God's Inclusive Invitation: From Darkness to Light
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Sermon Clips
"One person can choose to shift that completely and change the generation for future children and children and children to come. And I heard a story about a guy named Aidan Harper. And he grew up in a small town in Appalachia. And his family, the Harper name, for generations, were just known. They were just known as troublemakers. They were criminals. They were addicted. They were just stuck in cycles of poverty. And they just had that reputation." [00:48:17] (31 seconds)
"The story went that the mother recognized that her, you know, realized that her child had fallen in, and she jumped in there to save him, and waded through the muck to save her child until they could be rescued. And that is the essence. That is the story of Jesus. That he jumps into the muck and the mire and the trash and the dirt and the sin and the pain of our lives to pick us up and rescue us and clean us off and bring us into the light. That is the story." [01:00:22] (38 seconds)
"What's so fascinating, though, is as they are essentially studying astrology and putting a whole bunch of beliefs into the universe, that God actually meets them right where they're at. Because he goes, they're looking for truth. So even if they're looking in the wrong place, I'll meet them there. And I want to tell you that. That that can be true for so many people. You might have friends or family who are kind of mixed up in the wrong things. I want you to start praying that God would meet them where they're at." [01:05:20] (34 seconds)
"Jesus is the good shepherd, and he came to bring us in, to carry us in to his kingdom. And that's the next point, is that he came for all people. He already demonstrated just at who he invited to his birthday. He invites the outcasted, the poor, the lowly, the unclean, the uneducated, those who are considered spiritually nothing. They weren't even allowed to come in to just like normal civilization." [01:12:24] (35 seconds)
"Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. I love how that says that. The law is what kept us in protective custody. until Jesus could bring the way of faith. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came. It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith." [01:14:49] (31 seconds)
"There is no longer, this is the thing that we're talking about right now, is he came for all people. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Jesus. Come on. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs. And God's promise to Abraham belongs to you." [01:16:18] (33 seconds)
"You know, it's like having gifts under the tree that we leave unopened. A lot of us kind of go, well, if God really wanted to, you know, do these things in my life, then he would. He gave you the gift, go open it. A lot of times he doesn't want to sit there and expect us to just kind of put, we think he's just going to plop stuff in our lap and suddenly make us confident and bold." [01:17:43] (21 seconds)
"Jesus came to bring everything into the light, Jesus came to bring everything into the light. That is the goal. He came in the darkness of night. And He brought light to the world. And even in our lives. It's not just that we step out of the darkness once into his light. Cody said that a few times today. There's a theme here." [01:21:03] (21 seconds)
"This is not a one -time decision we make. This is something that we do over and over and over and over and over in our lives a hundred times a day. We choose to step out of darkness into light. In our thoughts, we choose to step out of dark thoughts into light. In our relationships, we choose to step out of dark relationships that are bringing us down into light." [01:21:38] (21 seconds)
"Lastly, I wanted to share with you, there were three, as you know, three gifts that were given by the Magi. Gold represents royalty, but what you may not realize is that at the time, if somebody were to bring a king gold, it represented allegiance and loyalty to that king. That's why it's so significant that the Magi brought gold to Jesus because they're literally laying it at his feet, this baby, saying, we pledge our allegiance to you." [01:28:10] (31 seconds)
"Talking about bringing things into the light. You know, many of you know, we've gone through some really hard years. And there have been times that we've been in a situation where we've been in a situation where we've been in a situation of pain and betrayal. And, you know, I lost my mom, a lot of really hard things have happened in our family. And then on top of that, we've had some really, really painful betrayals from people who were part of our church family that were really hard." [01:30:32] (30 seconds)
Ask a question about this sermon
"The story went that the mother recognized that her, you know, realized that her child had fallen in, and she jumped in there to save him, and waded through the muck to save her child until they could be rescued. And that is the essence. That is the story of Jesus. That he jumps into the muck and the mire and the trash and the dirt and the sin and the pain of our lives to pick us up and rescue us and clean us off and bring us into the light. That is the story." [01:00:22] (38 seconds)
"What's so fascinating, though, is as they are essentially studying astrology and putting a whole bunch of beliefs into the universe, that God actually meets them right where they're at. Because he goes, they're looking for truth. So even if they're looking in the wrong place, I'll meet them there. And I want to tell you that. That that can be true for so many people. You might have friends or family who are kind of mixed up in the wrong things. I want you to start praying that God would meet them where they're at." [01:05:20] (34 seconds)
"Jesus is the good shepherd, and he came to bring us in, to carry us in to his kingdom. And that's the next point, is that he came for all people. He already demonstrated just at who he invited to his birthday. He invites the outcasted, the poor, the lowly, the unclean, the uneducated, those who are considered spiritually nothing. They weren't even allowed to come in to just like normal civilization." [01:12:24] (35 seconds)
"Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. I love how that says that. The law is what kept us in protective custody. until Jesus could bring the way of faith. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came. It protected us until we could be made right with God through faith." [01:14:49] (31 seconds)
"There is no longer, this is the thing that we're talking about right now, is he came for all people. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Jesus. Come on. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs. And God's promise to Abraham belongs to you." [01:16:18] (33 seconds)
"You know, it's like having gifts under the tree that we leave unopened. A lot of us kind of go, well, if God really wanted to, you know, do these things in my life, then he would. He gave you the gift, go open it. A lot of times he doesn't want to sit there and expect us to just kind of put, we think he's just going to plop stuff in our lap and suddenly make us confident and bold." [01:17:43] (21 seconds)
"Jesus came to bring everything into the light, Jesus came to bring everything into the light. That is the goal. He came in the darkness of night. And He brought light to the world. And even in our lives. It's not just that we step out of the darkness once into his light. Cody said that a few times today. There's a theme here." [01:21:03] (21 seconds)
"This is not a one -time decision we make. This is something that we do over and over and over and over and over in our lives a hundred times a day. We choose to step out of darkness into light. In our thoughts, we choose to step out of dark thoughts into light. In our relationships, we choose to step out of dark relationships that are bringing us down into light." [01:21:38] (21 seconds)
"Lastly, I wanted to share with you, there were three, as you know, three gifts that were given by the Magi. Gold represents royalty, but what you may not realize is that at the time, if somebody were to bring a king gold, it represented allegiance and loyalty to that king. That's why it's so significant that the Magi brought gold to Jesus because they're literally laying it at his feet, this baby, saying, we pledge our allegiance to you." [01:28:10] (31 seconds)
"Talking about bringing things into the light. You know, many of you know, we've gone through some really hard years. And there have been times that we've been in a situation where we've been in a situation where we've been in a situation of pain and betrayal. And, you know, I lost my mom, a lot of really hard things have happened in our family. And then on top of that, we've had some really, really painful betrayals from people who were part of our church family that were really hard." [01:30:32] (30 seconds)
Chatbot
-
I'm an AI bot trained specifically on the sermon from Dec 14, 2024. Do you have any questions about it?