All Scripture is breathed out by God. Uh, including the passage we're going to look at tonight. And they're useful for teaching, for correcting, for reproof, for training in righteousness. So. So let's open our Bibles together first, John, we're going to start chapter five. Uh, tonight we're, we've been in this book for a while. We're getting into the last chapter. Uh, so the end's in sight, but we're going to look at the first five verses. So your Bibles open, we'll put them on the screen. But if you could see this in front of you, it's better if you see it. Um, so get those Bibles open. Maybe it's on an app, maybe it's in a book, but put it on your lap and we'll get after this. You guys ready? Alright. Love it. First John five. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we are. That we love the children of God. When we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Guys, there is some monumental stuff in those five verses. Um, just consider the questions that this text brings up and the answers it gets to that hopefully we'll make clear. But, but how do you overcome the world? Like anybody want in on that? Like you feel the pressure of the world all around you in your own life. Like how do you overcome the world? What does it mean to be born of God? What's that about? What does it mean to really love God? What does it mean to love the children of God? Like, this is some foundational Christianity. And I think the way that John talks about this often goes overlooked. Um, but here's, here's what I want to tell you. Uh, I want us to better understand what what he's getting at. If you want to better understand us and how we do ministry, this is a really helpful text. Uh, but but forget us if you want to better understand what God is up to. This is a really helpful text. Um, that we want to understand and it's so exciting to understand what what God is up to. Um, and if we get that, I think, I think we worship different even for, for Christians. I think you sing amazing Grace differently when you better understand the grace you've received than if you just kind of understand the grace you received. And I think understanding this text, um, helps refine our ministry or our ministry focus. Where should we put our efforts? Like how, how do you see real gospel impact in your community? Anybody want to see more gospel impact in their community? Right. How do you do that? How's that come about or just set community aside? How about more gospel impacting your own heart? Like, how does that happen? A three times in two verses John is talking about overcoming the world. That's a that's that should be intriguing. Like that should pull us in. Like, how do we overcome the world? Well, let me start off with this. I don't think most Christians, and I mean, like genuine Christians, really understand the work of salvation. And it hinders worship and it hinders or distorts ministry focus. Like most often I say like, how'd you get saved? Right? I'm going to hear a story about, you know, I was at youth camp when I was in junior high and I heard the gospel or, or my mom, you know, when I was young, was taking me to bed and we prayed together or, you know, I was at salt Company and we went to conference and we heard that like, you're going to hear these stories. And it's like, there's, it's part of it, but there's more to it than that. Think of the work of salvation. The work of God in our life is like an iceberg. What do we know about iceberg? What do they say about icebergs? Right? Ninety percent of it is under the surface, like we see ten percent of it, but ninety percent is under the surface. Well, we see on the surface when it when it comes to the work of God in our lives, gospel proclamation and gospel response, that's kind of what's visible to us. Somebody proclaimed the gospel and somebody responded to the gospel. Like, that's kind of what's visible, uh, to, to when we see ministry unfold. But there's so much more going on beneath the surface. And I want to help us better understand the work of conversion or God's work of conversion or, or sometimes you might hear, say, the work of regeneration, like, how does somebody become a new creation in Christ? Like what's happening there? And, and this is wild. But we actually believe that people can change? That can kind of be controversial. Now, it's an exciting thing to think about, but a lot of people don't think that like you get you get labeled like you're judged by the worst moment of your life. You made this mistake and now you're that person, right? You can never kind of get out from under that. But we believe that God changes people. So let me put it this way. We don't think that people change people. We don't think people can change on their own and in their own strength. But we do believe that God changes people. Now, that ought to excite us because we all know people we wish God would change, right? If you don't look in the mirror, right. We all know it's like and we have this like overwhelmed, like, I don't know what's going to happen like this, this, these problems are so Discouraging God. You got to do something like you got to change your heart, you got to intervene, you got to work. And like, our God does that. And that ought to excite us. So let's, let's get into what John is talking about. We're going to work through this passage a little bit slower. Here we go. Verse one. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Let's just stop there. Now we tend to think like when we look at what we can see of the iceberg of salvation, that faith leads to being born again, right? I have faith, so now I'm new. Because of my faith. I become this new creation in Christ. I have faith, and then I'm I'm born again. But that's not what John says. It's not what he's saying. John is saying something about people that believe. He says, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ that's present tense. If you look at the the the call to believe here, that's in the present tense. So you're presently actively believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Perfect tense. Now, what's the perfect tense? Because in English, we don't really deal with that perfect tense in Greek is something that happened in the past that continues to have a present impact. So John is saying, if you presently believe that Jesus is the Christ, that is because before that you were born of God, like God did something in you. Like regeneration happened before faith. Basically, God did something in you that made belief possible, that brought about your belief. And we we see this. Remember in Matthew sixteen when Jesus is asking his disciples, who do people say that I am? And they like, got some ideas? Some people think you're Elijah or John the Baptist back from the dead, or Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He's like, but who do you say that I am? Right. He got quiet and Peter speaks up. It's like you're the Christ, you're the Messiah, you're the Son of God. And he's like, you're right, Peter. But you didn't come up with that on your own. You got help from who? My father. Right. My father helped you. It's like you had outside intervention to make that conclusion about me. When Jesus is having this conversation with Nicodemus, and Nicodemus is like, hey, you're somebody like you can't deny the works that you're doing. So I got some questions for you. How do you have eternal life? And he's like, you gotta be born again, Nicodemus. Like, I don't even get that right. It's like, well, you're born of the flesh now. You need to be born of the spirit. So the spirit is active and the spirit is doing things and the spirit needs to give life. So think, think of faith like breathing. I, I'm guessing we don't actively think about breathing. You're like, okay, breathe in, breathe out. Like we just breathe, right? Just we're alive. We breathe. And when it comes to faith, it's like I have it. I didn't have it before. I have it now. Like it's it's a part of our life. Well, you don't breathe and then you get born. You're born and then you start breathing. Or the doctor kind of spanks you. And you, you cry, you listen for that cry. And it's like, it's life, right? It's an expression of life. Breathing is an expression of life. Faith is an expression of spiritual life. So God gives spiritual life, and then you have faith. Or you can put it this way, God is the first mover in our salvation. And John was getting at this a few verses before in in chapter four, when he says, we love because what he first loved us and John, and we're going to see this a little bit. John is using belief and love kind of interchangeably. So he's saying, we love because he first loved us. We have faith because he first loved us like he he moved towards us. And this put brought faith into our life. So we see the tip of the iceberg. We see this gospel proclamation, we see this gospel response. And this is kind of what we see. But John is like, let me tell you what is happening underneath. There's so much you don't see that God is at work and he's giving spiritual sight, and he's giving spiritual life that leads to these things. So time out. Like before we go any further, for those of us in here, in here that presently believe that Jesus is the Christ, how grateful should we be to God? Like that, we didn't come to this logical conclusion on our own to put our faith in Christ. We were dead in our sins, and he moved and he saved, and he gave us life. And he gave us spiritual sight. Like, how grateful should we be to God? Like, if you get that, you sing amazing Grace a little bit differently because you understand how amazing Grace is. You didn't do anything, and God came to your rescue. But there's even more to it. Because John is going to get into both the work of God that he's doing in our lives before faith and the work of God that he's doing in our lives after faith. So let's read the rest of our all of verse one. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves whoever has been born of him. Now John is building on his point and adjust some language to help make it. Uh, let me point something out when he says, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ. And then after that, he says, everyone who loves the father. Here's what you need to know. Those aren't two different groups of people. He's not saying like, well, you got these people who believe and then you got these people who love. That's not. He's talking about the same group of people. It's two different descriptions of the same group. Now, why does he do that? Because he's trying to help us better understand what faith means, what it involves. Like, your eyes have been open to Christ and you love God. Like that's the expression of faith. Like you, you see God for who he is and he's glorious. And love comes from that. So he's giving us a description of what having faith means. So to be born of God leads to faith in Christ, and faith in Christ leads to love of God. And love of God leads to love of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We'll see that in a little bit. And then that leads to overcoming the world. We'll eventually get to that as well. But here's what I want us to get. The saving work of God involves the gift of faith. Like your eyes have been opened to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians four. So. So faith is this awakening that God does in our lives. It. And. And his work gives us new affections. So along with faith in Christ comes love for God. Those aren't separate things. Those who believe in Christ love God. Those who love God believe in Christ. Those come together as part of the one work of God in our lives, or the multiple work of God in our lives. But how do we know that that's a work God has done in us? Like if it's clear, hey, this is what God does. Well, did he do it to me? Did he do it to you? Like how? How do you know? Well, the first indicator is, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Like, can you say that about Jesus Christ? Like that's that's gotta be there. But that is just one indicator. And, and we know, I mean, the people that John's kind of confronting in this letter, uh, the Gnostics, Gnosticism was kind of big. We've been talking about this as we work through this, this idea that Jesus really didn't have a body just kind of came in the spirit and the Spirit's good and the body is bad. So as long as you kind of have this enlightened view of Jesus, it doesn't really matter how you live in the body, you can live however you want. Well, well, those people would say, Jesus is the Christ. And John's got some real issues. In fact, he's saying, I know you say that, but you're a liar. It doesn't doesn't match. So that's just one indicator. And we know, according to Jesus, that not everyone who says to him, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. And we know from the parable of the sower that Jesus told that, that there's going to be people that respond to the gospel that don't don't last, that they show this like positive response to Christ. But over time, they get choked out by the cares of this world or the trouble of this world. And it's not it's not an overcoming faith. So how can we be more convinced of the genuineness of our conversion? How do we know if we have a faith that does lead to overcoming? Let's let's keep reading verse two. Verse two and three. You still with me? Alright. By this we know that we love the children of God. When we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. So if we pass the belief test, we profess that Jesus is the Christ. Well then we need to see if we pass the love test. And there are two expressions of love that are connected. Love of God and love of the children of God. So what does that mean? What does it really mean to love God? What does it really mean to love the children of God? This is kind of an evidence of the life giving work of God in our lives. Is it there? What is he getting at? This love of God and love of the children of God? First, what does it really mean to love God? We tend to only look at love as. As this emotion, this feeling. Do I feel like I love God? But it's so much more than that. Look at verse two again. It says, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. Now that word and makes us think that obedience and love are two different things, right? When we love God and obey his commandments. So you look at that and you're like, well, we gotta have both. We gotta obey God and we gotta love God. Like they're two separate things. But John continues on and he actually connects those two things. Here's what it says in the first part of verse three. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. Like he takes these two separate ideas and he's like, no, they go together like that. That is an expression of love for God. When we obey God, the way love for God is practically expressed is through obedience. Because if we say we love God. We come to church and we sing loud and we raise our hands and we're like, we love God, but then we go out and we disobey him. He's like that. That doesn't go together. Like there's a there's this disconnect if that's to happen. Like last week, Michael talked to us about the old kids game memory. Like we got to flip over the different cards. Like that doesn't match like this, this profession of love for God, but, but a lack of obedience to him like that, that doesn't go together. But if you're playing memory and you flip over, you know, a train, what do you got to find a train, right? You flip over an apple. What do you got to find? These aren't complicated questions, right? If you flip over a spaceship, a rocket, what have you got to find? Rock. Yeah. You're just you're looking for a match. Well, if you flip over love for God and then you flip over obedience to God, that's the match. That's what he's saying. Like those things go together. But also remember the the context, because the Gnostics were arguing that if you believe in Jesus, you can live however you want. It doesn't matter what you do in the body. You can go do whatever you want in the body, as long as you've kind of had this enlightened belief of who Jesus is. Here's what the Gnostics are saying. It doesn't have to match. And John's saying it's got to match. If it doesn't match, I'm name calling. Right. You're a liar. Like it doesn't fit there. The way we show our love for God is obedience to God. But. But stay with me. It's not just obedience. It's also our attitude in obedience. Look back at verse three. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. He goes on to say, we got to keep his commandments. But let me give you the attitude behind our obedience, because that matters. Like if a parent tells one of their kids to clean up the kitchen and they obey, but they're like, fine, right? Do that. Pouting with their heads down, they shuffle through and they just mumble and they're like, it's like, I do this, right? Is that loving mom and dad? I mean, technically they're doing it, but is that honoring to them? Like if something's missing here, do I honor God? If my attitude is like, fine, I'll go to church, right? If you want Saturday at four, what? Fine. Right. You want to give money? Money, right? You all you guys have teenagers? Whatever. Like, like if that's like your attitude towards, like, even though you're doing it. I don't think that's honoring to God. Like he's saying, it's not just obedience, it's obedience to his commands. And his commands aren't burdensome. It's not this grind. It's it's life giving. So it's not just obedience, but our attitude in obedience that validates conversion or it points to spiritual life in you. Like when we obey God and that obedience is not burdensome, that is an indicator. It's like, oh, God's done something in your heart. Like he's awakened you to him. That that points to spiritual life. Because when we were born of God, our eyes were open to what? Or to who? Not a lame God, not not a an oppressive god. Not a bully God, not a powerless God, not an unattractive God. Our eyes were open. To who? A glorious God, an awesome God, a grace filled God, a merciful God, an all powerful God. Like that's what we see. And if you don't see that, then your eyes aren't open. Like if you see Jesus as just some necessary ticket to heaven and you guess you have to obey him, you're still blind. That kind of profession of faith will not last. It's going to get choked out, like it may show some positive expressions, but the cares of this world, the tribulations of this world that'll kill that kind of profession of faith, that kind of profession of faith doesn't speak to new spiritual life given by God. So a test of genuine faith is that you profess Jesus as the Christ. Like you've come to that conclusion and you didn't come to that conclusion on your own. Like you got help from the father and you love God because that's part of faith. and you love the children of God. So what does that mean? What does it mean to love the children of God in a way that shows you're born of God in this unique way that says you're a new creation in Christ? And this, this may be new to some of you. It's a bit of a game changer. But look back at verse two. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. Does that sound off to you? Wouldn't you expect him to say by this? We know that we love the children of God when we love the children of God, when we care for the children of God, when we feed the children of God, when we help the children of God, when we forgive the children of God. This is how, you know, like it's it's pretty obvious, but he doesn't He doesn't say that. What he says is, we know we love the children of God when we love God. Is that right? I mean, if you're like, well, it's in the Bible, but do you agree with that? Again, it's in the Bible. But is that how you think? Have you made that connection? Like, isn't loving God, loving God and loving others, loving others? Like it's two different things and you can love God and then you can love others and you can love others and not love God. And you can love God and not love others. Isn't that kind of how we tend to treat it? But look back at chapter four, the end of chapter four. You got to see the continuous argument he's making. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love God. Uh. Excuse me. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has, who has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him. Whoever loves God must also love his brother. Right. We get that. Um, he's saying you can't love God if you don't love your brother. And I think we would all applaud that, right? I mean, you think you see people that, like, profess this love of God and it's like, but you're so cruel to people like you. You care not for people. Like we would all recognize that. And like there's a disconnect happening. But now he says, or he's saying, you can't really love your brother if you don't love God. What do you think of that? Do you have to love God in order to love others? I mean, no one who loves God should hate their brother. And everyone seems to agree with that. Like we champion that, like, yes, we want to see that, but we tend not to apply it the other way around. Like if you don't love God, you're not really loving others. And we push back on that because in our experience, it's like, well, I know a lot of people who don't even believe in God and they're the nicest people you'd ever meet. Like, they're so kind. And if I'm gone, they're going to shovel my driveway and they're just wonderful people. So, John, you must be wrong. How many think John's wrong? Just a test. We wouldn't have asked you to leave. But what is he getting at then? What's he getting at here? For the Christian, loving God and loving people is a connected street that goes both directions. Like, do you remember when Jesus connected these two as well? When he was asked, what's the greatest commandment? He says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Oh, and the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself. He's he's like, I didn't ask for the top two. Just what's number one, right? He's like, oh, but I got like, they go together. I can't tell you this without this. Like, they're, they're connected. And here's the point. Everyone is made in the image of God. So when we show kindness and dignity and respect and compassion to anyone, to everyone, that is the way we honor God. Because everybody is an image of God. They were made in God's image. So the way that when we love them, that is a way of honoring God and His creation. And everybody was not just made in the image of God, but everyone was made by God for God. So when we magnify God, when we exalt God, when we show God as worthy of worship and obedience, that's the best way we love other people, right? Because you don't live on bread alone. And you could give somebody the the most amount of bread for the rest of their life, and they're still going to die. What do they ultimately need? God. Who are they ultimately made for God? And when we show God as precious as we can obey him, and obeying him is not a burden. That is the best gift we give to people. And it's the most encouraging thing we can do for each other because it's interesting. You could preach this message that this is the way that we love the world. And I think that's true. It's just not what he's saying. The point he's saying is like, this is how you love other Christians. This is how you love other Christians. Like when we show love for God to one another, that's helpful in our love for God. Like we're spurred on in our. When you show me that you want to follow God and you don't see that as a burden when you have a passion for God, that helps my passion for God, right? Hebrews ten. He's like, you need to stir one another up to love and good deeds. And then what does he say after that? Don't neglect getting together, right? Because when you get together, you stir one another up. In Ephesians five, Paul saying, like, you need to address one another in in songs, hymns, psalms, spiritual songs, making a melody to God in your heart. Well, who is it? Is it to God or one another? You betcha. Right. Because it's an encouragement to us. Have you ever considered that your love for God is important for someone else's love for God? That when you show that following God is not a burden but a passion, and you found satisfaction, doesn't that encourage others to find that same satisfaction and encourage us in our walk? It's important for our own holiness when we're involved in a community that loves God and shows that loving God is not a burden. Because look what he says next. Verse four. This is what he says right after this. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world like this is the promise he's pointing to. So born of God. We've already seen that somebody who loves God, who loves others by loving God and that person overcomes the world. Now what comes to mind when John says world? Look back at chapter two, verse fifteen. He. This is the same flow of thought. He just said this not too long ago. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. Like those things don't go together. For all that is in the world. And then he. Then he gives some descriptions to this. This is what he's talking about. The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. So when John mentions world, this is what comes to mind. Oh, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life, this kind of thing that pulls us away from God, that pulls us to put our hope in the wrong things, That that lies to us, that says satisfaction lies somewhere else. This is going to fulfill you. This is what you really need and kind of pulls you away from God. That's what he's talking about. Why is this a big deal? Why is this such a big deal to overcome the world? Look at verse seventeen of chapter two. He goes on to say this, and the world is passing away along with its desires. You put your hope in the world, you're going to perish. That's why this is such a big deal. It's like those people that are on that road. That road leads to destruction. You need to get on a different road that leads to life. Or look back at verse five of our text. This is how he says it here. Who is it that overcomes the world, except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. There's no other way to escape the perishing desires of the eyes and the desires of the flesh and the pride of life. There's no other way out of that. It's Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ only. Only through him do you escape. Only through him do you overcome. Church, listen. People in this room are being actively deceived by the world. I mean, let's personalize it. Look around. Every one of us, including yourself. We go into this world and we're just bombarded by really appealing lies. This is going to make you happy. This is going to fulfill you. This is going to give you value. This is, you know, this is the like. So we're so bombarded by it. But faith, like faith, works against that. Look. Look back at verse four. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. What's he say? Our faith. Our faith, like our faith, overcomes the world. Now here's what's interesting. You may go right to that word faith. But before we get there, what's the other word? Are not your faith our faith as a community like we were meant to live in community and we we edify each other and we encourage each other and we spur each other on. Like when we love each other, by loving God, our collective faith grows us in. Our faith overcomes the world because the world is like inviting you to belonging. But the word but, but faith says, no, you belong here. You have a family. You have value. You have been forgiven. This is where you find fulfillment. It's our faith. Now overcomes is in the present tense. So John is not just talking about some day when Jesus comes back to judge the world and make all things new. Someday we'll overcome the world. Yes. That's true. That's a glorious truth. That's just not his main point here. He's saying, presently our faith overcomes the lies and allures of this world. Presently faith now has power over the world. How so? Now, this can be challenging, or maybe even discouraging. But I want us to lean in here. Okay? When we talk about overcoming, that can feel overwhelming because we feel the power of the world. We feel the lies. We feel the temptation. We feel the pull. It's everywhere. It's constant. It's appealing. Like it speaks to our own desires of our flesh and our eyes. Like we feel that. It's like, I gotta overcome that. Like that's overwhelming. But but listen, because this is good news. Hear me now. God is not looking for people who overcome the world. He's making them. Are you with me? God is not looking for like, well, who are the people that overcome the world? I want those people. That's not what he's doing. He's making people that overcome the world. That's what he does. He opens people's eyes to Christ. He gives them new spiritual life, and he takes out a heart of stone. He puts in a heart of flesh. It has new desires like the the world has desires. He gives us new desires, a love for God, and then a love for God that overcomes the world. John lays out the work of. And I, I would say the order of conversion or regeneration. In this text you have new birth, faith, love and overcoming or a holiness and living. So being born of God is the work of God. Faith in Christ is the evidence of that work of God. Love of God and love of people is the fruit of that work and holiness are. Overcoming the world is the outcome of that work. God gives spiritual life, and spiritual life comes with faith in Christ. Faith in Christ comes with love for God. And when we love God, that's how we ultimately love people. And when we're loving God, the world loses its power because that comes with desires to. And we desire to please him. And the desires of this world get smaller as our love for God gets bigger. That's all the work of God that he does in our life. New birth. Faith, love overcoming. Now the first two are immediate. New birth. Faith just happens. New birth. Faith. I was blind. I see. I didn't believe. I believe. The next two are more of a process. And everybody in here has had kids like you know it, right? You gave birth and then you hear the cry, the breathing, like birth happened. Life is evident. But then you got like a lifetime of development and growing and learning. Same in spiritual life. He opened my eyes. I believe like that just happened. But now I just. Over time, I grow in my love for God. I grow in my holiness. Sin becomes less attractive. So if you're discouraged because you're not seeing as much victory over sin as you want to, or your passion for God isn't as high as you want to. Don't be so discouraged. Be patient, but also know what to look for. Is my love of God growing? AM I seeing victory over sin in my life? And yeah, you got ups and downs in life, but it's kind of charted this direction. And guys, this room is full of people that have that testimony. I didn't used to believe in Christ and now I do. I could care less about God and now I love him. I used to struggle with that sin and now I don't. And they speak of the work of God in their life. Guys, listen to me. God changes people. He changes people. And if you're really a Christian, you know it because he changed you and you're not perfect, but you're different. You're different. You have a passion the world doesn't have. It's a passion for God and His glory. God changes people, and you can think of somebody right now. You want God to change and he does it. He does that work. Now here's where this truth directs us practically. A lot of people tend to focus on loving others and overcoming. Like that's how they see the whole Christian life. Do good things, sin less, do good things, sin less, love people, sin less. I mean, that's how entire ministries can tend to focus on. We need to do good things and we need to sin less. But according to John, what comes before that? Or where does loving others and sinning less come from? Loving God. That's why in the ministry we want to be so God centered. We want to talk about God. We want to exalt God. We want to learn about God. We want you to know about God because we think everything flows from that. Out of a love of God grows love for people. Uh, out of a love of God flows holiness. But you start with the love of God. But where does loving God come from? Faith in Christ. And where does what comes before faith in Christ new birth. And who does that? God. So you could hear that and think, well, I guess then there's nothing we can do. And in one sense, that's a wonderful truth. God is totally at work and there's nothing we bring to the table. He completely saves us. But but listen, that's not John's point. His point is not trying to encourage passivity. He's giving directions to power. Put. Put yourself in their shoes. You're this persecuted group of people, and you have wickedness all around you. And John's coming along and saying, hey, those those people once were you. And what did God do to you? He changed you. God changes people. You're overwhelmed by this world all around you. God overcomes the world. He's not trying to encourage passivity from believers. He's giving them directions to power. God changes people. Don't be discouraged. God overcomes the world. Don't be discouraged. So here's what I want you to get. Overcoming comes through God. So the path to overcoming is the pursuit of God. Let me explain that a little bit. Overcoming like victory over sin impacting our broken world. It comes through God. Here's what I mean by that. If change is going to happen, God's got to show up, right? If that person's going to change, God's got to show up. God's got to move. He's gotta open eyes. He's gotta change hearts. Like we know there's this dependence on God. Like God, you got to do it. So if that's the case, the path to overcoming is a pursuit of God. We plead to God. We pray to God. We seek to know God. We worship God. We honor God because we know we need God to move. So our ministry is about God. Because if our ministry is about us and our good deeds, it has no power. We can't do it. But we can pursue God and he can, and he does, and he works through us. And some of you parents like you're you're in it now. You know this emotion because you have a kid who's not following Christ. And you know, I can't change his heart. I can't change her, her heart. You feel powerless. And, and a wrong response would be like, well, God's got to show up, so there's nothing I can do. know this. Directions to power. Put your kid in the path of God in front of the Word of God among the people of God, because that's where God moves. It doesn't matter if they're fifteen and they don't want to come to church, they need God. So they need to be encouraged by God's people and they need to hear God's Word. So as for me and my house, this is what we do because God changes people and he doesn't do it at sports camps or at home. He does it in the church, among church people, among the Word of God. Put him in the path of God. Because God is alive, he's powerful. Or what about your own feeling of just being overwhelmed with the sin struggle in your life and you want to do better? And why do I keep failing at the same thing? Well, what if your effort to be a better person was less of a pursuit of improvement and more pursuit of God. What if your whole pursuit was knowing and loving God and entrenching yourself in Christian community, and you trusted God to change you? What if our. As a church, our main effort to impact our community was less about impacting our community and more about displaying our own joyful devotion to God. Because obeying him is not a burden. Might he, in that draw more people to himself like acts two? Might he in that give more spiritual life? Take out a heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. Cause them to love God because isn't that what our world needs? Isn't Jesus ultimately the hope of the world? So if we're dependent on God, our ministry should look like it. Let's not make life about ministry. Let's make life about God and watch ministry happen. Yes, because God changes people. I know it because he's changed me. And I look out of this room and I see so many people that say the same thing. God changes people. And he's still changing people. Amen. Let's pray. Father, everybody is looking for joy, for value, for belonging. They're only going to find it in you. Would we live in such a way that would tell them Um. We found it in you. Following you is not a burden. It's not easy. It's not a burden. We love you. We love you because you first loved us. Father, I pray that the defining trait of this church is a love for you. And the way that we love you would be a way that we love each other. Because every time we get together, we're reminded that you're worthy of it all. Because we see it in each other's worship. We see it in each other's devotion. We see it in each other's passion. Every week we would stir each other's up, the faithfulness and obedience. And in that, we would overcome this world. Pray this in your name. Amen.