Bear Witness and Declare

We start a new series today, calling it "Fullness of Joy." In First John, chapter 1, John says, "I've written these things that you may have fullness of joy." So, open with us to First John, chapter 1, as we talk about that together.

Good morning, everyone! Are you doing well today? Good! Would you stand with me, please, and take out your Bible? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of the ushers will gladly bring you one.

We are starting in a new book of the Bible today: the book of First John. It's pretty easy to find. If you've never been to the Bible before, just open to the very last book, the book of Revelation, and then turn a book to the left. There is a little book called Jude, and then another book to the left, a little book called Third John. Just before that is Second John, and amazingly, the one right before that is First John.

First John, chapter 1, is where we are going to start, right at verse 1. It is written: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life. The life was manifested; we have seen it and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full."

Lord, as we open to a new book of the Bible and the Scriptures in general this morning, I ask that you would open our ears and our hearts to receive from you. It is our conviction that these things were inspired by you, by your Holy Spirit. So, if they are inspired by you, we would ask that you, the same Holy Spirit who inspired them, would inspire us. Help us to interpret and apply what it is that you want to speak to us, so that our lives would be transformed. God, do a work in us.

Work in us by Your Word, by the work of Your Spirit. We pray this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You may be seated.

If you're a writer, some of you here might like to write, or maybe it's a part of your work to write. It's a lot of what I do—it's writing. One of the most disconcerting things for a writer is a blank screen and a blank mind. I have to confess, I sat in front of a blank screen for quite a while this week as I was reading through First John. I've been reading through First John for a while, talking about it with other leaders here at the church.

First John is a book that I've read many times before. Maybe you've read it before. It's not a very long book. If you've never read First John, and even if you have, I would encourage you to open up the Scriptures this week and read through the five chapters of First John at least once. Maybe do it daily. I think you would be encouraged. There are some challenging things in here, but there are a lot of things that, as I was reading through it, I was trying to figure out, "Okay, Lord, what's the best way to approach this?"

As a result, I just found myself staring at a blank screen. It can be challenging when you have a lot of other things going on. You have a deadline. I have this deadline every week, which is a good thing. I like it; it's helpful. But blank screens are challenging. In wrestling with how to approach this, a lot of the wrestling match, if you will, came about through just a lot of things that have been on my mind for the last few months.

As I look at our church, as I look at the culture that we live in, as I read through various things—whether they're Christian articles or resources, or non-Christian secular articles and resources, or listening to podcasts—all this different stuff has found my own mind being in a bit of turmoil. It's all been brought to the forefront by this book.

Now, every time we come to a new book of the Bible here at the church, I try to find a way to boil it down to a series topic. We just finished Second Timothy here at the church, and that was Paul's last letter that he ever wrote. We called it "Last Words," and there are some very important things in Paul's last words. In looking at First John a few weeks ago, I even sent a...

I sent a text message to all of our pastors and elders, saying, "Hey, we're going to be in First John. Please read the book of First John and give me your feedback. What do you think we should boil this down to?" There were responses like, "Well, true connection," because in this passage we just read, it talks about fellowship with God and fellowship with one another. That's really about being connected with God and with one another.

Then, a number of other different things came back, and I finally landed on the theme of the fullness of joy. That comes right from the last verse we just read. Look at verse 4 of First John, chapter 1: "And these things we write to you that your joy may be full." The author of this letter effectively tells us that this is the reason he is writing to us: to ensure that our joy may be full. That's a good purpose, a good reason.

But that's not the only time he says those words. He states, "I write these things to you for this purpose." If you skip down just a couple of paragraphs to chapter 2, verse 1, he writes, "My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin." Then, if you flip a few pages to the right to the last chapter, chapter 5, as he finishes up his letter, the author writes in verse 13, "These things I have written to you, these last five chapters, to those who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."

So, three times in this letter, the author says, "I have written to you so that you may be happy; your joy may be full. I've written to you that you may be holy; you may not sin. And I've written to you so that you would have assurance of eternal life."

This kind of begs the question: How many of you today would like to be happy? If you're not raising your hand, something is wrong with you! How many of you want to be happy? Okay, hopefully most of you. I think all of you did. I mean, I don't think any of us wakes up in the morning thinking, "I just want to be mad today." Sometimes you might feel that way, but hopefully not when you come to church on Sunday morning.

Now, how many of you would like to have assurance that you're going to have life forever? That seems to make sense and might even help you be happy—living forever. I like that. Now, this other question might have a slower response: How many of you want to be holy? Okay, I'm not sure. Maybe we can...

Let's define what that means. I might be getting ahead of what I'd like to discuss, but at the very least, this brings up a good point. As we see these three statements I've written—"you'd be happy," "you'd be holy," and "you have assurance of eternal life"—we can start with point number one on your outline sermon guide in your bulletin: the writers of the Bible wrote for a purpose. It's good for us to remember this.

The writers of the Bible wrote for a purpose, and it's our job as students of the Bible to understand that purpose. If you're a follower of Jesus, you're a student of His teachings. A disciple means a follower of the teachings of Jesus and the life of Jesus. So, as you read through the Scriptures, you should aim to figure out the purpose for which the author wrote. Now, this purpose is not always explicit, but we can be very grateful that the book we are going to study—however long that may be—has an author who explicitly gives us at least three reasons for writing: so that you would have fullness of joy, that you'd be happy, that you'd be holy, and that you'd have assurance of life.

We should make it our aim when we come to the Bible not to read into it what it says to us personally, but to understand what it says and the purpose behind it. The authors of the Bible wrote for a purpose, and it's our job as followers of the Scriptures to try to figure out what that purpose is. What do you want to speak, God, through Your Word?

I think it's necessary, as we come to this book, to back up a little bit. I've spent the better part of the last eleven years going through the New Testament on Sunday mornings, and we've spent most of that time in letters written by a man named the Apostle Paul. If you've been with us for that whole time, you've gone through all of Paul's letters. If you've been newer to the church in the last few years, you've still been in some of Paul's letters. Thirteen of the New Testament books were written by the Apostle Paul, and much of the New Testament history book, the Book of Acts, focuses on him.

So, we have spent a lot of time talking about Paul, but now we are coming to a book that is not written by Paul and has no connection to him. It could be helpful to back up a little bit and ask the question: Who is this person who wrote this book? It is another apostle—one who is sent with a message; that's what that word means.

Who's been sent with a message? Another follower of Jesus, in His name, was John. Now, there are several guys named John that we've come across in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, there's a guy named Jonathan. Then we have a very prominent figure in the Gospels named John the Baptist. This is not that John, but he's a character we'll talk about another day.

Then there's this other guy named John who shows up. He has a gospel called the Gospel according to John, and he wrote three letters that are very creatively titled First, Second, and Third John. Additionally, there's another book of the Bible, a very famous book that a lot of people like to read but don't understand. It's the last book of the Bible, called Revelation, and that was penned by this guy John.

To familiarize ourselves a little bit with this character named John: Who was he? He was one of the first disciples of Jesus. The first followers are important. He was a first follower of Jesus, and it is believed by pretty much all Bible scholars that he was the youngest of the disciples. When I say youngest, it's likely that John was no more than 15 years old when he started following Jesus. A young guy, perhaps a freshman in high school or maybe a sophomore. You guys remember that time; you probably don't want to.

At 15 years old, when he started following Jesus, he had an older brother named James. How many of you have an older brother? Not so many? Okay, there we go. He had an older brother named James, who comes up quite a bit in the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It's often the case that you see this guy John with James and with another guy named Peter. Peter, James, and John were like a posse, and they were a posse for a long time.

Before they started following Jesus, they were friends, but they were not only friends; they were business partners. The Gospels tell us that Simon, which is Peter's real name, had his name changed to Peter by Jesus. Simon, James, and John had a fishing business. James and John’s dad was named Zebedee. It's a good name; any of you pregnant here might want to consider that as a name for your child. I'm sure it'll come back.

Zebedee was John and James's dad, and he was a fisherman. In ancient times in Israel, generally speaking, if your dad was a fisherman, you were a fisherman too. Your dad's dad, your grandpa, was a fisherman, and your grandpa's dad was a fisherman. Generally speaking, you just continued the family line. Here's another wrinkle to consider.

In that situation, they didn't have social welfare, so your retirement plan was hopefully to have some sons who would carry on the business and take care of you. Your retirement plan, your insurance plan, was your boys. Zebedee was blessed; he didn't only have one son, but two sons who were industrious and entrepreneurial. They had taken on the business and partnered with Simon, James, and John, who were fishermen.

There they were on the Sea of Galilee. If you've read through the Gospels, you know about the Sea of Galilee and all the events that took place there. You might have a certain picture in your mind, but then you go to Israel, and that picture is altered. The Sea of Galilee is like Lake Hodges; it's bigger than that, but not much bigger. When you stand in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee and look across, you can see Masada right there. You can also see Gennesaret across the sea. It’s just a lake, but for millennia, it has been the lifeblood of that region, providing a lot of food through the fishing industry. Even today, it is still fished.

James and John grew up in Capernaum, and probably Peter grew up in Masada, just not too far down the lake. They had this fishing business, and then one day, the Gospels tell us that Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, probably his younger brother, showed up and said, "Guys, I met this rabbi named Jesus from Nazareth. You have to check this guy out." Right after that, they all started to get excited about Jesus in a big way. They began following his teachings and sharing about him, using hashtags like #Jesus.

The Gospel, as recorded in Luke chapter 5, tells us that one day Jesus showed up with a big multitude of people, which was typical at that time. Peter, James, and John had just fished all night long and were cleaning their nets after a hard day at work. On the Sea of Galilee, they would fish all night and sell what they caught during the day. So, there they were in the morning, washing their nets, when Jesus came by with a large crowd. They were probably happy to see him. Jesus said to Peter, "Hey, can I sit in your boat? Push it out a little bit from the water, and I'll preach from there." Peter agreed, so there were Peter, James, and John, washing their nets and listening to Jesus, kind of like having a podcast going.

They're doing their work, and Jesus is preaching. At a certain point, Jesus says to Simon Peter, "Hey, push out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Peter responds, "Lord, we've fished all night and haven't caught anything." I think he probably said that quietly because no fisherman wants to admit that they didn't catch anything. They are cleaning their nets, even though they didn't catch anything, and they kind of pretend otherwise. So, he says, "We didn't catch anything, but at your word, we'll do it."

At that point, he could have said, "Listen, preacher boy, that's not how we fish. We don't fish at this time of day. We don't fish out in the deep." He could have schooled him, but he doesn't. Instead, he says, "Alright, we'll do it." Peter pushes out a little deeper into the water and lets down the nets. All of a sudden, there is this massive catch—so much so that he has to yell to James, "Run quick! Get more nets! Bring the boats over here!" The nets are breaking, and the Scriptures say that their boats are starting to sink because of the greatness of this catch. This was likely the biggest catch they ever got, so much so that Peter is freaked out by this. He wonders, "Who is this guy that made my business just go through the roof?"

In Luke chapter 5, verse 10, Jesus says to Simon Peter, "Do not be afraid. From now on, you will catch men." When Peter, James, and John brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Jesus.

Point number two in your outline: When Jesus enters your life, things change. Now, I want you for a moment to put yourself in the sandals of Zebedee. Your 15-year-old son comes home. He is your retirement plan, your insurance policy. You trained him from the time he could walk to be a fisherman. He comes home and says, "Dad, like James and me and Simon, we partnered up and got this business, but we're going to retire."

"What? You're 15! You're going to retire? We're going to follow this rabbi. He asked us to follow him. His name's Jesus. He's from Nazareth." Nazareth? Can anything good come from Nazareth? That's what they said about Nazareth.

Anything good come from Nazareth? Boy, they thought so. Jesus came into these guys' lives, and everything changed.

Now, fast forward 50 to 60 years, because that's where we are when we come to First John. This epistle was written probably about 60 years later. John's an old man now, 75 years old, and he writes, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life. The life was manifested, and we have seen it and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father God and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full."

John, at this point, is nearing the end of his life, and he writes a letter. He's going to write three of them, and we are going to study through them. He writes this letter to the church at large; it's not given to a specific church. You know, when you read through Paul's letters, a lot of times it's like the book of Ephesians was written to the church at Ephesus, the book of Colossians was written to the church at Colossae, and the book of Philippians was written to the church at Philippi. Those are Paul's letters with intended audiences, but they are for the whole church.

These are called general epistles, just to the general Church. So, John writes a letter to Christians, to churches like us, and he says, "I was there at the beginning." Paul couldn't say that, but John says, "I was there at the beginning. I heard Jesus speak. I saw Him perform miracles. I saw Him heal sick people, heal blindness, and leprosy. I saw Him feed the multitudes. I saw Him cast out demons. I saw Him walk on water without a surfboard. I saw Him raise the dead."

John was there with Peter and James when Jesus raised a little girl; her dad's name was Jairus. He was there when Jesus raised to life a dead man, the widow's son in the town of Nain. He was there when Jesus called out to Lazarus, "Come forth," and Lazarus came forth. I saw Him raise the dead. I was next to Him and leaned back against Him.

Supper John was the only one of Jesus's disciples that we can tell from the Scriptures was there on the hill when Jesus was crucified, watching Him be crucified. All the rest of them were gone; they all split. John was there, probably just 18 years old. He saw Him be crucified, and then he was one of the first people to get to the empty tomb. There were angels there who said, "He's not here; He's risen just like He said He would." So, John saw the empty tomb, and then he saw the risen Lord. He may have even touched the nail-printed hands of Jesus after He had raised from the dead. He saw Jesus ascend into heaven, as recorded in Acts chapter 1. He witnessed all of these things.

I was there at the beginning. The same John who writes this letter also wrote the Gospel of John. You don't have to turn there, but you might want to read the first chapter later. I just started reading through John on Friday. If you're going through the Bible, the New Testament in a year with us through the listening plan, we just started the Gospel of John on Friday. It says this in John chapter 1, verse 1: "In the beginning was the Word" (capital W, the Logos), "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

He, the Word, is not just a thing; He is a person. He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, the Logos. Without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him, the Word, the Logos, was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Verse 14 in the same chapter says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

We saw the glory of the only Son of God. "Son of God" is a title that speaks of the nature of God in human form, incarnate. That's the doctrine, the teaching of the Scriptures: that God became a human being in the man Jesus Christ. John says, "I beheld His glory. I saw Him, I heard Him, I touched Him. I beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Point number three on your outline: Jesus came to bring light and life by grace and truth. This is really important. We began this year with a sermon series called "Life on Purpose," and I shared with you that when Jesus came, He shares His...

Purpose through some "I have come" statements could fit right in with those. Jesus came to bring light and life by grace and truth. John says life was manifested, which means it was revealed and made clear. Eternal life was made clear in the man Jesus Christ.

Now, here's the amazing thing: within every single human being, every person has this deep yearning to live on. It's not just in human beings; it's in animals and even the plant kingdom. Have you ever watched documentaries on plants? They speed everything up, but you see that plants fight to survive, which is really weird and kind of freaky. The desire to live on is built into everything. We all want life forever. Where is that? Well, John says Jesus revealed and made clear eternal life.

1 John chapter 1 says, "We have seen it." Who's "we"? Well, Peter, James, and John at least. We have seen it and bear witness, declaring to you that eternal life, which was with the Father, was made clear and manifested to us. So that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you.

Look at verse 3 of 1 John chapter 1. It begins with the word "that." Circle the word "that," and if you can write really small, write next to it that this word "that" indicates purpose. We declare these things to you so that you also, who hear these things from us, may have fellowship with us. Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

These things we write to you so that your joy may be full. Now, for the things that we see in this text, I have plenty of time—23 minutes and 30 seconds—for things if you're taking notes.

Number one: You do not know life, eternal life, if you do not know Jesus. You do not know eternal life if you do not know Jesus. Now, this is not politically correct.

American culture in 2019 emphasizes inclusivity, and there is a strong objection to anything perceived as exclusive. The biggest objection that many non-Christians—neighbors, co-workers, and even some family members—have to Christianity is the exclusivity claims of Jesus. Jesus states that there is only one way to have life. His followers witnessed him heal the sick, walk on water, raise the dead, and rise from the dead himself after being crucified. They proclaimed that he is the only way to know eternal life.

Yes, this claim is politically incorrect in American culture, but it is biblically correct. Therefore, we will always lean toward being biblically correct rather than politically correct. I prefer being BC over PC.

Point number four is that you cannot have eternal life without Jesus. This is a simple yet challenging point that can really upset some people in our culture. Perhaps it bothers you this morning. I find it interesting when people react strongly to this claim. They often say, "How dare you say that? I don't believe it." If you don't believe it, then just go on about your merry life and forget it.

However, if you are offended, you should ask yourself why it bothers you so much. I suggest it bothers you because you are afraid it might be true. If it does bother you, I am glad. You should be bothered because if it is true, it has significant implications. I know it sounds audacious, and it might even come across as arrogant to say something like that. But I am merely repeating what Jesus said.

If you have a problem with this, consider why you are bothered. You might be troubled by the idea that if it is true, you could be in trouble if you have not followed his way. The gospel can be a stumbling block; some people find it foolish, while others find it offensive. Our culture seems hypersensitive to anything that might provoke such feelings. I have noticed this sensitivity in my children as well.

They pick it up from school or friends, and when something offends me, I just say I don't care; suck it up. This world is not going to bend towards you feeling bad. It's just not. For all the Millennials in the house, I'm like the senior class of Millennials: suck it up. Life is hard, and you're going to get your feelings stepped on. That's a good thing because maybe your feelings need to be stepped on, especially if you're going the wrong way. When someone yells at you and says, "Stop! Don't do that," you might feel bad. Well, you're going to fall off a cliff; that's why they yelled at you.

If it bothers you, I'm actually glad because maybe you need to be bothered so you know the truth and not believe a lie. There are a lot of people who believe a lie, and it's very easy for us to believe a lie. We don't have to think very far back to realize that a whole bunch of people believed a lie, and six million people were incinerated for it, and more than that. It's pretty easy for people to believe lies that can be really, really bad.

The second thing from this text is that you will not have fellowship with God and others apart from Christ. Now, maybe you say, "Well, I don't care about that," but what's that matter to me? I won't have fellowship. Big Christian work means action. You will not have connection with God and with others apart from Jesus. He is the way into connection with God and with others.

Some might say, "Well, I don't care about that." Here, that brings us to the third thing we see from John: you will not have fullness of joy apart from Christ, or you could say apart from connection with God and one another. So, everybody raise their hand if you want to be happy. It's enshrined in our founding documents: the pursuit of happiness. We live among a whole bunch of people that are pursuing happiness in our culture.

It has nine thousand different ways, times infinity, for you to be happy. You'll be happy if you do this, you'll be happy if you do that, you'll be happy if you get this Ford, you'll be happy if you get this computer, you'll be happy if you get this phone, you'll be happy if you try this wine—whatever it may be. We live among a whole bunch of people who have every possible thing at their beck and call to make them happy, and everybody's trying.

All these things out, and the more you try them, the more you realize that none of those things make you happy. But we think they will. We all want to be happy, and I want to submit to you what the Scriptures submit to you: you will not have fullness of joy apart from connection with God and one another. Fellowship with God and one another is essential, and you cannot have fellowship with God and one another apart from Jesus.

Now, obviously, Cross Connection Churches really believe this is important. That's why we say life in connection with God, one another, and the world. We want to share that with the world through Jesus. We talk about that all the time. It's why we have connect groups, why Mark goes mountain biking with people, and why the ladies go on hikes together. We have prayer groups because we want to connect with God and connect with one another. We believe that therein is found a greater level of the experience of this life for eternity.

You will not have fullness of joy apart from Christ and connection with God and one another. You will not have fellowship with God and one another apart from Jesus. You do not know eternal life apart from Jesus.

Point number four: you cannot know eternal life in Christ and keep quiet about it. That's what John says: life was manifested, and we bear witness and declare it to you. This brings us to a challenging point, point number five. If you're not sharing eternal life, it may be that you don't have it.

Rick Ruby, thank you. If you're not sharing eternal life, it may be—I'm just hypothesizing—that you don't have it. Or, this is the more challenging one: it may be that you just don't care that other people are going to hell. That's called complacency, and Jesus doesn't like complacency. It got real quiet. That's challenging.

So, I said at the beginning of this, I've been wrestling.

I started wrestling with this text years ago when I began listening to an atheist by the name of Christopher Hitchens. Christopher Hitchens died a few years ago from throat cancer. He was probably one of the most bold, loudmouth, and obnoxious atheists you could find. Every time you saw Christopher Hitchens, he had a glass of Johnnie Walker Black in his hand. I don't think the guy was ever sober; it could be morning, and he would still be drunk.

Despite his heavy drinking, Hitchens had the fastest wit and the most targeted words of any atheist you would ever hear. Something he said a number of years ago challenged me. He was speaking to a roomful of Christians, debating a Christian, and he said, "I'm fine if you believe the things of the Bible. I disagree with you, but if you really believe the things of the Bible and you believe that I'm going to hell and all these other people are going to hell, why aren't you saying something about it? Because I don't think you believe it."

The atheist was calling the Christians to the carpet, saying he didn't think they really believed it. If they did, they would say something about it. I felt serious conviction from an atheist challenging me to think about that. I know I rattle some cages here, but I am convinced that maybe we need our cages rattled. This applies not just to Cross-Connection Church but to all the churches in America.

This is exactly what Jesus wrote to a church in Revelation chapter 3, specifically to the church at Laodicea. He said, "You are rich; you have need of nothing." He was talking about America, where many think they have everything they need and don't need anything. However, He said, "In reality, you are miserable, poor, blind, and naked, and you have become completely lukewarm. I will spew you out of my mouth." Jesus hates complacency.

Now, does Jesus save us by grace through faith, that not of ourselves? Yes. Does He save us to just have a blessed-me club and sit around saying, "This is awesome"? No. He saves us to bring the gospel to lost and dying people, and there are a lot of them around us. I am convinced that there are at least...

Two responses to this text into this message. First, some of you today need to turn to Jesus and trust in Him for salvation. Receive His grace and forgiveness through repentance. We see that in this text in First John, chapter 1. If we skip down to First John, chapter 1, verse 9, we find a big important word: "If we confess our sins, He, God, Jesus, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That's great news, and we're going to get there at some point—maybe next week, maybe five weeks from now. I don't know, but we'll get there soon.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us because He is full of grace, but He is also full of truth. He wants us to confess our sins. He is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So, some of you today might need to turn to Christ, put your trust in Him, and repent—that is, turn away from your old life. We'll talk a lot about that as we go through this text. Not walking in darkness any longer is where we're going to be next time. You need to put your faith and trust in Jesus and ask for His forgiveness. Here’s the great truth of First John 1:9: If you ask, He will forgive you. That means He will pardon you for your sin.

The second response is that some of us, including myself, need to confess our complacency, repent of it, and receive God's forgiving grace and His cleansing. I have shared many times over the last eleven years that within ten miles of this building, there are nearly a million people living. If you go through the census data, which is now about nine years old, it shows nine hundred and seventeen thousand people. So, that's close enough; we round up.

The Southern Baptist Convention, with which we are connected, conducted research in San Diego County because they identified thirty cities in North America, the United States, and Canada in 2010 where we really need the work of the gospel to be applied. San Diego is one of those cities. They found that only nine point three percent of people in San Diego County—out of three point two million people, with one hundred ten different languages spoken here—are connected to a gospel-teaching church. That means that...

Within ten miles of this building, there are over 800,000 people who have no connection to a gospel-teaching church. However, they are connected to you and me through our neighborhoods and the people we stand next to at soccer fields. They are connected to us in office buildings and classrooms. We have a connection with these people.

These are individuals who live in Escondido, San Marcos, Valley Center, Rancho Bernardo, Vista, Elfin Forest, Poway, Scripps Ranch, Mira Mesa, Miramar, the northern part of La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff, Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Bonsall, Fallbrook, and Ramona. That is a lot of people, and we are connected with them. Either we are totally fine with them going to hell, or we do not really know eternal life ourselves.

John met Jesus, and he could not keep quiet about it. You might say, "Well, John had it a lot easier than we do; he didn't have American culture, which is so hard and stressful." However, when John wrote this, it was probably around 85 to 90 AD, almost a thousand years ago. By this time, all of his friends, the first followers of Jesus, had been killed for their faith. Think about that. Every one of the guys he grew up with—Peter was crucified, James was thrown off the temple and run through with a spear—had been killed, except for John.

Now, here’s the amazing thing: church tradition says they tried to kill John by boiling him in oil, like frying him, and he didn’t die. So, they banished him to an island called Patmos, a prisoner island. The Greek Isles are often thought of as beautiful, but no, he was boiled in oil and thrown onto an island. He wrote this after that.

In the announcements today, we talked about Saturate. This is a pretty amazing thing; it’s simple. I think we’ve just made it too difficult. There’s somebody—I don’t know who it is—but someone gave a lot of money to buy 1.2 million of these bags with a little...

We have gospel tracts that explain how to know God and the Jesus film available in seven or eight different languages. There are a hundred and ten different languages spoken in San Diego, and churches throughout San Diego County have been given thousands of these tracts. Right now, we have 25,000 of them sitting in the lobby that need to be packed into bags.

Additionally, we have little cards that each church can use to include an invitation for their Easter services. We have a whole bunch of these to put in the bags, and then we need to distribute them to homes. It’s pretty simple; we can just take them and put them on doorsteps, hang them on doors, or attach them to mailboxes. You probably won’t face any serious consequences for doing this.

Today at 12:30, after the third service, if you’re available, come down and help us start packing these. Next Saturday, we will gather together to pray and then send people out to distribute them in the 92026, 92027, and 92029 zip codes.

I think about how some people, like Christopher Hitchens, have said that many Christians are practical atheists. They claim to believe in God, but if they truly did, it would show in their lives. Hitchens was an evangelical atheist who went around telling everyone he didn’t believe in God. He was often crass and harsh about it, but he was an effective atheistic evangelist.

Have you noticed that many people who become atheists in the United States often say, "He was my Billy Graham"? Fortunately, there were many Christians who loved Christopher Hitchens and prayed for him. One of them even wrote a book about his time spent with Hitchens, reading through the Gospel of John. Hitchens knew the Bible very well. Sadly, I don’t think he became a Christian before he died, but many people shared their faith with him, and that’s a good thing.

There are a lot of people who need us to share our faith. I realize this can be convicting, but I think it needs to be. So let’s stand, and I’m going to pray. Some of you today may need to trust Christ for the first time, and I want to give you the opportunity to do that. Others of us may need to confess to the Lord that we have been…

We need your grace and your forgiveness, and we need your boldness because maybe we're too timid. Father, your Word is living, powerful, and sharp like a sword. It cuts deep and reveals our hearts. Lord, we stand right now before you and before your Word. Maybe some have been convinced or convicted by your Word. We just studied through 2nd Timothy, and it says your Word is useful for conviction.

So, God, we thank you for the fact that you love us enough to speak truth to us. We come before you for forgiveness. If today you've never trusted in Jesus and you've been thinking about these things—maybe even been offended by them—but you're here for some reason, I'm glad you're here. If you want to receive His grace and His forgiveness by trusting in Him, I'll give you a chance to do that in just a moment.

Then, maybe there are some of you here today who believe in Jesus but would say, "Yeah, maybe I've been a little too complacent." I want to give you a chance to confess that as well. If that's you, just lift up your hand high so I can see it. Lift it up high. There are quite a few of us here. If that's you, just pray with me where you're at.

"Dear Jesus, I confess I need your grace. Forgive me of my sin. Help me to be a faithful witness, to follow you, and to share the good news. I thank you that you saved me by your grace. I pray you'd help me to share that grace with others."