you know I'm so grateful that
over the last few weeks you guys have
had some wonderful people here
communicating the truth of God to you I
mean over the last few weeks just being
able to hear from
Ryan Leroy and Darrell
and Wes I mean you got to hear from
and and activist a catalyst
a strategist and a evangelist I don't
know what "ist"
I am but I'm glad to be back here with
you
um and here's what I sense a sense God
among us
just as we were worshipping together
just
I sense God among us, that's not unlike him
it's the nature of who he is
that he shows up one other books that
had a great impact on me in my life
is a book by AW Tozer and the book is
called
Knowledge of the Holy and
the opening line of that book after he
writes out a prayer
is staggering and it says this
very simply what comes into our minds
when we think about God
is the most important thing about us
you see the argument that Tozer is
making is that ultimately
the way that we conceive of God is
either going to give us a broken view of
who God is or it's going to give us
an ability to think rightly about God
and it's imperative that we think
rightly about God because we want to
have a right view of God so we can
understand
the nature of who God is and what God
does but we have a broken view of God
it's very difficult for us to understand
the relationship that we have with God
and so Tozer began to outline in this book
a variety of different things that were
characteristic in that are characteristic
of God
God's omniscience God's omnipotence
God's omnipresence things like
God's self-sufficiency God's self
existence
God's imminence God's transcendence
and all of that is absolutely
essential for us to understand
but here's the thing: even though
understanding those characteristics of
the nature of God are essential
if we leave it just there in that realm
it can still make us feel very distant
ever heard anybody give a lecture on the
transcendence or the imminence
or the self sufficiency or the self
existence or the omnipresence or
the omniscience or the omnipotence of God
and gone
phrew man that was deep but you still feel
like
that God is distant because what we have
a tendency to do when we had those
conversations that we can leave them at
the level of
philosophical theorizing
we can leave it at the level of
arguments kind of creative argument
about the nature of who God is we can
leave it at the level of simply theology
which by the way is super important
but if we leave it at that level we feel
very
potentially very distant from God is he
when Tozer wrote his chapter his
the chapter of knowledge of the Holy was
called why we need to think rightly
about God
well I want us to do the same thing
today I want us to learn how to think
rightly about God
but I do not want to allow us to think
about that only in the realm of
philosophy
or theology and leave it there that is
too distant for us
it has to become relational because what
I want you to see over the next number
of weeks
is that God is a relational God
and this is something that you need to
understand if you're going
if you and I are going to think rightly
about who God is so I want us to
introduce that
thought today and i cant think I've
maybe somebody better to start us off
in the scripture than one of the most
relational
up Jesus disciples named John
and in the book of John chapter one is
where I want you to turn it's one of the
gospels so
if you open the New Testament you'll see
Matthew Mark Luke
and then John and I want you to turn to
John chapter one because John is going
to introduce us to
something very important about the
nature of our relational God that
we're going to see today
here's what verse number one here's how
first number one begins in John chapter
one
in the beginning was the word and the
Word was with God
and the Word was God there you can hear
right from the very outset of John's
Gospel can't you can you hear the echoes
what are the first three words and his
gospel in the
beginning what does that remind you of
what book in the Bible
Genesis chapter one right the whole
thing the whole testimony of the
revelation of God
starts in Genesis chapter one and starts
with
in the beginning God right
and so John calls to our mind right away
this picture of a creator
that is self sufficient that is all
powerful
that can speak everything into existence
immediately that
that has all power at his disposal
and that is infinitely creative so he he
calls that to our attention
right away right out of the gate and puts
on our mind this idea and conception of
God that is absolutely massive
far beyond our ability to understand in
the beginning
he calls that to mind but then he says
in the beginning was though what
word now that's an interesting word
forgive the pun because
that word itself in the Greek language
when it's translated as the word
logos l-o-g-o-s 
you might even think about our English
word logic because it's a route of that
this word logos is a very unique
designation because
it's important to both the Jews and to
the Greeks conceptually
in fact if I could just back up for
second historically and give you some
idea that
com and I'm going to i'm not asking for
permission I'm just gonna do that
to help you understand why this is
important to both Jew and to Greek
simultaneously
back all the way back in 600 BC let's
just pretend like the book of John is
being written
it certainly in the 1st century AD we
don't know exactly when that is but
I'm just gonna make up something okay 70
AD
all right there you go we're just gonna
make that up there you have it in that
neighborhood probably but we're just
gonna say that
if you backed up six hundred years 600
BC
there was a Greek philosopher name Hera
Cleatus
and this particular Greek philosopher
actually was the first one the kinda put
this term logos
out into the cultural uh kind of
conscience
and what he was saying was this that a
lot of us was
the divine reason that is the ordering
principle for the entire universe
this was a Greek philosopher coming up
with this idea of logos he was saying
there's a divine a reason that kinda is
the is the ordering principle for the
entirety
of the universe well a couple of
centuries later in both the fourth
in the 3rd century BC the Stoics
if the Greek world also begin to at all
into that idea and they said not only
is no idea of logos about this
ordering principle
in the world but it is also most
identified in speech
that the idea that when we speak we
speak in ordered logical ways in this is
kind of an indication of the logos
but then there was a Jew named filo who
was a Hellenistic do that just simply
means he's a Jew who's been influenced by the
Greeks
of filo in the very first century AD
he said the logos was actually this
idea that there was a buffer between
the divine and the world now some are
you going okay
how much of a history lesson you give me
here I'm just giving you enough to say
this term that John chose is very very
important because it has distinct
cultural significance both to Jew
and to Greek which was the known world
that he was writing to
in this was important for us to
understand but here's the thing:
if we just keep this idea that in the
beginning
what's the word if all we keep this idea
of logo just the idea of
there is some kind of divine reason that
gives
order to the universe that that is that
is
kinda sometimes made manifest in speech
itself and that and that we can see is
kind of a buffer between the divine and
the world
if we leave it there and I just kinda
sent you home and went
there you go the logos, you'd go wow
my life is not better my life right now
is not better as a result of that
I don't know what just happened but I
went to philosophy class
on a Sunday morning and I left confused
and in despair thank you Jerry for that
we love you
so I realize that that's not the idea
here John will not allow us to leave the
idea
of the logos the word at an 
impersonal theoretical philosophical
only theological level he won't allow us
to do it
listen to what he does verses 1&2 again
in the beginning was the Word the Word
was with God and the Word was God
he was with God
in the beginning. you see what John did
John just took something that was
incredibly conceptual
and gave it personhood he said the logos
is not a thing the logos
is not an it, the logos
is a He. he gave the idea of the word or
the logos this
idea of personhood and this is
really important it's not abstract
anymore now
we know that the entire looking back
right we know that the entirety of the
book of John is written as a testimony
to Jesus
it's the Gospel Jof ohn about Jesus it's
the good news about Jesus that John
tells us that's what the whole book is
about
from beginning to end so we know when we
read this
that when it says he was with God in the
beginning
the he that is being referenced is none
other then Jesus
that there's a personhood to the
nature of what the logos is
is in fact John is very enamored with
this term the logos or the word
because in his other writings if you
remember John actually wrote
multiple books here are the Gospel John
and then he wrote 1st 2nd 3rd John later
on and then wrote the book of the
revelation
that's all the same author so listen to
what he said in first John chapter one
is he opened that book
that which was from the beginning do you
see a similarity there
which we have heard which we have seen
with our eyes which we have looked at in
our hands have touched
this we proclaim concerning the logos
of life. the word of life he's talking
about Jesus he's talking about being a
witness to Jesus is
and then notice what it says in the book
of the revelation
chapter 19 I saw heaven standing open in
there before me was a white horses
riders called faithful and true
with justice he judges in wages war in
his eyes are like blazing fire in on his
head aremany crowns
and he has a name written on him that no
one knows but he himself
he is dressed in a row dipped in blood
and his name
is the logos of God the word
of God so he's very on he's very careful
when he picks this term
at the very beginning of this gospel to
not only take us from the realm of
huge and massive related to God but now
he's establishing the idea of personhood
that
this is a God listen  who can be known
this is really important for us because
what he also does because he's writing
to Jews and Greeks in the midst of this
who are
to understanding up this concept a blog
Oscar
he then goes on to explain the idea of
logos in the personhood of Jesus
listen to verses 3-5 through him
through the word which is who Jesus
through him all things were made without
him nothing was made that has been made
in Him was life and that life was the
light
all mankind and the light shines in the
darkness
and the darkness has not overcome it
this is a beautiful picture of him
describing what some people culturally
would understand
as the logos and John gives a person
hood
in the personal Jesus but then he also
does something else in that passage he
he introduces the theme of light
and darkness now for John this is really
important I'm going somewhere with this
for John this is really important to to
identify the theme of light and darkness
because obviously if you're reading
about light and darkness
certainly that would be connected back
to the creation right when you start a
chapter that says
in the beginning you are echoing the
book of Genesis
and then he talks about this idea of
darkness and light right
so for John he's talking about what
happened in creation happened through
the logos happened through the word
happened through Jesus oh he's giving us
a picture
of the divine nature who Jesus is right
from the very outset
in the beginning was Jesus and Jesus was
with God
and Jesus was God and then he goes on
to say
that everything that's been made has
been made through him
this is the idea of the logos having
personhood
any says there's there's light and
darkness just like there was in
creation but he says
for John light and darkness has such a
theme in the gospel and in his later
writings
that he's not just referring to the
state of creation before God intervened
he's also referring to the state of
your heart and my heart in all of
humanity
before it gets recreated
darkness does something to us this is
important for us to remember
darkness invokes fear don't lie
everybody at some point has been scared
to go to sleep you say when I was younger
don't lie because you've heard the
creaking at the house at night
you you've maybe gonna gone in from
tucking your kids in if they're young or
maybe your grandkids are you remember
this kind a scenario where you went in
and
and you told them and they they said you
know I don't want you to turn the light off
because I'm afraid of the dark easily
lover be afraid of
everything's the same except for there's
just no light anymore
it's no problem and then you must start
telling him all kinda stuff you know God
sees in the dark
the dark and you know it's not like us
we can see God still sees in the dark so
it's no problem
everything's good and you continue to
tell them that and then you go in you
get in your bed
and you go you pull the covers over your
head
right darkness has a tendency sometimes
in our world to provoke fear but it's
not just about the darkness that
outside of us it's also the darkness
that inside of us too right
the darkness that sometimes when we peer
inside of ourselves that we have seen
the darkness that manifests
itself sometimes as
despair for the darkness that manifests
itself as anger
or arrogance or self-loathing
that darkness scares us too
you see John knew the darkness of what all
that looked like in his day and age
because john was a Jew
and John had heard the stories in and
had seen the reality of what it look
like to be a Jew in that time frame
john knew very well that the religious
leaders who are leading the Jewish
people
were abusing their power and as a result
of that
it was a form of spiritual abuse on the
lives of people
they were putting burdens upon the people
that the people could not possibly bear
but if if that wasn't enough because
that was the foundation of who they were as
jews they were a monotheistic people who
want to worship the one true God
and now they're religious leaders were
leading them poorly
and placing all kinds of burdens on them
if that wasn't enough
the Jewish people were also physically
as a group of people
were under oppression because the Romans
were dominating the world
and now they were oppressing the Jews if
that wasn't enough
there was plenty to go around when it
came to abuse in the lives of
women let's say or maybe it was abusive
rich toward poor and that could have
been jew against jew
or it could have been Roman against you
there was all kinds of darkness
that was permeating the world that he
lived in and guess what
everybody was living on edge a little
bit everybody was a little afraid
because darkness has a tendency to evoke fear you don't know when Roman
and the Emperor is just gonna get knots
and decide
I wanna vanquish this entire people I
just wanna
I wanna kill them all and so you were
constantly living
in the course of fear given that
is the case how then could God in His
sovereignty
choose to come
because what's interesting is is that
God had a choice
he's God he had a choice in the way that
he wanted to come
and certainly you and I might think well
you know if I'm living in a scared
existence there are certain things that
that would scare me even further if
someone tried them
if someone decided to show up in a
certain way I would be scared even
further because I'm starting from scared
ever been around those people before
where they're afraid
or maybe a kid and they're afraid and
you have to figure out how you're going
to approach them
because certain ways of approaching them
even though you mean good
certain ways approaching them might
evoke some things
how about some kids that have been in
foster care or in abusive situations
and all the sudden they're in a
different situation you expect them just
to act normal but they can act normal
because
everything that's said and everything
they hear and sometimes even just the
sight of certain things
evoke certain things in their mind
they freak out and you don't mean them
harm you mean them good
but it causes certain reactions doesn't
so God
in his infinite wisdom had to figure out
how to calm
could you imagine the predicament of God
I don't know its predicament for God but its a
predicament for us to think about it
isn't it
in the way that I I saw this beautifully
beautifully written was in in a book
and in the book itself which was called
Rag Man by Walt Wangerin
there's a small little piece of a
chapter in their called an advent
monologue
in that he actually kind of speaks with
the voice of God
and is debating how he could come
to a to a world into a people and and
kind of
imaging that as a young lady how can I
come to her
one that's so scared listen to what he
said
I love a child she's afraid of me
I want to help this child so terribly in
need of help
for she's hungry her cheeks are sunk
into the bone but she knows little food
less of nutrition
I know both these things she's cold and
she's dirty
she lives at the end of a tattered
hallway three flights up in a tenement
who landlord longed forgot the human
body's huddled in that place
but I know how to build a fire and I
know how to wash your face
she's retarded if the truth be told
thick in her tongue and slow in her mind yet
aware of her infirmity and embarrassed by
it
but here am I well traveled throughout
the universe and wise and willing to
share my wisdom
she's lonely all the day long she sits
in a chair with her back to the door
her knees are tucked tight against her
breasts in your arms around these in her
head down
and I can see how her hair hangs to her
ankles but I cannot see her face
she's hiding if I could but see her face
and kiss it
why I could draw the loneliness out of
her
she sings a sort of song to pass the
time a childish melody though she
is a woman in her body by its shape
she sings a sad song I know the truth
that she's singing have no other thing at
all but she's singing of her face
sadly calling it ugly and I know the
truth
she's right but I am mightily persuasive
myself
and I could make her face lovely by my
love alone
I love the child she's afraid of me
but how can I come to her? to feed and to
heal her by my love
knock on the door enter the common way
no she holds her breath even at a gentle
tap
pretending that she's not home she feels
unworthy of polite society
and loud imperious banging would only
send her into shivering tears for police
and bill collectors have troubled her in
the past
should I break down the door should I
show my face at the window
on know what tears I would cause then
these have happened before
she suffered the rapings of
kindless men and therefore she hangs her
head
and therefore she sings her sad song
I am none of these to be sure but if I
came the way that they have come
she would not know me any differently
she would not receive my love
she might likely die of a failed heart
I've called from the hall I've sung her
name through cracks in the plaster
but i've a bright trumpet of a voice
and she covers her ears and weeps
she thinks each word is an accusation
I could have course ignore the doors and
walls and windows and simply appearing
before her as I am
I have that capability but she has not
the strength to see it and she would die
she is you see her own deepest hiding
place
and fear and death are the truest
doors against me
then what is left how can I come
to the one I love where's the entrance
that will not frighten or kill her
by what door can love arrive after all
truly to nurture her
to take the loneliness away to make her
beautiful
as lovely as my moon at night and my sun
come morning
I know what I will do
so God
in this predicament that we think of
chooses to come as a baby
so that the world that is living in
darkness in the world that is living in
fear
might be able to see him in the right
way
now what we learned from this passage of
Scripture is that God did
even more than that he actually sent
someone to prepare the way for his
coming as well
notice how John says it in verse six there
was a man sent from God whose
name was John this is talking about John
the Baptist not John the author of the
gospel in case you're new
he came as a witness to testify
concerning that light so that through
him all might believe
he himself was not the light he came
only as a witness to the light
the true light that comes but the gives
light to everyone was coming into the
world
he was in the world and though the world
was made through him
the world did not recognize him so he
tells us that the choice that he made
was for
God the word the logos the one that was
from the beginning
in whom and through whom everything was
made he is deciding to come into a world
of darkness and a world of fear
and he is going to enter into it not in
the brightness of His glory that is
going to blow everyone away and scare
everyone to death but comes
as a helpless baby and he's coming even
with somebody who is
born of a cousin that is going to come
and it's going to prepare the way but
even in his coming
not everyone necessarily recognized him
and so how did God come specifically
verse 14 says it this way
the word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us we have
seen His glory the glory of the one and
only Son
who what's the next word try it again
we have seen His glory the glory of the
one and only Son who
came who what
who what
he came from the father
full of grace and truth
see this is what some theologians call
the doctrine of the Incarnation
incarnation just simply means this
it means to in Flesh to put flesh on
so what john is saying is this he saying
in the very beginning of all things
the logos the word the one that is
the buffer between divine and human
the one in whom he can speak everything
into existence the
the one in whom is the is the ordering
principle for the entirety of the
universe
that he came
that he put on
skin and moved into the neighborhood
this is the idea and what this actually
does is it challenges us deeply
and I don't want you to miss this but
this idea of God coming and putting on
skin
it it challenges us deeply
you see God coming God's coming
should be a challenge to us in every way
that we could possibly imagine his
coming
is a challenge to us because what he did
is he put on skin
and he moved into the neighborhood and
you know why this matters to us when we
look at the idea of God comes
this relational God that is not distant
anymore but that shows up that puts on
skin and moves into the neighborhood
do you know why that doctrine should
challenge us and not just be some
theoretical
theological philosophical proposition
because we have the same responsibility
because you see God is ascending God
listen closely
the Father sent the Son the Son
sent the spirit and now God
sends us do you know why God sends us?
listen
because he's a God who comes he comes
this is what he does in his very nature
he comes so what does that mean
that means now for you and me
that God comes in our skin
and sends us into our neighborhood
to be able to show the lights
and the life of God that's what it
means
it means that that everybody that lives
on your street
needs to know that there is a God
who can be touched because that God
lives inside of you that trust in Jesus
Christ that
he now lives inside of us Christ in us
the hope of glory and that people could
now
listen people could now put their hand
on the shoulder
of someone
in whom God is alive
he's not just be a radical anymore he's
not just philosophical anymore
he's not just some distant entity that
we talk about and go
oh I wonder if no no God lives inside
of those of us who have been
transformed by his Son
and now just like God put skin on and
walked around the world in the personal
Jesus
now God inhabits our skin
Christ in us the hope of glory
the power of His Spirit leading us that
wherever we go God goes and we now have
the privilege
showing people in-fleshed  example
of what it looks like to know God
now that don't misunderstand I'm not
saying we are Jesus
far from but he lives in us
and when we yield ourselves to Him
he lives his life out through us and it
is he himself by his own power that is
touching people
that are around in this is imparitive
because this is fundamental to the
mission
that means that we as a people listen
because God comes we come
you know that means we did we come to
those who are hurting
that's what we do we come to those who
need hope
that's what we do we come to those who
need love
we come to those who have lost someone
we come to those who are in the midst of
addictions
we come to those in a third world
country that can even get clean water
we come do you know why because
God comes. he's a relational God is not
standing of a distance doing nothing
he comes
but not only is this truth about God
coming
not only is it a challenge to us but it
also should be a comfort to us
here's why
because i've seen time and time again
how
God has shown up in the lives of people
has
has anyone ever had God just show up in
your life
and you just gone man right in the
middle if you need
right in the middle of some storm right
in the middle of some big issue right
the middle some crisis right in the
middle of nothing actually going on
and God has just chosen to make himself
known in show up in your life has that
ever happened to you
its happened to me and I see it happen all the
time
I get to be a part of it and I get to
watch it all the time
last Sunday I was talkin to to Randy
who's in our church serves here
faithfully
whose precious precious sweet mom who
used to come over to hug my face and
kiss me on the cheek and my wife would say
where'd that lipstick that come from
his sweet mother passed away
and I saw him last week and I was
standing next to
next to the Information Center and I
just I said to him
man I loved your mom
and you were a great son to her
and I just took a moment to just love him
and to encourage him to pray for him
you know after I was kinda standing
there alongside him
I was getting ready to leave and I
turned around and you know there were
people waiting behind me
to get to him to love him God
comes
I've been a part of seeing people's
lives transform because they were living
in a state where
due to some unforeseen circumstance they
were enough a
incredible financial hardship that no
one could have seen coming that wasn't
because of mismanagement
or bad choices it was just incredible
and I've had the privilege and you've had
the privilege and i've watched people
who have come in and they've helped to
intercede and they've helped to meet that
need do you know what that said to those
people that God
comes!
I've been with people who are walking
through some kind of
physical sickness and maybe they've even
got a tremendously bad diagnosis
and I along with many other people
took the time to be praying with them
and trusting God on their behalf and
we've seen God
heal you know why because God
comes! I've also walk to people who are
sick
and it got a bad prognosis and they have
continued to trust God throughout
and then they died
sometimes God will heal us
sometimes God will not heal us so that
through us he can heal a whole region
why because God comes
that's what God does
we live in a crazy world don't we where we
wonder sometimes
we look around we see Isis
evily beheading people who've done
nothing
cutting their heads off we see how Moss
terrorizing people we we see
Boco Haram in Africa trafficking young
girls and killing people at random
we see viruses that are spreading that
could be contagious all over the world
and people are asking
what is going on here's what I do know I
don't know how it always all plays out I
don't know what I'm not near to a
situation how it always plays out but I
do know
that there is coming a time when all
things that are wrong are going to be
made right in all things that are broken
are going to be made better and here's
why I know it because
God comes! that's why
He comes
you see this is not just theoretical
when we talk about this idea
this is personal and it's real and it's
partially in its tangible
and it matters deeply to us that's why the
beauty of this truth expressed
in verse number eighteen of John 1 is so
important to my heart
John finishes this particular portion of
Scripture by saying no one has ever seen
God
if you stop right there you think see
there he's invisible
we can't touch him he's too distant we
don't know what's going on but John said I'm
not gonna let you live there
no one has ever seen God
but the one and only Son who
is himself God and is in closest
relationship with the father
and he has made him known
listen listen please listen there are
many things that Jesus has made known
about the father
because when we see Jesus we see God
but the one thing I don't want you to
miss today is this
here is what Jesus has shown us about
the father
He comes
He comes
that truth alone can change you
I was who's a few months back
was actually speaking in Mobile Alabama
with our buddy Brett Burleson who used
to be here with us briefly in his pastor
in wonderful church in Alabama
and he was gathering a bunch of pastors
there to envision them
asked me to come in and help in vision
them toward every man woman and child
in their community that's why the
privilege of speaking with
a bunch of pastors in the Mobile Alabama
area and helping
coalesce them around this vision of what
God wants
for that region and God's using Brett and
that church but
I was there I just a few days prior heard of 
Benji cowards brother dying
his older brother Mike mike was
similar in age to me too few years older
than Benji
as God would have it I was speaking down
in Alabama and had to come back
up I was flying back up to Buffalo so I
had the opportunity to reorder my ticket
and restructure it to fly through
Nashville on my way back
and had the opportunity to go to the
funeral
he didn't know I was coming he
and Jenna didnt know
their longtime friends I've known him
for a long long time
and this was a tragic event and as God
would orchestrated I had the opportunity
to be able to go by
and so I rearranged my ticket and I made
my way
and I came to the church just you know
got a car
rented a car and just came over to the
church and
I was out in the lobby and there were
hundreds and hundreds of people there
because they know so many people in that
area and grew up in that area and
you know hundreds and hundreds of people
there
and they were in the back and they had
not yet come out
Jenna's dad saw me Tom he's like
so he goes in you know he says come on
do you we are you gonna come back you're
the family
he said you said I gotta come he was
insistent he's a big italian guy when he's
insistent I do what he says
so we walked back
and they turned a corner and they saw me
I remember which one it was whether it was Benji or it was  Jenna
they were grabbing onto my neck like
like they want to make sure I never went
anywhere
and all he said was this
you came
you came thats all they said
I don't have to say anything I don't
have to do
anything
I just came
see this what God has done for us in the
midst of our
darkness in the midst of our tragedy in
the midst of our
difficulty you know what I know about
God? he comes
and sometimes that enough
just to know that just know that he
comes
see so have you been left in your life
maybe through death
maybe somebody's checked out on you and
you're wondering about God
or maybe maybe it was some relational
malfunction that has happened in your
world
and maybe somebody checked out on you
because you were
you were too messy they're just too much mess
there
too much baggage they checked out on you
because you were
you were too pretty or you were too
ugly
you were too dramatic
you were too caring for you were too
apathetic
or maybe they just checked out on you
because you were to sinfulo
I want to tell you something today
the you can bank on God
is not a God who leaves; God is a God
who comes. God comes
your sin
has not scared him off because when he
showed up in the first place he knew why
he was coming
and he knew full well who he was dealing
with God so loved the world
that he came. God has demonstrated his
love for us in this while we were yet
sinners
he came and he died for us
and he rose from the dead that in
knowing him
we can now no life and you see ladies
and gentlemen God's not a God who leaves
God's a God who comes maybe you needed to
hear that today
maybe if you're here and you've wondered
could God ever come to me
listen God has come and God will come
because this is who Jesus showed us he
was
and that he is he said God who comes
maybe you need him right now maybe it's
a circumstance in your life and your like
I just don't know what I'm gonna do
and listen he'll come maybe your a sinner
and you don't know that you've ever
deserved in a million years
eternal life with God you don't. Neither do I
we've sinned. we've offended God
we don't deserve a relationship with God
that's why God came
when we could he bridge the gap in His
Son Jesus
who lived a sinless life died a death in
our place
rose from the grave and that when we put
our faith and trust in him
we can be made new. light
and life will replace
darkness and death because God
comes. would you bow your heads with me
we're gone in just a minute and if you're
here
and you've never before in trust in your
life to Jesus Christ
I want to say to your sin hasnt
scared him off he's bigger than that
he came knowing full well that he was
coming to die for those who've sinned
and fallen short of glory of God if
you've never afford trusted your life to
Jesus then maybe
maybe today is the day that you do that
if that is your need
I want to encourage you wherever you are
to not leave this building
without having talk to someone and
prayed about
receiving Jesus Christ and knowing him
personally
how you can do that here on this campus
is simply to come by the Fireside Room
we dismiss in just a moment
just come by and simply say to one of us
pastors
I know I need Christ I wanna invite
him to come into my life
and will take a moment and pray with you
send you home some material to help you
no tricks no bait and switch nothin
we just want to help you but you need to
make that decision
you need to be serious about that
for others of us maybe it's a situation
that you're in and I don't know what it
might be
but you need God to come know this he
will
sometimes he comes in the most
unexpected ways
sometimes he comes in the oddest of of
times it seems to us
so father I'd ask that every one of us would
be reminded
that it is a powerful thing indeed for
us to know that you come
that Jesus has revealed to us something
fundamental
about the relational God that we've come
to know and love and that is that you
God I'd pray you'd help us to be a
people that also come that we show up
that we serve you that we meet needs
that we show people Jesus in our lives
wherever we are and whatever we do
father I also pray that you would be
quick to remind every person in here
that whatever the circumstances that
they're facing the you come
and their eyes will be wide open to
seeing how you're working in the midst
father we trust you for this and we want
to thank you
for loving us so much that you would
come to us
when we could never come to you thank
you for loving us like that now in Jesus
name
amen love you folks have a great week
