Continuing in our series through the Gospel of John, Dean introduces us to John the Baptist, the "voice in the wilderness" and the one who "prepared the way" for the coming Messiah, Jesus. Each one of us can follow this example and share the story of Jesus to point others to someone who is much greater than we are.

In our final "standalone" message of the summer, Troy describes how we “come back” each Sunday, just so we can “leave again” by going out into the world, shining our light in the darkness, and sharing the good news of Jesus. Our world needs us; our city needs us; and our neighborhood in the Shadle area needs us.

Left to ourselves, we tend to put ourselves first and do as little as possible for others. But as Troy explains, we all know, deep down, that there’s a problem with that way of living, and we want to be better than that. What if we thought about others more than ourselves? What if we showed grace and kindness to the people who disagreed with us? What if we did as much as possible for them? What if we said, essentially, “No, Please, You Go First.”

In today's standalone message, Troy invites us to remember where it all began, not only in our physical lives, but also in our journeys of faith. We can refresh ourselves and find the strength to go on when we recall how Jesus paid our penalty for us, how all of our sins have been forgiven, and how that leads us to forgive other people.