God-Given Belief

hi Pastor Matt listen thank you for downloading or streaming this sermon pray that it blesses your heart two quick things that I want to lay before you before we get started in the proclamation of God's Word the first is and I love that you're dialing in to hear what the Lord's put on our heart here at TVC but I ask that you would only consume these messages as supplemental and in no way replacing your commitment and your listening to your local church pastor these are good gifts of God's grace for the people of God to grow in and yet they are not to replace ever meant to replace our belonging to a covenant community of faith where we are the the second thing want to lay before you is is that there are a lot of man-hours that men and women here at the village church put behind not just the creation of this but the creation of all kinds of resources that are meant to help you grow and develop as a disciple of Jesus Christ and so if this blesses you or the other resources that have been created have blessed you would you consider giving back to the village church to support not just these things but the creation of even more resources for you and really for anyone who wants to indulge in them now I pray that God stirs your affections for Jesus Christ as you listen now to the proclamation of God's Word [Music] [Music] well good morning it's good to see you if you have your Bibles go ahead and grab those we'll be back in John chapter one we were in John chapter one last weekend will be in John chapter one this weekend will be in John chapter one next weekend then will be a John chapter one the weekend after that and then after that I'm not quite sure but that will more than likely knock out chapter one and if you think oh my gosh there's 26 chapters it'll be fine alright it'll be fine there are certain parts that will move faster than just John one you've got in the first 18 verses of John's Gospel basically a prologue which is telling all that we're about to read in a more kind of distilled way and so I want to remind you if you weren't here last week that John is not holding his cards close to his chest we're in the other synoptic Gospels you maybe get a genealogy or you get the story of of Elizabeth finding out that she would you get these other and it's not until later in the book that you find out that Jesus is the Son of God he is the Christ he is the light of the world like John he's not he's too eager for you to know who Jesus is so he's like first sentence out of the gate was in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God so like John right out of the gate saying hey the Son of God the Promised One the Messiah yeah the one there was eternal Co eternal with the father that's Jesus and so Jesus is not only always been or Co eternal with the father at least the son of God is you getting some Trinitarian stuff here where the son of God is eternal he's always been but the person of Jesus is the Son of God putting on flesh and dwelling among us and then Jesus in the flesh resurrected reigns and rules forever alongside God the Father I should have charted that so you could see more clearly but that's what the training programs for you should hop in that it'll bless you now Jesus as the creator of all things we began to kind of understand our existential angst because we have been created by Jesus for Jesus right and so that makes sense for why we can't seem to get fully satisfied long with anything else in creation because we have not been made I our work for our work we have not been created by our spouse for our spouse by our friends for our friends by our money for our money by our position for our position we have been created by Jesus for Jesus and our souls were never find rest until they find rest in him see what I'm saying like John comes out strong he's not like here's the genealogy of the right which is that's awesome in and of itself but John's not wasting any time he is a passionate aggressive man and he's saying that in the coming of the word in the coming of Jesus Christ and the incarnation of the Son of God a light has shone in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it we talked about what good news that is we think about the darkness a raid towards Jesus Christ on his cross you had the power of sin and death I would say that's formidable you had Satan and demonic principalities and powers you had the power of secular government the Roman Empire you had the power of religious establishment the Pharisees and the Sadducees and you even had the power of foolish failing disciples but when Christ rose from the grave a light shone in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it and if you were here last week we actually wrote in our Bibles we'll do it again today it's not sacrilegious right you're okay you're not adding to the text you have to quote that passage in Revelation and worry about being destroyed it's the it's that word shine it is the first place in the Gospel of John that we get our first present tense ongoing action word shines so we circled the s because it's not like at the resurrection of Jesus Christ the line shown and now you and I are in a lot of trouble it's that it did shine and it continues to shine all the way up to today so if the darkness in your life is related to sin and death a light is shown in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it and if the darkness in your life today is tied to Satan and demonic principalities and curses then a light is shown in the darkness and the darkness will not over come and if the darkness in your life is due to some sort of secular kind of scheme against you then a light is shown in the darkness in the darkness will not overcome it and if it's religious a light is shown in the darkness and darkness will not overcome it and look at me if it's your personal failures as disciples anybody this week go yep I've kind of come face-to-face with some of that this week a light has shone in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it and so we get to dive into why that is and how that is for this whole study but John doesn't back off this intensity actually ratchets it up from here and so let's look at this together John chapter one we're gonna start in verse six when in verse 13 for today 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 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 believed in his name he gave the right 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 now the first part of this passage has everything to do with the messenger or the witness the one that bears witness so look back at those first couple of verses 6 through 8 there was a man sent from God whose name was John he came as a witness to bear witness about the light for the reason that all might believe through him he was not the light but he came to bear witness about the light now it may be you've got a church background maybe you don't the John being mentioned here is not the John that's writing the Gospel of John so if you're like wait there's two of them yes there's two of them right and so this is a reference as we'll find out in the weeks to come too John the Baptizer and maybe you've heard his name John the Baptist I just don't want there to be any confusion John the Baptist was not the first Southern Baptist he was John the Baptizer all right and John the Baptizer is the front-runner of Jesus the one who comes heralding the good news in the wilderness that one is coming and so you've got this John the Baptizer who is pointing towards Jesus testifying with his mouth being a witness that the Son of God is coming into the world and then he bears witness with his life that Jesus is the Son of God the light of the world and that he is greater than John one of the tricky things about those who come specially in 2018 world's one of the dangerous parts about being a messenger to the light is oftentimes people will mistake the messenger of the light as the light and one of the ways John bears witness to the light is not just by living his life in such a way that people look at and go yeah that guy's not living for himself he's living for something else I mean John is a weird guys we're gonna come to see out in the wilderness wearing like camel skin and not like in a fashionable way like if you're like actually that's in right now not in that way he's eating locust and honey's living the life of someone in deep poverty and he's saying one's coming greater than I and to the people of the day that was unheard of me there's a little revival that broke out with John the Baptist's ministry like John the Baptizer was getting in I mean crowds were gathering even very powerful well-known wealthy people were showing up see there's crazy person out in the wilderness baptizing people in the river Jordan we're gonna find out soon that that he says man I'm not even worthy to untie the sandals of the one who's coming when his own followers we never hey I think he's baptizing more people than us he says yeah yeah we've already covered this I must decrease he must increase John the Baptizer is not blind but it does bear witness to the life with his life he is a testifier of the light with his mouth and we see him doing this to what end so that we might believe through him now there's a couple of things here one if I were you I would start let's just start circling the word believe every time it shows up in John because it is the key word in the Gospel of John believe just a simple word believe and I'm gonna tell you why it needs to stay simple and not get complex this is nearly the same language that we read last week in John 21 that John the Apostle is writing here's why this gospel has been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that life and light is found in him and so what you've got is you've got this pre Jesus John saying Jesus is coming he's the son of God he's the Christ life is found their light is found there and then you've got a post ascension John in John the Apostle saying Jesus is the light Jesus is the Christ Jesus is the Son of God he's the savior of the world and both of them bear witness that Jesus is the light John by his arrest and beheaded nesse it would be beheading wouldn't it dang it and then John the Apostle hey you stand up here enough stuff like this happens and then John the Apostle church history tells us that they boiled him alive and he didn't die and that wigged him out so they exiled him to Patmos where he's visited by who an angel of the Lord Jesus himself and that's where we get our book of Revelation both bear witness about the life they testify the like one before one after Jesus is the Christ Jesus is the savior of the world Jesus is the Son of God in him his life and outside of him there's only darkness right so you've got those two John's and their message is the same believe in Jesus now what's interesting to note also here about this verb believe is that never when it's used in the Gospel of John is there ever an adjective or an adverb put in front of it it's always just belief all right it's not radically believed it's not with your whole heart believed it's not I mean there are all sorts of adverbs and adjectives you could put here to intensify the meaning we believe intensely believe sincerely believe and yet never is there ever an adverb or an adjective put before the word believe why because to believe is to receive something and the second you put an adverb or an adjective in front of it it seems like we can control it we can do it ourselves all right the second I have to radically believe I mean it feels like there's some things in my hands but if I just believe but I have to receive that from the Lord the the gift of belief but I've had to intensely believe then I've got to do I mean I got do something right and yet John's not gonna have that it's a currency God will not accept look here's a let me let me show you this so challenges us like here's my experience as a Christian and then as a pastor walking with Christians as we try to stumble our way to glory like most of us just want to be told what to do but like what do i do just tell me what to do okay I get again what do I do yeah and so this is not new to us this is what it means to be human so the Bible tells us that Jesus does this miracle where he feeds 5,000 people with a kid's lunch you remember the story from the belt board Sunday school days right so there's 5,000 people and they're hot I mean listening to Jesus teach all day and then the disciples come and say people are hungry we got to send them away and just like no no we don't feed them so they like well we just got some fish sticks and some rolls like that'll do by the way it doesn't read exactly like this in the text so so Jesus blesses it and they began to tear it and feed the crowd and they feed all five thousand and twelve baskets full were found after they fed everybody till they were full so then this crowd starts to follow Jesus around and and they're like yeah this is our guy like we want to follow this guy and so Jesus has this to say to them in John 6 26 to 29 jesus answered them truly truly I say to you you are seeking me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves now that's a whole sermon series in and of itself right so Jesus says hey the reason you're following me is not because you love me you're following me because I filled your stomachs all right it's talking about coming to Jesus not to want Jesus but to want Jesus to do something for you it's using Jesus not loving Jesus all right it's I want you to fix my marriage I want this promotion I want my kids to behave I want my rights it's I'm coming to you Jesus because I want you to do these things for me and Jesus calls him out I mean how uncomfortable is this right like he just stops I mean you imagine me right here's why you're here try and Shoji turns to the crowd you're here because I could fill your belly you don't love me your intent is not to follow me you want your bellies full now look at their question I love their questions so us look at 27 do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you for on him God the Father has set his seal look at 28 then they said to him what must we do to be doing the works of God right because here's what happens like when we get convicted when we get busted like well we've got a faux religiosity that we're expressing and the Spirit of God confronts us in that that you're using Jesus you're not really true like loving him you just want him to give to you and so you think Jesus is a genie not your Lord and Savior and when you get busted like that by the Holy Spirit our first call is okay you got me tell me what to do then write this well just tell me what to do look at what Jesus says verse 29 jesus answered them this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent that answer should radically change how we think about God's interaction with us as humans what are the works of God tell us what to do Jesus's responses this is the work of God believe not radically believe not intensely believe believe now this isn't cheap grace this is not easy believe ISM if in your mind you're thinking I think I just believe and do whatever I want you're not hearing me this idea of belief just simply believe is what the Reformers are talking about in Sola fidei when when they talk about believing by faith alone so that's it we don't add anything to faith we just believe and what happens now watch this what happens when we believe simply believe the Bible says the Spirit of God and dwells us and we become transformed and we begin to want to do what Jesus wants us to do and we begin to hate our sin and so when that happens now we've got conversion so that morality is an extension of inward transformation not outward working of morality leading to a love for Jesus so this is significant here because the argument is what you need to get near the light is to believe not radically believe just believe and believers then become children of God look at verse 12 so first he's just gonna hammer this idea home verse 12 but to all who did receive him so even this language can be a little confusing like if you grew up in a church is like receive Christ as your Savior come down here receive Jesus anybody grew up with that language nothing wrong with that language as long as we keep reading the text because to receive means like you coming and grabbing but belief is a gift look at how you receive but to all who did receive him who was believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God listen to this huge who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God okay so you and I become children of God via belief so for all who did receive him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God but how well he actually tells us how it doesn't happen before he tells us how it happens number one that you and I do not become believers because of our bloodline you are not born a Christian no one has been a Christian their whole life are you with me your parents faith is your parents faith it's not yours now what your parents can do and probably did too hopefully and by the grace of God you can rejoice in its put little kindling around your heart as a little kid that the Holy Spirit ignited and into belief and that has led to who you are in Christ in this day but you are not a Christian because your parents were Christians your parents faith is your parents faith you have not been born by human blood that's not how you've become believers then he also many like doubles down on this right not only were you not born of human blood but you have not been born of the will of the flesh nor the will of man right so so our white knuckled I'm gonna do better I'm gonna be a good person I'm gonna be moral can not save us that's gonna be huge here in a second alright so your best efforts to clean yourself up morally is not it's not acceptable to God when we think about salvation so God doesn't look at you go you know what used to used to smoke weed now you don't used to look at porn and now you don't right used to be a drunkard now you're not you used to do this now you don't you know what yeah I'm looking around you're so much better than your neighbors come on in that's not the way this works he says that if you believe you become children of God and that's through no act of your own but it's of God that belief is a gift from God right this is what John is arguing now let me tell you why the reason why there's this witness that bears witness about the light is because there's unrecognized revelation and there's unwanted revelation all around us let's talk about unrecognized revelation this is verse 10 he was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him it's a great quote from Brooke Foss Westcott he says no man is wholly destitute of the light in nature and life and conscience it makes it being the light makes itself felt in various degrees to all Wescott's argument is this no one anywhere on earth can say that they haven't had some revelation of the light of the word who in the beginning was there and he says this is true because they've got creation this is true because they've been made in the image of God and this is true because they have a conscience so let me show you some texts Westcott is great but he's not the Bible so Psalm 19:1 through to the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork day today pours out speech and night tonight reveals knowledge and so there's something in the hearts of humankind being created by Jesus where we look at the beauty of creation and our heart longs for something it aches for something CS Lewis wrote extensively about this ache in the human soul around the creative order then when there's a spectacular sunset or a spectacular sunrise or we stand in front of the Grand Canyon or we stand in front of a mountain range or in front of an ocean like a real ocean not a gulf when we get in those spaces we feel small we're aware of how small we are and it feels good to feel small that's what's happening the heavens are declaring the glory of God so that wherever you are in the creative order when you see beauty you're learning something about the Creator who was the creator the word who's the word the son of God who's the son of God Jesus right so that wherever you are when you feel that oh gosh that's beautiful that's the heavens declaring the glory of God it's why people all over the world flock to these natural wonders so that their heart can ache and they can feel small nobody stands in front of the Grand Canyon goes I have a PhD in rhetoric from Auburn right like like for all your accomplishments how tiny are they standing in front of that Paul says something similar in Romans 1:24 his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse here so that nobody's nobody's got an excuse why cuz you can see it you see it all around you we just blow pastor door don't consider it or justify it in some way so that we don't believe right this is unrecognized revelation God communicating to us and us missing it now one of the reasons we're gonna continue to send a lot of money to the ends of the earth and send teams and people to the unreached of the earth is because they have unrecognized revelation they see it they feel it they just don't know what to do with it I don't know how to put it all together they need somebody to stand in the gap go yeah yeah that that unk your feeling that's this when you look at that and your heart aches and you feel like there's something deeper there is let me introduce you to them it's names Jesus right I mean let me help you fill in the gaps here and then and so we go and we go to the ends of the earth because Christ died on the cross not for those who might believe but for those who will but God knows that it's scary not to know the future which is why he's given us his promises we go to the ends of the earth in full confidence that there are men and women from every tribe tongue and nation on earth that Jesus has purchased with his blood or not of human blood not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but by the blood of Jesus right this is why we need witnesses who bear witness because he has given many the right to become sons of God now yeah you have unrecognized revelation but you also have unwanted revelation I must circle back around to earlier in the summer but sermon next summer but sermon let's look at verse 11 he this being Jesus came to his own home and his own people did not receive him and so he here you've got now Jesus putting on flesh and coming among us and then it's an unwonted revelation so before it was unrecognized what is this and then Christ comes and now it's unwanted and so when you see and know and understand what the gospel is of some of you today as we're talking like okay that mate now okay now I understand I didn't realize that but but now many of you go no I get that just no thank you now for Jesus to be revealed as the Son of God the Christ the life and light of the world and to be rejected is almost always due to one of two factors right here's the first one an idea that we don't need Jesus right we just we're doing all right we don't need Jesus that's complicated I don't know what all that means so I don't need Jesus now the reason we can think that is because God help us we believe that the touchdown right you and I believe that the the type of money that God accepts is the the money of morality so we don't think we need Jesus because we're doing great like we're looking around and and and we can see people that aren't faithful here who aren't doing that and then we justify ourselves by measuring our strengths with other people's weaknesses and so here we don't need Jesus because we're doing great because the assumption is that that is what Christ's accepts but God doesn't accept that right the prophet Isaiah says all of our righteousness is as filthy rags so when you're like I don't need Jesus right I don't get hot I don't need I stayed true to my I don't need Jesus I write oh that's just filthy rags that is not what God accepts in regards to salvation it's not the currency that gets you into glory and if it's not that it's the belief that God will reject us God does not want us so we will therefore reject him first so man I run into this one all the time where there there are just man from the home I came from to the things I've done to the things I currently struggle with there's no way what you're saying can be true about me so I want to have this talk I'm I'm gonna be gentle but heavy that position is one of the more arrogant imaginable that you have somehow I'll send the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ is far more arrogant than some of the other errors the Bible reads like a who's who of men and women who would never be allowed to work at this church King David so appreciate your resume no you're an amazing worship leader you raped a woman and then you had her husband killed so that's gonna we just found some things in the background check risk yeah we're not gonna you can't do home groups here bro you gotta go I'm sorry yeah like who who else do you wanna you want to put me Moses yeah no well you killed a guy and you keep freaking out and having outburst of anger like you can't every time you don't get your way freak out and scream at everybody and then strike things with your staff right you got it bro you got a be sanctified a little bit high I mean we can keep going I mean you name almost everybody unless you're named Christ or or maybe a Drac Meshach Abednego it like Daniel there's not many out there that aren't a trainwreck who got pull Zann empowers and uses why because we're not children of God by our effort we're not children of God by our resume we're not children of God by our will but by God's power that's why he does it that way that's why he always piques the he always picks the weak and frail it's amazing I love it and so we tend to not want the revelation of Jesus as the Christ Jesus because we don't think we need him because we're using morality as the currency that God accepts I think about how bad of a man think of the tragedy of that mistake I'm banking my eternal soul on being good enough there's no scale there's no way to measure that there's no way to tell but I'm banking all of it on that you see in this passage the real tragedy of humanity's rebellion against God so God reveals himself through the creative order he reveals himself by making us in the imago day he reveals himself in giving us a conscience like the conscience itself teaches us about what it means to be human like why do we feel bad about stuff why do we feel guilty why do we feel shame why is that a universal human experience and I know the day in which we live were people like there's no such thing as evil until something really evil happens this is like evil it's like there's no such thing as evil there's just our heart's desire that's evil right there is evil and and so how are we measuring these things how are we and so God reveals himself on our conscience reveals himself and nature reveals himself in the imago day you and I be made in His image and then this text says that he came into that he put on flesh he came into his creation and that we did not just not want that but that we killed that ever you think about how God sees you how God thinks about you how God responds to you what you see in the Bible is God perpetually moving forward all right he's here's creation like see that I am beautiful I want you to experience beauty I want you to see beauty I want you to be to experience the all the feelings small and safe in my arms I want you to understand that life outside of me it's broken and hopeless and leads to all sorts of collateral damage I'm gonna let you feel that in your gut through guilt through shame and then since you're still running I'm gonna come right into your space I'm gonna you'll see this in next weekend I'm gonna set up shop right in the middle of you right I'm gonna Tabernacle with you I'm gonna show you myself and that even in that the great tragedy of humankind is even as he moves towards us again we reject and we actually reject all the way unto death all the way unto death it's the great tragedy of humankind now here we are we we find ourselves in this moment this isn't this isn't applied to people in the past this is applied to us right now like there are those of you in this room right now who just have never really understood what the gospel is and what it means and you've always thought that it's some sort of long list of moral things that you've got to do and so you have Advan I mean just avidly just been checking those things off right and you just never heard no no you don't radically believe you just believe you just believe you just melt into I believe this about Jesus you allow the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to move you from one degree of glory to the next and what's crazy is we all start in a different place which means we're all gonna look a little bit different which should cause all of us to extend grace to one another you grew up in a home where you memorize the Bible and you sang hymns and you had a family devotional and Jesus was a big deal in your house when the Holy Spirit ignites that kindling around your heart you're gonna you look like you're pretty far along right but what about somebody who had none of that who grew up in the darkest home imaginable and and yet this of God still saves and grants belief are they gonna look a little bit behind but are they no that's why we should be so gracious to one another as we by the Holy Spirit are sanctified by God in Christ means were more patient with one another then then the world thinks we should be and and so here we are some of us were like oh my gosh okay it makes sense cuz I know man I passed for this Turk now for 15 years been in the DFW area for 20 like like I I know a lot of us man we tried this we grew up in these kinds of homes and not all of us but a lot of us did and it was always just about true love waiting and not listening to secular music and we a lot of us have that story where we just had it you can't burn all of our CDs and as the Metallica one burned weed or diamond come out of it cuz it is no it's actually what happens when you burn stuff right it is and and we've got these stories of I'm gonna do better and we went to camp can't everyone cried snot we're gonna do this and then sure enough six weeks later we're we're stumbling and falling and then eventually we just go forget this I can't do it and weep on wild out in college and in our early 20s or whatever and then maybe we get married or maybe we finally get that job and things start to settle in and then man we we and if we keep going down this road where's it gonna end or man we don't want our kids to wild out so we better get him back in church and now we're back we still just don't quite understand the gospel you know what I'm trying to help with them they're just standing up here with John and John and saying believe just believe if you like I don't know how to do that there's this great prayer my favorite prayer in the Bible is I believe help my unbelief and when well that man said that to thee just Jesus did not rebuke him he did not go what do you mean by that how can you believe but not believe simultaneously so if you believe why do I got to help your unbelief I don't need to help your unbelief if you believe like Jesus done then Jesus hears the prayer and honors that calls it a prayer of great faith that great news I believe help my unbelief and she's like all right again like we said look I'm not furrowed brow can you make me sick what after all I've done for you I believe how my unbelief now I'm pulling off of your no salvation for you it's not what this is they just were met by kindness we're met by patients were met by the steadfast love of God and then if you're here and this is unwanted stuff and you're like man I don't want to say yes to Jesus if I do that I know what happens if I believe I've seen it man he's gonna come in he's gonna reorder my world and I don't I don't know if I can give this up I don't know if I can do these things he's he's asking me to step into and I'm I'm just trying to stand up here with John and John and plead with you that God does not accept your quasi morality as currency around salvation all he accepts is belief that's it and I'm just lived here long enough to know how many of us think morality is the currency that we can pay God off with I'm just trying to remind you I say it's like that that's not only not acceptable but the Bible says it's filthy and I'm not gonna even get into the filthy rags commentary of what's being discussed there but it's filthy it's not just unacceptable it's offensive you will not buy him off with your good deeds whatever does not proceed from faith belief cannot please God so I'm just standing up here with John and John I'm just pleading with you no no why why bank on your morale II just believe well what about this what about no no believe but why are we answering those questions you gotta answer this one before you can answer that one right it's like someone with no kids asking advice about what to do with the twelve-year-old you know gosh you're like what do you what do you do with twelve-year-old boys they're crazy it's like do you have any children no I'm married but but you're stressed about this oh man I could even sleep last night like I what do you do huh I mean you're giggling but I I didn't start up trying to make a joke we we just believe and then God will be enough for each one of those questions I want to end and by the way this isn't complex stuff here last at the end of the service last week you know every weekend we have people that are up here and there just to pray and at the end of last weekend's sermon some guy came up and just grabbed one of our people up here and just like whatever this is I won't in that's one of my favorite prayers I think I've ever heard whatever this is I want in right because it just kind of demystifies the whole thing it's not repeat after me I have sinned I have sinned Jesus help me Jesus help me she's right it's not an incantation it was just some guy that felt the Spirit of God was like yeah this whatever that is I want in what do I do like yeah what do I do don't you you believe and so at the end today we'll have men and women up front my invitation is John's invitation it's God's invitation from Jesus believe life like darkness not overcoming light of the world I'll end with this Bruner quote was that one I quoted last week to in the sermon I'm doing it this week maybe next we'll see come into union with the word who made you and you will come to life you came from him please come back to him you were made for him the result of this reunion will be more than human existence it will be human life that's the invitation in front of you in front of me today let's pray father thank you for these men and women I thank you for your word I pray that today it has read us that you have exposed in us revealed to us shown us your goodness and grace we thank you for the invitation simply to feel that my brothers and sister feel the weight of intense belief a radical belief or wholehearted belief begin to raise up off of them so that they might rest and just no no I believe you might find a weight lift off their soul a hope return I thank you that believing is not from blood not from will not from effort but from faith and grace alone so we praise you and bless your name that you have not left this in our hands but have offered to save us by faith alone by believing alone and it's for your beautiful name I pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 23,996

Rating: 4.8433733 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church, God-Given Belief, Heaven on Earth, Jesus, The Gospel, Belief

Id: t_qWRrcxThQ

Length: 42min 36sec (2556 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 27 2018