Test the Spirits

I'll be honest, family.

This week's been a bit of a ride.

We're like T-1 now.

And as I was preparing this,

the hardest thing was,

am I even going to be here

to be able to share it?

And if not, then who can I drop this on

with like two hours notice?

So I texted Aaron late last night.

I said, hey,

if you get a text from me

in the middle of the night,

you're preaching.

You're up.

But thankfully, I'm here.

Just so many voices.

So many things going on.

And this ties into

what I'm going to be sharing about today.

But thanks, Sigmund, actually.

You grabbed me this morning

and you reminded me

what I talked about last week,

which is love, right?

Put your hand.

Last week, I talked about

we must go out of our way

to love people around us,

especially the people in here

and also, of course,

the people outside.

Put your hand up

if you were a recipient of love this week.

Have a think back to this week

now that you've had.

Who really felt as though

they've received love

from someone in this church family

this week?

Come on.

Homework time.

Okay.

Let's go the other way

at risk of being

a little bit prideful here.

Who in this congregation

felt as though

you went out of your way

to show love to someone else?

Don't be shy.

You can do this.

You can show it.

You can show it.

Excellent.

Good, good, good.

That's good.

Sigmund, I'm going to pick on you.

Tell us what you did.

How did you show love?

How did you show love

and go out of your way?

and go out of your way?

Did Alex just force you

to put your hand up?

Tell us one thing.

Oh.

You and God three having some bromance,

showing love to each other by giving each other time.

By giving each other time and attention.

That's huge.

That's not something that we even take for granted in Hong Kong, right?

To be able to give each other time,

probably the most valuable thing that we can give.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

And as I'm talking about how we love,

really, that's what Jesus' message is.

That's what God's message is.

Love me.

Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love me with everything that you've got.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Why?

Because actually, if you love me, you will be fully satisfied.

But if you don't love me,

if you love the other things of this world,

then actually those things, the things that you love,

the things that you end up worshiping

that are not of me,

is dangerous because they actually,

they're the things that consume you.

They're the things that corrupt you.

They're the things that break your heart.

So don't love those things.

Silas and I spent our teen years in love with Arsenal.

And every weekend, every Saturday afternoon,

every Sunday, our hearts would be broken

and we'd be questioning our purpose in life,

our meaning in life,

because they would disappoint.

They would break our hearts.

The reason why God says, love me,

is because I'm the only one that doesn't corrupt you.

I'm the only one that doesn't disappoint you.

I'm the only one that won't let you down.

And you might say, well, actually,

I don't even know really what I worship.

And there was a quote that I shared a couple of weeks ago

by a writer, a professor called David Foster Wallace,

not a Christian, not a Christian actually.

And he was saying, hey, we all worship something.

We all worship something.

Even the atheists worship something.

Let me read you the quote again.

There is actually no such thing as atheism.

There is no such thing as not worshiping.

Everybody worships.

The only choice we get is what we worship.

And most of the things we worship end up eating you alive.

If you worship money and things,

if they are where you tap real meaning in life,

then you will never have enough.

Never feel you have enough.

It's the truth.

Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure,

and you will always feel ugly.

And when time and age start showing,

you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you.

On one level, we all know this stuff already.

It's been codified as myths, proverbs, cliches, epigrams, parables,

the skeleton of every great story.

The whole trick is to keep the truth up front in your daily consciousness.

Sadly, this guy who wrote this, David Foster Wallace, non-Christian,

but he actually passed away at the young age of 46 in Claremont, actually.

He took his own life.

We all have this hunger,

this yearning that we need to worship something.

Tribes that have nothing to do with each other,

in the history of mankind,

we'll know there's something that's beyond them.

There's a higher power that we need to connect with.

We all have that.

Ecclesiastes 3 is,

he's planted eternity into the heart of man.

So God says, love me.

Worship me.

If not, everything else that you worship will corrupt you,

will consume you,

will destroy you,

and you will die a million deaths.

And we move on now,

and John kind of here moves into a little bit of a,

something else.

He talks about,

the title of this part was actually,

Test the Spirits,

because what he recognizes is,

in that church at that time,

there were tons of voices.

Tons of voices about the things that you worship,

things that you follow.

Now, we all worship something,

and we all follow something.

John Mark Comer was the one that said,

actually,

we all orient our lives around something.

If an alien was to drop into this world,

and to shadow you for a week,

they would be able to analyze,

and evaluate,

and go,

what does this person orient their lives around?

Have a think.

I won't pick on you,

but if you have a look at the people of Hong Kong,

you have a look at the people of the city,

you have a look at the people,

even in this space right now,

if someone was to sit and just go,

actually,

what do they orient their lives around?

What do you orient your life around?

What would that be?

See, from the way,

let's say I see how people use their time,

let's say my beloved Cuban right here,

I know that God is a big part of his life.

In fact,

so much that he gave his life to come and serve,

to reach young people.

But I also know BJJ is a big part of his life,

right?

And it's something that you love,

and so you orient your life around that.

There'll be times I'm like,

hey, Cuban,

want to hang out?

No, I can't.

I'm not BJJ.

Because that's just something that he loves.

What's the thing that you spend your time with?

Because that's the thing that you love.

That's the thing you're orienting your life around.

And John Mark Holmes was going to say,

we all follow something.

We all orient our lives around something.

God is saying,

Jesus is saying,

don't just listen to my teaching.

Don't just identify with me as a Christian.

Follow me.

Orient your whole life around me.

Come and be with me.

And I am with you.

God with us.

The question is,

how do we know?

How do we know which things to follow?

How do we know through which things to believe?

And this is where I think what John is doing here

as he moves into this next passage.

So we're going to read the Word of God.

It's only six verses.

So can I invite us to stand for the Word of the Lord?

Again, for those of you new

and you're begritting that I've got you

a few of your beanbag again,

we just believe that the Word of the Lord is sacred.

It's powerful.

It's holy.

And sometimes I treat it for granted.

And this is just a sign for us to remind ourselves

that actually God is here.

God is real.

And he's speaking.

If we would listen.

1 John 4, verse 1 to 6.

1 John 4:1–6

Let's read it together, if you can.

For those who can see the screens, read loud.

Verse 1.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit,

but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you know the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ

has come in the flesh is from God.

And every spirit that does not confess Jesus

is not from God.

This is the Spirit of the Antichrist,

which you heard was coming

and now is in the world already.

Little children, you are from God

and have overcome them.

For he who is in you is greater

than he who is in the world.

They are from the world.

Therefore, they speak from the world

and the world listens to them.

We are from God.

Whoever knows God listens to us.

Whoever is not from God does not listen to us.

By this we know the Spirit of truth

and the Spirit of error.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Take a seat.

Let's just pray.

Lord, we know this is your Word.

We cling on, we hang on to every word that you say.

Holy Spirit, would you guide us

your Spirit of truth.

May you guide us.

May we not follow the Spirit of error.

We're here for you.

Even with all the excitement

and friends and family

and not just being the weekend

that we can gather.

But Lord, most importantly,

you are here.

So would you speak to us?

In your name we pray.

Amen.

So my point today is

there are contending voices

everywhere.

Everywhere.

In your workplace,

there are bosses

who tell you certain things

about how they think

that you should live.

As you walk down the MTR

and you see all the adverts,

you see all these things

that tell you

what your life should be like,

what everyone else's life is like,

even though that is completely

photoshopped

and manufactured,

yet there are voices

everywhere telling you.

And there are voices

in our own minds.

Come from maybe

our family backgrounds.

We talked about this

a couple of weeks ago.

The way we grew up,

the voices that we heard

around there affect,

affect our mindset,

affects the way we live.

What are the voices

that you've got

going on in your mind?

John here tells the church,

he says,

Beloved,

do not believe every spirit,

but test the spirits

to see whether they are

from God.

There are false prophets,

there are false truths.

Test every spirit.

That tells me

there are spirits around,

but we've got to figure out

how to test,

how to know

what is what.

In verse 3,

it says this,

this is the spirit

of the Antichrist,

which you heard was coming

and now is in the world already.

And a couple of weeks ago

for Chinese New Year,

we shared about the Antichrist

a little bit,

but really it sounds

very serious,

it sounds like this devil

with horns and where

the pitchfork,

but actually,

at least for the Chinese culture,

we talked about face,

the idol of face,

the spirit of just

not wanting,

avoiding shame.

And then we talked

about fortune,

just craving health,

craving wealth.

Those are some

of the idols of the day.

What about some

of the other ones

that we have?

What are some

of the other spirits

that are happening?

Maybe one that really

sends shivers down my spine,

Ephesians 2,

and you were dead

in the trespasses

and sins in which

you once walked,

following the course

of this world,

following the prince

of the power of the air,

the spirit that is now

at work in the sons

of disobedience.

There is a,

without being extra

mystical here,

there is,

there are powers

that are at work.

Of course,

Ephesians 6.12

talks about that,

that we're not fighting

against flesh and blood.

There's a realm

that we don't know about

and all of these

are trying to do one thing.

What is that one thing

that they're trying to do?

Pull us away from God.

Pull us away from God.

Anything but God.

And John's here

telling his church,

test the spirits.

There are so many voices

that you've got around

in your minds,

in your society,

in your culture.

You've got to learn

to test them.

You've got to learn

to know which ones

are right.

I think about the,

what's the spirit

that we have here

in this city?

Any ideas?

What are some

of the spirits?

What are some of the

things that really

govern the way

people live here?

I'll tell you one.

Busy.

The spirit of busy.

I mean,

again,

when I'm talking

about a demon

with horns here,

we're talking about

nearly every person

we meet,

everywhere we go

in this city,

you ask how you're doing,

you say,

I'm good,

I'm busy.

I'm busy.

I think

Dallas Willard

was the one

that said,

actually,

busyness,

hurrying,

is the greatest

enemy of spirituality.

Who's busy here?

You can confess.

You're busy.

Of course,

in Hong Kong,

you kind of define busy.

Like,

growing up in the UK,

busy was maybe

having seven things

a week.

Like,

for meetings,

for busy in Hong Kong

is seven things

a day or more.

It's kind of busy.

Right?

When we were

in California

in January,

just going anywhere,

you could only do

two,

three things a day

because everything

takes an hour drive

and then there's

LA traffic,

so that means

it's two hours.

And so you can only

really do two

or three things a day.

I call myself

doing 11 things

one day

because I can zip around

Jordan,

Admiralty,

Sunshine Pole,

Monk Kong,

just keep going.

The spirit of busy.

There's a story

I wanted to read you

and this is

an old fable

that tells of

three apprentices

who were devils

to come and finish

their apprenticeship

on earth

and they were

talking to Satan,

the chief of the devils

about their plans

to tempt and ruin men,

to turn men away

from God.

The first one said this,

I'll tell them

there is no God.

That'll work.

Satan said,

that will not delude them

for many,

they know there is a God.

The second one said,

oh,

in that case,

then I will tell them

there is no hell.

Satan answered,

you will deceive

no one that way.

Men know,

even now,

that there is a hell

for sin.

There is a cost

to pay

for sin.

The third said,

well,

you know what then?

I will tell men

that there is no hurry,

that there is no urgency,

that they can get on

with their busy lives

to do all the things

that they want to do

in this world

and that the matters

of the kingdom of heaven,

the things of God,

are no hurry,

no priority,

no urgency.

They can just be busy

with their own lives.

then Satan said,

you will ruin them

by the thousands.

The most dangerous

of all delusions

is that there is plenty

of time

to do a million

other things.

The spirit of busy,

we keep ourselves

busy that way.

And of course,

another one is the busy,

the spirit of money.

The spirit of money

that seems to govern

the city.

Everything that we do

has something to do

with money.

We talked about

the Chinese culture

and honor and shame.

What does that lead into?

It leads to people

wanting more money

so that they can

have more honor.

If they don't have

enough money,

then it's more shame.

Maybe on a similar line

to that parable there,

one of my favorite books

is by C.S. Lewis

called Screwtape Letters.

Who's read

the Screwtape Letters before?

Fascinating book.

It's about Screwtape,

who's a very senior demon,

and he's training

his nephew, Wormwood.

And he's training

his nephew

to pull people

away from God.

That's what he's doing.

And they have

these fascinating conversations.

It's satirical,

but it's actually

theological as well.

It's a fascinating read

if you wanted to read it.

And Screwtape talks about

how money is the thing.

And he says this,

that I think,

when it comes to

the spirit of money,

he says this,

prosperity knits a man

to the world.

He feels that he is

finding his place in it

while really

it is finding its place

in him.

Whoa.

The spirit of money.

The spirit of money

where actually it's,

that's what,

that's what,

that's what,

God says,

don't look at money.

Look at me.

You can't serve both

because money will

ultimately corrupt you.

It will consume you.

And you think you've got

a hold on it,

but actually it's got

a hold on you.

These are the things

that we face

in this world.

And of course,

there's another one

which is just religion.

Maybe Keller talks

about this.

30 years ago,

if you ask people,

what's the enemy

to world peace,

people would probably say

politics and communism

capitalism and capitalism.

But now it's,

actually it's

religious diversity.

People think,

actually it's religion

that causes wars,

that causes all these problems.

This religious diversity

that we have,

that we live in a post-truth culture

where actually,

oh,

your truth is good,

you can stick to yours

and you can stick to yours

and all of us

can just live in harmony

in some way,

but it doesn't happen that way.

John Stott was the one

who said,

religious diversity

is not really

just that.

There is so much more to it.

There is a spiritual realm

to it.

All of it.

All of the spirits

do one thing,

try and pull you away

from God.

All these contending voices

that go on in society,

even good ones,

they seek to pull you away

from God.

And John says,

test,

test these spirits.

Just the context here

as he's writing this

in 1 John.

It's in the Roman culture

where actually,

it was a polytheistic culture.

What does that mean?

That means they would

tolerate all the gods.

The Roman culture

would be like,

hey,

you believe this,

that's cool,

you believe this god of fertility,

you believe this god of fertility.

Everyone can believe

everything

and that's okay.

Do you know why

they did that?

Why did the Romans

let them do that?

It's because when you let people

just have their own religions,

it's actually the easiest way

and the best way

to control

a whole group

of people.

Back to the screw tape.

A quote,

a book.

A screw tape says this,

a moderated religion

is as good for us

as no religion at all

and more amusing.

If the Romans

could just let everyone

worship their own things

and get busy

with their own things,

then they will live

peaceably within this empire

and not cause any trouble

and the Romans

would remain in control.

So they encouraged

all these religions.

So then you have

a gathering like this,

people who are following

the way

and they wander in

and they wander in

and some of them

start saying,

oh actually,

oh I have this God as well,

treating them as Pokemon cards

and saying,

oh this Jesus one is good,

I'd like to collect

this Jesus one.

This Jesus card

seems powerful

but just in case,

I've got the other cards

that I need as well.

And so that's what was

happening within the church

and then John's saying,

no, you've got to test

the spirit

because there is only,

there is only one.

I'm reminded of this picture here.

Has anyone seen this before?

This is a picture of an idea

that actually I think

came from Indian culture

which was one that said,

hey you can worship

all these other gods

and actually all these

other gods lead

to the same thing.

Everyone's just giving

a different aspect

of reality,

of divinity.

They just don't see

the whole picture.

So that's what they're saying.

So what it says is

a few blind men

analyzing an elephant

and touching different places

and he's got a tail

and he's going,

okay, this being is,

it's actually just a rope.

This one's right here

and it says,

it's a wall.

This one is,

oh, it's a fan.

It's a spear.

It's a snake.

It's a tree.

And basically the premise is,

hey, you can believe

whatever you want.

You've just got one side

of the truth

and that's okay.

If we combine it all together,

then we'll have the truth.

We are all heading

to the same place

is what all the religions say.

And then Christianity

comes on the scene

and John writes here

in the scene saying,

no, that is not the case.

There is only one.

Of course,

the problem with this,

the problem with this picture,

which seems quite respectful,

which seems quite tolerant,

you're also assuming

actually here

that you're standing

outside of this picture

and that you can see everything.

So there's an absolute pride

that's implied

in this analogy

that there is someone

sat here going,

hey, you guys,

you're all blind

and you're actually

all looking an elephant

and you don't see clearly,

but you're assuming

that you do.

So this claim in itself

is a prideful,

ignorant one of sorts.

So this doesn't work.

And John's saying,

test the spirits.

There's only one.

I was talking to a friend

the other day

at the hospital

and he was asking this question.

How do we know?

How do we know

that Christianity is the only one?

I've got some good friends

who are maybe Muslims

and Hindus

and the atheists

and the Buddhists.

How do we know

that Christianity

is the one?

How do we test

all these spirits?

How do we discern

which is the actual truth?

That's why we're here.

If you're here going,

actually,

I'm okay with a bit

of all these different ones

as well,

then I'm here to lovingly,

respectfully,

politely say,

no, there's only one.

There's only one.

Well, yeah,

unfortunately,

if you walk in here

and you want to

meet the Lord,

you're going to let

all the other Pokemon cards go.

You do not catch them all.

There is only one to catch.

There is only one.

The question there

is, okay, James,

what's the answer to that?

How do I know

which the one is?

And that is really

the question that we all have.

How do I know Christianity

is the only one?

How do I know it?

And actually,

John here really says

one key phrase

that I'm going to finish on here,

which is,

Jesus,

you test by this.

Jesus has come

in the flesh from God.

That is the statement

if I just keep going back

to the verse.

I've completely ruined

my order now.

And every spirit

that does not confess

that Jesus is not from God.

So basically,

what it's saying here

is it has to be

this is it.

Every other spirit

that isn't true

will not confess

that Jesus is not from God.

In fact,

I've left the slide two here.

Verse two

is the one that says

that's the key phrase here

that it is all about

this sentence

right here.

Jesus has come

in the flesh

and is from God.

As you test and see

what is true

and what is not,

this is the one.

Now,

this is the one

where a lot of apologists go,

this is crazy.

You're sat here

because you believe

that there was a Jewish man

2,000 years ago

who came to this earth

and declared

that he himself

was God.

That's what you believe.

Sat here in 2024

in Adbalty,

in Adbalty Center,

Tower 2,

14th floor,

you believe

that there was a Jewish man

2,000 years ago

who turned out

who was born in Bethlehem

who declared

that he was the son of God,

died for the sins of many

and then came back to life.

That's what you're proclaiming here.

You're proclaiming here

a couple of things.

You're proclaiming here

that Jesus is from God.

From God.

See,

all these other religions

were founded by men.

They were founded

by different people.

We have a religion

that separates it

because our religion

was founded by God himself.

That's the claim.

That's the claim.

That's what separates it apart.

As you discern,

now we're going to meet people

who,

especially in this new age,

who are open

to all kinds of ideas.

We're in the new age

where we can accept everything

and we can tolerate everything.

We must learn

to test the spirit

and go,

actually,

does this one confess this?

Jesus has come in the flesh

and is from God.

That he was the founder

of our religion.

You see,

in that time,

the Gnostics

were the ones

who believed

in spirit realm

and flesh realm.

They were separate.

You can do whatever you wanted

in the flesh realm

and it wouldn't affect

your spiritual realm

at all.

And actually,

they actually looked

with disgust

on the flesh realm.

It's dirty.

It's nothing compared

to what they will have

in the future

so they can do

whatever they want.

Christianity is unique

because Christianity is saying

this religion was founded

from God

and that this God

chose to come

and take on

man,

take on flesh.

The word became flesh.

God incarnate.

Why?

Because it recognized

that we could not

save ourselves.

Jesus recognized

that we could not

save ourselves,

that he had to come

and identify with us

so that then he could

represent us

so that then he could

save us.

Inherent to Christianity

and unique to Christianity

is the issue

that you cannot

save yourself.

You cannot save yourself.

Every other religion

says you can do

these things.

If you do these things

well,

if you got this,

then you get to heaven.

Christianity is the only

one that offers

the morally

satisfactory solution

that we are sinners,

that we cannot

save ourselves

because we created

the problem

in ourselves

and we needed

outside help

and that's why

Jesus has come

in the flesh

from God.

The question then

becomes,

do you believe this?

Do you believe this?

And you can test this,

whether you believe this,

in the way

you deal with your life.

When you're waiting

for that job

offer to come,

when you're worrying

about your bank account,

when you're worrying

about all your future,

you can test

to see if this

is really the thing

that you believe

because if you don't

actually believe this,

then you'll start

worrying about

all the other things

because you're,

actually,

I need to spend

myself,

I need to scrap

as much money

as I can

because I don't

truly believe

that Jesus has

come in the flesh

and is from God,

that he loved me enough

that he would leave

his identity in heaven

and he would come

and save me

and he gave up

his life for me.

I don't know

if we truly believe

that,

do you get me?

If we truly believe

that,

we wouldn't worry

about all the other things.

Jesus cared about us

enough that he would

travel the ultimate

distance to come

to save us.

That's the thing

that's unique

about Christianity

and the main thing

here that is again

unique to Christianity

is the issue of grace.

Have a think

just for a second.

I want to pause here.

We hear the word grace.

We sing about the word grace.

What does the word grace

mean to you?

60 seconds.

Turn this to the person

next to you.

What does the word grace

mean to you?

When you think about

the word grace,

what does it mean?

Doesn't have to be

a right answer.

Just what is it

that you think it means?

Go.

All right.

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Super Bowl.

We're still home now.

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Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah.

Just to try and paraphrase just a sermon, if you summarize the whole Bible, it's the word

grace and that it transforms.

It's nothing to do with your works, but it's just something that you receive.

Incredible.

What else is there?

What else have we got over there?

Let's go over to the sofa side.

Darren.

Darren.

Darren.

Undeserved love.

Yeah.

So you don't deserve it.

It's absolutely more.

Absolutely more.

I don't know if I have spent enough time mulling over this word grace.

I don't know if you have.

Sometimes I think I sit here, we sit here and we're like, I deserve to be here.

I'm a good person.

I'm doing enough.

And to sit here and go, no, really.

I'm a rebel.

I'm a rebel.

I'm a rebel.

I didn't deserve to be here.

But now this master gave his son to die for me.

And now I get to be called his son.

What?

That's grace.

It's undeserved.

It's generous.

Grace.

Grace, what does your name mean to you?

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Take care.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Because we don't understand the word grace.

And I think, I'll tell you, I think it even happens in our churches.

It happens amongst our pastors.

It happens where people just don't seem to understand it.

Because if we got to grips of what grace actually meant, that we're all sat here.

We don't just have to be there.

And yet we're here.

That's huge.

It broke my heart yesterday.

I was talking to someone in a church and they said there's a group of people who just, within the church, who everybody knows that they're just like in an elite group.

Just like, you know, one of those exclusive groups that, you know, you've got to be a certain pedigree.

You've got to be born in a certain hospital.

You've got to have gone to a certain school.

You've got to be in a certain occupation.

And only then can you look and see, can you join that.

I'm like, man, if there's anything more against the gospel, that we are all sinners.

Like, we all fall short of the glory of God.

That we didn't choose to be born here.

You'd been born anywhere in the world, but he was born here and you were born here and you have what you have because of him.

That you have the parents that you have because of him.

That you get to sit here.

You have the job that you have because of him.

The spirit of pride exists.

That's why we have to keep measuring it up.

What's the spirit that is really at work in us?

Because if we have this spirit and it can confess this, it changes the way we live.

This sentence here feels very Christian-y.

We've seen these words before.

Jesus has come in the flesh from God.

But if we truly grasp what it meant.

That God looked at us and said, actually, these guys, these people are not going to be able to make it.

So that he would send his son to come in the flesh.

The word became flesh.

The light came into the darkness to save us.

He came from God and he's going back to God.

If we truly understood what this term meant, then I think I'm starting to get why John wrote this.

This is how you measure.

This is how you measure whether you're following the right spirit or not.

If this is the name above all names.

But the truth is this.

Whether it's religion or whether it's just the worldly ideals.

The thing that they want you to put your trust in.

The thing we want to put our trust in is our own names.

Right?

You build yourself up.

Get yourself to the point where you are recognized to do these things.

That you have a certain level of achievement.

Every other religion says you can be saved by your own name.

Every other religion says, hey, you can get it done.

Every worldly value says you must get it done.

Christianity is the only one that says it is done.

That the founder of this religion, this God that we serve, went to the cross for us and said,

it is finished.

These people that cannot save themselves because I love them so much.

These rebels.

These people that keep turning against me.

I died for them.

Forgive them for they know not what they do.

This is the only religion that does that.

I'll finish with this.

And I want us to really think about this because we know this.

We know that Jesus has come in the flesh.

And yet, time and time again, we just let it overtake us sometimes.

Well, James, I believe this, but how can I go back in?

You know, the forces are so strong.

And it's not even my colleagues.

It's my family.

It's not even my family.

It's just the city.

It's my friends.

It's just so hard to push against that spirit.

And that's where the encouragement comes in.

He says, little children.

And he's not rebuking in a way that isn't loving.

He's saying, my beloved.

Later, he carries on.

Beloved, my dear children, you are from God and you have overcome that.

For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

He who is in you is greater than he is in the world.

He is the one on your team.

We joke about basketball.

And I'm by no means the best player.

In fact, one of the best players I've enjoyed playing with.

Joe over there, I've enjoyed playing with him.

I'll tell you something, Joe.

Every time I go and run, I go to a basketball run with Joe, I am filled with confidence when I see that I've been picked to be on Joe's team.

And I'm like, oh, yeah.

You guys are going to get it now because I've got him.

And I have that.

Do you have that with God?

When you walk out into this world, do you go, man, I'm not scared of anything because I have God on my team.

I have God on my side.

All these are the spirits.

All these are the values.

All these are the contending voices.

They don't matter because I have the one whose name is above every name.

But I have God himself on my team.

He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

And I'll finish this with this Tim Keller quote.

He says, think of it.

If there is any other way, what was Jesus doing in God?

What did he say to the Father?

He said, is there no other way?

Can this cup pass from me?

Can I get out of this somehow?

Is there no other way?

The answer is the cup couldn't because there was no other way.

Do you think if there was any other way, Jesus would have done it?

If there was any other way, what in the world is Jesus doing that for?

How do you explain the extreme lengths to which he went?

You make absolute nonsense of what he did on the cross.

Is there no other way?

No.

And therefore, there is no other way.

Is there another way?

No.

Jesus himself asked in the garden, God, is there any other way that we can save these people?

Is there any other way we can show them grace without it costing us?

Is there any other way that we can draw them close to us even though they keep running away, pushing back?

And God says, no.

There is no other way.

And therefore, there is no other name.

There is no other name that saves.

That he, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, born in the likelihood of men.

And he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on the cross.

Therefore, God now has exalted him to have the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Test every spirit.

Shut down all the contending voices.

There is only one way.

There is only one name.

And our founder, before he laid down his life, said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one will come to the Father except me.

I am sorry.

That is an offensive message to everyone we meet, saying, you're right.

There is only one way.

Because there is no other founder of a religion who laid his life down for his people out of love, out of grace.

So would we be filled with that grace for other people?

May we be so hungry for the truth.

May we test every spirit.

Shut down any contending voice that does not confess that Jesus is the name above all names.

Can I invite you just for a moment of quiet reflection now?

Holy Spirit, we ask,

Are there any contending voices?

Any spirits that we've allowed in our lives

that are not of you?

Jesus, we confess.

That you are God.

That you are the word that came flesh.

That you are in the beginning.

That in you is life.

That you are light.

And that you are the word that came flesh and dwelt among us.

And we have seen your glory.

You came so that we would know the Father.

Amen.

Amen.

and so we receive you

we believe in your name

we confess

we confess and say sorry

for all the voices that we've led in

all the spirits

of this world

that we follow

we orient our lives

our hearts

around you and you alone

for the sole simple reason

that you

came from God in the flesh

and you gave your life to us

there was no other way to save us

we are that far away from you

and therefore there is no other name we worship

Jesus your name

the name above every name

that nothing compares to you

and if you are for us

that none can be against

that we are more than conquerors

that we will never be separated

from your love

Jesus you truly are

the king of kings

and the lord of lords

the author and perfecter of our faith

the beginning and the end

the alpha and omega

everything comes from you

and you will have the final say

so we take heart

though in this world we have trouble

we take heart because you have overcome

thank you

thank you

it's in your name we pray

amen

you