Latest / CCC West Covina / May I Present Jesus (Part 5)
Transcript
- 0:00Take your Bible interpret with me, if you would to John chapter
- 0:031 John chapter 1 verses one to five.
- 0:12If I was going to introduce to you a project, if I was going to
- 0:17introduce to you a program, if I was going to introduce to you a
- 0:23a person, I would want to make sure that that introduction
- 0:29would make you very curious as to what I was going to talk
- 0:32about. That introduction would have to
- 0:35be concise. You have to be clear, some
- 0:41degree have to be complete, but most importantly, it would have
- 0:47to be very, very curious because I would want to keep your
- 0:53attention all throughout my presentation.
- 0:57And so if I can begin on the right foot, if I can begin by
- 1:00introducing to you this program or this person or project that
- 1:05I'm able to keep your attention to the entire presentation until
- 1:10I get to the end. John is introducing to us the
- 1:16Lord Jesus. He's doing it in a very unique
- 1:19way, but as he introduces Christ to us, he is, he is very
- 1:27concise, very clear, but he piques our curiosity as to the
- 1:34the identity of this one who was pre existent, self existent and
- 1:43coexistent with God. He wants to do that because he
- 1:49wants you to stay with them through all 21 chapters.
- 1:54He wants to be able to unfold for you everything he introduces
- 1:57to you in the 1st 5 verses, and he will do that quite
- 2:03effectively. But he does that because he
- 2:06wants you to come to a place where you will believe that
- 2:09Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.
- 2:17That's where He's taking us. That's to the end.
- 2:22But the very beginning he, he begins in a very unique and
- 2:27special way. He says very simply, these words
- 2:32in the beginning was the word Speaking of the eternality of
- 2:40God. And then he says, and the word
- 2:44was with God or face to face with God.
- 2:49In other words, he's dealing with the the personality of this
- 2:55individual who is God. And then it says and the word
- 3:03was God or God was the word. He tells us of his deity, the
- 3:10eternality, the personality and the deity of the Word and then
- 3:18he says he was in the beginning with God and all things came
- 3:24into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being
- 3:30that has come into being now. He tells us of his creativity,
- 3:36his activity, that everything comes into being.
- 3:40Because of this, one who was coexistent with God and pre
- 3:46existent with God is now the creator of everything.
- 3:52John is very precise in how he begins his introduction because
- 3:59as he peaks our curiosity, he's going to move us through all of
- 4:02this as he goes through the rest of his gospel.
- 4:08And then he says these words verse #4 in him was life and the
- 4:16life was the light of men. He introduces us to his
- 4:25vitality, his vibrancy, his energy.
- 4:34Not only is he pre existent and coexistent, he is self existent
- 4:42in him. His life He is life, and that
- 4:48life is the light of men. And John 14 he will say that I
- 4:58am the way, the truth, and the life.
- 5:03He will say in John 1125 I am the resurrection and I am the
- 5:11life. In John 5 verse #26 He will say
- 5:18these words. He will say, I'm sorry, verse
- 5:23#24 truly, truly I say to you, He hears my word and believes
- 5:29him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment,
- 5:36but it's passed out of death into life.
- 5:45Now we know that God from the very beginning said in
- 5:47Deuteronomy 32 that I am the Lord, I am the one who gives
- 5:57life. I am the one who causes death.
- 6:03No one dies without God's permission, and no one lives
- 6:08without God's permission. That's BIOS, the physical life.
- 6:14But John is using a different word, Zoe, talking about the
- 6:18quality of life, the vibrancy of life, the overflowing, the over
- 6:23abundant, the overwhelming kind of life that Christ gives for he
- 6:30is more than just existing. He is the essence of all quality
- 6:35of life. In him is life, and the life was
- 6:42the light of men. In other words, Christ came to
- 6:51give life to those who are dead. Man is born dead in his
- 6:57trespasses and sin, so in order for him to have life, he must
- 7:03see the light that is life. And Christ is that light.
- 7:10In fact, the reason Jesus came was to give life.
- 7:17Listen to John 6 verse #33 The Lord says these words.
- 7:24For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven
- 7:28and gives life to the world. The Son of God is the bread of
- 7:37life that comes down out of heaven and is the only provision
- 7:42of life the world will ever have, for He is the bread, the
- 7:50life giving bread given to the world.
- 7:56In John 10, Christ says I came that they might have life, Zoe,
- 8:05and that they might have life more abundantly.
- 8:09So Christ makes it very clear the reason I'm here is to give
- 8:12you life. Why?
- 8:14Because you're dead and dead people need to be resurrected.
- 8:19Dead people need to have life, and I've come down out of heaven
- 8:26to give you life. So John just very clearly and
- 8:30concisely states in him is life, and that life is the light of
- 8:44the world. Very, very important as the Word
- 8:49was God and God was the Word, because the Word and God had the
- 8:55same essential qualities. So life and light are the same
- 9:03because they had they possess the same essential qualities.
- 9:09So because there's life, there's light.
- 9:11Because there is light, there's life.
- 9:14And so John will use the phrase light in life all throughout his
- 9:18gospel to show you that the life is the one that brings the
- 9:22light. And without the light you'll
- 9:25never have the life because the two possess the same essential
- 9:31qualities. In fact Christ says in John
- 9:34chapter 8 verse #12 you know these verses John 812 Jesus
- 9:42spoke to them and said I am the light of the world.
- 9:46He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have
- 9:52what? The light of life.
- 9:59You see that you won't walk in darkness because you'll have the
- 10:02light, which is a life giving light.
- 10:09Over in Psalm 36 verse #9 it says these words, For with you
- 10:18God is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light.
- 10:28So God, you are the fountain of life, and that life gives light,
- 10:33and in your light we're able to see more light.
- 10:40And then the Bible says over in Second Corinthians, Second
- 10:44Corinthians chapter 4, verse #4 or verse 3.
- 10:48And even if our gospel is veiled, that is veiled to those
- 10:50who are perishing, whose case the God of this world has
- 10:54blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might
- 10:57not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
- 11:04the image of God. So the light of the gospel shows
- 11:09us that Jesus Christ is the glory of God, that Jesus Christ
- 11:14is God in the flesh. And then in verse 6 it says, for
- 11:18God, who said light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who
- 11:22was shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
- 11:27the glory of God in the face of Christ.
- 11:33Remember, when Christ was born, the glory of the Lord was shined
- 11:39all around, all around the shepherds.
- 11:44And So what is the glory of the Lord?
- 11:45It's the presence of God manifested in brilliant lights.
- 11:50So God was manifesting himself in his glory as he was shined
- 11:55down in light around the shepherds on the Mount of
- 12:00Transfiguration. Christ who is the life would
- 12:04unzip, unzip his flesh, and brilliant light would shine
- 12:09forth, because the life is the light and the light is the life.
- 12:14You cannot separate the 2. So Christ's brilliance would
- 12:19would shine forth there on the mount of Transfiguration, and
- 12:24the disciples would behold the glory of the Lord.
- 12:29So John says the very beginning, I want to talk to you about the
- 12:34one who is self existent, the one who has life in himself, the
- 12:40one the only one who can give life to dead people because he's
- 12:45writing to those who are dead and they need life and the only
- 12:51way they're going to receive the life is to see the light.
- 12:54So when him is life, and then he says very clearly these words,
- 13:01and the life was the light of men.
- 13:07Christ's whole life was about shining down on man, that he
- 13:17might behold the beauty of the Lord.
- 13:21We live in a world steeped in darkness, filled with death, and
- 13:29so in comes the light that gives life to dead people.
- 13:36That's the ministry of the Messiah.
- 13:39That's Christ Himself. He is light, He is life.
- 13:47The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 5 that the world is
- 13:52engulfed in the unfruitful deeds of darkness.
- 13:56Why? Because they have no life.
- 14:01The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 2 verse #13 that sinners
- 14:07are those who leave the paths of brightness to walk in the ways
- 14:15of darkness. In Proverbs 4 verse #19 it says
- 14:19the way of the wicked is like darkness.
- 14:23They do not know over what they stumble.
- 14:30You see the wicked walk in darkness because they're dead.
- 14:35They have no light, they have no life, so they do not know where
- 14:41they are going. The Bible says in Ephesians 418
- 14:47that the world is darkened in their understanding, excluded
- 14:53from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them,
- 14:58because of the hardness of their hearts.
- 15:02In Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verse #14 this is the fools walk in
- 15:08darkness. Why?
- 15:11Because fools don't know life, therefore they can't see light.
- 15:18The Bible says in John 1235 he walks in the darkness, does not
- 15:23know where he is going. So when a sin darkened world
- 15:32filled with death comes the light of life.
- 15:39And the Bible says in verse #9 of John one that the true light
- 15:44enlightens every man that is in the world.
- 15:50So the life of Christ, which is the true light, enlightens every
- 15:56man that is in the world. That's every man with that
- 15:59exception. Every man has something of the
- 16:04light, but they refuse the light.
- 16:08In fact, Simeon, remember when Christ was born and Simeon took
- 16:13the Christ child in his arms. What did he say?
- 16:17That this child, this child alone is the light of revelation
- 16:21to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel.
- 16:26This life is the light to the Gentile world.
- 16:32This life is the light to the nation of Israel.
- 16:37This child who is life lights the way so those who are dead
- 16:44can experience life. In Matthew chapter 4, Christ
- 16:48said the people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light,
- 16:53and those who are sitting in the land in shadow of death, upon
- 16:57them a light dawned. Matthew would take that from the
- 17:01Old Testament prophets and show how the Messiah would come and
- 17:05the light would dawn upon people because the life of Christ had
- 17:11arrived. And so Christ says, I am the
- 17:15light of the world. Why?
- 17:19Because I am life, and life gives light to those who are
- 17:27dark and those who are dead, and that's the world we live in.
- 17:34But that's who Christ is. So you would think that those
- 17:38people who are who are dead in the trespasses and sin and those
- 17:41people who are living in The Dark World would flock to the
- 17:44light. But they don't.
- 17:49They reject the light. Why?
- 17:52John tells us, John will say in John chapter 3 verse #19 that
- 17:56this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world
- 17:59and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds
- 18:06were evil. Think about that.
- 18:10Why is it that the people you love so dearly and you share
- 18:14Christ with don't come to Christ?
- 18:19It's because they love the darkness is it's like a man
- 18:23filled with a, a deadly disease who just wants more of his
- 18:28disease. And that's the the way the
- 18:31unbelieving world is that they, they love their their deeds of
- 18:36unrighteousness. They love their sin.
- 18:40They don't want to be saved from their sin.
- 18:44They love their sin too much. Paul, in Acts 26, we'll talk
- 18:51about those who, through repentance and faith in Christ,
- 18:54would turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of
- 18:59Satan to God. They received the forgiveness of
- 19:02sins and an inheritance among those who have been sacrificed
- 19:08or sanctified. Excuse me, by faith in God.
- 19:12In other words, pulses I came to preach the gospel, which is
- 19:16light and life to those who are dead and dark.
- 19:20And through repentance they turned from their sin and from
- 19:24the domain of Satan, and they entered to the Kingdom of the
- 19:28living God. So Paul says in Colossians
- 19:31chapter one verse #13 it says that they are rescued from the
- 19:36domain of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of
- 19:40his beloved Son. Therefore you become sons of
- 19:45light and sons of the day. No longer are you sons of the
- 19:50night and sons of the dark. And so Christ comes in him his
- 20:00life, and that life is the light to all men.
- 20:08John says these words in first John chapter 5 verse #10.
- 20:15The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in
- 20:18himself. The one who does not believe God
- 20:21has made him a liar because he has not believed in the
- 20:25testimony that God has given concerning the Son.
- 20:29And the testimony is this, that God has given his given us,
- 20:34excuse me, eternal life. And this life is in His Son.
- 20:39He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of
- 20:43God does not have the life. And then over to verse 20.
- 20:51And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us
- 20:55understanding so that we may know Him who is true, and we are
- 21:00in him who is true in His Son Jesus Christ.
- 21:05This is the true God and eternal life.
- 21:14Christ gives eternal life because He is eternal.
- 21:21So you obtain His life. And that's just not a long life.
- 21:26That's not longevity of life. Why?
- 21:29Because everybody lives forever. You just either live forever
- 21:34with God or live forever without God.
- 21:36Everybody lives forever. Nobody goes out of existence.
- 21:41When you die, your soul is separated from your body, but
- 21:45your soul lives on. And one day John 5 will tell us
- 21:48that that unbelieving body will be resurrected and connected
- 21:53with that unbelieving soul and will live forever in hell.
- 21:59But the believing soul is connected with the believing
- 22:02resurrected body, and that is a glorified body and will live
- 22:06forever with Christ. But everybody lives forever.
- 22:10Nobody goes out of existence. So what is eternal life?
- 22:14Eternal life is quality of life. It's Christ's life.
- 22:19It's the overwhelming, overflowing over abundant kind
- 22:22of life that Christ himself can give.
- 22:25It's it's vitality of life, it's vibrancy of life.
- 22:30The question comes, what kind of life do you have?
- 22:34What kind of life do you live? Do you have Christ's life?
- 22:43You look around the the auditorium or you look around
- 22:46most churches and you talk to most people who claim to know
- 22:49Christ and you wonder if they have any life at all in them
- 22:54because they look like they're dead.
- 22:57They live as if they're dead. They don't live as if they have
- 23:00life. Christ's life in them.
- 23:07He is life. In him is life.
- 23:14Colossians 127 says that Christ in you is the hope of glory.
- 23:25Christ in you is the hope of glory.
- 23:28When you get saved, Christ invades your life.
- 23:36That that's why there's a transformation when someone is
- 23:41born again. The life of Christ invades your
- 23:44life. He takes up his abode in you.
- 23:49That's why you can't continue in sin over a long period of time.
- 23:53Once you become a believer, because Christ is in you.
- 23:57Your body is the temple of the living God.
- 24:02God lives in you. So those who are believers have
- 24:06his life in them, that vibrant, vital, energetic life that
- 24:17Christ gives because he lives within you.
- 24:21There is never an excuse to live a bad life.
- 24:26If you're a believer, there's no such thing as a bad life.
- 24:31If you're a believer. It's only a good life because
- 24:33you serve a good God and a good God lives within you.
- 24:37So your life is a good life because of a good God who dwells
- 24:42within you. Now here's the point.
- 24:46The Bible calls God the living God.
- 24:53He's not just any God. He is the the living God.
- 24:56All the other gods are dead gods, but Christ is the only
- 25:00living God. Remember in Caesarea Philippi,
- 25:04up north in the land of Israel, when Christ asked that question
- 25:08to the disciples, who do men say that I am?
- 25:12And they would say, well, some say you're the Christ, and some
- 25:15excuse me. Some say you're John the
- 25:16Baptist, and some say you're Jeremiah, and some say you're
- 25:19one of the prophets. But no one's saying you're God.
- 25:24This is Who do you say that I am?
- 25:27Peter says Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
- 25:35The Living God is a title for the name of Christ.
- 25:38That's his name. We know his name is Prince of
- 25:41Peace. We know his name is Mighty God.
- 25:44We know his name is Everlasting Father.
- 25:46We know his name is El Shaddai. We know his name is El Gabor.
- 25:53His name is Living God 31 times in the Bible.
- 26:00He's called the Living Gods 15 times the Old Testament, 16
- 26:04times in the New Testament. But do you understand that our
- 26:09God is the living God? He is a self existent God and
- 26:15the living God dwells within his people, giving them his life.
- 26:20So John is introducing Christ to us.
- 26:23He says let me present Christ to you.
- 26:25Let me present the word to you. Let me introduce it this way.
- 26:29Let me talk to you about the eternality of the word.
- 26:32Let me talk to you about the personality of the word.
- 26:34Let me talk to you about the the deity of the word.
- 26:37Let me talk to you about the creativity of the word.
- 26:40But let me talk to you about the vitality of the Word, because in
- 26:44Him is life, and that life is the only light to man.
- 26:51There is no other light. It's the life of Christ Himself.
- 26:57The first time the Lord is mentioned as light is in the
- 27:03book of Deuteronomy. The last time it's the Book of
- 27:06Revelation, Revelation Chapter 7, Deuteronomy chapter 5.
- 27:11In Deuteronomy chapter 5, Moses is speaking, God has just given
- 27:18the 10 commandments on top of Mount Sinai and it says in verse
- 27:22#24 you said, behold, the Lord your God has shown us His glory
- 27:27and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst
- 27:30of the fire. We have seen today that God
- 27:33speaks with men, yet He lives. Now then, why should we die?
- 27:39For this great fire will consume us.
- 27:42If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will
- 27:46die. For who is there of all flesh?
- 27:51Who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the
- 27:57midst of the fire as we have and lived.
- 28:03So the first mention of the fact that God is the living God is in
- 28:07Deuteronomy chapter 5. Joshua will then will refer to
- 28:12to God as the living God in Joshua chapter 3 as Israel is
- 28:16about to embark on the promised land of the earth across over
- 28:20the river Jordan. And in verse 7 of chapter 3, it
- 28:23says, now the Lord said to Joshua, this day I will begin to
- 28:26exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that
- 28:30just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you.
- 28:34You shall over command the priests who are carrying the ark
- 28:37of the covenant, saying, When you come to the edge of the
- 28:40waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.
- 28:43Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, come here and hear the
- 28:47words of the Lord your God. Joshua said, By this you shall
- 28:52know that the living God is among you and that he will
- 29:01assuredly dispose from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite,
- 29:07the Hivite, the Perisite, the Girgashite, the Amorite and the
- 29:12Jebusite. Only the living God can do that.
- 29:17And so then you go to a very familiar verse, Psalm 42, which
- 29:22says verse one, as the deer pants for the water brooks, so
- 29:27my soul pants for you, O God, My soul thirsts for God, for the
- 29:34living God, the living God, not some dead idol, but the living
- 29:44God. In fact, in verse 45 it says,
- 29:48why are you in the Sparrow, my soul?
- 29:50And why have you become disturbed within me, hoping God,
- 29:52for I shall again praise him for the help of his presence.
- 29:58Why? Why would our soul be in
- 29:59despair? Why would I live as if there's
- 30:02no hope? Why?
- 30:04I'm in the presence of the living God, the God who lives
- 30:08and reigns forever and ever. I live in the presence of a God
- 30:13who lives forever. He goes on to say the same thing
- 30:17in verse 11 and also in chapter 5 of verse #43 Why are you in
- 30:21despair, O my soul? Why should my soul ever despair?
- 30:27Because I live in the presence of the living God?
- 30:33Over in Psalm 84 verse #1 How lovely are your dwelling places,
- 30:37O Lord of hosts? My soul longed and even yearn
- 30:40for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh sing for the
- 30:44joy to the living God. Again, he's referred to as the
- 30:51living God. The song was recognizing that
- 30:54God is not just present with him, but is alive and well among
- 30:58Him. He dwells with Him.
- 31:02He is the living God. As you recall, it was Caiaphas
- 31:13who said to Jesus before his crucifixion.
- 31:17He said, I command you in the name of the living God.
- 31:25Are you the Christ, the Son of God?
- 31:30Remember that he commanded Christ who is self existent.
- 31:40He is the living God in the flesh.
- 31:44Caiaphas commands under the direction of the living God.
- 31:52Are you the Christ, the Son of God, not even recognizing that
- 31:58before him was the God who lives?
- 32:01And that's because he refused to see the lights of the life of
- 32:06the living God. So he remained in darkness and
- 32:11thus died in darkness. Paul would say in Acts 14, these
- 32:17words, he says it is the living God who made the heaven and the
- 32:23earth and the sea and all that is in them.
- 32:28Only a living God can do that. So Paul picking up on John
- 32:34chapter one of the creativity of God and the the vitality of God,
- 32:40that he is the living God that creates everything, that brings
- 32:44everything into existence. And then over in First Timothy
- 32:48chapter 3, First Timothy 3 verse #14 Paul says, I am writing
- 32:55these things to you, hoping to come to you before long.
- 32:58But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how
- 33:02one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is
- 33:07the Church of the living God, the pillar and support of the
- 33:14truth. The church is the assembly, the
- 33:18gathering of God's people. We have the living God living
- 33:24within us as a church. Therefore, our church is alive
- 33:29because God himself is alive, says in First Timothy 410.
- 33:33For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed
- 33:40our hope on the living God who is the Savior of all men,
- 33:48especially of those who believe. It's the living God who is the
- 33:55Savior of all men, especially of those who believe at the
- 34:02resurrection of Christ. Remember what the men in white
- 34:08apparel said. Maybe it was an Angel, maybe it
- 34:13wasn't. We don't know.
- 34:15There were two men in white apparel.
- 34:18Could have been the same two men on the mountain, Transfiguration
- 34:21as far as we know. But he said, why do you seek the
- 34:26living one among the dead? Why seek the living one, the
- 34:33living God? Why do you look for the one who
- 34:35lives among those who are dead? Why would you do that in
- 34:42Revelation One verse #19 I'm sorry, verse #17 as John was on
- 34:50the island of Patmos, he said before the glorified risen
- 34:53Christ. Christ said, I am the 1st and I
- 34:59am the last. I am the living one and I was
- 35:08dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore.
- 35:15You see, He is the living God, and therefore we serve a true
- 35:21and living God. The Bible says in Hebrews 9
- 35:26verse #14 that God will cleanse your conscience from dead works
- 35:34so that you might serve the living God.
- 35:40Those in Thessalonica, First Thessalonians 1 verses 9 and 10,
- 35:46they turn to God from idols in order to serve the true and
- 35:55living God. They turn from dead idols, from
- 36:01empty vain idols that mean nothing to serve the true and
- 36:08living God. And that's why the Bible says it
- 36:15is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living
- 36:22God. He was 10/31.
- 36:26Why? Why is it a terrifying thing to
- 36:30fall into the hands of the living God?
- 36:33You see? Because if you don't give your
- 36:35life to Christ, the only life you will live is a life without
- 36:40Christ. You're either with Christ or
- 36:43without Christ. There's no in between.
- 36:46There's no Gray area. In fact, we, we, we should never
- 36:50say to someone, are are you a believer in Christ?
- 36:56I mean, you could say that to a demon.
- 36:57He would say, yes, I am. I'm a believer in Christ.
- 37:01They believe, yet they shudder. You'd ask someone is, is Christ
- 37:06living in you? Is the living God living in you?
- 37:13You should never tell somebody you're a Christian.
- 37:18Tell somebody that Christ lives in you.
- 37:22It it's a more descriptive way of, of, of explaining to people
- 37:25who you are. Everybody thinks they're a
- 37:28Christian. Everybody says they believe in
- 37:30Jesus. But but we have Christ in us.
- 37:35We, we told you before that that, that, that, that that the
- 37:39Buddhist doesn't have Buddha living in him.
- 37:42Why? Because Buddha is a dead God, a
- 37:44false God, right? The Mormon doesn't have Joseph
- 37:49Smith living in him. Why?
- 37:51Joseph Smith is a, is a, is a dead man.
- 37:55He's not God. The Christian Scientist doesn't
- 37:59have Mary Baker Eddie living in them.
- 38:04They might follow their teaching.
- 38:06They might believe in what they say, but we as as Christians,
- 38:10followers of Christ, actually have Christ living in US.
- 38:15Christ lives in a Christ in you is the hope of glory.
- 38:20Christ lives in us. The living God lives in us.
- 38:24That's why you have a life. If you don't have Christ, you
- 38:30have no life. You exist, you breathe, you go
- 38:39to work, you play, you make money, you buy things and think
- 38:46you're happy. But you don't live, just exist.
- 38:52Only people who live are those who have the living God reigning
- 39:00in their lives. How about you?
- 39:03Do you have the living God reigning in your heart and life?
- 39:11Does Christ live in you? Is your life a bore?
- 39:17How can you live a boring life? Sometimes your kids say, hey,
- 39:21what are you doing? I'm not doing nothing.
- 39:23I'm bored. Really.
- 39:23You're bored? What does that mean?
- 39:26You're bored? I don't.
- 39:27I don't understand boredom. How can you have the living God
- 39:31give you life and you be bored? Something's wrong.
- 39:35Not with God, but with the one who claims to have the living
- 39:40God living in within them. Our lives should be vibrant.
- 39:46Our lives should be vital. Why?
- 39:49Number one, let me get to my outline #1 is because we have an
- 39:54abundant life, an abundant life. I came that you might have life
- 40:01and that you might have life more abundantly.
- 40:08Not only you have abundant life, you have a a blessed life.
- 40:12Listen to what Jeremiah says. Jeremiah 17 verse #7 Blessed is
- 40:19the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose trust is the Lord.
- 40:25For he will be like a tree planted by the water that
- 40:29extends its roots by a stream, and will not fear when the heat
- 40:33comes, but it leaves will be green, and it will not be
- 40:38anxious in a year of drought, nor cease to yield fruit.
- 40:43That's the blessed life. The blessed life is not an
- 40:48anxious life. The blessed life is not afraid
- 40:52of the year of drought. Why?
- 40:55Because the blessed life is the one who trusts in the Lord and
- 40:59waits upon the Lord. That's why.
- 41:02When Jesus came and preached a Sermon on the Mount, what do you
- 41:04say? Blessed, blessed, blessed. 9
- 41:08times Why? This is what it means to be a
- 41:12child in my Kingdom. You have the blessed life, the
- 41:17Macarios, the the joyful life, the contented life.
- 41:21You have the inner joy that's unaffected by any external
- 41:24circumstances because you have me in you.
- 41:27This is the blessed life. That's what the living God
- 41:31gives. He gives the abundant life, He
- 41:36gives the blessed life, He gives the converted life.
- 41:40Matthew chapter 18 verse #3 Unless you are converted and
- 41:45become like a little child, you shall ever enter the Kingdom of
- 41:49heaven. There's a conversion, a
- 41:52transformation that takes place in the life of someone who gives
- 41:56their life to Christ because the light has shown down upon them.
- 42:02So the life that God gives is an abundant life.
- 42:05It's a blessed life. It's a converted life.
- 42:09It is a directed life. Isaiah 30, verse #30 excuse me,
- 42:19verse #20 all of the Lord has given you bread for privation
- 42:23and water of oppression. He, your teacher, will no longer
- 42:26hide himself, but your eyes will behold your teacher.
- 42:30Your ears will hear a word behind you.
- 42:32This is the way. Walk in it whenever you turn to
- 42:36the right or to the left. There's something about a
- 42:41believer that has a directed life.
- 42:45That's why he's given us his word, which is a light into our
- 42:49path and a lamp into our feet. So we can always walk with
- 42:54purpose and direction. So the, the, the Christ life is
- 42:59an abundant life. It's a blessed life.
- 43:02It's a converted life. It's a directed life.
- 43:04It is the eternal life. John 524 It's a life that is not
- 43:10just a long life, it's the life of Christ because of the eternal
- 43:14God who lives within you. It is the forgiven life.
- 43:18Colossians 114 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of
- 43:22sins. It is the grace life.
- 43:25Ephesians 289 For by grace you have been saved through faith,
- 43:29that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of
- 43:31works, lest any man should boast.
- 43:34And that grace life helps us be saved by grace.
- 43:38Stand in grace, be strengthened by grace, because it's all a
- 43:43work of God's grace. In our lives.
- 43:47We also have the holy life. Be holy, for the Lord your God
- 43:52is holy first. Peter 9 The believers called a
- 43:57holy nation, that is, we have been separated unto God for his
- 44:03purposes. And so the life that you have is
- 44:06a holy life. It is the indwelt life.
- 44:10First Corinthians 619 It says that your body is the temple of
- 44:15the Holy Spirit. John 1423 The Lord says I and
- 44:20the Father will make our abode in you, we will live in you.
- 44:26You're dwelt by God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit.
- 44:31Colossians 127 Christ in you the hope of glory.
- 44:37So Christ says, or John says, in him is life.
- 44:44What kind of life? The abundant life, the blessed
- 44:48life, the converted life, the directed life, the eternal life,
- 44:54forgiving life, grace life, holy life and dwelt life, the joy
- 44:59filled life. You have a joy filled life.
- 45:06John 15 verse 11. I've spoken these things that my
- 45:13joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.
- 45:22That's the joy filled life. That's why we we can't be bored.
- 45:29That's why we can't can't be dull.
- 45:33We have a joy filled life. Christ's joy is in US.
- 45:39We have the kept life. First Peter one verse #5 You are
- 45:43kept by the power of God. You have the light life.
- 45:46Matthew chapter 5 verse #14 You are the light of the world.
- 45:50You have a meaningful life. John 20 verse #2021 as the
- 45:55Father sent me, so send I you. That's, that's meaning, that's
- 45:58purpose, and you have a, a meaningful life.
- 46:00You have new life. 2nd Corinthians 5 verse #17 If any
- 46:03man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
- 46:05You have the ordained life. Psalm 139 that all your days are
- 46:10ordained before there was even yet one of them.
- 46:12You have the purchased life. First Peter chapter 1, verses 18
- 46:15and 19, you've been purchased by the blood of the Lamb.
- 46:18You have the quiet life. Isaiah 30 verse #15 in quietness
- 46:23and trust is your strength. Psalm 62 five.
- 46:27My soul waits in silence for Thee, O God.
- 46:32You have the resurrected life, John 11 verse #25 You have the
- 46:35salted life, Matthew chapter 5 verse #13 You're the soul of the
- 46:39earth. You have the tried life, James
- 46:41chapter 1 verses 2 to 4. You have the upright life,
- 46:44Proverbs 20 verse #7 You have the victorious life.
- 46:48John 1633, Romans 837. We are overwhelmingly conquerors
- 46:53through Him who loved us. We have the wounded life, John
- 46:571518 to 20. You have the Christos life,
- 47:01Christ life, gracious 2:20 I am crucified with Christ.
- 47:04Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.
- 47:08You have the yielded life. Zechariah chapter 4 verse #6
- 47:12which says not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says
- 47:18the Lord. And then you have the zealous
- 47:22life. That's Titus 2 verse #14 that we
- 47:28are redeemed, that we might live zealously for Christ.
- 47:35So let me ask you a question. What kind of life do you live?
- 47:42Those are the character qualities of the life of Christ
- 47:47that should be in you. You can test yourself.
- 47:51You can examine yourself and look at your life and ask, what
- 47:55kind of life am I living? Is Christ living in me?
- 47:59John says. I want to introduce, I want to
- 48:02present to you Jesus, not just his eternality, not not just his
- 48:09personality, not just his deity, not just his creativity.
- 48:14I want to introduce to you his vitality, his vibrancy, because
- 48:20you're going to come to meet the one who actually is life and
- 48:24he's going to take your dead soul and raise it to life that
- 48:28you might walk in newness of life.
- 48:32Do you have that kind of life? You can.
- 48:36All you have to do is give your life, which is dark and dead, to
- 48:45the life of Christ, who is life and light.
- 48:50You do that, you'll experience the life of the living God.
- 48:55Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today
- 48:58and the opportunity you give us to be together.
- 49:03And our prayer, Father, is that there would be no one in the
- 49:05room who does not know the life of Christ.
- 49:08They'd recognize that your life is in them.
- 49:11But they are forgiven. They they, they are blessed.
- 49:17Their lives are abundant. Their lives are directed, their
- 49:22lives are are Christ centered that their lives are zealously
- 49:29working for you. Their lives are truly salted.
- 49:34They preserve the corruption around them.
- 49:37Their lives are truly light and love because of the God who is
- 49:43light and love Lord. Our prayer is that no one would
- 49:47leave today without knowing for certain that Jesus Christ is the
- 49:52life and light of their souls. We pray this in Jesus name,
- 50:00Amen.