Morning church family. Thank you
for joining us. We're so glad 
you 
are joining us on the live 
stream for the few of you who 
registered and who are here, 
it's great 
to see you here. Spread out 
safely in this space or 
beginning our time together as 
God's children in worship. 
Coming before our great God and 
King, singing his praises. And I
want us to hear from the word of
God as we begin in Revelation 
Chapter 4  We hear 
the song of Heaven and they're 
singing. Holy, Holy, Holy is the
Lord God almighty, 
who was and is and is to come 
worthy are you are Lord and God 
to receive glory and honor 
and power for you have 
created all things and your will
they existed and were 
created. So I just meditating on
this weekend and thinking of 
this idea that God knows the 
beginning from the end he's 
created all things and so things
in  
Season that can seem really big 
and overwhelming to us. God is 
not flinching. God is faithful, 
his Kingdom rules and Reigns 
forever and that does not 
change. He's even though things 
around the shake God is faithful
and his Kingdom Reigns. 
He Reigns forever. That does not
change. So let's draw near to 
God and assurance that we can 
meet him 
and the Lord God. We just pray 
this morning that 
you would lift our eyes beyond 
the things that are around us 
beyond the things that just 
fight for our attention  
And just 
our affection things that fight 
for our worry things that just 
distract us and fill us and just
bring us away from you. Lord God
would you lift us this morning 
as we sing of 
of your rule in your rain would 
be reminded that Kingdom endures
forever and it will never shake.
So Lord, would you meet your 
people now as we worship you  
Angel  
We thank you, Lord. You brought 
us to yourself  Nothing can 
separate us from your love. 
Nothing can snatch us from your 
Spirit, we invite your work in 
us this morning as we open 
the word of God together as we 
open the scripture. We just 
breathe life  
With life into the Ministry of 
the 
word is Cliff teaches from it. 
So Lord, we look to you for your
instruction. We look to you, 
Lord God, to instruct us in the 
way we  The spirit 
would you come and have your way
in us? Shape 
us and mold us with your 
gracious hands. We thank you 
Lord, For Your  
And this in Jesus name we pray 
Amen, Amen you can ever  
Good morning, 
good morning Westside. It's 
great to be with you to get 
together today on this Sunday 
morning. I'm Holly. I am the 
Minister of youth here at 
Westside. We're so glad to have 
you with 
us wherever you might be 
gathering. Whether that's as a 
CG at Trout Lake or 
your living room or a patio with
friends or in the Commons, or 
here. We're so glad to have you.
I have a few announcements for 
us. The first is that next 
Sunday is kick-off  We're 
starting a new ministry year and
we're thrilled. Yes, it looks 
a little different than normal, 
but we are so excited for all. 
God will do, and particularly 
that were going to be welcoming 
even more people in were opening
up two more zones here at 
the centre, so check out the 
website for that. You can text 
kick-off to find out more, and 
registration for that will be 
open on Thursday at 6:30  
Next up CG with the start of a 
new ministry year is 
a perfect time to join the CG. 
If you haven't yet, CG is a 
great place. Community groups 
where you can walk alongside 
people in this congregation get 
to know them a little closer. 
Become 
family walk through the hard 
times and the celebrations 
together. If you haven't yet 
text CG for more info on 
community groups or check it out
on at W Church Dot  
We have some classes starting 
this fall, Awhole Bunch of 
different ones Alpha if you're 
seeking to 
know more about Christianity, 
baptism classes and so much 
more, we invite you to come 
in, learn and more info on that 
will be at wchurch.ca/classes or
text  One of 
the new classes that we will be 
doing is 4 new women's Bible 
studies this 
season. You can find out more 
about by texting study 
to the number on the 
screen or checking out W church.
See a women's Bible studies. And
finally we invite 
you to give as an act of worship
today. You can do that by 
texting the word give or typing 
in W church slash gift give. 
Sorry not gift give  
Today is 
the first Sunday of the month 
that makes it benevolent Sunday.
So we invite you 
to also give above and beyond 
what you normally would so that 
we can meet some of the needs in
our community, thanks  
Hey Westside family it's a livia
please tries with me if you are 
able for the reading of God's 
word. Today's text is from John 
chapter one verses 19 to 28  And
this is the testimony of  
When the juice and priests and 
Levites from Jerusalem to ask 
him who  
He confessed and did not deny, 
but confessed. I am not the 
Christ and they asked him 
what then are you Elijah? He 
said, I am not. Are you the 
Prophet? And he answered no. So 
they said to him, who are you 
would need to give an answer to 
those who sent us? What do you 
say about you  
He said 
I am the voice of 1 crying out 
in the wilderness make straight 
the way of the Lord as the 
Prophet Isaiah  Now they had 
been sent from the Ferris  
They asked him then why are you 
baptizing? If you are needed the
Christ nor Elijah or the Prophet
John answered  
I baptize with water, but among 
you stands one you do not know, 
even he who comes after me, the 
strap of 
whose sandals I am not worthy to
untie. These things took place 
in Bethany across the Jordan, 
where John was baptizing  This 
is the word of the Lord  
Good morning 
everyone. It is so good to be 
with you to see you. My name is 
Cliff I'm the Associate Minister
here at West Side. I've been 
here for almost 8 months. It's 
one week short technically so 
it's like 7 
months and I don't know 15 
sixteenths and in some ways it 
seemed like it was yesterday. It
was just a blur. We started on 
January 15th and in other ways 
it seems like it's 
been a lifetime ago. So much 
stuff is happening. Been 
happening all around the world 
happening  The church 
and yeah, you ever had that 
feeling it's just like was it? 
Today was a lifetime. I don't 
know. Either way. I'm so glad to
be here. I get to unpack our 
text today, which is John 
chapter one, verses 19 through 
to 34  As we get into this, you 
already heard the text were 
going 
to see that this text shows us 
three things. The first thing 
that this text shows us is that 
not all searching leads to 
believe  Second thing is that 
we're going to see that God is 
knowable. And Lastly, if we're 
going to see that it is, 
or knowing God that we find our 
purpose, the Apostle John does 
this by introducing us to a man 
named John the Baptist, who is 
the one who is going to reveal 
Jesus as the savior to the 
watching and waiting  
I actually love how God 
throughout the Old Testament has
taken time to communicate to 
humanity about the coming 
savior. The coming Messiah is 
actually often during times of 
difficulty in dark moments in 
human history that  
The reminder 
of the coming savior, the one 
who is going to make all things 
right. What are the most for me 
dramatic way  
I, as 
in Genesis chapter three, you 
can turn their if you want, or 
I'll just talk about it. What we
see here is Adam and Eve. 
Our first parents has just 
fallen into sin and they are 
having a conversation with God 
the father. And God is letting 
the impacts of 
their sin. How it's going to 
impact them just throughout the 
whole rest of their lives  
I called 
this one of the probably the 
darkest moment in human history.
Like I know that there's other 
moments throughout history that 
are tragic. They're terribly  
And I'm not minimizing that, but
I 
think anything that human 
history records as a human 
atrocities is traced back to 
that day in the garden. It's a 
real place. Real people having a
real conversation. Anna real 
thing happened. Which was they 
sinned  
Anything that you now in human 
history it's going to be result.
Any atrocities results of that 
like that might seem like a 
weird thing for you. 
You're like I don't think sin is
the problem. And if that is your
approach, 
I'm going to suggest that it's 
likely that you're evaluating 
Sinan sinfulness just with 
choices, and whether the choices
are moral or immoral, but it's 
actually so much deeper than 
that. Anybody who has any 
history of illness at hereditary
illness in the family. What I'm 
talking  
There's some of us that have 
cancer in our family and we have
a genetic disposition for cancer
that, like we could eat healthy.
We could exercise, we could take
every  But doesn't change the 
fact that we have is this 
genetic disposition? That's kind
of what sin is like. It's not 
about 
moral choices, the choices that 
we make, our result of our 
sinful situation are sinful DNA 
at that core  
That's what happened with Adam 
and Eve. 
It was a dark dark day for 
humanity. Not only that, it was 
actually a very traumatic day. I
would 
think for Adam and Eve when they
were born. They 
had no effects of the curse. 
There was no sinfulness. 
They were living their best 
life. Now their relationship 
with each other, their relation 
with themselves, relationship 
with God. Everything was 
absolutely perfect  
But in Genesis Chapter 3, when 
Adam 
and Eve fall into sin with the 
temptation of Satan in the form 
of a serpent  
And God is beginning to say the 
ground is cursed  And from 
the sweat of your brow, you're 
going to work like this. Must 
have been traumatic 
for Adam and Eve as you're 
sitting there going. We had no 
idea the bodies are cursed out 
of pain. There will be 
childbirth like 
they're sitting there going. 
We've sinned against God, and 
now we are feeling the impacts 
of this would have been the 
worst day for human 
history and the most traumatic, 
darkest day for Adam and Eve. 
Ann, it's there in this tense 
moment  
That God decides for the first 
time to reveal the coming 
Messiah in Genesis Chapter 3 
verse  
Theologians called us the 
protoevangelium, which is 
a Latin phrase for it's the 
first good news, or it's the 
first gospel. Let it be known 
that in 
this darkest worst day of human 
history that God shows his love 
for us that he shows us a coming
savior when we need it to  
Genesis Chapter 3 verse 15, says
this and this is the Lord God 
speaking to the serpent, 
who is Satan. I will put emnity 
between you and the woman who is
Eve 
and between your offspring an 
her offspring. Now we're talking
about Jesus and he Jesus shall 
bruise your head and you shall 
bruise his heel  
Just stop and think in that 
tank, steam  
When we needed to hear it, most 
humanity were reminded of a 
coming savior and throughout the
Old Testament in moments of 
darkness, in a moments of being 
lossed and in moments of being 
overcome by Sinan hopelessness 
will reminded by God, time and 
time again of this coming 
savior, this coming Messiah. It 
might be through prophetic word.
It might be through an external 
signed. It might be through an 
experience just God has just 
done this time and time again, 
and then we get to our gospel 
that we're studying the gospel  
Which is written by a man by the
name of the Apostle John is what
we call him, and he's written 
this gospel about 40 years after
Jesus is birth, life, death, and
resurrection. So he's had 
time to just consider the 
biography of Jesus that he's 
going to write. He's been able 
to just consider everything that
he's about to right. He's been 
able to just 
kind of Mull it over and give it
kind of the test of time for 
him. It was probably like it was
yesterday and it was a lifetime 
It was so fresh it was so 
distant for me a lifetime ago in
yesterday's Periolat Trudeau was
the Prime Minister  
It was like a lifetime in 
yesterday that I was running the
Terry Fox run for the first 
time. This is 40 years  
I think it for those of us that 
are older. Know what 
I mean by that. This is what 
John was doing as he would have 
been writing this gospel and he 
started the word that pastor 
Matt used is he started writing 
a prologue. It's the first 18 
verses  
One of my professors in school 
survey the class with this 
simple question. How many of you
read the prologue? It's the 
beginning part of a book and I 
had to confess I've never read 
the prologue 
like what's the point? Let me 
just get on what 
the author wanted to say and he 
began to say y'all need to read 
the prologue because what the 
authors 
the authors do and is giving you
a bit of 
of what's to come. The authors 
telling you what the big ideas 
of his work is going  Another 
person 
wrote it. A prologue is an 
appetizer. Do a great 
meal. If done right, it can 
perfectly prepare you for the 
main course. If you haven't 
listened to any of to any of the
past 
series on zeal, really encourage
you to do that. At the very 
least, go back and slowly read 
verses one through to  
And just hear what the Apostle 
John is sharing with you. I 
say all that because what we're 
doing today, it's actually 
the beginning of the biography. 
The prologue is over, and 
verse 19 is the start of Johns 
Biography and what John is going
to do 
is to reveal the coming Messiah,
the long awaited Messiah. That's
what he's gonna do. And how does
he  
Very with a very, very special 
man. 
John the Baptist, like this 
is not some random po dunk. By 
the way, Jesus is coming. That 
is not what the Holy God of the 
universe is going to 
to do to reveal the long awaited
Messiah. He's gonna do it in a 
very way in a way that 
that completely deserves what it
is being announced, and when we 
look at John the we see a bunch 
of parallels between John the 
Baptist and Jesus. Even just in 
the birth  
Bible goes on to tell us at 
both Jesus and John the Baptist 
a miraculous birth Johns 
parents, Zachariah and 
Elizabeth, were unable to 
conceal  
Jesus, of course, was the 
Immaculate Conception. Both 
births were given by Angelic 
Visitations before the actual 
birth was happening. And Lastly,
both births were foretold by 
prophets 700 years before John 
the Baptist was born and came. 
He was foretold by the Prophet 
Isaiah that he would  
I probably should let you know 
that John the Baptist and the 
Apostle John, the author of this
biography of Jesus, are two 
totally different people, same 
name, two totally different 
people  
400 years before John the 
Baptist was doing ministry, he 
was called the first Prophet of 
God since Malachi 400 years 
before. 
So he is unique. No one has seen
anyone like him for the last 400
years. John the Baptist Mom was 
Elizabeth and Elizabeth and 
the Virgin Mary there related. 
We're not exactly sure how 
they're related, but they're 
related. That's all the Bible 
tells us. And when Mary went to 
visit her relative  Elizabeth, 
who is in her second trimester 
with John the Bible, tells 
us that when the two women came 
into the same 
room that John the Baptist while
in Elizabeth's womb started to 
leap. Which is OK. But what's 
significant is that he was 
filled with the Holy Spirit  
John was a very, very special  
And he was given a very very 
unique in special task to 
announce to the watching and 
waiting world that Jesus is the 
The Bible goes on to tell us 
that John took a Nazarite vow, 
which is just means that a 
couple of the 
things that he never drank any 
wine, and his he never cut his 
hair. There 
was never any razor that touched
his head. Matthew Chapter 3 
tells us that John 
the Baptist had a very profound 
ministry that John would 
go about and to teach and 
preach. And many were confessing
their sins, and many were being 
baptized into a baptism of 
Repentance  
That's why we call him John the 
Baptist or John the baptizer, 
'cause That's what he did and it
was a little. It's the precursor
of our form of baptism, which is
the believers baptism, which 
makes 
sense that John is doing the 
precursor about baptism of 
Repentance. I tend to look in 
pictures that when people are 
talking to me, I've 
drawn a picture in my mind of 
what actually happened when I 
read a book. It's almost like a 
create a movie screen in my mind
of what I'm reading in the  
And I try to just think about 
John the Baptist and what his 
ministry would have looked like 
physically  Because he was an  
The Bible tells us that he was 
a mountain Manor Wilderness Man,
and so he was gruff. He was not 
refined like 
we might be or think we are. 
Anyways, in the city, the Bible 
tells us that he had a cloak 
made out of camel hair and 
cinched up with a leather belt, 
which is common 
for profits. But we haven't seen
a profit for 400 years. So what 
did he 
look like? And then his her 
remember, he'd never cut his 
hair in his entire life  He ate 
bugs and honey willingly. He ate
bugs in honey. This was a lean 
fighting machine and he's going 
about. He's preaching Jesus. And
how is he preaching Jesus? He's 
using very strong language. You 
brood of Vipers  
Last I checked, that's no way to
win friends and influence 
people. However, that's what 
John was doing and God was using
this in an amount and 
an amazing profound way and 
many people repenting in being 
baptized. This was a unique man 
with a very unique task, and our
text is almost the final drum 
roll before the ta da of Jesus 
being announced  
And our text opens up in verse 
20 to  
And when 
the Jews sent priest and 
Levite's from Jerusalem to ask 
him who are you. He confessed 
and he did not deny but 
confessed I am not the Christ, 
and they asked him, what then 
are you Elijah? And he said, I 
am not. Are you the Prophet? And
he answered no verse. 22 and he 
said to them, who are you we 
need to give an answer to those 
who sent us? What do you say 
about yourself? And here's our 
first point, that we're going to
discover that not all searching 
leads  To believe  So let 
just set up what was happening 
here. Jerusalem was the 
religious epicenter for Judaism,
and there was religious leaders 
in 
Jerusalem that heard about 
John's ministry, and they are. 
We need to find out about 
this. So they sent this on 
Clave. If you to go find John, I
don't know how they found it, 
they just did and they ask him 
these questions. These questions
might seem a little weird to you
or I just at first blush, but 
you gotta remember these 
religious leaders in Jerusalem 
there very well  In the old test
And then remembering these Old 
Testament prophecies 
that they've read and studied 
for years. And really, what 
these people are trying to find 
out is John are a fulfillment of
prophecy, and if so, which one 
we don't know and hence the 
three questions  
Are you the Messiah? Now every 
Jew has been reading and well 
versed in the Old Testament and 
the coming Messiah was promised 
in so many ways. 
we already looked at one in 
Genesis Chapter 3 throughout 
scripture and John very quickly 
That I'm not the Messiah. He 
goes on and the second question 
Malachi Chapter 4 verse five 
says this behold. I will send 
you Elijah the Prophet before 
the great and awesome day of the
Lord  And so they're trying to 
find out 
are you the fulfillment of the 
prophecy 400 years over by 
Malachi is that you John goes no
it's not me  
And Lastly in Deuteronomy 
Chapter 18 verse 15, Moses says 
that there's going to be 
unnamed. Prophet That's going to
come up from among the people  
Is that  
John says no, that's not me. I 
love his humility so often. You 
and I aspire to have these great
and lofty goals, and we somehow 
think that the greater my 
influences, 
the greater my stage. If I can 
have more followers on social, I
can do whatever it is. We just 
always think bigger is better  
An I love Johns posture here was
so humble because not none of 
those are  
But what the people in Jerusalem
are really asking is not who are
you. They knew his name was 
John, that that's 
no secret. What they were really
trying to find out is what are 
you really  
You look like a bit of a weird E
You're preaching something kind 
of different. You're like what 
are you about where we're trying
to figure this out were trying 
to know what box to put you in. 
That's really what was  Being 
proposed to John  
And it's in this moment that I 
hit pause and I just considered 
the Apostle John, the one who's 
authored this book  
Remember, he's writing this at 
least 40 years after this 
actually happened  
And he's had time to watch. 
Jesus is life unfold  
And he's now writing the gospel 
and he's looking at back in time
And I wonder what John the 
Apostle is thinking is here  
Because for the next 3 1/2 years
of Jesus is life  
He's answering questions. Who 
are  
What are you about? What's your 
purpose and Jesus is teaching 
and 
loving and redeeming he's just 
showing the work and the 
Kingdom of God advancing and 3 
1/2 years of day in and day out 
of questions. And at the end 
of Jesus Earthly Ministry. After
doing this all day, everyday 
for 3 1/2 years, you would think
that the majority of the people 
would be further along in making
a  
But the 
Bible tells us they, I'll give 
you a great example when Jesus 
is coming into Jerusalem. This 
is the end of his life. In John 
Chapter 12, verse 12, we call 
this the triumphal entry 
and he's coming into a throng of
people and they're 
dropping leaves on the ground. 
In Jesus is passing over 
and they're singing Hosanna in 
the Hiace, which is our savior 
in the hyest throngs of people 
are calling Jesus savior  But 
then after his death  And the 
next chapter 2. How many are in 
the  Only 120  
You realize 
that people can ask questions 
and they present like there 
seeker. Some people even present
like there a believer when 
you're singing and shouting 
Jesus, you're the savior in the 
hyest. This esteemed position 
and then your ghost  
You weren't a follower  
And we realize that we  
And it doesn't mean we're going 
to actually land on A  
I just wonder how many of you 
are listening  
Do a self assessment right now 
of where your at spiritually  
Are you that person that's 
asking questions? Here's the 
deal. Eventually we have to stop
asking  
Because the answers have come 
and then 
we have to actually make a 
decision whether we're going to 
accept or reject. We can't sit 
there and just go, but I'm 
asking, I'm 
just searching. No, there comes 
a point where we're done and now
we're just kind of trying to 
have the best of both. I know a 
guy who this guy was so smart. 
He was like so much smarter than
me which is  
Fractionally formally 
trained in the Bible, he new 
theology so, and he even knew 
what we call 
we call apologetics, which is 
the defense of the Christian 
heard all of the criticisms to 
Debunk the Christian faith, and 
he knows all of the responses in
the answers 
to support or to defend the 
faith. And he's sitting there, 
amassed all of this knowledge 
and he still going I  
Friend, it's because of this. 
Eventually it's not just a 
cerebral exercise  It's 
spiritual  
It goes deeper. You can ask 
questions and if you're new in 
trying to explore Christianity, 
I'm 
so glad. Ask your questions, but
I just need you to know there 
comes a point where we go. The 
questions are  
And we now have to make a 
choice, and if there is heart, 
if there's attention, it's no 
longer at the cerebral level. 
It's actually at a spiritual 
level because that's what Jesus 
had  
To bring about a spiritual 
rebirth  
I just wanted to do a self 
assessment, where are you at in 
your spiritual journey  
Do you like where you  
Is there 
time for you to decide to write 
draw a line 
in the sand ago? OK, the time 
for asking questions is over and
now I need to decide if that's 
you I so want you 
to decide. And of course I am 
asking you to recognize that 
what Jesus has done is true and 
it's life changing  
The second thing that we see in 
our text is that God is Noah  
Remember, John 
the Baptist lived in a mountain 
side. He was isolated. He did 
not have access to the all of 
the synagogues in Jerusalem. He 
did not have access to all of 
the rabbis. He didn't have 
access to interacting with 
everybody. He was on his  
And still 
he knew God in verse 26 of our 
tags in verse 27, John said, I 
baptize with water, but among 
you stands one you do not know. 
Even he who comes after me, the 
strap of who's standal. I'm not 
worthy to  
Jaun  The Lord he knew him not. 
I know his name and he knows my 
name so much deeper than  
20 to know God is knowable, and 
I don't mean knowable again 
in this intellectual 
philosophical way, though 
there's that. But it's so much 
deeper there is a spiritual way.
The Gospel Message which John is
about two point and revealed who
Jesus is its next weeks text, 
letting it out of the  
Is so 
much more than a get out of hell
free card and I think sometimes 
we just think that the gospel 
messages just let me forget. 
Have my sins forgiven and I get 
the hell out of free card. And 
it's so much more  
Knowing has 
a massive impact on this life as
well as in the life to come. 
There 
is this renewal. There's this 
redemptive work that happens 
there just quality of life that 
changes  
In knowing who Jesus  
Why don't you stop to think 
about  
But it's 
so much more, and John the 
Baptist lived knowing the Lord. 
In that way, it was 
transformative  
Why could jaune, the Lord, while
being isolated, maybe being a 
little 
ostracized 'cause he looked like
that weird E. Why? Because there
is a promise throughout 
scripture that if we seek God we
will find him  
At least 10 times in the Bible, 
it says that if you seek God, 
you will find him. I want you to
know this, that we have to take 
responsibility self assessment 
here. Where are we at 
in our relationship with the 
Lord? Because God is knowable. 
Cove it or not, isolation or 
not, hardship or not, tragedy or
not, offence or not, you can no 
And I 
think sometimes we blame our 
lack of spiritual depth on 
circumstances  
And this text is so simple that 
lets us know that our spiritual 
flourishing, our ability to know
God is not at all connected to 
our circumstances. It's not 
connected to our quality of 
life. What I mean by that, if 
our 
circumstances are favorable, if 
our quality of life is high, the
possibility for me to know God 
is a lot easier. That's I think 
a North American view of 
spirituality, but that's not the
case  
Our ability to know God is so 
much deeper. Why? Because 
there's a promise throughout 
scripture that if you seek God, 
you 
will find him Jeremiah 2913 if 
you seek God, you will find him.
Matthew Chapter 7, verse 7. If 
you seek God you will find  It's
a promise  
Two Chronicles, Chapter 15, 
verse two if 
you seek God, you will find him 
psalms 34. Four if you seek God,
you're gonna find them  
Why is there that certainty  
It takes away our ability to 
blame why we're not having a 
spiritual relationship that  
It doesn't allow us to blame 
Cove. It doesn't allow us to 
blame the church or our 
inability to gather doesn't 
allow us to blame the fact that 
we don't have access to some of 
our spiritual rhythms that were 
used to the flourish. It takes 
away all of that  
Says if we see God will find him
because in Matt said  In 
previous sermons  God says this 
And it's 
the heart of God. I will be 
their God. You will be my people
and I will dwell among  
At least 28 times in the Old 
Testament. Just stop and think 
this the Holy God of the 
universe, his desire is to be in
right relationship with  
For you to seek God, it's not 
going along. I don't know how 
gods, I feel that there's a risk
I might not find a you're gonna 
find him that's the promise  
And while 
I don't know how gods gonna 
react, was actually know that as
well. That's the question 
answered. The desire of God is 
to have right relationship with 
us. I will be their God. They 
will be my people, which is us, 
and I will dwell among  
She gods knowable we can sit 
there and go. I need to ask 
questions I don't know and use 
it in and 
Haw and try to figure this out. 
But there comes a day where we 
have to take responsibility for 
our spiritual  And some of is 
your hearing, my voice you  
That's hitting home, can I 
suggest  
The God 
the Holy Spirit is talking to 
you right now, giving you a 
nudged to say Hey, son, Hey  
We need to move towards a better
relationship  
And if  
Seek God 'cause you're going to 
find him and don't wonder how 
God is going to respond. His 
response to you is I want to 
have right relationship with you
I so love that John the Baptist 
in all of his reasons for having
Excuse  
There were none because it's 
about what God is doing, its 
gods  
The last thing that we see is 
this  
It's in our knowing God that we 
discover our  
In verse 23, the Apostle are 
sorry John the Baptist says this
and I am a voice in the 
wilderness and make straight the
way of the Lord  
John the Baptist knew exactly 
what he was all  
My question 
is for you do it's. I believe 
this that every Christian has an
internal assignment given to 
them by  
And it's 
not just getting married. Is not
having kids not just getting a 
job or anything like that? Those
are all great, but there's 
something else that every 
Christian. I believe is tasked 
with and that's an internal 
assignment  
Do you know what yours might be 
One author said it like this 
that the two most important days
in a person's life are the day 
they are born and the day that 
they find out why  
And I don't know if Mark Twain 
had an understanding of this 
internal assignment  
But I want you to know that 
that's the secret sauce if of 
life being exciting of life, 
having meaning, it's the reason 
that gets you up in the morning 
It's not just a job for there 
has to be something deeper. And 
John the Baptist knew exactly 
what his eternal assignment was 
and it was to make straight the 
way of the Lord he was preparing
What's your internal assignment 
What gets you up in the morning?
'cause it's not your job  
It's not always your kids. They 
sometimes force you to get up 
in the morning 'cause there 
nagging my son, God bless him. 
He was an early riser and I did 
not wanna get up  
But there's something deeper. 
There's something deeper for all
of us  
If you're living life and you're
a little  Bored  
Don't blame the church, don't  
Maybe it's this, maybe you're 
out of touch for what your 
spiritual assignment is. For 
those of 
you that are going to relate to 
this, you'll know what I mean. 
Think about a time when you have
been kind of in a kind of out 
there. Your extended. You're in 
an uncomfortable place. And what
do you 
do with that point? You're 
praying like never before and 
you're like, God, I need 
you to come through because you 
are planning A and there is no 
Plan B Matt, we pray different  
Our relationship with our 
friends are different. It's not 
surface is like 
dude, I need you to pray with me
because it's do or Die. It's 
sink or swim and I've got 
nothing like there is this 
vibrancy. There's this life 
there is this excitement. This 
mystery this  
And I just think that a lot of 
us  Have just lost that  
And I think it's because we've 
gone completely detached from 
recognizing there's an internal 
assignment  
I believe that every Christian 
should be inspiring  
Because what God has done in our
life, there is rebirth. There 
is this amazing work that is 
done, that when people look at 
us were like man, I'm just 
inspired  
I was doing a fundraiser just a 
few weeks ago for the survivors 
of sex traffickers and mean 
three friends were biking and 
were biking like 84 
kilometers, and it's pretty hard
when you've got the middle aged 
dad bod going on, which was the 
name of our team. And so we did 
with dad bods had to do. We have
to rest and so we were at 
Centennial Beach and were 
sitting there or hydrating gel 
packs and everything else. And 
other guys are checking out  
Great. How are we doing one guys
got his back problem like it's 
not a pretty  
And these ladies come up and 
they said, what do you  
You can imagine how sorry we 
must have looked in that moment 
We just began to tell them what 
we were doing, that it's a 
fundraiser and what it's for. 
And these women were  
I'm this is what they're saying.
I'm about to cry  We don't see 
this very  
Why am I telling you that  
Because when you just live the 
life that God has for you in 
step with your eternel 
assignment  People are 
just going to see what you're 
doing and they're just going to 
be inspired. We didn't set out, 
we just set out to write 84 
kilometres. We didn't set out to
inspire anybody  
It just happened. That's just a 
by product and the last thing 
with I think what Christians 
need to be is that we are 
inspired by  
That the Lord is just refilling 
us day and day out. I think 
every Christian should be 
inspired and inspiring other  
How, by having this intimate 
relationship with the  
And as you spend time with the 
Lord, I believe what's going 
to happen if you're going to 
discover your eternel 
assignment, 'cause we've all 
been given one, and it's not 
your  
It's not getting housing for 
your family. Those are all 
great, but that we've made that 
our eternal assignment. And once
we've reached that, we just 
coast  
One of the things I'm really 
excited about. Actually in the 
coming months and moving forward
here 
at West Side is we want to work 
with everybody at West Side. We 
want 
to help you understand what your
spiritual giftings are and how 
God is specifically called you. 
We want you to 
be proficient in your God given 
giftings as you go out into the 
city doing 
the things that the Lord is 
called you to do with the 
giftings that he's giving you to
do that calling  
That's where we want, because we
actually think what we need to 
do to be actively involved in 
building the Kingdom  
And I love how John the Baptist 
just in knowing God  
Discovered his eternel 
assignment  
Just as I'm blending, the plan 
is to worship team to make their
way up  
I just want you to just take  
I've given you a lot of things 
to consider as we look at the 
life of John 
the Baptist is a man who was 
able to know God in spite of 
hardship 
and circumstances. Aman, who was
able to walk in his eternal 
purpose as a byproduct of 
knowing God. I can't help but 
ask you how was your 
relationship  With  
As you've been, I don't even 
know how long we been in covert.
Now I've lost track  It's it's a
blur  
But if you're sitting there, and
if 
you can take a moment to just do
a self assessment, what is your 
spiritual intensity like? What's
the quality of your relationship
with them  
I'm going to call you back to 
the Lord  If you're not where 
you need to  
It might be because of sin  
I love 
in one John how the Apostle John
writes in the letter. Later in 
the New Testament, God is 
faithful and 
just to forgive you of all 
unrighteousness, that if you 
have seen right now, we're going
to take community in a few 
minutes. And if you're a 
believer and their sit in your 
life, deal with it, right  
It's not 
worth the condemnation. It's not
worth the wait that you're 
feeling. It's not worth the  
Jesus is calling you do a better
quality of life, one of Freedom,
one of healing  It's a higher 
quality of life  
Don't be stubborn. Don't sit 
there, go. I don't know how God 
is going to respond. I 
already told you I was going to 
respond. He is faithful and just
to forgive you of all of your 
own righteousness. Just take a 
moment now and self assess. 
Maybe there's some of you in 
this kobid season that 
you have just treated kobid like
that when you were in grade 
school. You treated it like 
summer Holidays. That's it  
And in doing that you got 
spiritually out of shape  
If so, the point now that your 
spiritual rhythms are at best 
are very quick consideration of 
the Lord in  
At best you tune into the live 
stream one out of four weeks  
And don't even talk to me about 
community  
That's no way to live  
Gods actually calling us to 
something so much more and I 
want to remove every excuse that
you've given yourself. And then 
I've given myself in this code  
To embrace this lukewarm 
spirituality  
And said today's the day that 
I'm going to change  
I recognize I can spiritually 
flourish and know regards of my 
circumstance  
Regards of isolation, regardless
of whatever challenge I'm 
facing, why? Because if you seek
God, you will find  
And Lastly, maybe there's some 
of you that you have been 
searching. 
You've been considering Jesus. 
You considering his claims. You 
been tuning in for awhile and 
some and some of you are going. 
The plane needs to circle and 
now needs to land on it. Need to
make it decision for the Lord. I
want to 
invite you if you've never made 
a decision to follow Jesus, do 
that today. We tend to 
Overcomplicate it. We 
tend to think that there might 
be a secret prayer or something 
magical  Steps and there's no  
It's really simple that if you 
are hearing my voice and you 
recognizing that your  
And that there's nothing that 
you can do to deal with that 
sink condition, but you believe 
that Jesus death on the cross 
paid your sin debt to God the 
father. If you believe that  
But that's it appears, yeah, I 
believe  
You're actually in doing that. 
You're confessing 
that Jesus is Lord and what's 
going to happen is it's going to
be subtle. It's going to be 
slow, but there's a change 
inside of  
That of sinful, that of forgiven
from 
that of cursed to that of 
blessed why? Because of adjacent
across, and you believe that 
Jesus is death, actually paid 
your sin debt  
If you made a decision to follow
Jesus for the first time, I 
encourage you to text Jesus to 
our number and we can start a 
dialogue to help you take the 
right steps so you can 
spiritually flourish  But were 
bout to take communion  
And I 
community is so weird in this 
time, if I could survey how many
view right now have the elements
beside you, I might be 
disappointed. I know it feels 
really weird. I get that hit 
pause and go get some bread. Go 
get some  
Because what we're doing here is
so important  
We're falling in line with the 
command 
that Jesus had to Orient our 
lives around the finished work 
of Jesus and the command of 
Jesus is. This is do this in 
Remembrance  
And this is one of those things 
that God has initiated to help 
us with the reminders. Those of 
us that have spiritually 
wagering arcoverde moment  
Communion is something that can 
help you stay on track and to 
stay focused  
And just as you consider and as 
you just are in this 
contemplative  In a moment I'm 
going to turn it over to the 
band  And I'm going to invite 
you to take communion  
Jesus on the night that he was 
betrayed, he took the bread and 
he broke it and he said, this is
my body which is given  
Take this in Remembrance of  
And the same night he took the 
copy, said This Cup is the new 
covenant of  As often as you 
drink this Cup  
The Bible tells us is that we 
have forgiveness of sins because
of this perfect sacrifice that 
Jesus made on the cross. This is
what John the Baptist was 
preparing the way 
for. It's the drum roll for the 
final announcements that the 
savior of the world has come to 
save us  
It's just beautiful  
Let's just pray Lord, I just 
pray in this moment that we 
can take responsibility for 
where we're at spiritually and 
have the fortitude and the 
courage 
to take the steps that we need 
to take to be in the place that 
we need to be with you  
And if it's repentance then 
Lord, I pray if it's re 
orientating our life Lord, I 
pray that if it's taking steps 
of faith to live out and walk 
our spiritual assignment, Lord, 
let it be that  
But Lord, that we would just 
know you  
That everything about us has 
changed, Lord, as we take this 
communion  
Jesus, thank you for willingly 
stepping  
Of Heaven stepping into human 
history. Taking on the form of a
man  
Willingly going to the cross to 
die in our place for our sins. 
Jesus, I thought those feelings 
saying thank you  
Tripe  
But  
Thank you  
I have a couple more 
announcements for us as we head 
out. The first is text connect 
today to get connected to the 
life of this body though things 
are different, they are not 
done. We are 
still ministering to each other.
We're still getting connected. 
We are still family so please 
text connect so that you can 
know what's going on. We also 
invite you to text prayer if you
have things that you need prayed
over this week we are a praying 
church. There are people who 
pray over the prayer request  
Every single week, so please 
text in. Let me pray for us as  
Living God, we thank you that 
you are here that you have met 
with us, that you do  
In a San, in the praise of your 
people  
Lord, I pray that as we go 
out and live out the rest of our
Sunday in the rest of this week,
that we would glorify you in all
that we do, that you would be 
ever on our minds in your praise
continually on our lips  
But by the power of your spirit,
we would make your name known in
a world that needs to hear your 
We love you and it is in your 
name. We pray Jesus Amen Grace 
and Peace Westside  
