Religious Leaders

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Today, it's kind of a twist. We're in John chapter 8, and it's not an individual, it's a group. That seems a little elusive, but they've got quite the groupthink going on. Have you noticed groupthink these days? Oh, yeah. He describes them as the Jews who would believe in him, or were starting to believe in him, and then they kind of hold rank as Jesus says these things form together, have this circulate, wait a minute, and they just don't even think for themselves anymore, it's just the group. And we're going to be dealing with that today, that groupthink. But I want to bring up a couple of things, first of all. We mentioned the Hangout today, 5 to 8, we'd love to have you join us. It's a lot of fun. It is so much fun. And it's our chance to be in fellowship with each other. One thing that I don't have on the slides today is we've got Alex here today. Alex, you want to stand up just for a moment? So, today he is asked, he's going to be baptized this afternoon at 2 o'clock, right? And he wants, it's going to be a high-intensity risk baptism, because we're going to do it in fresh water, he wanted it, and so it's going to be at the University Lake, on the campus, and just praying no alligators are close. Okay, Alex, we're looking, 2 o'clock, so if you want to come out to the campus, it's near Alico Arena, it's where they've got, for students, it's where you can rent paddle boards and stuff, there's like a swimming area, and just pray off the alligators today. Although, let me tell you, that would go viral, if all of a sudden we're baptizing and there's an alligator swimming right next to you. You hardly ever see them there, though, okay? But that's what they said about the Disney Lakes, right? So, sorry, that's not a good joke, I'm sorry, that's not trying to do anything. Alex, thank you so much, you can sit down now, but it's great to have you here this morning, and let's go out and support him as he moves into that direction, okay? So, Jesus is going to read, we're going to read this in John chapter 8, you can follow along, by the way, in the You version of the Bible, there are notes to all of this, and this message and all, so you can follow along there. And we read in John chapter 8, starting in verse 31. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Have you ever heard that before? Yeah. They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham, and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever, the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works of your father, the works your father did. They said to him, we are not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. It is a little harsher than just hearing that line, and you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. We tend to use that out of context. I was reading an article by Mark Lilla. He is a professor at Columbia University in New York. In 2005, he wrote in the New York Times a piece entitled this, Getting Religion, My Long Lost Years as a Teenage Evangelical. In it, he shares how he came from a broken home, a Roman Catholic background, but during his high school years, he got involved in the Jesus movement of his day, having had his own conversion experience to the gospel. But after dabbling in it for a while, he fell out of it. Then he came back to a Billy Graham crusade that was happ...