We're going to be in the book of John today. And you may have noticed that we have all of this fun stuff set up up here. This is not from the wedding yesterday. This is from for our series that we're going to be doing this week. We're going to have fun. Can we have fun? Is it okay to have fun in church? So I think it's okay to have fun in church, and I think we should have a good time. The church should be the most, and I don't even, I don't like using this word, but the most entertaining place we go. Why? Because Jesus is here. The Holy Spirit is present. And so we should want to come into the house of the Lord. We should, it shouldn't be like we wake up on Sunday morning and we're like, oh, I have to go to church. It should be like, I get to go to church today. I get to go to the altar. I get to worship. You know, when I was the children's pastor, the greatest compliment I ever had was when a parent would come and they and they would walk up and they would say, I really, we weren't going to come to church this morning. But my kids drove me crazy to come to church. And so if we're doing our job right as adults, as parents, then our kids, just like Pastor Clint said earlier about worship, like if you wanna, if you want your kids to know how to worship, then worship. If you want your kids to come to church, then come to church. If you want your kids to learn the word of God, then read the word of God. Amen. It's on us as leaders. This is back to school Sunday. We're gonna pray for students, we're gonna pray for teachers in a little bit, but it's on me. I'm the parent. I can't let somebody else educate my child. I need to be in the word of God. I need to be worshiping, I need to be to show them what it means to come to the altar. It's my job, it's my responsibility. I'm thankful that we have a great community of people here at our church that also when we dedicate a baby, what we're one of the things that we're saying is that we love this child, we honor this child. We are a community of people who, a family, I like to call us a family, big dysfunctional, messed up family. But when if you see one of my kids and they're out in the world, we dedicated them here in this building in front of you. I want you to feel like you can go over to them and say, hey, the Lord loves you. You know better than that. I will be thankful for that if they're if they're doing something they shouldn't be doing. And we should all love one another enough to do that for one another. And it there's an accountability that comes in knowing the Lord and loving the Lord. Now, uh, you know, we have to use discernment in those situations. Amen. All right, let's keep moving. I'm gonna get myself in a mess. We're gonna be in the book of John this morning, and uh I love the book of John. I love the I am statements in the book of John, and we're gonna talk about one of those today. All throughout the book, we we see where the scripture says, I am the bread of life, I am the door, I am the good shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the true vine, and I am the light of the world. Praise the Lord. We're gonna talk about the light of the world today. And it I love it, it starts in the very beginning of the book of John. It says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. That's a tongue twister. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. What do we know about light? Can we bring the lights down? Can we do that? I'm just throwing them for a look. I didn't talk to him about this, about doing this. It's kind of dark in here. If you ever want to be like I I hate to say this. I if you've ever been in here when it's dark outside, thank you. You can say it. It's scary. Try to navigate, try it, try to navigate these hallways when it's dark. Try to navigate these hallways when someone leaves the vacuum cleaner in the hallway and it's dark. Or the cleaning cart. I nearly killed myself one time over here, and I was like, I don't feel like turning the lights on. It seemed light when you were still by the door. And I come in and I turn left, and I'm gonna try to make my way to the to the copy machine. And I got about halfway to the copy machine, and it was the middle of the week, and car center had been cleaning, and and the the cart was off to the side. It was not in the middle of the hallway or anything, it was right in the side, and I got about to that that door and I uh nearly killed myself. And it I think Clint has cameras. There's cameras, you know, for security reasons around, and there's no telling what he has seen me trip over, fall, or do. Um it's not like he sits there and just watches them, but uh, but I'm sure that he could probably turn some things in and make some money. Um but if you've ever tried to sleep in in the morning and it's dark, and I mean dark, and then you wake up and then you can find out real quickly if you don't have your curtains all the way closed, right? Because you can think like today's the one day, I'm gonna try to sleep in a little bit, I'm gonna try to, you know, stay in bed, and then all of a sudden you kind of roll over and there's like a beam of light that's coming, and then before you know it, the whole room seems like it's illuminated when in reality it's still kind of dark. And so Clint gave me this today, and um but look, what do we know about light? What we know about light is that light always wins. No matter how dark it is, if there's a tiniest bit of light, light wins. It we we we want to look at it backwards. We want to look like we turn the uh that it's dark. I can't even remember how I just turned this thing on. Um we want to look at it like the backwards. But the truth of the matter is darkness cannot stand in the presence of light. Light always wins. And so we live in this society, and and and God bless you young people. It's it's different than when I was a kid. There's so much temptation, there's so much stuff out there. Social media tell you know, people telling you who you are. And the truth of the matter is you need to learn who you are from this book. Not what the world says that you are, not what the with the billboards and social media stuff and all of that nonsense that wants to tell us who we are. That stuff doesn't mean a thing. Right here, what this book says about you, you are a child of God. Who are you loved, you are important, you are heard, God hears you, he sees you, he loves you. That's what you need to know about yourself. And so when you walk through difficult times and when you people might say something silly about you or to you, then just remember I'm a child of God, and I am loved by God. And he hears me, he sees me, and he loves me. And he is light. And so my my responsibility is to be light in this world. I uh this scripture just is so beautiful to me. Uh verse 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light, the true light which gives light to everyone. That is one of the things that God has just continued to put on my heart. And I know Pastor Julie has said this also that you will not walk out of this place, you will not ever look anyone in the eyes that God doesn't love. He loves everyone, and he wants everyone to know him. It says, the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the rights to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Do you know that each and every one of you were you have a mom, you have a dad, but you have a father in heaven, and you were born by his will, and he loves you so much. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, This was he whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. That's a tongue twister for us. For for from his fullness we have received we have all received grace upon grace. And I'm gonna stop right there. Grace upon grace, waves of grace, they come every single time you mess up. Guess what? Another wave of grace. Raise your hand if you've ever been to the beach. If you've ever been to the beach and you sit on that beach, and I I'm to this age, and I'm so thankful that I can actually sit on the beach. You know, I used to always, we'd be scared to death. We'd go to the beach and our kids would be running around, and we're finally at the age where we don't have to worry about one of them plunging themselves into the water and no one sees them. Like you can actually relax just a little bit. But I remember sitting on the beach a couple years ago, and it God just spoke to me. I just knew in the the presence of the Lord was there, and I was just sitting there, and the waves just kept coming. They never stopped. And I knew in my spirit in that moment, God was just telling me, That's my grace. That's grace. It's just wave of after wave of grace. And when I mess up, when I fall down, when I stumble, and I will, then here comes another wave of grace. And it's like that for us. Amen. He's so good to us, he's so, so good to us. I don't even know. I I have been all over my notes. I don't even know. Let's just do this. Let's just not use notes. I want to do it. Let's do it. I want to talk to you today about something that's absolutely incredible, where Jesus says in the book of John, and we just talked about the first at the John chapter 1 and all of that, and it's beautiful. But I want to jump over to John chapter 8. And in John chapter 8, and I believe it's in verse 12. I don't have my notes because I just threw them on the ground, but I believe it's John chapter 8, verse 12. He says this incredible thing, and maybe, yeah, it's not verse 12. Awesome. He says, I am the light of the world. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Now I want to give you some cultural context to what's going on in that situation. Jesus, and I have said this over and over and over. I want to do a sermon series. I'm going to write a book. I'm going to do something. I'm ruining the sermon series because I keep talking about this. But I want to do a series called Savage Jesus. Yeah, because we love, I love Jesus. I love precious Jesus. I love little baby Jesus. I love all of it. I think it's great, but I love when Jesus gets in their face. Right? We need to hear those times too. And this is one of those situations. We can read through John chapter 8, and we can see uh and we can think that uh it's chapter 12, verse uh chapter 8, verse 12. I was right. And again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. So here's what's going on. This this is during the Feast of Tabernacles. And so during the Feast of Tabernacles, so many people would come to Jerusalem and they would show up and they would they would worship, and it was a it was actually a uh celebration and recognition of what God had done for the Israelite people when they were in the wilderness. And we know that you can pop that picture up there, but there it we know that there was the tabernacle, and there was something above the tabernacle that was a pillar of fire. And if you have go back in our children's building, there's a picture of this uh back in the children's building. If you've not been back there, I encourage you to go uh check it out. But you can see this great pillar of fire, and it guided the people, it gave protection for the people, it was light for the people, and so this is what's going on. They're celebrating this and what Jesus had or what God had done as they were in the wilderness. And so here we find Jesus as they're doing the celebration, and this was a celebration, it wasn't like a little party, this was a big deal. People from all over the place would come to Jerusalem, they would surround the temple. And what would what was going on what would be going on at the time is they would they would put up these 75-foot-tall candelabras. And I think we have a picture of it. Yeah, 75 feet tall. And then these like healthy young people who were agile would climb up these ladders and they would dump about 10 gallons of oil into these candelabras or into these lanterns, and then they would the it would be raucous, and there would be partying and celebration and music and dancing and all of this is going on. And you put another picture where it's just all the people like that would be around. Yeah, and it's just it's wild, and it's it's a celebration. I love that stuff. I mean, I feel like, man, we need to do some of that. Right? We need to we need to come into this house and worship and be not afraid, that so less worried about what's going on to my right and to my left, and and worried about what he thinks about me. Amen. We should want to come into this house and celebrate and worship and know who we are and be happy about it and be thankful for what he's done, and that's what's going on. They're thankful, they're worshiping, and all the people, you can see people dancing and just having a good time in celebration of what God had done for them. And so that's what's going on. It's loud. If if you remember me talking, I've talked before about John chapter 7, the water celebration. And remember how I talked about raise your hand if you remember. Please, somebody raise your hand. Okay, good. If you remember, we talked about how that was when Jesus cried out, I that all who come to me, out of them, right, will flow will flow rivers of living water. And so remember me talking about how it was wild, it was a raucous situation, and people were uh, you know, shaking pom fronds, and it was a wild scene, and there was two instances when the the priest would raise the pitcher and it would be quiet. And at that moment was when Jesus said those words. And so that's savage. That's Jesus not afraid to tell people who he is. And this is another situation just like that. That huge festival is going on, and all the people are partying. Everybody's thankful uh for what God has done for them. And then in those moments, that's when Jesus, standing there in front of all the people, says, You see this light? You think that's something? You think these 75-foot candelabras are something that are showing light to all the community? Show that other picture of what it looks like in real life when all the when all that's litten. Littin? That's not even a word. When all those are lit. See how bright that is? Imagine that. So Jerusalem sits up on a hill. And so if that's all lit up like that, you would be able to see that for miles and miles and miles. And all of this is going on. And Jesus steps forward in front of the people, and he's not afraid to say who he is. And it's in that moment when he says, You think this is something? Well, this is something, but I'm the light of the world. I'm the light of the world. I am the one. You want light? Come to me, and I'll show you light. And I love that Jesus doesn't stop there. We know in Matthew, I believe it's in chapter 5, when Matthew is talking to the disciples, he challenges them. He talks about salt, he's talking about salt, he's talking about light, and then he challenges them, doesn't he? To go into the world and be light. And that's our challenge. That's the challenge he's making for each and every one of us. When we go to our workplaces tomorrow, when school starts, I don't even know when school starts. Is it next week? Is it this week? I have no idea. It's our third kid. We don't even know. We barely know we're here. I used to know dates really well. I knew what time stuff started. Now they ask me, like, do you know what this is going on at school? I'm like, I have no idea, but I can call somebody and find out. I have no clue what goes on anymore. I gotta figure that stuff out. I'm talking, I'm being a bad parent, I guess. I don't know. Maybe I'm just a w maybe I'm just a way more laid-back parent at 55 than I was when I was younger. But that's our job. This week, when you go to work tomorrow, when you go to school, whenever that is, if you're a student, if you're a teacher, we're called to be light. Right? We're the salt of the world. We're the salt of the earth. We can't lose our saltiness. We're the light of the world. Do you know that there's times when when you go into a place, there's gonna be someone looking. They're gonna need to see some light. You know, I had this revelation not too terribly long ago. I was sitting in a coffee shop, and I was just, as I was sitting there, I was just thinking and looking around about who in this place knows the Lord. And have you ever done that? Have you ever just been someplace? And I'm not saying that in a judgy way. I think you, I mean, I it's shame on us if we judge people because of the way they look. Right? Because we don't know their hearts. We don't know anything about them. Right? Do you know people with tattoos are going to heaven? I sure hope they are. That's a different conversation for a different day. I don't even know why I brought that up. We were talking about in Sunday school. Shame on me. I'm gonna repent here in a minute. I got some repentance to do. But we are called to go into the world. We can't judge people because we don't know where they are. But there are times that I sit and I ask God to help me discern if I need to go speak to somebody, if I need to go talk to somebody, if I need to figure out what's going on in their life. Maybe they just need somebody. Have you ever been someplace and you've just felt in your spirit that you just are supposed to go talk to them? And isn't it isn't it good when you do it? Have you ever not done it? Have you ever not done it and then left that situation, and then you know, like, man, I was supposed to, I would, I was supposed to talk to them. I remember one time and I we were at Arby's, and this young lady came in, and she came in and she was like, she saw, she was kind of looking at us, and we noticed, and then she left. And then she came back and she sat down and then she left and she started looking at us again, and then she left, and then she came back again. She left twice. This is the third time she comes back comes into this place, and she sits down and she's just kind of watching us, she didn't even have food. And then finally she walked over and she said, I saw you guys praying before your meal, and I just felt like I was supposed to just come introduce myself to you and talk to you. And you know who it was? It was Jenny Cochrane, and after that, she and her husband Michael started coming to church here. They live in Florida now, they're they're friends, we love them. Uh, but all of that was because she was obedient, and she we talked to her, she talked to us, she was going through stuff. It it opened roads for her to get some healing in her life, and and not simply from us, but from other people that she met as well. But it she was obedient. And so, how many times have you been in school or at work? And and you can just tell somebody's not acting the way they usually do, something's off, something's different, and you know in your spirit you just need to go talk to them. That's being light. That's being light. You know, I know what it's like. And I don't say this, I say it to kind of be funny, but I know what it's like to be the kid that's sitting at lunch and not know, like, is anyone gonna sit by me? Right? Don't feel sorry for me. I'm not asking for that. I'm just saying I know what it's like. And so when I say that it's our responsibility to when we see somebody in that situation, to go help, to be part of just being a good person, to being light to them. Because you know what? They just need someone to know that somebody cares. That someone loves them, that someone loves them enough. Maybe you're not gonna be best friends, but you at least love them enough to make sure they're okay. And you can make sure they're okay by just saying hi. How are you? What you having today? Salisbury steak? I don't know. What do they even have at lunch anymore? I remember Salisbury steak was a thing. I don't even know what it is. Does anyone know, honest to goodness, what salisbury steak is brown hamburger, ground hamburger rolled in some kind of seasoned sauce. I don't know. It was okay. All right, school pizza's the best, though. I don't care what anybody says. But we're called to be, we're called to be light, and we're called to go, and we're called to do. And I want there's one more example, and it's that it happens right after this. And so I just need a volunteer. Someone that could come up. All right, you come on up, Emberlyn. And so right after this, there's another there's another story, and it's another example. And you're blind, so I'm not sure why I was gonna have you lay down. You don't have to lay down. Just like someone needs healed, you just wanna they feel like they gotta be laying down. I don't know. I guess because I was the lame man in the Easter play for all those years, and they had to carry me around on that thing. So, all right, so you're blind. Alright, let's take these off. Now, are you really blind? Open your eyes. Can you see? Blurry, me too. I'll just be blind with you. Good thing I don't need my notes. All right, so there's this cool situation that happens, and it's right after this, and he comes up, Jesus comes upon this guy, and he's blind, and he and he Jesus wants to heal him. So he does something that's pretty wild, and so I'm gonna do that, okay? So just bear with me. Alright. So there's there's dirt on the ground, okay? And so Jesus spits and then he scoops up the dirt and he rubs it in her eyes. So I'm gonna do that. Is that okay? All right, here we go. All right, so Jesus rubs that in her eyes, then she he says, Go to the pool and wash off, and when you do, you're gonna be healed. And so you know what the guy did? He did it, and then after that, I gotta put my glasses on. On. I'm sorry. I'm gonna get like C sick standing up here because I can't see. I remember when I first got glasses, I used to sit back over here, and this was before I was preaching and stuff, and I would sit back over there, and I thought I could see just fine. And then finally we had our insurance was changed. I was like, I'm just gonna get my eyes checked. So I went and got my eyes checked. Guess what? Needed glasses. Came in here the next Sunday. I was like, hey, it's different. There's people here. It's pretty wild. And so, but that's what he did. So Jesus tells this man what to do, and he does it. So there's something about obedience, isn't there? And so then what happens next is just so interesting to me. Then this guy he goes to the pool, he's healed, and then he starts telling people, and everybody's like, oh no, surely not. And he's like, Yeah, yeah, it happened. No, no, surely not. Yeah, yeah, it really happened. Over and over to where the guy gets irritated. And I'm just telling you, you know what's gonna happen? I this is my call to you to go into the world, to be light, because in that same story, Jesus again states that he is the light of the world. And he's telling us to be the light of the world. And so no matter what, when you leave this place, when you go into the world, people might not believe. And when you radically change your life, people might not always believe you. Guess what? It happens, it's true. But I want to tell you, just keep on keeping on. And I just in that, just like that guy, just say, Yep, it did happen and I'm different. Yes, it did happen, and I'm different. And it doesn't matter what you say, I'm different. And I'm gonna keep walking, I'm gonna keep talking, and I'm gonna keep going, and I'm gonna keep being light in this world. Amen. Stand to your feet for me. Go ahead and stand up. You gonna stick with me? All right. Alright, pray us out. I want to ask all the students to come down and all and any teachers. And if you're a homeschool parent, that means you. Because you are important. Come on, students. I'm looking right in right in your faces. Yeah, come on down. Come up here, dude. Come on here. We say this all the time. We've got the best looking kids in Evansville, Indiana. It's true. It's true. I bet your mom would say that. All right. Exceptional looking kids. We're gonna pray over you. Is there anybody else? I don't want to miss anybody. Any teachers? Alright, you don't have to come up. It's okay. You're right there where you want to be. There's no worry. Let's pray over them. Pastor Julie, would you come up? Pray with me. We want to pray for safety over our kids. I want to pray that our kids know who they are when they go into school. I want to pray for health over our kids and wellness over our kids. And we're just thankful, aren't we? You guys happy to be going back to school? Raise your hand if you're actually happy to be going back to school. A couple of you. Alright. It's good. He's gonna be homeschooled. He said he's real happy to be going to school. That's good. That's awesome. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for each and every child, a young person that's on this platform, that's in this church, that may be seeing this at another time online, but we are thankful for them. And God, I pray, Lord, for protection over them as they go to school in these next days. I pray, Lord, that you would uh help them to be light to other students in the school and teachers and administrative staff that are in the school, that when when they walk in, people know there's a difference, and that's that you're with them. That the Holy Spirit has emboldened them to walk with their head high, their shoulders back, and their chest out because they know who they are and they are a child of God. And so, Lord, I pray for health over each and every student, Lord. I pray, God, that no sickness would come their way. God, I pray, Lord, uh, that they would have a great school year, have great teachers and great friends. I pray, God, that you would introduce them to people that just need to know who you are, and that they would be able to share who you are with boldness in their voice and boldness in their spirit, God. And Lord, I lift up teachers to you, God. I pray, Lord, uh, for health and wellness and protection over each and every teacher, Lord, whether it's in public school, private school, home school, wherever it is, Lord, that you would embolden them to be the teacher that they're called to be, God. I pray, Lord, that you would use them in a great and mighty way when students come into their class and maybe they're insecure, they don't know who they are, they they may have a rough home life, Lord. But I pray, God, that you would uh show yourself through these teachers and help these young students know that they are loved, that there's people who care about them and love them and are there for them, Lord. And so we give you all the praise, we give you all the glory. I am thankful, God, to stand in this place today with all of these young people, God. I pray, Lord, that as we leave here, that you would make appointments for us all around our community to be light, to be light in a dark world. We love you, God, we honor you, we give you all the glory, and we give you all the praise, and it's in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.