Into the Light: We Were There

He’s the last apostle left alive. The last one to have actually touched Jesus after his resurrection. He’s the last apostle to remember with his own ears. Not just reading the writings about Jesus’ words, but he heard them himself. He was the one who:

• Went to the tomb, outran Peter, got to it first, and saw that Jesus was resurrected and saw the grave clothes
• Had touched the stone that had been rolled away
• Stood in a room when Jesus appeared and said, “Touch me and see,” and actually grabbed the hands of the resurrected Lord

And this man, instead of taking time to introduce himself and open up his book, launches straight into an attack on the people that are attacking the church.

You see, what had happened is there was a false teaching going around that was based in 300-year-old teachings from the philosopher Plato. And some had thought Plato said that the physical world is evil but that the spiritual world was good. He probably more likely made the statement, just not that the spiritual but that the physical world was evil, and that the spiritual world was better, the more real world. And so that was his teaching.

But about a hundred years before Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection, a bunch of Jews had adopted the Platonian teachings and tried to incorporate that with Judaism. And so as soon as the church was born, they were trying to take the same idea, and this is the way they interpreted it. They started going into churches and saying Jesus did really live as a physical being? No, because the physical world is evil and bad. And so Jesus only came as a spirit, and he appeared to be real, and he appeared to raise from the dead.

And John goes after that hardcore. He’s trying to unravel this and destroy this idea, because it says they led many astray and many have left us. He tells us later in the book, many of the believers in the church have left us because they believed a lie that Jesus was not tangible and real.

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Now, that lie feels very distant. It feels like, “Oh, that was way back then.” But I want to tell you, it’s the number one lie that will cause you to leave the church today. It’s the number one lie that will result in you no longer being a person of faith whenever you turn 22.

It’s the feeling that God isn’t real, but it’s just a story they told. It’s the feeling that he’s not tangible, that God’s not close, that God isn’t Emmanuel. God with us is more than a concept. It’s the Holy Spirit, presence of God in my life tangibly, that I can personally walk with God, know God, experience God, as opposed to it’s just this idea that people talk about to get you to be a good person.

And for a lot of people, they have a religion that was handed down to them, but they don’t have a tangible, life-changing experience with God, where no one could convince you God isn’t real because you have so personally experienced him in your own life.

You’re like, “I have met with God in prayer and it was real. I’ve had God deal with my heart and I know he dealt with my heart. I’ve had times where I opened up the word of God and it felt like the words leapt off the page and grabbed me and shook me and said, ‘Matt, what are you doing? Why are you living this way?’ How could that happen if the spirit of God isn’t really in me and really working on my life? I don’t believe that it’s fake because I’ve experienced him personally.”

Now, what Paul does. Or, I say Paul because Paul wrote so much of the New Testament. John. John. John. Everyone say John. John. Maybe I’ll learn to say that too.

What John does is he walks us through the personal experience that he’s had to try to make it very real and very relevant for the people that he’s talking to. And he’s talking about how close God is. And everyone say, “God’s close.”

So this concept of God being close, let me just say, the overarching concept is that God is real and tangible, and that there are ways that you can absolutely know that you’re in a relationship with God. You can literally be assured and confident, feel really assured about your walk with God, and overcome all the lies that try to keep you from that distant feeling like he’s just a spirit out there rather than he’s a reality in here that I can personally know.

So John’s working to overcome that. So “God is close” is going to have to hang with you all the way through this service. So let me give you the first thought.

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Point 1: He Came Close Enough to Touch

He came close enough to touch. Everyone say that one with me. Let’s read this one out loud. He came close enough to touch.

Now, 1 John 1:1 and 2. This is what it tells us. Let me read that. It says:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.”

I’m going to have you keep this verse up for a little while here.

Something you’ll notice, if you’ve read the book of John, same guy, he says this. If you go back, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the fourth book of the New Testament. This letter is way towards the end of the New Testament. It’s a later writing. He says, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.” He’s talking in this term about the word. The word being with God.

And then he says, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” So what does that mean? The word, he’s using this term, the word, it means Jesus became a man and lived with us, right? So right now he’s calling Jesus “the word of life” that was made manifest. The word became flesh. Jesus, who was with God, became flesh.

“That which was from the beginning.” That means Jesus was before all things. In Colossians 1, it tells us all things were made by him and through him. Without him was not anything made that was made. He’s preeminent. He’s before all things. And so everything was made for him and through him.

So “that which was from the beginning,” Jesus, “which we have heard.” So we heard him talk, like he was made manifest. And then guess what? I walked around with him and he did a lot of talking. And this isn’t some ethereal concept. I actually heard him. “Which we have seen.” So I saw him do a lot of miracles. I watched him do these things. “Which we have looked upon and have touched.” So touched with their hands. For instance, whenever he appeared to them after his resurrection, he says, “Does a spirit have flesh and blood as I do? Bring me some bread and some fish that I might eat. Here, touch my hands, touch my side, that you can see that it is I.”

So he’s saying, “We touched him, we saw him, we heard him talking.” Like God that was up in heaven became God here on earth. He was manifested.

Why? What’s the argument? “Oh, flesh is evil. He wasn’t really flesh. Everyone quit the church and come with me and I’ll teach you the real deal. We’re going to follow the great philosopher Plato’s teachings and the Jewish misinterpretations of so many things, and we’re going to convince you to leave the church because Jesus couldn’t have been flesh. That would have been terrible. That would have been evil, because flesh is evil.”

Jump to the second half of the verse once again. And then he goes on: “We testify to it and proclaim to you.” Testify. I’m a witness, is what he’s saying. I saw him, literally, folks in those churches. I, John, saw him. I testify to it and I proclaim it. I’m shouting it at you guys. “I proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.”

So Jesus, think of these terms:

• Jesus was the word of life
• He was eternal life
• He was made manifest from the Father
• He was revealed from the Father
• He was the eternal life which was manifest to you

So he’s using all of these terms.

It’s interesting that John, instead of saying “he was 5’7″, he had dark skin and these piercing brown eyes. I knew this. I touched him. I saw who he was. And whenever he spoke, he had this gravelly, low, you could picture a carpenter talking the way he talked. In fact, he had an accent. Let me tell you his accent. He was from the region of Nazareth. He talked kind of like a Galilee,” none of that. None of that. He saw him and touched him and heard him. And all he can say is it’s indescribable, the majesty of his presence.

It’s eternal life with you in the moment. It’s the word of God living. Like, when he speaks, it’s God’s words coming out, manifested, I hear it. He’s not describing the physical presence of Jesus. He’s overwhelmed by the spiritual reality of him.

I want to tell you, the spiritual reality of Jesus is the thing that should be holding your heart connected to his through every storm of life. You should have tasted and seen and known that the Lord is good, so that no matter what hit you in the face in life, you’re like, “But I, God’s touched me. He’s spoken his words into my life on so many occasions, and I cannot deny the reality of God with me. I know he’s true. I know he’s real.”

And it’s interesting, the word that he uses whenever he says “we saw him.” It’s not the normal Greek word horao, which is just you see something. He’s using the word theaomai in the Greek. It means that you are closely observing, studying, rendering a conclusion to something. It’s like a scientific observation.

And the moment that hits me most of this is whenever they’re in this boat and the storms are raging, and then Jesus comes there. He’s asleep at the front of the boat and they’re like, “Jesus, don’t you know that we’re all about to die? Do something.” And Jesus stands up and he speaks to the storm. Some of you have heard the story. You remember this. And whenever he speaks to the storm, what are the words that he says? He says, “Peace, be still.” And suddenly everything is calm.

And the conclusion of the story is theaomai. And they observed this man who just spoke to the storm. And they said amongst themselves, “Who is this man? Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves are obeying him.” And they were much afraid. They had an awesome respect.

So when John says, “I saw him and touched him,” he’s saying, “I saw a man who rose people from the dead when he spoke the word. I saw a guy that the forces of nature obeyed.” He was the word of God, the eternal life revealed, and I watched it happen in front of me. I am testifying to it. I am proclaiming it to you. He is the eternal life manifested to humanity.

I’m gonna say that’s some heavy stuff, right? That’s some stuff that if we can get that in our heart and say, “So I’m trying to connect with that. I’m trying to meet that God and connect with him.” And whenever that moment happens, he’s looking and saying, “This is a God who existed before all creation, and he came and he dwelt among us.”

There’s an interesting concept. I don’t know if you’ve read any of Timothy Keller’s works, but there’s one of them, one of my favorite ones, called Making Sense of God. And in this there’s kind of this mind-blowing explanation of something I’ve never heard anyone make. I think he attributed it to some other thinkers as well. But the concept is this.

Every fable in humanity has some common narratives, some common themes. The fables of humanity that are spread commonly. It’s not every single fable, but there’s commonly some large cultural narratives that have been repeated for thousands of years.

One of them is that there will be a heroic, god-like figure that comes and sacrifices himself, that defeats death for mankind, that gives himself for the people that he loves. This heroic figure in history.

And whenever I read Timothy Keller’s work, it literally just dawned on me first service, and I thought I’d tell you guys. This is why I should have gone back between services, but I talked to everyone in the lobby the whole time, so I didn’t have a chance to run back and do my research. He gives the multiple narratives, the cultural narratives, and says, “Here’s an example. Here’s one. Here’s one. Here’s one.” He said, “But the interesting thing is the commonality of the narratives, that there’s something embedded in the hearts of mankind that says there is a God who has come to save mankind.”

And the way C.S. Lewis talks about it, he says in Christ is the moment the myth becomes fact.

Wow.

It’s the moment where the stories that God wrote, and in fact, the word of God tells us, I believe in Ecclesiastes, that God has written eternity on the hearts of man, that literally the eternal narrative is impressed on human hearts so that they’re drawn to the God that created them. Like, you call it the God-sized hole in your heart. People will describe that there’s a void that only God can fill. There’s a narrative that God has written in the human heart, and we keep finding ourselves back to it.

And finally, in Christ, John is able to say, “I saw the narrative take on human form, manifested and real. I touched it. I heard it. I saw it. And I’m telling you about it. It’s real. God became flesh. God dwelt among us. It was real.”

And so John is so incredibly worked up. He’s trying to make it clear that Christ has become flesh. That God became a man. That it’s not this fake thing, but it’s this very real thing that really happened. In fact, later in the book, in 1 John 4:2, it tells us this. It says Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. I mean, that can’t make it any more clear than that phrase right there. He really was with us.

And so the big thing that I want you to process for just a moment, if you could: I want you to try to ask yourself. Some of you can look back. You heard Sherry talking about all the kids that went to camp this week. That’s my wife that was up there, Sherry. And she was all this week calling me and telling me about how it was going and what was happening. All the kids who were excited to be down at the altar and praying and really just having connections with God, going deep, pressing in, good things happening in their life. And for them. I’m sorry, Jillian’s nodding at me. I’m preaching it to her. She was at camp and the girls there.

But the reality is, how God was, God is real, right? And you know that firsthand because you’ve had a connection with him that’s deep and meaningful, right? And so a lot of people, though, the distance between when that happened last in your life and today is so far that it’s become a dim memory from your past that you’re not sure if it was real anymore.

And this connection to God should never become a dim memory. Did you know that this connection to God should always be a present reality in the believer’s life? That God actually created you to know you and to stay connected with you. It is not God who has withdrawn from us, because he promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So God is present. Where has the distance come in our life?

And so, if you could just kind of process that. For some of you, I’m so sorry, I have to acknowledge, you’re not yet a follower of Christ, and you’re here out of pure curiosity, or love and loyalty to a friend or family member, or something. And I understand that. And so I just want you to understand: listen, this reality does not make someone better or someone worse. It just means there’s a God direction for every human life to find him. And we’re all in a place in our journey of finding him. And I hope today I can help you in that journey a little further, and you’ll say, “Okay, I get a little bit more what it means.”

When they talk about being a Christian, it’s more than they have a bunch of rules they have to follow and a book they have to read and a place they have to go. But there’s an actual person of Jesus Christ that they get to know and have a relationship, and it’s real and it’s connected, and they sense it. And it’s not hyperbole to say that. It’s a reality.

How many say you could say at some point in your life you’ve had a real, tangible, heart-level experience with God and you knew it was real? Can I see a show of hands real quick across the room? So I’m not the crazy one up here. There’s just a lot of people here that are saying, “No, I know what that’s like. I’ve had those moments in my life.” I just want you to see that, for assurance’s sake, that this is a spiritual reality, not a bunch of fluff. And so I want you to know you can have that.

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Point 2: He Came Close to Bring You Close

He came close to bring you close. The second thing, do we have that, number two? He came close to bring you close. Everyone say that one with me. Let’s say that together. He came close to bring you close.

Now let’s read verse three. Verse three says this. It says, “That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also, so that you may have…” What? Fellowship.

Now, that word, hold on to that word for just a moment. That’s an incredibly important word in this context. That’s going to be our hinge word right there. “So that you may have fellowship with us.” Everyone say, “with us.” That means like a bunch of other Christians hang out and we get to know each other. “And indeed our fellowship,” the Christian’s fellowship, our fellowship, “is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ.”

Now this is the important part that I’m trying to communicate. He said you’re going to come into this thing called fellowship when you become a Christian. And for some people the word fellowship seems a little bit weird. Like, Christians use that weird word, fellowship. Can we just say friends? Like, you’re just going to be friends with people? No, it doesn’t work. It’s not the same. Well, can’t we just say we’re going to just hang out? Well, yeah, but it’s not that. Fellowship isn’t that. It’s more than that.

Well, then what do you mean when you say fellowship? This is big. It means the shared spiritual life.

Now when you go to the book of Romans, it describes where the shared spiritual life happens, where it occurs. In Romans chapter 8, 15 and 16, it says he’s caused his spirit, the Holy Spirit, to dwell within you, whereby you cry, your spirit cries, something in you just cries out, “Abba, Father.”

Now Jesus said this. He said, “Whenever I go, it’s better that I go, because if I go, I’ll send the spirit. The spirit will be with you and will be in you,” right? And then whenever you talk about the Holy Spirit, you remember how Jesus looked at his disciples and he breathed on them and he told them to receive the spirit, right?

So what is the connection that the believer has with God? How many of you understand it’s a spiritual connection? It’s a spiritual connection that you have with God.

Well, how do you have a spiritual connection with God? Well, when you believe that God sent his son Jesus Christ to give his life, to die on the cross in your place, for the sins you should have had to pay God for. He comes sinless, and he pays a price for your sinful life, so that when you believe on Jesus, God looks down. He says, “Hey, I’m going to count what Jesus did as good for you. Do you believe?” Yes, I believe he’s your son and he was sinless and he paid the price for me.

He said, “Hey, good news. He didn’t just die. He rose from the dead. I gave him power over death. He rose from the dead, and he’s never going to die again. He has eternal life. He can transmit that eternal life to everyone who believes on him. Do you really believe?” Yeah, I believe.

It says, “Then what happens in that moment?” His spirit comes and dwells in the hearts of every believer. And out of your heart, soul, and your spirit, now you’re crying out something: “Abba, Father. Daddy, Father. You’re my Father.”

So what’s fellowship with one another? It means, hey, we both call that same guy “dada,” don’t we? Hey, you call him dad too? Yeah, I call him dad. Yeah, he’s my dad too. You know what that means? We’re brothers.

What do you mean by shared life, though? Well, everyone, here’s shared life.

Everyone look around at the room. Try to find a face you don’t know. Don’t look at me. Don’t look at me. Turn sideways. Turn backwards. How many of you seen one person you don’t recognize? So I want to tell you something about that person you just saw.

Someday, if you’re a believer, how many of you know that believers get to live for all eternity? Forever and forever and forever, the same heaven on earth, right? If you study the Revelation, you’ll understand that the new Jerusalem descends to earth, and God makes his tabernacle, his home, with us here on earth. I know you’re like, “That’s freaking me out, I didn’t know that.” That’s another sermon. But that’s the way it works.

So what happens? You have all eternity. You have an infinite number of time and a very finite number of humans. You’re going to know every story from that person’s life. Why? Why would I talk to them? Because you got time. You’re going to know what they love. You’re going to know what they’ve been up to for the last 28,000 years. You’re going to know all kinds of things about their life. You know what you’re going to know? You’re going to know all the problems Pastor Matt had with his garden in 2026. It’s been a rough year in the garden. I got a lot of stories I could tell you about that.

So what does that mean? The shared life, the koinonia, we have the same spirit of God living in our lives. That means we have the same Father God. That means we share in the life. That means you should not be staying at home. You should be part of the body of believers and connected and part of the body of Christ. Amen.

It means you were meant to be together as God’s family.

But then he says, “But our fellowship is with God.” We have fellowship with God the Father and God the Son. Well, how do you have that? Well, the same way. It’s the spirit of God that lives in me that connects my heart to God’s heart. So when you say your Christian faith is tangible, the reason it’s tangible is because the spirit of God is living in you and helping your spirit to connect to God himself. Yes, that’s how it’s happening. That’s why I feel connected.

And some of you say, “I’ve literally never had a connection to God in my entire life. No God awareness, no God presence, no God sense, nothing.” I want to encourage you to say this. I want you to walk into a relationship with Christ today through faith, through surrender.

There’s a number of scriptures about salvation:

• In John 1, it’s if you confess your sins to God, he’s faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
• In Romans, it’s if you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved.

It’s this confession idea, out loud, praying it, saying it, saying, “Lord, I’m in sin. Forgive me. I believe Jesus needs to be Lord and in charge of my life, so I stopped doing this stuff, and that he rose from the dead and there’s eternal life in him.” In John 1, it says, “For all who believed in him, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and received him, he gave the power to become the children of God.” Then Romans 8, and what did he do? He put his spirit in them so that they would cry out, “Abba, Father,” so that you would be adopted into the family of God.

Later on in the service, I’d love to pray with anyone who needs to do that.

But he’s saying there’s this kind of connection, and then what? Your heart’s connected with God. You’re like, “But I’ve never had a heart connection.” I don’t want to call into question anyone’s salvation, but I’m going to do it anyway. I just feel like as a believer, there’s a connection we’re supposed to have through the spirit with the God who saved us from our sin to be adopted into the children of God. And our heart should be crying out, “Abba, Father,” because his spirit dwells within every believer to cry out, “Abba, Father.” And if your heart never cried out, “Abba, Father,” I wonder if there’s something more that God has for you that’s deeper that you’re meant to have, and I want you to have it. I think that God wants to give that gift to you today. I think that’s incredibly important.

Now, I’m just going to throw a little curveball. Not curveball, but I’m going to put a stake in the ground of why this is all true. Let me tell you why everything I said is just true. Because God exists for all eternity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, right? If God exists for all time as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, how do they stay connected and not be at war with one another? They’re of one spirit. They share the same eternal life, the same spirit. But what is the nature of that one spirit? The Bible says, in First John, and we’ll get to the passage eventually, it says, “God is love.” God is love.

So why do we have a shared life, koinonia? Because we’re all united by the God who has lived for all eternity in perfect koinonia love with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And because we are created in the image of God as humans, the beautiful thing, the difference between humans and all other animals in the world, is we were actually created by God in his image to live for all eternity in koinonia, shared life, love, with one another and with him. Wow.

You’re like, “Why was I made? What’s the purpose of my life?” You were created by God to share in the eternal spirit. Not to be the same as God, but to share in the life of God, the koinonia, the love of God, the shared life of God in the church with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And that begins the day you believe in Jesus Christ and he puts his spirit into yours and your spirit starts crying out, “Abba, Father.” Amen. That is the story of the gospel. That’s what it’s all leading towards. And so he came to bring you close. That is what God’s trying to do in our lives.

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Point 3: He Came Close So Our Joy Could Be Full

The final thought is this. He came close so our joy could be full. Now, I want to explain that one. There’s this thing that John says that when you read it at first, it seems a little… I actually had to go back and read it a couple times and say, “I want to understand what John is actually saying here.”

1 John chapter 1, verse 4. It says this, and we are writing these things, the apostle John is writing this, “and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.” Everyone say, “our joy.”

Now, you would think he might have said, “so that my joy would be,” or “your joy would be complete,” or “so I’m doing this so your joy will be complete, so that you will be adopted as sons of God, so that you will believe that God was manifest, so that you will have koinonia fellowship with the body of believers and with God himself. I am doing all this so that you can have that koinonia relationship.” Instead, he says, “I’m doing this so that my joy…”

I’ll feel way happier if I do what? If I help someone else, through telling them what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard. I saw him. I touched him. I heard him. And I’m telling you, it’s real. And I’m telling you, if you believe, you have a connection with God like you could not imagine. A koinonia, a connection, a shared life relationship with a body of believers, that’s unbelievable. And it’s eternal, because the nature of God is eternal. And I will never be so joyous as I am if you would believe this. And someone else would believe this, if I could give it to someone else.

And I think about that even today, right here in this moment. We shared in the joy. How many of you screamed and yelled and hooted and hollered for these people that came up out of the water? My joy was complete in those kids serving Jesus and following, and you. My joy is complete in these families and these choices and what you guys are doing right over here and what you’re doing. My joy is complete because you’re finding God. Because you’re receiving him. Because you’re growing in him. My joy is complete.

And that’s what God wants for every one of us as followers of Christ. You know how you’re like, “I wish I had more joy in my Christian life”? Then help someone else to find his love. Help someone else to know the connection to the body of believers. Reach a child so that they’ll come to faith.

This kids craze, you know, it’s interesting. Kids craze. We have kids. They’re baptized all throughout the year. We have a kids craze, and then we have a year’s worth of baptisms afterwards.

But can I tell you, I think I was about eight or nine years old when I came to faith in Christ. About eight or nine years old. You’re like, “Well, you were just a little kid. Do you even know what you’re doing?” I can tell you this. I’m 58 now. So for 50 years, somehow that 8-year-old’s faith stuck. It mattered then, and it mattered for every day of my life until this day, and it’s never stopped mattering. In fact, it’s only grown deeper and mattered more.

The faith of an eight-year-old stepping up at kids craze and raising his hand and giving his heart to Christ is the faith that can change his entire trajectory and his family tree spiritually. The lineage of what God will do in that family starts with an eight-year-old, and it starts in the next two weeks. Amen.

That’s what God can do. That’s what the connection with Christ does for a life. And the way it transforms and changes us is immeasurable, because it’s the life of God made manifest in our broken, stubborn, sometimes very sinful lives. And yet he comes, and he’s real, and he touches and changes and transforms us over and over and over again.

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And I believe that he really, really wants to do that for a few people here today. You’ve been so close at the door of faith. I see it. I understand it. But Jesus has opened the door and I’ve never stepped through and said, “Forgive me. I believe in you. Let your spirit dwell in my spirit so that I cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ I want to connect with God. I don’t want to just know about God. I want to know God. I want to connect with him.”

And so today, I’m going to lead you in a simple prayer of faith from your heart. I’ll lead you in a prayer. But if you would say, “I want this for me. I surrender my life to Jesus Christ. I believe in his work on the cross for me, his death for my sins and his resurrection to eternal life. Because I’m created. I sense it. I know it. It’s always been there. I feel like I’m meant to live forever. And if I am, then I want to live where I was meant to live, with God, in relationship as a child forever. I want that kind of eternal life, forgiven and free, in heaven with God. I want that.”

I’m going to lead you in a simple prayer here. I’m going to ask you to pray right where you’re seated. God hears you just fine there. But I’m going to ask you to do one bold motion. When we pray, I’ll ask you to raise your hand right where you are. Why am I doing that? I’m doing that because Jesus said some words that I think are important. One was confess your sins. So we’ll pray openly. Confession is out loud. Paul said if you confess Jesus is Lord. That’s open. That’s out loud. And believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved. That’s a heart thing. Believe in your heart. So confession, belief, those are super important.

But Jesus said, “If you confess me before men, I’ll confess you before my Father in heaven.” And then he followed up. He said, “But if you deny me before men, then you also will I deny before my Father in heaven.” I think it’s time for you, if you pray this prayer, to say, “I’m not ashamed of what I’m praying. I’m confidently surrendering my life, and I confess it. I confess my surrender to Jesus. I confess my followership of Jesus today.” So that’s why I say raise your hand. Pray it out loud. Let’s do this thing. Let’s do this.

Let’s bow our heads all across the room. With every head bowed and every eye closed, I’m going to invite you to pray this prayer with me. And if you’d say, “I’m in. I am surrendering. I don’t want any questions in my heart about whether I’m a follower of Jesus Christ. I’m praying with you right now. And I’m surrendering my life to Jesus Christ.” That’s you right now. Raise your hand. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Many people are just responding. This is an incredible moment of grace, of mercy, of forgiveness that’s about to happen, of spiritual eternal transformation that’s about to happen, of forgiveness given freely.

Now, church, would you pray along with me? Let’s pray together out loud. If you’re already Christian, it’s a reaffirmation of faith. If you’re not, this is your moment. Let’s pray this together right now:

Jesus, thank you for giving your life on the cross for my sins. Forgive me. I confess I’ve sinned against you, but you’re sinless, and you gave your life for my sins, and you rose again to give eternal life to all who believe. I believe in you, and I will follow you all the days of my life. I want to know you and follow you. Amen. And amen.

Would you give a hand for those that prayed with us?

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And that is our start into First John. How many of you believe that God just might have something to speak to our lives through the book of First John? There’s so much meat and so much richness and so much truth in this book.

I want to encourage you: be here every time. By the way, if you’re like, “We are going to struggle to get here on July 5th, next Sunday morning,” we do have a Thursday night service. Remember, 6:30. So if you’re like, “I know I’m not going to want to get up next Sunday morning,” we’ll see you Thursday night.

God bless you guys. Let’s stand as we go. Let’s worship as we go. Let’s honor God. If you have someone and you need prayer, we have people to pray for you. Come on up. And if you want to get connected at Eagle Creek Church, join us right down at this end of the lobby at Connect 15. God bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you. Go out and be the light of the world. God bless you guys. We’ll see you next Sunday. Take care. Or Thursday.