Saliendo de la Oscuridad || Victory Church

Muy bien. Oigan, si aun no se han enterado, vamos a pasar el resto del año en el libro de Juan. Si, va a ser un viaje largo. Así que, de los cuatro que llamamos evangelios, esos son Mateo, Marcos, Lucas y Juan. Juan es diferente. ¿Puedo decirlo así? Juan simplemente es distinto. Vamos, Juan es un poco diferente. Juan cuenta historias más largas. Juan pinta imágenes más vívidas. Juan va más alto en esencia que los otros evangelios. Y a esto me refiero. La iglesia primitiva asoció el águila con Juan. Las águilas vuelan más alto que las demás aves y pueden mirar directamente al sol. Y eso es lo que intentaban decir sobre eso. El evangelio de Juan es el de Juan. En cierto modo, Mateo, Marcos, Lucas son geniales. Pero de alguna manera, Juan tiene esa forma de elevarse sobre ellos y de mirar directo a lo universal. La majestad, belleza y esplendor de quien es Jesús. Sé que eso puede ser algo intimidante. Sé que algunos piensan, hermano, es temprano y ya usas palabras complejas. Pero déjenme decirles esto. No se intimiden. Mi profesor de seminario dijo esto. Voy a repetirlo. La semana pasada dijimos que lo asombroso del libro de Juan es que es superficial para que los niños jueguen y profundo para que naden los elefantes. Así que, mientras recorremos el libro de Juan, Dios no dejará que te ahogues. No importa dónde estés. Así que, ya seas un no creyente, un nuevo creyente, o lleves décadas sirviendo a Jesús, mi promesa para ti es esta. Hay riquezas de parte de Dios esperándote en cada vuelta de página. No importa dónde estés, Dios va a cuidar de ti. Presenté estos dos pensamientos la semana pasada, pero quiero volver a mencionarlos porque nos acompañarán durante el año en este viaje que comenzamos. Dos cosas grandes van a suceder este año. Aquí está la primera. Vas a creer más profundamente en Jesús que nunca antes. Hay un problema en la iglesia hoy donde hemos hecho a Jesús demasiado pequeño. Esto es a lo que me refiero.

Hemos sobre enfatizado su humanidad y subestimado su divinidad. Y lo hemos hecho lo suficientemente pequeño como para que quepa en nuestro bolsillo. Podemos guardarlo en una cajita y cuando necesitemos una respuesta lo sacamos como a un genio. Si no nos gusta lo que dice, lo guardamos de nuevo. Tal vez lo visitemos los sábados o domingos por la mañana a las 9 a.m. Al servicio, ¿verdad? Simplemente venimos y, no, estamos pintando un panorama más grande. Porque Juan está diciendo, oye, este Jesús no es sólo el Cordero Sacrificial de Dios. Él también es el León Rugiente de Judá. Él es el Rey de Reyes y el Señor de señores. Es demasiado grande para caber en tu bolsillo. Quizá algunos empezaron ese camino la semana pasada. Les prometo esto. Si siguen con nosotros este año, se enamorarán de Jesús más que nunca. Te asombrarás de Él como jamás lo has hecho y te comprometerás con Jesús más que nunca antes. Te emocionarás y serás más evangelizador por Jesús que nunca si no sigues en el camino. Lo segundo que pasará este año es esto. Este es el año en que vamos a robarle al infierno. Vamos chicos. Este es el año en que vamos a saquear el infierno y poblar el cielo. Así que aquí está la idea. Si tienes curiosidad acerca de Jesús, quédate por aquí. Es un lugar excelente para estar. Si tienes amigos, familiares o compañeros que no conocen a Jesús, invítalos e incluso siéntate con ellos. Ese es el trato. Al renacer, disciplúlalos y camina con ellos luego porque creo que la vida los espera. Estas cosas están escritas. Así lo dice Juan al final del libro. Estas cosas están escritas para que creas. Y al creer, tengas vida eterna en su nombre.

Y la vida eterna está esperando a nuestros seres queridos en Jesús. ¿De acuerdo? Así que déjame decir una cosa más. Y luego quiero sumergirme en la escritura. Quiero darte dos recursos rápidos. ¿Está bien? Que pueden ayudarte en este camino. ¿Por qué? Porque mil de ustedes me detuvieron en la puerta la semana pasada. Y básicamente fue como... ¿Cómo sabes esas cosas? ¿Verdad? Bueno, primero fui al seminario, así que eso ayuda. Pero hay algunas cosas aquí, ¿de acuerdo? Así que es como más ligeras y más profundas. ¿De acuerdo? Así que aquí abajo, lo profundo. Un comentario, si no sabes lo que es un comentario. Básicamente es un teólogo que ha dedicado décadas de su vida a estudiar ese libro. ¿De acuerdo? Entonces el Dr. Gary Bourge fue mi profesor. Él tradujo la versión ESV de la Biblia y dedicó décadas al libro de Juan. Con 600 páginas sobre este. Si buscas tal profundidad, búscalo en Amazon. Muy bien. Esto de aquí es un poco más ligero, pero está fuera del libro de Juan. Así que algunos de ustedes saben lo que es esto. Se lo recomiendo a todos. Una Biblia de estudio para la vida. Muchos solo leen el texto plano y solo encuentran significado.

Es solo una página de puro texto. Encuentras cosas que no entiendes y simplemente sigues adelante. Estas Biblias tienen comentarios en la parte inferior. It's a shorter text, but it gives context and perspective of God about what's happening in Scripture. For example, these are more expensive, but which one of you doesn't have a Bible like this? You don't have a Bible like this? Good, why don't you go up? I have one for you. Here's a large copy. It's something really incredible. I'm sure you're going to love it. You're going to love it, really. You're going to love it. Very good, let's do this. This is the Word of God. And it's always my prayer that when we open the Word of God, we can find the God of the Word, right? Because God is active in His Word. And here's a piece of news. God is not trapped in stained glass. He is the living God. That's why we get excited with Him in worship. Let's go, someone. And it's my prayer that when we exalt Jesus, as we're about to do, this is my experience. When we exalt Jesus, Jesus manifests. So let's do that, okay? So let's go back to John 1, where we started last week, and let's analyze this. It's so beautiful.

In the beginning it was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him, all things were made. Without Him, nothing of what has been made was made. Pause. That's where we left off last week. Many thought that was a lot. Yes, I went to see it. Okay, go and look for that guy on YouTube, okay? So this is what John is presenting to us here from the beginning. It's that in the beginning, there was Jesus. Before Genesis, there was Jesus. Jesus is not a creation. Jesus is, in reality, the Creator. Jesus is pre-existing, and Jesus is God. And in John, verse 14, it says that that Word, that Word became flesh. So Jesus is God, the author of history, writing Himself in history, revealing Himself to us. Jesus is God. Let's continue today. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all humanity. Good news. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent by God, whose name was John. Now pause.

This is not John, the author. This is a man called John the Baptist, and we will talk more about John the Baptist in the next few weeks. But let's learn what John the Baptist came to do. He came as a witness to give testimony of that light so that through Him, everyone could believe. Himself, John, was not the light. He came only as a witness of the light. The true light, the one that gives light to everyone, came to the world. Jesus, Jesus was in the world. And although the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to what was His, but His did not receive Him. However, to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave them the right to be children of God. Children born, not of blood, nor by human decision, nor by the will of a husband, but born of God. Come on, someone. That is the word of the Lord. Let us give thanks to God. Very good. I'm going to calm down for a second. Listen. If you have read enough of the Bible, you can recognize that this is different. Because John writes differently.

John writes louder. John paints with more colors. Isn't that right? And what is happening here, again, let's all put ourselves on the same page. John is raising our gaze so that we can see that this man whom we sing about and whom we speak about, come on, and we put crosses on our buildings in his honor. And some of us wear crosses on our necks. Some of us tattoo crosses on our bodies. This man here is not just a man. This man is not just a prophet. This man is not just a good person who lived a long time ago. This man is not just a good man who became God. No, he is the only true and living God. Jesus, the King of Glory, has the name that is above all names that before his name. May every knee bend and every tongue confess that he is the Lord for the glory of God, Father. That is who this Jesus is. Jesus is God. And in verse 4, let's go there again. Let's begin to go deeper into this.

In him was, everyone say it, life. Life. This is what he is saying. He does not say that Jesus points to life. He does not say that Jesus teaches about life. No, Jesus is life. Come on, tell your neighbor, Jesus is life. Tell the other, Jesus is life. Come on, talk to the head of the neighbor in front of you, Jesus is life. Okay, it gets a little uncomfortable to try to tell the person behind that Jesus is life. Come on, tell the whole world that Jesus is life, right? Jesus is the author of life. He is the origin of life. Life comes from Jesus. He is the giver of life. If today you can hear my voice, then Jesus gave you life this morning. Some of us just say, Jesus, thank you for my life. En el estaba la vida. Y aquí está, lo sabemos, ¿verdad? Vivimos en un mundo que niega eso. Vivimos en un mundo que niega que Jesús es la vida.

Enfrentemos esa realidad. Mientras antes puedas aceptar eso, mejor será tu vida. Vivimos en un mundo que niega que Jesús es la vida. Y esta es la realidad. Cuando niegas que Jesús es la vida, tienes que encontrar otra explicación para la vida. Todos tenemos fe en algo, aunque no lo llamemos fe. Todos tienen fe en algo. Así que permítanme decir esto esta mañana. Demos un paso hacia el ámbito apologético, como lo llamaríamos. La materia no produjo la vida. La vida produjo la materia. La materia no produjo la vida. La vida produjo la materia. Esto es lo que quiero decir. De manera aleatoria no había nada. Y de repente, de la nada, ocurrió un gran estallido. Y ese Big Bang no produjo simplemente una masa de materia informe que se convirtió en ti. Ahora, sé que nos reímos de eso. El ateo se ríe de nosotros. Todos nos reímos unos de otros. Esto es lo que estamos diciendo. La vida existía en Dios, y luego Él trajo esa vida al universo. Y esta es la división entre el ateo y el cristiano, el agnóstico y el cristiano, la cosmovisión terrenal y la cosmovisión bíblica. Para el ateo, la no vida creó la vida. Para el cristiano, la vida misma creó la vida. Para el cristiano, la vida misma creó toda la vida. La fe del ateo simplemente se ve diferente. Y sí, un ateo tiene fe. Ahora, ellos no lo llaman así. Está bien, se necesita fe para creer que la nada produjo todo.

Eso es fe. Será mejor que me mires a los ojos y me digas que eso no es fe. Que la nada produjo todo. Bien, la fe de un cristiano es que alguien produjo todo. Y la buena noticia es que ese alguien tiene un nombre. Y su nombre es Jesús. Esa es nuestra fe, ¿de acuerdo? Ese es nuestro punto de partida. No de la nada a la materia y tras billones de años, la vida. Nuestro punto de partida es la vida. Y luego la vida procedió de Él. Y aquí está el asunto. Te van a ridiculizar por creer eso. Sobre todo si eres joven, escúchame. Si no se han burlado de ti todavía, espera un mes. ¿Está bien? Solo debes saberlo para no alterarte. Escucha, esto es lo que Juan trata de decirnos. ¿De acuerdo? Que seremos ridiculizados. ¿Por qué? Porque el mundo es oscuridad. Es la palabra que empieza a formar aquí. Sigamos con el versículo 4. En Él estaba la vida. Y esa vida era la luz de toda la humanidad. Bien, la vida se convierte en luz. La vida se convierte en luz. ¿Puedo decirlo así? De la misma manera en que la luz del sol hace que las flores crezcan,

la luz de Jesús hace que nosotros crezcamos. Así como la luz del sol trae vida a este planeta, vida física en este planeta, la luz de Jesús nos da vida a nosotros. Si lo permitimos que Él brille sobre nosotros. Tienes que dejar que la luz brille sobre ti si quieres crecer, si quieres vida. Y el profeta Isaías ve estos 700 años antes de que Jesús nazca en Belén, antes de que se haga carne y venga a Belén. Leemos esto cada Navidad. Isaías 9.2 El pueblo que andaba en tinieblas ha visto una gran luz. Sobre los que vivían en tierra de profunda oscuridad ha amanecido una luz. ¿Cuál es la luz que ha amanecido? ¿Quién es la luz que amaneció? Es Jesús. Así en estos versículos Juan presenta un tema fundamental que recorrerá el resto del libro. Es el tema de la luz y la oscuridad. Vida, luz y oscuridad. De hecho, leamos lo que leímos hace un minuto. Empecemos de nuevo en el versículo 4. En Él estaba la vida y esa vida era la luz de los hombres. La luz brilla en las tinieblas y las tinieblas no la han vencido. ¿Lo entienden? Vida, vida, luz, luz, oscuridad, oscuridad. Juan dice, atención. En la Biblia si ven palabras repetidas quieren llamar su atención. ¿De acuerdo? Vida, luz, oscuridad.

De hecho, hubo un hombre enviado por Dios de nombre Juan. Vino como testigo para atestiguar de la luz, para que por él todos creyeran. No era la luz. Él vino solo como testigo de la verdad que da a todos lo que viene al mundo. Juan está diciendo, ¿entienden las palabras que salen de mi boca? Estoy tratando de llamar su atención. Muy bien. De hecho, en el libro de Juan la vida se menciona 16 veces. La vida se menciona 35 veces. La oscuridad se menciona 5 veces. Es este tema que recorre todo el libro de Juan. De hecho, permíteme darte un nuevo par de lentes mientras comienzas a leer este libro. Cada vez que veas la luz o Juan señala que ocurrió durante el día. Dios está ahí. Un milagro está a punto de ocurrir. Algo especial está a punto de suceder. Cada vez que veas oscuridad. The sin is there. The devil lurks in the shadows. So every time you see light, God is there. Every time you see darkness, disbelief and evil are present. So this is what John shows us. When Jesus comes to the world, he appears as the shining light, erupting in the middle of the deep darkness. Right? That the light shines in the darkness. Now, the question is this. The million dollar question. The million dollar question. How did it get to be so dark?

One word. Sin. Thousands of years of rebellion, right? In the beginning, God said there was light and there was light. And again, not only physical light. No, no, no, like the presence of God everywhere. In the beginning, there was light, kindness, grace, the truth of God. In the beginning, the light of God flooded the world. But when Adam and Eve sinned, Genesis 3, what was the first thing they did? For all my Bible scholars, they hide. They sew their little fig leaves, right? You know, they model in their calendar. And they go behind the trees and hide from God. They retreat into the shadows. And from there, if you know the story well, everything starts to crumble, right? The firstborn kills the second. Murder crimes, unmeasured pride, constant avarice, deep selfishness, and a sexual immorality without repentance. In fact, if we stop to do the math carefully, we will see that he only took three complete chapters to go from the fall to the flood. From the times of Adam to Noah, there are three entire chapters of absolute darkness. Genesis 6, 5. The Lord saw how great the evil of the human race had become on earth, and that all inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil. All the time, darkness consumed the world. The rich abused the poor. The innocent were crushed by the powerful. What was right was called wrong, and what was wrong was called right. Until there was only one left. So, what is darkness?

Let me put some skin on it for a moment. What is darkness? It's the resentment you don't want to let go. It's the fear that makes you retreat. It's the addiction for which you keep looking for excuses and saying, I control it. It's the disbelief and the idolatry of which you are afraid to speak. It's the anger that keeps bursting with your family or while you drive. It's the adventure that you fear will be discovered. And in case yours is not on that list, darkness is any area of your life that you don't want God to touch. And this is what we have to say. This is not an external darkness. Yes, the sun is still shining. No, it's an internal darkness. It's a darkness of the heart, a darkness of the soul. Corruption is in our bones. It's in our DNA. The truth is, friends, humans love sin and hate God. And we run into the darkness and say ridiculous things like, I'm waiting for the weekend because now I can drink, smoke, flirt, and do those things. We find phrases like, oh, I'm living the best moment of my life. And we are blind and we love it because we didn't know there was another way. But then, in the middle of the darkness, the bright light of the world made its entrance in this world. That Jesus is God turning on the light switch in a dark world. But for a world that has been living in darkness, the light hurts. Some of you say, brother, turn it off. Because when your eyes have gotten used to the darkness, the light hurts. When your soul has gotten used to the darkness, the light hurts.

When your sin has gotten used to the darkness, the conviction hurts. And what do we do? Every time someone turns on a light switch in a dark world, we scream, we get angry, we get angry instantly, we cover our eyes. We say, turn it off. And that is exactly what the world did to Jesus. And that is exactly what the world continues to do to Jesus today. Turn it off. In fact, they would say, crucify Him. And He came to what was His, but His people did not receive Him. Why? Because darkness always hosts the light. However, we have excellent news, even though they thought they had extinguished the light and put it in a grave. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to defeat it. Let's analyze this in detail for a second. When darkness and light face each other, light wins on absolutely every occasion. When you turn on a light switch, there is no competition, right? Come on. When you woke up this morning, went to the bathroom, and turned on the light, you didn't think, I wonder what's going to happen. Because it's 50-50, my friend. Like, I don't know what's going to happen today. No, you know what's going to happen. As soon as the light switch is turned on,

it defeats darkness. Darkness has no chance against light. Darkness had no chance against Jesus. And let me say this very strongly here today, guys. We give too much importance to darkness. We are too afraid of it. Listen. I'm not saying it doesn't matter, but this is what I say. Jesus is not afraid of your past. Jesus is not afraid of your shame. Jesus is not afraid of your questions. Jesus is not afraid of your emotions. When Jesus walked on earth, the demons begged him for mercy. Listen. When Jesus approaches the tomb of Lazarus, death comes back. So, here's the thing. I'm not minimizing darkness. I'm maximizing light. When light shines, darkness goes away. When Jesus enters the room, everything changes. And he wins every time. Why? Because he is the light of the world. The true light that illuminates everyone. And this is exactly what John wants us to understand, guys. That in reality, we don't know what it is. It's being lost.

We don't know. We hear things like, well, you don't have eternal life. And we don't have words to describe it. I don't know how to describe that experience. What does darkness, blindness do to John? Think about who you were before Christ. Before you were blind, but now I see, right? What do you do when you're in the dark? What do you do when you're blind? You stumble with things, right? You hurt. You hurt other people. What do you do when you're lost? What do you do when you can't see? What do you do without eternal life? If this is everything you know, life is like this. And everyone collides with each other. Everyone is angry. Everyone drives on the highway of life. Come on, ram into cars, collides. That's why everyone is so angry, because everyone is blind. Come on, everyone only lives for today. Everyone is postponing life. They cover their heads with blankets to stay in the dark. And they are only postponing the alarm. Ten more minutes. Just give me ten more minutes. Just give me ten more minutes. They don't notice that they are wasting their lives.

They waste it in the dark. The end is near. Juan uses human words to explain spiritual realities. Without Christ you are blind and you live in darkness. You don't have light inside you. You don't have life inside you. And the biggest irony of all is this. That the medicine that could heal the world is away from our hands. Because it is bright. Because I am used to this world. And that is difficult for me. It would be difficult for me to take that step towards light. Because that is bright, my friend. So what is light? Let's put it here quickly. It is life. It is the presence of God. It is the truth that confronts. Nowadays many people like to say, well, the church hurt me. No, the truth hurts you. Jesus hurt your feelings. Last night a young woman told me, you hurt my feelings last night. And I said, well, honey, I love you. But God cares more about your freedom than your feelings. God cares more about your future than your feelings. That is His kindness. As a father I know this life.

I prefer to hurt your feelings for the good of your soul, your future and your freedom. Your feelings deceive you. There are paths that seem straight, but lead to death. Feelings seek pleasure. And that pleasure usually leads you through routes that leave you in the dark. But if you are really willing to go out to the light, you experience forgiveness. You experience sanity. And you experience something that many people do not have, called joy. I am not talking about happiness. I am talking about joy. And Jesus is that light. And the question is this. Will we allow that light to shine on us? I cannot answer that question for you. You have to make your own decision. I am going to let Jesus shine on me. So I need to be very clear. When the light of Jesus enters the room, you have two options. Or you scream, turn it off, or you scream, leave it on, okay? Or you go to the darkness, or you go to the light. Some run and hide because they are afraid that their actions will be exposed and they are ashamed of it. They feel ashamed of it, and they let the enemy and his past keep them in the darkness.

But some actually get up and run to the light to be healed and freed. This is what I want to say. The presence of Jesus forces you to choose a side. You have to choose, and here's the thing. If you say, I don't know what to choose, you've already chosen, because not choosing is choosing. Very good. I don't know if I'm ready to walk to the light. You chose darkness. To make it clear, okay? Just look where you are today. There is no middle ground. True Christianity only gives you the option of one or the other. Light or darkness, life or death. And if someone tells you that you can have both, it's a thief and a liar. Yes, you can have Jesus and your sin. No, you can't. I'm not saying don't sin. I mean, yes, we're going to sin. But make your decision. Who is your Lord? Who do you owe your loyalty to? Are you going to live in that or are you going to live in Him? Are you going to live in darkness or are you going to live in light? There is no third option. Is it Jesus or death? There is no third option. So, what is our answer? Darkness or light?

Life or death? We have to get out of the darkness and allow the light of Jesus to shine on us, okay? Just last week, on Tuesday, I was sitting with the pastors on campus and we just started talking. Maybe this was on my mind. I didn't mention it on purpose. But we got very honest. And we started talking about many of the high-profile pastors who have fallen in recent years. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm glad. But there have been many. Okay. And I knew some of these guys. And I practically knew everyone who knew them directly. Okay. And the story is the same in each one of them. And we started talking about these stories. This is what happened. They started to become popular. They got busy and then they isolated themselves because they were withdrawn. They thought, oh, I'm just going to do my thing of traveling. I'm going to write my books. I'm going to come up here. I'm going to do these things. I need more time for myself. And what happened was that no one could see their life there, right? Because they isolated themselves. They withdrew here. And then they got to the point where they only showed you what they wanted you to see. Do you understand?

You can do that when you're isolated, right? You can lie from top to bottom in a Zoom meeting. No one is seeing your life. What are you talking about? And in the dark, the secret sins began to fall. Listen, because nothing good grows in the dark. Roses don't grow in the dark. Moho doesn't grow in the dark. Death doesn't grow in the dark. Sin doesn't grow in the dark. Lies don't grow in the dark. Deception doesn't grow in the dark. We say this a lot. Nothing good happens after midnight. And these secret sins began to accumulate and began to grow. And they thought, oh, they thought the same thing we all thought. I can control it. I can do this. And they didn't realize that what they thought they controlled, in reality, was controlling them. Until that sin grew so much that it became uncontrollable. And finally, they did what they said they would never do. And the whole house of Naipes came down. Why? What happens is that sin always lies to you. Sin lies to you. Sin lies to me. Sin only speaks to you of pleasure. It never speaks to you of pain. Sin only speaks to you of the sensations you have right in front of you.

It never speaks to you of tomorrow. Sin will never speak to you of what will happen in a year. It speaks to you of the next ten seconds. I'll review the next one. Sin doesn't promise anything in the long run. It promises you the next ten seconds of your life. Sin will never speak to you of the divorce you'll have in 18 months. Sin will never tell you that in 20 years, your children will be sitting in a counselor's office because of your sin. Today. It never speaks to you of that part. Sin will never tell you that you'll be fired next month for today's sin. Sin will never speak to you of drug addiction. Oh, no, no, I can control it. And then, ten years later, your whole life is crumbling because of the decisions you made today. It only speaks to you of pleasure. It never speaks to you of pain. Sin lies to you. And here's the problem. We want it to lie to us. We love lies and we lie to ourselves. We think, no, I'm right, I have this thing. And we know where we're going, but we believe we're the only exception. Sin lies to us. And I asked the guys, I asked all the pastors on campus. I said, guys, how do we not get to this point? ¿Cómo hacemos para no llegar ahí? ¿Verdad? Miren, miren, escuchen, escuchen.

Sé que ustedes no quieren... Yo no quiero leer sobre mí en TMZ. ¿Saben a lo que me refiero? Nunca quiero ver mi nombre en CNN. No quiero aparecer en el Ahazek. No quiero ser ese tipo. Nadie entra en esto para terminar así. Y les digo lo mismo a ustedes. ¿Cómo hacemos para no terminar ahí? ¿Cómo haces tú para no terminar ahí? ¿Cómo hace tu familia para no terminar ahí? ¿Qué necesitamos hacer? Y aquí está la respuesta. Aquí está la respuesta rápida. Tenemos que salir de la oscuridad. Y tenemos que dejar que la luz de Cristo brille sobre nosotros y nos libere. Y tenemos que caminar en la luz como Él está en la luz. Y tener comunión. Quiero darte tres ideas rápidas. ¿Cómo salimos de la oscuridad? Aquí va la primera. Tenemos que invitar a la rendición de cuentas. ¿De acuerdo? Bien. Mi definición de rendición de cuentas es esta. Personas que me ayudan a ser quien digo que quiero ser. Personas que me ayudan a ser quien digo que quiero ser. He reunido a algunos hombres. Les dije, este es el hombre que quiero ser. Si me ves actuando diferente, dímelo.

Muy bien. Así que aquí está la pregunta. ¿A quién le has dado permiso para hablar en tu vida? Déjame decirlo de esta manera. ¿Quién en tu vida puede decirte que no? Vamos, haz esa lista rápidamente. Si eres de los que... ¿Peligro? ¿Advertencia del Espíritu Santo? Si nadie puede decirte que no, eres una bomba de tiempo. Te necesito de vuelta. Dime que no. El orgullo precede a la caída. Inmediatamente pensé en dos hombres. Tengo al pastor Dennis Rouse. Y tengo al pastor fundador de la iglesia. Y tengo al obispo James Meeks. Son mis dos supervisores, ¿verdad? Ellos pueden decirme que no. Sommer puede decirme que no. Más vale que lo creas. Ella me lo dice. Más que todos los demás juntos. ¿De acuerdo? Créeme. Créeme. Ella lo hace. Yo pondría a mi papá en esa lista. Dejaría que mi papá me dijera que no, porque lo respeto y lo honro mucho.

Aquí es donde está el problema. Hablo con muchísimas personas que dicen como, bueno, sí, tengo rendición de cuentas. Bueno, sí, es mi mejor amigo con el que crecí allá en, como, Ohio. Y yo pienso, esa persona nunca llega a ver tu vida. Entonces ellos dicen, oye, amigo, ¿cómo va todo? Y puedes decir lo que quieras. No, esto es lo que quiero decir. ¿Quién te ve lo suficiente como para decir algo cuando no estás siendo la persona que quieres ser? ¿Quién puede decir algo y ver algo para evitar que te desvanezcas en la oscuridad? Tenemos que evitar intencionalmente la rendición de cuentas. Aquí está la segunda cosa. Tenemos que evitar incluso la apariencia del mal. Eso es 1 Tesalonicenses 5.22. Dice esto, evita incluso la apariencia del mal. Esto es lo que he descubierto en mi vida. Es realmente difícil hacer el mal si evitas incluso la apariencia de él. ¿Escucharon lo que acabo de decir? Miren, mucho de nuestro problema es que caminamos justo hasta el campo minado y decimos, yo no fui hasta allá. No lo hice, ¿verdad? Saben. Al final, vamos, ¿qué tan lejos es demasiado lejos? Vamos, todos mis novios y novias,

¿qué tan lejos es demasiado lejos? Ya perdiste. Estás haciendo la pregunta equivocada. Estás preguntando, ¿qué tan impuro puedo ser en vez de qué tan puro puedo ser? ¿Cuánto entrar en la oscuridad y no cuánto acercarme a la luz? ¿No es cuánto es demasiado? La pregunta es, ¿qué tan santos podemos ser realmente, verdad? Porque estamos tentando a las fuerzas del mal. ¿Verdad? Es realmente difícil hacer el mal si estás evitando incluso la apariencia de él. Y es como, oh, no sé cómo terminamos acostándonos juntos. Bueno, ¿qué pasó? Bueno, solo lo invité a mi casa y íbamos a ver una película juntos. ¿De verdad no tienes idea de cómo pasó? ¿En serio no sabes cómo fue? O sea, puedo hacerte unos diagramas, si quieres. Una matriz de decisiones que llevó a ese momento, ¿verdad? No lo evitaste por creer en ti y mentirte. El pecado te engaña. El problema es que no sabes que estás engañado. Nos dejamos engañar porque nuestra carne desea hacer eso. Y entonces dejamos que nuestra carne nos mienta para meternos en situaciones comprometedoras. Y luego decimos cosas tontas como, yo puedo hacerlo. Soy fuerte. Puedo resistir la tentación. Como dijo Arnold Glassel, la tentación suele entrar por una puerta que se dejó abierta a propósito. En otras palabras, sabes muy bien que es posible pecar justo ahí,

pero simplemente lo dejas pasar. En otras palabras, ok, hombre, la verdad no sé cómo fue que compré estos boletos de lotería de raspar. Tú elegiste ese camino a casa a propósito. Estaba en el fondo de tu mente, pero en el frente de tu mente era como, no sé qué está pensando el fondo de mi mente. Te mentiste a ti mismo, ¿verdad? Dejaste esa puerta abierta diciendo, ¿cómo terminé en la licorería comprando otra de 40? Como que sí, sí lo sé. You know, you chose that. How did I end up in the strip club? Did you get in your car? How did I end up in this matter? You lie to yourself and you intentionally left that door open. You said I'm strong enough. Nothing will ever happen. You knew it exactly. In fact, one expected that to happen. Listen, let me tell you this for myself. I don't have personal access to the church's bank accounts in this place. On purpose. It's funny. Like Gary Price, the head of staff, was here last night and I looked at him, and he was like, yes, he does. And I said, I don't know what that means. Church accounts. We have a vault like Rico McPato. I don't even know. I'm so out of that.

I don't want to have access to any of those things. Well, because I don't want to trust myself. I don't want to be that guy. Well, listen. I'm sorry, ladies. I never face to face with a woman. Ever. Ever. So you can talk to my wife if you want to have that meeting. That's amazing. Well, there's a camera in my office. Well, she doesn't know where I am in the summer. 24-7, because I have Live 360 on my phone. She calls me and says, you're going too fast on the highway. I tell her, that's another sin, love. I mean, let's put these things in categories. Well, okay. She can check my phone whenever she wants. She has all my passwords. She can get into my direct messages and see what's going on there. Let's go. Okay. I have filters on my phone, but she has access to all of that. Maybe she thinks, Pastor, you're exaggerating. And I assure you that's how it is. You can be sure that I'm being exaggerated. Exaggeratedly intentional. Exaggeratedly precarious. Because there's an enemy that walks like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

I'm not so naive to believe that he doesn't want to destroy me. He also wants to destroy you. How do you live free from reproaches? How do you avoid the appearance of evil? What doors have you left open? This is what I've discovered, friends. When we intentionally leave doors open, in our weakest moments, sin whispers to us from the darkness. Come on, when you're tired, when you're hungry, when you had a bad day at work, when you and your partner just fought, whatever it is, you can be sure that it will happen. That you stay in the darkness, and you stay there, and it will start whispering to you. So when you're in a light and solid mental state, close the door. Close the door, give it a key, give it three keys, throw it out of your house, do whatever you have to do to avoid even the appearance of evil. The third thing we have to do to get out of the darkness is to accept vulnerability and confession. Well, responsibility and vulnerability are two different things. Responsibility means that they go first. Vulnerability means that you go first. Responsibility is something they do to you. Vulnerability means that you offer it. Responsibility is like,

hey, how are you doing in your life? Vulnerability is like, hey, I need to talk. There's an area of my life where I'm not living as I should, and I just need to get it out of the darkness. I've sunk a little bit in this area, and I need your help, friend. I just need to get it out of my life because I want to walk in the light. That's also called confession. Confession. John writes a letter, call number one, John. This is what he said. This is the message we have heard from him, and we announce to you. God is light. There is no darkness in him. If we say we have communion with him and we walk in darkness, we lie. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have mutual communion, and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin. His son purifies us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, even though we feel condemned, we know that we all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

What do we do when we sin? If we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all evil. Friends, this is the power of confession. Confession takes you out of the darkness and takes the darkness out of you. Confession takes away the power of sin. Do you agree? Because remember, sin only has power over you because it is in the darkness. Death grows in the darkness. Sin does not grow in the light. If you let the light of Christ shine over something, that will make you leave that situation. It is running away from temptation. Do you agree? But when you leave that in the darkness, it will grow. So, what does confession do? Actually, it invites the light of Christ to shine over that area of your life. And the light of Christ consumes the power of that sin. And confession is one of the greatest gifts of God. And we need to start recovering it today. So this is what I am going to tell you, guys. You need to practice confession in your life. in their small group, okay? Now, maybe not with 15 at the same time,

but maybe with 15 at the same time. In fact, some of the most powerful moments I've seen in my life have been when someone dares to go first. Guys, I'm not exaggerating this. I think there is a special reward in heaven for those who go first, because everyone is waiting for someone else to do it, but no one wants to be the first. Everyone wants to follow the crowd instead of being the leader. And I promise you that when you confess first, I believe, I believe. In fact, let me tell this to the pastor of this church. I believe that when you confess first, God's blessing falls on that and says, I'm going to answer that prayer. Maybe of the others who wait in the end, I'm not so sure, because I'm not sure of the state of their heart. But whoever dares to go first has a blessing. So it's time to practice confession to achieve it. Let's walk in the light. Let's get out of the darkness. Confess to your friend. Confess to your partner. Confess to a leader. Whatever it is. Confess to someone who sees you. Don't come to me at the door after the service

saying, I didn't want to talk to anyone else. I wanted to tell you, but we won't see each other this week. If you confess something to me, you will feel that the sermon is for you and you will stop coming. Do you think I always preach about you? Very good. I don't see you during the week. Talk to your family. Confess to the people who will ask you for accounts. Okay? Let me finish with this scripture. Ephesians 5. Because in another time you were darkness. Now you have the light of the Lord. Live as children of light, for that light within you produces all that is good, just, and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Do not participate in the useless works of evil and darkness. On the contrary, denounce them. It's shameful to even talk about the things that people do in secret. But their bad intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them. Because the light makes everything visible. That's why it's said, Wake up, you who sleep. Get up from among the dead,

and Christ will shine on you. I will say it again. Wake up, you who sleep. Wake up and get up from among the dead, and the glorious Christ will shine on you with his light. Wake up, you who sleep. Wake up and get up from among the dead, and then Christ will give you his light and his eternal life. Let me say it prophetically. Wake up, you who sleep, you who sleep, that you are blind in the darkness, allowing sin to come, lying to you day after day after day. And you are negotiating with God, saying, God, if you did this, you would finally be holy. And you are allowing sin to control your life. You are a slave to what has dominated you. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up. Get out of the darkness. Get out of the darkness. Get out of the darkness. You have been asking for a sign. This is your sign. God, do you really see it? This is your sign.

You are leading your life blindly, and the bridge is right in front of you. And today I have bengalas on the road, saying, wake up, you who sleep, get up from your lethargy, get out of the darkness, and the light of Christ will shine on you. The catastrophe is right in front of you. The enemy walks like a roaring lion, seeking to destroy your marriage, seeking to destroy your soul, seeking to destroy your future. But there is one who came to give us life, and life in abundance. And his name is Jesus. So get out of the highway. Take the way out of sin. Take the way out of that adventure. Take the way out of pornography. Take the way out of love for money. Take the way out of the search for things that simply don't matter. And enter into the light. And Jesus wants to illuminate your addiction, your fear, your pride, your greed, your lust, and all the darkness, all of that. You say, God, it just hurts too much. My eyes hurt. My soul hurts. God, when you shine like this,

no, he said, get out of the darkness and enter into the light. And it's my promise to you, my promise to you, because some of us here have tried and seen that the Lord is good. And anything you leave, oh, I promise you, is much better in the kingdom. Much better in the kingdom. When you start living in the light, everything improves. Your marriage improves. Your prayer life improves. You get joy. You get freedom. You get health. Oh, my God. It's much better than living according to your feelings. In fact, you enjoy freedom. And this is what I promise you. When you start trying freedom, your feelings start wanting more freedom. Everything improves in the light. So it's time to go out into the light. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Let's bow our heads. Father, I thank you because you did not abandon us in our sin. In fact, when Adam and Eve rebelled, they killed an animal and made skins to cover them.

That is the heart of God. So that not one is lost, but all have eternal life. If I say this, if you are here today, and you are a Christian, it is because there was a time when the light shone in your darkness, and you responded with faith, and you repented. You changed the way you thought about that darkness, and you came out of the darkness to its wonderful light. And that is why you received eternal life. Some of you, today is the day to do that. In fact, it is said that repentance is a gift. It is not something you should be ashamed of. In fact, it is the way to freedom and eternal life. And if today is the day when you need to say no to darkness and yes to light, if you need to say no to evil and yes to Jesus, this is the day when you will receive eternal life and be born again. I want to pray with you. With whom am I praying? Raise your hand and say, Today I come out of the darkness. Raise it very high. Raise it very high. He is the King of Glory. Yes, we are many. It is incredible. I love it. You are about to experience something that even angels rejoice in and lower their hands. I want to pray with you. Family, God around you is going to pray with you. I think this is what is going to happen. John 1 says that those who believed in his name were given the right to be sons of God. You are about to become a son of God. So let us pray.

Jesus, at this moment I come out of the darkness. I enter the light. And I look back into the darkness. And I see how I have been living in sin. All the shame, guilt, and rebellion. Today I leave them behind to finally enter the divine light. And I proclaim with all my heart, Jesus Christ is my King. Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ voluntarily died on the cross for the forgiveness of all my sins. And he rose again with power to give me a new and eternal life. So today I am forgiven. I have been freed from my chains and I am alive forever. All thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus. I am a beloved son of God. And the rest of my life belongs entirely to him. And to Jesus. Guys, can we celebrate that? Can we celebrate? I am going to take two more steps here with the minutes we have. And we are going to receive the Lord's dinner together. I think it is a good opportunity to do so. And we have some buckets at the end of the corridors. If you are on the right side, just take it and pass it on. And today, if you are a follower of Christ, or maybe you just entered the kingdom through faith in Jesus, I invite you to take communion with us today. In that last supper, Jesus took the bread, broke it, served the cup, and said, This is my body, this is my blood. He said, Take, eat, and every time you do this, do it in memory of me.

So, in other words, these are the moments when we remember Jesus. And we are going to receive the Lord's dinner. And we are going to receive the Lord's blood. And we are going to receive the blood of Christ. So, in other words, these are the moments when we remember Jesus. And in another letter, this is what it really says. It gives a little instruction for this moment. It says that every time you receive communion, make sure to examine yourselves before doing it. So, I think this is a very good moment, in light of what we have just heard, to examine ourselves. So, let's do it. Bow your heads. Beloved and precious Holy Spirit, shield me, test me, know me deeply, show me if there is something impure within me, and guide me always on the straight path of eternal life. Let's take just ten seconds here. Holy Spirit, point to an area of my life in which you are calling me to leave the darkness and enter the light. Father, at this moment, I thank you because your body was broken so that we could be healed and made whole. In fact, right now, I pray for anyone who has gone through trauma, drama, or abuse. I thank you because you received wounds to make us whole again. And I pray for integrity over your family this morning, while I pray for the healing of your family. Thank you. while we take this bread and do it in the memory of Jesus. Let's take the bread.

Father, I thank you for the Holy Cup of Christ. I thank you because your blood was shed to erase our rebellion, not only to cover it, but to separate our sin from ours, as far as the East is from the West. I thank you for your hands pierced by the nails. I thank you for the blood that was shed by sinners like me, like us. And when we take this cup, God, I thank you for the forgiveness of sins. We are cleansed and truly free in the name of Jesus. There is another small bucket at the end of the corridor. This is what I will ask you to do when that bucket passes. If you can, why don't we stand up while we do this? This is what's going to happen. We're going to spend two or three minutes here, okay? And the team will guide us in a song. This is what I ask of you, this is what I ask of you. There are some of us who have been sitting in the darkness of our lives, who have been in the darkness of our lives, for too long, okay? And I don't know what that means. It could be fear, shame, a sin, the past, or something current. And if today is the day you decide to leave the darkness to the light, just between you and the Lord, while the team plays, I invite you to step forward to have this moment with Him. It's about saying, God, I'm going to leave the darkness and I will enter your light.

You're going to start receiving your freedom, your life, and your joy back into my life. And I believe this. There is a special blessing for those who go first. Let's worship. Thank you for being part of Victory Church in the Pando app. We hope this content has been a blessing for you, but we want you to know that you are not finished yet because we want to hear you. So send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life, how we can pray for you, or even what content you would like us to create in the future. We just want you to know that we see you, you are important to us, and we would love to continue creating things in the future that bless you. So send us a letter and we look forward to hearing from you soon.