is that time of year where especially coming up this friday, you're gonna see a little bit of chaos in the stores and to think that that actor ended up becoming governor, it's a whole another conversation, but the reason we want to share this is is that we sing these songs and, and it's very emotional and we're, and we tune in and, and, and we connect at a deeper level, but the question is, does what we sing on sunday match up with what we face on monday and that we're heading into the holiday season and these times can feel a little bit crazy that from craziness to feeling like you're missing out or fighting the crowds or that you're always behind or overwhelmed, Maybe you're facing a difficulty or a loss of a loved one or or battling something as you go into this holiday season and you're gonna be bombarded with advertisements over the next six weeks, Just telling you that you need this product and this item and this feeling, and to have a great christmas, you have to have this thing and this thing and this thing and repeatedly you're going to have this temptation to that you need more Well this morning, I want to share with you this truth and that is through the chaos and the clutter this holiday season, cling to jesus through the chaos and the clutter this holiday season cling to jesus cling like a child might cling to a parent's leg when the parents trying to walk, Have you ever seen that, where a little child just wraps himself or herself on the leg and the parents trying to walk, cleaning in that fashion cling like that dryer sheet that attaches to the shirt that you don't realize that is in your shirt until your midway through your morning and your neck is itching and you pull it out that it hasn't happened to me this week. But cling like glitter does to anything. Hey, you've ever, if you've, if you've worked with glitter, once you still have glitter on you today, I promise you that Cling like one might cling to a life preserver in the middle of the ocean. Hashtag rose. There was room on that door. Okay? There was room. Okay, If you see the movie titanic and just saying there was room for Jack on the door. But the reality is that cling sounds desperate and I know what you might be thinking, that john you're I'm just, I'm not, I'm not desperate. I don't, I don't really feel the need to cling to anything. Well, the truth is, is that while you might not feel desperate, the reality is that our times that we live in are desperate and desperate times call for desperate measures and you're gonna be tempted to pull away from what really matters this holiday season, from what really is important in life and that through that temptation of distraction, a disappointment of battling depression, whatever it is that you're going to walk through this holiday season? The most important thing you can do is to cling to jesus with everything that you have. We're going to talk this morning about some last words, famous last words of the Apostle, john, he writes this letter, he's almost 100 years old, the last living disciple of jesus, He's writing to a series of house churches centered around the area of Ephesus and and living so long living from going from the son of Thunder to the apostle or disciple of love, being through so much persecution and loss and battles and everything that he faced. He, he writes to these churches and he says, I just want you to remember, I just want you to know in fact, this last few verses of first john he actually uses the word no seven times in the verses that we're going to read today and the idea of no in this passage is not just ahead acknowledgement, it's not like a high school teenager acknowledging you when you walk in the school, I say that from personal experience being a youth pastor for 12 years, I would walk into a middle school and you feel like an all star, a rock star. You walk into middle school lunch and they're like, that's my pastor, Yeah, bye bye. I was like, man, this is great and then it became a high school pastor and I walked into the high school and like, man, I'm taking time out of my day, I'm going to where the students are, I'm gonna bring pizza, it's gonna be great. I walk into the high school carrying fresh pizza and you know what I get, it's like, I want to say hi, but I don't have the energy to lift my hand out of my pocket and I'm not quite sure if my friends will accept you yet. And so I'm just gonna give you one of these, I'm gonna ignore you for the entire lunch. And then when the bell rings, I'll come over and say hi because that's been my experience with high school teenagers. And so that's not the no, I'm talking about, I'm not, I'm not talking about giving jesus one of these twice a year christmas and easter acknowledgment. Oh, hey, what's up when I talk about? No, when, when the apostle john talks about no and the verses were gonna read today. It's not about an acknowledgement in your head, it's about resonating with your soul. It's that deep heartfelt knowing to your core who jesus is and what he means to you. That's why I say desperate times, call for desperate measures and through the chaos and the clutter, that's going to be this holiday season. We must, we must, we must cling to jesus, we've been walking through this book in the past several weeks, we've talked about how really jesus is called the word of life and then we talked about how we are called to walk in the light as jesus is in the light and then he calls himself truth, john or john calls Jesus really the idea of truth and there's a spirit of truth and that when you know the truth, you can spot the lie. And so we gave a warning of lies. Then we talked about what it means to actually walk in love and that we can walk in love because Jesus is loved. And then last week we shared about winning in life, meaning that believing in jesus ultimately removes burdens and multiplies blessings and we received the blessing of obedience so that it strengthens our relationship. And then we received the blessing of overcoming because he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world and that our faith can overcome the battles that we face. So this morning we're talking about winning in life part two, these final words of this incredible letter and we get to dive in and hear the heart of john for this church, Let's go ahead and dive in here. And we're gonna look at verses 11 through 21 and we're gonna see that we should cling to Jesus because Jesus offers us four things, Jesus offers us for things and the first thing that Jesus offers us is that Jesus offers life, Jesus offers life, what what what do I mean? When I say life Well think of it this way it is movie season and it is holiday movie season, specifically hallmark christmas movie season And and some of you are really excited about the Hallmark Christmas movies. Some of you groan at Christmas movies, but hallmark loves it because did you know last year hallmark made over $600 million dollars in advertisement alone. That's why they keep cranking out these movies. And so what is a hallmark movie? Well, it's, it's a life that everyone longs for. Its that that feeling of being reunited with a loved one. It's, well, don't take my word for it. Let me just give you a description of a Hallmark christmas movie, one of the most popular ones last year. And I'm gonna see if you can guess what this, what this movie is from Hallmark. This is right off their website from last year laurel, a high powered Chicago executive travels to Memphis to take over the city's oldest family owned bank. Along the way she crosses path with an ex boyfriend and also a musical partner named Clay who rekindles her passion for music that was snuffed out when they were on the cusp of stardom laurel finds herself drawn to the city of Blues and a Clay as she dreams of making music once again. Do you know the name of that hallmark movie? Some of you know what, some of you don't, you know why? Because that is every hallmark christmas movie. Yeah, that's literally the description of every single movie on hallmark, this christmas season that you're gonna ride, why does that work? Because there is something about being reunited or finding your purpose or connecting with family and and and finding love. And so it's that desire, they tap into that emotion and that longing that we have as humans and that's the life that I'm talking about, that this life of meaning this life of purpose and that really john leans into this and so let's pick up our story here in first john five verse 11 and this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life and this life is in his son, whoever has the son has life, whoever does not have the son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Now, it starts off talking about the testimony of God and verses one through six, we don't have time to dive into that, but he refers to the water and the blood and the spirit testifying to jesus. In other words, referencing the baptism of jesus and then when he died on the cross, the shedding of blood that he died for your sins and for mine and then the spirit of God that was on jesus, that is now with believers who calling his name and all three of them testify and then to the power that jesus has and he comes in and he says this is the testimony And I highlighted verse 12 in there because it's such an incredible statement. If you if you have a physical copy of the bible, I want you to underline that. If you have a digital copy, just highlight that because let me read that one phrase again. Whoever has the son has life. That's incredible. My fear is that because a statement sounds simple, we just move past it. But that statement right? There is everything. Whoever has the son, whoever has Jesus has life, that would be a good spot for an amen. But you know, well we can try that again. Whoever has Jesus has life, wow, They have my fear is that sometimes in wanting what's next? We miss what's needed. We want to move from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 or A to B to C to D. We want to move on to the next thing. So yeah, we get that. No, that statement right? There is everything he doesn't say whoever has money, he doesn't say whoever has the best house, whoever has the best job title, whoever has the best fill in the blank if anything, but the son of God is in that blank. You do not end up with life, Whoever has Jesus has life. That's why Paul actually writes in Philippians 121, it's my personal life first. It says for me to live is christ and to die is gain. That's why I say cling to jesus because life, this idea of vitality starts and sustains with jesus And the same author, same writer in in an earlier writing, in the Gospel of John and John 1010, it says the thief comes to kill, steal and destroy. But Jesus has come to give life and life abundantly. So he gives us eternal life and abundant life. But I think too often as christians, we think that our faith, it's just a a ticket or an entrance card into heaven, but eternity doesn't start the moment you die, eternity starts the moment you receive jesus. And that's a huge difference because growing up, I used to think that you believe in jesus and then you live your life, do whatever you want and then you die and you end up on a cloud playing a harp. I don't know. That's just what I saw pictures of always saw these little angel figures that always seems slightly chubby, never understood that. That if you're a perfect bean, you thought I'd be a little more in shape, but hey, maybe maybe that is in shape in heaven. I don't know, I'm getting there. Okay, I'm getting I'm getting more angelic by the day. No, don't say Amen to that one. Okay, that's not the right time, That was not the right time for Amen. Whoever whispered that, okay, But I used to think that I used to think, oh we just start floating around on a cloud. No, the best way, the best description of heaven is actually described by what's not there no more tears, no more death, no more pain. There is perfect unity and love and acceptance and joy. There's even no need for a physical son to beam down because the light of God will be present with you. And so heaven is this perfect place. But heaven doesn't start the moment you die, it actually starts the moment you receive jesus and the spirit of God comes inside of you and radically transforms your heart so that you can love people the way jesus loved us and that you can have eternal life and abundant life now you don't need faith in heaven. Think about that. Faith is the idea of walking by faith, not by sight, you can walk by sight in heaven because there's gonna be think about this for a second. It took God six days to create the world. Imagine what he can do with an eternity. Think of the most all inspiring moment you've ever had. Maybe it's the beach, maybe it's a mountaintop experience, whatever it is, that feeling of, wow all the time, what people are actually longing for during the holiday season, God gives us for all eternity and we can have that life now by believing in his name, Whoever has jesus has life 13 years as a pastor, 30 years as a believer, I've had lots of ups and downs physically, emotionally, mentally spiritually. The one thing that has remained constant in my entire life is Jesus. It's because in him his life both eternally and abundantly. Well secondly, Jesus offers us this, the reason we can cling to jesus is because Jesus offers power specifically, he offers us power in prayer, Says there in verse 14 and this is the confidence that we have towards him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us and if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him and if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will give him life and to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There are sins that lead to death, do not say that one should pray for that. Now that's a loaded phrase, we're gonna get to that in just a moment. That's the third thing jesus offers. But I want to pause here for just a few minutes and talk about the power that comes in prayer last Wednesday, there was torrential downpours that caused a lot of power outages across the valley. In fact that was down to a C. U. Um meeting with some folks and and grabbing lunch and actually the whole campus of A C. You just the power went out over in the Glendale area and the power went out and it's amazing what happens when the power goes out and you're like, wow! You forget how much depends on power. There's been several power outages throughout our history. One of the largest ones ever came On Tuesday November 9, 1965. It was known as the Northeast Blackout that has impacted 30 million people And for entire day, 30 million people without power. Now, what was interesting is that that power outage that happened in 1965 was actually created by a human error. The power plant in Ontario, like these power plants had like a major kind of circuit breaker type system. It was a protective relay. The idea that if it reached a certain level or two level it would just shut off. Well the person, the worker set it too low so it trips, It tripped the circuit of this massive power plant. And that when that plant went out, all the power coming in stopped and when it couldn't go in, it related, it went out to all these other power plants and then overloaded them and then boom boom boom boom boom boom power out power out and then expanded and it left 30 million people without power. And while that's an easy thing to point out and it's an easy thing to point out that we need power. My my fear is that when it comes to understanding that our power and God is directly tied to prayer, I wonder if there is a spiritual blackout across our churches today. I wonder if there are churches that are meeting and thinking they can do it on their own. And that people and christians think they can do it on their own. But it would just be like if you showed up at church today and all the power was out and we just went along as normal, if nothing worked if everything was off and you walked in and and you were the only one to notice that the power was out, you were like, hey, um shouldn't we do something right? Like you should turn on like a light or something or resets something. I was like, no, no, it's fine, We don't need it. That's my fear spiritually because we try to go in and we try to live our lives like, okay God, I got this, I'm gonna face this battle alone, I'm gonna do this by myself, I'm gonna do this by myself. And then when we get in desperate times, we then turn to God, okay God, I need you when our power source is God himself, he created the world and he is sustaining our very existence now. And so it makes sense that our power comes through prayer and he says that we can come to him as Children, we can come to him as beloved and we can ask and he will hear us and respond this is definitely a first world problem. But does anyone else get frustrated, especially when you're on the edges of phoenix kind of near the desert areas and your call is dropped but hasn't quite dropped yet. You just one side drops out and then you're like, you're calling, you're having a really great conversation and you're talking and then all of a sudden it's like, hello, can you hear me? But can you, can you hear me? Can you hear me? One time? I was having a conversation with a friend who happened to talk a lot and that's saying a lot coming from me. Um and they were talking and uh and the call dropped and I was in a bad cell reception spot. And so I kept trying to call back, call back call back and it was like like 23 minutes later and the person calls like, oh, okay, where did I leave off? This person didn't realize that the call had stopped. They just kept talking for like three minutes. And then when I called them and they came up there like, wait, wait a second, you are laughing and giggling, but not that loud because you know someone like that in your life and you're trying not to look at them right now. And so it's very annoying right when a call is dropped or one side can be heard. But What's amazing is that the creator of the universe, the one who put us on this earth, the one who loves us and wants to know us never drops a call. You can always come to him in every situation and you can ask and he will hear you and he will answer. And if you have a loved one that is struggling in sin, you can pray and it says that God will give them life that's power, that is power that will never go out in a blackout. If we tap into that, God gives us life, he gives us power. But third, he gives us protection. He gives us protection. We're going to describe this kind of intense phrase that sin under death. That's kind of intense wording in that moment we're gonna dive in it in just a minute. Let me just read these verses to you though, verse 14 Oh, sorry, verse 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is a sin that does not lead to death and we know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, But he who was born of God protects him and the Evil one cannot touch him And we know that we are from God and that the whole world lies in the power of the Evil one. God protects us From the Evil one. There are three battles that all Christians face today. The first one is the Flesh, that's our own desires. That says that in James one. The temptation for the most part comes out of our own sinful desires. We face the flesh, secondly, we face the world talks about the persecution and and the battles that we're going to face in the world. And then the third one is the evil one, himself or satan. And that satan is a reality and that there is somebody out there who's trying to counterfeit what God created God created marriage a certain way and work a certain way and relationships a certain way and Satan comes along and tries to offer a counterfeit and a lie to attack christians. That spiritual warfare is a reality. So how do we respond when we are tempted? Whether it's our flesh or were attacked by the world or that we feel like there's demonic forces involved? It says that God protects us. Now there's this phrase in there that honestly you should know this, that First John 5 16 and 17 is one of the most debated verses in all of the new testament because that's an intense wording to say and there's a sin that leads to death. Now there's a lot of stances on that and we can offline have a discussion if you really want to kind of scholarly nerd out with me and we can talk about who says what? Where But but for the most part, what has the most agreement behind this interpretation of scripture of what is the sin that leads to death? Is this idea of willful unrepentant sin. It's, it's it's not levels of sin, john is not saying, well this sin is not leading to death, this sin is and vice versa rather it's not levels of sin but the condition of the heart and so the sin that leads to death just as jesus leads to life is this continual repeated pattern of unrepentant sin and an attitude that says I reject God and all that he stands for. And what's interesting is if if you reject God and all that, he stands for, where do you end up? Yeah, well hell which is the one place that God has removed himself from. So in a weird way when people reject God and sin and this idea of hell, they actually are getting what they asked for. So I don't want anything to do with God and then there's this this place here and and what happens is that God is a very merciful god, a god of second chances. In fact, it says in here that first, John 19, the beginning of the letter, it says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us. And then in john two verse one, he says, I write these things so that you may not sin, but if anyone does, we have an advocate with jesus and so he, he's saying everyone's sins, we all have sin, we all have issues, we all have fallen short, we are all a bunch of messed up broken people merry christmas, here's your card, we probably won't put that on, but but we all have lots of mistakes and so he, what he's saying is that while we are all broken that jesus offers forgiveness and sacrifice and life to those who seek his forgiveness, but if you do not seek God, if you routinely and willfully reject God at some point, God has the right to cut it off. Think of it this way that if there is some type of disease or cancer or something that is eating away at a limb, doctors do not want to, they will do everything they can to save the limb, but to save the body, if they need to, they will amputate and they will cut it off. And that's in the same way as what I think john is saying here that the sin that leads to death is this continual extreme rebellion against God that God has the right to say, hey, for the protection of the body at some point it's done And we see an example of this actually in the early church acts, chapter five Acts, Chapter one through four is filled with these incredible miracles. People are walking and they're healed from diseases and it's awesome. And then there's this, this group, there's two people analyzing Survivor who take from the church and willfully rebel against God and then God strikes them dead in the moment like, oh God, that's what happened to the God is love, part, he is love, but he has just and so we must remember that, but anything that someone is willing to repent of and turn their life to is not the sin that leads to death, but the forgiveness that leads to life. And then he says, we actually have the power to not sin because we have the spirit of God inside of us and that is not a threat, but really a promise. He says, they're in those verses that we are from, We are from the world and the whole world lies in the power of the Evil one. And so it makes sense when Christians are persecuted and christians are attacked because satan doesn't want you to win. But those are the things that lead to death. But jesus himself, why we cling to him is that Jesus is what leads to life and as you can be forgiven of your sin, you can pray for those who are in sin and God can change their heart and radically give them new life. So jesus offers us life, Jesus offers us power that comes through prayer, Jesus offers us protection that we can overcome the sins that we are facing. And lastly, Jesus offers us truth Verse 20 and 21 Last two verses of this letter he says, and we know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true and we are in him who is true in his son, jesus christ, he is the true god and eternal life. Now this is weird because he's talking about truth and love and light and everything makes sense. And then he just throws in this comment that's like a drop the mic walk away phrase. It doesn't necessarily seem connected, he says in verse 21, Children keep yourself from Idols. Wait, that's not like I love you very much. Go in peace, says keep yourself from idols. And that didn't really make sense to me until I actually connected it with what jesus offers. Think about this for a second, jesus offers life, Jesus offers power. He offers protection and he offers truth. Idols cannot offer you that an idle anything that we put in the God position cannot bring you life money, fame, position, Things of this world cannot give you life. It cannot give you power. There are no there is no power in the things of this world. There is no protection in the things of this world. And there's no truth in that. And so it makes sense that john says if there if nothing else guard your heart, give it to jesus cling to jesus because idols can't give you what jesus can give you. You know natural gas. It doesn't have a smell. It's odorless. But it can be dangerous if there's a leak. And so they actually put in a chemical that then it smells like rotten eggs. If you do that, they did that on purpose so that you can detect if something is off, if something is wrong, that is what john is doing here, he's putting a little something in the order. So, uh, so that if you smell that in your life, if you smell a little something that smells fake, that seems temporary, that seems that it's off. It's like man just doesn't sit right. That is what john is saying here is that keep away from idols because idols cannot give you life. Idols cannot give you power. Idols cannot give you protection and idols will not give you the truth, only jesus will. So when you know, jesus, you know truth in, you know what is real and if you're hurting and you're going through a difficult time this holiday season Because you've lost a loved one for those who trust in jesus name, you will see that loved one. Yeah, if you're missing family, you have the family of God. It's not about presence and the amount of things but presence meaning jesus and that christmas is less about a moment and more about a mission that when he came down, it was the announcement that he is here to bring salvation to the world and started a journey from the cradle to the cross. You know, ultimately with the crown that christmas is not this moment that we're chasing, but a mission that comes from a personal relationship with him. And so therefore through all the chaos and clutter that's coming your way in the next month, Cling to jesus, he offers life, he offers power, he offers protection, he offers truth, and so here's what we're gonna do, it's my prayer that we're going to go on mission this christmas season, as the band comes up on stage, we're gonna go on mission and that we are going to love people the way that Jesus has loved us, we're gonna serve, we're gonna share the good news and we're going to build up to just an incredible time and here on christmas Eve, actually a super exciting announcement to share with you guys that for us, our vision here is to help every man, woman and child experience jesus. And so for a one time only kind of special that on christmas Eve, we're gonna have to services and we've actually got the okay to rent out the Auditorium at pinnacle High School and so we're gonna be going there on christmas Eve coming up, we're gonna run up the run out the theater there and we're gonna go and we're gonna have cards and we're gonna have things to pass out because what we are doing is that we are passing out hope and love and the joy that comes from a personal relationship with jesus and that more people are open to the message of jesus during this christmas season than any other time of the year except for maybe easter, but we're gonna give you guys the tools to be able to reach out to your neighbors and your friends and your family and you're gonna be able to share the good news in the life that comes from knowing jesus and we want to serve them in a practical way. We want to love them in in an incredible way and we want to share the supernatural love and power that comes through him. And so we don't have even the full details yet. I'll share that next week. We just got approval right at the end of this week and so I'm super excited for that, but I'm gonna ask that we close this morning in prayer for what's ever going on in your life, but also in the lives of maybe that coworker, that neighbor, that family member that you know is facing difficult times right now. But what you can share with them could change everything if you share the love of jesus with them, let's pray, dear God, okay, the world can be filled with disappointment and distraction and business. But God, you tell us in your word that whoever has you has life. So may we cling to you with all that we are because once you are all that we have, we recognize that you are all that we need and that this season we're gonna have well have fun with friends and family and the office christmas party and those things that we go to, but God more than anything, may we remember you, may we remember that everything that is good in life comes from you and me. We offer that love to those around us. When we reach out to that coworker, to that neighbor, to a person on the kids sports and whatever it is, God, we, we just think and pray and begin praying that we can reach out and that they would come on a christmas Eve service and that they would experience you and hear about your love and in a time where we celebrate christmas God. Ultimately it's not just a moment but your mission and that we can connect with you on a personal level God, if there's someone struggling this morning, I pray that they will put down whatever it is that they're going through and with open hands, receive you into their life God, we cannot make it on our own but you reach down to us. God, could you have blessed us, May we bless you with our praises and when we think of the reason upon reason, upon reason why we can be grateful that we can be thankful that we can just celebrate and worship because of the love you've given to us. You keep us from idols, May we accept your truth when we experience your life. God protect us empower us and God, we ask that you give this community into your hands and that we can see revival break out. That starts right here in this room. Bring revival to our family, Bring revival to the workplace. God bring revival to these houses in this community and out stressed throughout this country. God, may it start here, May it start now? Make it start with us and make it start with you God, all we want to do is cling to you, jesus, We love you, It's in your son's name. We pray. Amen.