When the Bible Speaks Straight to Your Pain | The Book Of John | Week 1
Is your faith fueled by love, or by unresolved anger?
If you're exhausted from trying to hold it all together while the world around you burns, you're not alone. Kicking off a new study in the Book of John, Jim Burgen gets brutally honest about the anger simmering under the surface of his own faith—and how Jesus’s love began to wash it away. Before we dive into the words John wrote, we have to look at the man himself: an angry young disciple transformed by the love of Jesus. This isn’t a Bible study for the polished. It’s for the burned out, bitter, and barely hanging on.
John didn’t start out as the “apostle of love.” He was fiery, prideful, and ready to call down fire from heaven on his enemies. But after years of walking with Jesus, experiencing grace firsthand, and allowing himself to be served by Christ’s love, John changed—and it showed in every word he wrote. His anger didn’t disappear by willpower, but by letting Jesus kneel down, wash his feet, and touch the places he tried to hide. That same invitation is open to us today. Jesus doesn’t want to crush you—He wants to clean you, heal you, and love you back to life.
Hey everyone, welcome to Flatirons Church Online. My name's Jonathan, I'm your online host today, and I'm so glad that you've decided to join us today. If you're new, a great way to connect with Flatirons is to follow us on social and also to subscribe to our YouTube channel. But the best way to connect with Flatirons is to text the word NEXT to 80857. You'll get a couple of encouraging text messages throughout the week, but what's really cool about it is that you can actually text us back. You can ask a question, request prayer, and we have real people on the other end waiting to connect with you. Well, today we're in a series called The Book of John. We've heard some really great feedback and people are wanting to go deeper into their Bible, and so we're going through the entire Book of John together as a church. There's a digital version of our series book available at flatironschurch.com. Well, we've got a great service today, so let's get started. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Good morning, Flatirons. Happy New Year.
We're so glad you guys are here. Would you stand to your feet with us? We love to sing. We love to worship around here, so let's sing together this morning. ♪♪ ♪ I praise in the valley ♪ ♪ I praise on the mountain ♪ ♪ I praise when I'm sure ♪ ♪ And I praise when I'm doubting ♪ ♪ I praise when I'm numbered ♪ ♪ And praise when surrounded ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing ♪ ♪ I've got a reason to praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ I praise when I feel it ♪ ♪ And I praise when I don't ♪ ♪ I praise because I know you're still in control ♪ ♪ My praise is a weapon ♪ ♪ It's more than a sound, yes it is ♪ ♪ My praise is the sound that life brings terror and calm down ♪ ♪ So long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord of my soul ♪ Hey! Listen, we come into this room to remind ourselves of the God that we worship, the God that we praise. So we sing together today, come on. ♪ I praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign ♪
♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the great ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you, I said ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're sovereign, praise cause you reign ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the great ♪ ♪ Praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? ♪ ♪ Oh I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? ♪ ♪ No I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside? ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh we praise, praise the Lord, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh we praise, praise the Lord, yeah ♪ Come on, lift up some praise in this room this morning. ♪ Oh we praise, praise the Lord, yeah ♪ ♪ I stood beaten and bruised by a world ♪ ♪ That promised it all ♪ ♪ I stood lost and alone, looking for hope and a home ♪ ♪ I fell to the ways that made it all disappear ♪ ♪ Oh but there you were waiting, waiting for me to come near ♪ ♪ From now on, I'll be waiting for you to come near ♪ ♪ I'm living free ♪ ♪ From now on, you ain't finding no change for me ♪
♪ From now on, you are my King ♪ ♪ You are my King ♪ ♪ There ain't nothing that's stopping me from following you ♪ ♪ From now on, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ♪ ♪ You took all my doubt and showed me the power of faith ♪ ♪ What was dead in my life now redeemed with unending praise, oh yeah ♪ ♪ You took all my shame and still you call me by name ♪ ♪ You said it's okay but you won't let me stay that way, oh yeah ♪ ♪ You said it's okay but you won't let me stay that way, oh yeah ♪ ♪ From now on, I'm living free ♪ ♪ From now on, you ain't finding no change on me ♪ ♪ From now on, you are my king ♪ ♪ There ain't nothing that's stopping me from following you ♪ ♪ From now on, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ From now on, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Oh oh oh oh Oh oh oh oh oh ♪ Sing this out. ♪ From now on From now on ♪ ♪ I'll be certain peace reigns from now on ♪ ♪ From now on From now on ♪ ♪ I'll be celebrating praise from now on ♪ ♪ From now on From now on ♪ ♪ I'll be sharing peace reigns from now on ♪ ♪ From now on From now on ♪ ♪ I'll be shouting all praise from now on ♪ ♪ From now on I'm living free ♪ ♪ From now on You ain't finding no change for me ♪ ♪ From now on You are my king ♪ ♪ There ain't nothing that's stopping me from obeying You ♪ ♪ There ain't nothing that's stopping me from obeying You ♪
♪ There ain't nothing that is stopping me from obeying You ♪ ♪ There ain't nothing that's stopping me from obeying You ♪ ♪ From now on ♪ ♪ I can't wait for the day when I'm sitting ♪ ♪ Right by Your side ♪ ♪ Breathing in easy because everything is just right ♪ ♪ So from now till the moment I finally look in Your eyes ♪ ♪ There ain't nothing that's stopping me from following You ♪ ♪ From now on ♪ ♪ From now on ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing stopping me ♪ ♪ Oh, there's nothing in the way ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus, You are the center ♪ ♪ Maybe we've made this complicated ♪ ♪ More than it was ever meant to be ♪ ♪ Hasn't it always been about the same thing? ♪ ♪ Lord, bring us back to simple things ♪ ♪ You be the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to You, my Savior of it all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of Your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ Teach us to discern the moment when to serve ♪ ♪ And when to sit here at Your feet ♪ ♪ Keep us awake to what's important ♪ ♪ And just like men, You chose the better thing ♪ ♪ Oh, for You are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to You, my Savior of it all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of Your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love You ♪
♪ I love you for you, oh for you are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my savior of it all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to sing Jesus I love you for you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you Jesus I love you Jesus ♪ ♪ My whole life for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be ♪ ♪ Of you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be ♪ ♪ Of you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be ♪ ♪ Of you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be ♪ ♪ Of you only everything for the honor of your name ♪
♪ And my whole life for your glory my whole world ♪ ♪ For you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story let it be ♪ ♪ Of you only everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, Jesus I love you, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh how I love you, Jesus I love you, yeah ♪ ♪ You are the center of it all, my heart belongs to you ♪ ♪ My savior all in all, you're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ Hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus I love you ♪ ♪ My soul will choose to say, Jesus I love you, yeah ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say Jesus, I love you ♪ Yeah, so God, this morning, I just thank you for the reminder of your son, Jesus. God, I'm reminded today just of your presence in this room. God, I pray that this would be our posture this morning, that we would just stand in awe and in reverence and just say, Jesus, we love you. But God, today, would you remind us that it's because you loved us first. God, you came in our direction, you sought us out. God, I thank you that you came close to us. We were reminded of that during Christmas. And so God, I just pray that stepping into a new year, would you continue to move? God, would you open our eyes and our hearts and our ears to just listen and pay attention to your voice and to hear from you today?
God, I pray that we would just hear from you. Lord, I pray also in this place that we would just rest in your presence today. The new year can feel crazy and full of chaos and all things new, Lord, but I just pray today, would you just help us to settle in and to just rest and take a breath in your almighty presence, Jesus. Thank you for worship. Thank you that we get to respond with worship when we remember who you are. God, we love you, we trust you. Thank you for your spirit in this room. We give you all of the glory and all of the honor. You are so worthy of our worship today, God. We love you. It's in Jesus' holy name that I pray. And all together we said, amen. Amen, Flatirons. We are so glad you guys are here with us today. My name is Lindsay. If we have not met, I would love to meet you out in the lobby after service today. Before you sit down, would you say hi to the people that you sat by today? Tell somebody your name. Tell someone happy new year. Shake somebody's hand. Make them feel welcome. And you guys can go ahead and have a seat this morning. Well, happy new year, Flatirons.
It's so good to see you all in the building. Are you guys glad to be back? Glad to be in 2026? Well, awesome. Hey, if you are new, my name is Stephen Lee and I serve as the campus pastor here. And I am Corey Craft, the women's pastor. Let's show some love for Corey. I felt like they wanted to show some love to you. Well, hey, if you are new here, again, we're so grateful that you are here. Perhaps this is your first time back in a long time. We just wanted to let you know that we're very grateful that you're here. We know there's a lot of things that you could be doing in Denver, Colorado. I know it's snowing outside. It's really, really cold. But for you to choose to spend some time with us, man, we are really, really grateful. The easiest way to get connected, we wanna encourage you to text NEXT, N-E-X-T, to 80857. You'll receive a few encouraging messages this week of scripture, hope, and encouragement. And for those of you guys that are here in person, before you head out, we've got an amazing volunteer team at our New Here area out in the lobby. We have a special gift for you, and Corey and I would love to say hello in person after service.
Corey, we've got some really, really exciting things that are gonna be taking place over the next couple of weeks. Would you tell us about it? Yeah, so we have She Is, ladies. Who's ready? Yes? Let me tell you a little something that I know from experience. So I've had the privilege of being a part of Flatirons for the last 23 years. And for a lot of those years, I sat right where you are, in these seats, I came in on the weekend, I experienced church, I loved it, but it was something I did. Just every week, came in, kind of checked the box for my faith. And honestly, I was trying to get my husband to listen to gym. Ladies, anybody else? Yeah. But there was life in between, you guys. There was life, it was hard. The weeks in between, I was struggling. I was struggling in my marriage. I was struggling with infertility. The real story was that I didn't want to be known. It felt too hard and it felt too vulnerable. So what I wish that I knew then, that I know now, is that being known and walking through life
with women around me who kept pointing me back to Jesus was the very thing that would help move me forward in my faith. So ladies, we all need that safe space. So that's our hope this year. We're creating those spaces. We've got Connect and discipleship cohorts and workshops and all kinds of stuff. But first, first, we have She Is. It's right around the corner. We have not sold out yet. We have a two-day event coming. She Is Salty. We've got breakout sessions. questions, we've got incredible worship, teaching, you can even get a tattoo. Steven, do you want a tattoo? Awesome, that's very flat-iron, love it. But most importantly, we want you to grow in your faith. So we're digging in on Matthew 5.13 and how to be salt of the earth and how that actually plays out for us in real life. So grab your tickets, you can scan this QR code, go online. I'm super excited. I can promise you a fun swag gift and a dance party. Love it, and I know Pastor Carl and Pastor Jim have kind of mentioned, hey, and men, this is a really, really easy win for you. So again, you can grab a ticket for that. Special lady in your life, your mom, your daughter,
auntie, grandma, nana, everybody. Buy a ticket, make sure that she's at She Is. Hey, Corey, we just want to, again, thank you and your team. Thanks. We know last week, this Soda, we had over 4,000 women that attended She Is last year. So it's a heavy lift for your team. And so we want to express our appreciation for you for creating this amazing space for women to be poured into, amen? Thanks, guys, thanks, it's fun. And men, what we want you to know, there's some very, very tangible ways that you can serve that weekend at She Is coming up. And as we head into She Is, there's some opportunities for you to help create a space that is welcoming, organized, and well-run. And so if you're able to serve, how can men? You can jump online, you can get connected on there. All of the service opportunities are online. So again, I want to encourage you to go online. And it's going to be an amazing weekend, looking forward to it. All right, folks, for today, we're kicking off a brand new series in the Book of John. Would you join me in welcoming our lead pastor, Jim Bergen, as he comes up? Let's show him some love. Yeah, hey, everybody doing good? I'm good except for stairs.
I don't do, I didn't do well on stairs. It's really great being back. By the way, are there any Bronco fans here in the house today? Come on. Last time we had this record, we won the Super Bowl. I just want to tell you that anyway. Can we pray for that? I am, I don't know if you should, but Lord bless them, all right. Anyway, hey, I'm really excited to kick off this new year by launching our study through the Book of John. Hey, when you came in, and if you didn't get one, before we get into kind of the meat of the message today, go get one right now. At the doors, at all of our campuses, on your way out, we have the Book of John. It's a study guide. Every day, there's questions in here. I know a lot of us, it's the new year. I want to do better in my Bible studies, stuff like that. It's January. It's not too late to jump in on this. I would say this, we're starting this thing tomorrow. A couple hundred of us called Herd90. It's kind of like 75 hard, but we're gonna do some physical stuff, but some spiritual stuff too, and you can get online and find out more about that. This fits with it really, really well.
But, and so it all sounds, for a lot of us, okay, this sounds great, okay. Some of you are, this is the best thing ever. Diving into God's Word. I'm gonna dig out some new truths. I'm gonna be reminded of some old truths I forgot about how important they are. So you're ready. Like, I know who you are. You already got your pencils out. Yeah, you're ready. And if you're a really Bible nerd, like my wife is, you have colored pencils, so you can actually underline words in different colors. Any nerd, Bible nerds? Yeah, there you are. I knew, I already saw you anyway. But, so there's part of us going, I cannot wait to jump into the Book of John, but then here's the other thing some of us are thinking, and it goes like this. I'm sure that Bible study is good, but honestly, my world's on fire, right? Like, just look around. Our country, our politics, our economy are a mess. Can I get an amen? All right, right? My marriage, my family, my parents, my kids, my friendships, they feel like they're on the edge of exploding. You know, and personally,
we're moving into January and February. It's the most depressing months of the year, right? Suicide goes off the charts in January and February. Some of us are going, I'm already depressed. I'm anxious, I got anger, I got fear, I got shame, I got addiction, I've got temptation on all kinds of levels. And sometimes, I just feel like throwing in the towel, because life feels really, really hard. So, when I think like that, what I feel that I need right now, a three-month Bible study through the Book of John doesn't really make it to the top of the list of what I feel like I need right now. And I get it, I get it. And there have been times in my life when I have thought and felt the exact same way. I know I'm all messed up in here, I'm confused. I know I feel down and defeated. I feel depressed, I get anxious, all right? I know that I need some help and some direction. I need some support in my life, but what I don't feel like is, I need some people to throw a bunch of Bible verses at me and tell me to feel better. I get it. Done it, been there, felt that, all right? Here's the thing, okay? Every time that I have felt that way or I've done that, I was wrong. I mean, I didn't realize in the moment that I was wrong.
down the road, and wrong might be the wrong word. How about this, I wasted a whole bunch of time trying to fix all that stuff, a lot of different ways that I thought would help, and then when it didn't help, then I was brought back to God's word, either on my own or somebody or something would point me back to God's word, and when I come back to God's word, I would find truth. And then I found some strength in here, some direction, a light for my path, is how David would say it, that pulled me back together and got me back up on my feet. The word had the power to do that, and no one and nothing else could do that for me. John, the author of the book that we're gonna study together, he describes God's word this way, all right? A guy named Paul actually writes this to a young pastor, we're gonna look at later, his name is Timothy, who's trying to lead a church filled with people who feel just like we feel right now in January. Like the first part of the chapter, you can read this later, describes a world that's falling apart. And I watch the news and I go, it's falling apart, right? Money hungry people everywhere, money runs everything, arrogant people are winning, abusive, dysfunctional families, marriages have fallen apart, hypocrisy is just everywhere. And Paul writes this to Timothy, he says this, okay, heads up, it's gonna get worse, not better.
So he tells Timothy to tell the people, like I'm gonna try to tell you today, our only hope is this, you have to hold onto God's word in a crazy and getting crazier world. He writes this about God's word, he says, all scripture, right, is breathed out, I'll come back to that, and profitable for teaching. Now, everything in parentheses is kind of like my summary, it's not God's word, it's just my explanation of it. So this, in parentheses, that's not the Bible, it's me, okay? All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, meaning this is what you need to do, for reproof, like I'm convicted about something wrong, for correction, this is how it can get better, and for training in righteousness. I wanna line up my life with what God says is right and true, what's the goal? So that the man, the woman, the person of God may be complete, equipped for everything, every good work. Here's how I'd say that, you'll be able to stand firm and not be defeated by everything this world will throw at you to keep you from living the life God had meant for you to live. So all that means is this, if Paul says that all those things that's going through your head and your heart right now, that you would point to and go, my life is on fire, and I need help, and I need healing, I need rescuing, I need fixing, all those things that you're thinking won't be
or can't be helped by reading some 2,000-year-old Bible, right, Paul would actually agree with you if he was saying, just go to the library or get on Amazon and find a book and read it, maybe it'll help, that's not what he's saying. Based on some human teacher or some scientist or some expert who's throwing out opinions about what'll make your life better. Paul's not saying, just read any old book and you'll find what you need out there, right? No, he's saying that no matter what you are going through, God's word alone will, and we're gonna talk about this some more, will breathe and bring life into you whether your circumstances change or not, whether your marriage gets better or not, whether your parents come together or not, whether the cancer stays or goes away, you're gonna need to be held together and God's word can hold you together. See, Paul is saying this, you have to go to the word of God that God has breathed out and it means his breath and the word breath and spirit, they're the same word, did you know that? Whenever it says God breathed, it means his spirit came out so that spirit, that same word inhabits the words that you find on these pages, right? This is mystical, I wanna say magic, it's like, it's mysterious what I'm gonna talk about. It says this, it says that when you immerse yourself in God breathed, spirit inhabited scripture,
the God who inhabits these words through his words spiritually, again, I don't know how he does it but I've experienced it, right? Somehow, by turning to his word, God will do what only he can do in you and he'll do it through that. Let me say, I love this book, right? We don't worship the Bible, we worship the God who reveals himself through his word. So let's talk about the word, word, all right, on a couple of different levels. The book of John, if you have that green book with you right now, open it up, I think it's on page one, all right? So I don't know but John opens this gospel with this, he says this, in the beginning was the word, now I capitalized it, if you have a pen or an app or whatever, you wanna highlight that and it's really, really important, right? In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, okay? He, so the word is a he, apparently, the word was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, the word, and without him, the word was not anything made, that was made. Keep going, in him, who, the word, in him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the day.
and the darkness has not overcome it. Do you follow that? Because anybody, when you read that, John chapter one, anybody who's ever read the Bible would immediately realize this sounds familiar. It sounds like the opening verses of Genesis, of the Bible, in the beginning, right? And that's on purpose. So the word is timeless. The word was with God, and the word is God, right? And the word is a he, a person, and everything that has been made has been made through the word, through him, all right? He, the word, this sounds like a Dr. Seuss thing. The word is the light that shines in the darkness. John is actually saying, in John one, he's explaining how Genesis one happened. It all happened through the word. Jesus was right there. Now skip down to verse 14, all right? And he, the word, all right, became flesh and dwelt among us. We celebrated that two weekends ago, right? Christmas. And we have seen his, the word's glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of, I love these two words, grace and truth. So the word is God, and the word became flesh in the form of the only son of God, Jesus. Translate, here's how Jesus would put it later.
If you've seen me, you've seen God, right? And that's either true or arrogant, right? If you've seen me, you've seen the father. So God reveals himself in the person of Jesus. If you wanna know what God's like, a book of Hebrews says it like this. Well, Jesus is the, he's the radiance, like a light bulb and what's coming out of it. Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and Jesus upholds the universe by the, what? By the word of his power. If you wanna know what God is like, right? He's like Jesus. What's Jesus like? He's full of grace and truth. What does that mean, grace? It means you're in his favor. It means kindness, love and mercy, compassion from God towards you and me. That's grace, and he's also full of truth. What God has said, this is what works best in my world, in your life. I created it, I know. It's the truth. So let me kind of summarize. In the written words found in God-breathed Scripture, we find out who and what Jesus is like, and in doing so, we find out what God is like and how he feels towards us, his position towards us,
grace and truth, and he offers us that to lead to a better reality. He loves us. But look at this, back in the book of Hebrews, it says this, for the word of God, I love this, the word of God, and the word of God is who? It's Jesus. So Jesus is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. So what we find here is that when we approach the Bible, somehow, again, it's not magic, but it's mysterious, it's supernatural, it's God, all right? Because on the words of these pages that are spiritually breathed out and inhabited by God, his own breath, what we find here, this thing's alive. Like, not like Harry Potter, weird, no, no, no, but the word is ancient, but while it's ancient, it's not dead and buried and dusty. It is timeless and able to understand and be actively applied to what's going on in the world right now. Time change, culture change. God and his truth found right there, it doesn't change. And it applies as much today as the day it was breathed out, because breath means I'm alive and active and I can change your life.
So when we come to the word of God, the spirit-breathed truth found on, I gotta sit down, sorry, on these pages, it's described as a two-edged sword. If you've ever played, I mean, the stick, you know what I mean, right? A two-edged sword, it can cut both ways. It can cut through all the lies, all the excuses, all the reasons, and get right to the heart of what's really going on in our heart, in our minds, in our marriage, in our family, in our body. This is what's wrong. Spend time, it'll tell you, this is what's wrong. This is what needs to happen, this is what needs to change if anything's gonna get better, because, and here's how it's able to do it, because the word, it, is Jesus. And when we read God's word, Jesus will supernaturally, and you've experienced this. I've seen heads nod already, right? You've been there and it's like, it's like I'm hearing from Jesus, right? Jesus will supernaturally speak into our spirit, our soul. He'll inhabit our thoughts and our intentions. Let me put it in Jim terms, right? It's a little more crass than the Bible. It goes like. Jesus, the word of God, has the ability to cut through all of our mental and emotional BS. All the excuses, all the victim language blame,
all the, it's not my fault, I can't help it, it's not fair, and Jesus would say that. He may agree with you, that was horrible. All that's true, you win, you win that argument. Even though bad things have happened to you that shouldn't have happened to you, and it wasn't fair, Jesus would go like, can we just cut through that? But this is what's wrong in you. And this is what's broken in you. And this is, you can call it anything, it's sin, all right? You can call it anything, it's sin. And this is what needs to happen, this is what needs to change for you to move back towards what is right, which is why I would say this, in my opinion, a lot of us, we don't read, I don't wanna read the Bible. I don't wanna look at the Bible, and here's why. Because later in the Bible, a guy named James writes this, that the word of God is like a mirror, and I don't wanna look in a mirror right now, because I know what I might see, and I don't wanna look at that right now. And so we ignore it and go like, oh, it's old-fashioned, it's hard to read, that one part's so boring, I just can't read the Bible. I agree with you, even the boring parts, God can speak to you. So we ignore it, even though the only reason Jesus would even care to speak into our lives
is because he loves us. Now hold on to that. But there's another reason that we should want to, and I love this word, immerse ourself in God's word. And this is the reason that I'm not gonna have a lot of time to actually, we're not even gonna, I was just saying, Jim, you gotta teach John chapter one. I'm not. We're not gonna get into this, and here's why. Because over the last several weeks, preparing for this series, and especially for today, I began to take a deep dive into the life of the author of the book of John. His name is? See, you gotta win, January, all right, all right, all right. So here, today, today is an overview, a preview of what's coming for the next three months, and I always call it this, buckle up and get ready, because this is not gonna be a boring Bible study. See, God could have, because he's God, he could have given us his word, his truth, any way he wanted to do it, but the way that he delivered his word to us, the way that he breathed his scripture into our lives today, was by breathing it into ordinary, flawed people. And all these authors, they're on their own journey with God, they experienced God and his power and his presence in their life. Some of them, it was on a mountaintop,
some of them, it was in the valley of the shadow of death, some of them experienced God in good times, some of them experienced God in times where they're like, God, I don't think you should do it that way, I don't understand why you're doing what you're doing, I don't think you should do something, it's all in there, right? And from that real life experience and perspective and walk with God, they took what God was breathing into them, and they wrote it down, so that we, now later, ordinary, flawed people, on our own journey with God, aren't you? Experiencing God in mountaintop experiences and valley of the shadow of death experiences, we can read and we can take in, this is who God is, and this is what it looks like to live your life with him, good times and bad times. Now, honestly, I don't, this is me, I'm gonna process out loud, I don't know what you think about when you think about what it looked like when the different writers of this Bible wrote down what they wrote down in what we now call the Bible. No one ever taught me this, but somehow, I used to think this, that they, like some old men, like when they sat down at a desk by a window and heavenly beams were shining on their face, I've seen that painting, right? And they probably had one of those pins made out of a big feather,
because that's what you do, right, right? And then, it's like, okay, God, speak to me, and they went into this trance and their eyes rolled back in their head, or something like that, and then they kind of went unconscious, and God channeled himself through their hands, and they woke up and went, gospel of John, there it is. That's not how it happened, okay? So let's look at John, here's some background on John. I'm gonna, again, this is a preview, I'm gonna touch on things we're gonna talk about in the next few months. John is one of the first four disciples, followers of Jesus, and we find out later in context, you have to read around, he's the youngest one. So probably when he started following Jesus, he was probably a teenager, maybe in his early 20s, Jesus is 30, he's a little bit older, right? If you put the story together by pulling from all four gospels, gospel is Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, they're the biographies of Jesus. Peter and Andrew, this is how it goes, right? Peter and Andrew, they're fishermen, they've been fishing all night, and they don't catch anything. Sidebar here, Peter's the worst fisherman ever. There is, he doesn't catch one fish unless Jesus gets involved, it's like, hang it up, maybe you should be a carpenter, I don't know, right?
Anyway, so they didn't catch anything, all right? And then Jesus finishes up his little sermon there on the beach there, and he says, hey, try one more time, and they're like, oh, Jesus, and they do it, right? Not swearing, that's his name. All right, so anyway. And so, keeping up? I'm back, all right, here we go. All right, so they throw their nets out. Their nets overflow with fish to the point of breaking. And then James and John, they're fishermen. They're just next to him, right? They're two brothers who are also fishermen. They come to the rescue and they help haul the fish in. And then once that's done, Jesus looks at all four of them and goes like, follow me, and they did. And in my mind, because John wrote the book. John, in my mind, I think maybe he said, hold on, this is gonna be important. Let me grab a laptop, or a papyrus and a pen, or whatever, right? So I can write this down so that people 2,000 years from now will know this. I mean, it's ridiculous, right? John doesn't write the book of John for another 40 years after Jesus rises from the dead. It's around 70 AD, which is a very important date. But from that date, he can look back, like in the rear view mirror,
at some of the things that Jesus said when they were together, that Jesus said would happen. And in the moment, nobody knew what he was talking about. I'll give you a couple examples of that, all right? John writes the Gospel of John. He lived in Jerusalem for like 40 years, but he writes it from the city of Ephesus, where the local pastor's name is Timothy, right? So there you go, connecting the dots. John is in Ephesus because he had to get out of Jerusalem because the Romans, this is all historical. You can Google this, all right? This isn't even just Bible, it's just true, right? The Romans have had enough of the Jewish people and their ongoing rebellions, and so the current emperor, he's just done with these Jewish people, and so he's slaughtering 500 Jewish people every day on crosses, in pits, with lions, on fire, whatever, and then he says, let's just destroy the temple. And in 70 AD, the Romans pull it down. They burn it to the ground. Here's the order from Rome. Let no stone be left on top of another. The same words that Jesus prophesied in the book of Matthew 40 years earlier. There won't be one stone left on top, and it happened. When Jesus was on trial, one of the accusations against him was that he had threatened to tear down the temple, which was God's house.
So look at this, John chapter two. So the Jews said to this, these are the people that are accusing him. What sign, like prove yourself, what sign do you show us for doing these things? And Jesus answered them, destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up, okay? The Jews said that. It's taken 46 years to build this temple, and you're gonna raise it in three days? Now, John puts this in, all right? And he was speaking, Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, so down the road, his disciples remembered that he had said this in the rear view mirror, right? And they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. When Jesus said, in the moment, even the disciples didn't know what Jesus was talking about. But looking back, it was like, oh, that's what he meant, okay? Or how about, I love this one, John chapter 21. You read this this week. We'll get to the teaching about it later. So John 21, it's a few days after the resurrection, and John and Peter are out catching fish, and guess how many fish they caught? None, okay, zero, they're bad, all right? Anyway, they catch nothing, and then they're out a ways,
and then somebody from shore shouts, put your nets on the other side, and they do, and the nets fill up, and John says to Peter, look, it's the Lord, and then Peter jumps in the water and swims to shore, and then they have breakfast together, and then Jesus says, come here, Peter, let's take a walk, and in my mind, Jesus and Peter take a walk down the beach. I was there a few years ago, around the Sea of Galilee. It's just the two of them walking alone, but if you keep reading, John is right there, like following this teenager, like he's like photobombing the whole guy, right? He's like trying to get in on this. He's listening in on the conversation, and this is important. This is the first time Jesus and Peter have been alone since that rooster crowed, since Peter betrayed him three times, and I bet Peter's awkward, right? And Jesus asked Peter three times, hey, Peter, do you love me? Followed Peter's response, you know I love you, Lord. Go feed my sheep, and then Jesus says something that no other gospel writer except John includes, because he was there. Look, this is Jesus talking to Peter. Truly, truly, I say to you, Peter, when you are young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you're old, you're gonna stretch out your hands,
another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go, and then John puts this in. This, he said, Jesus said this, to show by what kind of death Peter was to glorify God, and after saying this, Jesus said to Peter, follow me. The only way that John could write that or understand what Jesus meant is because 40 years later, John knew exactly what happened to Peter. When Peter was in prison, when he was led someplace he didn't want to go, and then carried out an. executed, they crucified him upside down. And John was most likely right there watching it happen. John's the youngest disciple, which means he outlived all of them. John probably even received news that, hey, Paul, they cut his head off in Rome. So here's why I tell you that. One of the things, because I'm trying to give you context what we're gonna do for the next couple months in here. One of the things we have to keep in mind as we read the Bible is the perspective and the experience that the writers had. It wasn't theoretical. It wasn't rumor had it or word on the street is this happened. No, no, John, he was there. Right, he witnessed it with his own eyes. But John is the only disciple that's mentioned being present at the crucifixion. Everybody else was hiding.
John's standing right there with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Jesus looks down and says, take care of her. Right, everybody else is hiding. John's the only one that heard this. Father, forgive him. They don't know what they're doing. John's the only one who heard this. It is finished. He was right there. John ends his gospel by signing off with these words. Look, this is, in other words, I am the disciple who's bearing witness about these things. This is my testimony, and who has written these things. And we know that his, John's testimony is true. So with the gospel of John, the man that wrote it was right there watching it happen, looking back, testifies. I know, I know what he said. I know what he did, and it's true. Now, I love all that. That's all nerdy kind of stuff. I get into that, right? But that's not the part that really grabbed me as I was studying for this series. Go with me on this little gym journey. Here we go, right? Think about it, it's scary, all right? If you believe, put yourself in John's, if you believe that God's spirit was compelling you to write down the account of your experience
and your life with Jesus, and in this story, you're gonna be one of the main characters, you're gonna be one of the disciples, all right? How would you want yourself to be seen in that story? How would you want people to read it later and remember you, all right? Because if it were you, the parts of your story, like what part would you want in there? And what parts would you leave out? Because if you were to write about your part of your life in those three and a half of Jesus, would it be a highlights reel, like Instagram? Oh, these are perfect, look at them, right? Or would you include your mistakes, your failures, your most embarrassing moments? Because I know me, if I wrote the Bible, I would have written it different. But if I was to write it down about my walk with Jesus, and I knew that you all were gonna read it later, and you might even study it, right? I'm pretty sure that I would whitewash out some days. I would edit out, that's none of your business, all right? I would leave out more than a few of my blunders and failures, and John leaves all of his in there. As a matter of fact, this is Jim, or I can't, I think 40 years later, as John's looking back over his time with Jesus, I think as he's writing this down, I think he shakes his head and goes like, what was I thinking? What in the world?
Like, why did I do that? Why did I say that? Why did Jesus even put up with me? Anybody pray that prayer, right? And maybe, this is my opinion, all right? Maybe the spirits that put that part in there, because there's gonna be this man, this woman, 2,000 years from now in Colorado, and they're gonna need to relate to that. And here's what I mean. And this is new for me, all right? When John shows up in the story, there on the beach that day, he's passionate. Probably 19, 18, 19 years old about everything. He's an earnest young man, but here's the other thing. He's an angry young man. He and his brother James were raised in a town close by called Bethsaida, all right? It's a small town, but a big Roman fortress is there. So John's childhood, John was raised under the boot of a foreign military power in his little hometown, and he grew up watching Roman soldiers steal and murder and rape and pillage, right, without restraint, in his home to his friends. So when Jesus says, hey, follow me, John's dad is actually there and goes, go, get out of here, maybe you'll have a future. And then John follows Jesus. Now, this is my opinion, okay?
I think John initially follows Jesus, not because he thinks he's the Messiah. They were thinking about that. I think John sees an amazing man who can do incredible things. Like, he just filled up a net with fish, and if that's true, that feels like power. And if I follow him, I think Jesus might be my ticket from powerless to powerful, if I attach myself to him. See, James and John, they have a nickname. Anybody know what it is? They're known as Sons of Thunder. Now, if that's not a biker club name, I don't, like, they go on. Camel's like, yeah, let's kick butt. Yeah, right, right, right. I mean, they're rough, they're loud, and their anger comes out in all their words and their actions. Every time they show up, they're just picking fights, right? John's anger's coming out. Again, they're jockeying for power and position. I'll give you an example. Another gospel, Luke chapter nine. Jesus has just done some miracles, and then he looks at James and John, sons of thunder. He goes, hey, go to the next town and find us a place to spend the night. And so they go to that village and said,
hey, we're coming to town, is there a place we can stay? And they say, you can't come into our town. So John goes back to Jesus, and look at this. It's so great. And when the disciples, James and John, saw it, they said, Lord, Jesus, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them? You wanna burn it? Let's burn them to the ground. And Jesus looks at John and goes, no. Bless your heart, right? And then they went on to the next village. And I wonder if 40 years later, as John's writing that down, he's going, I'm a doofus. That's the Greek, doofus, right? And I wonder, he looks at me and goes, I was just mad. I was angry, and when they rejected Jesus, they rejected me, and it pushed all my buttons, and I wanted to hurt somebody. If I was John, I would not have put that in there. Here's another one. Right after watching Jesus feed 5,000 people and heal a whole bunch of sick people, and then later in the chapter, Jesus invites Peter and James and John to go up on this big mountain. Nobody else was invited, and that's where the transfiguration takes place. They watch Jesus clothed in white, big, light, shiny, and a voice comes out of heaven, it's God,
and Elijah's sitting there, and Moses is sitting there. They see Jesus is divine, like God, and all-powerful, and after all of that, it's mentioned in a lot of the gospels, in one gospel, James and John ask Jesus a question, but in the book of Matthew, James and John's mom comes up to Jesus and asks, can my sons sit at your right and left hand in the new kingdom? And her boys are sitting there like, can we do that? We want to be vice president. Right, right, we wanna be in charge. Can we be powerful with you? And the other disciples, they hear all this, and the argument about who will be the greatest in the kingdom continues all the way to Jerusalem, all the way up into the upper room in the Last Supper, where John, by the way, worms himself into the seat of honor right beside Jesus, which ticks off the rest of the disciples, and by the way, on the other side of Jesus is Judas, so he wants to sit on the right, left hand, there you go. And from that first encounter with the fishnets all the way to the upper room, whenever you find John, when he pops up, he's angry, and he wants, somebody needs to pay for this. He wants justice, and he wants power, and he sees Jesus as his way, as a position of power where he can be in charge, because when you're in charge, you're in control, and when you're in control,
nobody's gonna treat me like they treated me in Bethsaida. He's not a bad kid. I mean, he just had a zeal for the truth, and when he saw something that's not right, he had a passion for justice, and wanted things to be made right, but here's what I have found, all right? Passion for a just cause can drive us to destroy people that we now perceive as enemies, or that passion can drive us to redeem them, or help them find redemption. John's solution, burn them to the ground. Jesus' response is, I didn't come to destroy people. I came to save and redeem. So John's an angry young man, why? And this is where, yeah, all right. So I'm starting talking, and I figure out, why is John so mad? Working through that question, I honestly started looking into this mirror and asking myself, Jim, why are you angry all the time? And this is the part that grabbed me, so we're not even gonna get into the book of John, right? And this is the part that made me love and identify with John like I never have before, the guy who wrote this book, and this is the part where I, I'll be honest with you, I tearfully choked my way through it, unpacking this in my kitchen with Robin, and this is the part I want to edit out and not tell you, but I'm gonna tell you anyway.
You might wanna find a new pastor, some of you already there, but anyway, most of my life has been and still is driven by anger. I call it passion. I'm passionate for what is right and true, which it is, but sometimes that's a disguise for my anger at what's wrong and not true, that I point my anger at the people who either disagree with me, because they're wrong, or they stand in the way of what I want. You're in my way, get out of the way, or I get really angry with people who remind me of my own failures or dark hidden secrets and sins. My aha moment, my confession to you is this, sometimes I have used my faith, my stand for truth, here you go. I have used God's word as a weapon to attack people that make me mad. And it's not because I want good for them. I don't want redemption for them. I want them to pay for something else that they have nothing else to do with it. They just remind me of something that I can't, in my life, I can't fix. You remind me of it, you get my anger. So you can vote, I guess, if you're a pastor, but here I am, all right. John was angry, why? I'm angry, why? Here we go, ready?
Why are you angry? And the answer is, Jim, there's a million different things. Right, let's be honest. Bad stuff happens. I cleaned that up, because there's kids in here, right? Bad things happen to all of us in this life. Bad things happen when we're little kids, scar us. They rewire us for life, it doesn't go away. Stuff happens to us at school, and we act like it doesn't matter, but it matters, doesn't it? Friends and spouses, they betray us. Family members just leave. They just leave. Trusted people abuse us, and sometimes, or over time, eventually, all that just adds up, all right, and then it seeps its way down deep inside. Can anybody relate to this? Nod at me, right? Okay, and you know what, I'm gonna forget about it, but I can't forget, and I'm gonna forgive, and I can't forgive. We can't make sense of this, and this wound, right, it's called a wound, it doesn't heal, and anger starts building up, but we act like it doesn't matter, but it does matter, but in unguarded moments, it all comes out on whoever's unlucky enough to be the final straw that breaks the back, and it all gets dumped on them,
and if we could call down fire from heaven and consume them, we would, even though they're not even the reason we're angry. Can anybody relate to this? See, we want good. We want so badly to change the bad thing that happened to us. We wanna fix it. We wanna get even. We wanna, here's what we, we wanna do something so that it won't matter anymore, right, but no matter what we try, and we try a lot. At the end of it, there's always more anger left over, and it's always there, running in the background, stealing our joy, so what can we do about this kind of anger? Like, what can heal that? What can replace it? And so, I'm studying the life of John, and as I'm doing that, I got all these books and stuff like that, and I got the Bible, and then I get online, and I started listening to this old pastor from Australia. Did you know they had them down there? Yeah, anyway, so, that was an Australian accent. Pitiful, anyway. And he's probably dead, but I'll give him credit for the rest of this talk, right? He points to a moment in the life of John where, like, the lights came on, and things changed,
and it's in that upper room. It's the Last Supper, and we're gonna get to this later in the series, right? Jesus is gonna be arrested in a few hours after dinner, and before the meal starts, the disciples, and John is right there in the middle of it. They are arguing about who's gonna be greatest in the kingdom that Jesus is about to launch. They still think it's political, and we're gonna kick Roman butt, okay? And Jesus is watching all this, and in the middle of all the chaos, Jesus doesn't correct anybody. He didn't say anything. He just gets up, he walks over in a corner, he takes off his outer robes, he picks up a basin of water and a towel, and he gets down on his knees in the position of a servant, the lowest slave's job, and one by one, he begins to work the room and wash the disciples' feet, and the room goes quiet. And finally, Jesus gets to John, right? And John looks down at Jesus bowing before him. You gotta let that sink in. This is the same Jesus that thought, he's my ticket to power and status, and John sees the hands of Jesus wash his dirty feet. And we're gonna cover all this. These are the same hands he saw that lifted a little girl out of bed from death and gave her back to her mom and dad.
These are the same hands that touched a paralyzed man, and he walked, all right? These are the same hands that took bread and broke it, and 5,000 people ate. These are the same hands that draw in the dirt and protected and defenseless woman caught in the act of adultery, and says, hey, anybody without sin, you can throw a stone at her. And he had a hand that was qualified, and he didn't pick up a stone. These are the same hands that touched the eyes of a man born blind and created sight where none existed. And it had to, it just had to. It had to all flood over him. These are the most powerful hands in the universe. These are omnipotent hands. These are the hands of God. But above everything else, they're the hands of love. These hands bless everything they touch. These hands came to save, not destroy. And in that moment, it didn't matter where anybody was sitting at the table, or who was gonna be great and honored in the kingdom. All that mattered was this incredible love. As Jesus washed the son of thunder's feet, I believe in that moment, John felt his anger being washed away at last, and he was never the same. Christ's love had finally overcome it. Christ's love is stronger than all the hurt
we've experienced, all the rage, all of John's misguided zeal. So I had my talk, all turned in yesterday, and then I'm sitting in my chair watching basketball and scrolling through Instagram, and this popped up. I get most of my theology from Instagram, all right? And so, all right, but this is a quote from C.S. Lewis that randomly came up out of nowhere. Look at this. He says, I've spent enough time with anger until she finally told me her real name is grief. Isn't that true? Why are you so mad all the time? Because I'm actually sad. And eventually, at about $20,000 it counts, and you'll get there. I'm not mad, I'm just sad. Years later, John would remember this moment in his life and what it meant to him, and this is how he would describe it. Like when he walked out of that room, this is what he held onto. So Jesus has washed all the feet. He gets up off the floor. He turns and look at the men who had spread the gospel to the ends of the earth, and he gives them like a marching order. Say, it's like an umbrella. You're gonna do a lot of stuff,
but you gotta do it under this umbrella right here, and this is what he says. This is Jesus, he says, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, what do you mean? I just washed your feet. You also are to love one another, and by this, not power, but not status, not by position, not by military, not by might, by this, loving one another, all people will know that you're my followers, if and not until you have love for one another. See, Jesus has a solution for us, for us people who consume with anger. For those of us who, our religion is driven by anger. We'll get those sinners. Those of us who have like a restless drive in life is motivated by anger, and like I said earlier, you can never do enough to quench that anger. You can never accomplish enough to get even with the bad thing that happened. There will always be more anger left over after it. It's the only, it's only when you experience the love of Christ that that anger can be quenched. I'm sensing, I'm feeling, it's happening. Only his love can heal our wounds. We can never, write this down, we can never change the past, but we can be loved in the present. And here's how it happens.
And I wish I could just, let's close the prayer right here. I've gone to these retreats and stuff like that, and somebody pulls out a bucket and a towel, I'm like, oh no, we're gonna do a foot washing service. Anybody been to that retreat? I'm like, no, no, no, I'm gonna pull it. And here's why, it just feels icky. It just feels awkward, it's like, eh. I don't want that. Yeah. There's probably a lot of messages why. Here we go. Jesus wants us to open ourselves up to him so he can wash our feet, so he can serve us, so he can show us this is what grace and love is all about. He can wash our hearts. Jesus can wash away our anger, but you have to choose to allow him to serve you. You have to allow, this goes against everything you've been through, you have to allow him to kneel on his knees before you. You have to be willing to open up to him and go, okay, let me tell you what's wrong. Let me tell you about my hurt. This is my pain, this is my sin, this is my shame. These are all the parts I don't want anybody to see, but they are consuming me from the inside out. And Jesus is saying, I got ya, let me serve you, let me wash them away. I didn't come to destroy you for any of that,
I came to save you. And in that moment when you say, Jesus, I need you in my life, you'll experience the transforming love of Jesus as the hands of the son of God take your sin and wash it away. And then, just close your eyes and imagine this, he will look up from the floor and go, you're good, you're clean, I love ya. He did it for John. He's doing it in me right now. I'm not a finished product. He transformed the fiery son of thunder. He can do it for you, he can do it for me. And over the past few weeks, preparing for these teachings, approaching Jesus from this perspective, about how much he loves me, is changing how I see Jesus and then how I see myself and healing the anger that's been coming out on all the wrong people in all the wrong ways for way too long. Anybody else feel like? Now, towards the end of John's life, I'm gonna wrap this up, we find John in chains in an island out in the Mediterranean called the Isle of Patmos. He's in prison for his faith. The Romans put him out there in exile. And he knows he'll probably die on the next day. And he's in prison for his faith.
And he's in prison for his faith. die all by himself out there, And he's in prison for his faith. separated from everybody that he's poured his life into. And he's in prison for his faith. But John doesn't rage out on that island. And he's in prison for his faith. And he's in prison for his faith. He doesn't call out fire from heaven on the soldiers who guard him. He doesn't say, I've given my whole life to God, and then this is what I get, and he prayed that prayer. Like, I'm on your side, God. You can maybe fix my back, something, right? He doesn't anguish because he doesn't sit in a position of honor in the kingdom at the end of his life. No, from an island in exile, he writes the book of Revelation. You know what the theme of Revelation is? Don't give up. Jesus will make all things new. Later, as an old man, the Romans let him out. He's allowed to return to Ephesus, where he spends the rest of his life. He sends out letters to churches, epistles is what they call them, that are some of the most beautiful love letters the world will ever read. First, second, third John.
Read them. John's still thundering, but now it's love that's thundering out of him. The son of thunder has become the apostle of love. I'll close with that. I've got a question. Have you experienced that? Have you experienced that actual, unconditional, gracious love that has transformed the son of thunder? Are you still driven by anger? And we cannot replace it and medicate it, our pain and our rage in countless ways, but there's only one real solution, right? Only the love of Jesus can wash away our anger. Nothing else works. So there's a Bible scholar, one of the fathers who was writing down stuff about the early church. His name's St. Jerome, and he wrote a commentary on the book of Galatians. And as an old man, John died, they believe, in 80, 89, in Ephesus. But tradition says that as John got older and older, he would ask some of the men in that church, will you just carry me to the gathering of believers? And he could only really, at the last days, he could only choke out one thing. He would say this. Little children, let's love one another. For it's the Lord's command,
and if this is the only thing we do, that's enough. Maybe that should be our theme. I get some of it, some of it I don't get, some of it's right, but how about this? If we just love one another, even if we miss out some of the other parts, that would be enough. So as we move into the study of the book of John, words that have been breathed into John by the Holy Spirit, words that are alive and have the ability to cut through all the noise of our life, get right to the heart of our lives, the broken parts, the hard parts, the shameful parts, the angry part, written by a man who's on a journey from anger and insecurity to all that matters is love. Here's what I want us to do. I want us to take a look at just a few of the truths that will weave themselves through the next three months. So at all our campuses, here's what we're gonna do. If everybody just stand up together, I'm gonna have some verses go up here on the screen, and if you feel comfortable doing this, I want us to read them out loud together. We'll get to them over the next few months, but this is where we're gonna go over and over and over. Then I'll pray, and then we're gonna sing this great song, Don't Leave, it's so good. Look at this.
This is Jesus, here we go, one, two, three. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that someone laid down his life for his friends. Look at this one. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. This one's a little familiar. Here we go. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Time out, the next verse was my dad's favorite verse. Here it is, and there's a reason. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. So God, Father God, in studying for this, this is what clicked for me. There's a reason why a lot of us look back and remember the first thing, the first song we ever learned or heard that was about you goes like this. Jesus loves me. This I know.
How? For the Bible tells me so. The little ones to him belong. We're weak, but he's strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Why? Because the Bible, God's word, tells me it's true. So God, in this moment, we bring all of our stuff and go, I have tried to fix it, I've tried to carry it, I've tried to hide it and suppress it, whatever. And it's just coming out all wrong. I'm going to heaven. I'm just making life hell right now for everybody that has the unfortunate of being in the room with me sometimes. So God, I ask you to come into our lives. This is not a dusty old ancient book that our grandparents used to read or something like, this is the words of life. This is where we find you. And God, we do pray that things change in our marriage, our finance, and our health with our parents, with our children, all that kind of stuff. But whether that happens or not, we need you. And we find you in your word. And you're gonna breathe yourself into us and we'll never be the same. That's why we love you, because you first loved me. In Jesus' wonderful name we pray, amen.
Amen? All right. Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. How great the chasm that lay between us, how high the mountain I could not climb. In desperation I turned to heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness your loving kindness tore through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished, the end is waiting, Jesus Christ my living hope. Who could imagine so great a mercy, what heart could fathom such boundless grace. The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame. The cross has spoken, I am forgiven, the King of Kings calls me his own. Beautiful Savior, I'm yours forever, Jesus Christ my living hope. Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me, you have broken every chain, there's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ my living hope. Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free. Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me, you have broken every chain, there's salvation in your name, Jesus Christ my living hope. Then came the morning that sealed the promise, your buried body began to breathe. And out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. Then came the morning that sealed the promise, your buried body began to breathe. And out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me. Jesus, yours is the victory. Oh. ♪ Hallelujah, praise the one who set me free ♪ ♪ Hallelujah, death has lost its grip on me ♪ ♪ You have broken every chain, there's salvation in Your name ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪ ♪ Oh, Jesus Christ, my living hope ♪
Well, hey church, thanks so much for joining us this morning. If you are in need of prayer, we have an awesome team up front that would love to pray with you. And until next week, we hope you had a great start to your new years and we'll see you next time. We love you, bye. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪
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