Jesus Is The Real Attraction | Ephesians 5:1-14 | June 2 | Derek Neider

Speaker [00:00:06] We're in Ephesians chapter five. Stand with me today, if you can. And once you're there, say amen. The Bible says in verse one, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this classic phrase by Paul, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance of the kingdom of Christ. And God say, well, yeah, let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partakers with them or partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Say amen. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, and this is, found in verse for our vision, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Let's pray together. Father, we're thankful today for your Word and God.

Speaker [00:02:10] We are thankful that you're always working. God, you never stop working. When we see it, we know it. God. When we don't see it, we know it as well. Whether we see it or whether we don't, whether we feel it or whether we don't. Hard. You're at work. Stir that desire. Passion fires zeal within us. God radiate through our lives so that in our days we could see another great awakening in our country from sea to shining sea. In Jesus name, Amen. You can have a seat. It is Throwback Sunday. We talked a little bit about this. And so, if you don't know our roots at Awaken Las Vegas, our Calvary Chapel roots. And so we are a Calvary Chapel. And some of you may not even know necessarily what a Calvary Chapel is. And when I say Calvary Chapel, I connect that to the Jesus movement. And the Jesus movement was this amazing outpouring of God's Holy Spirit, beginning in just about 1967. That was a long time ago. Some of you, especially those in the first service, you know, were alive back then and in high school or whatever. God did something that was unconventional. He did something that was really unexpected at a time of great turmoil in our country. And by the way, if you're a student of awakenings or revivals, you know that there are cycles that revivals work on. Oftentimes, you know, as God is moving, people are exhilarated. They're excited, they're turned on for God. And then over the course of time, they become hardened against God, and they begin to drift from God, and then society goes downhill. You see this in the book of judges. You see it in our own nation. And then as society goes downhill and things become difficult and the clouds, clouds begin to gather, people cry out to God.

Speaker [00:04:09] And God does a mighty work. Well, in the 60s, you know, there was social upheaval. There was cultural catastrophe. I mean, it was it was so bad. And in the midst of that, God raised up a middle aged, balding pastor named Chuck Smith, and he connected pastor Chuck with a wild, crazy hippie named Lonnie Frisbee, who was just on fire for God. And God took a very unlikely duo. And through them, God reached hippies and surfers who were seekers. They were searching for meaning. And of course, the culture at the time was saying that meaning was found in the countercultural experience, the drug experience, the sexual revolution, the rejection of authority. In fact, the mantra during those moments was turn on, tune in and drop out. That was the classic line that was popularized by Timothy Leary, who was the father of the LSD movement. And so, so many kids were taking that advice. They were looking for real love. They were looking for real peace. They were looking for truth. They were searchers. They were seeking. And so that's what they did, by the way, those same lies are just being recycled and repackaged today. And in the midst of that catastrophe and chaos in Southern California, in a little country church of about 25 people called Calvary Chapel, God began to do an unparalleled work. God began to bring the Fourth Great Awakening that our country has seen. Kids were drawn hippies and surfers and and and even Christians and people wearing suits and ties and bellbottoms and, you know, wearing patchouli and sophisticated people from the uttermost of the gutter. Most people began to flock to Calvary Chapel, and they didn't find it Calvary chapel, religion or stuffy systems or man's hierarchies.

Speaker [00:06:19] What they discovered at Calvary Chapel was the person of Jesus Christ. They discovered. That they didn't discover a system of rules or laws. They discovered Christ crucified, resurrected the ascended Jesus. And that is that is what an awakening is all about. These hippies and these and these surfers. Instead of turning on, tuning out and dropping out, they turned on to Jesus. They tuned in to God, and they dropped out of the lies of this world. I want to say to you today, that really is what an awakening is all about. An awakening is about turning on to Jesus, tuning in to God, and dropping out the lies of this world. Has your has your soul been awakened? Has your soul been awakened? Do we have any awakened souls here at Awaken Las Vegas? Because. Because you guys know, like you, you you gathered today, you came in today and you were singing songs and and some of you were raising your hands and pouring your heart out to God, and you were locking into the community of God's people. And you brought your Bible, and your Bible is open, and you didn't do all of that because you'd connected to some manmade religious system. You didn't come today doing that because there's a a system of spiritual hierarchy where pastors and priests sit on top and somehow mediate your relationship with God. You came in today singing with your whole heart and raising your hands, and with an anticipation to hear God through His Word, because you loved Jesus with all of your heart. That is why I love this church. And look, there's there's a history. There's a there's a history to this. It's not just that that this, Jesus movement was the was the first great Awakening.

Speaker [00:08:16] Every great awakening, in every great awakening in our country, people discovered that Jesus was the answer to their hearts cry and that there is one way to God, and that is through His Son. In fact, this was one of the symbols or the emblems of how centered the Jesus people were on the Lord day when they gathered together and someone brought a song, or there was a Bible teaching and God was moving, they collectively together would raise their hands and they would point their finger to heaven, saying clearly that Jesus and Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life. There is one way to God. I don't want to be cheesy today because I hate it when pastors are cheesy, but can we just raise our hands and pointed to the Lord because. Because there is one way, but there's one way. There's one who deserves the glory. There's one way to him, and there's only one that we worship. Amen. Okay, you guys clap. I'm going to cough. Look, I know sometimes and I frame it like this and and it is true. And in a sense, we're waiting like we're waiting. We're anticipating. We're wanting God to do another mighty work. Like we see the we see the signs of the falling apart of our society all around us. If you're to look at the cycles of revival and awakening, I'm saying to you, like, right now is an appropriate time right now would fit the standard cycle of a great move of God's Spirit. And so while we do wait for that, while we do want that, while there is an anticipation for that, I would also say to you that that we're also not waiting because the awakening is happening right now.

Speaker [00:10:12] The awakening is happening right now. If your soul has been stirred and and moved by the Spirit of God, and you've been awakened to the realization that you need Jesus, and you took a simple step of faith and repented of your sins and repented of your unbelief, and turned your heart to him, to believe, to receive, and to follow him. This spiritual awakening is real in your life. And this is precisely what happened in the 60s and 70s. There were people, hippies, whose lives had been totally consumed by drugs and sex and so many other things, who were radically transformed. And they began, they began to radiate the love and light of Jesus Christ in such a way that it attracted other people to him. It attracted other people to him. And so what I guess I'm simply saying to you today is, while we wait for that explosive work, we know that it begins right here, right now. And I think that this is precisely what the apostle Paul is talking about. He is talking about how real awakening comes to pass. Check this out in Ephesians chapter five, verse one. The Bible says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children. Be imitators of God as beloved children. You guys know that children by nature imitate what they see. Children by nature imitate what they see. I mean, they learn, you know, they learn by watching you. Right, dad? Shaving. And it's like you have no idea that you have no need to shave. You just want to be like dad. And so it's like, get the shaving cream out and get the razor out. And, and you're just following in the footsteps of your father. And the truth is this you don't have to tell your kids to do that.

Speaker [00:11:58] They just do it. They imitate the way you walk. They imitate the way you talk. They imitate the way you treat people. All right. They imitate your likes and your dislikes. Like, for better or for worse. Your kids imitate your children. Imitate what you do. Sometimes it's like you're looking at your child and you're thinking, man, Johnny was. What's the problem with you? Like, where? Where in the world did you learn that? In someone who loves you enough to say, bro, he learned it from you, fool. Like, I mean, he is. He is the spitting image. Little Johnny is a chip off the old block. Like that's the deal. That's what's going on here. Sometimes it's cute. Sometimes it's really sobering because are children can be like a mirror to us. And interestingly enough, this is simply what Paul is saying for the gospel centered life. We as the children of God, we imitate God. We imitate God. We want to be a chip off the old block, like we want to bear his image. To bear the image of God means to radiate the King and his kingdom through your life. As you encounter Jesus and engage in his kingdom. Purpose. To bear the image of God means to radiate the King and his kingdom through your life. As you encounter Jesus and engage in kingdom purpose. Like I said, we ought to want to be a chip off the old cornerstone we ought to in our lives. Because to us, like if you have been touched by the Lord, if he has transformed you, if you've tasted of him and seen that he is good, if you've been a recipient of his eternal mercy and grace, if you've been embraced by the loving arms of the father simply through trust in faith in His Son, you know there's nothing more beautiful than Jesus.

Speaker [00:13:54] You know that he's the incomparable one. You know that of all of the things that you esteem and value and love and appreciate in this world, nothing rises higher than the Lord himself like he is number one. He is primary. He is epicenter. He's the center of your life. He is the framework. He is the framework. He is the beginning and the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the first and the last. He is the one who was on the island of Patmos with Paul, or excuse me, with John. And when he turned around, he saw one whose hair was white like wool, who when he spoke it was the sound of many rushing waters. His eyes were like a flame of fire, who was girded about with a golden band, and his feet were like burnished brass, and and and out of his mouth when a two edged sword. I'm just saying to you today, there's no one like him. And we all don't want to be like him. We should desire. This should be the cry of our heart, you know, Lord, make me, make me, make me like Jesus. Make me like Jesus. Help me emulate him to be like him. This is what Paul means when he uses the word walk, and he'll use the word walk three times in Ephesians chapter five, he will say to this church in Ephesus, and he says to us, walk in love, walk in light, and walk in wisdom. The word peripateo means that we live it out. This is what awakened souls do. They live out the theology and the ethic of the Bible. They live out the theology and the ethic of the Bible. There is a lifestyle that follows our faith.

Speaker [00:15:41] And the first, the first aspect or characteristic of this lifestyle is like, not surprisingly to you, it's love. So Paul says to the church at Ephesus, radiate love. This is what awakened souls do. This is what an awakened church does. It radiates the love of God. It is important for us to identify what love we're talking about because, you know, the world offers so many different versions of love. Let me remind you today that God is love. First John chapter four verse eight says, anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. And so John is just simply saying in his epistle, hey, listen, if you say you know God, but there's no love coming out of your life, and we're not talking about like the sloppy, emotional, you know, depending on which the way the wind is blowing kind of love. We're talking about God's love. If you say that you know God, but there's not the manifestation of God's love in your life, then you really don't know God because God is love. You can flip this around and put it in the positive. You can say, hey, if the love of God is pouring out of your life, then you know that you know God because God is love. Or how can you come in contact with the God who is love without having your life transformed in such a way where you become loving yourself. You know what I'm talking about today. You know, I could sit here and and say, hey, well, let me give you the different Greek words, and I'll define the different Greek words. I don't have to do that because your John. Excuse me, Paul describes the kind of love he's talking about.

Speaker [00:17:24] He says, walk in love as Christ loved us, gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. And so that's what love is. That's what love is. When you talk about really defining or describing love. Paul says, Paul says the love I'm talking about is the same love with which Jesus has loved you. And so you say, well, how did Jesus love me? Well, Jesus gave himself up for you. Jesus was willing to condescend, right? Sitting on the throne in heaven, hearing the angel saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And recognizing your need, so desperate and real that he was willing to condescend, that he was willing to come in the likeness of men in the form of a bond servant, to live a perfect life, to die the death of the cross, to go down so low, to live so self-sacrificial, because he for sure wanted to glorify the father, but he wanted to meet the need, the deep need that you had. Because there's only one way to be reconciled to God. There's only one way for our broken relationship between ourselves and the father to be healed and mended. And that was through the sacrifice that Jesus made for you and me. That's the type of love we're talking about. We're talking about the type of love that puts the need of others above our own need. We're talking about the type of love that is purpose to please God. Like as Paul says here, it is a fragrant aroma. It's a sacrifice to God. When we love like God loves when we emulate the love of Christ, it pleases the heart of the father. And truly, this ought to be the driving motivator. It ought to be the driving motivator.

Speaker [00:19:12] You know, when the rubber hits the road, when you're at that crossroads, when when you have the option or opportunity to esteem somebody above yourself, to go down, to go low, to lay your own desires aside so that somebody else could be lifted up your the thought process is, father, help me to make the decision to do what's right, to love like you. Because I want this action to please you. I want it to bless you. I want it to be a fragrant aroma to you. Because this is how you love. When we talk about God's love, we're talking about the self-giving love of God. And I got good news for you today because some of you might be thinking, man. I wish my husband loved like that. No, I'm just kidding. Right? Some of you might be thinking. Some of you might be thinking, man, God takes a miracle that's going to take a miracle because that does not come naturally. Like, how many of us start our day thinking about the needs of everybody else around us before we first start thinking about our own needs? It's like, where am I? Coffee? Don't talk to me till I get my coffee. Right. Don't. Don't even look at me. It's like you, you know, you don't even look at your spouse until that first cup of coffee is set in. Because we just. We just wake up sometimes so, so selfish, and we run our lives like that. I want to tell you today that God can take the most self-centered, egotistical, arrogant, indifferent person and turn him or her into the embodiment of his love. That's what God can do. God can take God. Can your man. I'm like. You're like, I'm praying that right now for for my for my husband, God can take the most self-centered, egotistical, arrogant, indifferent person and turn him or her into the embodiment of his love.

Speaker [00:21:05] Why? Because like Romans five five says, hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured. God say poured today. Say it like you mean it today. God's love has been poured. If you have the new King James Version, it says God's love has been shed abroad into our hearts through the Holy Spirit has been given to us. The Bible saying, God, this didn't just drip a little love on you. God didn't just drip a little love on you. God didn't just sprinkle you like how some people baptized people. God didn't just sprinkle you with some love like God. God dunked you in his love. God poured his love into your life. It was like a waterfall filling up your life, permeating you, and pressing through your whole being. When I think of the phrase shed abroad, I think of how it rains here in Las Vegas. You know, when it rains, we may get just a little bit of rain, but when it lands on the mountains and rolls down the hills, it gets channeled right onto Rainbow Boulevard. You know, like sometimes when it rains, I'm like, I shouldn't have brought the car. I should have brought the boat. And it looks like I need a boat. This is like whitewater rafting. Who designed our city is chaos. But all that water, even though it seems like a little as it accumulates, it channels into our roads. And I'm just saying to you, that is the way our lives ought to look. As God has shed abroad, his love poured his love into our lives. We become a virtual conduit, a conduit. We become the current of his love. Christians are the living embodiment of the love of God. Christians are the living embodiment of the love of God.

Speaker [00:22:53] Maybe I should say that a little differently today. Maybe I should say Christian should be, right. Think of husband, think of wives, think of children, think of family, think of church. Think of to the world. Christians should be the embodiment of the love of God. When you and I are loving like God loves, it attracts people to Jesus. Amen. Amen. You know what I'm talking about. Like. Like a moth to the flame. Big. Because. Because the world's had it. The world's fed up. The world's lied to the world gets fake news all the time. And you know what? When. When they taste the genuine, real thing through your life. When they taste the genuine, real love of God through your life, it attracts them to Jesus Christ. So this is the thing Paul says what love is and how we ought to love. Paul also says what love is. And you saw this. Paul specifically is talking about the Christian sexual ethic in verses two, all the way down to verse five and six. And, you know, as you look at the world around us, the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s has degraded and trivialized sex. Sex has become a commodity that you can purchase. I mean, for goodness sakes, we live in the seductive city of Las Vegas, where sex is presented as a commodity that you can buy to gratify yourself. And just so Paul is clear on what love is and what love is. And and by the way, these people were living in Ephesus, where they, you know, the unbelievers worshiped the goddess Artemis or Diana. And part of the worship of this God was going in and consummating sexual relationships with the priestesses in the temple at the Acropolis.

Speaker [00:24:58] And so they were living in a highly sexualized society. And so Paul was like, hey, this is probably a good time for me to remind you Christians, right? He's reminding Christians as to what love isn't. And he has to, because he knows that there's the potential that they will be influenced by the sexual ethic of the society that they're saturating in. And so he says to them, you can reread this verses yourself. He says Christians don't exploit people for their own sexual gratification. Christians don't exploit people for their own sexual gratification. We know the biblical sexual ethic, which is sex, was created by God to be shared between a married couple, one man and one woman to enjoy. To enjoy. To express their love for one another. To deepen the bonds of their relationship. To demonstrate their exclusive, life long fidelity and to grow their family. That is the biblical sexual ethic in any. Anything outside of that is what the Bible calls sexual immorality. And this is something that Paul says shouldn't be named among you. And then he also says, hey, and just in case you got someone there that's saying you can live however you want to sexually, it is still okay with God. Paul says, you know that the wrath of God is coming on those who behave in such a way because they are the sons and daughters of disobedience. So you're dating somebody, you're dating somebody, and then somebody is like, hey, listen, you know, I love you. And and I believe that God has us to be married someday. But, you know, I want to express my love for you, and we want to make sure that we're really compatible. So I think it's important for us to have sex before marriage.

Speaker [00:27:02] And, and and let me tell you right now, that is not love. That is not love. Because love doesn't push people away from Jesus. Love draws people towards Jesus. At the root of that type of thinking is in the other person and esteeming them. It is personal gratification and love waits. Love waits. Love seeks to draw people to Christ, not push them away from him. He goes on to say, Christians don't joke rudely or crudely about sex, but they give thanks to God for it. And then he also says, Christians don't covet what others have, because when they do, they fall into idolatry. In other words, when you're in a place where you're coveting something that God hasn't given to you, what you're essentially saying is what God has given to you isn't enough. And so instead of worshiping God for what he has given to you, you're looking to something else to provide for the satisfaction of that need within you. And the Bible says that's idolatry. That is worshiping a false god. So in other words, and this is what I love about the Lord Jesus is enough. Not only is Jesus enough, Jesus is more than enough. He fills our cup. You satisfies our soul. I, you know, in the 60s and 70s, and this was true for my life, when people would say, hey man, let's get high, you know, let's, let's do some drugs and get high like we used to. And it's just, I would say, hey, I don't have to get high. I've got the greatest high that there is. I've got a relationship with Jesus Christ. Hey, the second thing in the final thing today is this awakened souls radiate is light. So awakened souls radiate is love.

Speaker [00:28:52] Awaken souls radiate is light. Because remember, God is light. God is light. Paul. In these verses he tracks out the transformation. He tracks out the transformation of these believers because this is what God does when he. When you meet him, he changes you. When you meet him, he changes you. The purpose of God in your life is not just biblical education. It is spiritual transformation. In fact, the way Paul puts it is this you are living in darkness. You are blinded to God. You were living without God, you were hopeless and you were trapped in your sins. You are a slave to unrighteousness. But he's transformed you and now you are light in the Lord. You are a child of light. I want you to notice he doesn't say you're a child of the light. He says you're a child of light. What Paul is saying is, it's not just that you're reflecting the light of the Lord. The light of the Lord emanates from within you. The light of the Lord emanates from within. In you. You are a child of light. Sometimes people say, hey, you know, Pastor God is like the sun. We're like the moon. We reflect. His light is like, no, actually you're transformed. You are like a burning bright star yourself. Not that you are God, but God literally radiates through your life. And as God radiates through your life, it attracts people to himself. The Bible says in John chapter eight verse 12, these are the words of Christ. I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Do you know what happened right before he said those words? Jesus was on the Temple Mount, and he had been teaching the multitudes.

Speaker [00:30:48] And all of a sudden, as he's teaching the multitudes, there's this, there's this commotion, there's hustle and bustle as the religious leaders drag this woman on to the Temple Mount, this woman had been caught in the very act of adultery, and they cruelly and ruthlessly threw her at the feet of Jesus. You can imagine this scene, right? I mean, it was just chaos. And this woman, probably scantily clad and weeping, and she's in the midst of being not only, exploited, but she's being used as a tool by the religious leaders to undermine Jesus because they were jealous and envious of the influence that he had over the people. And so as they throw this woman at his feet, you remember what they said, hey, according to Moses's law, this woman, she should be condemned to death by stoning. But what do you say? Because they want to trip him up. And so the Scripture says, he stoops down. He begins to write, he stands up again and he says, let him. You guys know how this goes. Let him who was without sin cast the first stone and then he stoops down. He begins to write again. There's a lot of speculation on what he was writing in the dirt, because the word is graphy, which means to write, not just scribbling. Some say he was writing down the sins of these religious leaders, who knew all of a sudden that he knew everything that they'd ever done? It certainly is a possibility. Whatever the case is, the Bible says that as they were pondering his words, as they were pondering his words. Because let me just remind us, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Right? If anyone says that he has no sin, he lies first.

Speaker [00:32:37] John chapter one and the truth is not in him. Like this is one reason why when we look to the lost, we don't just look down our self-righteous religious noses because we know that we at one point in time were living the same life that they were living. We were lost and we were hopeless, and God was gracious to us. And so the Bible just recounting the story, the Bible says from oldest to youngest, probably because the oldest recognized that there was so much sin that had amassed over the years. They dropped their stones and they walked away. Jesus looked at the woman and he said to her, woman, where are your accusers? Does no one condemn you? She says, no, there are none. And his response? It's just such a good response. Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. Go and sin no more. And. And let me just say this. Don't you love him? I don't you love him? Don't you love like when you read the gospel accounts? Don't you fall more and more in love with Jesus Christ. He is. There's no one like him. There is no one. There is no one like him. Because what he does is he offers forgiveness. He doesn't cast this woman away. He doesn't kick her to the curb. I mean, he he is God incarnate. If anyone had the right to throw a stone at this woman, it was Jesus. And what does he do? He forgives her. I want to tell you today, no matter what you've done, no matter how deep your sin may be, no matter how scarlet the stain is that your sin has left in your life, he is able to not only forgive you, he is able to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and cause you to be like fresh, new, driven snow.

Speaker [00:34:39] The Bible says in Isaiah, as white as wool, he can. He can give you a brand new beginning. Whatever the sin may be. Listen, we live in a very sexualized city. So in this seductive city, let me tell you, there is no sexual sin has been committed in your life that can't be forgiven through trust in faith in Jesus Christ. Whatever it is that you have done. Somebody today, somebody has come in burdened. Somebody has come in weighed down. Someone's come, come in today with a sense of hopelessness. There are things that you've done in your life that are that pursue you. The guilt pursues you. The shame pursues you. And I'm saying today, through the cross of Christ, you can be set free. You can be forgiven. Those chains can be broken. You can be made brand new. I have a summer reading list for you guys. I'll post it on social media, but one book I'm reading right now is called Crime and Punishment. And this individual in the book, he what he does is he commits a pretty horrendous crime. He murders somebody. And as the story goes on, it looks like he's going to get away from the crime he's committed. The problem is on the inside, he's burdened. He's burdened. He carries this crime around him, and the punishment is his own conscience beating down upon him, unwilling to let him go from the crime he is committed. And that is the reality of sin in our lives. The only way to be unburdened is through the forgiveness that God offers you through through faith in His Son. And not only that, but he'll bring real change into your life. This is what Paul says, man, you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Speaker [00:36:32] You're a child of light. You're able to discern those things that are good and right and true. Why? Because God changes you. God fills you with His Spirit from the inside out. Now you have the capacity to discern what it is that pleases God, and you have the power to actually choose it. Kind of like when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, he rescued them from the bondage of slavery. He set them free. He brought them through the baptismal waters of the Red sea. He fed them with bread from heaven, water from a rock, and took them into the promised land, all of that symbolic of the new life in Christ. He is. He has rescued you from the slavery of sin. He is brought you through the waters of baptism, making you altogether new. He is fed you with the bread of life, which is His Son, and he is quench your thirst with living waters which come from Jesus as well. And now he's brought you into the promised Land, which is the spirit filled life of Christ. And he gives you purpose. Now, brothers and sisters, you and I, we live as light. We live as light. And this is what light does. Light exposes what has been hidden in the darkness, your life as you're radiating right as you've chosen not to put a bushel over your light. As you are living like a city set on a hill, as you're living your life, radiating the life of Christ, the light of Christ, your life illuminates. It illuminates what's happening in other people's lives. It illuminates other people's sins. It wakes people up to their need for Jesus not to push them away, but to draw them in to him.

Speaker [00:38:20] Your light exposes, but your light is also attractive. Listen on the Sunday morning second service, can I just say to this 11:00 church service, you're attractive, you're a you're attractive, you're attractive. What God is doing, you're like, thanks, pastor. You know, I, I did my hair today and I'm not talking about that. I'm saying in Jesus, in Jesus, whether you're black or white, whether you come from the U.S. or you come from an Asian country or you're from Europe, whether you're uneducated or uneducated, whether you're wealthy or whether you're poor, whether you have millions in the bank or you don't have two pennies to rub together, whether you drove a Corvette or a Porche here or whether you took the bus, you are attractive because Jesus is in you and he shines through your life. And this is the reality. The lost person. What do they see? They see real love. They see real light. And they are attracted to Jesus because you have chosen to radiate. The Bible says this is the message we've heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. One thing I love about our church is that what's a transactional about Awaken Las Vegas is not the screens. It's not our tech, it's not our building. It's not our killer coffee shop. It's not our awesome worship team or the clothes that we wear. What's attraction about a week in Las Vegas is that Jesus? Jesus is the main attraction and he is the one.

Speaker [00:40:23] Amen. And he is the one who is the hope of glory. So I say today, like those crazy patchouli smelling bellbottom wherein hippies used to say 50 years ago. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus.