Light it Up

The last two weeks, we’ve been digging into 1 John and learning who God is and how God wants us to live.
Until we know who God is, we will never know who we are. So who is God? God is light!

We are encouraged to step into the light, walk in truth, and live life knowing that once we step into the light, God's grace will meet us right where we are.

1 John 1:5-2:2

Light reveals and darkness conceals.

How many of you have left with two different color socks because you probably got dressed in the dark. You couldn’t discern dark blue with black but the moment the light hits it… You are like… “hold up a second…” Then you spend the rest of the day self conscious because light is revealing what you chose in darkness.

That is the epitome of what light does. Light reveals the blemishes that only light can expose.

We tend to want to hide the things we don't like about ourselves but you can’t change that which you won’t expose.

Christianity is a lifetime of exposure because it’s a lifetime of change.

God loves you and will forgive you, extend mercy, extend grace, but he loves you too much to keep you the same way. He requires change from us. That is what 1 John tells us.

‘This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. but if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. but if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.‘My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins
of all the world. 1 John 1:5-2:2 NLT

Here John is basically speaking to the Jewish Christians and telling them what it looks like to be in fellowship with God.

‘This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. (vs.5)

God is a difference maker. When God arrives everything changes! When you allow God in, your darkness is exposed but not to embarrass you… It’s exposed to fix you. God reveals truth in order to heal and give us a chance at living.

What truth do you need to practice? Not be perfect at but “practice”?
Practice makes better. What Christian practices are you practicing?

Life group (fellowship), Giving (generosity), Serving (Compassion), evangelizing (Hope), praising (trust in God), learning God’s Word (killing temptation) fasting (Building your faith), worshiping (loving on Christ)?

Light doesn’t just reveal what is missing in us, but what is available in Christ Jesus!

REAL life is available now is Jesus! Not this fake whoohoo facade that we
project to the world around us, but this real, meaningful, work-in-progress, deep and honest life that is not always pretty, but it is real. It’s revealed. It’s not hiding behind religion, or yesterday’s experiences. but it’s looking for good, meaningful experiences with Jesus today, and every day!

To live in the fullness of Life that God has for us, we must read on through 1John 2:11-17.

We all face cravings that are not from God and though our appetites cannot be seen, they are powerful. We naturally tend to crave things that end up only being an illusion from the enemy and do not even come close to what God has for us. The Lust of the Flesh (or Desire to do something apart from God's will), the Lust of the Eyes (or deep desire to have something) and the Pride of Life (or the desire to be something apart from God's will) are real temptations
we all face on a continual basis. But do you manage your appetites or do they manage you? We are ruining our appetite for God with lesser things.

Romans 6:12-13 tells us to to deny our flesh...so it is possible! None of these things lead to a good future but with God, there is always a next place. He wants us to Grow in freedom and experience that REAL LIFE he died to give us.

Come join us tomorrow as we continue LIGHT IT UP and celebrate dads!