we are a church that is learning to walk. We just turned one, we still spit up our food a little bit but we're really cute. So thank you guys for helping us and celebrating with us. And one of the craziest parts of our birthday celebration last sunday if you're with us is that we ended our service with a challenge to multiply the blessing. And this idea was that we have been blessed to be a blessing and that if God is for us, we should be for our community. And so we did something crazy and we did a reverse offering and we passed the plates and we actually passed out different amounts of money with challenge cards to pray, asked what God had you to do with it and then to go bless somebody in the community. But then the last part is to share that with us. And so if you've already um taking that investment and taking that money and bless somebody this week, we would love to know about it and it's not about a boasting thing, it's about a sharing and a celebration because when you share that actually encourages others and so we want to celebrate the stories that are coming in uh like I think of uh some a couple who blessed really first responders in our community and and took the money and bought some chick fil a gift cards and I wrote something cue notes and pass it out to people I think of someone who after their shift actually blessed a customer in their business. I think of someone who started a fundraiser for a type one diabetes walk coming up in an initial investment of a few dollars now turned into uh fundraising donation of over $1000 in the first week of people that have just been blessing others that then God is just multiplying and growing. And so we'd love for you to go and do that and if you missed out, um we're not going to pass out money this time. So if you're coming for that, sorry to break your bubble. But good news is, you can still be generous and give and bless someone the community. So if you want to do that, if you don't jump in the challenge really. It's simple is to go and be a blessing to somebody, maybe it's a teacher, maybe it's a family member, a neighbor, a coworker and and do something without expectation in return. And just to do something in the name of jesus and to love someone in a practical way and then we'd love to hear what you did so that we can celebrate that with you. And so we are starting a brand new series today. Let me pray for us and we're gonna jump right into it. Let's pray dear heavenly father. We just ask that this can be a time of encouragement. God, this can be a time of challenge. The guides that your name would be lifted up. God. We believe that you are not some abstract idea, but you are here in the room with us. May we listen as if you were in the room when we listen to your words from the bible and may we just be challenged and changed by what you have to say to us today. We love you God, It's in your son's name. We pray amen over the next several weeks. We are going to talk and discuss this tension that exists in our culture today and that tension is the tension between what we say to believe and then how we actually live. We live in an age where everything seems to come across as fake news and in an age where there's division and arguments and everyone is right all the time. And so it's not just, you know, it's, it's, you can't just take someone's word based on what they say. You want to fact check and and really follow up and say, okay, what is true? What's gonna actually hold up? And that's what our culture does with the church and specifically Christianity today, that it's not just what you say you believe, but it's how you live actually proof that what you say to believe is true. And so the next seven weeks, we're gonna walk through a series entitled prove it because we're gonna look through the book of first john verse by verse as we talk through this about how really our lives, how we love and treat and speak to others is proof of God's love and truth, living inside of us and primarily this morning we're gonna jump into this theme and this morning's messages entitled Word of Life because we're going to try to discuss and answer two questions First, the question is who is john the author of the letter, we're going to be studying the next two months and then who is jesus or more specifically, who does john say jesus is c, the letter of first, john is written by a guy named john and so, but not to be confused with myself or anybody in present days, but but john the apostle, john the disciple, there was a guy in the bible named john the baptist who baptized jesus in the Jordan river, but he was beheaded, so I don't think he was cranking out letters after that point. And so, but there was a disciple, one who had a nickname, this is awesome. He is described as the disciple whom jesus loved. If you're going to have a nickname, wouldn't you love to have that nickname? And so the disciple whom jesus loved and he wrote five letters or five books in the bible, so he wrote the gospel of john where he conveniently referred to himself as that the disciple whom jesus loved and then he put in some fun things to like at one point, he talked about how he beat peter in a race, I love that even biblical characters at their heart are just competitive guys that like in a foot race, no joke, there's a scripture reference for it that he says and the disciple whom jesus loved got there first. And so that guy's even at their core are competitive to the point where now for all eternity it is noted that john was faster than Peter in a race. But so we have this guy, the disciple whom Jesus loved and this is a real person. In fact that his tomb or his, his supposed barrel site can be visited today. There's actually a picture of that where they have kind of a monument to there and there are paintings and descriptions of john because he's a real person. But what's interesting is that he started out as a rough around the edges kind of guy. He was a fisherman, he grew up in the family business and his nickname that jesus gave him and his brother James was the Sons of Thunder. Now if you hear the Sons of Thunder, you just immediately parents okay, if you have a difficult child, you just looked at them, that was awkward, I saw you do that, but it's not really a soft spoken person. If your nickname is Sons of Thunder, you're more likely to be a wrestling tag team than you are like this loving character. But what was crazy is that this Son of Thunder becomes ultimately the author of Love and that john writes about love more than anybody else in the new testament and what's crazy here too is that he made a lot of mistakes at one point, we talked about him a couple weeks ago when jesus called us not to be served, but to serve that, that speech came out of when his brother James and john actually said, hey jesus, can we just be at the front of the line, can we sit next to you up in glory in heaven? We know you're going to be at the right hand of God, but can we be at the right hand of you? It was like, does that work? Like, can we call shotgun in heaven and be like, hey, we're supposed to sit next to you, can you give us first place, jesus like no, But he was so close to Jesus, he was in the inner circle, there was 12 disciples, but then there's even an inner circle, some of you have experienced that before where you have a friend group, but there's maybe one or two people in the friend group that you're a little bit closer to and that really there are people that you know that you would call a best friend that you know details about that no one else nos right? And in my life when I think of how my wife, my best friend Samantha, like we know what movies we like and what we order at restaurants and what buttons to push if we get an argument right, but like you know the specific details why, because we are best friends and in the in this case john was described as one of the closest if not the best friend of jesus in the age of the disciples, so much so that he saw miracles and not all the disciples saw like when jesus raised the little girl from the dead or the fact that he was there on the mount of Transfiguration, which is where Jesus went up on the mountain and the spirits of people that they think are elijah and moses came down and you saw that you heard the voice of God john was right there on the mountain and saw the glory of God saw the power of God, he was so close, he was praying with jesus in the inner circle in the garden of Yosemite before he went to the cross. When jesus was on the cross, it was john that was given the task, hey take care of my mother, you don't give that task to someone you don't care about and someone you don't trust you have here that john was one of the first disciples after Martha and mary to, to see the risen jesus one of the first ones to the tomb That really, he demonstrated boldness though in acts chapter four, they healed someone Really in Chapter three and then they get imprisoned and in prison overnight they stand before the judge the next morning and it says in that verse that the judges looked out and they saw these common uneducated men but we're amazed at their boldness and they saw that they had been with jesus. So you take a common, almost angry, self righteous guy, rough around the edges, nicknamed Son of Thunder, who's going to turn around and then be a proclaim er of the love of God and the love of jesus and stand and boldly proclaim that his love is available to others and then he experienced suffering as well. It wasn't like he was a follower of jesus and then became this multimillionaire. No, he was being persecuted and his brother James was the first one who was martyred of the disciples and so he experienced suffering and loss and pain and why is this important? Because he writes this letter and john is one of the last disciples to be alive. While many of them were, were killed early on, Jon actually lives to be almost 100 years old. In fact at one point they tried to kill the tradition has it that they tried to kill john the apostle by dunking him into a pot of boiling oil but he didn't die. Instead stood up in this boiling pot and started preaching the gospel and so they were fearful that they couldn't kill this guy. So then they sent him to an island island Patmos, the island of Patmos where you can actually visit today and it was there that he received the revelation from God to write the book that we have revelation. And so he has this guy that lived to be about 100 years old and he writes this letter towards the end of his life as with a father's heart of love that someone who used to be called the Son of Thunder now is the Apostle of Love and some of his last words, writes this letter to the church in Ephesus and in the surrounding churches and say no, stand up for what is true, stand firm, hold fast. You can prove that the love of God is real. And another thing that's really interesting, not just a biblical fact but a historical one is that because he lived so long picture for modern day reference, you gotta understand picture of Billy Graham. Okay, Billy Graham who recently passed away, he lived almost to be 100 and he just had all those years of faithfulness to the point when he passed away. Imagine being in that last room with the last words and those last things in here in the very heart of Billy Graham. Wouldn't that be amazing? That's what we have in this letter. Is that john who he disciples these guys like guys with really awesome names but you would not find today names like Ignatius and Pollycarpus. I don't think there's any Pollycarpus in the room but there's these guys who then also lived a really long time and then disciple the People like with a guy named Iranian now Iranians lived and didn't die until the year 202 Now think about how crazy this is. So you have the apostle John who was the best friend of Jesus, who disciples guys who then disciples, a guy who lives until the year 200 so 170 years removed from the resurrection of Jesus. We have a guy claiming a talking about the claims of his spiritual grandfather, john the apostle of jesus and so this is, can be trusted, this can be believed, this is real and it was in fact the heritage of john the apostle that gave further historical proof to the accuracy of the letters that we have and hold to a scripture, isn't that cool, they're not made up things that are not made up letters, there's historical site that you can go to his burial, you can hear about that, that he had years of faithfulness and so you can trust john why is this important? Well the, the reality is, he claims crazy things about jesus but who has a better story than john think about this for a second. Nobody argues whether or not jesus actually existed. There's too much proof, in fact our entire yearly calendar is based around the life of jesus, Bc before christ and an A. D a latin phrase that means in the year of our lord, all of world history centers around this figure known as jesus. And so you have to ask the question who is he? We have words from someone so check this out. This is why this is important. We get words from his best friend. We get words from a guy whose life is completely changed and there's no other explanation for this except for his counter with the love of jesus, he's the son of Thunder and becomes the apostle of love Third, his longevity of ministry, he lives to be 100. So this is not like a flare gun that just goes and then just explodes and is gone. This is not a flash in the pan, this is consistent, faithful ministry as he lives to be 100 years old. And even after the destruction of the temple which happened in the year 70 A. D. And so you have this guy who was best friends with jesus known as the one whom Jesus loved, Which life was completely changed, who lived to be 100 who was faithful consistently throughout. And then he experienced suffering himself. It wasn't like he experienced financial gain, He experienced suffering, he had family members die, but yet he held to this truth and then he had disciples that multiplied beyond him to where hundreds of years later they're claiming the same thing that he claimed and so if you have to wrestle with who is jesus, I'm gonna go with the guy who was called his best friend. Does that make sense? That we can trust what he says. Well, what what does he say? Actually, who does he claim, Jesus to be? If you have your bibles open up to this letter, it's in the back end of the new testament and he writes these words to describe jesus and it's pretty powerful. He writes this first john chapter one verse one that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and touched with our hands. Now remember he is the last living disciple of jesus. Do you feel the weight in his words, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, The life that 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 has made manifest to us that which is we have seen and heard, We proclaim also to you so that you may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the father and with his son, jesus christ and we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. So he calls jesus the word of life, but he uses really heavy language because he ties in all of the old testament. And then actually his earlier letter, the gospel of john and he ties it all together. So notice he says in the beginning. Well, it kind of sounds familiar. It's because it is in fact, check this out in Genesis chapter one. It says here in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void. And darkness was over the face of the deep and the spirit of the Lord was hovering over the face of the waters and God said, let there be light and there was light. Now I want to take special mention and just point out the fact, how is it, what is the method? God chose to create the world? He spoke it into existence Now this is important because think about this at some point in time, God gave a command to nothing and nothingness obeyed him. Does anyone mind hurting a little bit? Okay. Mine is when I started to see this. So like he said, and it was like, I can't even get my kids to go to bed on time. Right? Let anyone else do this. You you say OK kids, it's bedtime and they act like they've never heard of bedtime before. What? What is bedtime? Either that or it's only at bedtime that they recognize that they're in a desert and they need water, right? Or they've never eaten before. But dad, I'm hungry. You sat in the same position for three hours. I know, but I'm starving now that I just need water. Would you keep water from your child? Yeah. Yes, I will. Goodnight. No. You know what I'm talking about? Okay, when we speak our words have meaning. But when God speaks the universe is created Then the new testament comes and check out what John the same apostle. He didn't write genesis but he he ties this together in his gospel. Check out what he writes in John Chapter one in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men. The word for word is logos and that word logos means the reason for existence. Now when you take that definition and put it into this verse, it becomes really cool. Remember it's the same beginning here notice that it says in the beginning was the reason for life. The reason for life was with God and the reason for life was God. Isn't that cool? And then you come back into his letter at the end of his life and he writes to these churches and these people and he says they're in the beginning of the letter were studying that which was from the beginning. It talks through the world. Life. He says this was made manifest or revealed to us so that you can have eternal life. Life means Zoe or means like a life of vitality and of meaning. And so another definition or picture of this to be called the word of life is that jesus is the meaning of purpose and vitality in your life. And so he proclaims this in his gospel. In john chapter one, it says that word became flesh, that while we had not seen God, God came down, took on the form of a man and then laid his life down for us, lived the perfect life, died on a cross and then rose again, not only covering our sins, but conquering death. And because of that we can celebrate, we come directly to him and we can have eternal life tomorrow in a meaningful life and abundant life today. And it comes through a relationship. And so john in his last days, having experienced suffering, having experienced a difficult life and saying, if I could tell you one thing and that is to know jesus because he gives life, if you're taking notes, you wanna write this down. That proclaiming, jesus leads to powerful joy proclaiming jesus leads to powerful life changing joy. Someone who seemingly lost it all is talking about how his joy is complete when he proclaims jesus because it changes everything that he is the word of life. So here's the process of receiving joy. There's revelation. In other words, it's not invention. God revealed himself to us Think of it this way columbus, okay, sailed the ocean blue. And what year does anyone still remember? Someone's like, I don't know, I don't remember. That was a long time ago that 1492. I don't know. Is that right? Some of you are nodding some of your shaking. You don't know, You're just nodding because you're gonna take my guess. Anyway, Okay, so columbus sailed the ocean blue and he invented America know it existed. Okay. He discovered it. It was something he didn't know existed and then he found in the same way we did not realize there was a veil, there was a covering, It was hit and it was a mystery. And God revealed himself, pulled back the curtain and showed up in the form of jesus and he manifested himself so that we can know God because God is the person of jesus. So you have revelation which then leads to proclamation that we are declaring the goodness of God. This is how john goes from a Son of Thunder, someone who is arrogant and self righteous into the apostle who lives long and preaches love. Okay, it's john who wrote in john 13 34 and 35 that the new command jesus gives is to love one another as jesus has loved us. And you're gonna see these cycles and the rest of the letter that we study that. Walk in light. Walk in truth. Walk in love. We must Love Because God is love and because God first loved us, we should love one another. If we are going to obey his commands, we should love others. And so you're gonna see this theme over and over and over again. And it starts in here that the revelation of God leads the proclamation of God. But when you have that, it exalts or lifts up his glory and our joy Verse four, he says, we say these things so that our joy collectively maybe complete. So why does he proclaim jesus? He gives three reasons If you're taking notes, the first one is so that people can have fellowship with one another. People that claim that while I believe jesus and I'm a spiritual person, but I don't need the church. You're missing the whole section because as you are saved as you are saved and to be a part of a family, to be a part of a body that we need you here and you need us and that collectively we can experience joy. And so when you have fellowship with each other, that defeats the feelings of loneliness. When you have fellowship, then with God, that defeats the feeling of insignificance. Okay, and then you have this idea of joy being made complete And that defeats the feeling of emptiness. When you take the feelings of loneliness insignificance and emptiness doesn't that describe so many struggles that we face today doesn't that describe when someone's battling depression. when someone's battling difficulties and circumstances like when you're helping a child through school, what are they gonna struggle with? Probably feeling alone? Probably feeling like they don't make a difference or that they maybe they're successful but it feels empty these three battles that we have our common because they are human but we need God, not because we're sinners, but because we're human, we found that out in the garden of Eden that in the beginning. But there is power in God's words. So why is it important to proclaim the word of jesus? Because the word is how the universe was created and then Jesus comes along and says, I am the word, I am the one who created, I am the one who sustains and now I am the one who saves and so if jesus gives us a promise, well, how do I know I can trust your word? Well, I mean my word created and sustained the entire entire universe. Oh I'll think about it. Has anyone else spoken something into existence? Not that I'm aware of. Okay, so the very power that Jesus spoke the world into existence then is channeled through Jesus himself who came down and then we proclaim this relationship and then we are Exalted and lifted up in the name of jesus so that we can have joy and peace and purpose that's beyond understanding. Mhm. But somebody saying, but john you don't know what I'm going through? You don't know what I'm facing. It could be true, but I know that God's word is the strongest thing we have in this life and that a promise is based on the person who gave it and it says in Hebrews that jesus swore not to your name but to his own. If you ever make like a promise to someone man, I swear on such and were given authority. It says in hebrews chapter six that Jesus or God looking around seen by which there is no one greater says, I swear to myself think about how crazy that is. There is no one higher than God. And so God put a promise and then an oath on the promise saying that he will save those who believe in his name and that he will forgive and that he will love and that he will change and that he will lift you up. We can trust the word of God. And when you trust that it brings joy beyond explanation. And so you're like, well john I don't know if he's strong enough. I don't know if he's personal enough. I don't know if he's close enough this week, my wife and I had the privilege slash burden of working in our front yard. If you've ever tried to, I didn't realize the work until we got into it. Have you ever tried to replace gravel in your front? It doesn't look like a rock. A lot of rocks yards not that big. It's a lot of rocks. Okay. It's a lot of rocks. It's 10 tons of rocks, in fact with some friends, brother in law and a wheelbarrow. Okay, that's a lot of rocks to shovel. Okay. And so we're shoveling and we're filling in rocks in our front and redoing the front and my little daughter Chloe who probably will run in here in service because she's crazy, but she's cute. So you'll allow it. And so she comes out and she's like, daddy, daddy, daddy help you, daddy help you. And I'm like Chloe, no, daddy's trying to work that, you know, let daddy work okay, like daddy, daddy help you. And so I'm like, okay. And so we had a full member and so she comes and she's, you know, she's tiny. And so she's kind of like here, right? And so she kind of goes, I guess this is this is the amount of helping she did. And so we're on like the 200 load, right? And she's like here and she's walking alongside of me with her finger on the handle and then I dump it and then she starts dancing going, yeah, daddy, we did it. And I realized that when I talk about issues and struggles and battles or or even things like something crazy like starting a church. How much am I really like that child? Like, okay, God, I'm ready to help. I'm ready to go? You and me God, we did this together. Right? And he's like, really? Do you really know who's doing the lifting? And we're like that child. And so if you're struggling and you're like, man, that weight is too much for me and it probably is, but I'm here to encourage you that whatever you're facing that weight that you're facing is not too heavy for God. And that he has called the word of life, Which means we're called to respond in three ways. Number one, we're called to receive it. If you've never wrestled with the question of who is jesus, I want to challenge you to do that because he wasn't just a teacher. It wasn't just a rabbi, he was God and he died for your sins and for mine And then when he did so he offered eternal life because he is the word of life and so he can give it. And then we acknowledge that our sin separates us from God. And then we believe that he is the son of God and that through his death on the cross paid for our sin and then through his resurrection, we can receive forgiveness. You can receive the word of Life into your life. That's revelation. But then once you receive it, then we're called to speak it, we have been given literally the words of life. Have you ever had a tough day? And then a friend or somebody came along and encouraged you, right? That's life, you are speaking life over and into somebody when you bless someone. When you love someone. When you encourage someone, you are speaking life over and into that person. So you have to speak life, speak the words of jesus who, I don't know if it's gonna be successful, okay, just remember he created the world, I'm gonna rest on that and say what Jesus said, okay, and then the last thing there is to go out and live life, What I mean by that is this band comes up on stage is that proclaiming, Jesus leads to such powerful, life changing joy that we can go and live as if we have been forgiven and if we've been freed and that God already has the victory. I almost have this picture of your in a graveyard and like there's there's a hole and that you've you've been there and you're like feeling down but that he has lifted you up, he has raised you up now. If you've been raised from the dead, it would be weird if you just crawl back in the hole, right? So don't do that. Live life in the way that God has given it to you, meaning you are freed to go and bless others, you are freed to love others, as jesus loved you, you are freed to have joy. Not based on circumstance but based on the one who created you and the one who sustained you with his love. And we know this because these are the words from the best friend of jesus, whose life was changed. Who experienced suffering, who had longevity and ministry, who had disciples beyond him and could speak. Look, Jesus changed my life and he can change your life to receive the word of life into your heart. If you want to close your eyes and bow your heads. And I just want to challenge you to pray with me. If you've never prayed to receive jesus in your life, I want to challenge you to do this right now. I want to challenge you to mark that card that you are receiving jesus and that we can follow up with you after And God, I just come before you humble. We are sinners that cannot make it to heaven. On our own, we have struggles, We have battles because you are the word of life. And we hear these words from one of your closest friends on this earth. God May we receive your forgiveness. God, We believe that your son of God. We believe that you are God and that through dying on a cross, you paid for our sins. God thank you for saving us. Thank you for giving us meaning and purpose and a reason for existence. May we proclaim your name, May that lead to a powerful joy that we can have fellowship with each other God, that we can have fellowship with you and God may we have Joy as we proclaim the saving name of jesus. Thank you for saving us. God! Thank you for inviting us into relationship. We commit our lives to you, and we ask that you would change that for the better so that we can go and speak life. Speak your name into our communities. God, we love you in your son's name. We pray. Hey man, will you stand and sing with us?