United in Truth | David Marvin

[Applause] hey because the majority of those of you in the room are from outside not just of dallas but texas welcome to awaken and welcome to texas [Applause] it is going to be an amazing next few days and we are so excited we've been praying so much and we're gonna dive in and talk for the next few days about what it looks like to walk in the way of truth to be united and have hearts that are united together undivided hearts i'm gonna read the passage that we're gonna be in tonight as we open up the first topic and that's in second timothy chapter three if you have a bible you can flip open to second timothy chapter three some of the last words the apostle paul would ever write if you don't have a bible it'll be up on the screens and i'm going to start in verse 14. paul says but as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in christ jesus all scripture is breathed out by god and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of god may be complete equipped for every good work i charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus who is to judge the living and the dead by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions or desires and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths as for you always be sober minded enter suffering and do the work of an evangelist fulfill your ministry let me pray one more time father thank you for your word thank you that it is living and active and alive thank you for every person that you have gathered here as we unpack the incredible truths that you preserved would you illuminate our minds to see the glory of god in the face of jesus and in beholding jesus to be changed in christ's name amen like i said the theme for this weekend is undivided hearts and that comes from the verse that we just read i'm going to read it one more time specifically verse 11 and psalm 86 teach me your way o lord that i would walk in your truth unite my heart to fear your name and as we were praying and looking at this year it's been an unbelievably divisive year that we're all coming out of call 2020. and the church is commanded over and over in scripture to be united together to be united together as one so we're going to walk through different topics that we are to have undivided hearts around that we are to be united together in and because we're talking about that i thought i'd launch into tonight's conversation by bringing up one of the most divisive words in the past five years ready for it you missed it if you didn't hear it you no it's totally not true do we have it and laurel run it back i'll just do it laurel that word was like five years old and it's distant but this week my family came across came across that word again somehow and and i played it for my kids and i'm gonna show you the reaction that they've never heard it for you you know it's old news it happened five years ago lit the internet on fire and everybody heard different things but they here's the reaction that they had when they saw it this week and played and candidly as their father i was shocked what kind of kids am i raising here's what happened all right what does it sound like laurel [Music] so that was their first reaction and in this room i think you know we can all agree let's say what the actual word is on three ready one two three yeah it's divided we are looking at the same thing and what we believe about what is true is divided that's one of those situations where people can be looking at the same thing and when it comes to hey what's true we're dividing there is a way to find out what is actually true and it's not based on what you hear what you think or what your opinion is there's a way to actually know is it yanny or is it laurel what is that way you go to the creator of it to discover what is true and the creator actually came out and said hey it was laurel and for whatever reason just the jedi mind trick that different people hear different things but in a similar way of how do i know what's true it doesn't go based on what i think what i feel my opinion i can go to the creator to discover what is true not of some tune or sound clip but of our world of life of where life is found the purpose of what is truth in general and as christians you and i are commanded tonight's topic is talking about being united in truth and truth being god's word and specifically we're going to cover three things from god's word we've got to be united in unanimous about in other words there's things in god's word where there could be different interpretations where people could disagree and still be united but the things we're going to talk about tonight are three key imperatives for anyone following jesus we have got the church has to be united around and united in truth tonight's topic is a topic that sadly because christians have not been united in believing these believing these things or people who claim to be christians have not been united around these beliefs have seen the church being effective unloving and not what christ calls them to be there are three things that depending on whether you embrace them or not are going to play a huge pivotal role in whatever the future of your life holds so i'm going to walk through and we're going to unpack what is kind of the main point what does the bible point us to what it tells us or how it instructs us and how we are to represent it i'm gonna start in verse 14. and before i do let me set up a little bit as i said this was written by paul so the apostle paul was the apostle formerly known as saul spent half his life trying to kill christianity trying to stop out christianity gets saved and becomes the greatest missionary arguably the world has ever seen god uses him to write more of the new testament than anybody else and he wrote incredible letters and he sits down and this would be the final letter he would ever write in other words the most influential missionary or christian evangelist of all time wrote all these different letters and we're about to read not just the last letter but part of the last chapter he would ever write at the time he's sitting in a cold dungeon cell awaiting his death many scholars believe he's months if not weeks away from being led out into a courtyard and being beheaded which is how history tells us paul died and he sits down and he writes these words and they're to a very particular person he writes to timothy if you know anything about timothy the relationship paul had with tim with timothy was an incredibly deep one all throughout the new testament paul will reference him and at one point he says there's no one like timothy in my life i have no one else like him he was batman and timothy would have been his robin timothy would travel with him would have helped write letters with him go batman and robin timothy was the protege of paul and paul sitting in this prison writes to timothy who is leading a church in ephesus he's leading a ministry and paul begins to talk about the importance of this book to timothy to the future of the church to you and i and he brings up some really key things that a lot of christians don't either understand or have never even been taught about what this contains and why it's so significant to the church so in verse 14 he says this but as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you learned it we're told in chapter one it was his mom meet a godly mom and a godly grandmother that taught him the scriptures and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings i'm going to come back to them in a second it's a really important word which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in christ jesus for salvation the sacred writings for salvation through faith and jesus for salvation through jesus now what do i say sacred writings is a really important word to understand what i think is one of paul's most significant verses he writes he says these sacred writings that are able to make you wise for salvation through jesus well when paul wrote the word sacred writings he would eventually be talking about the new testament but at this time if you know your history the new testament wasn't around it wasn't completely compiled the term sacred writings was even a hebrew term for the old testament that paul brings up the old testament and he says hey you know what the old testament make sure that you hold on to those truths that are for salvation through jesus when he brings up the sacred writings of the old testament it's for salvation through jesus that paul translation would say the old testament all of the bible and especially at this time the old testament all of it is about jesus the focal point and the main character of the bible is jesus and that's really important i'm about to unpack why understanding that when you and i approach the bible is key to how we take because what we believe about it will determine what we receive from it and paul's going to say hey the whole thing has been about jesus the main character the main idea is not a bunch of principles or self-help rules it is about a person whose name is jesus and all throughout the old testament we discover it it's all been pointing to him jesus in john chapter 5 would even say this to a group of pharisees who were a religious group of leaders who were so studied in the old testament they had the first five books of the torah memorized and jesus says this to them you search the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life but the scriptures point to me yet you refused to come to me to receive this life that jesus would say the bible is not about principles the bible is not even about the bible the bible is about jesus and any understanding that you and i have first and foremost has to be the author of the bible it is pointing me to jesus not to a bunch of rules not to a bunch of principles primarily to the person of jesus in another occasion jesus is walking on walking along the road uh in luke chapter 24 and he brings up this exact idea again where he says was it not necessary that the christ would suffer these things and enter into glory and beginning talking about jesus with moses and all the prophets he interpreted them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself that you and i are coming to god's word with the understanding it is first and foremost it's not about you it's not about rules it is about jesus and pointing humanity to their savior the one who would come to die for their sins even the foreshadowing of the stories these incredible stories are not just about good men and you know let's have some takeaways from these men's stories are types of pointing or types of christ that point to jesus what do i mean by that moses the guy would go and lead god's people out of egypt leading them out of slavery and bondage into a promised land of rest just like jesus who would lead god's people out of slavery to sin into eternal life or god's promised destination noah god told noah go build a boat it's gonna rain it's gonna be really really rainy for the next 40 days build a boat noah goes builds a boat every person who trusted in that piece of wood called an ark that was lifted up as the waters poured in was saved just like jesus and every person who trusts in that piece of wood that our savior was crucified onto that was lifted up will be saved abraham abraham was called by god hey i want you to go and sacrifice your son it says your one and only son moments before he's about to kill his son isaac god shows up and says don't kill your son because i'm going to kill mine and jesus in john chapter 8 would say abraham if you know the story there's this moment he's looking he's about to kill his son and all of a sudden a voice says don't kill your son and he looks up and there's a ram god provided another sacrifice and jesus in john chapter 8 said abraham looked and saw my day coming and rejoiced over and over the story of david goliath the david goes kills the giant of goliath just like jesus would come and he would kill the giant not of goliath but of sin and death and what did he do with five smooth stones think about this he only uses one why are we told there's five well in hebrew that hebrew number five is the number for grace every page points to jesus jonah spent three days in the belly of a well just like jesus it's been three days in the belly of the earth and jesus walks through all of it it's all about me if abraham was here he would say it's all about him if moses was here he'd say it's all about him it's all about jesus and understanding this is key because here's what happens people come to the bible and they make it a self-help book you know what the focus of a self-help book is self the focus of the bible is not you it's jesus and when you and i approach it and we go to read it we read it because if it's about jesus here's what it is it is a love letter it is jesus is the full expression of god's love on the cross and we come and read it and now we read every page not basking in condemnation because that's about you we read it go man this is this is who my god is this is who my god is this is what my god has done this is where life is found through jesus and paul remarkably and so incredibly before there was any new testament completed said hey timothy all of those old testament verses they're all about jesus don't lose sight don't lose hope don't let go of that the main character the bible is jesus from beginning to end it's amazing how many christians will make the focal point something else they're they're familiar with scripture and maybe you were raised in church you've been around it and you've seen it and you've never but you missed like the point it's right in front of your face all this time it's all about him it's not just similar to this there was a logo i was looking at today that i never connected the dots before it's a logo i've seen every day last five years probably it's a logo that all of you have seen over and over and over again it's this logo right here it's amazon do you know that the arrow is there to communicate we sell everything from a to z yeah i know man the emotional attachment to amazon in this room is quite remarkable honestly you look at that every single day you've never connected those dots and in a similar way people will spend time in the bible or they were raised in sunday school and raising the church and they were around it all the time and they've never connected the dots it's all about jesus and paul says first and foremost before we get anything else let's be very clear the main character is him and then he goes into how it plays its role inside of our life and who the author is which informs how it plays that role he says this all scripture is breathed out by god we read that again a lot of us heard that verse before but i want to slowly think about what he's saying every word is breathed out by god and profitable for teaching for reproof or correction and for training and righteousness that you and i may be equipped or complete and equipped for every good work i want to unpack what paul just said the second idea is the author of the bible is god the main character jesus the author is god which has some real significant implications and it tells us how to think about what we're reading here the author being god every word is inspired it's a word we have no other record of this word being used it was breathed out by god himself it's alive if you will it was breathed out by god inspired the words of god himself when old testament writers or new testament writers were writing they wrote it but god was inspiring the words that would be recorded and would be written down this generation more than any other generation says something that i both love and also think they're not taking advantage of where they could in other words for whatever reason the last five years language is like hey i want a word i want to hear a word man that's a word that's a word right there i want to hear word from god i want a word from man i'm just looking for a word from god looking for a word that everyone is obsessed with man i want to hear a word from god and yet they don't open the word of god and read it and know hey and i'm not saying god can't speak i'm saying he has spoken and he can speak in other ways beyond that but he is very clearly spoken in fact let me just press a little bit harder here because this is really important and it's thrown out especially in dating world and young adult world where people will say these two words god told me those are three of the most powerful words you could ever say god told me if you hear that or that comes out of your mouth and what follows next is not god told me in romans chapter 12 verse 1. you should better have heard from god in a better line with his word or seen some sort of writing on the wall or you are representing something that may or may not be what god told you especially if it contradicts what god says in god's word in other words perhaps a better way to say it even if you're like man i really think that's what i'm supposed to do is i think god told me i think i mean that's honestly what's most accurate you don't know you're just going hey and often it's like man i was driving down the road and god told me and what you mean is not i want you to move to dallas you mean and then my friend she posted on instagram about like i love dallas so much and i was like man maybe i would like dallas too maybe this is god maybe it is maybe it's not maybe a better thing to say is i think maybe god wants me to move in dallas but representing something that you can't clearly articulate or especially if it doesn't align with god's word you are stepping in dangerous territory and especially you should take that off the table in the dating world and if somebody breaks up with you and they say hey i feel like god told me or god wants me to be single you should thank god that this person is not a big enough responsible person to say you know what i just need to break up with you because i don't want to date right now and they're blaming her on god and god's up there like no i didn't say that don't even blame it on me man but we know everything that god says we can have confidence it is inspired god told me and then he says hey this is how god in his word is useful inside of our life we're profitable for teaching this is huge man this is so huge god's word here's how to understand what god's word is it is teaching you about the person of christ and the perspective of god it teaches us the person of jesus and god's perspective which is the right perspective or the true perspective because he's the creator and when we read the bible we see and are able to more clearly see how god says where to think about our time how god says where to think about marriage how god says where to use our relationships how god says let us use our tongue our mouth what is true what matters how this life is a vapor we're introduced to god's perspective in the bible in other words the bible is not a magic eight ball that you go to and just go what am i supposed to do with my life am i supposed to marry her and flip it open and just hope that it's there which is honestly how a lot this is a magic 8-ball this is how a lot of people read their bible where they go to it and they're like man am i supposed to move douse or maybe let's just take that job yes definitely and they'll do the same thing it doesn't look like a magic eight ball though they do it with the bible and they flip it open and some of you guys this is you they're like man i don't know if i'm supposed to marry sarah i'm supposed to keep dating sarah or maybe i'm supposed to have sarah out and they flip it open and they're like and abraham married sarai and god sarah god told me i'm supposed to marry you and it's not how you're supposed to apply the bible it is the words of god that introduce you to the perspective of how god thinks and how god would say to see work to see relationships what matters in marriage and who to marry and in studying it we're able to not rip things out of context because that's the danger can't only pick on preachers preachers can rip things out of out of context and say say something make the bible say something that is not what it was saying or he's not saying to you and i'm not saying it's necessarily untrue but i mean you can rip it out and you can make it say anything the other day i was with my kids and we were about to go hang out and do you know scooter races my son and my daughter and my son had goes here and he's at church on sundays and they were learning about genesis and adam and eve and he looks at me and goes dad boys win girls lose i was like really yeah because adam was made first so he got here first and the girl got here second so boys win girls lose now biblically that is an accurate sentence adam was made first it is not an accurate application to go so girls lose and that's funny when you're five when you're 25 it is sad it is more common than you think and so understanding man i come to god's word i'm going to read it i'm going to understand what it says i'm going to prioritize knowing it in my life to do that i have to spend time in it not going through reels on instagram or some sermon clip i'm going to spend personal time there's never been more resources on how to do this let me give you a couple that are amazing there's a project or there's a group called bible recap that is an incredible resource there you go got some fans of it that'll walk you through god's word in a year there's another app called dwell app there's you version there's never been more resources on how you can personally walk intimately and listen to god spend time every day you know what the word listen and silent have in common all the same letters in order to listen to god it requires me being silent personally god will speak to me i want to study and understand what you are saying here so it teaches us and then it corrects or reproofs us which is a word that i don't think a lot of us often like because when we think correction we hear the voice of condemnation we hear god going get it together how long is it going to be like this maybe because of a parent or maybe because of family relationship but for whatever reason you just read it you just feel like shame because of jesus and what he did on the cross there is no shame and guilt for followers of christ so any loving correction is just that it is a loving hey i'm gonna move you back on the path this is how i want you to use your tongue it's how i want you to speak and when you come to it i'm gonna go man god this is what you say to do and so i'm gonna trust you your loving father that's not shouting condemning at me but lovingly correcting me it's like it's like the waze app i don't know if you guys use waze or apple map google they all work the same but waze is better and uh that app it does something if you miss the turn it course corrects in other words if you're driving on the road and sometimes you're just like man is this the street is this the street you missed the exit and it doesn't say hey just back the car up and go back on the highway it course corrects it shows you all right we missed that one here's how you get back on the path that's what god's word does it's called a light a lamp under her feet a light to a path it's god saying man here's how here's how to continue getting back on the direction here's how you should have relationships authentic community around you i'm going to keep course correct i'm going to keep encouraging you to stay on the path it also tells us that there should be times that as believers and when you read the bible it's going to disagree with you like it just happens man when you read verses and like jesus at times should bother you you're like man that's not what i would want to do or i would want to live and that's what paul would say it's correcting aligning us with god what god's word says do you have times where you can even think like oh man there's times where god man that's not what i would do but it's what god clearly says so i'm gonna do it it's not the direction i would go but it's clearly the course correction that god would have me take i'm gonna do it paul says all of this is what we get access to through the perspective of god and then finally the training and righteousness to be complete to be equipped for good works to live out our faith let me give a side note really quick a lot of people have a question over man i don't know if i can trust the bible and they don't trust the bible because say some professor at some college was like you know the bible contradicts itself and uh it's been changed over time let me share something in grad school we had to take classes on some of the most boring things i've ever studied in my life and you know what they were some of the differences in the manuscripts or the passing on of the new testament why do i say that they were boring because you would study and you're like dude i'm about to find out like people say the bible's been changed i'm about to find out which places it has and they walk it through let me give you an example of one of the changes there's a place in the bible where one version has john with two ends and one has it with one in other words there's no place where you read it and it's like man this one says jesus was crucified this one says he got kicked by a donkey and this one says he fell off a cliff it doesn't exist because the changes or any of those changes are so insignificant we have so many copies we know what the essence and truth and what was actually written that is there people don't reject the bible because it contradicts themselves they reject it because it contradicts them they don't like what it says about homosexuality they don't like what it says about sexuality about dating about relationships and we can clap but if you're in that camp and still like man i think so but i don't really know you at least owe it to yourself to say i am going to study and be informed about what it is i'm not going to hide behind well you know my i saw on oprah one time that the bible because you'll discover it hasn't been changed it is trustworthy you can trust it and it is the voice of god inspired by god himself and then paul finishes and tells us something that's so key to us and he writes and he's writing these last words and it would be hard to estimate how much emotion timothy would have when he read these things and paul would have when he said and wrote these things all these years of walking and relationship being mentored by paul being led to christ by paul and paul knowing he's about to die and go be with the lord writes these things to timothy and they apply not just to him but to us i charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word or share the gospel be ready in season and out of season when it's popular when it's not popular reprove rebuke and exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching we read that again because he begins to describe a time that is strikingly parallel to the woman that we're in a time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching the teaching of what god's word says but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves other teachers other things to suit their own passions or their own desires they'll find things that allow them hey you do you don't let anybody tell you to be different you should embrace who you are love is love you choose what is best for your body and your choice and they won't hold the truth and they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths as for you always be sober minded endure suffering and do the work of an evangelist or an ambassador fulfill your ministry paul knowing he's about to go he says man timothy hold on to this book and not only that share this book let it inform your life other people are going to wander off into myths other people are going to wander off and searching for things that will just inform them to whatever they want to do they'll look for somebody to reinforce that but not you you hold on to truth and you share what is true the main character of the bible is jesus the author of the bible is god and the ambassadors of the bible are you and i are anyone just like timothy who is a follower of christ we are called to now go and share what was shared with us that we are not to be you know brand ambassadors are huge right now you and i are called to be brand or bible ambassadors for god and how we speak and how we live it out and how we promote it to other people that in other words paul brings up hate it should inform your life that you and i should be able to say hey let me tell you i believe the bible without telling you i believe the bible through how i live and he would say you and i are the ambassadors of what is true a time is coming where people are going to turn away and wander into myths what does this look like i think probably one of the more common expressions in our culture where we're seeing this happen where they wander from truth and wander to a myth is a common ideology around truth that truth is no longer a universal thing you hear people in the way that they talk common vernacular is truth is not universal i mean what's true for you may not be true for him and you need to do your truth and speak your truth that's not universal and you can define what you think is true that's the message is everywhere and it's the best that has significant consequences because no longer are you going hey this is the source of truth i'm going to god on how to live i just go off of me and our culture in the world around us it is clearly wandered off into myth so what do i mean by that unlike the bible which teaches there is two genders there's male and female the explosive movement around transgenderism is staggering but it is what happens and makes sense if you don't have a source of truth you just define what is truth in fact in 2014 facebook released at that time 2014 here are the 58 genders that we believe exist this isn't some random guy in a basement this is one of the biggest companies in america and it's what happens when you don't have a source of truth you're your source of truth and paul says you're going to wander off into destruction they're going to walk through and define it man that's not what god says this is what i say on the subject of life my wife and i are pregnant with our third child right now we had a um almost 20-week sonogram this past week and it was actually right at 19 and in fact here's a picture this is our baby hand reaching up see his nose when you don't have a source of truth like god's word that says man life begins at conception if abortion is a part of your story there is so much grace and love and god is nothing but for you he wants to use that and heal that and be more deeply united to you than you could even understand but when you and i when a culture doesn't have a source of truth they just define it you lead to things like that's not a human life if the mom disagrees or if the mom doesn't want it and in every state in the country including this one until a few days ago [Applause] someone could make the decision i don't want to have that life anymore and have a child terminated because it's what happens when you wander away from the truth and you define because the truth for a lot of people is like hey you it's my body you don't have a choice over what to tell me to do with my body which contradicts the truth from god's word and you know what there's things i wouldn't write it's not comfortable to say it's not oh they're like hey this is just my opinion but i'm still called to think to live to share to kindly with patience and love especially as it relates to christians the concern god has for people who don't know jesus is first and foremost knowing jesus but when it comes to being united being united on what is true on things like his creation life are non-negotiables for followers of christ or things related to the idea of marriage and a culture when you don't have truth it's hey love is love it doesn't matter who you marry when god says there is clear design that i have for the context of marriage there's so many of these myths like faiths all of them teach the same thing good people go to heaven or on the individual level probably as much if not more common in this room of myths like hey living with your girlfriends is not that big of a deal we save rent married in god's eyes having sex before marriage you know we're going to get married we love each other anyways not that big of a deal which are myths and paul would say timothy hold on to the truth let what informs your life and your decisions be the words of god himself that that will be the guide the instruction that you're going to hold on to when everyone else is walking away that in other words he uses the phrase in season and out of season which is a phrase that means you share and you hold these when it's popular and when it's not popular there should be times that as jesus followers according to paul everybody else is walking this way and because of what the bible says we go man i gotta go this way that if everyone always agrees with you and the world always agrees with you and how you think you don't think like the word of god you think like the world around you and you and i are called to be informed and to hold on he says timothy this book is so crucial for you to live god's call on your life and it's going to be crucial timothy for generations of the church to come i'm dying timothy i'm about to go i'm going to see jesus's face soon and you're going to be here and while you're here i want you to know you have everything you need in christ through the spirit of god and the word of god with the people of god and you live it out you hold on to it timothy when everybody else walks away from it you hold on to it you don't let go and he would say the same to you and the same to me my wife this week was driving her car and she called me on monday and we're headed to uh i was headed to coach my soccer my son's soccer team and she called me and she was going to drop him off at soccer practice and i was going to meet him there she called and she said hey somebody just rolled up next to me and rolled the window down and said ma'am your car's smoking there's liquid coming out of the bottom and the engine and she said and then the engine just went overheated the overheating light came on and it began to shut down and i pulled into a parking lot called a tow truck got it taken to the auto repair place and i asked auto repair you know what's going on and they eventually discovered that the coolant tubes had disconnected and all that coolant that keeps the engine cool and allows it to function had been disconnected and so it was not able to drive because it wasn't able to function because it had been disconnected from the thing that allowed it to paul is telling timothy you stay connected don't get disconnected from the thing that will allow you to function from one of the primary things the spirit of god and the word of god the people of god don't get disconnected from any of those and don't get disconnected that you be united in truth that you would walk in god's way so that your faith will function and if you are not spending time and listening to god you are being disconnected or are disconnected i don't mean personally not that you listen to a podcast on the way here not that you you know read a verse a day just on some scrolling through a meme on instagram i mean personally god i want to listen i want my relationship with you not someone else's i want to listen to you he would say you disconnected from one of the primary things that allows your faith to flourish and to function in conclusion the bible tells us about the person of jesus the main character jesus it teaches us the perspective of god from the author who's god and it prepares us to live god's way or to be ambassadors for the bible let me close with one verse there's a verse that a couple verses that jesus it was hours before he's going to be crucified it's called a high priestly prayer it's several chapters in the book of john and jesus prays and prays for his disciples that are there and he's literally hours from going to die and he's praying over his guys he's praying god would they be united just like me and you are and he's praying that they would have truth that would transform them and then he brings up another group of people and he says i want to pray for these and it's not the 12 that are there he brings up you and he brings up me and i want to walk through what he prays because it's at the heart of jesus saying the same idea of the importance of how god's word leads us to him to god's and it's something that we allow to lead our life john chapter 17 he says this verse 17 speaking father do you make them holy your translation may have sanctify them or transform them god by your truth teach them your word which is truth just as you sent me into the world i am going to send them into the world and i give myself as a holy sacrifice for them that they can be made holy or transformed by your word i'm praying and he switches the focus to include not just them not only for these disciples but also for anyone who will ever believe in me through their message which is you and me i pray that they will all be one united just as you and i are one as you are in me the father and i am in you so that they may believe they may be uh they may be in us so that the world will believe you sent me jesus says i pray for these guys i pray that you would allow your truth to transform them and i don't just want to pray for these i want to pray for anyone who will ever believe in me for you that they would walk in that truth and be united together why was jesus so passionate about that i'm laying on the plane because he knew that it is in walking with him living according to what he says is true that you and i are the light in the midst of a world of darkness and we are united together to push back not just what we feel is right but what he says is right in the midst of a world full of darkness light spreads and shines and pushes back what is dark it's like this believe you bring the lights down all of you on your wrist bracelets and the movement of christ has always been that his people would be informed and being informed by god's word they would be a light and the more disconnected you are from the truth of god's word the less of a light you are but whenever you live and i live out what god says in here we've become a light that pushes back in a world of darkness and the darker it gets the brighter the light seems and the movement of christianity has always spread on people who are surrendered to the word of god and it begins to spread and it begins to spread and it begins to spread and it begins to spread and i want you to imagine what would happen in our world if the four thousand here just say i'm not listening to what beyonce says what culture says what vogue magazine says what buzzfeed says i'm listening to the word of my creator to god almighty i'm going to walk with jesus from the truth of his word the world would be awakened to the source of life the source of hope source of peace and the source of truth which is jesus and in the bible we encounter him his perspective and are given the chance to go share that with the world around us united in truth let me pray father i thank you that you made him a knew no sin to become sin so that in him we would become the righteousness of god i pray that this would be a generation that says though none go with me i will follow i'm gonna walk like god calls me to i'm gonna do it imperfectly i'm gonna do with people around me but i am gonna hold on to what is true and i'm gonna hold on to my savior and then i as i study i reminded of who he is who he says i am where life is found and i pray that you would unleash a movement across our country of revival through the men and women here who live categorically different than how everyone in their town lives everyone in their apartment lives everyone in their city and college lives and as you transform them they would be a part of how you transform the world teach us to know your ways that we would walk in your truth we worship you in song amen

Channel: The Porch

Views: 2,245

Keywords: the, porch, dallas, watermark, community, church, christian, christianity, ministry, movement, fort, worth, faith, sermon, dating, truth, bible, advice, biblical, counsel, jonathan pokluda, the porch, watermark community church, young adults, fort worth, david marvin, todd wagner, the bible

Id: KgmCfIg-hZQ

Length: 44min 29sec (2669 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021