Series: THREE16
Sermon: I Saw the Light
Scripture: John 3:17-21
ICE BREAKER: Would you rather the weather be 105 degrees year-round but have A/C everywhere you go OR the weather be 55 degrees year-round but have no climate control in your house, car, and place of work?
REVIEW:
This week we celebrated Baptisms and looked at the verses following John 3:16.
Verse 17 continues the thought of THREE16 by assuring that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it. This continues to emphasize that Jesus came to display love and to make a path toward grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
However, in the next section of verses, it makes clear that this doesn't mean we are all automatically out of the woods. In fact, Jesus didn't come to condemn the world, because the world had already condemned itself by choosing sin and separation from God.
God is HOLY and cannot dwell in the presence of sin. When we decide to stray from God's commands, we create a gap between God and ourselves. Jesus came to fill that gap!
John calls Jesus the LIGHT and says that LIGHT came into the darkness of our world. Heartbreakingly, even though Jesus is on a rescue mission, many choose to stay in their darkness. They are afraid to come to the light, because it will mean their sin must also come to light.
v.20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.
(Time to get REAL)
Have you ever had something you tried to keep hidden in your life?
How did that secret weigh on you?
What kind of anxiety did keeping something in the dark create?
What is kept in the darkness will kill you. Sin is like a cancer eating away at us. In order to find healing, we must bring our whole self into the light of Christ and allow him to bring the healing! We can trust Jesus with our darkest secrets because he did not come to condemn us - he came to rescue us. We no longer have to hide.
APPLY:
This Sunday, many people were baptized! Salvation is a personal decision to bring your life into the light of Jesus. Baptism is a public decision to bring your faith journey into the light of your faith community. BOTH are so important to the fullness of the life you were created to live.
HERE IS THIS WEEK'S APPLICATION QUESTION:
Is there anything in your life that you are keeping in the dark? (hiding from God or others?)
IF SO:
-Confess it to God (He already knows, he wants you to bring it to Him)
-Find ONE PERSON you can trust to confess it to in your faith community
This is a HARD application piece this week. However, until you bring your full self into the light, you will not see the full power of God unleashed through your story.
PRAY:
Pray that God would show you the hidden things in your life. Ask for courage to face what is in the dark and bring it into the light of Jesus. Spend some time in prayer for those who were baptized as they are starting their faith journey.
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