Light or Darkness

Good morning and welcome to CCC. I LOVE these temps and pray we are moving into fall. Just love crisp morning air and not sweating everywhere I go.

We do welcome all that are here with us in person this morning and those watching our livestream or on our Rightnow Media page at some point in the future.

Men, 5 of us went to Sheldon’s Men’s Breakfast yesterday and what a blessing it was. Good food, Good fellowship, Great Word given by a brother! I am not going to chase you down and make you go to these things but will say this, you miss out when you are not there

God created us for community and fellowship and when you choose something else over the Word and fellowship you miss out.

This Saturday is our Men’s Breakfast, it is the second Saturday of every month, mark it down, put it in your phone, make an excuse to be here, cooking and fellowship starts at 7 am with eating at 8 am followed by a devotion in the Word. Make an excuse to join us

Let’s Pray

START OBS

This morning we continue our That You May Know sermon series in I John with I John 2:9-14 with Light or Darkness. Last week we talked about Loving Others as Jesus Loves You. This week we take that further

I want to dive right into this section of scripture this morning. First we will look at verses 9-11

1 John 2:9–11

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“He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”

Hateth Your Brother = Darkness

Hateth comes from a Greek verb mis-eh-o meaning to detest, to perscute, to love less

brother comes from a Greek noun ad-el-fos meaning brother both literally and figuratively, near or remote, any one on earth fits this definition

This hateth is not dislike

I have news for you, as long as you are on earth there will always be people you dislike and that dislike you

This includes other Christians

You may dislike them but you must choose to love them

They may dislike you but you must choose to love them

Loveth is from a Greek verb agapao meaning to love....phileo love

How do you treat people?

with love or with hate

The answer to that question shows your heart

love = light

hate = dark

Many sitting here and online will say I don’t hate

Your heart is a liar

It will always lie to you

God is not interested in your watered down, justifying definition of hate that includes everyone around you but excludes you from hating

Romans 14:13

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“Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”

God defines love by your actions

What you do

What you say

What you believe

How you obey

Are you a stumbling block for those around you?

Do you constantly judge others?

Listen church

Your walk matters

Your thoughts matter

Your actions matter

I want to take a few minutes and dive into what it looks like to hateth your brother

1. Ignoring someone

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You have done it

I have done it

Someone texts or calls and you leave them on red on purpose

You ignore them

You justify it by saying or thinking

I will get to it later

I don’t have time to deal with them

Both could be true, you may have to get to it later, you may not have time right then to answer the phone or text

However, even if those are true in your heart you are ignoring them because of hate

Oh boy not ________ again

They just drain me, not now

I just can’t deal with them right now

Some are even more direct about it

I can’t stand them why are they texting or calling

I don’t know who they think they are texting or calling me

You really hate them in your heart when you ignore them

There are times you really can’t take a call

There are times you really can’t respond to or even read a text

But check your heart

Are you ignoring them because of hate and darkness in your heart?

2. Despising Someone

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Society has moved so far away from God and toward satan that despising someone is not only allowed but encouraged and expected

People have

People are

People will continue to hurt you

Even Christians

That won’t change because people sin and sin hurts people

Let me say that again people sin and sin hurts people

Let me say that one more time a different way

you sin and your sin hurts people

That is a fact

You hurt people with your sin

Other people hurt you with their sin

That will never change until you get promoted to heaven or Jesus returns

Since it won’t change your reaction matters

Do you freely and quickly forgive or do you despise?

A lot of times you ignore because you despise

Just the name of someone makes your skin crawl

Despise

Darkness

Hate

You can call it what you want but you better call it sin and repent!

3. Treating Someone As An Irritant

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Great, it is them again

They have called 10 times today

They are so needy

I have allowed this hate and darkness to ruin my entire day and even week before

I struggle here I am not going to lie to you

If you are honest you also struggle here

When I struggle with this darkness and begin to investigate why it comes back to the sin of pride

When you become irritated with someone and treat them as an irritant it is driven by your pride

You believe you are better than them and their demand for your time is an irritation

I get it they may call at the worst times

They may be really rough around the edges and it takes so much time and effort to pour into them

They may not even appreciate everything you have done, are doing, and will do for them

Got news for you that is exactly how you treat Jesus

You call on Him at the worst times and expect Him to drop everything and focus on you

You are rough around the edges, you struggle with obedience, loving others, stronghold sins, wordly attitudes and behaviors and thoughts and beliefs

You don’t even truly appreciate everything Jesus has done, is doing, and will do for you

Most of the time you take the cross for granted and treat it as a get out of jail free card so you can live however you want to live

YET HE DIED FOR YOU

YET EVERYTIME YOU ASK FOR FORGIVENESS YOU ARE FORGIVEN AND CLEANSED OF ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS

Jesus never treats you as an irritant how dare you treat someone else as an irritant.....darkness....hate

4. Treating Others As Outsiders

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No one should walk through our doors here at CCC and feel like an outsider. NO ONE

No one should meet you and feel like an outsider

NO ONE

They should feel loved and valued

God loves them and values them enough to send Jesus to die for them so how dare we treat them as an outsider

We lose sight of reality

There are only two types of people in this world

Saved

and

Lost

Saved = family, brothers and sister in Christ, Co-heirs with Jesus

Lost = those needing the love of Jesus shown to them in a real way

Neither are to be treated as outsiders

Jesus died for both

5. Treating Others as Competitors

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There is no competing in Christ

2 Peter 3:8–9

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“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

God’s heart is all come to repentance

ALL

You should never care how

You should never care who leads them to Christ

All you should care about is sinners being saved and the saved growing in discipleship

We are not here to compete but to love

Some of you keep score, a made up, twisted version of the truth score but you keep score

I witnessed to x amount of people this week

Josh over there didn’t even talk about Jesus this week

You are competing in a sinful way

I get motivated when I think about Barb and Monte and Sheryl and Bobbie among others that truly seek the lost in the things they do and say

I want to be like them

I want to do what they do

But it is not with a competing heart so I can brag about outdoing them

ALL should come to repentance

There are so many people who need you to show them Jesus

It goes beyond this however into everyday life as well

My neighbors got a new boat I better step up my game

I can’t let so and so get ahead of me at work

Society teaches you to compete and win at any cost necessary

In fact there is a popular saying

If you are not cheating you are not trying

Lies

Darkness

You are to love

Colossians 3:17

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“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

God demands your best so you are to compete with yourself to be your best and cheer everyone else on to do the same

This verse is the verse I have at the bottom of my emails from my pastor email

It reminds me that I am to do my best at all times, especially when I don’t want to

Compete to do your best

Compete to bring God glory

Don’t treat others as competitors because you both win in Jesus!

6. Treating Others As Enemies

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Ephesians 6:12

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“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Your battle is NOT flesh and blood

Your battle IS spiritual

They

Humans

are not the enemy so don’t treat them like the enemy

The hard part is they sure act and feel like the enemy but they are not

Listen earthly things don’t matter in light of eternity!!!

satan is your enemy

If you are saved he is a defeated enemy but an enemy that continues to fight despite being defeated

You get hurt so you attack the person who hurt you however you should be forgiving the person and attacking the power behind the person

Divorce is tearing our families and country apart

Divorce is of the devil because marriage is of God

satan hates marriage, especially God honoring marriages

he wants nothing more than to kill steal and destroy marriages

If a husband and wife would turn to Jesus and stop following the world and satan marriages would be healed not broken

Flesh and blood are not enemies so don’t treat people as enemies

1 John 2:12–14

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“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”

I want to look at the three groups that John identifies here

Little Children

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New Christians

There are actually two types of Little Children

Those who just accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior

Doesn’t matter how old they are they are babes in Christ

Then there are those who have accepted Jesus some have been Christians for many many years however they have never grown or developed or matured in Christ

Salvation is just the start not the destination

The most important decision you will ever make is accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior

That marks a new beginning not an arrival or destination

2 Corinthians 5:17

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“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

A new borne doesn’t stay a new born

They grow

They develop

The mature

Christians are the same way

a babe in Christ should not stay a babe in Christ

they should grow

they should develop

They should mature

The way a Christian grows, and develops and matures in Christ is through God’s Word

through obedience

moving from spiritual milk to meat

this is the work of obedience in a Christians life

Young Men

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Growing Christians

Developing Christians

Maturing Christians

These are the Christians doing the work of the Gospel

These are Christians who have been growing and developing and maturing in Christ

These are Christians who are being discipled

I have news for you, if you are not being discipled you are not growing, developing and maturing as fast as you would if you were being discipled

If you are not discipling others you are not growing, developing and maturing as fast as you would be if you were discipling others

You can’t disciple from the pew

You can’t disciple from a seat in a bible study

Those help but they are not discipling

Discipling is intentional and personal and mandates that you do life together

Young men, all Christians doing the work of the Gospel

those who are sharing their faith

sharing their testimony

praying for and with people

helping the poor

feeding the hungry

clothing the naked

serving at chruch

moving form consuming being a babe in Christ and doing God’s Will

Young men and women are applying

James 1:22

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“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

Many Christians only want to hear the Word and deceive themselves that they are growing and developing and maturing in Christ

Hearing only and not doing is not what you are called to do

You are called to be doers of the Word

Sitting in a church pew hearing but never doing wont grow you

it wont develop you

It wont mature you

Doers are young men and women in Christ

Doesnt matter the age either by the way, it matters where you are in the sanctification process

Fathers

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Mothers fits here as well

These are mature Christians, not fully mature because we will never be fully mature until we get promoted to heaven or Jesus returns but we can be mature Christians

These are

teachers

elders

leaders

those focused on Christ 1st, discipling others 2nd

Young men and women should teach

Young men and women should disciple

the difference is fathers and mothers teaching and discipling is their ministry

They understand the process because they have been lead through the process

They are mature and want other Christians to be mature also so they pour into them

Which are you?

If you are a Christian you are one of the three, maybe transitioning out of one stage and into another but you are somewhere in the process

For some that may punch you in the mouth because you have been saved and doing this church thing for many years but God just whispered to you that you are in fact still a babe in Christ

Get to work

Dive into the word

Pray for someone to disciple you, when God reveals them to you go ask

Age doesn’t matter what matters is where you are with your relationship with God through Christ

Length of time as a Christian or church member doesn’t matter

Again what matters is your relationship with God and your willingness to grow and develop and mature in Christ

None of that matters or can start without Jesus as your Lord and Savior

Jesus came to this earth to live a perfect life

Die a perfect death

Be risen in perfection all to pay for your sin debt

He became your sin so He could die for your sin so His blood could cover your sin

You must however accept that payment for your sin

If you reject Jesus you will go to hell when you die and even worse will live without that abundant life Jesus came to give

Not wealth

Not stuff

Not position

But a life lived in fellowship with Jesus and others.....that is an abundant life

That can be yours today if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and Savior and believe in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead

The choice is yours this morning

STOP OBS

Invitation