The Light Shines In The Darkness | Message

Now I just wanna just inject rocket fuel into your faith today. I wanna encourage you. Listen, for the last two centuries Christianity has been in decline, but that's not the story we're telling today. There is a turning of the tide. And I wanna show you some titles

of articles that came out in the last year. Here's one of them. This is Barna Research. It's a new research, belief in Jesus rises fueled by younger adults. Yeah.

Now you say, that's a Christian one. Okay. Fair enough. Let's look at the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal this year writes, sales of Bibles are booming, fueled by first time buyers and new versions.

Now, with that, I wanna show you one from Vanity Fair. I could keep going all day, you guys. This is so exciting. Vanity Fair says this, Christianity was borderline illegal in Silicon Valley. Can confirm, I have friends in Silicon Valley. It was borderline illegal, Now it's the new religion.

God is doing something really unique in our time. Now New York Times, not exactly a friend of Christianity, writes this. I love this. Americans haven't found a satisfying alternative to religion.

They can't even bring themselves to say it. It's like there's this move, we don't want to admit it, but yes, it's it's there. Listen, God is on the move in our day. You are living through one of the most spiritually receptive times in history. This is the church's moment.

And I want you to write this down if you're taking notes. This is a big idea today. The light shines in the darkness, and we are living through that moment. I wanna look at today this light, Jesus, who shines in the darkness in the very place where Jesus claimed this himself

in John chapter eight and John chapter nine. If you have a Bible, would you open your Bibles to John chapter eight and John chapter do you guys have Bibles here? Alright. When you get to John eight I'm so glad. When you get to John eight, would you say, let's go? Well done, Bible scholars.

By the way, at the Garden, we are very hype. We yell. We shout. We clap. It's it's a whole thing. So if you'd entertain me, that'd be great. Appreciate it. I feel very at home. That that's that's the spirit right there. John chapter eight, and we're gonna look at verse 12. This is an audacious claim of Jesus.

Think about the magnitude of what he's saying here. He says, again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Now this is an audacious claim. Jesus claimed to be the very light of the world.

If you you've been a Christian for a long time, the weight of this sometimes is lost on us. Buddha never claimed to be the light of the world. Joseph Smith never claimed to be the light of the world. Even your grandma

would not claim. She had that light in her eyes. But she never claimed to be the light of the world. If what Jesus is saying here is true, he is Lord of the cosmos. That he is the truth by which you see all of reality, this is a staggering claim by the Lord Jesus. I mean, if this isn't true, then Jesus is a lunatic.

He's tantamount to the guy who's, you know, sleeping in Downtown Phoenix, gets up in the middle of the day and says, I am Donald Trump. And you're like, no, dude. You have a full head of hair. It's not like you're not him. It's the same level as that. But if this is true, it has to change everything about you.

Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Now what happens in John chapter eight, if you wanna know the rest of the story as it goes into John nine, because there's not chapter divisions in the original writings scripture. They added that to help us find our way around. By the end of John eight, very last verse, it says that Jesus haters,

these religious leaders who knew the magnitude of what he was saying, hated him, and they considered it blasphemy. So they sought to stone Jesus. Now if you're new to Christianity, this is not like like get stoned. We're so glad you're here, by the way. This is they picked up stones to kill him. And

the the the passage just flows directly into the first verses of John nine, and so we continue in the story, and we see that John that Jesus finds a man who was born blind. Now it's one thing to say that you're the light of the world.

It's another thing to work the kind of miracle that proves it. So here's this man that was born blind. Now born blind is different than, you went blind. You guys tracking with the difference there? He's never seen reality, And now Jesus heals this man and he sees for the very first time.

I wanna look line by line, continuing on in John nine. We're gonna see four ways that the light shines. If you're a note taker in the house, this is gonna be your weekend. Let's go. If you're not taking notes, I want you to take notes today. So get your phone or whatever you need. But to begin, let's pray.

Father God, we thank you for today. We thank you that you indeed sent your son, the light of the world. Jesus, I wanna pray for those who are living in darkness right now. Maybe they are believers, but they're struggling with a season of darkness.

God, maybe the most important thing we're gonna do today is pray together and right now. So God, I'm coming expectant for you to move. Lord, I know that you can change lives. God, I know that you heal. God, you work miracles. You transform lives. And God, we know you're walking among us in this room. Something mysterious

happens when we're in the room. And so God, we invite you. We know you're always here, but we want you. Jesus, thank you. Thank you for what you're about to do in lives. God, we invite you. We want you. And all God's people said, amen and amen. Let's continue on in verses one through three.

Verse one says this, as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth and his disciples asked him. Now notice this question, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Now this question is really important.

In their day, they believed in this early Jewish framework that God had to have cursed someone because of their sin if they were going to have this level of an inability. And so their understanding is common in that day. Did they sin?

Some of us think of God like this, that God is the moral vending machine. If I put my coin of good deeds, then good things should come back out. And if bad things have come out, maybe I've done something wrong. Maybe this is you today. We also, in our day, ask various questions about the goodness of God

when things go badly. Is there a good God? Does God know me? Does God care about me? Does God even exist? But I want you to see Jesus answer to this question in verse three. You guys still there? It says, Jesus answer. I love the eleven thirty. Let's go. You guys like, mhmm, we're still in our Bible.

Verse three, Jesus answered, it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. If you are taking notes, I want you to write this first point down, that Jesus bends the darkness to serve his purpose. Listen,

Jesus bends the darkness to serve his purpose. We ask this question.

If bad things are happening in my life, how can there be a good God in heaven? Maybe God has abandoned me. Maybe God is the great clock maker who's wound up the world and let it go, but he doesn't know me. And I want you to know today, whatever you're going through, God sees it, and God knows it, and it is not an accident.

What is it for you? Is it your marriage? Your marriage has been falling apart. It's a struggle in this season. You don't know what to do. Is it your finances? It's like no matter how hard you work, you just can't quite make ends meet. Is it your job or your lack thereof? Is it your children that you're raising small demons?

Listen, whatever that is, whatever that is, it's not that God is absent from it. He's trying to get your attention through it. I'm like entrepreneurial. Anybody an entrepreneur in here? My wife and I have yeah. Let's go. The energy's all with the entrepreneurs.

My wife and I have started businesses. We started a church that's kind of entrepreneurial. And because of this, I low key like problems. Anybody like me? Like, you're sick like me in this way? I like my team text me early morning, like, everything's blowing up. There's problems everywhere.

And for some sick reason, I'm like, oh, let's go. I'm drinking an energy drink at 5AM. Like, let's go solve problems and save the world. And if you're entrepreneurial like me, you know, I just put my head down and I put my head through the problems. Right? But even if you're a driven person, we get to this point in our lives where we say, man, I am not enough.

I don't know how to solve this one. And listen, God is bringing many of us to the point, and maybe you're even here this morning because you're saying, where can I find help? Can I introduce you to the light? That God is is allowed this darkness to shine forth his glorious light among you. Now,

you may ask this question. Okay. What does it look like to turn to God? This is what it looks like to turn to God. Listen. You've got to go all in with Jesus. There's if you're taking notes, write this down. Number two. There is no such thing as being sort of Christian.

To

we're going able that.

MLK or Mahatma Gandhi or Barack Obama or Donald Trump or whatever your flavor is, But you're like, he's just one of the great teachers out there. And listen, Jesus never gave us a category for him simply being a good teacher. His claims are too wild for that. Other you others of you say, I'm a good person. And God wouldn't send good people to hell, and so I might not be all in for Jesus, but like, I'm a good person.

Listen, others of you, you say, this is like a big problem actually in the West Valley. A lot of people are like, I'm good with Jesus. I'm basically a Christian. I mean, I'm pro gun. It's the same. It's the same thing. I'm like, well, you're a cowboy. That's not exactly a Christian. Right?

That's the total West Valley vibe right there. This is what Jesus is saying when he says, I am the light of the world. Light has two effects on us. You can either resist or you can receive the light.

There is only one of these two options that are available to us. So my kids are early risers. I have three kids, 11 or 10 to five. And how many you guys have little kids in here? If you're like me, my, I'm, I'm a morning riser. My kids have my jeans, but earlier. And sometimes

they get up at 4AM, like the other day, and my son busts into the room and turns on, turns on the light. And I was like, it burns us. Turn it off. Like what? It's 4AM, bro. But then once I was up, I'm like going throughout the house. Now I gotta get up and it's dark in the house. And what do I do? I turn on my little iPhone light to make my way towards coffee because caffeine equals salvation at 4AM.

And some of you guys know what I'm talking about. Listen, light only has two effects. It we either resist it or we receive it. Some of you guys say, look, I don't resist the lights. What do you mean I resist the light?

Do you know that there are more ways than one? This is very subtle. There are more ways than one to resist the light. You can sit in church for decades and resist the light. You can sit in church I wanna show you the nuances here, if you're taking notes. Number one, you can resist the light through outright disbelief.

Outright disbelief is like, I believe in science. I don't think any of this is true. I don't even think Christianity is a good idea. Okay, that's outright disbelief. Most of us, I recognize that. But then there's general disinterest.

It's where you're not sure whether Jesus is real or not, whether God is there or not. You just don't really care. It's like, who cares? What relevance does this have for my life? Or you have this other nuance, which is spiritual apathy.

You may be convinced that actually, I think there is something out there that I don't think we all crawled out of primordial soup that we're, you know, computers made of meat, and our lives are meaningless. There's probably some kind of divine being that created us out there somewhere.

I just don't care enough to seek it out. This is spiritual apathy. But next to spiritual apathy is spiritual anemia. You know what anemia is?

My wife and I got married at 20 and 21, and we'd be going through the grocery store, and out of nowhere, her eyes would get hazy, and she'd be like, I don't feel so good. I'm like, what? And she'd pass out right there, and I'd have to catch her full blown, because I'm such a hero, you guys. It was so great. I'm like, catch her and save her life. I'm like, oh, just I'm here for you. And, this happened so many times that the doctor said, oh, we took a blood draw. He's like, you are full blown anemic. You don't have the iron, the nutrients to apparently, like, not pass out.

And listen, some of you guys have spiritual anemia that you've known about Jesus or you've known Jesus, but you've never grown up in the nutrition of God's word.

And listen, it's a soft resistance of Jesus. Like, I got fire insurance and I'm with Jesus. I even go to church, but digging in and surrendering my all to Jesus, you've never yet done that. It's a soft resistance. Now there's also full blown hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is not where you're spiritually immature like anemia. You may actually look like you are spiritually mature, but you've got the secret sin in your life. Something nobody else knows about, maybe. Maybe it's the pornography use that you're hiding.

Maybe it's the fact that you and the gal you're living with are not married and you guys look like a married couple, so no one at church asks, but no one actually knows that you're living in active rebellion against the word of God.

Maybe for you, this is like, I serve at church. Everyone thinks I'm a solid Christian, but they don't know that actually when it comes to your money, you're like, man, this is about me. God can't touch my wallet. Give 10% to the Lord. Like give God my first in my finances.

This is like weird, radical, super religious people, but I'm keeping this part to myself. Maybe it's that you have never had Christian community. You like know about small groups. You're like, okay, that's for someone else, not me. Because really you don't want people to know what's going down deep in. Maybe it's because

you're an introvert, right? And for you, you're just like, I don't know what it looks like to open up, but there's this thing that you're keeping back from Jesus. And then there's full blown deconstruction.

Deconstruction is where you've been walking with Jesus and you know about the word of God, but because deep down you want to experience some other things that God doesn't approve of, you're trying to poke holes in your faith to eventually get out of under the logic of Christianity. Listen, this is what resistance

to the light looks like. You guys have a happy Sunday or what? Is this good news? You guys feeling good? Like, thanks, Bill, for the guest speaker. Wow.

Let's talk about receiving the light. Listen, I want you to receive the light in a world of darkness. You don't have to walk in darkness. You can know the light and the life of Christ even today that we are living through a day where tons of people are coming to know the light.

Now, a lot of people are coming to this knowledge of the light, not directly through finding Jesus initially, but because they're finding a back door. And here's what I mean. Some of you are even in here right now, and you're like, I'm not sure that Jesus is the light, but you are convinced that the darkness exists.

I believe that we are living through a day where Satan has overplayed his hand in culture. You're just starting to feel your way towards God because you're like, wait a second, the darkness is obvious. The darkness is obvious through culture, through what people believe, through politics.

And I agree with that great theologian, this great theologian, Morgan Wallen. You guys know that? Yeah, here's what he said. I'm a little crazy, but the world's insane. Yeah, I felt that lyric. I was like, that one sings to me. I'm a little crazy too, but the world is utterly insane.

And because of this, people are feeling their way towards the light. One of my friends is a police officer. He came to our church early on as not a Christian, but he was checking things out. And one day he responded to the opportunity to receive Jesus as Lord.

And I was like, let's go. So I was like, what would you say yes to Jesus for? Like, like, let's talk. So we grabbed coffee and I'm sitting there and across the table, he tells me, man, I've been really searching

until I found Jesus. I was like, what made you start searching? He said, as a police officer, I am on the front lines of culture, man. And it started to feel like there's some kind of spiritual darkness, almost like there's a spiritual war going on in the world.

He said, what used to be considered good is now being called evil, and what used to be called evil is now being celebrated as good. And he says, it just feels dark. It just feels spiritual. I said, bro, it feels spiritual because it is spiritual.

And it feels dark because it is dark. That dude got baptized. He baptized his wife, and now their whole family is walking with Jesus. Let's go. So

what does it look like for you to experience the light, to see the world in a whole new way? I want you to write this down if you're taking Believers have clarity in a world of insanity.

Listen, you already know about the clown world we live in. Do you have access to clarity? That is something that only Jesus followers have. If you wanna experience the light and see the world in a whole new way, you've got to say yes to Jesus. And believers,

you have clarity because of the word of God. I wanna pick back up in the story and continue on in verse six.

We just saw that they're having this dialogue about a man born blind. And now Jesus goes to that man born blind. And I want you to see what he does to heal him. This is wild. Verse six in your Bibles. Having said these things,

he what? He spit. What? Yeah. He spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. I have disciplined my kids for doing this kind of thing. What is Jesus doing? Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud. Listen. Watch what Jesus is doing here. How many guys are germaphobes in the room?

You're like, Lord Jesus, please heal me. Just one caveat. Right? Like like, could you not do this spit in the mud trick? Like, why would Jesus do this? I I think there are several reasons. This won't be on the screen, but if you're taking notes, the first reason is it's personal.

It's personal. Up into this point in the book of John, Jesus heals people in different ways. One guy he walks up to and just says, come on, get up. And the man is healed. Another guy, he heals from a distance.

Still later in John chapter 11, he is gonna call in the into the tomb of his friend, Lazarus, and shout, Lazarus, come out.

And here with this man, for some reason, Jesus knows that this is what he needs to be healed. And can I just level with you for a second? Some of you guys are going through something unique that I would never understand.

But Jesus knows it and Jesus personally cares for you. He knows exactly what you need and Jesus is gonna heal you in a unique way in a way that only you can understand. He has a personal relationship. He cares about each one. Your personality profile, your situation, your circumstance. Jesus knows you and he wants you.

And he heals this man uniquely in a different way. Now the second thing is it's spiritual. It's spiritual if you're taking notes. Can I just like do Bible nerdiness for like twenty seconds with you guys? I'm like a card carrying Bible nerd. So you'll have to forgive this part of the message if you're not.

But either way, I'm gonna do it. So buckle up. Genesis chapter one, it's the creation narrative, and God creates the heavens and the earth with the sound of his voice. Then by day six of the creation narrative, God makes the crown jewel of his creation human beings. And you know how he makes human beings?

He gets down into the dirt and he forms the man out of dust, and then he breathes into that man of dust nostril, bringing about new life. And in the same way, the God man, Jesus Christ, walking on earth for a man born blind gets into the dirt. You guys see what's going on here? It's a new creation event.

The old hymn is now gone, and a whole new reality begins. He creates new life here. Furthermore, there's a theological thing in John. Alright? Just ten more seconds. John, uses this phrase sign numerous times in his gospel. Someone say sign.

Let's go. So signs are according to the book of John and really in theology this, if you're taking notes, a physical miracle that points to a deeper spiritual principle.

So there are seven signs in the book of John and each one tells an important principle about who God is and how he works in our lives. So check this out. This man who had never seen reality before, it was all black up into this point. Now he opens his eyes and he's gonna see the world in a whole different way.

And that is exactly what happens when you come to know Jesus Christ. You begin to see the whole world in a different way. I was not a Christian, I said, growing up. I grew up in, I said, Portland, Oregon. Anybody from Portland here? Boo. That is where Satan's throne is. This is the reason you left. Right?

Listen, port Portland, Oregon, I was very progressive. I didn't believe in anything Christians had to offer. Believed in the evolutionary narrative, and I thought I was too smart for Jesus or anything that was taught in the Bible.

Until one day I got guilted into going to a church. Anybody ever been guilted into going to church?

Some of you guys laugh because you're like, I'm literally here right now. Because my mom guilted me. It's like, I'm glad you're here, bro. Well, got guilted into going to like a student ministry and Rock Point Student Ministry is fire, yo. Right here at the church, you guys agree with this? It's an amazing ministry. It's fun. There's cool leaders, a lot of hip people. There's lighting and sound and games and like this

student ministry that I went to was none of that. Okay? It it was small, dinky, it's old, smelled like mothballs. Alright? Barely anybody there.

I was like, man, at least there's gonna be cute girls or something. There were zero cute girls. Okay? There were other kinds of girls at this student ministry, but they weren't that. And I remember sitting there just feeling like I'm way too cool for all of this. The guy gets up to speak and it's like the backup guy who's like standing in kind of like you have today. Yeah, no, you're welcome.

And he wasn't good. But I remember in Mark chapter nine, he opens up and he starts telling this story about how Jesus revealed something of his Godness to his disciples. And it started to open their eyes. They saw the gloriousness of Jesus. And I don't even know how to explain this, but in this moment, like I broke.

And it was like while he's talking about Jesus revealing himself to them, God revealed himself to me. And he spoke in an inaudible voice in my heart saying, I have always known you. And dude, I'm like, mister cool 16 year old, but I'm like fighting back tears.

I'm like, something's changing. I don't know what I couldn't explain the gospel. I didn't know why you should trust the Bible. Like, couldn't have explained the trinity. I didn't know anything about Christianity. All I knew is like, whatever Jesus is, I want that. Like, I just want Jesus.

Then I became the kid that was like, didn't look like a youth

ministry kid, but I was like, didn't fit in, and I showed up. Right? All these like Christian nerds, and there's me with like the skull on my t shirt and like the baggy pants and stuff. And I'm like, what's up fellow Christians? Scoot over. And I'm like, the misfit.

And I remember just sitting in the front row and like eating up what that student pastor was talking about. And I remember he would talk about guys like Moses from the Bible. And I'd be like, who's Big Mo? Let's go. And then I'd go up to the student pastor afterwards, and I'd be like, hey. So you're talking about Moses.

Who's Moses? He'd be like, are you for real? You hadn't even seen, like, the movie or anything? I'm like, no. I don't I don't know who's Moses. He's like, okay. I'll explain Moses. Then the next week, I'd be like, he's talking about Abraham, you know? And I'm like, okay. So it's now big Abe. Who's Abraham? Right? And he'd explain Abraham to me. And I think that student pastor got so sick of me at one point that he gave me my own Bible.

And I'll never forget the weight of that NIV study Bible in my hands. I just remember feeling like the weight, the majesty of the fact that I had God's own words in my hands. And reading it from Genesis to Revelation and all the crazy stories, stuff that I used to think was valueless now meant everything to me.

And when you get saved, stuff that you used to think was everything to you suddenly means nothing to you. You see the world in a whole new way. There's a young woman that came to our church, the Garden Church out in surprise, here she comes, new church, and she came dressed as a male,

And I'm excited. Right? Like we want we wanna engage and love on anybody. And the only problem was like, I'm gonna I knew this message, I'm gonna talk about the differences between men and women according to God's word.

I'm gonna teach on marriage and and so I'm a little nervous and I try to present God's word in the only way I know how, just present God's word faithfully, truthfully and gently. And I get done and of course I'm like, hey, I'm Nolan, I wanna meet her.

And I'm just like, what did she think of this service? Probably hated it. Well, she's super nice. She filled out a connect card. You guys have connect cards here. Like you should fill one out. It's great. And I was like, at least she wanted the free mug. All right. So like, that's that's a win.

Well, later that day, I did an email in the church email, and it said, and I'm gonna give you a direct quote. In the email it said, hi, my name was Fill in the female or the male name. I would like you to change it in the system. I filled out a connect card to fill in the female name because quote, I am detransitioning

for the Lord. You

are not that different from her. All of us who are followers of Jesus have a story that says, hi, my name was. I used to be this angry person, but that's not me anymore. Hi, my name was. Fill in the blank. What would you fill in the blank? Listen, when you see the light, you don't walk in the darkness anymore.

You have a new identity, and you receive this gift in Christ. Amen? Listen, if you're a skeptic in here, God has a new story for you. And if you're a Satan here, if you're a Christian, long time or or new Christian, you know that you have this gift to offer people.

Like, you can offer this gift of a new story, a new identity, a new life, a new light to everyone around you who doesn't know Jesus. This brings us to our last point, point number four.

The reality of eternity demands a life of urgency. The reality of eternity

demands a life of urgency. Let's finish out this passage. I wanna look now at verse seven. You guys still have your Bibles? Didn't chuck them. Alright. John nine and verse seven. Look at what happens here. I'm gonna unpack it. It says, and Jesus said to him, what? Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which means sent. Now

that should have blown your mind. And maybe it didn't yet, but I wanna show you why. All right. Here's what happens. What Jesus is doing here is just gangster. Okay. He's absolutely gangster. Remember, he has haters.

And the context of this passage is they are in the temple. There's a lot of people there. There was just a huge Jewish holiday where they celebrated using the pouring out of water from this pool called Siloam. And Jesus haters, the religious guys, the leaders,

they don't wanna have anything to do with Jesus as the light of the world. And so they're probably mad at Jesus, and they're probably right by this pool

because of that festival. And now here's what Jesus does. This man that these religious leaders believe to be born in sin, he's a sinner. They don't wanna have anything to do with him either.

Jesus makes this guy quite the spectacle. Think about it. He hasn't been healed yet. All Jesus has done is taken his spit and put mud all over his eyes. This guy is a spectacle.

He's looking like some of you ladies who do all the crazy skincare stuff. Right? You guys look like this. And there he is. He's still blind, so someone probably had to lead him. And they took him to the Pool Of Siloam where Jesus haters are.

And there he gets down and think about this scene. You've got to see it with your mind's eye. He hasn't ever seen anything before. He takes up this holy water, rinses his eyes, and he sees for the very first time. Now, what would you do if you had sight after never seeing in your entire life?

I'll tell you what I would do. I would freak absolutely out. I see. What what is everything? He's in the middle of the temple. He's seeing art. He's seeing architecture.

He's seeing people he might have known for decades, but he's never seen them eye to eye. And he's like, oh my gosh. I see you guys. You look way less good than I imagined. I feel bad, but you know, you're shorter than I thought. But here he is. He's like, what is that? They're like, bro, it's a tree.

He's like, I love trees. What color is it? That's called green. I love green. Could you imagine this scene? This would have been an absolute spectacle. And as Jesus is gangster. Right? He's clowning on his haters.

Just think about the Lord Jesus here. He's like, yeah, go cleanse in the pool of Siloam. Here's why he did this. Right? Go cleanse and if, you know, just imagine that Jesus is back there like five, four,

three. Right? Like, I see. He's like, yes. Right? Do I love green? Right? Like Jesus is back there just just like these clowns laughing at them. But here's the thing. He made this man a living testimony. Do you know that those of us who have spiritual sight, we too are made not just to receive our spiritual sight,

but to be sent to say something about the savior from sin and who can give you spiritual sight too. We too are called to be a living testimony. And my question for you church is, are you living like that? Have you told anyone you know about Jesus? I mean, have you have you ever been a witness? Have you ever shared the gospel?

A pendulet is a well known magician out there, a TV personality. You guys know pendulet? A couple of you guys. Well, pendulet is also a staunch atheist.

And they asked him in this interview at one point, what do you think of Christians who try to convert people? He's like, you'd actually be surprised what I think of that. He's like, I think it's great. He's like, what? You're an atheist. And he says, yeah. But think about this. If you actually believe

that there's a real heaven and a real hell and everyone is going somewhere, and the only way to be saved is put faith in Jesus Christ for your sins, and how much how much would you have to hate someone not to share that with them? I think that atheist logic is better than ours. Charles

Spurgeon writes this, if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned or unprayed for.

Listen. How many people have gotten baptized at Rock Point Church, and you were part of the reason they got baptized? My fear for most of us is this. What if we care more about what they will think of us than where they're going to spend eternity? Then my prayer for you is that you would invite people to church.

My prayer for you is that you would step out of your comfort zone, that you would reach out to that friend, that neighbor, that coworker that doesn't know Jesus. And just for the sake of glorifying Jesus, who gave you spiritual sight, who gave you a new creation event,

you would say, listen, can I just tell you I was lost, but now I'm found? I was blind, but now I see. I've got to tell you about Jesus. It's the best news on the planet.

It's the greatest thing. Now some of us don't share because it's getting harder and harder to talk about being a Christian. Would you guys agree with this? Our culture is starting to hate Christianity if it hasn't already. And people say things like this. You Christians, you are on the wrong side of history.

Can I just inject a fuel inside of your spine today? It doesn't matter whether we are on the right side of history. What matters is we are on the right side of eternity. We have the greatest news on the planet, and you've got to tell someone about it. We are following not let's go.

Let's close in prayer right now.

I don't even know what I was gonna say. That was way better than whatever it was. Yeah. We are on the right side. We follow the light. Think about Jesus says, I'm the light of the world, not the darkness. You watch cowboy movies. The guy in the dark hat on the dark horse, like good guy or bad guy? Bad guy, well done.

Guy with the white hat on the white horse, good guy or bad guy? We're following the light of the world. Voltaire was a philosopher and he said this, he was like an enlightenment philosopher and the dude was not a fan of Christianity. I'll read you some quotes. He says, Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd

and bloody religion that has ever infected the world. This dude definitely needed a cup of coffee. It's like, we get it. You don't like Christianity. All right. He made a prediction at the end of his life and he said this, one hundred years from my day,

there will not be a bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker. In other words, nobody's gonna be reading the bible in a hundred years from that day except for those who go to museums and look at nonsense.

Ninety eight years from that day, I wanna show you a picture of his plantation or his beautiful estate. Here was the home of Voltaire. Ninety eight years from that day, through a crazy series of events, his home ended up in the hands, not of another philosopher, but a Christian leader.

And that Christian leader put that home in the hands of a Christian organization. And ninety eight years after he made this prediction that no one would be reading the Bible, they not only were using his own home, but using his printing press from that home to print Bibles, you guys.

This

gonna in We're We're

God, I pray that you would be let be the light flood in, in this dark world, in this dark room. God, I want to pray for those who are going through it right now. Any of those saints in this room who are struggling

with a season of darkness, whatever they're going through. God, would you bring your healing power to their life right now? Would you let your light flood into their hearts even as we pray? God, these are men and women who may be struggling with sickness, with infertility, with finances,

with marriage issues. God, would you break in? God, we expect you to move and to heal and to transform in ways that my words fail to do. God, would you work among us? God, I want to pray for encouragement for those who are scared to share their faith.

Would you challenge them, Lord? Bring your not so subtle nudge to them. Put a name in their heart right now. I ask that names would fill minds right now. People who don't know Jesus. Oh, but people that are going to come to know Jesus in the next year because of this holy and sacred moment.

God, would you use them? Thank you, Jesus. God, I want to pray for those who are in this room and they maybe have never made the decision to follow Jesus. God, would you move in power in this room right now? And God, wanna pray that

you would move in power, that you would do something new. I wanna pray specifically that many people would come to know Jesus right now and make that decision. Listen, I'm gonna have us keep our heads bowed, but I believe it would be pastoral mispractice, malpractice for me not to give you the opportunity

to follow Jesus in this room, to say yes to Jesus, perhaps for the first time. If you've never made that decision, you just haven't been sure of who Jesus was, but he's appealing to you right now. You're hearing him for the first time.

For others of you, maybe you walked with God or you grew up in church or you'd been to church before, but it's been many years and you walked away and you need to make the decision to follow. Listen, you have to make the decision. Does. You doesn't just get saved by osmosis.

I want you to choose to follow Jesus in this room right now. If that's you, with every head bowed, would you just, I'm not gonna make you do anything weird. I'm not gonna make you stand up and do a dance. I just wanna pray for you. Would you slip up a hand in this room all across this room and right now?

Yes. Awesome. Let's go. If you're saying yes to following Jesus, keep your hands up for me. Praise God.

I wanna pray for those who are following you perhaps for the first time or coming back to you right now.

God, would you move in their hearts? We thank you for Jesus. He is the light of the world. God, would you renew them? God, would this not be just an emotional moment? Would this be a whole life surrender to you, a new relationship?

Lord, we commit these souls to you. And God, I pray that they would live a whole life for you. They are entering a relationship with you. Their sins are fully forgiven, past, present and future. They are saved Lord God.

And God, I wanna pray that you would protect their faith, that you would allow them to grow and to walk and to mature in you. Thank you Jesus for what you're doing. Can we just celebrate those who are getting saved right now? Let's go.

Father, we thank you and we praise you. Hey, if you said yes to Jesus, I just wanna ask you, would you connect with our team right after There's gonna be folks in the lobby, in the area

straight in the middle. I want you to tell someone why you decided to follow Jesus and connect with them. We wanna walk with you. We wanna know you. Lord, we love you. We give you praise. And all God's people said, amen. Amen. Thank you guys for having me.

Hey. Thanks for joining us for service online this weekend. Be sure to follow us on our Rock Point social media to stay connected.