Out of Darkness
Notes
Transcript
TOPICAL --- Main Idea/Direction
Preaching Passage: 1 Peter 2:9-10
What truth do students need to hear most?
An identity as God’s child is a call out of something (darkness) and into something (light)
Three Supporting Ideas within the passage
worship (proclaim the praises)
calling
dark to light
Additional Scriptures for Cross Reference
John 1:5
1 John 1:5-7
John 8:12
Psalm 139:12
Col 1:12-13
Background Info / People / Places
The OT quotes “remember when you were slaves in Egypt” over 20 times
Mishnah Pesahim calls the deliverance from Egypt “from darkness into great light”
Jesus is calling you out of darkness
what if i don’t feel worthy?
what if i’m scared to leave the comforts of the darkness?
what if i don’t know where to go?
what of sin is holding me back?
Sermon Outline Template:
IMAGE:
Let’s start off with a fun fact. Did you know, that most pirates didn’t wear eye patches because they had lost an eye? It’s true. Most of them wore eye patches in order to preserve their night vision for when they went below deck.
You’ve probably noticed that right when you turn off the lights, it takes a couple minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. But once they’ve adjusted, you can actually see fairly well.
The human eye is incredible.
the pupil can constrict and enlarge in order to let more or less light in. Once light enters your eyes, it hits cells called rod cells and cone cells.
Cone cells help us see color in the day light.
Rod cells perceive black and white, and they’re the cells at work in low light environments. Rod cells have a chemical called rhodopsin in them. When light enters your eye, it hits the rhodopsin and splits in into two different molecules and slowly over time those molecules recombine to form rhodopsin.
So when it’s dark and someone turns on the lights, your rhodopsin splits. Then when the lights get turned off again, you have to wait for the rhodopsin to recombine in order to see in the dark. Your eyes have to adjust.
But humans aren’t the only ones with really cool eyes.
Some animals have adapted in crazy ways to living in low light situations. They might be nocturnal - they only come out at night, or they might live their whole lives in low light or no light environments.
For example, there are species of fish that live in deep caves where no light ever reaches them. They have adapted to the darkness in such a way that they no longer even have eyes. They are right at home in the dark.
NEED:
I’ve told you guys many times that i am a student of your lives. I think that I have to be in order to be a good pastor to you. And what I have seen in your lives makes me sad. I think that many of you are adapting to living in the darkness. Like the cavefish, you have made your home in the darkness and you feel comfortable there and it is changing you and it has become your identity.
SUBJECT:
This week we have been exploring what it looks like to have an identity rooted in the things God says about us.
You are a Chosen Race.
You are a Holy Nation.
You are Royal Priests.
You are God’s very own possession.
And tonight I want to tell you why that matters.
BIG IDEA:
God is right now, in this moment, calling you OUT of something so that you can be called INTO something.
God is right now, in this moment, calling you OUT of something so that you can be called INTO something.
TEXT ADDRESS:
Someone who has put in the time to memorize our theme verse, come and share it with us:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
SET UP:
Foundational to the identity of God’s people, the nation of Israel in the old testament, was the 400 years they spent as slaves in Egypt.
You know the story, and you’ve probably seen the movie.
The Pharoah of Egypt enslaves God’s people, Israel. Moses is born and miraculously saved and then brought up in Pharoah’s own house. After 40 years hiding in the desert, God meets Moses in a burning bush and sends him to free his people living in slavery.
Pharoah says no, so God sends 10 plagues down on Egypt and finally Pharoah lets them leave.
But the second they’re out of Egypt, some things start happening. The people of God who have become used to living as slaves, who have adapted to living as slaves - they wish they were still slaves because it is easier for them to live as slaves then to live free.
They were so accustomed to the dark that it hurt their eyes to walk out into the light.
TEXT:
They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
[Paint the Picture. Flex the DM Muscle]
And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
[Paint the Picture. Flex the DM Muscle]
I have two things I want to leave you with tonight at our last chapel of Summer Camp 2021:
POINT 1:
You Have Been Called Out of Darkness
You Have Been Called Out of Darkness
What Does It Mean?
The bible uses darkness to communicate things that are not of God.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
And each and every one of us has walked in darkness at some point in our lives. Maybe you’re still there even right now. The sin patterns in our lives create darkness and compound darkness because sin is evil.
You’ve probably heard someone, maybe even me, talk about sin as “missing the mark”. The mark is God’s perfection and anything that doesn’t measure up to God’s standard is sin.
God has a standard for how you treat people. Failing to live up to that is sin.
God has a standard for how you use your body. Failing to live up to that is sin.
God has a standard for how you handle money,
a standard for how you relate to your parents,
a standard for how you think about yourself,
a standard for how He is supposed to be worshipped
anything less than the standard is sin. And all of us fall so very short of God’s standard.
And just like the Israelites who adapted to Egyptian slavery we create patterns of sin in our lives and even adapt our lives to fit our sin.
Maybe the pattern of sin in your life is to treat everyone around you as less than you. You’ve adapted to life as a bully and you’ve been falling short of God’s standard for treating other people.
Maybe the pattern of sin in your life is harming yourself or using your body in ways that do not honor and glorify God. You’ve adapted to this pattern and you’ve fallen short of God’s standard in that way.
Maybe you constantly lie. Maybe you repeatedly disrespect your parents or other authority figures in your life. Maybe you give God the scraps of your time.
Why is This Important?
And the tragic reality for us is that we try so hard to get out of the darkness, but we can’t get out by ourselves.
How many of you have ever said something like “God, I promise I will never do that again!” “God I will never sin in that way again!” “God my life is going to look different starting right now!” Maybe you’ve even said that or prayed that already this week.
The patterns of sin are too strong for us to break, we are too well adapted to the darkness so we fall back into the patterns of sin so fast.
So we try to do all kinds of things to cover it up. We do charity work, or community service. We try to get a really good education. We try and make a lot of money. We just think that if we ignore the sin patterns and focus our efforts on being a “good person” that we’ll figure it out eventually.
But it all falls so short.
What Can We Do About It?
This is the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel for you sitting right here stuck in the patterns of your sin.
You cannot do enough to get out of darkness, so Jesus, God Himself who became a human being just like you and me, came to call you out of darkness.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Jesus did all the work required to get you out of the darkness of your sin.
You’ve been trying to live a life that measures up and failing at it. Jesus lived a perfect life with no sin at all.
Romans 6:23 says you deserve death for your sin against God. But Jesus died on a cross in your place.
And when Jesus rose from the grave he guaranteed our resurrection too. He conquered sin and death and darkness forever. Our final enemy has been defeated.
And by trusting that Jesus did everything that needs to be done to call you out of darkness you can be saved from the wrath of God that is poured out on all those who continue to love the darkness.
Transition:
But i told you the Gospel is GOOD NEWS, and that means there is more.
Not only have you been called OUT of something, the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel is that you are now called INTO something.
POINT 2:
You Have Been Called Into Light
You Have Been Called Into Light
What Does It Mean?
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
If you trust in Jesus to save you from the darkness of your sin against God you get to share in an inheritance. A kingdom.
You’ve been transferred from darkness to light.
Why is This Important?
This is so important because we often stop the Good News at getting out of hell. If we do that then the Gospel is only good news for the future and not Good News for right now. But I’m telling you the Gospel is Good News for you right now.
You live in a new kind of kingdom. The Kingdom of God with Jesus as the King.
That means there’s a new way to live.
You don’t have to live in darkness anymore. You get to live in the light. The light is freedom, the light is purpose, the light is hope, the light is joy.
Living in the light means that old things no longer define you.
Your identity is no longer in who you used to be or what you used to do but your identity is in who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, and the words he now speaks over you.
You are Chosen.
You are Holy.
You are Royal.
You belong to God.
You are his beloved.
You are his child.
You are his friend.
He is pleased with you.
He delights in you.
You are accepted.
You have a family.
You will not be forsaken.
He has better plans for your life than you could dream for yourself.
What Can We Do About It?
That is the identity Jesus speaks over you.
That is what it looks like to be called out of Darkness and into Light.
This is the Good News.
BIG IDEA:
You have been called out of something so that you can be called into something.
You have been called out of something so that you can be called into something.
CLOSER:
I sense in this room that some of you are recognizing just how deep the darkness is that you’ve been adapting to. You’re realizing how ingrained the patterns of sin are in your life.
But all hope is not lost for you.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The darkness of your sin is not stronger than the forgiveness of Jesus.
If you have never made a decision to trust Jesus with your life, tonight is the night.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Don’t wait. Don’t put it off.
On the last night of camp we take these sticks as a symbol.
And you’ll have an opportunity to throw these into a bonfire during our fire walk.
What you write on your stick is between you and God, but I’d encourage you to share it with your counselor and your friends in your cabin later tonight.
Maybe a particular sin pattern in your life has come to mind. Write it down and throw it in the fire.
Whatever is holding you back from following Jesus, write it doen and throw it.
There’s nothing magical about this, but it’s a powerful moment to recognize that Jesus has already dealt with your sin on the cross.
And if you need prayer, or you need to confess sin your counselors would love to be able to pray with you.
If you need to sit and just talk to God alone. Do that.
If you need to go back through the devos and remember what God says about you, do that.
These next minutes are yours.