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I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD | Pastor Josh (I Am Who I Am) · Northwest Students

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Um, okay. So, here's here's a question
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for you guys. Uh, you know what?
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Something I guess this is more of a
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rhetorical question. You know what's
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something that I wasn't expecting uh
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when I moved to Georgia? And I know a
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couple weeks ago I said all the bugs,
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but this is going to be a different one.
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Uh, this is weird. And maybe it's just
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because I grew up in a city, but I was
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surprised about all the like ditches and
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ponds and like little hills that just
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like drop off like 20 ft off the road.
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and occasionally cars just like drive
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off them. It's kind of wild. Like it's
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amazing the way that it drains all of
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that stuff. So, so I've said before I
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grew up in California. I grew up in Los
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Angeles. And so in Los Angeles, we just
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don't have that, right? Like in order to
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do drainage, um they they have this
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whole like system of underground drains
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that uh are and like sewers and stuff
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that just like pull all the water into
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these like underground tunnels and then
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run it out into I don't know whatever
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the ocean or something like that. My
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guess is that Atlanta has something
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similar, but like out here not so much.
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And so in LA at least, it was not a very
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good system. This whole like drainage
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system that we had because it felt like
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when I was growing up, uh the street
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that I lived on, every time that it
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rained, it would flood on one end of my
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street. And I don't know if you guys
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have seen the 2002 lime green VW Beetle
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that I drive, but that thing going
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through a puddle will be like, I'm not
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made to do that. So, it's uh it's been a
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mess. But anyway, when I was in high
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school, uh me and a group of friends of
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mine, uh we found one of those big
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underground drain tunnels. It was like
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20 feet wide that opened up into the LA
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River and ran out to the sea. And so we
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decided, being like 15-year-old dudes,
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that we were going to go and explore
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this underground tunnel. We were going
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to take flashlights and wear rain boots
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and just like go and see where this
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underground tunnel went, right? And it
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ran for like three or four miles just
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straight underground like under streets
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with cars going overhead. Uh and there
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was probably like 2 in of water and
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slime just like the whole way until it
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finally like came out in a park on the
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other side of Los Angeles. It was
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totally awesome. And I remember this one
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time when I went out there with my
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friends and I was beefing with them and
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it I was probably in the wrong. And so
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my friends decided when we were on the
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other side of this tunnel that they were
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just going to go back without me because
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I was like in a mood and not wanting to
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listen to them. So they just dipped out
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and left without me. And uh they had
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left me one of the flashlights. And as I
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started hiking back through this tunnel,
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like 3 or four miles, we're talking like
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an hour, hour plus of walking through
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the dark. Uh and as I'm going the
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flashlight, the battery on my flashlight
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gives out. And so for the whole like
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probably 40 minutes of the rest of this
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this walk through this tunnel, it's just
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pitch total darkness. And I had to just
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like feel my hand along the wall and
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along the like cobwebs and cockroaches
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until I finally made my way out. And
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when I saw the light at the end of the
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tunnel, you guys have heard that phrase,
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right? The light at the end of the
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tunnel. when I saw the literal light at
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the end of the literal tunnel under LA,
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uh, I was just like locked in on that
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light the whole time until I made it out
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because the light told me where I needed
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to go. So, maybe some of you already
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have a sense of where I'm going with
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this. Maybe some of you are like, I got
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no idea why you're you're in on this.
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Um, but if you haven't been here in the
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last couple of weeks, we just started a
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couple of weeks ago a new series that
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we're calling I am who I am. And for the
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next seven weeks, or I guess it's like
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six more weeks now, uh we're going to be
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looking at seven statements that Jesus
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makes about his identity and mission in
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the Gospel of John. And these are seven
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metaphors that Jesus uses to talk about
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who he is and how he relates to us and
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what he came to do on the earth. And so
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in the first week, and my challenge
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throughout this whole series has been to
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memorize these different statements, but
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the first week of the series, we talked
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about the name of God. Do any of you
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remember what it was?
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Nobody. I am. It was. Yeah, it was I am
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who I am. Right. So, the name of Were
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you Were you?
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>> What is it?
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>> All right. I don't think I told you that
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story. But anyway, so I am who I am.
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It's Yahweh, which means I am who I am.
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Yeah. So that's the the first statement
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that Jesus or or rather before Jesus
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even makes any of these statements the
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thing that we need to understand is that
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he is saying with each one of these I am
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statements he's saying I am God. Right?
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And then this last week we jumped into
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the first of the I am statements. Do any
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of you remember which one that one was?
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Sophia.
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>> He said I am the bread of life. Which
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tells us what about Jesus?
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Samuel
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>> he's our provider. that he nourishes us
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spiritually, that he feeds us
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spiritually, that he's the nourishment
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that we need, who satisfies our hunger
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to know God, right? And the emphasis of
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I am the bread of life is that we depend
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on Jesus the way the people in Israel
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depended on God to feed them through the
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wilderness. And so, like I said a second
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ago, my challenge throughout this whole
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series is for you to memorize each one
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of these statements. So Sophia just said
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it, "I am the bread of life." What was
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the first one?
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You can do better than that. What was
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the first one?
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>> Thank you, Asher. And the second one
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that we're going to be talking about
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right now is I am the light of the
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world. Hit me with that one.
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>> Thank you. I am the light of the world.
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So, that is the I am statement that
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Jesus makes that comes out of John 8.
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It's in verses 12 through 20. And so,
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we've got Bibles over here. Those NLTs
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are what I'm going to be teaching out
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of. But if you were here two weeks ago,
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we already looked at a passage a little
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bit later in John chapter 8. And at the
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end of John 8, Jesus has gotten the
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religious leaders in Israel so mad at
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him that they've decided to pick up
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stones and they're going to try and beat
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Jesus to death with him. And this
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statement that Jesus makes, I am the
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light of the world, takes place during
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one of the really important Jewish
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festivals that they had that they
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celebrated in the Jewish calendar. The
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festival is called the feast of
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tabernacles or in Hebrew it's called
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sukkot. So if you have any Jewish
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friends they actually still celebrate
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this feast of tabernacles sukkot today.
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And a tabernacle is basically just a big
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tent, right? And uh so yeah they still
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celebrate the feast of tabernacles
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today. And every year during the feast
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of tabernacles what the Jewish people
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were supposed to do is build these tents
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and spend the whole week living in these
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tents outside of their houses. And it
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was a way of them remembering how during
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the wilderness wandering that their
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ancestors had to wander uh for 40 years
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in the desert that the people of Israel
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lived in tents and God fed them out of
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heaven. Right? So last week we talked
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last week we talked about God feeding
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the Israelites with the bread from
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heaven. And now this next statement
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takes place during the feast where they
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celebrate or they where they remember
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living in these tents. And during that
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whole period of wandering the
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wilderness, uh the Old Testament says
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that the
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Hello. Hello. There we go. I was reading
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this this quote from like 2,000 years
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ago where it talked about how the light
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in these in on this lamp was so bright
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in the temple in Jerusalem that it lit
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up the entire city that anywhere that
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you were in the entire city, you could
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see the light on the mountain from these
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lamps on the at the temple. And so when
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Jesus is speaking to these crowds, the
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statement that he's going to make about
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himself, he's standing in the courtyard
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in the temple, right? right on this
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mountaintop that's on the edge of town
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and right underneath these big huge
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telephone polesiz lamps that are shining
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bright enough to light up the whole
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city. And so standing right there, Jesus
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says this, John 8:12, he says, "I am the
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light of the world. If you follow me,
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you won't have to walk in darkness
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because you will have the light that
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leads to life." Now, do you guys
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remember how last week we talked about
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how the miracle of Jesus feeding the
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5000 was meant to point back to the
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wilderness wandering? And it was meant
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to point to Jesus as the true bread that
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God sends from heaven, right? We talked
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about that. Well, Jesus is kind of doing
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the same thing here, right? He says that
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the lamps in the the city, the lamps in
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the temple are meant to point backward
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to that time in the wilderness wandering
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with the pillar of fire and all that
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stuff that lit up the nation. But it's
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meant to point forward to Jesus as the
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one who lights up not just the nation of
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Israel, but he lights up the entire
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world. I've been talking throughout this
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series that that Jesus is making these
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big bold claims about himself. And in
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this one, the big bold claim that Jesus
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is making is to connect his identity to
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the pillar of fire in the Old Testament.
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He's connecting his identity to the
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literal glory of God that told the
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Israelites where they're supposed to go.
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Jesus is saying that just like the
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pillar of fire told them where they
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should go as they were wandering through
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the wilderness, he says,"I am the light
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of the world that tells the whole world
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where it's supposed to go." And that
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idea that there is a way of light and a
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way of darkness is actually a super
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important theme that shows up over and
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over and over again in John's gospel.
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that idea of light, John connects it to
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the kingdom of life, the kingdom uh that
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Jesus has invited all of us into and
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then he connects darkness to the to the
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the kingdom of this world. The the the
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life that Jesus is bringing us out of.
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And so right there at the beginning of
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John chapter 1, and I'm not going to
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pull it up on the the slide, but at the
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beginning of John chapter 1, he says
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this. He says the word, talking about
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Jesus, he says the word gave life to
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everything that was created and his
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life, Jesus's life brought light to
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everyone. The light shines in the
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darkness and the darkness can never
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extinguish it. The whole gospel of John
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starts off by telling us that before
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Jesus was in the world, the whole world
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was captured by darkness. The whole
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world was corrupted by sin and rebellion
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against God. And when Jesus arrived on
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earth, it says the powers of darkness
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and sin in the world were opposed to
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Jesus. Were opposed to the light that he
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brings, but that they can't overcome
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him. Later on in John chapter 3, I still
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don't have a slide for this one, but he
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picks up that idea again, and it comes
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out right after this verse that
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everybody has memorized. You guys know
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John 3:16, right? A lot of you do. So,
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this comes a couple verses after John
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3:16. It's in 3:19. He says, "God's
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light," meaning himself. "God's light
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came into the world, but people loved
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the darkness more than the light, for
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their actions were evil. All who do evil
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hate the light and refuse to go near it
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for fear that their sins will be
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exposed. But those who do what is right
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come to the light so others can see that
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they are doing what God wants."
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That's Jesus speaking in his own words
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about his mission on earth. He says that
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in Jesus coming to earth, the light has
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come to defeat the darkness. And he says
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that the way people respond to Jesus
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tells us whether they have a heart
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turned toward God or turned away from
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him.
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And the idea of this passage, the idea
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that Jesus has about how people respond
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to him is that people who reject Jesus,
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people who turn away from the light
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aren't rejecting Jesus because they feel
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like the gospel message isn't like
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compelling enough or because it doesn't
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seem like the evidence is there or
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something like that. It's what Jesus is
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saying is that the reason people don't
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come to the light is because they love
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their sin.
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Do you love your sin?
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I can think of like example after
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example of people who have said to me,
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"Man, I've been just having doubts about
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Christianity or I don't know if really
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Jesus really rose from the dead or or
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any of those things." And I feel like
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every single time I've been able to say,
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"Who did you start dating recently? Who
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did you start sleeping with? What
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friends did you start hanging out with
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who are pointing you in that direction?"
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Like for example, I had a roommate when
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I was in college who came with me to the
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Easter service at our church one year.
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And then the next year I tried to invite
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that same friend to come to church and
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he was like, "I don't know, man. I'm
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just like really trying to figure my
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faith out. I feel like I should figure
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things out before I go back to church."
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And you know what had happened from the
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previous year to that year? My roommate
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got a girlfriend. Like that's what it
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was. Do you love your sin?
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I think that people who love their sin
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will react in two ways to the light of
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Jesus. Either they will walk away the
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way that my roommate in college did, or
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else they will start to pick and choose
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what rules they want to follow and what
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rules they don't want to follow until
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pretty soon they've made like a
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cardboard cutout Jesus that just
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basically looks the way that they want
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it to look. That looks like them.
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When Jesus says, "I am the light," he's
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saying that he is the light that shines
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into a world that is darkened by sin. He
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says that he is the light that allows us
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to see clearly and without bumping into
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walls or like fall down the stairs or
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something like that. Y'all, if we try to
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pick and choose which of Jesus's rules
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we want to follow and which one we which
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ones we don't, he says we're still
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living in darkness.
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If we say like, "Okay, yeah, I'm going
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to follow do not murder and do not
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steal, but a little gossip, that's not
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such a big deal." Gossip will ruin your
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friendships and it will destroy your
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character.
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If we say, "Okay, for sure. I'm not
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going to do like, you know, do not
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commit adultery or whatever, but like
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sex before marriage is not a big deal."
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Sexual sin is an act. The Bible says
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it's an act of evil against yourself,
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against your partner, against God,
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against your future spouse.
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If we ignore what the Bible says about
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possessions,
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then yeah, you might get rich. And then
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you also might find out the hard way
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what Jesus says about like rich men and
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camels and eyes of needles.
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It wasn't until I began to give my life
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over to God and really try to walk in
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the light of Jesus that I began to
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realize all the parts of my life that
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are not surrendered to him.
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God began to show me that the way that I
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try to like compare myself to other
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people just feeds jealousy and it steals
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my ability to be satisfied in God. He
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showed me that when I try to like hold
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grudges against people who have done me
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dirty in the past that it comes out of
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pride and it steals my ability to walk
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in freedom and forgiveness.
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I once had a friend ask me when I was
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telling him about how, you know, I was
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I'm a Christian and I'm trying to live
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my life the way Jesus calls me to in the
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Bible. He asked me, "Well, what do you
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do when you read something in the Bible
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that you don't agree with?" Because that
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happens, right?
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And I said to my friend,"Well, that's
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the difference between you and me. See,
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when I read something in the Bible that
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I don't agree with, or rather, when you
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read something that you don't agree with
15:54
in the Bible, you assume the Bible must
15:56
be wrong. When I read something in the
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Bible that I don't agree with, I assume
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I must be wrong."
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The way we respond to the light tells us
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which way our hearts are pointing. And
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we're going to see that in the religious
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leaders in this passage, right? So verse
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13, right after Jesus has made this
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statement, I am the light of the world.
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It says, 'The Pharisees replied, "You
16:17
are making these claims about yourself.
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Such testimony is not valid." Jesus told
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them, "These claims are valid, even
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though I'm making them about myself, for
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I know where I came from and where I'm
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going. But you don't know this about me.
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You judge me by human standards, but I
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don't judge anyone. And if I did, my
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judgment would be correct in every
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respect because I am not alone. The
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Father who sent me is with me. Your own
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law says that if two people agree about
16:46
something, their witness is accepted as
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fact. While I am one witness, and the
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father who sent me is the other. Where
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is your father? They asked. Jesus
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answered, since you don't know who I am,
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you don't know who my father is. If you
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knew me, you would also know my father.
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Jesus made these statements while he was
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teaching in the section of the temple
17:08
known as the treasury, but he was not
17:09
arrested because his time has not yet
17:11
come. And just in case you're about to
17:13
fact check me because you were like,
17:14
"Hey, you said it was in a courtyard,
17:16
not the treasury." The treasury is in
17:18
the courtyard. It's where they kept the
17:19
big offering boxes in the temple. So
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anyway, Jesus makes this big bold claim
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about himself that he is the light of
17:28
the world. And the religious leaders
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push back on him. They tell him, "Hey,
17:32
nobody ought to believe this Jesus guy
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because Jesus is just arguing for his
17:36
own behalf."
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And what's crazy is if you read John's
17:40
gospel from the beginning, basically the
17:43
entire gospel up until this point, John
17:45
has been pointing all over the place at
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all of the different witnesses to who
17:50
Jesus is, that Jesus is the son of God,
17:53
right? He points to John the Baptist. He
17:55
points to the Jewish scriptures. He
17:56
points to God the Father. He points to
17:58
the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove
18:00
during Jesus's baptism, right? He points
18:03
to Jesus's own miracles. all of these
18:06
witnesses speaking with one voice that
18:09
Jesus is the son of God.
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And when the religious leaders try to
18:15
argue about whether Jesus's statements
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are valid or not, whether they're legit
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or not, even though there's all these
18:23
other witnesses that Jesus had that that
18:25
have been pointing to Jesus's identity,
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the religious leaders are showing by
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their response to Jesus, whether they're
18:34
in the light or not. And Jesus argues
18:37
back, right? He says to them, "You judge
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me by human standards. Like all you know
18:42
is that I'm that dude Jesus who came
18:44
from Nazareth in Galilee. But I know who
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I am. I know that I was with God back in
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the beginning before time started. I
18:53
know where I'm going after my time on
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earth is done. Jesus knew what he came
19:01
to earth to do. It's not like one day
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Jesus was just like back in Galilee and
19:06
he's chilling in his carpenter shop and
19:08
then one day he's like, "Holy smokes, I
19:10
can turn water into wine. That's crazy.
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I must be the son of God." Like that's
19:13
not how it happened. Jesus knew who he
19:16
was. He knew what his mission was. Not
19:20
to judge the world. Not yet. Not to
19:22
condemn the world, but to save it. He
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says it right there in verse 15. He
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says, "You judge me by human standards,
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but I don't judge anyone."
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And I think as we start to to wind down,
19:36
I think that people can sometimes misuse
19:38
this verse and a couple of other verses
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to try and argue, well, that that means
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that my behavior doesn't matter. Right?
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Jesus just said, "I don't judge anyone,
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so that means God doesn't care about my
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sin. So Josh, you should be quiet. You
19:50
shouldn't care about my sin either."
19:53
After all, didn't Jesus say, "Hey, do
19:55
not judge others and you will not be
19:57
judged." Didn't Jesus say, "God sent his
19:59
son into the world not to judge the
20:01
world, but to save it?" Like, that's
20:02
true. Both of those things are quotes
20:05
from Jesus, straight out of the mouth of
20:07
Jesus. And that is why I encourage you
20:10
now and every single week, I encourage
20:12
you to be reading not just the little
20:14
parts of the Bible that we're looking at
20:16
on Sunday nights, but to be reading the
20:18
whole passages in context. Like I
20:21
challenge you to be doing that because
20:23
the Bible I don't know if you knew this
20:24
but the Bible is a very long book.
20:28
It is long enough that you can pull a
20:30
handful of verses out from different
20:31
parts of the Bible and get them to
20:33
support any false idea you want. Y'all,
20:36
the only way for you and me to know the
20:39
Bible and to know the God that is in the
20:42
Bible is to give it the time it requires
20:45
to read things in context and to study
20:48
deeply. And unfortunately, that means
20:51
it's going to take a lot more effort
20:53
than just reading like the couple of
20:55
verses that we throw up on screen or,
20:57
you know, reading verses on Pinterest or
20:59
like the verse of the day on Uver,
21:01
right? But I promise you that it is so
21:05
worth it. Now, it is true, right? What I
21:08
just said, Jesus says several times in
21:10
John's gospel, he says, "I did not come
21:12
to judge." That's true. But if we read
21:14
that and we think it doesn't matter how
21:16
I live, then we'll end up using those
21:19
verses to teach the exact opposite thing
21:21
that Jesus is trying to say. Like the
21:24
whole point of Jesus saying, "I'm the
21:25
light of the world is him saying there
21:28
is a way of light and a way of darkness.
21:30
There is a right way to live and a wrong
21:32
way to live." Right? So if you say,
21:34
"Hey, Jesus says I don't judge anyone.
21:37
It doesn't matter if I, you know,
21:39
gossip. It doesn't matter if I'm
21:41
sleeping with my significant other. It
21:43
doesn't matter if I use chat GBT on my
21:45
English paper. Like none of that
21:46
matters. Well, that is a sign that you
21:49
might be still be in darkness.
21:53
Jesus absolutely made distinctions
21:55
between right and wrong. And as his
21:58
followers, we are called to live
22:00
rightly. Not in order to like earn God's
22:04
favor, not in order to earn a spot in
22:06
heaven, nothing like that. But it is out
22:07
of a desire to live into the kingdom
22:11
life that Jesus has invited us into.
22:15
So I'm going to close in just a sec. And
22:17
Pete, you can come back up. I'm going to
22:19
close in just a sec, but I just want to
22:21
spend a minute or two tonight talking
22:23
about that idea of judgment. Okay. It's
22:26
actually funny. Jeremiah and I were
22:28
talking about this uh a little while
22:29
ago, justice and judgment and stuff. So,
22:31
the Bible has a lot to say about
22:33
judgment. And just how like like how
22:35
last week I said that sometimes we can
22:37
push away uncomfortable ideas that the
22:40
Bible is like really straightforward
22:41
about. I think that we can sometimes get
22:44
nervous about that idea of judgment. So,
22:47
we're going to talk about it for a
22:48
minute. All right. So when Jesus is
22:51
speaking in John chapter 8, he's
22:53
speaking to a people who rightly
22:55
understand that like the world is
22:57
fundamentally messed up and that God
23:00
needs to to fix it. That God is going to
23:02
bring his judgment to the world. There's
23:05
this Old Testament idea about this this
23:09
day that was in the future that was
23:10
coming that was called the day of the
23:12
Lord. And when the day of the Lord came,
23:14
God was going to bring judgment and
23:16
condemnation for wicked people. and he
23:19
was going to bring rescue and
23:20
deliverance for the people of God. And
23:22
when Jesus comes and he says, "I'm not
23:24
here to judge." What he's saying is not,
23:26
"Y'all, there's never going to be a
23:28
judgment. Don't worry, we can party."
23:30
What he's saying is that what Jesus came
23:32
to earth to do the first time was not to
23:35
bring judgment, but to bring salvation
23:38
to anyone who would believe in Jesus.
23:41
Jesus came not to bring the judgment but
23:44
to take the judgment on himself so that
23:48
anybody and everybody who would look to
23:50
Jesus as the only one who can make them
23:53
right with God would not be condemned.
23:57
But the Bible is like super duper clear
23:59
that there is still a judgment coming
24:02
for the world. And when that judgment
24:04
comes, it's going to be good and perfect
24:08
and right.
24:10
God is going to destroy all wickedness
24:13
once and for all. And the Bible does not
24:16
get scared of saying like, "Yeah, that
24:18
also includes wicked people."
24:21
Honestly, that judgment includes or
24:24
should include you and me too because of
24:27
our rebellion against God and everyone
24:31
else in the world who will not throw
24:33
themselves on Jesus to save them. And
24:37
it's weird for me to be saying this and
24:38
having like Pete playing in the
24:40
background because it feels like very
24:41
light and airy, right? And I think
24:43
people will sometimes hear that and
24:44
they'll be like, "Man, that sounds so
24:45
harsh, right? Like why would God condemn
24:48
someone if they just told a lie a couple
24:49
of times? Like would God really send
24:52
someone to hell because they stole a
24:53
piece of gum one time?"
24:55
But here's my thing. I don't actually
24:58
think that that type of person exists.
25:01
When I was 16 and I was barely
25:04
Christian, I thought that I was a pretty
25:05
good person. But the longer that I have
25:08
followed Jesus, the longer that I have
25:10
been a follower of Christ, the more of
25:12
my life that he has transformed, the
25:14
deeper I've realized that my sin and my
25:17
wickedness goes. Like every layer of
25:20
trash that the Holy Spirit clears off
25:22
the top of my heart, I'm like, "Wow,
25:24
there's like another layer of sin and
25:26
rebellion underneath that."
25:29
I remember I talked to Pastor Jay about
25:30
this a couple weeks ago and he was he
25:32
was like that that is exactly my
25:34
experience too. Like every serious
25:36
Christian I've ever met has said that.
25:39
And what I've realized is the worse that
25:41
I've realized that I am the more that
25:43
I've realized that I deserve God's
25:46
justice and judgment and condemnation
25:48
for my sins, the more I've realized just
25:52
how glorious and perfect and loving God
25:56
is.
25:58
Because all of my sin and all of my
26:01
shame, the perfect son of God, let
26:05
himself be nailed to a tree to rescue me
26:10
and to rescue you and to rescue anyone
26:14
who would put their trust in him in a
26:17
crucified king. So if we get scared
26:20
about the idea that that there is
26:22
judgment,
26:23
then I think that we will never
26:25
understand the depth and the width and
26:28
the height of how much God loves each
26:32
one of you. Does that make sense?
26:36
Sweet. No response. Let's pray.