The Power of Knowing Part 2

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Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Stay standing just for a second.

Let me just tell you what you've seen so far in case you missed it.

You came in late.

What you've seen is that God loves babies.

Amen?

And that we as a faith community have a responsibility.

If you're visiting today, when your baby is born, you come to this church.

It is your first experience with spiritual formation here at Grand Parkway.

We take that seriously.

What you've also seen is that God loves the nations.

The reason that we laid hands, when you lay hands on somebody, what you're saying is yes to who this person is and what they do.

And so when we laid hands on Stacey, we're saying yes.

We want to be a church that helps reach the Afghan people.

We don't have to go to the nations.

The nations are right here in our city.

Fort Mean County is one of the most diverse counties in the nation.

Every year it's in the top three.

And so we want to be intentional about that.

God is not a God of just white people.

We watch Fox News and vote Republican.

Oh, I lost some of you there.

Yeah.

The Bible says that if you look in Revelation, there's a picture around the throne, and he says, I saw a multitude of all nations, all kindreds, all tribes, all tongues, all peoples.

And that's what the church is.

And that's what we're going to be about.

And so when you give money, some of that money is going to go to support Stacy so she and some of you can go with her to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the Afghan people that are right here in our city.

And so that's what we've seen so far.

Now what we're going to see is we open up the Bible and we're going to end first John today.

I was kind of sad last night.

Looking over my notes, I was like, I'm like I'm sending my kid off to college or something here.

And so we're going to see that you can know certain things because there's going to be days where you don't know.

And then you've got to be able to, okay, we can't know that, but what do we know?

And so here's the application for the sermon before I ever pray it, ever open the Bible.

I want you as a family, before you go to bed tonight, to sit down and just kind of, hey, what do we know as a family?

What are three to five things that we know as a family, regardless of what happens, regardless of what the price of gas is or who's in the White House or what the Supreme Court decides, we can know these things.

Let's build and bank our life on these things.

And that's what we're gonna do.

I'm gonna open the Bible, I'm gonna read it.

Some of you may be here, like, yeah, no, I'm a friend invited me.

Some of you students may be here, like, my parents, I'm here because my parents made me.

I purposely took extra long, so I'd make us late today getting ready.

That's okay.

We're not mad at you.

God's not mad at you here.

If that's you, I want you to just think one thing.

God, if you're real, say one thing that really stirs my brain, makes me think.

God's very gracious.

He accommodates, he's not here to overwhelm you, shame you, make you feel guilty.

If I say anything when I'm preaching that makes you mad, you're like, I fundamentally disagree with that.

Just come up to me, I'll be right here.

Come up to me and tell me after the service.

I can't have lunch with you today because I'm having lunch with friends, but I can have lunch with you one day this week, and I'll buy.

You cry, I'll buy.

It rhymes.

Okay?

So that's what we're gonna do.

That's what we're gonna do.

So let me pray, and then we'll jump in.

God, thank you.

The Bible tells us what we've sung so far is what the Bible tells us in 1 John is that we we know and rely on the love that God has for us, not the love that we have for God.

We're not here to increase our determination to be more religious people.

The world does not need more religious people.

What the world needs is more freed up, forgiven, full people.

That's what the world needs.

Who just kind of have this winsomeness about them that is just so intoxicating to people that don't know Jesus.

We want to be around them.

We don't want to escape from them.

We want to be around them.

And so, Holy Spirit, say something from your word and by your spirit that has our name on it that makes us think, whether we're 68 or we're 16.

It makes us think and like, you know what, I gotta think about that.

This God wooing us, it's God inviting us, saying, Hey, are you picking up what I'm laying down here?

I speak a language you understand because I'm real.

Thank you, God, that you're real.

You have a plan for us and you love us.

We want to bask in those certainties today in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You could have a seat if you got a Bible.

Open up to 1 John chapter 5.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

I'll start reading verse 18.

Uh, because we did the first part last week, but I want to talk to you about the power of knowing.

The power of knowing.

As John gets this last little seminary word, pericope, this last little paragraph of 1 John.

Uh, he basically says there's five things that you can know, okay?

One of them is that we hey, we last week we were born of God, and we we we can know that we know God, and we can know that God hears our prayers.

We'll pick up in verse 18 this week the power of knowing.

Here's what the Bible says.

Excuse me, verse 18.

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true, and we are in him, and we are in him who is true, in his son Jesus Christ.

He is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

So, verses 18 to 21, three times I've said this and I'm gonna keep saying it.

When you see things in the Bible that are repeated, let your attention and your affection be drawn to those things.

So, three times right there, boom, boom, boom, he says, we know.

Now, now this is the kind of knowledge, this is like in the marrow of your bones, you know, okay?

We know.

We know.

We're not thinking about this, we're not arriving at this conclusion.

The preacher's not saying you should consider this.

He is saying this is deep in the core of our being because there are going to be days in life where you're just like, I have no idea.

That's when you need to revert to what you know.

So it's important that when you come to church, we equip you to know certain things.

Here's the last three things in the power of knowing.

The first one is this we can know freedom from sin.

It's verse 18.

Hear it again.

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning.

Now notice the Bible doesn't say everyone born of God does not sin.

As you mature as a Christian, you should sin less and less because you're becoming more and more like Christ and you're seeing the truth in the world for what it really is.

He says, Everyone who's been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God, that's Jesus, protects him.

And the evil one does not touch him.

And he says we get no freedom from sin.

Let me just say it like this: Jesus did not come just to forgive you.

Jesus did not leave heaven and come to earth just to forgive you.

He did, that's a part of it.

But he he came to forgive us, but also to set us free so that we live in fullness.

That's the progression I want you to get this morning.

It's not just forgiveness, it's freedom and then fullness.

When you mean fullness, John 10, 10, Jesus describes his mission, why he came.

He says, I am come so that you may have life and have it to the what?

To the full.

To the full.

So ask yourself this morning: Do I experience the fullness that Jesus came for me to have?

Because if you just get stuck, here's how you know you're stuck in just forgiveness.

And Christianity for you is just about sin and not sinning and determination.

I'm determined to not sin anymore.

And oh, I did it again.

Oh, God, could you please?

I promise I won't do it again.

No, no, no.

That's that that that's if you're if you're always about determination, it's a sign and a signal to your soul that you are stuck in this sense of just doing laps around forgiveness for the same things you always kind of struggle with.

You want to get to this place of freedom, and eventually you want to get, God wants you to get to the place of fullness.

Here's why.

Because if determination is over here, when you get to fullness, here's how you know you got there: it's enjoyment.

You begin to enjoy God and the things of God like you never have before.

And so you got to ask yourself, what do you find comforting about God?

What do you find comforting?

Is it perpetual forgiveness or is it the fact that God has the power to change you into somebody you've never been so that you don't do things you've always done?

It's important that we not make an idol out of what God makes available and never make a practice of actually worshiping God.

Let me say that again.

It's important uh that we not make an idol out of what God makes available and never make a practice of actually worshiping God.

Now you may be thinking, oh, we can know freedom from sin.

Where do you get that?

Right from 1 John.

If you've got a Bible, just turn back one page to the left.

I want to read from 1 John chapter 3, starting in verse 4.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

It'll come up on the screens right here.

Here's where we get this idea that we can know freedom from sin.

And look at me.

We don't get freedom from sin through determination.

We get freedom from sin because we understand why Christ came.

1 John chapter 3, verse 4.

1 John 3:4

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness.

You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.

No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

Little children, let no one deceive you.

Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil's been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed, that's a reference to the Holy Spirit.

God's seed, the ability to reproduce the life of Christ, abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he's been born of God.

By this, circle those two words in your Bible.

By this, it is evident who are the children of God.

Not by a prayer you pray.

I'm not a Christian because on July 5th, 1982, about 9:30 at night, I prayed a prayer and gave my life to Christ.

That doesn't make me a Christian.

Well, the reason I know I'm a Christian is by what I practice right now, today.

By this, by this, see, we've got this unbiblical standard of Christianity, and some of you in this room maybe think, well, I prayed a prayer when I was 12, and no, no, no, it's not about a prayer you prayed, it's about the life you practice.

What do you practice on a consistent basis?

Before Alan Iverson, the Bible was talking about practice.

We're talking about practice, okay?

We're not talking about a game, we're talking about practice.

We're not talking about a prayer, we're not talking about a promise, we're talking about practice.

Verse 10 by this, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

What if the standard of Christianity was in a prayer we pray, but it was what you practice, because biblically speaking, that's what it is.

Now, someone said to me recently in a conversation in my office, I mean, you've been talking a lot about sin and how make it sound like we don't have to sin.

I say, You don't have to sin.

Sin no longer has power over you.

Jesus didn't come just for forgiveness, he came to set you free from sin.

Just if you're taking notes, write down Romans chapter 6, verses 1 to 11.

Romans 6:1–11

It starts off an incredible.

I won't quote it all, but it says, uh, what shall we say then?

Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?

God forbid.

How shall we who died to sin continue to live any longer therein?

Do you not know?

See the Bible, there it is.

It's inviting us to this, not just knowledge, but this experience.

Do you not know that all those who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

So that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, you too may live a new life.

God is not glorified by just forgiving you.

God is ultimately glorified by you and I living in this place of fullness.

Because it makes everyone around you curious about what it is you know and what it is that you have.

Someone said to me, Oh, you make it sound like sin.

I mean, like we don't have to sin.

You don't have to.

But you see, sin is not your birthright.

It's not the thing that makes you a Christian, is that you sin and God forgives you, and that's the way God proves his existence to you, is by he just keeps forgiving you.

The problem with habitual sin, biblically speaking, because that's what he said.

He said, You know, I just, I mean, I've been this way my whole life.

And I said, He said, What's the problem?

I said, There's just three little problems, and here they are.

It violates the law of God, it nullifies the work of Christ, and it grieves the Holy Spirit.

Beyond that, you should be okay.

Hear it again.

It violates the law of God.

The law is the law of God, don't think of it.

The law says that you get to go free.

You don't just get forgiveness, you get set free from sin.

It nullifies the work of Christ.

What did Christ die for?

What did he accomplish on the cross?

Is it just perpetual forgiveness?

And it grieves the Holy Spirit.

Now, now I'm not going to preach again for a month.

Next month, you get the good cops.

You get Leo and Britt all month long.

So let me just get in a little trouble and go out with a blaze of glory.

Amen.

Who's for that?

Say amen.

It's just, it's just, it's easy to talk about this.

It's like all pie in the sky about, whoa, what do you mean?

We get no freedom from sin.

Take the headlines from this past week, like Friday morning, about 9.10, when people outside the Supreme Court lost their ever-loving mind.

And then people at the Sam's right here on Saturday lost their ever-loving mind.

I'm looking for something, and then I mean people look at their phone and they're talking, and I walk by, and then one lady's like, Can you believe this?

And I said, What do we believe?

I mean the Supreme Court.

Oh my gosh, this is incredible.

And I thought I was being helpful, and I just said, you know, this is really not about abortion, it's about the Constitution.

Oh, of course you would say that.

You're a man.

And I was like, Yes, I am a man.

I like being a man.

You're a woman.

That's the way God designed it.

But this has not got nothing to do.

I mean, this is not abortion is not illegal, okay?

Stop telling nobody that.

They're not gonna come for everything else.

This is terrible Jewish jurisprudence back in 73 or whenever it was law, Roe v.

Wade.

It's a basically the Constitution.

There's nothing in the Constitution about your right to an abortion, okay?

Just calm down.

It's gonna go back to the states.

There's plenty of liberal states.

Women will be able to get an abortion.

Oh my gosh, I can't believe you said that.

And here's the thing: what's lost in this entire dialogue, and by the way, it wasn't conflictual, it was disagreeable.

But you can disagree with people without being a jerk.

And I just said, Well, I'm I've got to go and get my stuff.

And she said, I mean, are are you?

I said, Yeah, it's about the Constitution.

Just don't listen to the headlines, just read, okay?

It's about, nay, this that doesn't guarantee.

People are still going to be, but but here's the worst thing that no one's saying.

What's lost in this entire dialogue is the fact that we cannot fathom being free from sexual sin.

This is the thing no one's talking about.

It's like, oh, I want you to make laws that allow me to sin and sleep with whoever I want to.

And for on the off chance that I do get pregnant, I want the right, I want you to guarantee me the right to terminate that life.

It's my bodily autonomy.

I don't think it affects your body.

They take a body out of you and get rid of it.

That's not your bodily autonomy.

Now, by the way, you feel it in this room?

The sheer numbers dictate that in this room are women who've undergone that procedure.

And let me just say to you, I'm not talking about you, I'm not speaking against that.

I I you are forgiven by God.

You know that, right?

And so this is not, oh, I went to church and my pastor just out of nowhere.

Start talking about this.

I have friends that have been going, I have friends that 40, 50 years ago, hey, they're like, oh, I regret it every day since then.

I'm like, I get that.

But also, do you know that you're forgiven?

You're the love of God is unchanged for you.

He doesn't look down and go, well, I love you, except on that day I didn't love you.

I was mad.

No, no, no.

Here's what I'm trying to say.

When I say we can know freedom from sin, we act like, well, just when it comes to our sexual ethic, well, you know, you know, Tinder and the internet, and yeah.

And I'm just like, no, you can be free from all sin.

And I will date myself.

All sexual behavior takes place outside the confines of a marriage between a man and a woman.

All sexual behavior takes place out of that, and but it's not involved a man and woman in the covenant of marriage, that's sin too.

And I shared this with my friends in aisle seven at Sam's, and they didn't like that either.

You're kind of a dinosaur.

And I said, but here's the thing that we didn't get into because people are kind of gathering around.

It's like, I don't I don't want this.

All right, here's the thing that we miss.

The Bible says the marriage ban is pure and undefiled.

So it's not like God is saying, I don't want you to be happy.

God's saying, I want you to be happy forever in the context of marriage.

So, students, I think most of you said over here, it's not about God doesn't want you to be happy and when it comes to sex.

Aren't you glad I'm talking about this today?

It's just that you guys are gonna sin so much, you're not gonna know how to enjoy it when it comes time to enjoy it.

That's the problem.

The world's lying to you.

Tinder is overrated.

It's where people who go who don't know how to have a conversation go just to hook up.

They're conversing with their bodies and they've learned to attach shame to satisfaction.

And so when they get satisfied, they feel shame.

And then when they get married, it comes time to be satisfied, they feel shame even more so.

It's not God's design.

It's not just what we're losing.

I know it sounds crazy and idealistic and naive to say you could know freedom from sin.

I just want to say we've succumbed to the thought that sin is always going to rule our lives, and I'm here to say it doesn't have to.

Now, pay attention to the back half of verse 18.

I don't want you to miss in chapter 5 there what he says, when he says, Hey, we know that everyone who's been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he was born of God protects him.

That's Jesus who protects us.

And notice this, and the evil one does not touch him, and the evil one does not touch him.

The reason the devil cannot touch or take hold of God's children is that they're no longer within the realm of his power.

And so we don't have to live in fear.

Uh but mom and dad, fearful parents raise fearful kids.

And there's this mindset that's almost like the devil's like the boogeyman in the dark and he's gonna get you.

And no, no, no.

He, if you're a Christian, he can't put a hand on you because God protects you.

He said, Where do you get this?

Colossians chapter 1, verse 13 says, of Jesus, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.

Colossians 1:13

Now, there's a difference in a domain and a kingdom.

A domain literally means ability.

Ability.

When you're not a believer, the the the the enemy, the devil, he has a certain amount of ability towards you.

And I'll show you that in the next verse.

Just stay with me.

But kingdom is about accomplishment.

Ability and accomplishment.

And the Bible says that we've been transferred out of this domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom you have redemption, the forgiveness of all in any kind of sin.

And so we can know freedom from sin.

That's the first thing we can know.

The second thing we can know is that we can know a biblical worldview.

It's verse 19.

A biblical worldview.

What do you mean?

We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Is that encouraging or what?

We know that we're from God.

Two things to notice here.

That's the first part.

We are from God.

What does that mean?

It means our salvation is of divine origin.

You didn't figure it out, it was revealed to you.

Uh, and this should make us more merciful in our dealings with people.

Uh uh you say, what do you mean?

Let me say that again.

You didn't figure it out.

You're not smart, you didn't read a book or whatever.

We are from God.

It basically means we are born of God.

Our being a Christian is God's idea, and God, in his infinite mercy, revealed himself to us.

Otherwise, we could have never known him.

And so, this when we say we are from God, this makes us more merciful in our dealings with people because the temptation is to embrace this in relation to yourself and then forget it in relation to everybody else.

That's why when I have conversations with people I don't want to have, they just invite me into.

I can be gracious.

I don't I don't try to convert them.

Why?

Because God has to reveal that to them.

Now I say things I want them to think about, but it's not up to me.

I'm not trying to sell a 71 build of bad breaks and close the deal for and figure out this is a jalopy.

No, just hey, think about this.

And people are like, oh, thank you.

That's very helpful.

I'm like, oh, you're welcome.

Uh we're from God.

A biblical worldview has these two things.

We're from God, here's the second piece.

And the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Now, let me give you the word picture behind that when it says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

The picture is of a child asleep with his head in the lap of its mother.

Yes.

So this is how my brain works.

If you watch the NBA Finals, say amen.

Are you people Christians?

If you know who Steph Curry is, say amen.

So I'm watching the NBA finals and Steph Curry said, lighting it up.

I mean, the guy just he just shoots and turns around and starts down the court.

And he started doing this right here.

That got loud.

How about on this side?

He would shoot, he would just run up the court doing this, and every time he would do it, I would think, oh yeah, the world lies in the power of the evil one.

Thank you, Steph, for that reminder.

Now, what am I saying?

That's a picture.

It's a picture of a child asleep with its head in the lap of its mother.

The Bible says that the world, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

This means, they get ready, I'll break this down for you.

This means that politics, economics, education, entertainment, and religion.

Not relationship, religion lies in the power of the evil one.

You say, What do you mean?

Just take it one at a time.

Politics.

Show on your TV.

Lies in the power of the evil one.

Economics.

You're getting the Green New Deal, whether you voted for it or not.

So just shut up and buy an electric car.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I'm not being funny.

It's just people are like, oh my gosh, what?

Because at one point, this is what I love about politicians.

Out of one side of their mouth, they say, we need To increase oil production.

On the other side, they say we're not going to give you leases where you can drill.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

All these oil companies are of the devil.

They're making record profits.

Blah, blah, blah.

Hey, when something's scarce, it costs more.

If you want to bring the price of gas down, hey, take the shackles off the economy, off the oil industry, and drill, baby, drill.

There's somebody husband works for Halliburton.

Anyway.

Yeah, but hey, in the meantime, look at me.

I'm not being facetious.

The whole world has had has its head in the lap of the enemy.

It doesn't stop there.

Education.

The great thing about COVID is COVID exposed how many teachers are there to indoctrinate and not educate our kids.

Yeah, we see you.

And by the way, it's hard to fire a terrible teacher.

And there's some great teachers, and some of those people should have been fired yesterday.

They're terrible.

Oh, they are is activists with a classroom.

Entertainment.

I got a phone call this week.

Pastor, did you know that there's a same sex kiss and Buzz Lightyear movie?

I haven't been to a Disney movie in a long time.

My kids aren't little, but you know that Disney is run by pagans.

They don't care about it, they're not Christians.

Well, what are we going to do about that?

I I'm not going to see the movie, but I Disney doesn't care.

You think DZ, yeah, here's what I'm saying.

And I'm not saying be mad at Disney, boycott Disney.

No, I highly recommend going to the Magic Kingdom.

It's magical.

But here's the thing: you got to stop expecting non-believers to act like believers.

Entertainment lies in the power of the evil one.

It just does.

Sorry.

When you say, What do you mean by religion?

You ever going to church where the guy just gets up and it's like 22 minutes of smooth talking, nothing?

It's like you sit down and ate a bowl of meringue, sugary, frothy air, and you left and you're like, and your wife gets in the truck and she's like, I shave my legs for this.

I hate you now.

Yes, that's empty religion.

Lies in the power of the uh of the enemy.

And this is what the Bible said.

You gotta have this balanced worldview.

We are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

So you have two options: escapism or engagement.

Escapism or engagement.

Christian escapism will not change this reality.

What do you mean, Christian?

We keep moving further out where nobody is because we just want to get away.

And I've heard everything.

I have heard everything.

There's too many white people in this city, there's too many black people in this city, there's too many people of other countries in this city, there's not enough conservatives.

Fort Ming County's gone liberal, blah, blah, blah.

And people as justification and rationalization for escaping and getting away from the world.

Someone said to me not long ago, Folster used to be a nice, sleepy little town.

Now it's full of crazy people.

And I'm like, I don't live in Folster.

I'm sure it's a great place.

I don't know about that.

Oh my, the politics out there are crazy.

And I said, because it lies in the power of the evil one.

Don't talk about my city, Pastor.

My city.

I live right here.

My city lies in the power of the evil one.

Yeah.

And so when they they pass legislation that's anti-God again, I don't take it personal.

I'm just like, yeah, I got to engage more.

See, Christians consistently seek to escape the culture by moving to some deserted place.

But when you get there, it lies in the power of the evil one.

And you get there, and then more people come.

Twenty years ago, Fulshire was nothing.

Nothing.

I lived here in Sugar Land then.

It was nothing.

It was like the country.

There used to be a golf course in Simington.

And I hate all you people that bought it and put houses on there.

There used to, heck, forget them.

There used to be a great golf course right up the road here.

Three nine whole courses, and they sold out to the devil and put old orchard there.

And some of you live there, you god forsaken sinners.

And here's the best part about that.

It was called Old Orchard.

They had three nines.

And the guy knew I was a traveling preacher, and he would let me pray for, he would let me play for free.

Felt sorry for me.

You think I go down today and go, hey, you think I get a free house?

Get out of here, loser.

You say, why?

They got an offer.

They just said, hey, we can make more money just selling the land than we could ever make doing the golf business.

So here we go.

Why?

The world lies in the power of the evil one.

I'm not here to escape the culture.

I'm here to engage the culture.

Now, when I say the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, this should not produce fatalism in you.

Instead, you should look around and see the world as a gospel-rich environment, full of gospel opportunity and in need of gospel reality.

The Bible says it like this in 2 Corinthians 5: all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is in Christ.

God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.

Trespass is a big word for sin.

God is not counting people's sins against them.

That doesn't mean, oh, does God say that it doesn't matter if they sin?

No.

God doesn't look at you through the lens of your sin.

So whether your sin is pride or abortion or gluttony, when's the last time you heard a good sermon about gluttony?

We want to go to the abortion clinic and scream at those people.

It's beautiful irony, fat people holding signs outside of the abortion clinic.

Really?

Just got awkward, didn't it?

Did you feel that?

It's kind of like, hey, go back to talking about abortion.

Don't talk about gluttony.

Yeah, yeah.

All this is not counting their trespasses against him and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

See, when you try to reconcile people, the first thing they're going to tell you is their sin.

Here's the beauty of this: the Bible says, hey, He for He for our sake, He made Him, Jesus, who didn't know any sin, to become sin for us.

Some people use hard to have a spiritual conversation.

Oh man, you don't know what I've done.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Hey, listen, you know what?

Me too.

But the great thing about Christianity is that Jesus became sin, so you wouldn't have to stay in sin.

You've been given a ministry of reconciliation, and so you better figure out a message of reconciliation.

And it's not a culture war.

It's that God was in the world and he still is in the world in us.

And the people who cannot help but be compelled by the love of God.

Here's why.

Because we're convinced that Christ died for all.

And he died for all, but those who live, that's us, should no longer live for ourselves.

And see, here's my fear.

And I'm about done.

You still with me say yes.

Here's my fear that most Christians are going to practice Christian religious escapism further and further, far away, where I just look out and there's just nothing but me and my property.

I've worked my whole life, Pastor, to escape and not be responsible.

Where is that in the gospel?

And here's my fear that the American dream is to spend your last 20 years of your life just hanging out with other Christians.

And I'm not saying don't have Christian friends, don't send me that email.

Don't be so intellectually lazy.

I'm just saying, how's the world gonna hear and see the gospel if all of us are headed to the hills?

Help me.

Help me help you, Jerry Maguire.

Help me help you.

Here's the last thing we can know what's true.

Look at verse 20.

And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true.

And we are in him who is true, in his son, Jesus Christ.

You don't get to God the Father without going through the Son.

There is no other way to God.

We know him who is true, and we're in him who is true, in his son, Jesus Christ.

He is a true God and eternal life.

And then this little throwaway line He says, Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

What?

We'll get to that in just a minute.

We know the truth because we're in the truth.

What do you mean?

John 17, his high priestly prayer, Jesus is in the garden.

He's praying.

He's about done.

He's ready to ascend back to heaven.

He says this to his father.

He says, He's actually getting ready to go to the cross.

He says, uh, John 17, 1, when Jesus spoke of these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hours come.

Glorify your son that the Son may glorify you.

Since you've given him authority over all flesh to give perpetual forgiveness to all.

No.

No.

Look what Jesus praised.

You've given him authority over all flesh.

Think about this for a second.

I know it's Sunday.

I know that you're thinking, hey, come on, the brunch has started at the country club.

I'll be there shortly.

I'll see you in line.

Look at me.

If you have authority over all flesh to give them anything you want, look what Jesus chooses to give us.

Since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life, the life of eternity to all whom you have given him.

And this, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

When I say we can know what is true, this is what I mean.

And then he ends by saying, hey, keep yourselves, dear children, keep yourself from idols.

It's kind of a one-sentence warning.

If God was going to warn you today with one sentence about, hey, don't let this become an idol, what would he warn you about?

Keep yourself from idols.

It means to keep yourself from believing anything that's contrary to the one true God.

Let me demonstrate.

I'll read a phrase.

Grunt if you agree.

We live in a country where people have their own set of beliefs.

And they had and they never have to submit to anybody or anything.

And their only God and their God only wants them to be happy.

Yes.

You're like, why are these people grunting?

See what you miss out when you go to like the youth building or the children's building?

We make noise in here.

Let me read it differently.

We live in a country where people have their own set of beliefs, the idol of preference.

And they never have to submit to anybody or anything, the idol of individualism.

And their God only wants them to be happy, the idol of comfort.

This is why.

And many believe that first sham was the last book to get into the canon.

So the last phrase in the last book to get into the Bible is, dear children, keep yourself from idols.

What's in danger of becoming an idol in your life these days?

This is what the Bible calls us to.

It says you can know what's true.

Especially if you got a teenager.

Hey, what do we as a family know beyond a shadow of a doubt?

We know this is true, this is certain.

Three things he says here.

This is this is the power, the beautiful power of knowing.

We can know what is true.

You can know you can know a biblical worldview, okay?

And you can know freedom from sin.

Yeah.

Here's why.

Because Jesus didn't come just to forgive you, He came to set you free.

And he sets you free so you can live in fullness.

This beloved is the life of eternity.

Or said differently, this is eternal life.

Let's pray together.

If you're our guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible, and then we give you some room to think about it.

And so Brett and the band may come, they may sing, they may play something over us.

Let me voice a prayer.

Some questions come up on the screen.

They'll play for a little bit to give you some soul space to think about the questions.

Christianity doesn't just engage your emotions, it engages your mind.

So let's just think for a moment.

Let me pray.

God thanks for the Bible, thanks that it's true, thanks that it tells us the truth and invites us to build and bank our lives on things we can know.

We're not hoping here today.

We're not blowing smoke rings in the dark, hoping that somebody notices.

We know for certain.

These are the things where we we get assurance from.

Have a seat for just a moment.

Have a seat for just a moment.

If you're a guest, I want to say thanks for being here.

You're always welcome.

You're always welcome.

You don't have to believe in order to belong.

You're welcome here.

I have friends that come every Sunday, and one of them's like, ah, I'm not quite there yet.

That's great.

Just keep coming, keep listening.

The Bible talks about it.

It says you you do well to pay attention to the word uh until the morning star rises in your heart, until God so reveals Himself to you, you're like, Yeah, I want to know that God.

And so if you have any questions about anything you heard today, some of our pastors will be available uh down front.

I'm gonna ask Brett if he'd be available down front as well.

Today's his last day to be with us.

He's been leading worship this month to kind of give uh the rest of our worship team a break and also expose ourselves to some different giftedness.

And so some of you might want to come up and speak a word uh to him of appreciation or whatever.

God may have you may have a word for him.

He's an unemployed musician from Austin, so he needs all the help he can get.

Amen.

He's available for birthdays, bar mitzvahs, whatever.

He plays it all.

Don't you?

Is that right?

Yeah, yeah.

He called me the other day.

He's in some some country, some 80s country music cover band.

I was like, dude, you lived in Austin too long.

Uh, anyway, also I'm gonna ask Lindsay if she would be down front and be available.

Uh, I think there's some young women in here that are kind of like, what's that like?

Come ask her, she'll tell you.

Okay?

It's not every day you have Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz leading you in worship.

No.

I saw her backstage this morning.

I said, Oh, where's Todo?

Uh if you see a fight in the parking lot, that's me and her husband rolling around on the ground.

Hey, we have a lot of things going on.

Look at me.

We're not an overprogrammed church.

We don't like to have errors, but we like to have meaningful things that help you take the next step, okay?

We have a few things coming up we want to make you aware of, so check out our video announcements.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's what we want you to know.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

For the last three weeks, kids, students, leaders, and staff have been immersed in the experiences of camp.

Thank you to all who joined us, and thank you to our leaders for giving their time, heart, and energy to build the church.

Night to Shine is an unforgettable prom night experience centered on God's love for people with special needs.

This coming year on Friday, February 10th, 2023, we will partner with the Tivo Foundation to celebrate with thousands from around the world to honor those with disabilities.

As we prepare for this time, one of the ways we will collect our honored guests is with the dress shop.

Beginning in October, donate your prom life dresses to the studio.

Now is a great time to begin praying for how you will serve at next year's Night to Shine.

For questions, contact Knight to Shine at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions about what you heard today or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Allergies.

Tried to make it to the first service.

I didn't know the night to shine thing was coming in the first service.

I knew in that service and still.

Uh we end the night by crowning them.

The king and queen of the prom.

We hadn't been able to do it for two years because of COVID.

And so we're doing it February 10th.

Uh if you struggle with self-pity, volunteer at that.

It'll wash it right off of you.

Here's what gets me is because we were that was me.

We were crowning people.

Uh uh, and and one girl said to me in a wheelchair, she said, Why am I getting a crown?

I said, Because you're a queen.

And then she's rolling off.

She looked back to the person pushing her and she said, I'm a queen.

And so there's a lot of things we do.

We want to be a blessing to our core values.

So February the 10th, if you can do hair makeup, you can just be a date for a guy or a girl.

You just help them that we're gonna feed them.

We'll have a dance party, we have a bigger room now, we have more people, more dancing, because Jesus loves it when we dance.

Amen.

Uh so anyway, I need a cigarette.

Anyway, uh, I don't smoke.

Relax, okay?

Don't send me emails.

Uh uh let's stand to our feet.

We'd like to clue our service with a spoken blessing.

Uh hold your hands out.

He came for forgiveness, and for freedom, and for fullness.

That's what he came for.

Just being forgiven.

Because that's where it's enjoyable.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.