The Message We Declare Series

INTRO.- ILL. The 23rd Channel

The TV is my shepherd, I shall not want.

It maketh me to lie down on the sofa;

It leadeth me away from faith;

It destroys my soul;

It leadeth me into the paths of sex and violence for the

sponsors sake.

Yea, though I walk through the shadow of my Christian

responsibilities,

there is no interruption, for the TV is with me;

Its cables and remote control, they comfort me.

It prepareth a commercial for me in the presence of my

worldliness.

It annointeth my head with humanism and consumerism; my

coveting runneth over.

Surely, laziness and ignorance shall follow me all the days

of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house, just watching TV all the

time.

DOES THIS SOUND ACCURATE? It is or could be for some people.

Ephesians 5:15-17 "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

Instead of contributing to the world's evil, we should be doing whatever we can for the Lord! Far too many Christian people like to run with the world and contribute little to the kingdom of God.

This is one reason why I feel I need to do some work for the Lord every day. Otherwise, I feel like I'm stealing from God and giving in to the world.

The message that the world is declaring is many things. It is: enjoy life, take it easy, watch all the TV you want, etc. It is eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die. Meaning enjoy yourself to the hilt, because when we die, that's all she wrote!

The world's message is many things but we must not be taken in by the world!

Ephesians 5:8-11 "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."

ILL.- Someone wrote: Several years ago I read of a terrible accident in which several youth were killed when their car was struck by a train. At the trial the watchman was questioned: “Were you at the crossing the night of the accident?”

“Yes, your Honor.”

“Were you waving your lantern to warn of the danger.”

“Yes, your Honor,” the man told the judge.

But after the trial had ended, the watchman walked away mumbling to himself, “I’m glad they didn’t ask me about the light in the lantern, because the light had gone out.”

Has your light gone out? We all have our days when our light is not shining at all. And God sees when our light has gone out.

We must not be taken in by the world. Instead we need to declare the message of God about Jesus and as contained in scripture: Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God!

PROP.- Let's take note of the message that John declared.

1- The message is: There is no darkness in God

2- The message is: Claiming to know God doesn't mean you do

3- The message is: Confession and walking in the light go hand-in-hand

I. THE MESSAGE IS: THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN GOD

5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. No darkness. No sin. No error. Nothing evil in God.

ILL.- One soldier said: In basic training, our first sergeant made things very clear. He told us, “Don’t question anything I say or tell you to do. Don’t worry—I hardly ever make mistakes. Matter of fact, I’ve made only one mistake in my life. I once thought I was wrong about something. It turned out I wasn’t.”

Is that the way it is? Well, there might be some people who actually feel that way about themselves but more than likely, we may feel a whole lot less than perfect. THIS IS MORE LIKE IT:

ILL.- A lady named Donna Ulrey said: The wheel of my grocery cart was making a horrible scraping sound as I rolled it through the supermarket. Nevertheless, when I finished my shopping and saw a cartless woman, I offered it to her, explaining, "It makes an awful noise, but it works."

"That's okay," she said, taking it. "I have a husband at home just like that."

Guess what? WE ALL ARE LIKE THAT! We work but we often make an awful noise because of sin in our lives! BUT NOT GOD! THERE IS NO DARKNESS IN HIM!

II Cor. 5:21 "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." There was no sin in Jesus. If there's no sin in Jesus then there is no sin in God the Father!