Into the Light: Prove It

Well, good morning. Welcome to Eagle Creek Church. Good to have everyone here in the room and everyone joining us online.

We are in a series of messages called Into the Light. You may know that, but if you’re here for the first time, we’re studying the book of First John, and you’re jumping in on week three. Now, week one, John says, “I was there. I saw him. I touched him. I heard him. He was real.” And the point was every one of us can have that firsthand heart encounter with a God who was really there for us. And that was our challenge.

Last week, how many of you give it up for our youth pastor, Pastor Noah? Come on. He preached last week. Did a great job. I’m looking for him. I don’t know where he is. He’s probably helping in a kids’ room right now. But he talked last week about the issue that everyone is dealing with. Everyone deals with sin. Everyone has to work through stuff in their life. The question is, are you going to acknowledge it? Are you going to walk in the light? Are you going to walk in darkness? Are you going to deny it and call God a liar? Are you going to admit it and just say, “We understand this is a reality”? And then how do you deal with it? And you guys probably know the verse, if you confess your sins to God, he’s faithful and he’s just to forgive you of your sins and then cleanse you of all unrighteousness. And then we talked about this whole concept of how sometimes we just say, “Oh, it’s not really a sin,” or “God doesn’t call this sin.” The things that we say about sin to cover it up, they don’t help us at all. So that was last week. And you can look back, those two weeks are online, and check them out.

Now, quick question here before I get into today’s message. How many of you have a friend or a parent or a kid that considers themselves an expert on something, and they really think they need to tell you how to run that area of your life? Now and then you get a good lecture on, you need to be eating 35 grams of protein every meal, Mom. Okay, you have three of you. Now, that’s probably true, but how many of you are like, I’m tired of the lectures about how much protein I should eat, whatever. Or maybe they’re telling you, you need to invest in crypto, and you’re thinking, you drive an Uber and have 30,000 in debt. Why are you telling me this? You just have a hard time. Sometimes people think they have such a great thing to tell you, they’re just not really living up to it themselves, right? And maybe someone comes to you and they’re like, “Let me tell you what you need to do for your marriage.” And you’re thinking, “Wait, didn’t you last week tell me your marriage was about over? So I don’t know why you’re telling me what I should do about my marriage right now, buddy. I love you, but seriously, work on your own marriage right now.” And there’s just some people that are a little bit hard to listen to because they don’t have it together, but they’re going to tell you how to get it together, right? How many of you have ever been guilty of not having it together and then telling someone else how to get it together? Okay, probably most of us have. I will be included in that as well.

But here’s the thing. As we get into this message today, Paul’s going to. I keep saying that. I told you I would do that. I’m going to get over it. John, John, John, John, the other guy who wrote the New Testament. But John is going to talk to us about kind of that mentality, that attitude of, we think we have it together, but do we? We think we know what we’re doing, but do we? We think we’re these great Christians, but he’s questioning and making us question.

Now, why is John doing this? Is John doing this because he doesn’t care about people, and he knows that people have a fragile view of their own salvation and he wants to trip them up? No, he’s not doing that. Paul’s doing this, John. I have a brother Paul and a brother John and a brother Steve and a brother Mike. I’m not calling him Steve or Mike. So I’m halfway there, guys. Okay, there we are. John, I’m going to look at you every time I say this. I got a John in the room. All the Johns raise their hand. Okay, now I will not forget John. That helped me out here.

Okay, so here’s what he’s doing. He’s trying to help them get it together, and to say, honestly, guys, think about what you’re doing, the way you’re living your life. And so what he does is, everyone say, two proofs. Two proofs, one disproof. This is what he does. He literally walks you through, or you could call them tests if you want, two tests. And you can’t say one distest. What would you call that? Untest. There’s a disproof, but there’s not a distest. So whatever, you know what I mean, the opposite of that. So he’s walking through them to try to get them thinking and try to get their faith up to where it should be, so that if there are things they’re doing, ways they’re living that are pulling away from having a good solid Christian faith, they’ll at least see it and have a chance to deal with it. So that’s what I’m going to do, and give you a chance to see things in your life through what the Apostle John teaches, and deal with those things. I’m going to give you these two tests, and no, I’m going to use proofs. Two proofs and one disproof. Okay, here they are.

Proof 1: Obedience Proves Our Faith Is Real

Number one, the first proof or test is this. Obedience proves our faith is real. Now, I want to pause and say, I didn’t say obedience makes our faith real. It’s a proof that it already is. Okay? Do you understand the difference? It’s not like, if you obey then you really have faith and that’s what makes your faith real. No, it’s kind of like, after you’ve had faith, then obedience should be kind of natural, and you’re like, “Oh yeah, I’m doing that now.” So let’s all read this together. Obedience proves our faith is real.

Does John really say this that hardcore? No. John says it much more hardcore than this. Let’s read 1 John 2:3-6. “And by this we know that we have come to know him.” What’s the word? Know? No. By this we know that we have come to know him.

Now, I’m going to take you back a little bit. Week number one. Remember what Paul, John’s going to, I have to put a quarter every time in the jar I say. I’m not going to say it because then I’ll have to put a quarter in. But anyway, I’m so distracted now by this. Anyway, and by this we know. Okay, week number one. He’s writing to a group of people, the church. He’s really concerned because a group of false teachers got into the churches and started telling all the people, “Oh, we got all this special knowledge and special wisdom.” Jesus didn’t really come in the flesh. No, flesh is evil and bad. Spirit is good. Flesh is bad. And so therefore, he couldn’t have been in the flesh. He was just the spirit. And who cares about what people do in the flesh? Because the flesh doesn’t even matter. It’s just a who-cares thing. It’s all about what you know. You know the spirit of God. And they called it gnosis. It’s knowledge.

And so John is really hitting on that concept. It’s like, oh, you think you have this gnosis, this deep mystical knowledge. Have you ever run into Christians in the church, and they think they have this deep mystical knowledge, and they talk in real weird mystical language, and after a while you’re like, you’re kind of freaking me out. I don’t know what you’re saying, but that feels really weird. You know what I’m saying? But people are drawn to the mystics, and they all want to come around and like, tell me more of your guru kind of stuff.

John is saying the opposite, actually, right here when he says, by this we know that we know him. This is a covenantal, relational knowledge. He’s not saying you have some mystical knowledge that no one can attain to. He says you have a covenantal knowledge relationship, like you are deeply, relationally, emotionally connected to God. You know God like a real person, like me saying I touched and I saw. John saying that I touched and I saw and I felt and I heard him, and he was real, and I can attest to this, and we attest to it. He’s saying you have that kind of experiential, covenantal knowledge of God.

And he says, “By this you know that you have come to know him, if we keep his what?” Whoa. Hardcore. Just saying, you’ll know if you’re living it. You’ll know that you know him, because you’ll know if people know Jesus. How will you know? You just see him living differently. You’ll notice it. You’ll see that they’re doing things differently.

Now, here we go. “If we keep his commandments. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar.” I mean, I don’t know how to say it any more clear than that. What I said, obedience proves our faith is real, is super lightweight. He just said, if you don’t obey, you’re a liar. I mean, that’s hardcore. I can’t top that. That’s direct. “And the truth is not in him.”

So this deep knowledge, oh, this mystic, oh, and I know this about God, and I’ve studied this in scripture, and let me tell you what the Lord has revealed. He’s saying, you don’t know a thing. You don’t even know him if you’re not living for him. Oh, I have this mystical knowledge, but you’re treating your wife like crud, but you got this problem with porn, but you’re losing your temper all the time. You cannot hold it together. You just have no self-control. The gifts of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit, none of it. No fruit of the spirit. No love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control. You got none of that. But you think you’re really spiritual. It’s not true.

John’s saying, I’m not trying to beat you down. I’m just trying to get real here, church. When you say these things, but you don’t do these things, I question if you really know him. And I think it’s a legitimate question that he’s asking here. He said the truth isn’t really in you.

And let’s jump on here. “But whoever keeps his word,” obedience in him, “truly the love of God is perfected.” Now, this word perfected doesn’t mean that you are perfected. It’s an interesting concept right here. The concept that he’s conveying right there is that you have reached the fullness of the form God intended. You know what that means? It means you look like Jesus a lot more. That’s all it means. You’re looking more like what God wants you to look like. You look a lot more like Jesus. How many of you know that on this earth, none of us are going to be perfect, but we can be in the process of being perfected, right?

So he says, you have something really good that’s happening in you, and it’s kind of visible. You’re growing up. Your wife says, “Boy, you really changed. You’re a lot sweeter than you used to be. You have a little ways to go, but you know, we made some progress.” So I was thinking about me. I’m a lot sweeter than I used to be. And I think my wife would say I’m in the ballpark of sweet, but I’m not the sweetest. I got some work to be the sweetest.

So anyway, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. “By this we know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him.” Oh, this is the proof. This is the test. This is it. This is how you know. This is how you know you are in him. “Whoever says he abides in him ought to” what? “Walk in the same way in which Jesus walked.” Wow.

So you just look at your life. This isn’t about you judging someone else’s life at all. This isn’t about, oh, we got all these tests so we can judge everyone else in the church. No, this is all about me, Matt, my heart. What am I doing? How am I living? Do I look like him? Are there things God’s saying to do, and I’ve read in scripture, I’ve even been convicted about, and I just didn’t do them? Someone I was supposed to share faith with or pray for. Someone I was supposed to forgive. A generosity moment I didn’t engage in where I should have. A time to serve, a time to make a difference, a time to just show my wife a little extra love, and I just selfishly stayed on my phone working on what I was working on. How many moments of obedience have passed me by where I never walked the way Jesus would have walked in those moments?

He said, this is how you know. It’s when you see yourself walking those Jesus moments out in real life, and you did it, and you loved and you cared and you forgave and you served. You look like him. A little more, a little more. Being perfected a little more, a little more. This is how you know. This is how you know.

But you just got to question yourself if you’re like, literally, there’s not a moment in time I care at all about doing anything he wants me to do. In fact, I’m frustrated that people put pressure on me. In fact, a morning like this annoys the snot out of me. I don’t want to have to be that guy. I have a life I want to live. I’m super frustrated by the pressure. My wife, my husband, my mom, they’re all telling me I got to be like this. I don’t want to be like that. I have a life I want to live. And I resent that. Time to question. Time to say, is it real? Is it real?

And why would John say that? Because he loves people too much to let them go to hell without putting up a warning sign and saying, “Hey, hey, hey, hey, slow down. Slow down.” You may have even hit the big old stop sign that just says, “Stop. What are you doing? You know that’s a road that leads to destruction. Why are you still on that road? Can’t you see where you are?” No, I believe in Jesus. Yeah, the demons in hell believe in Jesus, but they’re still going to hell. That’s not what it is. It’s a covenantal knowledge, a relationship that’s so deeply connected that it cannot help but change our lives. It really is.

Proof 2: Love for People Proves Our Faith Is Real

Then John jumps into another proof, another challenge for us. And the second one, if we’re moving on here, it says this. Love for people proves our faith is real. Love for people. Can’t be hating on folks. Okay. Love for people proves our faith is real. Let’s all read that together. Love for people proves our faith is real.

Now, let me take a little quiz. How many of you think that when we read what Paul says, or John? You didn’t hear that. John says that he is going to say it a little more hardcore than Matt just did. Anyone? Okay, here we go. Let’s go and read what John says. 1 John 2:9-11.

“Whoever says he is in the light,” like, I’m connected, I’m walking the truth, God showed me how to live my life, he’s shined a light on things and that’s what I’m doing. You say that’s what you are. You’re walking in the light. But if you hate your brother, you’re not in the light. Not at all. You’re still in darkness. That’s the reality.

“Whoever loves his brother abides in the light.” That’s just reality. That’s where you’re in a good place. “And in him there is no cause for stumbling.” That word stumbling. Everyone say stumbling. It really has impact. No pun intended. Anyway, just thought of that. It didn’t do that first service.

Okay, next portion. Let’s continue. Says, “But whoever hates his brother is in” what? What do you do in the darkness? You stumble, right? And then it goes on. It says, “and walks in the darkness.” How many of you know when you walk in the darkness, you stumble more, right?

So how many of you know you’re supposed to be, as a Christian, walking in the light, where God’s showing you with clarity the way to love people, the way to treat people, the way to forgive people, the way to move forward relationally? How many of you know it’s really nice when the word of God and the spirit of God shine a light on how to handle a marriage problem, a kid problem, a friendship problem, a church relationship problem, and God’s light just shines a light and you’re like, I feel like I have wisdom from God. The Holy Spirit’s opened up the word of God. I’ve had good counsel from brothers and sisters. I have the light shining in on how to handle my relationships. How many say that’s a really good thing? You recognize those moments. That’s a good place to be living your marriage and your life. Amen.

Okay. So what’s the opposite? The opposite is you’re stumbling around in darkness, tripped up all the time because of hate, because you don’t forgive, because of a lack of love, because of a woundedness that you refuse to let go of.

Woundedness happens to everyone. How many of you in the room can say woundedness happens to all of us, right? Wounds will happen. That is life. And everyone says the same thing. Me too. But you don’t know how bad I’ve been wounded. How many of you in this room can honestly say no one in this room, other than maybe the person sitting next to you, knows how bad you’ve been wounded? Come on, hands up. I just need people to see this and understand this. That’s reality. That is our life. Tell me if you know, that’s the human existence, right? No one knows how bad we’ve been wounded.

But at some point, the choice about what we do with that wound becomes ours again. What am I going to do with this? Am I going to hate and walk in darkness and stumble around relationally for a lot of years to come? Or am I going to forgive and walk in light and love again?

And it says that’s really a strong indicator of whether you know God, because people who know God know how to walk out of the darkness of hate and wounds into the light again, right? And if you don’t, if you’re like, I will live with hatred and hold this, I will never forgive them. I will never let them off the hook. I will never have a relationship. If I even know someone or see someone who’s even like them, I don’t want anything to do with anyone that’s like that. Do you know God? Because that level of darkness in your relational soul, in your relational life, is what John is trying to expose right here.

“But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” He just cannot see a way forward to forgiveness. He cannot see a way past the circumstances he’s in the middle of.

Now, I’m going to admit, in the middle of it, it’s a little bit hard. But how many of you at least have a glimmer of hope, a little light out there that says, I will keep walking to that place till I can forgive again? I can see where God is leading me. I know where I am. It’s kind of dark right now, but I know where I’m headed, and I’m going to get to a place of light and forgiveness and grace towards that person, right? So how many of you say, we’re being perfected. We’re not perfect yet, but we’re being perfected, right?

And so he says, that’s the indicator. That’s it. What are you moving towards? Light, grace, forgiveness? Or stumbling in darkness continually? That’s that second test that he’s giving us.

The Disproof: Love for Worldliness Disproves Our Love for God

And then I told you the other one would be the disproof. Okay, so let’s put the third one up here. Love for worldliness disproves our love for God. Love for worldliness disproves our love for God. Everyone say that one with me. Love for worldliness disproves our love for God.

Once again, is John going to say it stronger or weaker? Stronger. 1 John 2:15-17. “Do not love the cosmos, the world.” Not meaning looking out at the sunset and saying, “I hate that sunset.” Yeah, well, I love that sunset. He says, no, that’s not what it’s about. Is it about people walking down the street? I hate all these people. It’s not about that. It’s about a worldview that is built on physical, fleshly temptation, desires, designed to deconstruct the Christian life. He said, if that’s what you’re in love with, that system designed oppositionally to the truth of God. There’s a system that is designed in opposition.

If we’re going to make it this, I’ll make this a worldly side, and we’ll make this a godly side. There are two sets of values that operate inside the heart of every human. Now you’re saying, but what about people who are totally in the world? How many of you know that even people in the world, we use the term the imago Dei, the image of God, they were created in the image of God? You’re like, well, why can people who are not Christians love better sometimes than Christians? The image of God was in them. Why are sometimes people who are not Christians more servant-hearted or more generous? The image of God. How many of you know that every man, woman, and child today on this earth is still created in the image of God? Right?

But when a Christian who is created in the image of God now becomes adopted as a child of God and has the Holy Spirit of God living within them, they have the capacity to live and walk out the life of Christ in this world at a level that is unattainable and unachievable without that connection, without the spirit, without the word. You have an advantage towards righteousness, but not an automatic lived-out righteousness. You have to do something, right?

Okay. So you have an advantage towards it, but it doesn’t mean that you’re going to pursue it. It means that you’re saved from your sins because you believed that Jesus paid the price for every sin. You’ve accepted the sacrifice of Christ, but now you’re going to have to start walking the walk, right? You’ve accepted the work of salvation through Christ’s work on the cross.

So, do not love the world, the things in the world. “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father’s just not in that person.” Okay, so set of values here. We’ll talk about those. “For all that is in the world,” and now he’s going to talk about the three things that Eve faced. “The desires of the flesh.” Boy, that fruit looks good on that tree, or maybe it would taste good, and maybe I’m hungry. Maybe my stomach’s growling right now, Adam. What are we going to eat? And they’re by that tree. And then it says, “the desires of the eyes,” and then she looked at the tree and thought, that looks pretty good. “And the pride of life.” And so this pride of life is like, I did this. Satan says, I’ll open your eyes, and you’ll be like God and know the difference between good and evil, and God’s holding you back, and you could get ahead if you did it my way. The pride of life, right?

The point is, it’s forever a problem for all humanity, all three of those things. So if you walk through those things and you say, well, there’s the desires of the flesh. Everyone here has physical desires, right? And how many of you know that our world knows how to appeal to all of your physical desires? How many of you know that the food industry has figured out how to put the right amount of fat and salt and sugar and get you addicted to food, right? You’re like, oh, they know how to appeal to the physical desires. Our world is designed around physical desires.

But how many of you know that God, if he were to make a list, he would say, okay, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians tells us. So we’re going to keep our body holy, because it’s a temple for the Holy Spirit. So be careful about what we’re doing with that. And physical desires over here. There’s a lot of sexual desires that people have physically. How many of you know that the world is throwing a whole lot of stuff on the internet to meet the physical desires, right? And then God over here is saying, hey, listen, I know you have those physical desires. I gave you that. And so that’s why, you know, a man shall leave his father, mother, and be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh, right? So the one-fleshing is only supposed to happen here in the context of marriage.

And then you get over here and you’re like, oh, but I want to eat this and just overeat and all these sort of things. He says, what’s he say, food is made for the body, but the body is made for God kind of thing. But the concept right there is saying, don’t be controlled by these things. Don’t let these things have control over your life. Physical desires and all these fleshly things.

And so if you just start going through, well, have my shoes shod, Ephesians 6, with the preparation of the gospel of peace, so get out and take the gospel. Use my body to be an instrument of God in serving. Use my body to be an instrument of God to serve those that are in need. If you see your own brother in need and you say, “Go and be blessed,” no, you’re supposed to feed him. So use what you have physically. Go serve people. Go help people. This is what God wants. Worship God. Lift up holy hands wherever you are. Use them to kneel down and to pray. Use it to open up a Bible and those eyeballs to read. How many of you say, I bet God would have a long list to say, I gave you this body, here’s what I want you to do with it this week. How many of you would say, this week, if I just knew everything on God’s list for my physical body, I bet God’s got more things on his list for my physical body than I know he has, right? But how many say, the world has a long list for what I could do with my physical body, and it’s not good? Amen.

And then he says, “the desires of the eyes.” How many of you know there’s a whole lot of stuff you could be looking at that’s not good? And then there’s a whole lot of things God would say, this is what you should set before your eyes that’s holy and pure and just and righteous. Philippians 4. I’m going to set my eyes on those things. I set my mind on those things, my thoughts on those things. How many of you know God has a lot of good things there, right?

He said, “and then the pride of life.” Oh, I did it all myself, and I made this happen, and I’m a rock star. Hey, now, I did that last week. It’s great twice. You’re a rock star. I don’t know how that goes. But you just start bragging on yourself, and you post something on Instagram. You’re like, everyone needs to love me because I had the best workout today. Look how fit I am. You know, all this. It always weirds me out when guys in church take off their shirts and flex. I’m sorry. It’s just weird. I’m like, put that away. I don’t want to see that. Anyway, sorry, guys, if you do that. Good for you, but it’s just weird, you know? My wife said, that’s it. I just really went off the deep end right there, didn’t I?

Anyway, but the point is, I don’t care. You can post stuff. We don’t all want to see everything. Okay, but the thing is, the pride of life, you just got to be liked. You got to be praised. The world’s going to tell you you’re good enough, because you apparently didn’t find that with God. And I think when you find it with God, you don’t need that here so much. Okay? Maybe it’s a little fun to interact and connect with people and all that sort of stuff, but I don’t need this. That’s why you guys notice I post nothing. I repost every once in a while, because I learned you can hit a button. I don’t even type comments in before I share, because that would take time. I do it because I’m the pastor of Eagle Creek Church, and I see a church post, I’m like, I should probably share that. I’m the pastor of that church, so I’ll do that. You know, you could do better than me. Post the comments if you want. Say something nice.

But here’s the thing. All through this stuff, what’s he say? “For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” So he’s saying, if you love everything that’s from the world, everything about it, that’s just you. You’re just in it. You want it. You love it. That’s you. I don’t know if the love of God is really, if you’re connected, if you know it. This is a big issue, this question.

Let’s jump to the next portion of scripture right there. It says, “And the world is doing what? It’s passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever.” So this is a foundational statement right here. The foundation is this. Okay, so you’re going to build on this. Let me tell you in advance, John is just saying, if this is what you’re building on, it’s rotten. It is literally in a process of disintegration. It is passing. He doesn’t say, and the world will someday pass away. The world is passing away presently. Right now, the world’s structure and order and values and all that is a constantly devaluing currency that you’re building on.

And you look at it and you say, I don’t know what’s wrong with my life. It feels like everything’s always falling apart for me. Like, I’m always in another marriage problem, and I’m always in another problem with my kids, and we’re always in a fight, and everything’s falling apart in my life, but I just don’t know what’s, I sometimes, everyone goes through trials. I get that. Everyone, me included, everyone goes through trials. But when it’s at a constant state of devolving, devolving in your life, when everything’s devolving constantly in your life, I start to wonder if you are building on worldly systems. I start to wonder if there’s a worldly value set in your marriage and the way you handle each other. If you’re building it on servanthood or selfishness. How many of you know servanthood is a godly value set? Selfishness is a worldly one. And so if you build a marriage on selfishness, you’re like, wow, that is really a crumbling foundation for our marriage, and everything just seems to be falling apart. If you build your marriage and your relationship with your children as a father, it’s all built on pride. I’m right, and I told you, and you better do what I said to do, as opposed to servanthood and humility. Then you’re like, why? What’s going on with my relationships? Well, you’re building on the world’s foundation, which is passing away, present tense. You’re building on something that’s in the middle of crumbling under you every day you build on it.

And John is just saying, it’s so observable. It’s so observable what people build their lives on. And just look at yourself. Are you building on obedience, because you know him?

And he says, it’s interesting, when Paul, I’m jumping back to the first point, obedience. He says, you ought to do these things. The Greek word ought right there is opheilei. And what it means is, you have a love debt. You have a love debt of obedience to God. You ought to walk in the way which Jesus walked. You ought to. Why? Because your debt of love toward his grace toward your life just says, I will live this out. I owe you my life. I owe you my obedience. I owe you following your words. I’m going to live out this love debt. It just says that’s what happens in your life.

Whenever you understand that, and maybe for you, you’re looking at it saying, I’ve got to deal with this area of unforgiveness in me. I’ve been angry. I’ve held on to things, and I’m stumbling relationally in darkness, and probably everyone around me can see my stumbling in my relationships right now, because I’m so mad, and I’m ready to lose it on some people, and I can’t hold it together, and it’s like boiling over into my relationships, and I don’t know how to back off. I don’t know how to let go of my anger and my unforgiveness and focus on that light of forgiveness and grace and start working my way towards what God has for me right now.

And maybe I’ve just become so utterly world-saturated. Every physical desire, every visual desire, every prideful thing, that is me. I’m just that. I’ve become that. Look at my Facebook, you’ll see what I’m into. Look at my search history, you’ll see. Look at my schedule. Look at my bank account. I’ve just become utterly worldly. And there’s not much of me that looks like Jesus anymore. It just seems to have evaporated. I’ve gotten so into the world. I don’t measure up. I don’t look like that.

But the Holy Spirit is still working on you today, and still pulling at you, and still drawing you towards God. That means you’re good. Okay? That means Jesus loves you. He’s in your heart. You’re a follower of Jesus Christ. Because if you didn’t feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that’s when I’d really question. But if God’s still nudging you, grabbing you, directing you, pulling you, you can feel good about, I know him covenantally. I’m just not walking with him the way I should. And I’m called back into a deeper walk.

And so today, we’re going to do something a little unique that we don’t often do. When we started off in ministry, we had this young Nigerian couple. They always sat in the second row right here. They’d come in late. Worship would be going, and everyone standing up worshiping God. And this Nigerian couple would walk in to the second row. They would turn around and they would kneel at their seat for a while. Sometimes she would stand up first, sometimes he would stand up, sometimes they’d both stand up together, and then they’d start worshiping. It happened quite a while. And finally, I just said, “What’s going on, guys? Every time you come in, you’re kneeling at your chairs instead of worshiping.” They said, “We just couldn’t stand and worship God if we had sin in our hearts. It’d be fake. So we have to just make sure our hearts are pure before the Lord before we offer up any worship to God. So we just get our hearts right before we do this thing.”

Well, here we are at the end of service. How many say it’s time to get our hearts right? Amen. Time to get our hearts right. So as the team leads us in worship here in just a moment, I’m going to invite you to do something courageous, challenging, important. I’m going to invite you to find a place to humbly kneel before the Lord and to say, Lord, search my heart. Try me. See if there be any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. God, show me what I don’t see. Show me where I’ve lacked obedience. Where I’ve lacked grace and forgiveness and love for the brothers and sisters I know in Christ. Show me where I’ve let the world take over my values, and I’ve left the life of following Christ as I ought to. Show me so that I can repent.

And then as God shows you that, you repent of it. You just say, Lord, forgive me. I’m turning a new direction. I need your help. I need your Holy Spirit’s guidance. I need support around me, God. I need this. And God, I’m going after you. Just turn it over to him. And then would you stand while our team is leading us in worship? And would you just begin to worship God? And would you just begin to honor God? Would you just begin to invite his presence into your life afresh and anew as we worship this morning?

Now, if you’re like, I can’t get turned around at this chair, doggone it, you can bow your head at your chair. Some of you, I want to encourage you to join me. I’m going to just come up front. Okay? You can just kneel down across the altars and say, Lord, search my heart. Show me any way I need to get cleaned up. Do a work in me. Okay? I’m here. I’m available. Shine the light in. I don’t want to walk in darkness. I want you to shine the light in on the things I don’t see so that you can have your way in my life. We’re going to do that right now. So as we begin to worship and I begin to pray, would you begin to kneel and would you begin to search for God and his direction? Let’s do that right now. Let’s pray.

Lord, all across this room, as we turn to kneel now, as we bow ourselves humbly before you, searching after you, as we come to the altars to pray, as we bow our heads, Lord, we’re just saying, here I am, humbled before you in this moment, ready and willing for your Holy Spirit to come now and shine a light and expose the things I’m unwilling to admit. Expose the areas where I’ve been unwilling to say, Lord, forgive me. Lord, I turn from this sin. Lord, work in my life. God, I pray that you would do that in every life as we humble ourselves before you.

Let’s just, when we find that place of release of that thing, we’ll begin to stand in worship together.