The Winning Bracket | Jesus According to His Alleged Best Friend Week 1

Who we put in the center of our bracket matters, right? Well, no matter how terrible your bracket was this year, there’s a winning bracket out there. When we put Jesus in the center of our lives, we get a light that pushes out all the darkness.

  • 00:00:01
    - Hey, I'm Kyle. This is Crossroads.
  • 00:00:03
    And today we start a new series on the book of John.
  • 00:00:07
    - I'm John. Nice to meet you. You may have heard of me.
  • 00:00:10
    I'm kind of Jesus's best friend. No big deal.
  • 00:00:13
    Not really sure how I ended up here in America.
  • 00:00:15
    I've been seeing a lot of sights.
  • 00:00:17
    It's bad. It kind of sucks.
  • 00:00:18
    -We're learning about Jesus from John's perspective
  • 00:00:21
    who He really was.
  • 00:00:22
    - Oh, yeah. Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. We hear about --
  • 00:00:24
    you want to hear about Jesus? Of course.
  • 00:00:26
    Yeah. The big man. Everybody wants to hear about Him.
  • 00:00:28
    And like I said, we were best friends,
  • 00:00:31
    like Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg
  • 00:00:33
    or Kanye and Kanye.
  • 00:00:35
    He was just like a normal dude.
  • 00:00:37
    He had a job. We went fishing together.
  • 00:00:40
    He put on the sandals one at a time,
  • 00:00:42
    just like everybody else.
  • 00:00:43
    But at the same time,
  • 00:00:44
    He was also an alien, not from this earth.
  • 00:00:47
    He was like Thanos, but not purple or evil.
  • 00:00:51
    Dude just said and did things that no man could do.
  • 00:00:55
    He was God in human form.
  • 00:00:57
    Anyways, I get paid for this? I'll tithe it, I swear.
  • 00:01:00
    I just want to more of whatever this is.
  • 00:01:03
    Look, it comes with its own little baptismal.
  • 00:01:08
    - Well, you get the idea.
  • 00:01:10
    Let's get started with my friend Hannah
  • 00:01:11
    talking about light.
  • 00:01:13
    And actually, before we get started,
  • 00:01:14
    I want you to know that we're completely donor funded.
  • 00:01:16
    It's because of generous givers like you
  • 00:01:19
    and me and my family, thousands of others
  • 00:01:21
    who make this message possible.
  • 00:01:23
    Let's go to Hannah.
  • 00:01:30
    - Now I'm a little bit late, actually, super late.
  • 00:01:33
    But I'm finally filling out
  • 00:01:35
    my NCAA March Madness bracket.
  • 00:01:38
    No, this is not a basketball. It's a light.
  • 00:01:40
    I'll get to that in a second.
  • 00:01:42
    Anyway, I'm pretty sure that I have it narrowed down
  • 00:01:45
    to who will for sure, maybe, possibly, probably not win.
  • 00:01:51
    I'm not sure what the point of brackets area anyway.
  • 00:01:54
    Hey, I'm Hannah. And believe it or not,
  • 00:01:56
    I think that my bracket that I don't understand
  • 00:01:59
    and Jesus might just have something in common.
  • 00:02:02
    See, when I'm filling out my bracket,
  • 00:02:04
    I'm looking for that top spot,
  • 00:02:06
    the one who's going to shine above the rest,
  • 00:02:09
    the team that will be a true winner.
  • 00:02:12
    Today, we're going to talk about how Jesus
  • 00:02:14
    is the true winner.
  • 00:02:15
    No, not in that like cliché statement way,
  • 00:02:18
    but how He's the winner specifically over darkness.
  • 00:02:21
    Some call this light.
  • 00:02:23
    Now, He's not just any light. He is the light.
  • 00:02:27
    Now we all have some sort of bracket in life,
  • 00:02:29
    some space where we have a winning spot
  • 00:02:31
    and it's designed for something.
  • 00:02:33
    Today, I'm going to tell you why Jesus has
  • 00:02:36
    that winning spot in my bracket
  • 00:02:38
    and why He deserves that spot in yours.
  • 00:02:50
    Okay. Let me tell you why I was late
  • 00:02:53
    building out my NCAA bracket.
  • 00:02:55
    It's because I was busy. Maybe out of town. Tired?
  • 00:03:00
    No, actually, it's just because I really don't care
  • 00:03:02
    too much about who actually wins this time around.
  • 00:03:05
    But I think I know some ancient characters
  • 00:03:08
    who have a bracket of their own that they're trying to fill out,
  • 00:03:11
    and they probably care a lot more than me.
  • 00:03:14
    Like I said, this NCAA bracket,
  • 00:03:17
    it has something to do with Jesus
  • 00:03:19
    and I'm about to prove it to you right now.
  • 00:03:21
    I love how we're meeting this John character
  • 00:03:24
    and bringing him into our current context,
  • 00:03:27
    because I bet an NCAA bracket like thing
  • 00:03:31
    where there's the boxes and the lines
  • 00:03:33
    that would have been really useful for John
  • 00:03:36
    and people like John living in his time.
  • 00:03:39
    See, the apostle John, the follower of Jesus,
  • 00:03:41
    the disciple, he calls himself the one who Jesus loves,
  • 00:03:45
    this guy and many people during the same time period
  • 00:03:48
    he lived, they were all looking for someone
  • 00:03:51
    to fill this highest ranking spot,
  • 00:03:54
    and that is the Messiah.
  • 00:03:56
    They were looking for the ultimate winner over darkness,
  • 00:03:59
    and there's only one spot for that.
  • 00:04:02
    They were searching for the one who was going
  • 00:04:04
    to come and finally save and deliver them.
  • 00:04:08
    And you're like, "Save and deliver them from what?
  • 00:04:11
    Aren't we talking about the Jews here?
  • 00:04:13
    God's chosen people who were already
  • 00:04:16
    rescued from Egypt by Moses?"
  • 00:04:18
    Well, this is God's chosen people we're talking about,
  • 00:04:22
    but we're not exactly talking about the Jews in Egypt.
  • 00:04:26
    Let me catch you up.
  • 00:04:27
    We're talking about people who wanted
  • 00:04:29
    to be delivered from darkness.
  • 00:04:32
    They were searching for light.
  • 00:04:35
    In John 1:1 it says:
  • 00:05:03
    Why is the writer, John, telling us all of this?
  • 00:05:06
    Why is he talking about lights, and being in the beginning?
  • 00:05:09
    Why's he even going back to Genesis?
  • 00:05:10
    Didn't we just do that?
  • 00:05:11
    No, no. He's doing this because he's trying to let us,
  • 00:05:14
    the reader, know who Jesus is.
  • 00:05:18
    See, it's right here in this important distinction,
  • 00:05:21
    but very clever conjunction that the writer makes,
  • 00:05:24
    that we understand who Jesus is.
  • 00:05:27
    He's both Word and He's flesh.
  • 00:05:29
    It means that He's both Divine, Son of God,
  • 00:05:32
    and He's human, the son of man.
  • 00:05:35
    Let me tell you why this distinction is so important.
  • 00:05:38
    Because in a world where truth is so hard to nail down,
  • 00:05:41
    we're so subjective,
  • 00:05:43
    the concept of God is hard to decipher.
  • 00:05:46
    It's out there among all the noise
  • 00:05:48
    of all the other things that call themselves gods.
  • 00:05:51
    God gave us a sure way to know what He is like
  • 00:05:55
    and who He is, and that is through Jesus.
  • 00:05:59
    So God is holy. Yeah.
  • 00:06:01
    And we can't see Him,
  • 00:06:02
    which makes Him feel really far away.
  • 00:06:05
    He made sure that we don't have to wonder
  • 00:06:07
    or question about what his character is
  • 00:06:10
    because of Jesus, Jesus is God in human form.
  • 00:06:15
    And He made sure that we will be able to know
  • 00:06:17
    that He is light, who will always beat darkness.
  • 00:06:21
    Now the Bible points to this consistently
  • 00:06:23
    in Colossians 1:15 it says:
  • 00:06:30
    And in Hebrews 1:3 it says:
  • 00:06:43
    But why? Why do we need to know what God is like?
  • 00:06:47
    Why does it matter if He's represented in Jesus?
  • 00:06:51
    Well, I think there's a host of reasons,
  • 00:06:53
    but I think it's because God wants us
  • 00:06:55
    to be able to distinguish Him as light.
  • 00:06:58
    He wants us to be able to identify that it is Him
  • 00:07:01
    who is truth, who is life, who is peace,
  • 00:07:04
    and who is light that shines in the darkness.
  • 00:07:08
    See, on that NCAA bracket that I mentioned earlier,
  • 00:07:12
    there's only one space for the winner.
  • 00:07:14
    There's a lot of contenders,
  • 00:07:16
    a lot of teams that compete.
  • 00:07:17
    A lot of people that really want
  • 00:07:19
    to get into that final spot.
  • 00:07:20
    But at the end of the day, there's just one.
  • 00:07:23
    Now, if the apostle John had had a bracket,
  • 00:07:26
    there would only be one space for the Messiah, too,
  • 00:07:28
    one space for the Savior, the coming person
  • 00:07:31
    that was supposed to change everything.
  • 00:07:34
    But just like the teams on my NCAA bracket,
  • 00:07:37
    there would have been a lot of people,
  • 00:07:39
    a lot of competitors, if you will,
  • 00:07:40
    a lot of contenders trying to make their way
  • 00:07:43
    to that winning spot.
  • 00:07:44
    Now, if you don't believe me that there is
  • 00:07:46
    a ranking situation in the Bible,
  • 00:07:47
    I'm going to tell you is right here in the Bible.
  • 00:07:49
    John the Baptist, not the Apostle John,
  • 00:07:51
    a different John, who's Jesus's cousin,
  • 00:07:54
    some people even thought he was the Messiah.
  • 00:07:55
    He said this:
  • 00:08:04
    See y'all, there it is. There's a ranking.
  • 00:08:07
    So there's people moving all around,
  • 00:08:09
    all over the bracket,
  • 00:08:10
    trying to get into that final spot.
  • 00:08:13
    And so the people, like John I imagine,
  • 00:08:15
    people like Moses, people like John the Baptist
  • 00:08:17
    perhaps even were like, "Who is this messiah?
  • 00:08:20
    Who's going to fill that final spot?
  • 00:08:23
    Who is going to be the light
  • 00:08:25
    that saves us from darkness?"
  • 00:08:27
    They're saying, "Will you be the one
  • 00:08:29
    that takes away all the pain, all the suffering?
  • 00:08:33
    They're searching, and honestly, aren't we all?
  • 00:08:38
    We all might have a bracket of some sort in our life,
  • 00:08:42
    that thing where we're like
  • 00:08:43
    there is only one winning spot,
  • 00:08:46
    something where we want to fill the ultimate space,
  • 00:08:49
    something where we have actually tried everything
  • 00:08:52
    and we've moved all the boxes around
  • 00:08:54
    trying to figure out what is going to be the winner,
  • 00:08:56
    what is going to be the thing
  • 00:08:58
    that takes away the darkness.
  • 00:09:00
    Maybe we're searching for the ultimate thing
  • 00:09:02
    that will make us happy.
  • 00:09:04
    And so we've tried all these different things.
  • 00:09:05
    We moved around the boxes.
  • 00:09:07
    Maybe we're searching for the one thing
  • 00:09:09
    that will bring us peace.
  • 00:09:10
    Maybe we're looking for the one thing
  • 00:09:13
    that's going to take away the gnawing feeling
  • 00:09:16
    of loneliness, the feeling of worthlessness.
  • 00:09:19
    Maybe we're looking for the thing
  • 00:09:21
    that's going to take away darkness.
  • 00:09:25
    And I'm telling you, I got the answer. It's the light.
  • 00:09:32
    - So this tinder isn't used to start fires?
  • 00:09:34
    - No, no, it does something very different.
  • 00:09:36
    I mean, it'll burn your life down, but --
  • 00:09:38
    - That's okay, that's okay. Huh? Interesting.
  • 00:09:39
    I don't know if you guys have heard
  • 00:09:41
    about these things called phones. They're amazing.
  • 00:09:43
    Like, we never had these where I'm from, you know?
  • 00:09:46
    - Uh huh. - I learned there's this thing
  • 00:09:47
    called the Crossroads app, and you can get it,
  • 00:09:50
    and you can read the Bible in the app.
  • 00:09:52
    And like, where do I get that again?
  • 00:09:54
    - At the App Store. - The App Store.
  • 00:09:56
    - It's kind of like a market kind of thing,
  • 00:09:58
    like where you get your breads and your apps together?
  • 00:10:00
    - No, not at all.
  • 00:10:02
    - Is there another place I can get it?
  • 00:10:04
    - You can go to Crossroads.net.
  • 00:10:05
    - Oh, I love nets. - You can look there.
  • 00:10:07
    - Love nets. - It's not what you think it is.
  • 00:10:08
    - Okay, well, either way, there's this like --
  • 00:10:10
    There's this, like, painting that moves.
  • 00:10:12
    What do you call that?
  • 00:10:13
    - Magic. - Magic.
  • 00:10:15
    Let's watch some magic right now.
  • 00:10:19
    - This is a story from the Bible Challenge.
  • 00:10:22
    - I'm Rico Calles
  • 00:10:24
    and I am a cross-country and track coach.
  • 00:10:26
    So I wake up every morning and get ready for my day.
  • 00:10:29
    I grab a cup of coffee
  • 00:10:31
    and I come to the chair that I'm sitting at right now.
  • 00:10:35
    The Bible challenge is fun because
  • 00:10:37
    even though I'm by myself, I know that
  • 00:10:39
    there are other people doing it alongside me.
  • 00:10:41
    And it's also really cool to see
  • 00:10:43
    how they're interpreting something
  • 00:10:45
    and how it's applying to their life.
  • 00:10:47
    I think when we were going through the Book of Daniel,
  • 00:10:49
    it was pretty awesome to see just like
  • 00:10:51
    his discipline and how Daniel
  • 00:10:53
    would pray at the same time in the same place.
  • 00:10:55
    So those were like predictable patterns in his life.
  • 00:10:58
    That idea from the Book of Daniel can easily
  • 00:11:00
    be replicated with the kids that I coach
  • 00:11:02
    in the sport of running.
  • 00:11:03
    Even on the tough days when we don't want to,
  • 00:11:05
    like, we're going to show up and we're going to do it
  • 00:11:07
    because that's one of our team values.
  • 00:11:09
    As a result of me participating in it,
  • 00:11:12
    I get to influence other lives as a result of that.
  • 00:11:18
    - So, we're searching, we keep looking
  • 00:11:22
    and we're searching on how we're going to fill
  • 00:11:25
    our brackets, whatever that bracket is for you.
  • 00:11:28
    We keep looking for what we're going to think
  • 00:11:30
    is going to be the winner.
  • 00:11:32
    We keep asking ourselves, what is that ultimate thing
  • 00:11:34
    that will make the darkness in my life go away?
  • 00:11:38
    We fill it.
  • 00:11:39
    We fill our brackets with all types of stuff.
  • 00:11:42
    It's all artificial.
  • 00:11:43
    We fill it with maybe striving,
  • 00:11:45
    striving for the next best thing.
  • 00:11:46
    And so we see one part like, "Oh, this job.
  • 00:11:48
    You know what? That's not good enough.
  • 00:11:50
    That's not going to move on to the next round.
  • 00:11:52
    Get a new job."
  • 00:11:53
    Maybe we fill our bracket with isolation
  • 00:11:55
    and self reliance.
  • 00:11:56
    We say, "I tried that small group.
  • 00:11:58
    I tried that group of friends. They didn't make the cut.
  • 00:12:01
    You know what's better? Me on my own. Me, myself and I."
  • 00:12:04
    Maybe we fill up our brackets, our lives
  • 00:12:07
    with immediate gratification.
  • 00:12:10
    We think that's the way out of darkness
  • 00:12:11
    is simply satisfying every single thing that we want.
  • 00:12:14
    Maybe we think the way out of darkness is just numbing,
  • 00:12:18
    because it's better not to feel.
  • 00:12:22
    We're all searching and we're looking for
  • 00:12:24
    the physical thing that can fix our spiritual problem.
  • 00:12:29
    You see, there is actually a fix,
  • 00:12:32
    a fix to the darkness, and it's called light.
  • 00:12:35
    Maybe you've tried it out. Maybe you haven't.
  • 00:12:38
    But this light, the light, by the way,
  • 00:12:40
    is the only thing that can drive out darkness.
  • 00:12:43
    It's the only thing that's more powerful
  • 00:12:45
    than what can feel like thick and heavy, heavy space.
  • 00:12:51
    See, and that's where Jesus comes in.
  • 00:12:53
    I think God knew that humans that He placed in
  • 00:12:57
    a very physical world would always look for
  • 00:13:00
    a physical fix to a spiritual problem.
  • 00:13:03
    And that's why Jesus is the perfect combination,
  • 00:13:06
    see, because he's both God and man, God and flesh.
  • 00:13:10
    This physical flesh over here
  • 00:13:12
    is also the divine spiritual God,
  • 00:13:15
    someone who, when we see him, we can say,
  • 00:13:18
    we've seen the Father because He is the Father.
  • 00:13:21
    See, and He's the only physical being
  • 00:13:24
    with the divine power to drive away darkness.
  • 00:13:28
    Yeah, maybe I'm talking about physical darkness,
  • 00:13:31
    like, dark at night with stars.
  • 00:13:32
    Yeah, Jesus can drive it out.
  • 00:13:34
    But that's not really what I'm getting at.
  • 00:13:36
    I'm talking about driving out the spiritual darkness
  • 00:13:39
    that you and I all have.
  • 00:13:41
    And you know what? It's on display everywhere,
  • 00:13:43
    the kind of darkness that makes us hate our brother.
  • 00:13:47
    See, it's this kind of darkness that leads us
  • 00:13:49
    to believe we'll be alone, unloved, forever.
  • 00:13:53
    It's the kind of darkness that lets hatred
  • 00:13:56
    and division rule.
  • 00:13:58
    This kind of darkness is the kind
  • 00:14:01
    that Jesus came to overcome.
  • 00:14:03
    And, yes, He came to overcome it for the world,
  • 00:14:05
    but also in our own personal lives.
  • 00:14:09
    The Bible calls Him the light of the world, and He is.
  • 00:14:13
    But he's also the light of our personal worlds.
  • 00:14:16
    And it's in this light that gives us hope.
  • 00:14:19
    It helps us see that there is a better way,
  • 00:14:21
    there is a better plan.
  • 00:14:23
    There is a light that reminds us
  • 00:14:26
    we don't have to be in darkness.
  • 00:14:27
    We don't have to be broken.
  • 00:14:28
    We don't have to be even in sin.
  • 00:14:31
    We can be whole.
  • 00:14:33
    Now, you might be asking yourself,
  • 00:14:35
    "Hannah, how can you believe this?
  • 00:14:37
    I don't even see the physical darkness you're talking about.
  • 00:14:39
    I don't actually even need a Savior."
  • 00:14:43
    Maybe you're right, but if you're anything like me,
  • 00:14:47
    you know that in the back of your mind,
  • 00:14:50
    without Jesus there is something missing.
  • 00:14:52
    There's a piece of you that feels a void.
  • 00:14:56
    I'll tell you how I believe in the light.
  • 00:14:58
    It's this thing called faith.
  • 00:15:00
    Yeah. Faith lets us believe this.
  • 00:15:03
    Sometimes I actually look around
  • 00:15:06
    and it's hard to have faith because I'm like,
  • 00:15:08
    "The darkness is winning.
  • 00:15:09
    The darkness is all around and it's still winning.
  • 00:15:13
    What did Jesus overcome?
  • 00:15:14
    There's war, there's famine, there's poverty,
  • 00:15:17
    there's stealing.
  • 00:15:18
    There are people cutting you in COVID lines
  • 00:15:20
    and then threatening to harm you."
  • 00:15:22
    That's a true story, it happened to a friend of mine.
  • 00:15:24
    The world is crazy.
  • 00:15:26
    But you know what?
  • 00:15:28
    Then I take a look at my own personal life,
  • 00:15:30
    and I think about the mess that I was before Jesus.
  • 00:15:34
    I think about the person that's obsessed
  • 00:15:36
    with perfection, with overworking, with striving.
  • 00:15:40
    The person who thinks, "You know what,
  • 00:15:42
    if I get the next best thing,
  • 00:15:43
    then I'm going to be whole."
  • 00:15:44
    I think about my own futile solutions
  • 00:15:47
    that I have put in all of these brackets.
  • 00:15:50
    See, my bracket was filled with both self-loathing,
  • 00:15:53
    simultaneously toxic autonomy.
  • 00:15:57
    I look at how I was,
  • 00:15:59
    and Sundays maybe even still struggle with this.
  • 00:16:02
    But I was headed for spiritual
  • 00:16:04
    and emotional destruction.
  • 00:16:07
    And then there's this light.
  • 00:16:09
    Jesus who offers me and, oh, you, by the way,
  • 00:16:13
    He offers us a better way.
  • 00:16:16
    He lets me know that the anger
  • 00:16:18
    that I struggle with sometimes,
  • 00:16:20
    the pride that I struggle with sometimes,
  • 00:16:23
    those things don't have to rule my life.
  • 00:16:26
    See, when I look at Jesus, when I look at the light,
  • 00:16:29
    His light shines out the darkness because I know
  • 00:16:31
    that I actually can be compassionate just like Him.
  • 00:16:34
    He offers me hope.
  • 00:16:36
    He lets me know that, you know what?
  • 00:16:37
    I can have an impact on this world, just like He did.
  • 00:16:42
    And when I look at those actions,
  • 00:16:43
    when I look at the light, I'm looking at God.
  • 00:16:46
    See I'm living proof that the light works, y'all.
  • 00:16:49
    Me standing right here is living proof that the light works.
  • 00:16:53
    I'm a walking example that God in the flesh,
  • 00:16:58
    who we call Jesus,
  • 00:16:59
    is the only one who deserves the center bracket.
  • 00:17:03
    He's the only winner that can overcome the darkness.
  • 00:17:07
    He's the only light.
  • 00:17:09
    You know, I can't believe it sometimes,
  • 00:17:11
    but He actually wants a relationship with me.
  • 00:17:16
    He actually wants a relationship with you.
  • 00:17:20
    He might be saying to you, "Listen,
  • 00:17:22
    you've tried all the other lights."
  • 00:17:25
    Remember I had that orb, that artificial light,
  • 00:17:27
    that candle, that artificial light,
  • 00:17:29
    the lamp, that artificial light.
  • 00:17:31
    You've tried all the other artificial lights
  • 00:17:34
    trying to fix your dark situations
  • 00:17:36
    and you filled your bracket.
  • 00:17:37
    You said, "This one's going to be the winner.
  • 00:17:39
    No, no, no. It's going to be this one.
  • 00:17:41
    It's going to be this one."
  • 00:17:42
    You filled it with anything and everything else.
  • 00:17:46
    But Jesus is saying, "What about me?
  • 00:17:49
    How about you give the real source of light a try?"
  • 00:17:55
    See when we have this light,
  • 00:17:57
    the ultimate winner of darkness, it changes things.
  • 00:18:01
    When we have the light that Jesus offers,
  • 00:18:04
    He doesn't just say, "Oh, no,
  • 00:18:06
    everything's going to be perfect."
  • 00:18:07
    You know what?
  • 00:18:08
    When we have the light that Jesus offers,
  • 00:18:10
    it gives us a blueprint for how
  • 00:18:12
    we should see everything else in our lives.
  • 00:18:14
    And that's through, remember, He's the light and the Word.
  • 00:18:18
    See, our standard for what is true starts to change.
  • 00:18:21
    Our standard for what is good starts to shift.
  • 00:18:24
    It's no longer this, like, murky out there thing.
  • 00:18:27
    We can literally look at Jesus and see God,
  • 00:18:30
    and things start to clear up
  • 00:18:32
    because it's this God, it's this Jesus
  • 00:18:35
    who's the light that drives out darkness.
  • 00:18:38
    In a second we're about to head to worship,
  • 00:18:40
    which is just prayer set to music.
  • 00:18:43
    And you might be like,
  • 00:18:44
    "Why do I need to pray set to music?"
  • 00:18:46
    But that moment of worship, it does something.
  • 00:18:48
    It aligns us with God.
  • 00:18:51
    Now, if you're looking for that light
  • 00:18:52
    that I talked about, if you're one of the ones
  • 00:18:54
    who are like, "You know what?
  • 00:18:56
    I've actually tried all the other things in my life
  • 00:18:58
    that I thought were going to be
  • 00:19:00
    the ultimate light to drive out darkness.
  • 00:19:02
    And nothing has worked. Nothing's worked."
  • 00:19:04
    This moment of worship is for you to really think about
  • 00:19:08
    if you want to invite that light into your life
  • 00:19:10
    to align yourself.
  • 00:19:11
    But for those of you who are ready right now,
  • 00:19:13
    if you're like, "I actually don't need to think,
  • 00:19:15
    I actually have tried all the other artificial lights
  • 00:19:17
    and I'm ready to make that shift right this second."
  • 00:19:19
    I want you to pray with me.
  • 00:19:21
    You can repeat after me if that's helpful.
  • 00:19:23
    God, it's me, Hannah.
  • 00:19:26
    Now you say your name.
  • 00:19:29
    And I'm coming to You because I've tried everything.
  • 00:19:33
    I've tried all the other artificial lights.
  • 00:19:37
    I've been looking for something to drive out darkness.
  • 00:19:42
    I recognize that that is you, God.
  • 00:19:45
    I want You to be the ultimate source
  • 00:19:48
    of light in my life.
  • 00:19:50
    Come into my heart right now.
  • 00:19:52
    Make space in my heart right now.
  • 00:19:56
    In Jesus name. Amen.
  • 00:19:58
    Hey, if you prayed that prayer, I want to know actually.
  • 00:20:01
    You can email me right now. I will respond.
  • 00:20:05
    At Hannah.Driskill@Crossroads.net.
  • 00:20:08
    And if you don't want to chat with me, that's okay.
  • 00:20:10
    You can chat with anyone.
  • 00:20:12
    If you just prayed that prayer,
  • 00:20:13
    I want you to chat with somebody.
  • 00:20:15
    Don't just live that out alone.
  • 00:20:16
    You can go to Crossroads.net to chat with someone right now.
  • 00:20:19
    Let's worship together.
  • 00:23:45
    - Hey, we hope you enjoyed this week's message
  • 00:23:47
    from my friend Hannah.
  • 00:23:48
    If you have any more questions,
  • 00:23:50
    I live at the Sea of Galilee in a nice little chateau.
  • 00:23:52
    - No, no, no, no. We have a chat on the website.
  • 00:23:55
    It's far easier than that.
  • 00:23:57
    - Cool. Yeah, I love that, tickets are expensive.
  • 00:24:00
    Crossroads is donor funded, which means
  • 00:24:01
    the money that you and others put forward
  • 00:24:04
    to actually help us do stuff like this.
  • 00:24:06
    - Mm-hmm. We also use some of that money
  • 00:24:09
    to do things like help you understand
  • 00:24:11
    what you were trying to say in the Book of John.
  • 00:24:13
    This is a free guidebook we put together
  • 00:24:15
    about the book of John, it gives you a context
  • 00:24:17
    that you maybe left out, things you assumed.
  • 00:24:20
    - I think I wrote it pretty good.
  • 00:24:21
    - It's free at Crossroads.net/BibleChallenge.
  • 00:24:23
    We will mail one to your house.
  • 00:24:25
    - Very cool. I don't remember it being that small.
  • 00:24:27
    - Speaking of that. Easter is coming up.
  • 00:24:29
    - Easter. I remember that.
  • 00:24:31
    - Cool, uh-huh. Thank you. Good.
  • 00:24:32
    And we have a sneak peek of it for you.
  • 00:24:35
    - Easter is a love story,
  • 00:24:38
    an act of love for a heartbroken world,
  • 00:24:41
    the fulfillment of the promise
  • 00:24:43
    that no matter what has happened in your life,
  • 00:24:45
    what you've done or how far you feel from God,
  • 00:24:48
    love says you are worth dying for.
  • 00:24:52
    The good news of Easter is that
  • 00:24:54
    we don't have to wonder if we are loved
  • 00:24:56
    or what that love will do for us.
  • 00:24:59
    Love has come to save us all.
  • 00:25:11
    Join us for Easter with Crossroads.
  • 00:25:13
    Find service times at Crossroads.net/Easter.
  • 00:25:18
    - You can check it out.
  • 00:25:19
    We'll see you next week on Crossroads.
  • 00:25:21
    Do you want to say that part? - No.
  • 00:25:22
    - Give it a little, you can. - No, I'll get it next time.
  • 00:25:25
    - Why don't you give the people the last line?
  • 00:25:27
    Come on. Come on. You got it.
  • 00:25:29
    - We'll see you next week on Crossroads.
  • 00:25:31
    - A little -- A little more. - Yeah, okay.
  • 00:25:34
    We'll see you next week on Crossroads.
  • 00:25:35
    - Perfect. - That felt good.
  • 00:25:36
    - Uh-huh. Bye.
  • 00:25:40
    - You know, the best way to get to know someone
  • 00:25:41
    is through the lens of people who are closest to them.
  • 00:25:44
    That would include the Apostle John.
  • 00:25:47
    Lots of people have a cultural touchpoint for Jesus,
  • 00:25:51
    but few people knew what He was really, really like.
  • 00:25:54
    I'm going to give you today two stories
  • 00:25:57
    that are polar opposite extremes of seeing Jesus.
  • 00:26:02
    Oftentimes when we see the extremes of somebody,
  • 00:26:05
    we understand the totality of who they are.
  • 00:26:10
    - Come to Crossroads Church for the next series:
  • 00:26:13
    Jesus according to His alleged best friend,
  • 00:26:17
    and hear all about who Jesus was.
  • 00:26:20
    Quick note, not alleged. True.
  • 00:26:22
    It's in the Bible. Doesn't matter who wrote it. [tone]
  • 00:26:26
    - And I just -- I don't know why --
  • 00:26:28
    I don't know why he's here.
  • 00:26:29
    I feel like it's an online church
  • 00:26:31
    and he's never even seen a phone before?
  • 00:26:32
    Like, he's just making it worse
  • 00:26:34
    and I feel like we're going to lose people.
  • 00:26:35
    I just -- I just need you guys to -- [tone]

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend-Follow This is the group part of the Bible Challenge, so your questions are based on specific Bible passages from the weekend message. Each week, your group will discover what God might be saying to you, and how you can respond through a group discussion.

  1. What’s the better peanut-butter candy: Reeses or Peanut M&Ms (or even peanut BUTTER M&Ms)?

  2. What stood out to you most from the message?

  3. Read John 1:1. It can be hard for us to fully wrap our minds around Jesus in his fullness. What has this looked like for you? What helps you get a bigger picture of His character?

  4. What aspects of Jesus’ character are easy for you to receive, and which ones are difficult, as we see in John 1? How has that impacted how you interact with other people?

  5. What happens if we miss the fullness of Jesus’ character? How does that impact our faith?

  6. One way that we can understand more of Jesus’ character is by doing the things he did. What’s one way you can choose to look more like Jesus this week?

  7. Let’s end with prayer. You can say something like, “Jesus, thank you for coming down to earth to be with us, to save us. Thank you for the example you set. Please give us the faith to believe all the truths about who you are, so we can see the fullness of your character. Amen.”

More from the Weekend

Bonus Questions Check these out if you’re on a roll and want to go a little deeper!

  • Read John 1:12-13. How does being part (or not being part) of Jesus’ family influence the way you see yourself and the way you live your life?
  • Read John 1:16-17. What does “grace upon grace” really mean for you? How does that impact your view of Jesus?

Also check out our New Interactive Weekend follow-Up format in the Guides section of the app for a more interactive experience!

0 people are discussing these questions

(This stuff helps us figure out how many fruitcakes to make come December)

You must include at least one person

Got it! Enjoy your discussion.


Apr 4, 2022 26 mins 38 sec

Recent Series