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00:00:01
We Can Experience the Joy of Fellowship (1 John 1:1-4)
12 Plays1 month ago
Sunday Message recorded 01 December 2024
by Associate Pastor Josh Shell
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Introduction and Testimony Request
00:00:06
Speaker
Good morning, everybody. um So I'm sitting in a beer stand Tuesday or Wednesday. I get a call from Josh, got a quick question, asked me if I'd be willing to get up and share a quick little two-minute testimony about what God has done for me when he came into my life. And of course, I was like, yeah, sure. And my first question when somebody asked me to show my testimony is how PG I need to to keep it. And I was assuming this was for the youth is why I asked that question. And when he said for Sunday morning, I was like, oh, maybe?
Unexpected Answer to Prayers
00:00:42
Speaker
um But God quickly put it on my heart that um
00:00:48
Speaker
that this was an answer to prayers, that I i pray often to get a chance to share my testimony to to get to show in my actions what God has has has done for me and what he can easily do do for all of us. so just one And in saying that, I just want to make the point that sometimes prayers get answered. They don't get answered in the way that we think they're going to get answered. and any chance to um to give God some glory for what He's done for me and for my family, we all should take
Transformation Through Faith
00:01:21
Speaker
the opportunity. So bear with me. It's not going to be two minutes. If we run late, it's not Josh's fault. it's ah It's my fault. So um so i'm ah um' ah I'm a new believer.
00:01:35
Speaker
less than two than than two years into it. And so just a quick little snippet of my testimony. I've been a very anxious, angry person most of my life. You would not know it in the day-to-day or in conversation, but for as long as I can remember first day of school, physically sick,
00:01:58
Speaker
Traveling as an adult with a family physically sick Up until recently meeting new customers physically sick It's just been kind of a generational curse that that um we all carry on my dad's side um God just removed that for me.
Overcoming Addiction
00:02:14
Speaker
There's no way that I would be able to get up here. I'd have been figuring out all all the lies to to get out of this this morning prior to this. So that's been a big change in my life that has allowed me to experience
00:02:32
Speaker
fellowshiping with others instead of attracting in on myself. The anger that I could not tell you to this day why I was such an angry person is a big change. I'm sure my son can attest that it veers its head every now and then, but um it is something that God has um has definitely refined in me.
00:02:55
Speaker
So February 21st, 23 is when I surrendered. I confess my sins and ask God to just help me with all the things that um have kept me kept him kept me from him over over my life. And you know the the topic that I was asked to speak about is how can we experience the joy of fellowship and and what God has done for me. And taking those two things away specifically has helped that. and i don't anybody that's heard my testimony, I don't mean to harp on it, but from that anger, from that anxiety, I turned into a life of drugs, 25 plus years of of doing this and that, down a dark road to sin. And standing here today, I can say that I'm days away from nine months clean and sober, and it is only because
00:03:49
Speaker
it's only because of the conviction God has given me and the the the desire to be as close as possible to Him. So back to the fellowship
Joy of Fellowship and Faith Sharing
00:04:00
Speaker
part. So the joy of fellowship is with the Father for sure, but whenever whenever Josh asked me this, my my my heart went straight to the joy of fellowship with with each other. And I never experience that was always a person that needed connection but just so disconnected from the world and didn't get that connection until God smacked me up on the back of the head and and opened up my eyes and really the first time I experienced that was the day after that um that I was saved when I started calling up family members and telling them
00:04:36
Speaker
something happened, like like it is it is obvious something happened. Started telling random people or semi-random people at HUB what had happened, telling customers and just seeing that genuine happiness they have for me and the the hope that it that that it gave people and realizing that God is is is using me and He uses all of us in so many different ways. and so oh And I'm rambling. I wrote a bunch of stuff down and read it and I was like, this is garbage. And so I'm kind of just i'm kind of just going off the cuff and realize how easy it is to take right and left turns whenever you're trying to to to to
Purpose in Personal Experiences
00:05:18
Speaker
make a point. but
00:05:19
Speaker
um So in that and that surrender and starting to read and share stories with different people and and seeing their stories, I realized that all the things that God has allowed me to go through the good and the bad, all the things that God has allowed everybody in this room to go through the good and the bad, are all for a reason and ah and and
Community Beyond the Building
00:05:44
Speaker
a purpose. And and for me, um it has been to just share life with each other, to to for the experiences that that I've gone through to help others, the experience that y'all have gone through that that have helped me, and that we are to just live life with each other, to bear each other's burdens, to
00:06:01
Speaker
to to to to experience the defeats and the victories and to just care and love on each other. And we, I, all of us were so blessed to be a part of God's kingdom, to be a part of of of of this church and that you know this The church is not these four walls. of The church are each one of us. the Jesus lives inside of us. And I just want to to to challenge you to everybody, because God has put it on me is to to fellowship with believers, but to fellowship with non-believers and to let them see what God
Faith in Actions
00:06:39
Speaker
has done. And not from pointing at them and telling them, but just let them see in our in our actions. And um it's just something God has put on on onto me. And I pray that we all,
00:06:49
Speaker
can just love on each other. even We have so many differences, but we have one main thing that holds us all together, and that is the love of Jesus, and that if we can all just focus on that and and and appreciate what God has given us, the world is just such a much better place. And I'm leaving a bunch of stuff out, but I just want to say anything that anybody says the day that God is is is is convicting us to say, Josh, me, do the songs. Please do not waste another day. Josh makes it off to call, and and and and Jesus is tugging on your heart. Let him lead you down this aisle and give your life over. I wasted 41 years.
00:07:36
Speaker
in my life and it is one of my biggest regrets that I did not wake up sooner for myself, for my family, for others that um I may get the chance to impact for what for what God has done to me. So please don't waste another day. And then I just want to close with one one one verse.
Guidance from Scripture
00:07:59
Speaker
I feel like the more I read, the more my favorite verse changes. But for for right now, it's um it's James 1, 19 through 20. It's helped me a lot. And my anger does try to poke back up, because there's a lot of things God put the switch on, but there's some things that we're still working on together. But um James 1, 19 through 20.
00:08:19
Speaker
um Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man will never achieve the righteousness of God. And that has helped me tremendously. And I pray that it it helps somebody else today. So thank y'all.
00:08:40
Speaker
are um
00:08:55
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know about y'all. There's no better way to start off a service than than a personal testimony like that. Sammy, I want you to know from the bottom of my heart, man, when we were talking about testimonies, you were the first person that came on the line because of how the Lord has worked in you. And you'd be the first one to say, it's not about you. And you're right, it's not about you. But man, the Lord is doing some incredible things. And we've been very, very blessed by you. So thank you so much for walking faithfully, for being brave enough to get up here and share your testimony. I know it's not easy. But thank you so much,
Connecting Testimony to Biblical Teachings
00:09:24
Speaker
man. Thank you so much.
00:09:25
Speaker
But it is good to be with you guys this morning. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and get this out and open up to the letter of First John. First John. I know some of y'all are probably thinking, aren't we starting a Christmas series? Like, why are we going to the letter of First John? Well, you're about to find out. So, go ahead and open up to First John chapter one.
00:09:48
Speaker
While you guys are turning there, there i would I would love to just stop and say happy belated Thanksgiving. I hope you guys have had a great time with your family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday. it would We had a sweet time with our family in orange, with Hannah's family. We went to a Christmas tree farm, got our pictures taken. Shiloh was doing her Shiloh thing. It was great. ah But I just hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving. And and I hope that you guys truly stopped and and and gave thanks.
00:10:18
Speaker
for the season that you're in now. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that is being lost in translation really quickly between as soon as Halloween hits it's like everything comes and goes like that.
00:10:32
Speaker
And so, but there's a lot in this life and this season that we should be thankful for.
Thanksgiving and Gratitude
00:10:38
Speaker
Every day that we wake up, there's a reason to be thankful. And so for us, the fact that we in the United States take a holiday like this and we stop and we express Thanksgiving is a beautiful thing and that we should always take full advantage of and never neglect.
00:10:52
Speaker
Especially as it ushers us into this next season of Christmas. Because if there's anything in this life that is to be more thankful for, it is the birth of a Messiah, Jesus. Because without the birth of Jesus, we would not have the opportunity to have salvation that we have today. And and so, that's the whole reason why we're beginning in this series. ah Because He came.
Importance of Jesus' Birth
00:11:20
Speaker
Because he came, we can have testimonies like Sammy's. All of us in this room, we all have unique testimonies. Some of us walk through darker things than others, while some of us, we've had great lives. But the reality is is that we are all born with the same initial issue, and that is the sin that is in our genome.
00:11:39
Speaker
From the beginning of time, I mean, not from the beginning of time, but from the beginning of man, Adam and Eve, when they chose to sin in the garden, that sin was passed down forevermore through every single person. There is not a person on earth who is exempt from sin in their life. Do we understand that? Which is why we are all in desperate need of Jesus.
00:12:04
Speaker
We are in desperate need of God's redemptive plan and and praise God that he sent his son, Jesus, to fulfill that plan. And so this morning and this over the next few weeks, we're going to unpack what John is talking about within this, because this the the the writer of this letter is John, the disciple, the one who walked with Jesus physically.
00:12:25
Speaker
He was called by Jesus specifically to to be His hands and feet and to to be the one to go and to help set up the first church, to go set up the churches and and to to share the good news. He was setting an example. Jesus called him to set an example for us and how we are to go and called to share the good news. This guy, John, is writing this letter.
00:12:48
Speaker
Very similarly to his gospel, to remind believers like you and I to remain faithful, to
Purpose of Gospel and Letters of John
00:12:55
Speaker
draw back to the word of God, to draw back and remain faithful to the truth.
00:13:00
Speaker
But I would love to start this morning by reading not from 1 John, but from the Gospel of John, because I want you to see something with how these two letters or how these two writings start out, because they are very similar, but yet they are very different, and I want us to see the differences today. So, I'm going to have it up there on the screen, but many of us know these first five verses of John because they're beautifully written.
00:13:23
Speaker
John does an incredible job writing these words about one of the what what we find in scripture is one of four beginnings in scripture. This is John one verses one through five. 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.
00:13:51
Speaker
in him was life, the life that was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." He is talking about Jesus here.
00:14:08
Speaker
He's talking about our Messiah. This is not just a man that just happened to come along the scene because God forgot that he had to save mankind. No, it was from the beginning. Did y'all see that? From the beginning, and the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. The word is Jesus, God incarnate. He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through him and without him. Not anything was made.
00:14:36
Speaker
This is profound. This is a profound truth that John is demonstrating here. But this is what I want us to see here in just a second when we actually look at the letter first, John, is that um the book of John, John is declaring this message he's revealing to his audience, both Jewish and Gentile audience. He's saying, hey, I want you to hear this because I want you to know that there is a way for you to have salvation.
00:15:03
Speaker
He is presenting this to people so that way they can come to know Jesus. Whereas what we're gonna see here in just a few minutes in the letter first John is that when he is writing the first John, he's saying, hey, it's no longer about how I want you to know, yeah you know how you might know that there's salvation, but he says, he's writing it so that way you may know for certain that you have salvation. And it's because Jesus came that we can have that salvation.
00:15:29
Speaker
But like I said, though what we're reading here are John and then 1 John is two accounts of the four great beginnings that we find in Scripture. The first one is Genesis 1-1, right? In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God, right? Or in the beginning. Mark 1-1 was the second one, then you have John 1, and then 1 John 1-1, which is what we'll be studying today.
00:15:51
Speaker
But as I said, what I want to see this morning is how John goes from writing his gospel account, declaring how one might have
Joy in Fellowship
00:15:57
Speaker
eternal life, okay knowing about Jesus, learning about Jesus, why Jesus came. He was declaring all the testimony and eyewitnesses of what he experienced with Jesus to 20 to 30 years later.
00:16:09
Speaker
After Jesus has already died and ascended into heaven, he's writing this letter to the believers, declaring how you may know for certain that you have eternal life. And the key thing ah with that is having the joy of fellowship, which is what we're looking at today. So he because he came, we can experience the joy of fellowship, the joy of fellowship.
00:16:37
Speaker
And I don't ever want us to neglect that gift that we have. This right here, this joy of fellowship is a byproduct of the fact that Jesus came. But in order for us to be able to experience this fully and completely, we have to understand that because Jesus came, we can now have fellowship with our God, our Father.
Assurance and Return to Fundamentals
00:16:59
Speaker
It is only having fellowship with Him that we can understand and fully experience what this means for us as the church.
00:17:08
Speaker
This doesn't mean we have it all figured out. This doesn't mean that we are without sin. But what this means is that we are of the same heart, the same mind, and of the same spirit, saying that, hey, I recognize that I am no better than anybody else, that I'm a broken, sinful man or woman who needs Jesus daily. And we're coming together to spur each other on, and not only to spur each other on as if we're a fraternity or a sorority, but rather we're going to go out and we're going to declare the message, the gospel message. We're going to go out and fulfill the great commission. That's what it means to experience the fullness of the joy of fellowship.
00:17:47
Speaker
So again, the gospel of John was written to inform the reader about salvation through Christ. Whereas the first, what we're going to read here in just a minute was to demonstrate the reality of salvation in Christ.
00:17:59
Speaker
It's a call to the reader to come back to the basics of the Christian life, the true doctrine, the obedient living, the fervent devotion that we have in Christ. That's what John is saying. So let's read these verses.
Embracing Fellowship
00:18:12
Speaker
We're only going to look at the first four today, and then we'll continue on in the weeks to come. But if you guys wouldn't mind standing with me if you're able, we'll read these together.
00:18:28
Speaker
1 John 1 through 4,
00:18:33
Speaker
that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon, and which we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim it to you, the eternal life.
00:18:53
Speaker
which was with the Father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too 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." You guys may be seated.
00:19:22
Speaker
I'm gonna pray for us and we'll jump into this together a little bit more. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for just your love. We thank you for the way that you sent your son Jesus to come and die on the cross for our sins.
00:19:40
Speaker
Father, this season's all about us celebrating the birth of our Messiah. And we just thank you for the fact that it wasn't just ah an afterthought that you came up with, but Father, it was from the beginning, from the beginning of your plan that you would send your son Jesus to come and die for the sins of man. And we just thank you for that. But Lord, I pray that as we go through the this passage this morning that you'll reveal to us more intimately who Jesus is and the reality of salvation that we have in him and how we should live life out together in the fellowship and community. Lord, we love you. We praise you. We thank you for your word and how it's living and active. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:20:25
Speaker
So again, I don't know if you guys taught that these, these verses sound very so familiar to the verses that he wrote in his gospel account, but they're also very different. Y'all catch the differences there? John in the gospel, John was saying, Hey, I'm writing this to you so that way you can actually be aware and know who Jesus is.
00:20:48
Speaker
He is the word. he was He was in the beginning with God. He was God, or he is God. Whereas whereas in these verses, he's he's approaching it very differently with his words.
Addressing Gnosticism and Salvation
00:20:59
Speaker
He's more exact with his words when it comes to his audience. Because again, if the Gospel account was written to a a more broad audience, both Jews and Gentiles. Whereas this letter is written specifically to the believers at that time.
00:21:16
Speaker
Scholars believe that John wrote this letter while he was an Ephesus, that he was writing to the believers in that area, those churches, because of a heresy teaching that was rising called Gnosticism, which was swaying them away from salvation in Christ alone.
00:21:34
Speaker
but Rather, they were they were introducing things like, you can get you can earn salvation by your thought, by your intelligence, things like that. So John was he was trying to counter a lot of those false teachings that were going around. But specifically, though, the main point that he was trying to make to the believers is that, hey, you need to come back to the truth and the foundation by which the gospel is set on. And that is Christ Jesus, the Son of God. And live by Him alone, and trust in Him alone, so that way you can know you have fellowship. It's not an if or, but rather it's a for certain. And if you're in this room today, this morning, and you're and you're you've been walking in your mind or in your life, do you believe that you've been walking with Christ your whole life, but yet you still have those thoughts in your head of like, man, but if I die today, so and my do I know for sure?
Certainty of Salvation
00:22:23
Speaker
Do I know for sure I want to be in heaven with Jesus?
00:22:27
Speaker
then I pray that you'll have open ears today because the reality is is that you don't have to live life with uncertainty when it comes to the gospel and your salvation. You could have 100% certainty knowing that because you have Christ in your life, you are going to heaven. Salvation is not just a potential reality, it is a reality for you.
00:22:48
Speaker
And if you find yourself in your, or if you're in this room today and you've never received the gospel message and you never even heard the gospel or the message about Jesus and why he came, I pray that you have open ears to hear today. Because again, this whole season that we're officially going to with Christmas, it's not about the lights, it's not about the decoration, it's not about the presence, because let's be honest, none of us deserve our presence, right? We're all on the naughty list for life because of our sin.
00:23:16
Speaker
But because of the great love that the Father has for us as His creation, whom He made in His image, in His likeness, we now have the opportunity to have our sins removed from us, covered by the blood of Christ, to where we can now stand in the presence of a holy, righteous, just God, who then looks at us and says, you are no longer sinful and broken, but rather I now call you son and daughter because of what my son ultimately did for you.
00:23:42
Speaker
That's the assurance of salvation that we can have when you put your faith, hope, and trust in Jesus. And that's what John is saying
Physical Presence of Jesus
00:23:49
Speaker
here in these words. Listen to them again. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and which we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. And this word of life, which goes back to, again, the gospel, John, talk about God being the word, this word of life, the source of life that we can have, he's saying this is not just a ah figment of our imagination. This is not just some vision that we had, but rather he is exact in his wording here. He says, which we have heard. He's taught he's he's pointing out the senses here, which we have seen with our eyes and not only just heard or seen, but they have touched.
00:24:29
Speaker
one of my One of my most favorite accounts in in the gospels is when and Jesus resurrects and the disciples are in the room together and they're like, man, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? The doors are locked. What happens? Jesus just appears in the room. He walks through the door, right? The door's still locked.
00:24:49
Speaker
Nathaniel's not there. So he appears before the disciples and Nathaniel's
Significance of Jesus as God Incarnate
00:24:53
Speaker
not there. then And then later, they're like, dude, Nathaniel, Jesus appeared to us. He's like, I am not gonna believe him. So I touch his hands, put my finger in his hands and my hand in his side. Later, Jesus comes back and Nathaniel's there. What does he do? He's like, hey man, put your hands, put your fingers here, put your hands here, right? Just to prove this what John is talking about.
00:25:15
Speaker
that Jesus was not just this figment of imagination or just this the spirit, but rather he was a fleshly human being, this divine God who stepped down out of his throne, took on flesh so that way he can empathize with us in every way, fully God, yet fully man.
00:25:35
Speaker
God incarnate to be the word of life for us so that what we can know for certain that God loves us and that he has a divine plan for us to be in his heavenly place with him one day. It's a beautiful picture.
00:25:50
Speaker
Then he goes on verse two, the life was made manifest and we've seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was was with the father and was made manifest to us. So so he continues to demonstrate the these to these senses, but he's also saying, he's also attesting to what Jesus called them to do before he gets sent back into heaven, which was what? Go make disciples of all nations.
00:26:19
Speaker
baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and behold, I will be with you always.
00:26:26
Speaker
John's saying, hey, it's not only that we've seen him and tested and touched him, but we'd rather testify of him. We are proclaiming him because that's what happens when you encounter Jesus. Your life is dramatically transformed. You are no longer who you once were, right, Sandy?
00:26:46
Speaker
You're no longer who you once were. The desires change. Your attitude changes. Sure, we're going to fall back because we're still imperfect. We still have sin in our life that we're going to experience. But the reality is when you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, you should no longer desire the things that you once desired.
00:27:05
Speaker
But rather you should ultimately desire to put those things to death so that way the things of Christ in you, the light of life, the word of life can demonstrate itself in you and through you for other people to see. Because man, the saddest reality is is is for you to know that you have the key to salvation in your heart, but yet you're letting it lie dormant in your heart. That is the saddest thing in reality that we could ever do with the gospel message.
00:27:35
Speaker
knowing that we have brothers and sisters out there or or friends and family out in our community who are walking dead in their sin right now.
00:27:47
Speaker
But yet we're so uncomfortable and we're so afraid to walk up to them and just to say, hey man, have you heard about Jesus and what he can do for you?
Boldly Sharing the Gospel
00:28:01
Speaker
We're so excited to talk about every other thing with them, right? We're so excited to go talk football, or baseball, or basketball, or or talk about the latest fashion, or or talk about the, oh Lord forbid, politics. We're brave enough to go out there and debate people over politics, but we're not brave enough to go out there and share the good news of the gospel. There's something wrong with that.
00:28:24
Speaker
We as believers, those who walk boldly in Christ, we should not be afraid of what John is talking about here, to giving testimony, to testify about the things that we have heard, things that we have seen, things that we have touched when it comes to Jesus. Now, I know for many of us in this room, none of us, I mean, I don't know, somebody may have touched Jesus, I don't know, but but we all have seen and heard the miracles of Jesus in our own life if we're believers in Jesus.
00:28:53
Speaker
Some of us more dramatically than others. I know in my life, I have witnessed Jesus do amazing things in my life. If you want to hear more about that, you can come find me after. I would love to tell you. He's provided for me and my family in ways that I'd never thought you that anybody could ever do. And yeah all glory goes to God because of it.
00:29:15
Speaker
But he goes on in verse three that says, ah that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And that's the key word, fellowship, right? Fellowship with us. So my question here is, is how is it possible for us to have, first off, have fellowship with Jesus? Well, we've already hit on this a little bit, right? It's possible because we have a loving God who created everything in the beginning, including you and I,
00:29:42
Speaker
humanity, he he created us and because of that he had a divine plan to to bring us back to him because he knew that we were going to fall, right? Well that divine plan was his son Jesus, right? So there's the divine nature of Jesus who then came down off his heavenly throne, chose to obey the will of his father, take on flesh, and to dwell among men born as a baby gas.
00:30:12
Speaker
My sister-in-law just had a little baby boy not too long ago. We saw him this weekend, the cutest little thing, but man, he is. There's no way possible he can take take care of himself. He can't even lift his head up, but he's cute. That's how Jesus was born into the world. He was born as a baby, an infant who was helpless, and he had to rely on his earthly parents to raise him.
00:30:39
Speaker
Talk about humility. Talk about a God who desired to empathize with every way and to demonstrate his love for us in that manner. Ultimately, to grow up with a perfect life, to die a perfect death for us, so that way his divine nature and his human nature can come together and create this God-man, Jesus, God incarnate that would allow us to come back into fellowship with him.
00:31:06
Speaker
creating the opportunity for us to receive salvation and then ultimately believe it confesses Jesus as Lord, making it possible for us to have fellowship with Him. And then not only is it from there and the idea of how is fellowship possible with Jesus, but what do we do with that fellowship? What do we do with it?
00:31:28
Speaker
Well, we we we should embrace it first off, right? Embrace it and love it, not neglect it. We should be meeting. We should wake up every day and be thankful for the fellowship that we have with God our Father, the creator of all the universe because of what his son did for us. We should meet with him. We should love him. We should read his word daily and in a lifelong manner. But not only just should we embrace it, but we should also share it.
00:31:59
Speaker
As John is talking about here, that we have seen and heard a proclaim out also to you so that you may have fellowship with us.
00:32:10
Speaker
So again, if you're in this room and you feel like, man, yeah, I think I'm a believer in Jesus. I mean, I've grown up going to church. I grew up listening to Christian music. My parents are believers. I was born in America. I mean, does it make you a Christian, by the way?
00:32:27
Speaker
But you hear all these excuses of like, hey, are you a Christian? Yeah, man, because my parents went to church. I went to church. Yeah, that's great. But you never surrendered your life to Jesus and have entered into true fellowship with Him, surrendering your all to Him, so that way He could be that way he could fill you with His presence and renew you from the inside out, from the mind, the heart, the soul.
00:32:54
Speaker
so that we can understand and truly experience what this fellowship is talking about, what what John is talking about with this fellowship, so that you may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus. He defines it for us.
00:33:13
Speaker
So if you are not in fellowship with the Father or with the Son Jesus Christ,
00:33:24
Speaker
And are you truly walking in fellowship with God? The answer is no.
00:33:33
Speaker
But the opportunity is still before you. i don't want That's the thing I want to communicate today. And that's what I love about this series is because He came, because Jesus came, we can experience the fullness of fellowship with joy.
Joy Amidst Challenges
00:33:50
Speaker
When you receive Jesus, there's something that happens in you that even when you are angry, even when you do get upset with the way that the world or the culture or the politics are going, it doesn't matter what you were experience in that moment because overall, what's living inside you is an overflow of joy. Sure, it's okay to be frustrated in the moment, but if you're choosing to dwell in it and that's eating you alive and that's taking over your life, you're quenching the joy of the Spirit.
00:34:21
Speaker
And that's where we as believers, if we're allowing that to take place, we need to stop and we need to repent. We need to allow Jesus to come back, the Spirit to come back into our lives to retake and reclaim that area in our heart. So that way the joy can overflow in us. Because when you experience Jesus, that should be it. Joy, joy abundantly, joy overflowing. Now, does that mean you need to walk around like this all the time? No.
00:34:51
Speaker
but it should drive us to want to desire that, right?
00:34:59
Speaker
So as he says, that which we have seen, we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. And this word us is talking about not with just John and the disciples, but he's talking about the greater church. And when we talk about the greater church, it's not just the those who are dwelling in this building, but rather it's those who believe and confess who walk by faith in Jesus.
00:35:21
Speaker
that group of individuals, that us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ. And we are riding these things so that our joy may be complete. This is where I'm gonna wrap up.
00:35:38
Speaker
Because Jesus came, I can now have fellowship with the Father.
00:35:49
Speaker
Which means that as a result of me having fellowship with the Father, I can have fellowship with you guys.
00:35:56
Speaker
But it shouldn't stop there. Our hearts need to be like John's during this season. As believers, we need to have a desire of not just saying, hey, this is great. I love our fellowship, which is great. I love you guys. But if it stopped here, that would be foolishness.
00:36:16
Speaker
Because the gospel message isn't just for us in this room. It's not just for a specific group, race, gender, whatever. It's for everybody. It's for everyone. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, those who are walking in their sin, those who are who who are broken and don't and have never experienced the re the freedom of sin before. And so if we neglected the opportunity to go and to share it, then we are doing we What are we doing with with the resources and the life that we have, this word of life? We're wasting it.
00:36:55
Speaker
We're wasting it, and we don't need to do that.
Festive Season as Faith Opportunity
00:36:59
Speaker
Jesus calls us to go and make disciples of all nations. I pray that this season specifically, what an opportunity, right? This is this time of year, I think I've said this before, it's it's absolutely incredible how you can go from a season, like if you go from spring and summer where people are people love spring, people love summer, but man, there's something about Christmas that just gives everybody in the mood, right?
00:37:24
Speaker
And it opens doors and opportunities to be able to have conversations with people in ways that you've never had conversations with them before.
00:37:34
Speaker
So why are we not taking advantage of that? Again, this is, I'm not just, I'm not, please hear me, I'm not preaching at you guys with this. I'm i'm also declaring it to myself because I'm not perfect in it, trust me.
00:37:48
Speaker
There are days when I go out and I go to the, eight when I go to HEB and I feel like I run into everybody in Columbus when I'm there. There's days where I don't want to talk to people. The joy is not on my face.
00:38:02
Speaker
So I'm not saying that you're a bad person if you don't take an opportunity to share the good news. I'm not saying, I mean, like, yes, ideally in a perfect situation, a perfect world, every moment that we have breath in our lungs, we should be able to go out and to demonstrate the goodness and and the love of Jesus. But I get it. We're imperfect. we're We're human. So don't beat yourself up if you if you don't live a life that is always pleasing to the Lord. The Lord shows grace and mercy, right? But we should ultimately, they'll be praying for that desire. That's what John is talking about here. So we we have, his joy may be complete knowing that we are all striving together as brothers and sisters in Christ to make known the goodness and the love and the mercy of God through Christ Jesus.
00:38:53
Speaker
I had more, but Sammy took all my time, so. um But if you're here, as we go into this time of invitation, I'll ask the musicians that they would like to come up, they can. But if if you're here and and you have something in your heart right now or in your life that you need to confess, lay down, repent of, whatever, as you go into this Christmas season, the altar will be open. You can come down and pray. You can pray right where you're at. You can pray with me. That's great.
00:39:23
Speaker
But my heart really goes out for those who are in the room who either think they're walking with Jesus, but have never truly surrendered or they have never, or they just know that they're not walking with Jesus.
00:39:42
Speaker
and are okay with that. like I just pray that your your heart will be open to receiving this good news. The good news being that our perfect heavenly Father, holy, righteous, and just in every way, creator of all things, created you and I.
00:40:01
Speaker
in His image and His lightness. He designed you. He knows you.
Barrier of Sin
00:40:05
Speaker
He desires to have a relationship with you. But because of the sin within us, we can't have a perfect relationship with Him. We can't have a fellowship with Him in and of ourselves. There's nothing we can do to create that relationship. And as long as sin dwells within us, we will never be able to fully understand who the Father is.
00:40:24
Speaker
but it's only through his son whom he sent over 2000 years ago as a baby boy who grew up to be a perfect holy man to become our our sacrifice, who died on the cross of for our sins, not only died, but he was buried, he was in the grave, he rose from the grave, then he ascended into heaven. Because of that resurrection, we can now have life eternal.
00:40:48
Speaker
because he was our sacrifice. And God desires us to have a relationship with him so that way we can have fellowship with not only him, but with each other. So if you have never surrender, if you've never understood this good news or never heard about it, you want, and you have questions about it, I pray you can come ask me, you can ask Pastor Victor. He's probably more knowledgeable than I am, but he's got more education than I do. So I'm just kidding. Anyway, but all I'd say is you can come talk to me. You talk you can talk to anybody else in this church who is a believer in Jesus.
00:41:18
Speaker
But I pray that you will not neglect the opportunity to receive the greatest gift that this world will ever receive than it has already received, and that is Jesus Christ our Lord. It doesn't matter what you get underneath that Christmas tree this year, there is no greater gift than the gift of salvation in Christ alone. But you guys pray with me.
Prayer for Surrender
00:41:40
Speaker
Father, we just thank you so much for the fact that you are from the beginning.
00:41:47
Speaker
that from the beginning of time, you knew that you're going to have to send your son Jesus to come into this world to take on flesh, to live a perfect life, to die the perfect death, so that way through his death, burial and resurrection, we as your creation, that whom you foreknew from the beginning.
00:42:05
Speaker
could have a relationship with you. And I pray, Father, that there's anyone in this room today who's never fully surrendered their life to Jesus, as Lord and Savior of their life, that they will do that today, that they will allow them to come into their life and to become King of Kings and Lord of Lords of their life, so that way they are to be transformed on the inside out, that they'll allow the Holy Spirit to reside in their heart to lead them and guide them as their guide throughout their life.
00:42:35
Speaker
But God, ultimately, that i just I just pray that as we go through this Christmas season that we will give opportunity after opportunity to share this good news of life. It's because Jesus came, we can now have life.
Concluding Prayer and Praise
00:42:52
Speaker
We can have a joy of fellowship with one another and with you. So Lord, we give you all praise, honor, and glory. And I pray that you will work innocent through us and in our community in the days to come. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:43:11
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.