JESUS IS OUR PURPOSE | PASTOR LUKE LEZON

it is great to see you and to be here

with you all this morning are we staying

warm is that is that going well you

don't get to say that a lot around here

so uh I don't know what's going on here

but I did not move here for this all

right so uh as quickly as it can it

needs to get out of here this would have

been great like around Christmas you

know but starting January 1 uh the Lord

and I have a regular scheduled meeting

on January 1 it is time to get warm

again it does not need to be cold but

I'm glad that you all weathered and

braved the conditions outside the roads

that are perfectly fine and everything

else it's great that you are with us and

so uh hey I am so grateful that we could

be gathered together here in this place

and I'm grateful for a number of

different reasons but uh primarily

because this past weekend we ended up

moving through beginning a brand new

collection of conversations that we

called the Renaissance and I told you

that the Renaissance is a collection and

it is a discussion that is fixated and

focused on the idea of Revival and

revitalization that not only happens

within an individual but you see that it

can happen within a group of individuals

that ends up enacting quite a bit of

change in what we would call even this

church and so uh I mentioned just kind

of by way of refresher that I have

stolen the name for the collection uh

that I ended up taking it from a famed

period of time in human history that we

see the Renaissance was a period of time

where there was Revival and

revitalization that was happening in a

multitude of ways that we see that art

and literature and theorizing and

philosophizing and Science and all of

these incredible things there was

Revival happening predominantly in

Europe that would end up shaping that

culture over the course of the 14th to

the 16th centuries but probably the

thing that we end up knowing better than

anything else that came out of that time

uh is that there was incredible art and

artists that were produced during the

Renaissance and so we saw people like

arav vagio and Donatello and

Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci that

were all producing these incredible

works of art things like the creation of

Adam and the statue of David the cine

Chapel the Mona Lisa the painting of The

Last Supper and so we saw that while

there were all of these incredible

things happening in all of these

different fields the reality is is that

Revival and revitalization didn't just

touch every area outside of the church

but actually it ended up infiltrating

the church as well in an incredible way

we see the Reformation would end up

happening and we see protestantism

kicked off and things that we're

grateful for but the reality is while

there are things that all borrow from

the Renaissance and how that will impact

some of the things that you see over the

course of the next several weeks we

really honed in more so on the actual

word and the definition of the word

renaissance which means a Revival or a

renewed interest in something and that

something gives us a whole lot of

creative Liberty in what exactly it is

that we are talking about and so I

believe that we're seeing an incred

incredible Renaissance that's happening

in the church across America but even in

our own church here and now and so last

week I put some rather large news out

there on the table I said that over the

course of the next nine months we are

going to be moving from being LifeBridge

Church to key church and I mentioned

that there are quite a few things that

are going to come with that as well

right and so there's a space issue that

we have obviously um there's a space

issue and you guys don't like scooting

in for people you don't know and so uh

we're going to have to do something

about that right you're just like hey I

don't care like see at the 11:30 right

and so like we we see the love of God in

you but we feel like we need to address

it and so um we got things like that and

then uh hypothetically speaking I

haven't heard that this is a problem but

I I just in case it maybe would be in

the future parking could be something

that we maybe should address uh I don't

think it's a big deal maybe won't touch

it but uh we'll see what the Elder team

does with that right and so maybe that's

something that we need to talk about uh

we're going to address those those

issues we talked about in the immediate

future we have things like Men's

Ministry that has been built off the

backs of some really faithful men that

have kept that thing going for some time

but we believe that we need to get our

hands in the mix there and and see some

incredible Men's Ministry things pop up

and so on February 21st we're going to

have an incredible men's event that we

hope all of the guys in here can join

and it's going to be amazing to get men

mobilized in our church and and we

anticipate seeing more and more and more

where we're mobilizing min mysteries in

an incredible way but I I couldn't help

but think to myself that if you're going

to announce that there's going to be

that kind of a change and then it's

going to be 9 months to have that baby

like there's a lot of just kind of like

what's going on in the middle and I

thought what could be really helpful in

US understanding who we believe that the

Lord is leading us to become is going

through values that would help us

understand these things and so over the

course of the next seven weeks we have

seven subsequent values that we're going

to go through about who it is that we

believe that the Lord is leading us to

become and the first one is this Jesus

is our

purpose Jesus Christ is our purpose and

some of us are probably like well of

course he is and what I would say to

that is be careful be careful John 1

beginning in verse one that's where

we're going to be there's not a greater

beginning of anything ever written in

all of human history John chapter one

are y'all awake this morning are you

ready for the word is there anyone that

would say I don't want something someone

to sit next to me right now that's

looking for a seat and they can go to

the

11:30 everybody's down to have someone

next to them so y'all feel free sit by

whoever you want to extroverts will you

raise your

hands sit next to them all right let's

read John 1 beginning in verse one in

the beginning was the

word and the Word was with God and the

Word was God he was with God in the

beginning all things were created

through him him and apart from him not

one thing was created that has been

created in him was life and that life

was the light of men that light shines

in the darkness and yet the darkness did

not overcome it let's pray

together Lord I'm so grateful

for this house this this church your

word and Lord as we find ourselves

navigating through what is one of the

most incredible introdu

of all time Lord I ask that there would

be a a weight that lands on US in US of

the significance of what it is that we

are discussing here today Lord that

there wouldn't be a flippancy a

redundancy anything that just feels like

it's the monotonous minutia of

everything that we study and do in our

Christian life but rather that there

would be a fresh understanding of what

it means to be a person who finds their

purpose in and through the person in the

finished work of Jesus Christ Lord would

you move in a way that only you can this

morning we love you we praise you and we

thank you we ask this in Jesus name

amen well on April the 28th

1789 Captain William blly was fast

asleep on board his majesty ship Bounty

when all of a sudden he was startled

awake by his first mate Fletcher

Christian lecher Christian was the first

mate on board his majesty ship Bounty

and he had commandeered the ship with a

lot of other Sailors that were on board

that didn't necessarily love what

Captain William Blye was doing and so as

a result they ended up starting a mutiny

and they gathered all of these different

people that would seize control of the

HMS Bounty from William BL and then they

would send he and his 18 loyalists that

would stand by him into desperate

circumstances William Blye and 18

loyalists would be set a drift in the

middle of the South Pacific on a small

open 23 foot launch booat it appeared in

that moment like Fletcher Christian had

just handed William blee and his 18

loyalists a death sentence but what's

fascinating is that while it was bad

when you just look at it overall the

truth of the matter is they were given

some Provisions William blle would end

up writing a book that he would title

with the most front Rood facing title

ever the most clear description of what

ever happened if you were wondering I

wonder what this book is about he named

his book A Narrative of the Mutiny on

board his majesty ship Bounty and he

ended up writing about the provisions

that they were given and so he said one

of the things that they were given was

150 pounds of bread which sounds like a

lot until you think about the fact that

that's dispersed amongst 19 guys for an

unknown period of time he said we were

given 150 pounds of bread some rum and

some wine he said we tried to get a

quadrant and a compass in the boat but

we were forbidden on pain of death of

bringing that compass into the boat we

were not allowed to bring or to touch

the compass Compass a map or any book of

astronomical observations so to put it

really mildly Captain William BL and his

18 loyalists were up a creek and without

a paddle in this particular

circumstance they had dire circumstances

that they would be facing in the midst

of life-threatening conditions and they

did not find themselves in a place where

they were actually able to bring much

with them they had very little food they

had some rum and some wine they were

able to bring a couple of personal items

with them very few things that they

could hold on to for comfort in the

midst of this circumstance thankfully

they were able to manage bringing the

quadrant and a seant on board that would

help with some light navigation in the

midst of their circumstances but the

reality is that they had a very small

chance of successful navigation and an

even smaller chance of survival in the

midst of the circumstances that they

found themselves placed and so William

blly would end up having to rely on

something called dead reckoning that

because he had managed to get a quadrant

and a seant into this boat what we saw

is that he was able to determine the

direction that they were traveling and

how far they had moved from a particular

fixed point we see that as a result of

having these two tools we saw that he

was able to gather a relatively accurate

estimation of the longitude and latitude

their position of where they were in the

universe but even more importantly was

not only the fact that he was able to

determine their longitude and latitude

but William blle had a deep

understanding of the way that the world

was wired around him he had a deep

understanding of currents and winds that

he was able to help as they were

navigating this circumstance we saw that

he would navigate using the Sun by day

and the stars by night that he

understood fixed realities in the

universe that would help lead them home

and on June the 14th 1789 they made

landfall after 47 days of being a drift

in the middle of the open ocean in the

South Pacific we see that they had

finally gotten to a place where they

made landfall and we saw that they were

dealing with severe hunger and thirst he

would write quote that they were nothing

more than skin and bone they were in the

middle of Ruthless storms that would

push them off course they dealt with a

hostile encounter that resulted in the

Lost life of one of their crew members

and still they were able to travel 3600

nautical miles from Tonga to tamour in

the East Indies and they were able to

make landfall and not only navigate

successfully but also they had a

relatively strong percentage of survival

17 of the 19 men that were on board that

ship ended up making it out alive in

that particular circumstance William

blly relied on something called

Celestial navigation that we see that he

was able to navigate successfully

because he was well Tred in his

understanding of fixed realities in the

UN Universe we see that he navigated

successfully because he understood

longitude and latitude currents and

winds using the Sun by day and the stars

by night that he navigated successfully

using little

more than ultimate and unshakable truth

about the world around him and I'm

saying that to us here today because as

a people and as a church and what we see

with churches all over the country and

all over the world is that while that

makes sense to us and it seems was real

simple and simplistic for us to

understand the truth of the matter is

that we can very often find ourselves in

a place where you are drifting in your

direction because you have misplaced

your devotion that you can very easily

find yourself in a place where you

realize I am not anchored in my life in

my purpose to anything that is an

ultimate fixed reality but rather I'm

chasing flimsy

fantasies that what we're here to

describe today is the fact that Jesus

Christ is our purpose and there are a

lot of us that would probably be like

well duh I mean duh of course Jesus is

our purpose like I'm a believer I'm a

Christian that I go to church and that's

what the church is about and what I

would say is I think many of us have

been at times in a place where we

understand that you can very easily be

going in a direction that you end up

going a drift in ultimately later on

because you've misplaced your devotion

you begin your life in your life as a

believer in Jesus completely and totally

devoted to him but you start to end up

drifting when you pursue distractions

and over a little bit of time it's just

one little degree after another where

you can find yourself going in a wrong

way where very easily Jesus is our

purpose can become I am our

purpose no I'm I'm the Bible's about me

I'm David I'm here to slay no no you're

the scar Israelite on the side that

needed a rescuer and a savior to come in

and step into your story so that you

could go free we can feel like

everything is about me what do I want

what am I thinking we can very easily go

from Jesus is our purpose to I am our

purpose or maybe that's not the things

that we've seen in our life maybe that's

not our testimony what's equally scary

is you can go from Jesus as our purpose

to church as our

purpose it's all about just like

building up the church and all but but

you can kind of Miss why it is that

you're even doing that I had a guy reach

out to me this week and said tell me

about your growth strategy I said excuse

me a growth strategy we don't have a

growth strategy we have a hang on for

dear life strategy we don't have a

growth strategy because the reality is

churches shouldn't have growth

strategies churches should have Christ

exalting strategies and if we're going

to make a big deal about Jesus then the

room will get full but the the reality

is if you try to fill a room just to

have an empty room you're going to have

an empty soul and we don't want to have

an empty soul but if you're going to

make a big deal about Jesus and exalt

him and be able to go to every single

person in here and say how are you

exalting Jesus Christ and worshiping him

with all of who you are and all of what

you have and you see that God in his

grace and kindness is moving in the

lives of people in this community and

we're celebrating baptisms and we're

seeing people repent of their sins

falling on their face at the altar if a

room gets full as a result of that then

so be it but nothing else matters that

he is our purpose and if anything else

is then there's no reason we should

gather that Jesus Christ is our

purpose and there's not a better place

to begin to understand that than in John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 beginning in verse one John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 beginning in verse one says

this in the beginning was the word

and the Word was with God and the Word

was God we could mind the depths of that

for

weeks but it's interesting it says in

the beginning and the introduction here

is kind of fascinating because when it

says in the

beginning you kind of are going what are

we talking about here because the gospel

all the gospel narratives H have

different Beginnings like Matthew will

end up talking about a beginning where

he says Jesus Christ the son of David

the son of Abra Abraham and we see that

Matthew kind of begins in Canaan with

Abraham and is tracing the genealogy all

the way back through him and then

there's others where we see Mark we'll

say Jesus Christ the son of God and then

he goes into all these prophecies about

John the Baptist and he says John came

baptizing and it kind of starts in the

beginning of his gospel with John and

Jesus in the Jordan River and then we

see Luke will do something a little bit

different he'll say in the days of King

Herod of Judea and we see that Luke is

kind of beginning with Jesus in

Bethlehem on the day that Jesus is born

but we see here in John that he says in

the beginning and it's unlike any other

introduction or beginning that we see it

says in the beginning was the word and

the Word was with God and the Word was

God before it all and what we see is

that if you're like me when it says in

the beginning you're kind of like what

beginning how long what are we talking

about what's the what are we what is

being referenced here and if you've

spent any kind of time uh in church

before where people acknowledge the

Gospel of John and go through it with

any kind of depth then you'll probably

recognize that at some point or another

uh you probably had someone say that in

the beginning is talking about eternity

past which isn't heresy or horrific or E

of evil intention but I just think it's

a bad definition because eternity by

definition isn't really Bound by time

doesn't really have a past doesn't

really have a future it just is it's

eternity and so many scholars in

theologians come around the idea that in

the beginning is really talking about in

the beginning meaning creation when

creation began and that's significant

for us to understand because though it's

difficult for the finite mind to

comprehend what John is saying to us is

that the word has always been he's

always been there from the beginning in

the beginning all of this it's not

mindless it isn't thoughtless it isn't

pointless he was there with intention

and so we see it's interesting I I I'm

going to read quite a bit from different

people here today simply because there

is so much work done on the Gospel of

John and there are people that are

much it's hard to describe just the

level of clarity that they bring and so

as much as I try to bring some clarity

around it we're going to read some of

these guys that have done unbelievable

work in mining John and one commentator

said this John wants us to stand in awe

of Jesus Christ as God and as the one

who is revealing the unseen God to us

just as a word reveals an unseen thought

it is found found ational to the

Christian faith it is crucial to your

personal faith that you understand and

embrace the truth that Jesus Christ is

fully God another would contribute and

say if Jesus were only a man then Jesus

died for his own sins and we're still in

our sins we have no hope in order to

reconcile sinful people to a holy God

Jesus must be God in human flesh and

thank God that's what the scriptures

testify to it says in the beginning was

the word what is the

word and uh I I'll tell you this can get

dense and so I'm going to do my best to

go a little bit slower here and make

sense of this because it can get muddy

fast and so I've ran this by multiple

people to make sure that it can make

sense for us here today and so track

with me as best you can here it says in

the beginning was the word word in the

original coin Greek language is logos or

logos depending on how much you want to

get into a fight with nerd because the

reality is I'm from Texas and so it's

logos and that's the way that it's going

to be pronounced we don't do la nothing

I'm not from like Minneapolis from

Dallas and so it's logo sorry sorry I

love Minneapolis it's great why would

you live there and so what we see is

that actually uh though logos long is a

familiar term probably even though it's

foreign because if you spend any time in

church you've probably heard it before

now here's here's the truth of the

matter uh logos carried an unbelievably

Rich meaning and there's a couple of

different AES that it will swing on

logos means

communication communication in the sense

that this is a thought expressed in

Words which is how it's a great great

way to Define communication it's a

thought expressed in words but equally

if not more important is that it's not

just a word it's not just a name it's

not just a thing that's being expressed

and said but equally or more important

is that that thing is an expressed

thought which is to say that there is an

intelligence behind it that there's

intention behind it that there's a

creative directive word behind it that

it's not just that something sprang into

action but rather there is thought

behind the word there's meaning there

and that's significant because in in

this particular time Greek secular

philosophers uh they didn't really feel

like anything was deeply personal the

world was deeply impersonal and so

anything that was SP spoken into

existence the idea of creation is that

it's just reason and order it's not like

there's any thought or intention behind

it it just is and yet John is trying to

communicate something different to us

John is saying that this this impersonal

cultural context that we're living in

where everyone thinks that things just

are and there's nothing personal behind

it I'm trying to tell you it's deeply

personal I'm trying to tell you there's

intelligent thought behind this that

it's not abs of Love or thought of you

or intention and so what's fascinating

is that John will use this Greek word

logos and yet there's an Aramaic

equivalent called memra Aramaic is

important because it was the language

that the common Jewish individual was

speaking during this time Hebrew which

the Old Testament is written in at this

particular point was something that

usually you were highly educated if you

were speaking in understanding Hebrew

that it it was something that usually

you were in the work of some type of

religious texts if that's a language

that you understood and used often but

Aramaic was used more for the commoner

it's what Jesus would have spoken more

than anything else and so what's

interesting is that Aramaic equivalent

of logos is memra and we see that it's

it's mingling with the Old Testament

idea of the word memra had a little bit

more of a rich understanding of the

creative thought of God behind all of

creation and it actually meant in it in

the sense of the creative and directive

word of God manifesting his power in the

world of matter and of mind so if you're

still tracking with me here John is

trying to mingle a common word that was

understood in the context of a people

that the scriptures had been handed down

through and he's saying in the middle of

a cultural context that is deeply

impersonal and secular he's saying that

thing that you think is impersonal is

deeply personal and so behold the

expression and the thought of God behold

God's creative and divine agent who has

always been and always will be in Jesus

Christ that Jesus Christ is the word he

is the power and he is the expressed

person of God that we see that Jesus is

God's

self-expression of creation of wisdom of

Revelation and of Salvation that he's

God's self-expression of his own passion

and sacrificial love that he cares

deeply for his creation he cares deeply

for you and for me that there is thought

behind these words and it's not empty

and impersonal it's deeply personal it's

God going after you from the very

beginning do you see that and so we see

that in this secular space and time with

uh these Greek speaking people and the

Greeks themselves what we see is that

often times we see in other places in

Scripture that they would associate uh

God or Gods with being impersonal but

they were a people that likeed to

worship nonetheless they knew that there

was a higher power imagine with me for a

moment that you're living in a time and

space where people are kind of religious

in some way shape or form they just

really want to live in the secular space

as well and so they kind of think that

there might be a higher power and

there's kind of like a small remnant of

people that still believe that God's on

the throne uh and and so they're they're

kind of confused about everything in the

world's not going well could you can you

imagine living in a world like that be

crazy but what we see is that that's

what's going on here and in Acts 17 what

you see is that Paul will be in Athens

and he'll stumble across these people in

the way that they worship and he'll say

something powerful to them in Acts

Acts 17:22

17:22 Paul will say people of Athens I

see that you are extremely religious in

every respect as I was passing through

and observing the objects of your

worship I even found an altar on which

it was inscribed to an unknown God what

you Worship in ignorance this I Proclaim

to you the God who made the world and

everything in it he is Lord of Heaven

and Earth he does not live in shrines

made by hands neither is he served by

human hands as though he needed anything

he himself gives everyone life and

breath in all things from one man he has

made every nationality to live over the

whole earth and has determine their

appointed times and the boundaries of

where they live he did this so they

might see

God and perhaps they might reach out and

find him though he is not far from each

one of us Paul is addressing a culture

that's similar to our culture he says I

know that you are deeply religious and

can I tell you we have never lived at a

time where people are more religious

than they are right now they're deeply

religious and you go what do you mean

what I mean is that every person

worships every person worships you don't

get a choice of if you worship it's just

who or what is it that you worship

everybody's caught up in something that

they ultimately look to for meaning

truth and purpose in their life every

single person and Paul stumbles across

these people in Athens and he says Hey I

want you to know that as I was walking

among your people I noticed that you're

deeply religious I also noted that there

was an inscription on an altar that said

to an unknown God and I just want you to

know that you can know know him that you

can know this God that you can seek him

that he's not far from you you can reach

him because he's reached down to you

he's God come in human flesh his name is

Jesus Christ I need you to know him he's

not an unknown God he's a personal God

who gave it all to have all of you do

you want to know him do you want to know

him and then we

see that they start to be interested in

the conversation

it's interesting Tim Keller and I'm

going to I'm going to quote something

rather lengthy here uh which I don't do

a whole whole lot but Tim Keller uh said

something fascinating in one of his

Works he said this everybody has to live

for something but Jesus is arguing that

if he is not that thing it will fail you

first it will enslave you whatever that

thing is you will tell yourself that you

have to have it or there is no tomorrow

second if you do achieve it it will fail

to deliver the Fulfillment you expect he

goes on to tell a story where he says

American writer David Foster Wallace got

to the top of his profession he was an

award-winning then best-selling

postmodern novelist and a few years

before the end of his life he gave what

is a now famous commencement speech he

said everyone worships the only choice

we get is what to worship and the

compelling reason for maybe choosing

some sort of God to worship ship is that

pretty much anything else you worship

will eat you

alive if you worship money and things if

they are where you tap your real meaning

in life you will never have enough you

will never feel that you've acquired

enough it's the truth he says you

worship your own body and beauty and

sexual Allure and you will always feel

ugly and when time and age start showing

up you will die a million deaths before

your loved ones plant you in the ground

worship power and you will end up

feeling weak and Afraid and you will

need ever more power over others to numb

your own fears worship intellect and

being seen as smart and you will end up

feeling stupid a fraud and always on the

verge of being found out Keller would

follow that up and say a couple of years

after giving that speech Wallace killed

himself and a non-religious man's

parting words were pretty terrifying

something will eat you

alive because even though you may you

might never call it worship you can be

absolutely sure that you are worshiping

and you are seeking and Jesus is saying

this to us unless you are worshiping me

unless I am the center of your life

unless you are trying to get your

spiritual thirst quenched through me and

not through these other things unless

you see that the solution must come

inside rather than just pass by outside

whatever you worship will abandon you in

the end which begs the

question who has your worship where is

your purpose anchored

where is

it who has your devotion in your worship

what gives you meaning and purpose who

gives you meaning in purpose because if

you misplace it you'll struggle in a way

that is infinitely greater than any

other struggle that you will face as you

walk hand inand with your

creator in the

beginning was the word and the Word was

with God John is jumping in taking the

plunge into to trinitarian theology

which is where most people end up

committing heresy so this is great uh

and what we see though is that there are

a couple clear identifiable things that

are given to us that are absolutely

critical to our understanding of our

faith here it says in the beginning was

the word and the Word was with God we

see that there has always been Eternal

Fellowship between God the father and

God the son and obviously God the Holy

Spirit but we see here for our purposes

and where we're at there's always always

been Eternal Fellowship between God the

father and God the son that we see that

Jesus Christ is the second person of the

Trinity of the godhead and it's being

made clear to us that while they're the

same in essence they are separate in

person that they are together they're

with one another and they are both God

in essence and yet they're separate in

their persons and it says in the

beginning was the word and the Word was

with God and the Word was

God was

God is God what that means is that when

every single person that I'm not saying

you do this but when you're scrolling

mindlessly on Facebook or Instagram or

whatever you do and there's someone who

hasn't read the Bible speaking about the

Bible because people's favorite thing to

do that don't read the Bible is talk

about it like they do is that what

you'll see is that they'll often make

the claim that there's no claim from the

scriptures that Jesus is god well I

don't no I mean that seems pretty clear

to me in the beginning was the word and

the Word was with

God and the Word was God and in verse 14

it will say that Jesus is God In the

Flesh and so we see here that it's

saying to us that

Jesus comes to us he's God in human

flesh he's Divine it's a clear

indication of hypostatic Union which is

just a fancy theological term for saying

he's fully God and he's fully man and

the two cannot be separated here from

what we see that all God is in his

person and nature can be found in Jesus

isn't that great news that he's been

revealed to us that we can see and know

him it's just like I don't really know

what I'm anchoring my life in him him

who's been revealed to us and as you

continue to read in the Gospel of John

it becomes more and more clear it says

in verse one and then in verse two in

the beginning was the word and the Word

was with God and the Word was God and

then verse two says he was with God in

the beginning which always makes makes

me

laugh like while I studied I kept

thinking about how John was trying to

figure out how he could make verse one

plain and he's like I just don't know in

the beginning was the word and the Word

was with God and the Word was God how

else can I say this he was with him in

the

beginning it's like we get it but he

wants us to not brush by the fact that

he's always been he's always

been it says in verse three all things

were created through him and apart from

him not one thing was created that has

been been created we talked about that

word MRA in Aramaic and you see that

it's talking about everything that we

see in logos except it's also letting us

know on a deeper contextual level that

we see that the scriptures are given to

the Jewish people and we see that it

says here that he is God's creative and

directive word that we see that he's

always been creating under the authority

and yet in cohesion with God the father

that we see that it's saying he always

has been there's nothing that you see

that he did not create he made it all

and in the Old Testament you'll notice

the word at work in Psalm 33:6 it says

Psalms 33:6

the heavens were made by the word of the

Lord and all the stars by the breath of

his mouth it says in Psalm 147: 17 and

18 who can withstand his cold he sends

his word and he melts them he unleashes

his winds and the water

flows Romans 11:36 and that that

Romans 11:36

beautiful doxology we see that Paul

would say and from him and through him

and to him are all things for him

forever to him be the glory we see that

Jesus Christ is the

word and he was creating at creation and

then broke into his own

creation Colossians 1:16 says for

Colossians 1:16

everything was created by Him in heaven

and on Earth the visible and the

invisible whether Thrones or dominions

or author ities all things have been

created through and for him Jesus Christ

the word has always been there from the

beginning he's there at creation

creating and then breaks into his own

creation and if you think about it it is

insane to imagine the fact that Jesus

Christ who made Iron itself would allow

his hands to be pierced with it that the

same God who created the

tree that would end up being made into a

cross would willingly go to it to be

hung on it

why it says in him was life and that

life was the light of men that the light

shines in the darkness and yet the

darkness did not overcome it he created

all

things and he's the source of all

physical life the reason that any of us

have breath in our lungs right now is

because he has allowed it and allowing

it whether you believe in him or not

but he

has even more that he's come to offer

than just the physical life that you

enjoy under common Grace right now in

this moment that we see that he came to

bring eternal life for those who would

repent of their sins and call upon the

name of Jesus and believe in him eternal

life that is found in his name wherever

there's life there's

light that life and

light broke into the chaos of the

cosmos and he's breaking into your story

into my

story that we might be rescued and

redeemed for his glory and what I love

is that John will write that the light

shines in the darkness and the Darkness

has not overcome it and I think often

times we can pit those together against

one another as if they're equals and

John's not writing as if they're equals

he's saying hey there's Darkness he said

and that light came and shines in the

darkness and it didn't ever struggle

with the darkness when it showed up the

darkness left and though the darkness

might try to push back on the light it

doesn't stand a chance it doesn't stand

a

chance and so Jesus Christ is our

purpose that all that we have is from

him and all of who we are and what we

have is for him we see that there is an

ultimate unchanging fixed reality that

will lead you in the ways of life in

this life and into eternal life in Jesus

Christ and I would rather be anchored in

that fixed reality than pursuing flimsy

fantasies that will abandon me in the

end what better place to find your

purpose and to make sure that you are

sailing in the direction that he has

called you than in the person of Jesus

Christ who Hebrews 13:8 says is the same

Hebrews 13:8

yesterday today and forever

he's unchanging everything else in this

world it is fleeting it'll work for a

moment but it'll leave you in an instant

and Jesus Christ offers you what he

offers all of us in the gospels Eternal

and Abundant Life for those who call on

his name and he hasn't gone anywhere

he's still breaking into stories and

setting people free and making them new

and so you can find your purpose in lots

of different places but you will

ultimately find yourself beat upon the

rocks of life going where do I go from

here to the one who has never suffered

from any kind of erosion the one who

made all that you see Jesus Christ Our

king that's where you anchor your

[Applause]

purpose and for you that maybe is new

for

you and so I want to I want to Bow and

pray here for a moment if you would

just stick with me and and and let me

just

ask if you're in here and you're like I

have never heard this proclaimed in my

life or maybe never heard this

proclaimed like this in my life but I

have chased everything everything power

money sex you name it I've had it all

I've tried it all and it hasn't led me

anywhere and I find myself in places

like this and spaces like this looking

for the answer but I'm feeling like I'm

hearing for the first time that it's

found in this man this God Jesus Christ

and I want to give my life to him if

that's you would you just shoot your

hand up if you're like I want to put my

faith in Jesus Christ for the very first

time today if that's you

yeah and if that's you will you pray

with me and

say Lord I Repent of my

sins I'm a sinner in need of a savior I

believe that Jesus Christ lived the

perfect life that I could not when he

broke into this world the creation that

he created I believe that he willingly

went to the cross and that his blood

covers my sins past present and future I

believe he was buried in a tomb for

three days but he rose to life again I

believe that I can have life in his name

and so I am calling upon him to save me

and rescue me and redeem me and change

me for his glory that I'm might come to

find that my purpose is in something

that spans well more than the

fleeting joys of this

life I believe in my heart and confess

with my mouth that Jesus Christ is

Lord and God for the rest of

us I know in my own

life how easy it is to say the right

things and be drifting in the wrong

direction

ction and so Lord even for those of us

that have Faithfully shown up here and

maybe nobody else would ever think

anything has gone astray father would we

find ourselves in a place where it's

just a time of reentering on you above

all things and recognizing that in Jesus

Christ Our Lord can our ultimate hope

and purpose and life be found Lord we

love you we praise you and we thank you

we ask these things in Jesus name amen