Episode 152: October 1, 2023 - On The Foggy Plateaus Of Life

Eternity Church PodCast

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal. Tell me if you’ve ever experienced something like this. There is a this hilariously slapstick comedy I watched as a teenager, and I found it one day. Naturally, I got a huge smile just looking at the DVD case and remembering the hijinks and vaudevillian humor. I wanted to watch it again, this time with my bride. The problem was I knew we’d never make it through the first few minutes if she wasn’t in the mood to watch a ridiculous comedy of errors. Surely her eyes would glaze over, and I’d feel horrible. So, I waited. I put the DVD on the shelf and waited. Every once and a while we would have a quiet evening and I would think, is this the night? But we’d get distracted, or the mood would shift, and I would leave it on the shelf. That was until one day, one perfect evening when we were feeling silly, I nonchalantly suggested we watch the film. We roared with laughter as we made our way through What’s Up Doc? (Peter Bogdanovich’s 1972 classic starring Ryan O’Neal and Barbra Streisand). At this point you might be wondering, “What does any of this have to do with the book of 1 John?” Good question. This Sunday, we find ourselves in 1 John 2.18-27, a handful of verses that have not always been addressed in the right way or the right time. In these verses we find words like “the antichrist” and “the last hour,” words that if not rooted in their true context could lead to all kinds of nervous places. Thankfully, we are arriving at this passage at just the right time, not in a panic, not with fear or trembling, but from within our confession of Jesus’ Lordship. In our confession we find that God pours out into our lives permanence, anointing, and knowledge! This Sunday as we read the words of 1 John we don’t need to worry if we are stepping into a horror film about the end times. Rather, we step into another day together as we walk on the way of faith.