From Darkness To Light
Pastor Jason Ramos brought a message rooted in Ephesians 5:8 and the healing of a blind man in Mark 8, showing that in Christ we are not merely rescued from darkness but transferred into an entirely new kingdom (Colossians 1:13). Using the blind man's two-stage healing and his own testimony of freedom from addiction, Pastor Jason called us to stop tolerating the fruitless deeds of darkness and to repent and turn toward Jesus, like a GPS rerouting, away from the old voices that shaped our blindness and toward the light we are now called to be.
Can you guys hear me? Awesome. Good morning. Gonna read a passage of scripture for us this morning. I really just wanna invite you to listen to these words. The word of God refreshes us. The word of God renews our minds. And before we worship God, it's good to remember who God is. Before we worship Jesus, it's good to remember what he's done. I'm gonna read a Psalm that was just in my heart. I was getting out of my car, walking across the parking lot this morning, and just had this phrase, oh, come let us worship God together. It just popped into my head. I was like, what Psalm is that? So I looked it up, Psalm 95. So I'm gonna read this for you. Come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving, amen. Let's keep reading. Let us sing Psalms of praise to him, for the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land too. Come, let us worship and bow down. For the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. Lord, we thank you for this renewal of our minds to remember how big you are, that there's nothing too big for you. There's nothing higher than you. God, we've all seen mountains, maybe even if just in pictures. God, if those giant mountains are tiny to you, God, if that giant ocean is tiny to you, if you created all of these things, if you hold this whole world in your hands, where we just say nothing is too big for you in our lives, nothing in our lives, nothing in our world, nothing going on around us is too big for you. And we remember that you are God and we are not, and we rejoice in that this morning, we rest in that this morning. God, we just breathe in that peace of knowing that you are God, we are not. We get to come before you today because of what you've done, that you, Jesus, came, you lived a perfect life, you died on the cross, you paid for all of our sin, you wiped away the past, the guilt no longer defines us, no longer holds us, thank you that you're a chain-breaking king, reigning over the grave, reigning over the addictions
that used to bind us and define us. God, we remember where we came from, we remember that we were lost and dead, we had nowhere to go, but you have saved us. And so we just come, we just come as we are this morning. Thank you, Jesus, just as I am, I come. Oh, thank you, Jesus, just as I am, I come. Let's sing this together. Thank you, Jesus, just as I am, I come, thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus, just as I am, I come. Thank you, thank you, Jesus, just as I am, I come. Let's take it up and sing. Thank you, Jesus, just as I am, I come. Hallelujah, and hallelujah, oh, what amazing love. Thank you, thank you, Jesus, just as I am, I come. And hallelujah, oh, what amazing love. Jesus, thank you, oh, thank you, Jesus, just as I am. ♪ Just as I am, I come ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, what amazing love ♪ ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪ ♪ Just as I am, I come ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ Will you remember this for me? ♪ Oh, what amazing love ♪ One more time, thank you. ♪ Thank you, Jesus ♪
♪ Just as we are, we come to worship ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Oh, what amazing love ♪ ♪ We come to worship you, Lord ♪ ♪ We come to your name with power to save ♪ ♪ With only a whisper, countenance young ♪ ♪ Jesus, our hope and strength ♪ ♪ You've made a way ♪ ♪ You've made a way, you unlock these chains ♪ ♪ Here in your presence, strong, bold, brave ♪ ♪ Filled by the love you gave ♪ Every voice, we give you the highest. ♪ We give you the highest praise ♪ ♪ You deserve it all, you deserve it all ♪ Yes, we give you the highest. ♪ You deserve it all, you deserve it all, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve it all, you deserve it all, Jesus ♪ There are no children to you. You are the one. ♪ I don't care what you do, I'm a merciful king ♪ ♪ I'm broken and shamed for all to see ♪ ♪ The Father laid down His Son, thank you Jesus ♪ ♪ From darkness to light, death, loss to life ♪ ♪ Heaven and earth will join in singing ♪ ♪ Jesus has overcome, hallelujah ♪ And we give you the highest praise. ♪ Oh, you deserve it all, you deserve it all ♪ We give you the highest praise. ♪ You deserve it all, you deserve it all, Jesus ♪ Come on, somebody worship in the church this morning.
Oh, we give you the highest praise. ♪ Oh, you deserve it all, you deserve it all, Jesus ♪ We give you the highest praise. ♪ You deserve it all, you deserve it all, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, for all you've done, for what you've done ♪ ♪ For who you are, we worship you Lord ♪ ♪ With every breath that's in my lungs, my heart cries out ♪ ♪ To you belong the glory, glory, glory, glory, glory ♪ ♪ And through every loss for victory, my soul will rise ♪ ♪ To only bring you glory with every breath ♪ ♪ And with every breath that's in my lungs, my heart cries out ♪ ♪ Oh my heart cries out this morning the glory ♪ ♪ Oh through every loss or victory my soul will rise ♪ ♪ To only bring you glory oh we bring you the glory ♪ ♪ Oh we give you the highest praise you deserve it all ♪ ♪ You deserve it all we give you the highest praise ♪ ♪ You deserve it all you deserve it all ♪ ♪ We give you the highest praise you deserve it all ♪ ♪ You deserve it all we give you the highest praise ♪ ♪ You deserve it all you deserve it all ♪ ♪ And with every breath that's in our lungs ♪ ♪ My heart cries out to you be lost in glory ♪ ♪ All the glory glory ♪ ♪ Through every loss we'll keep going ♪ ♪ Our soul will rise to glory bring you glory ♪ ♪ The glory of your glory ♪ ♪ And there's no one else worthy oh there's no one else worthy ♪ ♪ No one else worthy oh yeah oh yeah ♪ ♪ There's no one else worthy ♪ ♪ No one else worthy please ♪
♪ There's no one else worthy no one else worthy ♪ ♪ There's no one else worthy please ♪ ♪ And we give you the highest praise you deserve it all you deserve it all ♪ ♪ We give you the highest praise you deserve it all you deserve it all ♪ ♪ We give you the highest praise you deserve it all you deserve it all ♪ ♪ We give you the highest praise you deserve it all you deserve it all ♪ ♪ There's no one else worthy no one else worthy ♪ ♪ There's no one else worthy no one else worthy ♪ ♪ Of all of the glory of all of my worship no one else worthy ♪ ♪ There's no one else worthy no one else worthy no one else worthy ♪ ♪ There's no one else worthy no one else worthy ♪ ♪ Of all of my worship no one else worthy no one else worthy ♪ ♪ Of all of the glory of all of my worship no one else worthy ♪ ♪ No one else worthy of all of the glory worthy ♪ ♪ Or there's no one else worthy No one else worthy worthy ♪ ♪ Of all of the glory of all of my worship no one else worthy ♪ ♪ There's no one else worthy no one else worthy no one else worthy ♪ ♪ Of all of the glory of all of the worship no one else worthy ♪ ♪ We give you the highest praise ♪ ♪ You deserve it all You deserve it all ♪ ♪ We give you the highest praise You deserve it all ♪ You deserve it all. We give You the highest praise. You deserve it all. You deserve it all. We give You the highest praise. You deserve it all. You deserve it all. There's no one else worthy. There's no one else worthy.
Oh, full of our worship. Full of the glory. There's no one else worthy. There's no one else worthy. There's no one else worthy. There's no one else who would plead and die to save your life. There's no one else who would plead and die to save your life. I say thank you for breaking the bread of your body, for spilling the wine of your blood. Thank you. Oh, my heart will sing forever. I say thank you for breaking the bread of your body, for spilling the wine of your blood. Thank you. Oh, my heart will sing forever. I say thank you for breaking the bread of your body, for spilling the wine of your blood. Thank you. Oh, my heart will sing forever. Thank you for breaking the bread of your body, for spilling the wine of your blood. Thank you. Oh, my heart will sing forever. Thank you for breaking the bread of your body, for spilling the wine of your blood. Thank you. Oh, my heart will sing forever. Thank you, Lord.
-"King of glory, fill this place." Fill this place. I just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. King of glory, fill this place. I just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. Say, king of glory, king of glory, fill this place. We just want to be with you. We just want to be with you. King of glory, king of glory, fill this place. I just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. with you. Yes, the world will bow down and say you are God. And the world will bow down and say you are King. So let's start right now. Why would we wait? We can praise right now. In victory. King of glory. Fill this place. We just want to be with you. We just want to be with you. Oh, King of glory. King of glory. Fill this place. We just want to be with you. We just want to be with you. Yes, the world will bow down and say you are God. And the world will bow down and say you are King. So let's start right now. Why would we wait? We can praise right now. In victory. King of glory. Fill this place. We just want to be with you. We just want to be with you. Oh, King of glory. King of glory. Fill this place. We just want to be with you. We just want to be with you. Oh, King of glory. King of glory. Fill this place. We just want to be with you. We just want to be with you. We just want to be with you. Oh, King of glory. Fill this place. We just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. King of Kings, I
just want to be with you. King of Kings, I just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. King of Kings, I just want to be with you. King of Kings, I just want to be with you. I just want to be with you. King of glory. We just want to be with you. We just want to be with you. We cry out, we cry out, we just want King of glory. Oh, we just want to be, we just want to be with you. ♪ We belong in You ♪ ♪ King of glory, fill this place ♪ ♪ We just wanna be with You ♪ ♪ We just wanna be with You ♪ ♪ King of glory, fill this place ♪ ♪ We just wanna be with You ♪ ♪ All of our hearts and our minds and our souls ♪ ♪ Oh, how we love You, Lord ♪ ♪ King of glory, fill this place ♪ ♪ We just wanna be with You ♪ ♪ We just wanna be with You ♪ ♪ We just wanna be with You ♪ Yeah, let's just stay right there with Jesus for a moment, just meditating on what I read this morning during my quiet time in 2 Corinthians 5, 21. It says, God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. That's why we're able to be with Jesus because of his sacrifice, his blood, because Jesus paid it all as we sing in the old hymn. And we just thank you this morning, Jesus, that you who knew no sin, we don't understand,
the scripture says you became sin on our behalf. You took it all on yourself, Lord Jesus, all the sins of all of mankind from the beginning of the world to its end. You took it all, you became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ. Man, if you're here today and you're thinking, yeah, I just wanna be with Jesus. I'm hearing that, I'm seeing that, but I don't feel that. I'm gonna ask you not to think about your feelings right now. I'm gonna ask you to stand by faith on the word of God, that by the blood of Jesus, that when you say, yes, Jesus, what you did on the cross, I want that to count for me. I want that to count for me. I repent of my sins and I ask you to come and make me the righteousness of God in Christ right now. Jesus is faithful to his promise and he will do that. So Lord, we give honor and thanks to your name. If you haven't done that before today, let this be your day where you say, I surrender all to you, Jesus, because you gave everything for me and even became my sin, bore it on the cross so that I may be forgiven and reconciled to you. This is good news and we thank you today, Lord Jesus. We bless you. You are perfect and we thank you that when you say, draw near to me and I'll draw near to you, that Lord, that we can be near to you because of your love and because of your sacrifice, because of your grace.
Oh, thank you, God, thank you. In Jesus name, amen. Amen, be seated, please. I wanna ask the ushers to please come forward as we get ready to take our tithes and offerings. The ways that you can give your tithes and offering are there on the screen, the various ways. And you know, we give because we love Jesus. We give because we're showing that we trust Jesus. And when our finances are in a great place or when they're in a bad place, we can trust Jesus that he'll supply all of our needs according to his riches in glory. So I wanna encourage you to give today with a joyful, cheerful heart. God loves a cheerful giver. And because of what I just shared a moment ago about his blood, about his sacrifice, man, we can be filled with joy today. Praise Jesus. Lord, thank you, I pray that you will bless and multiply these tithes and offerings that we are giving today, Lord. Lord, multiply them like you did the fish and the loaves to feed so many thousands, Lord. Multiply this money that we give today, Lord, in order to multiply the work of this particular local church. And we give you thanks and we trust you, Lord. In your name we pray, amen.
Hey, this is a special Sunday. We do it every year around this time of year. And it's what we call Send Out Sunday. And Send Out Sunday today, we've got a lot of people who just walked into the room from both. These doors and they're standing all around and I want to invite you all to start to come up on stage And before you start doing any kind of applauding or anything else, let me just tell you who this is I'm being joined on stage by By four people who are going out long-term with Antioch as long-term sent ones from our church To the nations of the earth to do church planting and I'm going to introduce them in just a moment I'm also being joined on the stage back here by people who are going out somewhere. They're coming This is my friends right here CJ and Christina This is Allison right here And this is Mary Mary's going to be going to Southeast Asia to Thailand Allison's going to be going to Southeast Asia also CJ and Christina are going to be going to East Asia and these guys are Being sent out Allison and Mary will be sent out later in the summer, but we're acknowledging them today And this is CJ and Christina's last Sunday with us before they go on back to their original home in California to do some further support raising. So yeah, give it up for these guys who are being sent out We're so proud of you guys, we're so thankful for you So happy to be on the stage. I've been gone overseas for three and a half weeks I'm getting to see people for the first time in a month today Behind us right here. We've got people who are a part of where's the rest of them? Where's engage the nation's is this everybody? All right, we've got but we've got bases in several places Let's have that graphic go up on the on the screen. These are our long termers that we just much men mentioned We've got teams that are going out to Columbia and Namibia and what we call Golden City in Southeast Asia this summer This is our summer long Internship from six weeks to ten weeks where people go out and spend the summer with one of our long-term teams and do an entire Summer's worth of outreach of evangelism disciple making etc so we've got some of our engaged the nation's people and the ones who keep filing in right here are part of
400 people who are going out on short-term trips this summer from our church Let me show you a little graphic another one our flight map So what you're seeing there is that? Antioch Waco is just a part of a movement of churches here in the United States the Antioch movement of churches and all of us are are planted in and and we we came into being in order to Plant more churches and so our u.s. Churches have now planted churches in all of those locations Which is impossible to discern where they all are But even some of our overseas churches have begun planting churches in their nations So the multiplication of God's kingdom and his church is happening through the Antioch movement And we just thank God for that that today. This is a representation of what's happening in our movement And so praise God for that We're so thankful for all of you who are going on short short-term trips this summer We're so thankful for you guys who are committing an entire Summer to go on engage the nation's and we give thanks for you guys going out long terms long term sent ones I'll see you on the field one day. All right, just came back from Southeast Asia this week Let me see I want to I want to make sure that I'm on track here. Yes 22 different short-term trips Are going out this summer to 20 locations. I want to invite our leadership to come up right now we're gonna have a time of Sending out and commissioning the Larson's and commissioning these others. So can our leaders who are Just part of our staff our missions team those who know these guys. Well, don't hesitate come on up right now and Join us on stage to pray pray for these guys. We need a lot more activity and motion from our people coming up to pray Why don't we all stand right here because I'm gonna ask you all we're gonna go into a time of worship as we're all praying Over these guys that we're sending out If you would like and you say I know somebody that's right up there and I'd like to to pray for them I'm gonna ask you to not even worry about being a part of the singing and worship right now But just pray your heart out during during this time of us praying for these worship team Why don't you take us into this song?
Everybody be engaged in worship and in prayer right now for these long-term ETN and short-term trip people To the Of the year Has conquered and I will follow ♪ I will follow Him to the ends of the earth ♪ ♪ I will follow Him, Jesus, You're worthy ♪ ♪ Of every tribe and tongue, it's all for Your glory ♪ ♪ Until every soul is one, for the Lamb has come ♪ ♪ Oh, and I will follow Him to the ends of the earth ♪ ♪ To the ends of the earth, yes, I will follow Him ♪ ♪ For the Lamb has come and we will follow Him ♪ ♪ We will follow Him to the ends of the earth ♪ ♪ Yes, we will follow Him, it's Jesus, You're worthy of praise ♪ ♪ You're worthy of every tribe and tongue, it's all for Your glory ♪ ♪ Until every soul is one, Jesus, You're worthy of praise ♪ ♪ Of every tribe and tongue, it's all for Your glory ♪ ♪ Until every soul is one, oh, you've won me, Jesus ♪ ♪ I wanna see Your glory, we wanna see Your glory ♪ ♪ We wanna see Your glory, we wanna see Your glory ♪ ♪ The harvest is ready, we have to go ♪ ♪ We won't stop till the whole world knows ♪ ♪ The power and the blood to save every soul ♪ ♪ We're not ashamed of the gospel, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ The harvest is ready, we have to go ♪ ♪ We won't stop till the whole world knows ♪ ♪ The power and the blood to save every soul ♪ ♪ We're not ashamed of the gospel, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Jesus, You're worthy of every tribe and tongue, it's all for Your glory ♪ ♪ Till every soul is one, Jesus, You're worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Of every tribe and tongue, it's all for Your glory, Jesus ♪
♪ Till every soul is one, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Father, a very simple prayer this morning. Lord Jesus, You said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon You, and You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Lord, we're asking as a church today, in the mighty name of Jesus, that You would put Your power on these people as they go to the nations, God. As they sow the seed of the gospel, Lord, let it fall onto good soil, Father. Lord, let there be 30, 60, 100-fold fruitfulness for the work of their hands, God. We pray for unity, and we pray for joy on these teams. Let the joy of the Lord be their strength, God. We pray for these who are going out for the summer, Father. We ask in Jesus' name that they will have the word of the Lord on their lips, Lord, that they will have prophetic words, that they will have healing, anointing power in their hands, Father, as they serve people in these nations this summer. And God, for CJ and Christina, for Allison and for Mary, Lord, thank You, Lord. You said that You are the Lord of the harvest, and You told us to pray and ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into Your harvest field. And these have said yes to that. These have said yes to that for the summer and for short-term, Lord. We thank You that You are sending laborers, God.
And now we ask Your kingdom come, Your will be done through them on earth, as it is in heaven, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen, you may be seated as these guys are leaving the stage I just want to say you may say I'd like to get behind them You know, the short-term trips are still raising funds. They engage the nation's people are still fundraising Even these who are going long-term are still raising funds and you can go to Antioch Waco Calm slash give and you can find out the ways that you can support these whom we're sending out this morning Hey, I've got the the blessing and the honor and the privilege to say let's give it up for Jason Ramos as he comes to Bring the word today Amen amen. Hey Wow, what an amazing thing. Hey in the spirit of seeking the Lord right now Why don't you just join me as we seek the Lord to move in our nation today? Will you join me in prayer? Lord, we just asked today God that you would move mightily in our nation today Your word says that you are the king of glory the Lord strong and mighty mighty in battle They have the Psalms 24 says the earth is the Lord's in the fullness of it God it belongs to you And so Lord, we're asking today that you awaken hearts all over this nation God We're asking God that you cover your people Lord stir the heart stir the mind to respond to you Wholeheartedly today Lord and God we ask God for your protection over our leadership Lord We're asking God for our president God for the family God for those in leadership over this nation that are responsible to make decisions Lord We're asking God for your wisdom that comes from above that wisdom. That's first pure and then peaceable And so Lord, we're asking for that wisdom to fill them and that covering in Jesus name. We pray and all God's people said Amen Amen. Whoo. Hey, I love it Hey, my name is Jason Ramos as Steve said and I have the privilege to serve as one of our pastors and elders here Here at Antioch and it is a great privilege and an honor to be here to bring the Word of God with you today Hey before I jump into word I want to make you aware of one other thing we got here going on It's called taste of the world and it's happening May 8th
You can see it right here and what this is there's different cultures represented in our church and it's a day We're just gonna be an opportunity out in the lobby for people to come and taste some amazing foods as well as some cultural worship and it's gonna be all done in the lobby by people who are part of this body from Different parts of the world joining us to be part of this family. So I want to invite you to that It's happening May 8th 630 to 830. But this right here what we just saw this is amazing You know, there's about 400 people going out all over the world from this house right here And that's not just the missions team what you saw right now It's just not a select few from the missions team But these are our kids. These are high school students. These are families. These are moms and dads These are discipleship school students But they're being sent out all over the world and it reminds me of the scripture that we stood on Over the years here at Antioch and it's Isaiah 54 verse 2 and 3 and it says enlarge the place of your tent Stretch out your tent curtains wide do not hold back Lengthen your cords Strengthen your stakes for you will spread out to the right and to the left Your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in desolate cities. I love that scripture talks about enlarging the tent Stretching the tent curtains wide. I've seen this I've been under a big tent and and when the wind blows and you got to tighten the cords up and you got to Strengthen the pegs and strengthen the stakes But what we're doing here is we're making room for what God is doing and we're following the Invitation to go with him wherever he goes Habakkuk 2 14 says for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea If you've been outside and you visited here, you've been here for a long time right outside There's a mural on the wall and when you if you look when you leave today, maybe take a look at it but it's water coming out and going all over the globe and this is a prophetic picture and a word that God has given us as Well as invited us to be a part of the gospel being preached and going out all over the world But it's not just us going out in our own strength. It's not just us going out in our own ability In fact acts 1 8 says but you shall receive power When the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses Both in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the world the remotest parts of the earth
Missions of God happening all over the world happening in this nation Happening right here in this city by people empowered by the Holy Spirit see, I got this bracelet on right here and it's a reminder but it's a it says a Passion for Jesus and his purposes in the earth like living it out We're people who have a passion for him and his purposes and not only my own See not everyone gets to go overseas, but we're all sin Matthew said that go therefore to all all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, baptizing them in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the Father, and teaching them to obey all that I've commanded to you, and lo, I'll be with you to the very ends of the age. And so we might see all these people are gonna be like, well, I can't go, but I'd love to be missional. And I'm glad you thought that because on June 17th through 20th, we have an opportunity for a local mission trip right here in Waco, Texas. Hey, this is gonna be an opportunity where we get to go on outreach, we share the gospel, we have team times equipping, and our heart is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. It's to strengthen the family, it's to reach the lost, and it's to ignite missional living inside of our people. Because it doesn't matter if it's here or if it's there, if we're living missionally wherever we go and wherever God has called us to. You know, I've had the privilege and the opportunity to share the testimony of God over the years.
And I shared our stories in the past, and my wife, Monica, and I, we've been here for about 18 years, and we came out of a long life of brokenness for many years. We were addicted to drugs, addicted to methamphetamines, alcohol, and brokenness, in and out of being locked up, just a dark, dark life. And back then, what happened was, Monica, one day, you know, our son had said, Mom, for my birthday, I wanna go to church, I've never been to church before. And here we are, we're addicted, we're broken, and Monica starts feeling all bad. And so, the night before his birthday, she goes to the grocery store, and she goes to buy a cake mix. And while she's in the grocery store, some college students approach her, and they walk up to her and they said, hi, can we pray for you? And Monica did the Heisman Trophy award on her right there. No, but she said, well, she said, well, you know, culturally, we don't tell our business, but they pressed a little bit more, and she said, okay, you know what, you wanna pray for me? Pray I get a job, I need a job. So, right there in the grocery store, they prayed for her that she'd get a job. Monica's walking out of the grocery store, at the same time she's walking out,
her old boss is walking in, and they meet each other at the doorway. And he says, hey, where you been at? Come back to work. And. That moment, in that very moment, she got a job. The next morning, the next day she calls, she had exchanged numbers with those girls, those ladies, and she calls them and she said, hey, guess what? I just wanna tell you, y'all prayed for me, I got a job, but this is everything else going on in my life. I'm in addiction right now, I'm broken, I'm depressed, I got kids, and it just begins to pour out of her heart. And the young lady goes, hold on, hold on, I'm gonna put you on speakerphone. She was at a life group, she was college students from Antioch, and so they begin to pray for Monica, and then Monica would end up going to church, and she would still struggle, and go to church several weeks later, and she'd give her life to the Lord and never use drugs again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Powerful seed that was sown, and took root,
and the power of God came upon her life as she experienced freedom. Monica would, because of my brokenness as well, we would end up separating, and I would go away for a little bit, and I would meet Jesus, I'd give him my life, and about a year and a half later, I'd give myself to the Lord, and then would make my way back home, and come back home a brand new man. And when I came back home a brand new man, came to this church, and God restored our relationship back together, we got married, we had twins, and now we're a family of five kids, and we're just going after Jesus. We found a home right here. I remember when I came to this church, I wasn't looking for people just like me, I was looking for, I said, Lord, take me to where the people of God are at. And when I came here, I found a family. I found a family. The scripture says he brings the lonely into families. And we started to walk with Jesus, walk with his people here, and we started to get involved, and we started to serve. We started to serve with the community feasts, walking with people that were living on the streets, to leading life group in the house,
or serving in a men's home. It was never about a status, it was never about a position, it was never about trying to get noticed. It was just that we wanted to proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness, and begin to live out that journey of walking with Jesus and sharing the gospel everywhere we went. The scripture says in 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, but you're a chosen generation, chosen, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. Another translation says his own special possession. He says that you may proclaim the praises of him who's called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but now the people of God, once had received mercy, but now have obtained it. You know, all those many different things. over the last 18 years of getting to be a part of and involved in, it's shaped us, it's shaped our kids and just being on mission with the Lord and walking with Him and every day being the journey of walking with God. You know, whether it was becoming on staff or leading a men's home or leading Impact Waco, but this past March was a sweet, sweet time for us as well. We went down to the border with the college students for Awaken, the mission trip, and we were down there with the college ministry, down in Edinburgh, and I remember I took some of my family,
I took my twins, and I took one of my sons and his wife and their three kids, and I'm gonna be teaching one of those days. Well, in the middle of worship, we're there, we're worshiping the Lord, and we're just going at it, hundreds, over 100 college students in there crying out to Jesus as well, and during worship, I turn around and I look back, and my four-year-old granddaughter is over there with her hand on a college student with her seven-year-old sister, and they're praying for this college student. Next thing you know, they move in and out throughout the crowd of people, laying hands and praying for people. I would hear, yeah. I was approached, we were approached by several students that I had this pain and it's gone, I had these thoughts and it's gone, and it was like, wow, and I share with Monica, I said, 20 years ago, those college students had no idea that the lady they were praying for in the grocery store that was broken and addicted, that they had no relatability to, with, but they had faith that one day, this woman and her granddaughters would be in the same ministry that she's a part of, praying over college students. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And a lot of those college students weren't even born yet. Yeah. Yeah. The power of God, the beauty of Jesus. Acts 2.39 says, for the promises for you, your children, and all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call. Divine destiny. Divine destiny. I love it. Just being, like, seeing the Lord move and being reminded that his hand is on us and that his call is on our life, but also that his heart is for us every step of the way. The beauty of God. You know, next week is gonna be our baptism bash. You can pull that link up right there. So, hey, if you haven't been baptized yet and you wanna get baptized, this is gonna be the time. In fact, out in our lobby, we're having people sign up to get baptized. It's a beautiful time of saying, man, I'm being dead to the world and raised to newness of life of walking with Jesus. This commitment is, I'm 100 with you, God. I'm saying that my life is yours and I'm no longer part of the dark. But, you know, that's next week. This past, on Saturday, yesterday,
we had a sweet time here in this room right here. It was a baby dedication. Anybody get dedicated yesterday? Anybody dedicate their children yesterday? Yeah, sweet time of baby dedication. Now, this isn't baptism, but what this is is where the parents are coming to the Lord to say, Lord, we wanna offer our child to you. This came out a story out of 1 Samuel where a woman named Hannah, who had longed to have children, but wasn't able to. And she began to pour out her soul to God and cried to the Lord and say, God, if you will give me a child, God, I'll give him back to you. And God answered that prayer. And you know what she did? She responded back to the Lord and gave him back to the Lord. And that's what we were doing in here yesterday was dedicating children. But it wasn't just about the children that were being dedicated. It was about the entire family. Deuteronomy 6, 4 says, "'Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, "'with all your soul, and with all your strength. "'And these words which I commanded you today
"'shall be in your heart. "'You shall teach them diligently "'when you're walking by the way, "'when you lie down, and when you rise up.'" This word right here was an encouragement and a charge for our families to model to our kids every day what it looks like to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. And as they watch you, that out of that place of loving God with everything inside of you will flow parenting. The parenting will flow from that place. And that will create and develop and nurture a place for our children to grow up and know God. And that's our prayer, that they would grow up and they would know him. And when they get older, and they are able to make those decisions to follow him, that they will own their faith as well, that they will go on this journey and respond to the Lord. Now, I shared with them yesterday. I said, kids don't always follow what we say, but they follow what we love. Kids don't always follow what we say, but they follow what we love. So they see it. They see what we love. What do I love? Do I love people?
Do I love the Lord? Do I love the scores? Do I love the game? All of it, they're watching us and responding to us. Now, if I was to sit here and say, I was talking earlier with some guys, I said, if I was. To say because I give my son or child a great home does not guarantee a great outcome for them When I say that meaning it doesn't guarantee that their road will be smooth ahead There's a story that Jesus shared with us in Luke 15 It's called the prodigal son this kid had a best dad ever had the best parent But yet the son grew up and still chose to go out in the streets and do his thing He still decided to say you know what I'm gonna go out here and do I'm gonna go and live how I want to live And he found himself in a place of brokenness He got so desperate that he wanted what the pigs were eating and then one of my favorite Scriptures in all the Bible is in Luke 15 17 it says when he came to his senses Parents if you're looking for a prayer to pray over your children that are far from you Begin to pray God would they come to their senses and you know what I like about this because when he came to his senses He was choosing darkness. He was out there. He's like this ain't what it is like it ain't this it ain't what it is right here I kept thinking if I can live like this do like this and be like this and my life will produce something else No, that ain't what it is. He said you know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go back to my dad. I'm gonna tell my dad I'm sorry sin against heaven of sin against you, and I'm no longer worthy because your son So the son got up and started to make his way and he returned, but when he returned he returned with humility He Didn't return saying give me the Wi-Fi password He didn't return saying I need this certain job or this kind of relationship I got to be able to do this. He returns that I just want to be close to you. I Just want to be close to you. He had a revelation. He came to his senses You know, I was I was praying I was I was going falling asleep the other night and I was like Lord About this word and I was already
Asleep, but then I saw it and it said I saw this phrase that came up and it says from darkness to light And I woke up the next morning. I said, okay, that's that's what the Lord is saying today from darkness to light I want to take us to a story if you got your Bible if not, it come up on the screen It's found in Mark chapter 8 verse 22 through 26 It says then they came to Bethsaida I Think Philip was from Bethsaida. It said they brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him He took the blind man by the hand and he brought him out of the village Spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on him. He asked him. Do you see anything? He looked up and said I see people they look like trees walking around Again Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes The man looked intently and his sight was restored and he saw everything clearly Then he sent them home saying don't even go into the village. I Was reading this story and I was like, okay Lord There's some things that they stick out to me right here one was that they took him out of the village Somebody believed in Jesus enough and had faith in him that they believed that if I could just get this guy To Jesus that his life can be healed that his eyes could be restored that he could be able to see so one Somebody had faith in Jesus. Another part was that? Yes. Jesus did lead him out of the city. This guy was led He wasn't wrestling with Jesus. He wasn't like I don't want to do this. Why do I got to do this? He was like, I'm already a point where I need your help. I'm blind. I can't see I'm in darkness God I need your help and so he allows Jesus to take him out of the city and another thing is like Nobody could have expected or even thought that it would have been him spitting in the man's eyes He had the Nazarene by zine But he spent time with this guy Nobody could imagine that but so often we're in our journey and we're like it's gotta look like this It's got to be like this. It's got to turn out like this instead of just being like God do whatever you want to do I'm in darkness and I can't I need to get out of it and I can't get out of it This guy was in the middle of a miracle Says that he started to see everybody in this room squint your eyes as far down as possible without closing them You see how it gets hard you see a little bit but everything isn't clear you can open your eyes now
But the moment you're open you spend the Lord you spend more time with the Lord He spent more time with him. His eyes were open clearly and he was able to see One day I was asking the Lord about this We was I was a working with the Mercy House guys and we were walking through the scripture and we were sitting outside of Starbucks Yeah, we were at Starbucks drinking coffee Getting in the Word of God and we were we reading through this passage and I asked the Lord I said God Why didn't you want him to go back to the village that last verse says? Don't go back into the village and I heard the Lord say because he was blind, but he wasn't deaf Everything that this man knew who he was in the way world work was from the voices that he heard And it would be real easy for him to return to those old voices This ain't gonna work This ain't really that bad. You know saying you can keep doing it better get it before somebody else does Look, I want to tell you today. Don't go back to what has shaped your blindness Some sometimes the Lord's inviting us and giving us wisdom to not go down these certain roads because he knows that it's easy for us To go back to those things. I've seen people go back and people would say man I prayed and I guess it didn't really work and I was like no it worked. You just went back The Lord the Lord he would say go and sin no more or worse thing might happen. And so he's giving us a heads up But so I went to felt this statement is sharing this room If somebody is pulling you back into darkness, you better run. Okay, and somebody's like, hey, let's keep going out You gotta run if somebody's like, hey, let's you know Keep smoking you better run if somebody's in a unhealthy relationship and they keep telling you there's nothing wrong with it run Do whatever you got to do to get free and stay free But we got to do is we got a yeah, you can clap. Okay See We got to be real about darkness, okay We got to be real about it Ephesians 5 8 says you were once darkness, but now you're light and the Lord So walk as children of light. I Love this is one of my favorite scriptures because it doesn't say that I was in the darkness It says I was darkness. It doesn't say I'm in the light It says I am light and it says that I'm a walk as children of light. That means I'm a people
I'm part of a people. I'm part of a something that's plural. I'm the children of God and walking with others Darkness when you look it up, it's formally defined as the absence of light, but it's not just the absence of light It's the absence of God's rule. It's the absence of God's truth It's the absence of God's presence in your life that you're allowing them to be because you're submitting to the darkness And this isn't just about behavior. This is about our identity right here I can't just be focused on what I want to stop trying to do or say I don't want to do that or stay away from that. I got to learn to hate it I got to learn to hate those things that are dark The scripture says Romans 12 9 says love must be sincere hate what is evil cling to what is good And if we don't if we don't do that, we're eventually going to start continue to give things passes in our life Passes to gossip gossip separates friends and supports division Bitterness it produces emotional and relational decay in our life anger Scripture says anger does not produce the righteousness of God Pornography it perverts the heart and it feels trafficking and sexual abuse Addiction, you know alcohol and drug addiction It's a yoke that convinces somebody that they gotta wear it to survive and then it leaves them hopeless these are things in Isolation I'm gonna say this isolation isn't evil, but it can become a breeding ground for darkness. I Can't cling to those things no more. I got a real I got a I got to reject them Isaiah 5, I mean, excuse me Ephesians 5 11 says have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness But rather expose them the fruitless deeds It's got the appearance of a plant, but it's fake. It ain't producing anything I can't keep holding on to these things and thinking that well, they're gonna produce something in my life Hopefully when it doesn't the scripture says they're fruitless deeds of darkness. It's a fake plan You Need to know we need to know I need to know That darkness will continue to try to cling to us Sin is it it isn't passive. It seeks to dominate you. That's what its desire is to do
So I don't just stop sinning. I learned to hate what is trying to destroy me. I Learned to hate what is trying to destroy my marriage. I learned to hate what is trying to destroy my children I hate what learned to hate what is destroying family members? Scripture says if if eating meat causes my brother to stumble then I won't eat meat no more It's because that I'm not just inward looking but I'm also external looking as well. I Was under the rule of the enemy. I was under the rule of Satan and his his dominion. I wasn't in darkness I was darkness. I was wearing the enemy's uniform I was taking instruction from the enemy and even when I didn't know it Even when I didn't know it was him. I was taking those instructions, but I was Blind, but when I did know it was him, I still would give in to it Everybody say but God But God who is rich in mercy Because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together With Christ it is by grace that we have been saved rich in mercy Rich in mercy. I love the scripture. I love in and Romans 12. I love it. I love 12 1 and 2 I've Prayed to a lot being transformed by the renewal renewing of our mind But I love one because it says brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice for this is your true spiritual act of worship But I love that it says in view of God's mercy I keep the mercies of God always in front of me not as not as a reminder of shame But as a reminder of his great love But not only as a reminder his great love for me and where he's pulled me and loved me and healed me But also that way I keep that in front of me so that I can extend that mercy to others as well Because God works in and through us to reveal his heart for people Colossians 1 13 says for he has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son His rich mercy it rescues us. It doesn't improvise us it. We're not an improvised version. We're rescued He rescues us from the domain of darkness The Dominion, you know that Dominion when you look that word up what it means it means rule
Government authority and so if I've been rescued from the government of Satan the government of evil I've been under his rulership and under his leading The government of darkness and the beauty is I wasn't just forgiven According to this scripture. It says I was transferred. I Was transferred and to the son of his love his beloved son his kingdom is transferring it it's it's leaving one domain to another I Don't I don't get transferred while still clinging to the old domain If I don't I can't walk it out if I'm still trying to cling to the old domain He's faithful to deliver us his love his his heart He will he will deliver us and then he transfers us into this new kingdom But we walk it out by saying I'm done living under the rule of darkness, I'm done living under the rule of darkness and repent and repent and I turn See, it's not just a feeling It's not just feeling bad about what I've done or what I've been a part of because we can do that We can go in this cycle of shame and guilt and shame and embarrassment and shame and hope and we live in this cycle The enemy that keeps us gripped and he's clinging on to us, but it's not just about feeling bad It's about it's a decisive turning moment you know that that's what baptism is is it's a turning moment for your life a Decision that you're making I'm going from darkness to light. I'm going from sin to surrender I'm going from self rule to Jesus is Lord You know, I see this in Acts 2 whenever, you know Jesus came he rose from the dead and then he ascended and then in the book of Acts Peter would go out and he started to go and it says in Chapter 2 it says that a sound of a rushing wind was there and he said he began to preach and he began to tell About Jesus and and it says that people were offended by it
But then he said in Acts 2 37 it says now when they heard this They were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles men and brethren. What shall we do? I'm telling you that there's people we hear this message of Jesus and his faithfulness and his his goodness and how he's the Savior He delivers us but we also can hear things about Turn from this and and walk away from this and we can be like I don't know about that But these people right here Some of them were cut to the heart When you hear the message of Jesus When you hear the gospel when you hear the words of God when you hear the Bible does it cut you to the heart? These people said they were cut to the heart. And you know what? Not only were they cut to the heart. They asked They needed to know like That's that humility place again. That isn't that pride. I got it. I know what I need. I don't need nobody So it was like what shall we do? And this was Peter's reply 2 38 through 41. He says Peter replied repent and be baptized each of you in the name of Jesus Christ For the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit For the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call With many other words he testified and strongly urged them saying be saved from this corrupt Generation so those who accepted his message were baptized and that day about 3,000 people were added to the church or added to them that day 3,000 People had responded to this message to who Jesus is made a decision to turn and repent and be baptized and they not only this wasn't the Pinnacle of their walk with God a baptism is not the pinnacle, but it's a pivotal moment It's a turning place. It was like you know what you know the scripture says right after that it picks back up in 242-47 it gives you a picture of the church They became part of a people, but when you see this word repent like well, what is actually does that mean? It's like look. I'm heading this direction, and you know what I'm going this direction now. I'm no longer going that direction There's a turning that happens
repenting in Matthew John the Baptist came and he said produce fruit consistent with repentance It's like the fruit of our life is showing that man. I've turned this direction and go this direction I mean let me explain like this who who uses Google Maps in here raise your hand Should be almost everybody right you might use it even though you don't know you use it, but But you could put an address in there when you're going somewhere right and as you're going and you miss your turn There's a little voice that comes on it, and it says what? Reroute reroute and as long as you keep staying off the track it's gonna keep saying reroute reroute Don't you know that's the voice of the Holy Spirit Telling us in our life to reroute reroute But the moment you exit off But if you don't exit off you'd stay on the wrong road every wrong road leads to a wrong destination And you know what that name of that place is called where I don't want to be Because you might think you want to be there you might keep going, but you end up there And you're like I don't want to be here this ain't what it is But the moment you exit off you turn around it Reroutes you and you are back on the direction and the place that you were meant to go to It might be a different time you get there It might be a different road But on our journey of walking with the Lord when we repent and we turn to him it doesn't matter how long it takes it Doesn't matter which way he wants to go because we found the lover of our soul, and we're part one with him Jesus Rerouting us just taking us where he wants to take us I Want to do something right now? I want to I want to take us on a journey to show us what freedom looks like To you know this wrestle because if we're real with ourself we wrestle with things And it's a journey of us of letting these things go But these things try to have dominion over us and The scripture says what shall we say then shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase by no means We are those who have died to sin
How can we live in it any longer or don't you know that all of us who were baptized in Christ Jesus? We're baptized into his death We are therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead Through the glory of the Father we too may live a new life and I know that that getting to that new life part for many people is a challenge and Even as a believer this is all written to believers right here This is a word when we read this new testa. It's all it's written to believers people who have professed Jesus and so we're this is still applicable for us as A person who's walking with God and not try to hide or feel like I can't allow this to be known But it's going on a journey of allowing the freedom of God to be in our lives I want to invite you close your eyes for a second Lord we ask God today that God that you would move mightily in this room God, and I'm asking God just for this visual right now that we're about to experience Lord I'm asking today God that you Would speak to every single heart in this room regardless of how long They have walked with you God or whether they have said yes to you or not But I'm asking for a spirit of wisdom and revelation to be poured out Jesus name Amen, you can open your eyes Re-enactment A film by A film by A film by A film by A film by A film by A film by A film by
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A film by A film by A film by A film by A film by But it's not just about the drama, it's about responding to the voice of God and the heart of God. A film by And so this message today, Darkness to Light, leading up to our baptism bash, A film by we want to invite you, if you're in this room, to get baptized. But it's not just about the baptism sake, it's about saying, Lord, I'll be with you wherever you go. But I want to invite you in this room today. Today's the day of freedom. If there's something that you want to be set free from, alcoholism, addiction, perversion, depression, suicidal, or just saying, I'm tired of darkness, then come on down here. There's plenty of people right here that want to pray. That today is a day of victory and freedom. Today is a day of victory and freedom. If you're on your way out and you're like, I'm leaving, but you want to get baptized, sign up out in the lobby. But right now, as they get ready to play, come on down here for any of your needs, but let today be that day of victory over your life. In Jesus' name.
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