Speaker 1: 1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week?
Speaker 1: We're going to be in John, chapter 1.
Speaker 1: This morning I'm going to read again John, chapter 1.
Speaker 1: I'm going to read verses 1 through 8, then we'll pray together.
Speaker 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Speaker 1: He was in the beginning with God.
Speaker 1: All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made.
Speaker 1: That was made In Him was life and the life was the light of men.
Speaker 1: The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
Speaker 1: There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
Speaker 1: He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.
Speaker 1: He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
Speaker 1: Let's pray together.
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, by your word, would you speak and transform this morning, by your spirit, in this place, lord, transform our hearts to be more like you.
Speaker 1: We ask in Christ's name, amen.
Speaker 1: I remember about a decade ago I was walking into a Barnes Noble bookstore and I walked in and I don't know if I was there for any reason, but I looked around and saw this kind of standalone kind of stand of books, there probably 100 copies of the same book all stacked up.
Speaker 1: You know how when a new release comes out, they have the standalone place.
Speaker 1: And it was a brand new biography of Michael Jordan.
Speaker 1: And so this book about Michael Jordan it's sitting there.
Speaker 1: New biography of Michael Jordan.
Speaker 1: And so this book about Michael Jordan it's sitting there and I walk over, I'm not going to get it.
Speaker 1: I'm not really that interested in it.
Speaker 1: I just kind of want to look at it and I'm checking it out and I see this sign on the top of the stand and it really starts to make me think.
Speaker 1: It says this it says Autographed Copies.
Speaker 1: And now I'm thinking we're onto something here.
Speaker 1: I don't know why in Little Rock, arkansas, there's, you know, a hundred autographed copies of this.
Speaker 1: But I'm starting to think I need one, I need two, I need more.
Speaker 1: I need to look at the bank account.
Speaker 1: How many can I get?
Speaker 1: Do I call Katie now and tell her retirement has begun?
Speaker 1: Because if I just buy these copies and resell them, we're going places and I'm excited about this.
Speaker 1: And so I pick up one and I open the first one and I realize what I was taught in elementary school.
Speaker 1: There's a large difference between a biography and an autobiography.
Speaker 1: I figure out in that moment that this is not Michael Jordan's autograph.
Speaker 1: This is the autograph of let me get this right Roland Lazerby, which I did look and doesn't go for the same on the resale market of Roland Lazerby.
Speaker 1: I thought I was going to make it big with these autographed Michael Jordan books and I left without anything.
Speaker 1: Autobiography what the actual person says about themselves, what the actual person wants you to know about their lives.
Speaker 1: We're beginning a new series today called Autobiography, because I want us to see what Jesus says about Jesus.
Speaker 1: In John, we have these seven I am statements.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've heard some of these.
Speaker 1: I am the way, the way, the truth and the life.
Speaker 1: I am the good shepherd, I am the door.
Speaker 1: These I am statements that are so clear Jesus, expressing exactly who Jesus is.
Speaker 1: Now I preface with this, obviously, all of scripture.
Speaker 1: It's all inspired by the spirit, written by God.
Speaker 1: It all expresses who he is.
Speaker 1: But specifically here in John, these I am statements.
Speaker 1: So I want to look at these over the next few weeks together.
Speaker 1: Today I want to intro this series in the Gospel of John, in the very first chapter.
Speaker 1: I want us to come away realizing this that whatever picture we have of Christ, when you think of Christ, whatever you picture, whatever you think about, whatever comes to your mind, however grand that picture may be, it's not big enough.
Speaker 1: It's not grand enough, it's not majestic or mighty enough.
Speaker 1: I want us to gain a big, big picture of who Christ is.
Speaker 1: And first I want us to see this from our passage we are to see Jesus, rightly.
Speaker 1: We've got to see Jesus rightly.
Speaker 1: The gospel of John kind of stands alone.
Speaker 1: There's Matthew, mark and Luke.
Speaker 1: These gospels we have called the synoptic gospels and they share a lot of the stories.
Speaker 1: You'll read a story in Matthew that you'll read again in Mark and Luke and told from a little bit different frame of reference or point of view, but the same story, beautiful stories, but they share a lot.
Speaker 1: John only shares 8% of its text with any other gospel.
Speaker 1: It very much stands alone.
Speaker 1: John has a goal in his gospel and he wants to show you clearly that Jesus is God.
Speaker 1: Jesus is not only the Son of God of course he is that but Jesus is himself God and that's what John wants you to see From our I Am statements throughout the next few weeks we're going to see that.
Speaker 1: But in John 1, verse 1, I want us to read this again In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Speaker 1: Verse 2, he was in the beginning with God.
Speaker 1: Verse 3, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made.
Speaker 1: That was made we are to see Jesus rightly In the beginning was the word.
Speaker 1: So those first words there in the beginning, if you read that, maybe that reminds you of something else in scripture.
Speaker 1: Maybe just those three words in the beginning reminds you of another place in scripture.
Speaker 1: Maybe just those three words in the beginning reminds you of another place in scripture, maybe at the very beginning, in Genesis, chapter 1, how the whole Bible begins in the beginning.
Speaker 1: This has happened a lot lately, but there's been a lot of kind of high-profile lawsuits in the music industry among people who claim that someone else has stolen their song.
Speaker 1: So someone had put out a song a while ago.
Speaker 1: Someone else has put out a song and this person says that sounds a little too close to mine, not necessarily the lyrics, but the tune, the melody, the beat, things like that.
Speaker 1: There was a high-profile one last year, ed Sheeran.
Speaker 1: Maybe y'all know I don't know any Ed Sheeran tunes, but the fact Maybe y'all know I don't know any Ed Sheeran tunes.
Speaker 1: But the fact that I just said tunes tells you I don't know any of his tunes.
Speaker 1: But Ed Sheeran went to court because the family of Marvin Gaye said you've stolen our song.
Speaker 1: I listened to it.
Speaker 1: It's similar, but I think Ed should have gotten away with it.
Speaker 1: He did get away with it, he didn't steal anything.
Speaker 1: But these lawsuits come say you have stolen my tune, my record, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this morning that if Genesis wanted to take the gospel of John to court, not only does Genesis have a case, genesis would win, and if Genesis took John to court, john would know he'd lose the case and John would gladly pay the fine.
Speaker 1: Because John wants you to know that he is looking back at Genesis, chapter 1, because John wants you to realize that I'm looking at something really big.
Speaker 1: And so, as I'm going to define Christ right now, I'm going to do it in the strongest words possible.
Speaker 1: So I want to go to the maybe the grandest portion of scripture, when God creates literally everything, and show you that that's the Jesus I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: In the beginning was the word the word.
Speaker 1: Now, what does that mean?
Speaker 1: Well, we know the word here is Jesus, but why use that phrase, the word?
Speaker 1: Throughout the Old Testament we see that God's word, the word, is really God's self-expression.
Speaker 1: Our God is a communicating God, and that's good news for us, because the only way you and I can know who God is and what his character is like is through his self-expression.
Speaker 1: And he wanted to communicate that with us.
Speaker 1: He wanted us to know who he is and what he's about.
Speaker 1: All throughout the Old Testament we see his word serve as his self-expression.
Speaker 1: I want you to know who I am, and so we see the word work in that kind of way.
Speaker 1: Now here's the interesting thing with me my word, we could say, is my self-expression.
Speaker 1: I could use my word to express myself to you.
Speaker 1: I'm 34 years old, I'm married to Katie.
Speaker 1: These are true things and my words have let you know that.
Speaker 1: But the reality is in my humanity.
Speaker 1: I could also use my words to make some things up about myself.
Speaker 1: I could exaggerate the truth.
Speaker 1: I could make myself seem a little more impressive than I am.
Speaker 1: But with God, there's no deceit within him, there's no lying.
Speaker 1: There's no need to exaggerate the truth, because he is the truth and he is good enough all by himself.
Speaker 1: And so, with God, when he gives us his word, when he tells us who he is, that is his sure self-expression, the word.
Speaker 1: And then, when we come to the pages of the New Testament, we see the ultimate form of God's self-expression, god himself showing himself to us in the person of Christ.
Speaker 1: And therefore we see that in the beginning was the word, here is the word made flesh, verse 14,.
Speaker 1: And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
Speaker 1: As Eugene Peterson states it, the word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.
Speaker 1: This is what the word has now done.
Speaker 1: Michael Reeves in his book Rejoicing in Christ.
Speaker 1: I love this line.
Speaker 1: He says there is no God in heaven who is unlike Jesus.
Speaker 1: There is no God in heaven who is unlike Jesus.
Speaker 1: Are you ever tempted to think?
Speaker 1: Here's Jesus, full of grace and truth.
Speaker 1: But then there's God, the Father, who sits in heaven and sometimes wakes up on the wrong side of the bed and sometimes can be a little grumpy.
Speaker 1: But his son, sure he's a gracious guy.
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
Speaker 1: We have one God and there's no God in heaven who is unlike Jesus.
Speaker 1: If you want to know what God is like.
Speaker 1: You can look at the person of Jesus and there is his character displayed for us.
Speaker 1: The word became flesh, colossians 1.15,.
Speaker 1: He is the image of the invisible God.
Speaker 1: So in the beginning was the word Jesus.
Speaker 1: And look at this.
Speaker 1: And the word was with God, and and the word was God.
Speaker 1: So John is going to keep exalting Jesus.
Speaker 1: Not only was Jesus there in the beginning, he was there in the beginning with God, god the Father, and also that he himself is God.
Speaker 1: We are a Trinitarian people.
Speaker 1: We believe our God exists in Trinity Father and Holy Spirit and we believe that creation is a Trinitarian event God the Father creating, god the Son, as we see right there at creation, and still to this day, colossians tells us holding all things together.
Speaker 1: We see in Genesis 1, verse 2, that the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the water.
Speaker 1: I had a professor in seminary that said a lot of people don't think the Holy Spirit is in the Old Testament and that argument holds up until you get to the second verse.
Speaker 1: The Spirit is hovering over the face of the water.
Speaker 1: It's a Trinitarian event, but Jesus is there.
Speaker 1: God the Son has always been.
Speaker 1: The Council of Nicaea in 325, you know, the church has a little history of getting together and trying to solve some problems after some arguments arise.
Speaker 1: In 325, the Council of Nicaea meets, and they meet to do this.
Speaker 1: They meet to talk about who Jesus is, because there's this guy named Arius and he's been going around saying that Jesus is a created being, that Jesus at one point was not and then was created and then at another point was.
Speaker 1: That's not right.
Speaker 1: And so Arius is there and he's making his heretical claim.
Speaker 1: And tradition tells us that there's a man who stands up, walks across the room in the middle of the council of Nicaea.
Speaker 1: Tradition tells us now he walks across the room as Arius is speaking and he's so fed up with this heresy that he slaps Arius in the face.
Speaker 1: That's what tradition says.
Speaker 1: That man's name was Nicholas.
Speaker 1: Later on in life he achieved the status of sainthood, saint Nicholas, and so children in the room.
Speaker 1: I want you to know something Saint Nicholas himself, santa Claus, was so adamant about the divinity of Christ, the eternal nature of Christ, he was willing to fight for it.
Speaker 1: That's what tradition tells us, because Christ has always been, christ always was.
Speaker 1: One author this week said Christ was always wasing.
Speaker 1: He also is always ising.
Speaker 1: He's the eternal is, and his isness is always on display.
Speaker 1: This is Exodus 3, when Moses is at the burning bush and he asked God this question if I go to Egypt, who do I say, sent me?
Speaker 1: What is God's response there?
Speaker 1: What does he say?
Speaker 1: He says tell them this I am who.
Speaker 1: I am Meaning this.
Speaker 1: I am the God who is always amming, I always am and I always will be.
Speaker 1: Am I'm the eternal one, I will be who I will be, and this is true of Jesus.
Speaker 1: That Jesus has always been all the way to eternity past.
Speaker 1: He was in the beginning with God.
Speaker 1: In fact he was before the beginning with God and he is God.
Speaker 1: Verse 4, we see this in him was life, and the life was the light of men, and that light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
Speaker 1: And so in the person of Jesus here comes life into our broken world, and that life is the light of men.
Speaker 1: And you know that you and I live in a dark world, don't we?
Speaker 1: We don't have to look far to figure that out.
Speaker 1: We can just look right outside our door.
Speaker 1: We can look at our world, we can turn on the news.
Speaker 1: We live in a world that is filled with darkness, yet in steps, jesus, the word, became flesh to dwell among us, to bring light into that world.
Speaker 1: And look at this the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
Speaker 1: So Christ is the light and he's always been the light.
Speaker 1: Genesis, chapter 1,.
Speaker 1: What does God say?
Speaker 1: Let there be light.
Speaker 1: And in that moment he didn't have to flip a switch or turn on the generator.
Speaker 1: The light just came by his word.
Speaker 1: And all the way.
Speaker 1: At the end, in Revelation, 21, 33, the new heavens and the new earth has come down, and it says there's no sun or no moon.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because they're not necessary, because the glory of God is the light and the lamb is the lamp.
Speaker 1: So Christ, jesus always will be our light.
Speaker 1: And here we see this light penetrates the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
Speaker 1: The darkness cannot overcome it.
Speaker 1: This is who Christ is, the one who always has been, who always is and always will be.
Speaker 1: My question is this is our picture of Christ big enough, is it grand enough?
Speaker 1: Because my thought is this, and maybe you asked this question he said.
Speaker 1: Taylor, I'm thankful to hear this, I'm thankful to learn this.
Speaker 1: I'm glad to know Jesus Christ has always been.
Speaker 1: I'm glad to know that he's the light that shines in the darkness, that he always has been, always will be.
Speaker 1: That's all good, but the problem is I've got work tomorrow morning and I don't to know that he's the light that shines in the darkness, that he always has been, always will be.
Speaker 1: That's all good, but the problem is I've got work tomorrow morning and I don't really know how God always being present really applies to my job.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow morning I've got school.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow morning I've got a test, I've got a homework.
Speaker 1: I don't know how the co-eternal nature of Christ applies to that.
Speaker 1: Well, I want to say this morning, whatever you have tomorrow, whatever you have today, the eternal nature, the grand nature of Christ actually applies in every single way possible, even the ways you don't even think about.
Speaker 1: This majestic, creating world-holding-together view of God impacts everything about your life.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow morning you're going to wake up, you're going to breathe in that first big breath of your day and there are air molecules that will enter into your lungs that Christ, jesus himself is holding together and keeping in place, and you're going to put your feet on the ground and keeping in place.
Speaker 1: And you're going to put your feet on the ground and it's going to feel firm and feel steady, while in reality you are on a ball spinning through space as the world goes on its axis somehow around the sun and has seemingly been doing that I don't know forever and keeps doing that, I hope, for a really long time.
Speaker 1: And it's on its axis.
Speaker 1: And if, at any moment, christ Jesus just took a hand off doing that, I hope for a really long time.
Speaker 1: And it's on its axis.
Speaker 1: And if, at any moment, christ Jesus just took a hand off of that and we got off by a quarter fraction of an inch, all things would cave in on themselves and we'd be done.
Speaker 1: For Yet that has not happened and will not happen because Christ holds all things together.
Speaker 1: And then when you get to work or you get to school, you get the kids dropped off, here or there, whatever it is, you're going to see a lot of people and none of them are going to be ordinary people.
Speaker 1: It's what CS Lewis says in the weight of glory, there's no ordinary people.
Speaker 1: What you see are people created in the image of God, fashioned and formed by God himself, who are at all times being held together by the person of Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: There is nothing about your day today, or tomorrow, or into eternity, that is not radically affected by a grand view of Jesus Christ, because right now, jesus is at the right hand of the throne of God, and what is he doing?
Speaker 1: He's interceding to the Father for you, and so maybe you've ever wondered I'm walking through a moment, is anybody praying for me?
Speaker 1: I hope somebody's praying for you.
Speaker 1: Reach out to me and I'll be praying for you.
Speaker 1: But I want you to know this Christ Jesus is praying for you directly to the Father, interceding for you, and I got a feeling Christ Jesus' prayers are pretty good, maybe really good, and that's what he's doing for you.
Speaker 1: There is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry mine.
Speaker 1: Those are the words of Abraham Kuyper Not just now, but for eternity, because the very one who is himself the eternal one also holds your eternity in his hands.
Speaker 1: So what is Christ doing right now?
Speaker 1: He is holding your eternity in his hands, and so here's good news for you you are kept and you are sealed in Christ.
Speaker 1: So if you've ever wondered and you've ever been tempted to doubt your faith can I lose my salvation?
Speaker 1: Is it possible that I could lose my salvation?
Speaker 1: Well, one, you did nothing to gain your salvation, so I don't think you can lose your salvation.
Speaker 1: But even if you thought for a second, you could.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you it is held firm and secure by the person of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: And again, our faith is not built on how firmly we hold to Christ.
Speaker 1: It's simply built on how Christ holds on to us and he doesn't let go.
Speaker 1: Can you lose your salvation?
Speaker 1: Can you lose your standing before God?
Speaker 1: No, because if you are in Christ, you are in Christ.
Speaker 1: So the eternal Christ holds all things together.
Speaker 1: So we are to see Jesus rightly.
Speaker 1: But second is this we are to reflect Jesus humbly.
Speaker 1: We are to reflect Jesus humbly.
Speaker 1: The text continues verse 6, 7, and 8.
Speaker 1: It says this let's stop there for a second.
Speaker 1: Which John?
Speaker 1: John the gospel is written by John the disciple, great guy, great theologian, a little self-serving at times, does refer to himself throughout the book as the beloved disciple.
Speaker 1: Not sure I'd have the courage to say that in the inspired word of God, but he does.
Speaker 1: The beloved disciple.
Speaker 1: There was a man sent from God now whose name was John.
Speaker 1: This John is referring to John the Baptist.
Speaker 1: John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Jesus, the cousin of Jesus, who came on the scene just before Jesus to do what?
Speaker 1: To prepare the way for Jesus, and his name was John, verse 7,.
Speaker 1: He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.
Speaker 1: He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
Speaker 1: These verses, I think, perfectly define John the Baptist and his ministry.
Speaker 1: John would be the first to tell you I'm not the light, I came to bear witness about the light.
Speaker 1: There's a humility within John that all he wants to do is reflect Jesus and point to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Later on in the chapter, he refers to Jesus as the one that he is not even worthy to untie the sandals of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Later on, jesus is walking up in this chapter and John lets out this cry behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 1: There's always, with John, a pointing that direction.
Speaker 1: I love the story of the 19th century preacher in London, charles Spurgeon.
Speaker 1: He was preaching in a new auditorium he had not been in before and he was doing a sound check.
Speaker 1: They didn't have microphones and things, but just wanted to hear how his voice projected in the room, in a room that he thought there was nobody here, no one in the room at the time, and he just stood up on stage and he, in his grand voice, he just said those words behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 1: There was a custodian in the balcony just cleaning and he went home that day after hearing that and gave his life to Christ.
Speaker 1: Just those words behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 1: And John the Baptist would like that story, because that's exactly what John the Baptist would have wanted.
Speaker 1: Later on we see in John 3, verse 30, those famous words and honestly John the Baptist would hate the words that they're, hate the fact that they're now famous words of he must increase, I must decrease, he must become greater, I must become less.
Speaker 1: And that was John's entire outlook.
Speaker 1: And we see that here already in verses 6 through 8.
Speaker 1: Again, he was not the light.
Speaker 1: I don't think this happened, I'm sure it didn't.
Speaker 1: But you can almost hear John the Baptist telling John the disciple hey, if you're going to bring me up.
Speaker 1: Make sure you tell them I am not the light.
Speaker 1: Make sure there is no doubt.
Speaker 1: This is not the story of John the Baptist.
Speaker 1: There's a beautiful work of art, the Eisenheim Altarpiece, painted in 1516 by Matthias Grunewald for a monastery in France.
Speaker 1: It's still on display in France and I've got a picture of this altarpiece I mean it's a, and I Google it later just to see the scope and the size of this.
Speaker 1: What you have is multiple images on here and what is, quite honestly, if you look closely as you can when you is somewhat detailed and somewhat graphic, I'd even say picture of Christ's crucifixion, as you look really closely at what is there, but you see a lot of elements below preparing his body for burial.
Speaker 1: This is the Eisenheim Altarpiece by Grunewald and I think Grunewald does a good job of understanding who John the Baptist is.
Speaker 1: On the next slide, I want you to see something Zoomed in.
Speaker 1: On that side there's our friend John the Baptist.
Speaker 1: Those words in Latin over his shoulder.
Speaker 1: He must increase, I must decrease.
Speaker 1: And look what he's doing in this moment.
Speaker 1: He's holding the Word of God and he's pointing.
Speaker 1: He's holding the Word of God and say, hey, here's the Word of God and he's pointing, he's holding the word of God and say, hey, here's the word of God, and then pointing here's the word of God, here's the word of God and here's the man.
Speaker 1: That's all John's ministry is.
Speaker 1: Look at him.
Speaker 1: Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 1: Now can we go back to the full piece?
Speaker 1: Because here's so often what I want to do as I think of the artwork of my life, the canvas of my life.
Speaker 1: If I were to paint this picture, what I often think about is putting myself in the center, putting myself right in the center of the artwork of my life and my own canvas, and I'm the center.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing I love the Lord, you know.
Speaker 1: I want him in my picture and so, right to my right or to my left, jesus is part of it, because I want the world to know I follow him.
Speaker 1: You know, jesus is my co-pilot.
Speaker 1: He walks with me, he talks with me.
Speaker 1: He's part of my artwork, for sure, pilate, he walks with me, he talks with me.
Speaker 1: He's part of my artwork, for sure.
Speaker 1: I'm the center.
Speaker 1: But do let the world know that Jesus is with me in the picture.
Speaker 1: That's sometimes what we want to do, isn't it?
Speaker 1: When we think about the artwork, the canvas of our own lives, what we need to figure out quickly is that we are not the center, we are not the main event, we are not the main character in the story of our lives.
Speaker 1: When we think about the canvas and artwork of our own lives, christ is not just the center, christ is, Christ is the painter, christ is everything about it.
Speaker 1: He is the one who is magnified.
Speaker 1: And our job is not to be the main character of our lives and stand in the center and just leave Jesus to the side.
Speaker 1: Our job is to stand to the side and say hey, look to him, just like John, look to the one, look to Jesus, the one who is the eternal one, the only one, the holy one.
Speaker 1: That's our job in this world, because I'm not the center.
Speaker 1: My question for us, as we think about John the Baptist and his ministry and how he faithfully pointed to the person of Jesus, are we reflecting Jesus with our lives?
Speaker 1: And I want you to take inventory and ask yourself this question Do people I come into contact with do they see a picture of Jesus because they've been around me?
Speaker 1: Do they get a glimpse of who Jesus is because they have interacted with me, all about me.
Speaker 1: Do people see Jesus in me?
Speaker 1: Is the heartbeat and goal of my life one that says this, that says he must become greater.
Speaker 1: I must become less.
Speaker 1: Look at him.
Speaker 1: What does it look like in your life?
Speaker 1: What does it look like in your home to reflect Jesus?
Speaker 1: Do the people in your home see Jesus in you?
Speaker 1: What does it look like at your school?
Speaker 1: Do the people you pass by in the halls or in your classroom, do they see Jesus in you?
Speaker 1: What does it look like at your job?
Speaker 1: What does it look like in the community?
Speaker 1: What does it look like on the sports team, Wherever it is?
Speaker 1: What does it look like at your job?
Speaker 1: What does it look like in the community?
Speaker 1: What does it look like on the sports team, wherever it is?
Speaker 1: What does it look like for you?
Speaker 1: And are you like John the Baptist, just pointing to him?
Speaker 1: Because, if I'm honest with myself, sometimes I'm tempted to say I am the main character of my life.
Speaker 1: And imagine that.
Speaker 1: Imagine looking at the words of John In the beginning was the Word.
Speaker 1: He was with God.
Speaker 1: He was God, the Jesus Christ, who has always been the one who came, who took sin upon himself, who went to the cross, who literally defeated sin and death by rising from the grave, who now is exalted to the right hand of the throne of God and one day will return, and at this moment is holding all things together and making sure everything is in place in the universe and beyond.
Speaker 1: Imagine looking at that and say Jesus, can you be my co-pilot?
Speaker 1: Can you just ride beside me, give me some advice along the way, but just be a co-pilot?
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
Speaker 1: Jesus, be the center.
Speaker 1: Jesus be the all in all, be the everything, be the all in all, be the everything.
Speaker 1: And Jesus, help me be someone that looks at a dark world and simply says look to him, look to the only one who is light and brings light into this dark and broken world.
Speaker 1: I want to pray for us now and in a moment as I pray, I want to invite you to respond.
Speaker 1: Maybe this morning you want to come talk with me and let me pray for you and just let me know what's going on.
Speaker 1: I'd love to do that.
Speaker 1: Maybe you want to come to know Jesus and, for the first time, you want Jesus' light to come into your own darkness.
Speaker 1: Maybe you just need to sit in silent prayer, taking inventory of your life and saying, jesus, where am I not reflecting you?
Speaker 1: What does it need to look like for me to reflect you?
Speaker 1: But, however, you need to respond, I pray that you would do it now.
Speaker 1: Allow me to pray for us as the worship team comes up this way.
Speaker 1: Now allow me to pray for us as the worship team comes up this way.
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word.
Speaker 1: We thank you that you are the word that in the beginning there was you, you were with God, you are God and so, christ Jesus, we proclaim that you are high and lifted up and we thank you.
Speaker 1: Lord, I just pray that you'd show us today how that changes every aspect of our lives, to see clearly that we have a job to do and it is to point to you, to see you as the high and lifted up one.
Speaker 1: Lord Jesus, I ask that you would show us that today, tomorrow, this week, for the rest of our lives.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your word.
Speaker 1: If there's any that needs to respond this morning, I pray that they would.
Speaker 1: In Christ's name, amen.