Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Well, good morning, village Church. Good morning. Good morning. My name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here, and today I have really exciting news because we are gonna be finishing the book of John. We've been in this for a long, long, long time. If you have a Bible open up to John chapter 21. We're gonna be the last two verses verse 24 and 25. Um, over the next four weeks, we're gonna be doing a, a series on cultivating a healthy soul as kind of we all launch into summer and a bunch of our schedules are gonna be shifted and everything that's kind of normal, especially for moms and dads, our whole world's gonna flip upside down. So what we wanna do is walk into the summer with a commitment to centering our soul, um, on spiritual health, on Jesus Christ in his words. So, um, we're gonna look at some of the, I think, the biggest challenges to spiritual health, and we're gonna run after those.
Speaker 1 00:00:52 And then June, the first, first Sunday of June, we are launching a series on the book of Leviticus. I can't believe some of you are like, why are people excited? My annual Bible reading plan is hijacked by the book of Leviticus. Every, every single year we're gonna talk about blood and livers and lobes and throwing blood on people and sacrifices. It's gonna be amazing. Uh, and in fact it's gonna make, I mean honestly, like so, so much more sense of the gospel, the New Testament, I mean, to understand this book is to understand a framework for so much of the New Testament. So just praying that whole series blesses you in all of its awkwardness. It's gonna be great. Um, last weekend I was in Southern California in Orange County. I had the joy to hang out with two of my great friends that go all the way back to junior high.
Speaker 1 00:01:46 Two of us by God's providence were put into a small group together, and we've been all friends ever since. When they heard I was gonna be in the area, one flew down and we spent a few days together. Um, all three of us are our senior pastors, and again, our friendship just goes way, way back along. Many decades ago, well, we went on a hike, we came home, and as we're sitting kind of in the family room area, we saw two Mormon missionaries walking up to the front door and we looked at each other and we were like, these boys have no idea <laugh>, what they're in for. They're walking up to a house with three pastors, uh, who have a heart of evangelism and a lot of degrees between the three of us. So, uh, they all sent me outside to be the first one to talk, and they didn't wanna like, overwhelm these boys.
Speaker 1 00:02:42 So, um, now I got, I just, I want to say this on the front end because, uh, I, I don't wanna assume any of us are on the same page. And so I want you to just know this, Mormonism and Christianity are not two versions of the same religion. Mormonism and Christianity are two completely different religions. I wanna, I just wanna show you this and then I'm gonna get back to the story. We are different religions with different scriptures. Yes, we both agree the New Testament and the Old Testament are God's revelation, but they also have the Book of Mormon, which they use as a grid to reinterpret the Bible as we know it. The doctrine of the covenants, the pearl of great price. It's not just the Bible, it's the Bible. And, and these newer revelations, if you will, um, are used really to reinterpret the Bible and come to some interesting, um, conclusions.
Speaker 1 00:03:28 We are different religions with different gospels. When you actually read the Bible, the Bible is clear salvation, forgiveness, eternal life is only ever through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There, there is not another way to eternal life. You're never gonna get enough good works to get there. And and Mormonism is a little bit different. They teach that you do have to have faith in Jesus, repent of your sins, be baptized by immersion, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then continue to be a good person where different religions with different beliefs on God. The Father, Mormons believe that God the Father was once Im mortal, who lived on a planet like Earth through obedience, became exalted to godhood. No worries. You can have that too if you're good enough. We are different religions with a very different Jesus. They reject the trinity outright the e eternality of Jesus, meaning they don't believe he was eternally preexistent.
Speaker 1 00:04:24 They believe Jesus is the literal offspring of heavenly Father Elohim and one of his goddess wives in the pre-existence, Satan, they believe is Jesus's brother as opposed to a created being, um, under the creation of Jesus Christ. So what they do is they borrow our language, but they put a whole bunch of different meaning into it. Back to the story, I went out first and I, I identified that our two faiths have some pretty significant disagreements, particularly in especially on the person of Jesus. And, and one of the things I identified is like you, you do realize that like evangelical Protestants, Roman Catholics, even the Orthodox Church, like all of us, are pretty much on the same page with the nature and the character of Jesus. And if you can get those three groups of people aligned, like that's a rare moment. Okay? And so we're even in agreement on this, and I'm like, you know, Joseph Smith 1829, like, like, you know, that's kind of a, these are like pretty new ideas. Are you comfortable? Are you comfortable there? And then, and then I asked them this question, how do you know that your version of Jesus is the real one? And and one of them responded, and here's what he said. He said, I feel him in my heart.
Speaker 1 00:05:43 Um, this is a reference to something they call the burning of the bosom. And that's basically this feeling of security and truth, uh, that burns in your bosom. And this is an overwhelming feeling to communicate from God that the thing is right. My response was, so like, what if you're depressed? What if you have significant hormonal issues? What if the burning of the bosom like, isn't there? What if your entire world has, is falling apart and you don't feel it? I I I would like to know that my faith is built on something deeper and more enduring than my fickle emotions. And his response to me was, that's a good point. So what, what do you say in these moments? Do you debate? Because I'm not gonna debate somebody into heaven. That's pretty much not probably the best way to do it. I don't really want to be mean to these young guys.
Speaker 1 00:06:42 They're, they're literally doing what they're told and they're, they're trying their best with what they know. And after listening a little bit, what I did is I focused on my personal testimony, the story of when I believed and came to faith in Christ. And as we ended our time, I asked them if I could pray for them. And you've heard me say this before, I have never once in my entire life asked somebody, can I pray for you? And had them say, no, I think I've heard of one person at Village Church that that happened to, and I'm gonna put my bottom dollar that maybe you're a bit awkward. I'm just fingers crossed here. I don't know <laugh>. Now if you go up to some random stranger at the mall and say, can I pray for you? They might say no to you, but if like you're in a conversation with somebody.
Speaker 1 00:07:20 And so they let me pray for them and, and I prayed for them with the benefit of the doubt that they wanted truth, that they were sincere. And so I, I pray it's something to the effect of, you know, God, would you like, would you lead all of us to truth? None of us want to be led as straight. None of us want to go to hell. None of us wanna be separated from you. None of us want to be involved in a false religion. And God, I just pray that for each and every one of us, you would, you would overwhelmingly make it clear who Jesus, the real Jesus is. I prayed, I said amen. And then one of them, the other one looked at me and he said, thank you. I've never heard anyone pray like that before.
Speaker 1 00:08:02 Listen, your your knowledge of what somebody believes like to have a mastery of it before you talk to them, that that's impossible. I mean, e even these guys, the more I kind of probed and asked, they didn't even agree with all the classic tenants of Mormonism. Every, every time I sit with somebody, I have an arsenal in my pocket. And, and here's the thing. So do every one of you who've believed in Jesus Christ, I'm gonna share with you the, the three tools I have in my arsenal. And so do you, here's, here's the first your own personal testimony. Nothing in, in this current cultural moment, nothing is more untouchable and sacred. Maybe few things as your personal story and experience. The cultural moment requires us, no matter what you say to validate your personal story. And, and what's also interesting is when you think about your testimony, like there are two ways to share the gospel with somebody.
Speaker 1 00:09:04 One way is to say, you, you, you, you, you. And that's fine. The other way is to, is to share the gospel. But through your own personal experience. When I came to believe that Jesus Christ was God, when I came to believe that I was a sinner and that my sins had separated from him, when I started to really believe and understand that he died on the cross from my sins was raised from the dead, I realized that good works could never save me. And I personally prayed to him and ask him to, to save me for my sin. And God gave me the gift of His Holy Spirit. And, and so like there are different ways actually you can approach sharing the gospel. It doesn't always have to be you, you, you, you, you. And what I've I've learned is that sharing the gospel through my own personal testimony is actually quite a bit more effective.
Speaker 1 00:09:43 It, it's a little bit less awkward and they are obligated to listen to me for as long as I talk. But to walk outta someone's personal story, it's just kinda mean and offensive. So like you can belabor this as long as you want to. Number two, your own personal relationship with God. I mean, he, here's the cur keyword word personal. So when I, when I talk about God, I don't speak of God as far off distant hard to understand. I speak of him as if he is my father. I speak of him as if he is near, as if I, I have an insight into the understanding of his mind, his heart, and his will because he's revealed it in, in, in his word. I I speak about him as if he is near to us. And he's not some far off being, but number three in our arsenal, we have a simple pure gospel.
Speaker 1 00:10:40 Every false religion on the planet is gonna mess this one thing up. They are going to add works as a requirement for salvation. I don't care where you are, where they're at. Every single false gospel plays into this error. And, and, and, and so Christians like you have been freed by the way, probably a long time ago from any of you, from the burden of wondering if you've accrued enough good works to get you into heaven. You know the freedom that you have when you've trusted in Christ. Like you don't even worry about that stuff anymore. When you talk to somebody who comes from a false religion or a cult that is still heavily on their brain. Sometimes we have to go back and remember. So even just you sharing that you came to Christ and were saved not because of the accrual of good works, but because of the grace of God that was free for anybody who trusted in Christ.
Speaker 1 00:11:30 Man, there there is, like, that is a powerful message. And when you take all three of these and you put them together, I want you to remember this, people who are in false religions, who are false Christians, who are in cults, they don't have any of these. Every one of these is rare. It, it is not unusual when they hear a Christian pray, when we pray to God, not that the recitation of some prayer somebody else wrote with a bunch of these and ths, but we actually talk to God as our father personally, as if he loves us and cares for us. That is a shocking experience for most people who are fake Christians in fake religions and cults never underestimate the power of these three things. This is amazing. Now, where did I, where did I learn this? Uh, let me be honest with you.
Speaker 1 00:12:21 When, when I saw the guys coming up, I, I had a hunch that my buddies were gonna look at me and say, fueling you, go it. In my brain, I'm like trying to decide, wait, what's the difference between a Jehovah's Witness and a Mormon? I'm like, the Book of Mormon. That's the Mormons got that. Okay, Jehovah's Witness, we're going down that line. John Tuck, one of our staff, former jw, I was like, all right John, I'm going through his story of my brain. Got it, yeah. And I'm like, wait, is that Mormon or is that jw? And so I'm walking out and I'm like, I'm kind of going not really fully a hundred percent present and ready and aware. I did know this, I did know that we weren't on the same page about Jesus. And I did know that they had some really off ideas about Jesus's eternal free existence.
Speaker 1 00:13:00 And so, um, at we're, we're talking and I'm asking them questions, and then my buddy comes out and he looks at them and he says, Hey, um, I'd love to hear the story of how you came to faith and when it became real for you. And in that moment I'm thinking, gosh, that's such a good idea. Why didn't I think of that? And so one guy talks and he shares the story of kind of when his faith became real, and it was all emotion. That's all it was. It was just, I felt, I felt I felt right, no substance. Uh, then the next guy goes and he shares his story and, uh, kind of similar, just not a lot of substance. Like they're, they're lacking these things and you can, you can tell as they're talking, well, then my buddy goes and he goes, oh, let me tell you how I became a Christian in my faith journey.
Speaker 1 00:13:46 So he tells him his testimony and he emphasizes the gospel and his conversion experience and realize that he was a sinner and just was really wonderful. And then he looks at me and goes, Michael, how did you come to faith? And I told a really long story <laugh>, because they had to listen. And I told them how my mom came outta Roman Catholicism and extra books to the Bible and the authority of the word of God and different versions of Jesus. And, and I, I mean, I went through everything and, and, and they just sat and they listened and they were stuck. And it was delightful. And I enjoyed every, every bit of it. And then it hit me. I'm literally like, I'm in this moment and, and I'm thinking to myself, I've seen this before. Wait a minute. This is the approach that John took to write his gospel.
Speaker 1 00:14:33 And I'm like, duh, my buddy knew exactly what to do because he knew the gospel. John, my buddy knew what to do because he understood that that leading with your personal story of, of how you met and came to faith in Christ. And the Book of John is literally a firsthand eyewitness account of John himself who was called by Jesus, followed him, saw everything. If you were with us on Easter Sunday, you remember there's this point in, um, John 20 where, where John actually tells the, the, the part of the story where he was basically converted, where he went from just understanding things about Jesus to literally understanding and believing in his head and his heart and the deepest part of his being. And, and so literally the Book of John, he writes it from his firsthand experience as a gift to anybody, billions or millions of people who are gonna read this book through millennia.
Speaker 1 00:15:21 And he's just telling his own personal conversion story, what he saw, what he witnessed, what Jesus did in his life, and then culminates it with just telling you how his about his personal belief in Jesus Christ. Now, one, one of the, one of the best tricks I think in the devil's playbook is to cast doubt on the reliability of our modern manuscripts. It's actually very interesting because one of the Mormon missionaries, uh, began to communicate that there were problems with the Old Testament in a New Testament we have, which is why we needed the Book of Mormon because it gave us clarity on some of the things that it messed up. And, and I cannot tell you how many times I have heard statements like this, the Bible's been corrupted over time. Uh, the version of Bible we have, it's like the game of telephone.
Speaker 1 00:16:11 It's a bad game. And, and, and the thing that we have now, it's not the same as what they originally wrote, uh, or this one. We all know that the Bible has a ton of errors in translation. And what's interesting is like if you ever hear these things and you ask somebody, look, name one, they can't, 99.9% of them, that's Pastor Bath, take that to the bank. 99.9% of them can't identify a single thing because they've never thought about it and they've never studied it. It's cuz cult cultural mantra. It's this little one liner phrase created by the, the devil himself that bypasses our brain, goes right to our heart and makes us feel all warm and fuzzy and we regurgitate it and it makes us feel good about not actually thinking. And so there, there are these moments where I'm like, gosh, no. In fact, the gospel of John, uh, the best scholarship agrees is the most well attested book with manuscript evidence in the entire New Testament.
Speaker 1 00:17:05 In fact, we, we know with almost certainty that when John sat down to pen the gospel of John, we have almost word for word everything he said with the exception of we don't know how some words were spelled and where the commas and periods go at times. But when you sit down and you open up the book of John, this is one of the most well attested books in the entire New Testament. It's an incredible work of art. What you have in your modern translations today, it's, it's amazing. And, and so here's what you have when you read the book of John, you literally have a firsthand eyewitness of a man who walked with Jesus through his life, death, resurrection, who sat at the cross, watched him be crucified, watched a sword, go into his side, watch water and blood come out, saw the resurrected, Jesus went to the empty tomb, and he is literally in this book telling you his firsthand experience.
Speaker 1 00:17:51 All right, now, John chapter 21, verse 24. Whenever I preach, we go through like usually some scripture and then I close my message with, so whats like, what does this mean? The rest of this message is also whats fitting way to end the entire book three big. So whats from the last two verses of the book of John, number one, like John Bear witness to what Jesus has done in your life. Get very familiar with your own personal testimony, your own story of salvation and what God is doing in your life. One of my favorite parts of people becoming a member at Village Church is you have to write down your testimony, your story of conversion and what God has done in your life. Familiari familiarize yourself with this story because it is one of the most powerful evangelism tools in your arsenal. Verse 24, John says, this is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things.
Speaker 1 00:18:50 It's normal for John. He's writing in the third person about himself. This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things and who has written these things. And we know that his testimony is true. Look at the word witness. John has chosen this word intentionally. It is a loaded and it is a legal term. And, and, and John is writing this book, he's putting you the reader into the position of judge, and he's putting himself into the position of a reliable, trustworthy eyewitness. And, and anybody who reads and listens to his gospel, I i is really pushed to make a decision. Do you believe the things that this eyewitness is testifying about Jesus Christ, his life, death and resurrection. Now, Jew scriptures and Jewish tradition, they had multiple regulations for who can and cannot be an eyewitness. This is actually a really important category.
Speaker 1 00:19:58 This was a part of the legal system in Testament Israel. The local church has a similar one where every single accusation is, is corroborated by two, but preferably three witnesses. And let me, let me just share with you a handful of the regulations that a first century Jew would've understood between scripture and Jewish tradition for the credibility of a witness. Here's one. Witnesses must be able to provide clear, consistent and firsthand testimony, never hearsay. Number two, witnesses cannot be partial to either the victim or to the accused, nor have personal interest in the outcome, but must be relationally neutral. Do you see the high bar to prevent injustice? Here's number three. The witnesses must not be related to the accused or the victim by blood or marriage. Number four, witnesses must be examined separately to ensure their testimonies match. Number five, witnesses must understand the gravity of their testimony and the implications of bearing false witness.
Speaker 1 00:21:08 False witnesses should receive the penalty for the crime with which they falsely accused another. And this is where the Old Testament says, I, for I life, for life, tooth for tooth. You bear false witness. Whatever the accusation is, you bear on yourself that punishment and and John, in every single way by, by the way, those are like top five. I had about 15 others, but, but again, it would be here forever. If I'm reading to you from Jewish traditions and scripture, John is a credible witness in every way. Number one, John's character. It's proven credible. By the time John's writing this, he is an old man and everybody knows you can trust John. Number two, John's sources are accessible. Many, many of the people who are with him, they've already written gospels, they've written letters to other churches and and you can find any of these books and you can corroborate what John is saying.
Speaker 1 00:21:59 But number three, John's details, they're verifiable. And, and John records multiple historic details and names so that in the first century, anybody who receives this gospel can kinda step back and, and they can actually go to the historians and validate every single person or place. And he, here's what you won't find in the book of John historical falsehood or inaccuracy. Try it. You won't find it. It's one thing for Joseph Smith to apparently have a vision of some angels and receive some tablets and then to be able to translate them. Okay, well, we're gonna take your word for it. But everything John writes, for anybody who read this original book, they can go corroborate this over and over and over again. Look at the end of verse 24. He says, we know that his testimony is true and the only way to discredit John's testimony is number one, to prove he is a liar, or number two, to prove that the his gospel had transmission errors as it was copied from one generation to the next, both of which you will never be able to do take the challenge.
Speaker 1 00:23:09 So what, number two, this is gonna go in a little bit different direction, but verse 25 sort of takes a shift following Jesus is only exciting, is only as exciting as your willingness to go with him to uncomfortable places. Uh, one chapter early in John chapter 20, verse 30, here's what John says. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. It's very important for John to let you know. By the way, this isn't the whole iceberg. What I just shared with you is the tip of the iceberg. Like if we were to talk about all the things Jesus did, like this is just, I, I I have cherry picked a handful of these stories to help you best see from a firsthand eyewitness perspective that Jesus really is the Christ, the Sona God. And then we go to the next chapter, chapter 21, the very last book or verse in the book of John, he says, again, now, there are also many other things that Jesus did.
Speaker 1 00:24:06 Were every one of them to be written. I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Let me, let me translate this. I wish I could explain what life was like with Jesus. Every day was something new, extraordinary, miraculous, unforgettable. Look at Universe 25, where every one of them to be written. I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would've been written. Do you guys have those friends who they have a legitimate, real and really good story for everything? Like every time you're around them, like, dude, you wouldn't believe what happened to me. It was crazy. And every time you're like, wow, where do you get all these stories from? I've shared this with you in the past, but one of my most frequent prayers in it drives moms crazy, which I deep down sort of enjoy God, would you give us unforgettable experiences?
Speaker 1 00:25:20 So before, like our kids would go on a retreat or a mission trip, and if I have the opportunity to pray, oh my God, would you give these students unforgettable experiences? And then the moms were always like, good, unforgettable experiences. I'm like, of course, I'm not praying that devastation and trauma would happen in their life. So it's unforgettable. Like there is a, there is a larger desire. God, would you, would you give them these moments and experiences that bind their hearts together? Would you, would you give them moments and experiences that remind them that you are so providentially and intimately caring for their life? God, would you even give them stories where they step back and here's what they say only God could have? That's what I'm praying for. Only God could have. Uh, years ago I was wrestling through, honestly what is the same question I wrestled through about every single year at Village Church and to some degree of God, how how do we move into the future and lead in a way that is accountable, loving and keeps the mission that you've given us right at the forefront?
Speaker 1 00:26:20 We, we want every person to, to follow Christ and to grow as a disciple. We want people who don't know you to come to faith. Like the mission is just pretty straightforward and simple. And so, um, there were some just really challenges that I was happening, happening. And so I, I looked at my calendar, my day was clear for some reason, and I just had this overwhelming sense that I was supposed to go to starved Rock State Park and just hike for the day. And my assumption at the time was that, um, God was just like, yeah, I wanna spend some time alone with you. And so I told my wife and I'm like, I just kinda have this sense. I gotta go to Star Rock State Park. And so I, I go there and after about an hour or so, I'm hiking and there are these two kind of guys in front of me and have you ever like walked behind somebody or hiked and they're like, too slow?
Speaker 1 00:27:05 And so like you kind of creep on 'em, but like these two guys were like, either like I'd get closer to them and then they'd speed up and then I'd, anyway, I I felt like a creeper the whole time. And so I'm like trying to, but the only way to get by them would be like, oh, excuse me, up on your left. And then I sprint like a moron and then I'm like, anyways, I just kinda stuck. And so I was trying to keep some distance and uh, we get to the end of this, of this area and there's a waterfall there, can we all kind of stop and so we're chit-chatting, go figure me talking to strangers in the middle of nowhere. So I asked them, so like, what do you guys do for a living? And here's what they said, we're church consultants. We help churches figure out how they can grow and structure their churches so they can keep discipleship first. And I was like, <laugh>, what?
Speaker 1 00:27:52 What do you do <laugh>? I'm a pastor who's out here trying to figure out how we can structure our church so we can keep discipleship first. This is insane <laugh>. And so we, you know, begin to walk back and they were so incredibly helpful and the Lord brought some clarity, but like even bigger than that, it was such a reminder, uh, so many reminders. Number one, Michael, it's my church. I got it, Michael, chill out. All the anxiety you feel and all the what ifs. Like I got this thing under control. Release that number two, like I I am intentional with you. Like we look at the disciples and we think like, man, he was so intentional curating experiences for them that would, that would be unforgettable. And these moments where they would step back and they would say Only God. And it's just a reminder, he was like, Michael, I am curating experiences for you.
Speaker 1 00:28:41 I am discipling you as well. I am your rabbi, master teacher. I love you. I am sorting these things out. Follow me, go wherever I tell you. And sometimes I'm gonna tell you to go places that's gonna make no sense whatsoever. You might not even realize the purpose of it until you're dead. But when this life comes to an end and you're gonna see all the ways that I was discipling you and shepherding you and caring for your heart and soul, you're gonna be blown away. And that's not just my story, that's all of us who call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He's discipling all of us. His objective is to make all of us more and more into the image of himself. And, and, and, and I think John's gospel is just this beautiful reminder as he tells you story after story. You can't help but see how intentional Jesus was to curate these unforgettable moments where John was formed and framed for the rest of his life to the point where he's still telling these stories.
Speaker 1 00:29:34 Only God could have done these things. And, and, and John's story like I just imagined him, he's like, dude, we never knew what the guy was up to. Like, he kept saying these things that didn't make sense and and isn't that just like our God to ask us to do incredibly weird things that don't make sense? And then to later fill in all the details and then we're left going. You are an utter genius. Why did I ever doubt you in the first place? Lemme say this again, following Jesus, it's only as exciting as your willingness to follow him to uncomfortable places. And and here's what I know, Jesus. I'm listening, I'm looking and I'm willing, and I gotta remind myself of that. So now I I, I pray on a regular basis. I wake up and I'm like, listen, I got a calendar. I gotta schedule.
Speaker 1 00:30:25 I know exactly the outcomes I want from this day. My day is your day. If you wanna blow it all up, blow it all up. If, if you wanna throw an audible or 17, go for it. Like this is my plan, but God, I'm watching, I'm listening. I just, I pray, whether it's today, this week or this month, I just, I ask that you would gimme the privilege to have more unforgettable. Only God could have moments and they don't happen every day. And I, I do think that John probably had more in a year than I'm gonna have in 10 lifetimes perk following Jesus in person, right? But I've just, I've just, I learned from watching John that that Jesus is discipling us. And I think there's just incredible power when we cannot just share our testimony but share with people who don't know Christ what he's been doing in our life.
Speaker 1 00:31:12 And I'm telling you, the vast majority of people who are not Christians, they don't have categories for a personal testimony or only God could have stories and, and don't we all wanna have those stories in our life? And so when they happen, start writing them down, start thinking about them, start talking about them. And there is incredible power in these moments. So what number three, John is desperate for all who read as gospel to believe. We're gonna go back to John chapter 20, verse 30. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in these, in this book, but these are written so that you may believe so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing you may have life in His name. I if you have been around for any of these sermons in the series of John, um, do you remember how almost every single sermon ends?
Speaker 1 00:32:14 It ends with the last. So what, which is believe And and this is the one of the primary reasons that John, uh, uh, wrote this book. Now we chose to preach to this book for many reasons. One of which those of you who already know Jesus, we just wanted you to be immersed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And that is always a good thing. Amen. Village Church. But, but what we've also found is that post covid, there are a whole bunch of people who are attending village Church for the first time. Sometimes they just come for a week, sometimes they sick for six months. Some have been here for like over a year and, and they are searching, they're trying to figure out eternal things and spiritual things and and make sense of, of Jesus. And as we started watching more and more people coming through these doors, we wanted to introduce them not to fake Jesus, but to the real Jesus from a firsthand account of an eyewitness so that our entire church could be blessed and that people could meet the real Jesus for the very first time.
Speaker 1 00:33:09 Now, if John, we've said this before, if John could stand up right here, he would look at all of you. He would tell you his personal story, how he came to Christ, and he would look at you and say, today is the day. Believe in Jesus Christ, you can trust what I am saying. You can corroborate what I'm saying with other people who are with me. I am telling you from a firsthand experience, Jesus Christ is God. And then he would probably like tell you more and more stories. We could sit here and listen to him talk for hours as he told you, miracle after miracle and crazy thing after crazy thing. And then he'd probably open up the scriptures in the Old Testament and start talking to you about all the prophecies and how Jesus fulfilled them. And he watched them personally. He would look at you and say, the evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable.
Speaker 1 00:33:56 Jesus Christ is the son of God. Will you believe in him today? And he would look at you and call you to trust in Christ. Now can he make you do it? Definitely not. At some point you have to make a decision to trust in Christ. So maybe you've been here all throughout John, maybe you parachute it in for a few. Maybe this is your first time at Village Church and I wanna look at you and say, believe in Jesus for the first time. Going to church does not make you a Christian. You don't get to go to heaven cuz your grandma prayed for you. You don't get to heaven because you're not as bad as the other bad people in your life. Salvation has only ever been through your an individual's personal telling God, I'm sorry, asking him to save you believing in Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 00:34:41 That's it. And so if you're here today and you know you're a sinner and you believe that Jesus Christ, he's not just on created being, he is eternally God who became a flesh and died for your sins, who is raised from the dead. And if you're here and you believe that today of great news, you don't also have to add works to that. It won't do you any good. It just negates the former. Today you can come to God on his terms, believe in him, and receive eternal life there. There's not like a special mantra, there's not like a special prayer. You won't open up with the Bible where it says, here's a here's this the prayer you're supposed to pray. Tell God I'm sorry. I believe in Jesus Christ that he died for my sins and was raised from the dead. Save me. And God's promise is that anyone who is sincere will have eternal life that begins today and endures forever and ever.
Speaker 1 00:35:33 And if you've never made that personal decision, um, I'm gonna encourage you. May today be the day. Uh, if you do come talk to one of us. We would love to pray for you, resource you celebrate with you what God is doing in your life. I wanna take a moment and, and I wanna pray for, for all of us. We're gonna celebrate communion and just center ourselves again on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. But lemme just take a moment and pray for each of us here. Father, I first wanna lift up, um, those in this room who, who kind of deep down inside they know they have never trusted in you. Maybe they're relying on something, anything else as a false sense of security. God, I pray today that you would show them overwhelmingly their need to trust in you. I pray you give them eyes to see, in a heart to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that they would know that forgiveness awaits them.
Speaker 1 00:36:28 And it is not by being good enough, but it's through belief in Jesus. God, I I pray you would do that. And Lord, um, I know that in any church in America, probably the world, there are people who think they're Christians but actually have never really fully trusted in you. God, maybe there's some people in the room here who, who you need to just by your spirit remind them you have never really, really fully trusted in me. And God, I pray today would be maybe for them the first day where they come to you and say, I'm sorry, forgive me, save me. And it would be real, genuine and true. And for those of us in the in the room who we have believed in you and received your Holy Spirit, thank you, thank you for the gospel of John, thank you for his eyewitness account.
Speaker 1 00:37:10 Thank you that it's corroborated by the rest of scripture. Thank you. Thank you for revealing yourself to us. Thank you for ensuring that from at least four different perspectives, the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus were documented so that we could know our savior even more personally. Thank you for the blood of Christ that has covered our sin. We are here today. We have your spirit forgiveness, not because we were good enough, but because Jesus, you shed your blood for us. And Father, you raised him from the dead. So we love you. Fill us with gratitude and we pray all of this and the mighty powerful saving name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
