Push Back Darkness

In the final week of our Multiplying Church series, Pastor Jim Essian teaches from 1 John 1:5-10 on the fourth play we run as a church — pushing back darkness. But before the church can push back darkness in the city, it has to push back the darkness in its own heart. Otherwise we're just hypocrites who help.

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. That purity is what frightens us — and it's the only thing that guarantees he will never turn on us. If God had a dark side, he couldn't be trusted with ours.

The darkness makes us feel hidden when it has actually made us blind. And the lie we believe is that the light would be worse. It wouldn't. Confession means agreeing with God about what he already knows, and in that agreement every other agreement gets broken.

You can't hide and heal.

Scripture: 1 John 1:5-10

Preached by Jim Essian at The Paradox Church in Fort Worth, TX