'm, I'm not that kind of, you 487 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:09,800 know, I'm not that way, but but I thought that. 488 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,080 And they said, well, let us tell you why you don't go in the 489 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:18,920 dark, because we have seen hippos and lions on the campus 490 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,280 that night. And I thought, you know what? 491 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,920 I think I'll stay inside at night. 492 00:28:26,120 --> 00:28:30,320 I think that's a good idea, that I'll stay inside and avoid being 493 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:34,760 out in Africa in the dark, even even here. 494 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:38,120 I mean, most robberies break insurance. 495 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:42,280 Most things that happen that are bad happen in darkness, don't 496 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:45,840 they? Even in movies, there's there's 497 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:49,920 this portrayal of dark and light and light is life and goodness 498 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:54,640 and dark is almost always evil in the absence of it. 499 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,240 And so God is light in Christ. There is light in life. 500 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,720 There's no darkness at all. And it says if we walk in 501 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:05,280 darkness, then we're not walking in him because he is light. 502 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:11,760 And so if if he's the source and if our joy comes from fellowship 503 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,480 with each other, how do we have joy in life to the fullest? 504 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,920 Well, we've got to shine the light of Christ. 505 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:21,720 True fellowship comes through walking in the light of Christ. 506 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:24,480 I want to get really practical about this. 507 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:30,880 What destroys our relationships? Hiding things, secrets, 508 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:37,320 selfishness, evil things destroy our relationships, pull us 509 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,120 apart, don't they? All of that has to do with 510 00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:46,080 darkness. Hiding secrets, evil. 511 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:53,040 Darkness destroys fellowship. What fosters good relationships? 512 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:59,920 What gives us joy and peace? Light, truth, communication, 513 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,800 love. You want to be right in 514 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,440 relationship with others? Bring it all under the light of 515 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,960 Christ. That's how you have life. 516 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:14,160 That's how you have fellowship to the fullest when we bring it 517 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,520 all under the light of Christ. So here's a real simple thing 518 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,760 you can do. Maybe it's not simple. 519 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,320 And here's something you can do. Expose your thoughts, your 520 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:30,200 words, your actions to the light of Christ and you'll be able to 521 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:35,600 walk in love and fellowship. When you have a thought and 522 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,320 expose it to the light of Christ, did that thought come 523 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,400 from God? Is that thought from the light? 524 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:42,920 Or is that thought from the darkness? 525 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:44,480 Because here's how the enemy works. 526 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,320 The enemy you, you experience something and the enemy says 527 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,200 that person doesn't like you. Did you see what happened? 528 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,120 And the enemy puts something in your head. 529 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:55,880 And our first response is to believe that. 530 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,360 And so there's this darkness that happens. 531 00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:02,240 And so we believe our thoughts and we don't bring them under 532 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,840 the light of Christ. And then what happens? 533 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,720 We grow away from each other Words. 534 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,080 How many of you have ever said some words or had some words 535 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,960 said to you that that weren't from God? 536 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,200 And what happened? It caused division and 537 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:27,600 brokenness actions. Am I bringing my actions the way 538 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:31,360 I act what I do towards others? Am I bringing them under the 539 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,560 light of Christ? Guys, I know people say all the 540 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:36,360 time, well, I was hurt by the church. 541 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,880 Well, I don't go to church because that happened. 542 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:42,760 Those people were mean this that whatever if we will bring our 543 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:46,120 thoughts, our words, our actions into the light of Christ. 544 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,320 I promise you the church is the greatest place in the world 545 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:55,320 because it's where we share worship and fellowship with God 546 00:31:55,320 --> 00:32:00,080 and each other. It's when we allow darkness to 547 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,280 creep in. That's when hurt and brokenness 548 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:06,360 comes. It's not the church's fault. 549 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:10,840 It's not God's fault. It's our fault when we don't 550 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:13,600 walk in the light that we have brokenness and pain. 551 00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:17,600 So bring your thoughts, your words and your actions to the 552 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,680 light of Christ. But then there's a second part. 553 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:22,560 And, and I, this is really important. 554 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,040 We need to bring our relationships into the light, 555 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:31,160 into the truth. See our our first reaction when 556 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,720 when we have thoughts or when someone says words or, or 557 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:40,040 there's actions toward us that that make us push back. 558 00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:41,880 Our first thought is to build walls. 559 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:45,680 You've had this happen. You, you have done this before. 560 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:48,360 I promise. Oh, that person looked at me 561 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:50,760 this way and the enemy says they're looking at you that way 562 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:52,320 because they think this about you. 563 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:55,080 And all of a sudden you think, OK, well then I'm going to do 564 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,080 this. And how often do we say this or 565 00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,160 do this in the church? Well, well, I'm just going to be 566 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:01,760 over here and I'm just going to do what I want to do. 567 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:06,640 But they can be over there and we're just going to guys, that's 568 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:11,760 not life to the fullest and it's not fellowship. 569 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:17,560 It's not fellowship in Christ. See if we will bring our 570 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,560 relationships into the light. How do we do that? 571 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:25,000 We shine truth on it. We communicate, We learn to love 572 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:26,880 each other even in the difficult. 573 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,440 And I promise you, if you will do those things, if you will 574 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,720 communicate, you will look to God's truth and you will love 575 00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:36,120 each other despite our wrongs. It says here that God will 576 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:40,840 forgive us our sins and cleanse us and you'll experience God's 577 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,240 best in relationship with each other when our relationships are 578 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:49,240 in the light. So #1 worship team, come on up. 579 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:54,520 Why don't you stand with me? We're going to respond to God's 580 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,080 word now and, and everything you need. 581 00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:58,840 Our Father has it. He's here today. 582 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:02,200 He loves you. Anything that you need today. 583 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,800 I believe this could be different for, for all of us. 584 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,080 The first thing I want you to know is that Jesus is the source 585 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:11,239 of life and fellowship. Maybe some of you here here 586 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:16,880 today would say my relationship with Jesus has been broken and 587 00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:21,560 that's led to brokenness today. Maybe your response is to 588 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:25,360 connect to the source. Maybe today you need to spend 589 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:28,360 some time with Jesus and get that peace right. 590 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,520 The second thing, fellowship with God and with others is the 591 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:33,400 joy of life. Maybe some of you have been 592 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,480 trying to do it on your own or you've been putting up some 593 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:38,320 walls. Maybe some of you are in a place 594 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,719 where you haven't been sharing in the fellowship of the body of 595 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:43,159 Christ. And if you, if you're in that 596 00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:48,040 spot, you're missing it. Our greatest joy comes through 597 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:51,120 fellowship. And maybe some of you just need 598 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,159 to shine the light of Christ on your thoughts, your words, your 599 00:34:54,159 --> 00:34:57,120 actions, your relationships. Maybe some of you have some 600 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,760 relationships that just you need Jesus to shine on. 601 00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:03,920 And then you need to be obedient, and you need to seek 602 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,760 truth and communication and forgiveness and love. 603 00:35:09,240 --> 00:35:11,680 I don't know what it is for you today, but we want to respond to 604 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:13,000 God's Word. And so we're going to sing 605 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:14,320 together. And you can respond, you can 606 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:16,360 sing. But maybe, maybe you need to 607 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,040 come and you need to connect to the Creator, the source. 608 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,000 Maybe you need to pray about being in connection and 609 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,080 fellowship with others. And maybe you just need the 610 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,960 light to shine on you. Let's respond to God's Word. 611 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,720 Father, speak to us. We worship you now. 612 00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:32,960 We worship you through our voices, We worship you through 613 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:34,560 singing. But maybe we need to worship you 614 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,400 through coming to an altar and laying something down. 615 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:39,840 Maybe we need to worship you through surrendering something. 616 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:44,320 Maybe we just need to sit where we are and pray everything we 617 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:45,800 need. Our Father has it. 618 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:48,680 Lord, I pray that each and everyone of us would come before 619 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:52,200 you now with an open heart, completely surrendered. 620 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,120 And I pray you'd give us everything that we need today. 621 00:35:54,120 --> 00:35:56,440 We worship you, we give you everything now in Jesus name, 622 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:57,400 Amen.