Good to see you. And as I look out there, I see that most of you look almost as good as I do. Let's stand to our feet. Are you ready to worship the Lord?
I don't know about you, but I'm always super excited when I get to come into the house of the Lord with the people of God, my brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen. Let's get the Lord a hand clapping this place. The first song that you're going to sing is one of my favorite songs of glorious day.
And we all get to join in when it says I ran out of that grave. Who else can make you run out of the grave? But Jesus Christ. Give the Lord another hand clapping this place.
Let's go, Christ. I was very beneath my shame. Who could carry the kind of weight? It was my turn.
Till I met you. I was breathing but not. Well I, all my failures I tried too high. It was my turn.
Till I met you. You come my day. Heaven that prayer. Into your glorious day.
You come my day. Free your day. He has saved my soul. Now your freedom is on.
Then I know my sin was heavy. The chains break at the weight of your glory. I need a shelter. I was in the wars.
And now you call me. I'm the Lord. I'm the Lord. I'm the Lord.
I'm the Lord. I'm the Lord. I'm the Lord. I'm the Lord.
Hey man, hey man. Well good morning. It's so good to see each and every one of you here today. Tell somebody hey on your way down.
Just have you sleep for just a moment. Well if you're here for the first time or the first time in a long time, I want to make you feel welcome. You are our VIPs and we are so glad that you are here. One of our great volunteers and stop you on the way.
Make sure you grab one of the blue cards in front of you. Feel it out. We've got a special gift for you. Just want to say thank you for worshiping with us today.
As well Pastor Della will be there in the service. He'd love to meet you and just say thank you again for worshiping with us. A couple of things I need to announce today. A lot of good things happen.
Excited me to worship a little bit today. Oh, I better wake up a little bit. I think I'm going to do a little bit better. I think they're singing a little bit better than y'all worshiping.
Don't believe that? Okay, there we go. Y'all getting there. Y'all getting there.
We do have new light outdoors tonight. That address, I wrote it down. 967 Martin Gore Brothers Clark. If you are coming or playing on just please go by and sign up at the Connect desk so we can get a head count.
It doesn't cost you anything to come but it starts at 6 o'clock tonight. I'd love for you to come out for new light outdoors. It's just going to be a tremendous time. I'm going to study guys work together.
We're going to have some fellowship and we're going to eat good. Lake Waters and barbecue and I'm telling you it's going to be good. You want to make sure that you're there if you're a man. Come on out.
We're going to have a few spots available so if you are interested in that please go sign up today. Grab you a packet. We'd love for you to be a part of Brotherhood. It's a great ministry that we do here at the church.
It's about six months now. It's a little different than new light outdoors. We just want you to come and have a good time. Fellish year, it's about building relationships.
Brotherhood is a little, we give you homework. It's for you. You got to really want the love to Lord to come to that. I would challenge you to come be a part of it.
It's a great experience. You can ask anybody who's been through it. They do tremendous. Everyone of them is now serving somewhere in this church.
If you want to take the next level, I would encourage you to be a part of Brotherhood. We're going to do baptisms on March 1st. I'm excited about that. You're excited about some baptisms.
Amen. Amen. If you've been thinking about it or maybe that's your next day if you haven't done it for whatever reason, I would love for you to go to Connectus. We've got pastors back there that we're glad to talk to you.
Get you signed up and we'd love for you to be a part of our next baptismal service on March 1st as well as all the things that we have going on here. We just finished the church 101 class today. If you're interested in that, you can always sign up. A lot of great ministries happening that you'll hear more and more about.
Speaking of ministries that are going on, one of the ministry partners that you have on those four to three cards is the Blabour Benefit Committee. They have a benefit going on this Saturday for Heath Conner and we'll be supporting that as a church. We need your help. A lot of you ladies like to bake cakes.
We have cake plates at the Connectus for that. If you'll grab one of those, a character of them on Saturday for the cake auction is just a great way to come out and support our community to be a part of what God is doing right here in our local area. I also mentioned our local area. If you haven't already, make sure you go by that map behind the Connectus.
There's a place with little pens in your location, almost, you know, like a funny, funny, funny, just pen it with a real pen though. This is a real pen. I've seen some people cheating with, I can call them out right there, about third row, fourth row, okay. I'm using her maps to figure out where they live, okay.
I just say, and that's fine. If you want to do that, you don't know where you live by looking at a map. That's my wife. She doesn't know geography at all, okay.
So I have to do all that stuff. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be going around the time yesterday, but she does not know how to read a map. I understand if you get your phone out and try to figure out where you are, but go pee in your little point and we would love to see where everybody's out, where we're ministering to in this area.
A lot of good things happening. Excited to be here. Pastor Joe has a tremendous word for you today. We're just getting started with the worship.
A lot of good things going on here at the church. I got it off. I think I got it off cover. So y'all ready to worship a little bit more?
I don't know, George. You think I'm ready to worship? No. Let's go ahead and stand to our faith.
Let's do this right here. Maybe some of you forget why you're here. Maybe you forgot just how far God's brought you from. Maybe you forget that the only reason that you're alive today, the only reason there's air in your lungs, the only reason you're able to stay in and worship today is because we serve a God who is our living hope.
Everything that he did, he did for us on the cross-acalmer. And so here's what I want you to know. When you're going through something, when you're battling something, when you've got a sickness that you're facing, you've got a family member that's gone wayward, when you've got a relationship that's struggling, there's one hope that you can always go to the Francis. His name's Jesus Christ.
And he is our living hope. Can we worship him a little bit today? Then through the darkness, your loving kindness, toward through the shadows of my soul, the work is finished, the end is written, Jesus Christ by living moon. The King of Kings calls me his own beautiful standing door.
I'm your soul, the Lord of Kings. I'm your soul, the Lord of Kings. I'm your soul, the Lord of Kings. You're your soul, you're your soul standing door.
I'm your soul forever. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Then you're a praise in one who sent me free. I'm your death has lost its grip on me.
You have broken every chain. There's salvation in your name. Jesus Christ, my living hope. Praise in one who...
Let's heal the promise. Your very body began to breathe out of the silence. The roaring iron, here the grave has no claim on me. Then came the morning, that's healed the promise.
Your very body began to breathe out of the silence. The roaring iron, here the grave has no claim on me. Jesus, your is a big... I wrote that hope today.
Hope that the world outside of Jesus doesn't have. That's a blessed expectation. Thought of wishing a prayer. But a blessed expectation that God will do what he said he's going to do.
That Jesus can provide for us and be everything that he said he would be for us. That kind of hope. The kind of hope that closes if God signs a hole in our heart. He puts us on mission and on task for him.
The kind of hope that assures us that regardless of every life situation that we experience is he's here again. Think about those children of Israel and their leading out of Egypt and Pharaohs behind them and there's a Red Sea in front of them. They're somewhere in the middle and they say, Moses, why in the world have you done to us? Did you bring us out here to die because there were no graves in Egypt?
There's no hope. All of us, every day of our life, will have Red Sea moments. We'll never be in a position where we serve a God. He doesn't put us in a position where we have to say, Lord, I need you.
He's never going to clear every obstacle in front of us, ahead of us. He's the God that's here again, God. He's the God that I can look at the enemy behind me and I can look at adversity ahead of me, and no, every time God has showed up. Every time he's made away and that's what I'm going to sing about in this next song and I only encourage you today that if you're in the middle between an enemy and an obstacle that God has an answer for you.
God has a way of escape for you. I want you to look back on the life situations that were here again for you all throughout your life. And say, God, you've never failed me. You've never forsook me.
You've never left me. And what I'm standing here again in the middle needing a touch. I'm needing a breakthrough God. I will encourage you today because all this is open.
If you don't know I measure hope, you've just holed your time today as the praise team sings. If you need me to hear again more than use this all the time today as the praise team sings. Be encouraging that hope today. You can control what you've got on your bill, but I know you're in a business place where you promise to be.
Let's you come. Will you be me, David? Will you be me, David? Please let them know that you're an all-time God and you will meet them here again.
Helped them know that they are enough as long as they have you God. We ask that you be with the remainder of the service. Have our ears to hear it and our hearts to receive it. These things you ask in your name, amen.
There is nothing you cannot do with God. No matter who you are, where you come from, what your past may be, you were made for more. This new road set before you, God already has a plan for you. This season of life you're walking through, Jesus wants to walk with you.
This is your moment to do more than you would ever imagine. The more that God has prepared for you. More of His presence, more of His goodness, more of His kindness, more of His peace, more of His joy, more of His power, breaking through ordinary circumstances with extraordinary strength. More of Him, so when you stand before your Goliath, you don't shake with fear, but have more strength in your spirit and more courage in your bones.
More of Him, so when seasons of darkness surround you, you can declare more of His promises over your life. More of His presence filling you, more of His Holy Spirit walking with you. Jesus is calling you to more of Him each and every day. So stand up in your spirit, put on the full armor of God.
Declare with authority that Jesus is more than enough. Speak it over your life, over your family's life, over your future. Make this the declaration that marks the next chapter of your incredible story, that you were made for more. Well, good morning.
How we doing? Good to see you. Thank you so much for coming out today. I want to do a couple of things I've heard through the great vine, that is Joe and Debbie's, Joe and you are over at Debbie's anniversary today, 52 years in marriage.
Now why did I say that? Because I tried to get Joe to go to the marriage class and he said, I can't go there because he'll mess up everything I fixed in the happy anniversary guys. Hope you have a great, great day. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, remind you about Deeper Dive on Tuesday night. We can't cover everything in this sermon that we'll cover today, but you can tune in on Tuesday night. We'll help you understand that.
Welcome to Radio Ministry, Internet Ministry. Let me know you love them. Welcome to the New Light Church. Yeah.
I'm going to jump right into it when a current series called Living on Purpose, and boy, it's been a good series so far. You want to know what it's all about here? It is right here. Living on purpose is all about aligning our lives with God's original design and specific calling.
It is rooted in the understanding that we are God's hand-to-work, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. That's what the series is all about. So today, I want to talk about shine on purpose. I want you to get this.
I want you to hear what God is saying to you today. I think it's going to be a great, great sermon if you take it in not because I preach it because it's a good word from the Lord. Now, when you look at this sermon today, I want you to understand it's coming out of Matthew chapter 5. And if you know much about the Bible, that's where the Lord is, what we know as the sermon on the Mount is teaching his disciples about kingdom principles and kingdom living.
And that's kind of what we all need to understand and know. We need to understand how God has called us, prepared us, and equipped us to do what he's called us to do. So he would tell us on the sermon on the Mount. If you're really going to shine from me, here's what he said to his first disciples.
He said, you've got to have a spirit of humility about you. You've got to be humble. You've got to be a merciful person towards other people. And you've got to be pure in heart.
We understand that through the sermon on the Mount. But then he goes to stepfather and says this. He says, what you have to do if you're going to shine like I desire for you to shine, then you've got to understand that you've got to put God's kingdom first in your life. Not just his kingdom, but you've got to have a priority for his work in your life.
So he tells us a number of things on the sermon on the Mount, how you and I can really shine more. Now with that, I want to ask you a question right here. And the question I want to ask is how many of you think you need to shine more or you feel like you can do more? How many of you would raise, I mean come on.
Now there's a couple of ways to look at this when you think about shining for the Lord and you think about kingdom principles and kingdom living. And you think about what this really means and here's where you go right here. How many of you know that shining more really is having more impact in the world and glorifying God more? So I can change this question right here and I can say, how many of you would like to glorify God more in your life?
I mean, if you would like to do that, I mean, I would like to do that. I want to glorify God more. So when you think about this, I want you to think about the question as we go through the sermon. I want you to answer this question by the end of the sermon.
And so that's what this sermon is all about today. So with that said, here's what I want you to know about this. You know you were made for more because we talked about that a couple of weeks ago. You understand your true identity in Christ.
We talked about that last week. But if you don't shine on purpose, that's key right there. It's your responsibility to do that. It's your choice to do that.
All that knowledge stays locked inside you shining on purpose, how you take everything God has done in you and you let it flow through you to impact everyone around you. It's the difference important right here between being a believer and being a world changer. Now, when I talk about that, when we think about world changes, I'm talking about the immediate world around you will hit the whole world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But this is talking primarily about changing your family, changing your friends around you, changing the atmosphere at your workplace, being a world changer.
It's the difference in between having light and being light. And God wants us to understand that we are the light. That we don't know it's not just having the light that's important, the light of Christ in our life. It's being that light in front of the world and in front of people who love us and the people that we are around.
So a few things I want you to know about this today. So you can do it like God says you ought to do it. Your light is given by Christ. It's not earned.
Now, this is so important. We talked about that, but the scripture Matthew 5 and 14 says this, you are the light of the world. I read this and after I read it and I wrote it down and I began to think about it a couple of days. This thought came to my mind.
This thought was this. We live in a dark world. Would you agree with that? And we hear a lot of Christians say things like this.
They'll say, well, you know, the world is really bad. It's really dark. I wish the Lord would come back and I'm ready for him to return. Things are really bad.
People are getting worse and evil is abounding. And look, the Bible tells us that in the last day evil is going to abound. That men are going to wax worse and worse. In other words, it's going to be a pretty ugly place, right?
But there's something I want you to see about this. We have to be careful in this area. We say we wish the Lord would come on back and in this thing and get it over, let the rapture take place. But you know what God said about that?
God said these things are going to happen. The world is going to get dark, but I placed you as believers in the world to be the light of the world. So you and I have to kind of change our paradigm here just a little bit and understand that God placed us here. He placed his spirit on the inside of us, that his presence is right here with me and that when the world gets dark as it can get and it gets darker by the day, that my light will shine brighter and brighter and brighter in a dark world.
Somebody say amen about that. You are the light of the world. That is a fact. It's not something that we conjure up in our mind.
The Lord said it's a fact and we ought to understand that we absolutely are the light of the world to help you understand that I'll give you this statement. This light of Christ is a gift of grace, not a reward for merit. We do not candle the flame through our own effort, but rather we clear away this is important right here through the shadows of our lives so that his light can shine through us unimpeded. Now when you think about that, we are the light of the world, but there are things in our life that can shadow that light out.
There are things that can hide that light. There are things that can distort that light. You can't put it out. It's there.
It's a real fact in your life, but there are things in your life. I want to talk about those things for just a moment briefly because I'll bring those back up at the end of the sermon because I think it's important. I think that's where the altar call will be. So when you think about this and I didn't list them all probably, there may be some things in your life, but I'll give you that example of what can impede the light of Christ in your life.
If you live with unconfessed sin and you live with habitual sin or behavior in your life, then I tell you right now the light of Christ can't be as bright as it needs to be in your life. I want you to get that. There are things in your life right now. And what I want you to do is I preach this sermon.
I want you to begin to think about your life. I want you to think about how you live. I want you to think about what you go loud in your life. I want you to think about what you've accepted in your life, particularly those things that are contrary to the word of the Lord, because here's the reality.
If you are the light of the world, there's a purpose and a reason for that. We will deal with that as we go through the sermon, but here's what I want you to see. If you are the light of the world, then you and I have a responsibility to take the shadow away where the light can shine bright in this world. So here's the deal.
You have habitual sin or behavior in your life. Distractions come to us. We're easily distracted people and we pursued worldly things. We've got to be careful about that.
Money and entertainment, the love of money and not money itself, but the love of money and entertainment can get in our way. It can hinder the light of Christ and our life. Spiritually, we're glad that this would look like this. A prayerless life.
We don't talk to God. We don't spend time talking to God. When we do spend time talking to God, very seldom are we asking Him for His will to happen in our life. It's the will to take place in this world.
And then you have a situation where you don't study God's word. And you don't do that. And here's the result of that. The reason we don't do those two is because of something called pride.
We can't live our life and do this life without the help of God. But the truth of the matter is we can't do that. And pride, really, you can see pride in your life if you're not praying and talking to God on a regular basis. If you're not studying His word, then that tells you you're relying on self too much and that's a prideful position.
And we can't do that. So when you think about that, the reason I went through all that and the reason you need to get rid of these things in your life is because you and I are reflectors of Christ. In other words, His character, what He's all about and who He is, is supposed to be reflected in our life. We reflect Him.
We're not the light like He's the light of the world. But we are a light that reflects Him and God is called us to do that. So as a believer, I want you to understand the Bible says that we are ambassadors of Christ, that we represent Him in this world. He did say you are the light of the world.
So the next time you notice the world getting dark and you notice things are not going good and you notice that the political machine in this country has taken us a different way. Do you realize that God has created you and I for such a time as this so we can light this world up with a gospel of Jesus Christ and show somebody the love of God in our life and what God has done in our life. And we can stand on something that everybody else may not be standing on or for. But when we do that, it just takes the light of God and it reflects it all over a dark world.
How many of you know that light is brighter in the dark? Does somebody help the preacher right there? So don't complain anymore about how bad the world is getting and don't say God is going to have to apologize to Solomon tomorrow. If you don't do anything, no.
He said, I placed the light of the world everywhere. I'm in them. They're there. They can shine bright and do my work.
And here's what that means to you and I. That the fields are ripened to harvest. All God is looking for is a believer who understands that the light of the world has been equipped by God and positioned by God to do the work. And the Bible says that there's a harvest out there.
We ought to be going after. We are the light of the world. And God wants us to understand that. I'll give you a scripture here so you can understand what our position is because here's the deal.
I love John 3 16, but I really love 17. That's one of my favorite passage of scripture because it really defines for you and I what we are supposed to be doing. Here's what the Bible says. God sent his son into the world not to what?
The world, but to the world through him. Now, when you think about that, here is our marching orders, if you would. God is telling us something right here. When you look at that word salvation, it means rescue, restore and deliver.
You heard me say that a lot of times in the Greek and the Hebrew. That's exactly what it means. And so here's the deal. You and I can't really rescue anybody, but we can tell them about the one that can rescue them.
We can't restore anybody. There's only one person in the world that can restore and that's Jesus Christ. And we can't deliver anybody. Only Jesus Christ can do that.
But you and I can point people to the Savior that can rescue them, restore them and deliver them. I don't know about you, but I want to say this this morning. How many of you still believe that God can change a life? How many of you believe that God can take the worst of the worst and do something with their life?
How many believe that God can take what they any meant for bad and he can turn it to good? How many of you believe you can bring your life to the Lord and he can do more with your life than you can ever do with your life? How many of you still believe that? Well, I believe that and that means if I really believe that, I am the light of the world.
Therefore, I can tell people how to have a better life, how to have a better relationship, how to have a better marriage, how to raise better children, and how to be a better person in the community. Do you believe that church? We can do that because we have the truth. So when you think about that, we didn't come in the world to judge the world.
The church needs to hear that. There's going to be a time for judging. We've talked about that many times. But right now we're the light of the world and we're trying to get people safe.
We're not judging anybody. That means we encourage people. We give them hope and we give them direction for life. We live an example before them and we show them that you can have a better life, that you can live this blessed life.
If you will, that God can do something great in your life. That's who we are. And that's the example that we said in Ephesians. It says it this way.
For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. Watch this now. So live as people of light. For this light within you produce is only what is good and right and true.
Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. You and I have to come down to it and we have to get serious with the Lord and we have to consider what pleases him. If our light is going to shine, we have to take an inventory of our life and we have to look at it. And I mean, we have to be really honest with ourselves and ask ourselves if this is really hindering the light of the gospel in my life or is it not?
You see now when you think about this, unbelievers are living in spiritual darkness. They're not living in the light and who is an unbeliever, a person that hasn't been born again. You can believe in the Lord but not be born again. But if you've been born again, as He said to Nicodemus, then I want you to understand you have the light of the Lord on the inside of you.
So when you think about that, unbelievers are living in spiritual darkness, but believers are reflectors of Christ. And you and I ought to be able to encounter these people at work and at the job and in the marketplace of wherever we are. And we ought to have enough light in us that it draws them to us. It draws into something that's different about us, not where we go in the marketplace.
And we quote every scripture and everything coming out of our mouth is a scripture. No, it shouldn't be that way. It ought to be the character of Christ that drives us. When we do business, people ought to see something different in us.
If we interact with other people and we treat other people the way God says, we ought to treat them. People ought to be able to see that. It ought to be evidence in our life. And people ought to be drawn to that.
Is anybody hearing what I'm saying this morning? We are the light of the world and God says, we ought to live accordingly according to what the Bible says and do what God says. Now to understand that, watch this statement right here. Just like the earth blocks the sun to cause any clips.
Good things like work, family, money, entertainment, all good, not bad, can become impediments if they come between you and the Lord. You are the light of the world. And I got to be honest with you right here. I've watched these things right here.
Good things. I've watched family get in the way of what God is calling us to do. I've watched money and the love of money get in the way of what God has called us to do. I've watched entertainment get in the way of what God has called us to do.
We lose focus and we forget that our life is just a brand of vapor if you will. We forget that we've been put here to be the light of the world, that we're on a mission and a call from God. And we need to do what God has called us to do. And what God has called us to do is to be the priority in our life.
You've got to be careful about these good things right here because they can get in the way and they can shadow the light. Now look, I'm for family and I love family. I'm not against family and your family is important. And that's where your first ministry starts.
But then you've got to get to the place where you understand that you can never allow the family or what the family wants to get in the way of what God has called you to do. You can't do that. Second thing I want you to see is this. Your light is visible.
It can't be hidden. It can be shadowed, but it can't be hidden. Now here's the thought behind that. Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden in Matthew 514.
That's how he gives that. Now think about the terminology he's using. Think about the Middle East, the Flatlands, the desert, the desert. Think about a hill.
Think about a city being on that hill. Think about the pitch black dark of night and the light shining from that city. That's where you are. And that's what your life is to be in this world we live in.
You shouldn't have to say, you know, when it's real dark out in the country where I live, I can look north of me and I can't see the physical lights of the city of a list of town but I can see the globe. And what God is saying to you and I in this passage right here is you can just be your presence can be there and there will be a glow about your life. I didn't say a perfect life now. I didn't say that you had everything together and you crossed every tee or you dotted every eye.
None of us are that way. But here's what I am saying. You ought to be so much different than the world around you. There ought to be a glow of Christ all around you that people can readily see, particularly now that we're living in the last of the last days where the Lord said that evil was going about and men were going to wax worse and worse.
You and I ought to have so much Godly character in our life. We ought to handle our business a certain way and we ought to handle our finances a certain way. We ought to handle our family a certain way that the light of the Lord shines in the darkness, right? That's what God's called us loose and proper light can't be hidden.
Now if you're just a religious person that can be hidden. That doesn't put off any light at all but proper light when you think about that its purpose is to illuminate. So I want you to understand you are the light of the world and God has called you to be to illuminate or illuminate if you will in the world you live in. I know darkness is everywhere.
We ought not to be depressed or discouraged about the darkness. God said it was coming. We ought not to get all bent out of shape when the world turns in a way that is totally opposite of God. We ought to stand up and say you know what?
This is a great time to be living. So what I want you like church to know today is this is a great time to be living. We have opportunities that no other generation before us have. Do you hear what I'm saying this morning?
I'm telling you we're living in a sad world. We're living in a sick world, a spiritually sick world and people don't know the top from the bottom or what's up or what's down. But I've got news for you today that I have a savior. I understand who he is and I know what he did for me and I don't care what's happening in somebody's life.
I can give them hope. It is a living hope. I can tell them about the one that can come in and change their world and turn their life around and give them a new life, give them a new family, give them a new start. He can take what the enemy meant for bad and turn it to good.
He can bless what the enemy thinks he has cursed and turn it around and you can become the light that God has called you to be. I can tell you that can happen. See when you think about the light, its nature is to shine. So when you think about your life, your nature, the new nature you have on the inside of you is to shine in a world of dark.
Watch this statement right here to help you understand this. A lot of Christ is not a flickering candle to be shielded. When God's grace, this is important right here. Truly inhabits a heart.
It becomes an undeniable reality that penetrates the deepest darkness and commands. The attention of the world. Listen carefully to what that statement said. When the true light penetrates your life, it drove all that darkness out.
Do you remember what you went through? Do you remember the way you conducted yourself and how you act? I didn't say you were perfect now and you are growing. But I'm telling you right now, if you had this encounter with the Lord where you and him came together and done business, when you walked away, there was some darkness pushed out of your life.
I think we can all say amen to that. There was some darkness that was put. Now look, there's still work that has to be done. You're not a perfect person.
But I'm telling you, when that true light comes in, it pushes darkness away. When I want you to understand, you are a lethal weapon in the hands of God. And wherever you go in this darkness, you can push darkness away without even realizing you're pushing it away. I want you to hear me today and I want you to understand who you are in Christ.
When you think about this, a real encounter with the Lord can be seen by everybody. Have you watched anybody's had a real encounter with? I'm talking about a genuine one. I didn't say anybody's started coming to church now.
I didn't say anybody just started listening to gospel music. I said a person that's had a real encounter with the Lord. When they come around you, there's something different about them. And when you run into people who believe the Lord, there's a spirit about them.
There's a kindness about them. There's a way about them. And you can explain it all kind of ways, but there's something different. Here's what I understand.
If you say you're a believer, you've been born again. Well, then here's what I want you to know. A person that's had this really encounter with the Lord and the true light has come in. How many of you would agree that their language changes quite a bit?
They don't talk like they did before. They had this encounter with the Lord. It's anybody with me. I know it's real cool to get around your buddies and get around people.
It's okay to throw a little word out here and a little word out there. I say this. There's only some words you can use where people can understand exactly how you feel. I didn't say that was right.
And I didn't say that was gospel. I said it's a fact. But here's what I want you to know. Your light diminishes every time something contrary comes out of your mouth.
And what I want you to understand and know is this, as a born again believer, when you get around people and you've had the true light, you don't speak the same language you spoke before. You had the encounter with the Lord. Your attitude is so much different than it was when you had the encounter with the Lord. And your lifestyle is totally different than it was before you had the encounter with the Lord.
How do I know that? Because light disfels darkness. You can't put the two in the same place. If I were to take the lights all the way down in here and it would pitch black dark, one flip with a switch and light with the light.
And the light would be everywhere. Light takes away darkness. Light moves it out, drowns it out. And that's how you became who you are today.
And here's what I want you to see. You're the light of the world. And if you conduct yourself like the light of the world, and I'll show you how to do that in a moment, then wherever you go and whatever you do, people will readily see there's something different about you. You do become the light when you think about that because here's why this is important.
Light guides other people. In a dark world, you see if you're in the woods or wherever and you're walking through there and it's pitch black dark and the cobra's over and it's high and the moon and it's dark and you have a flashlight everybody's going to follow you. Well, the same is true spiritually. Think about what I just said, how heavy that is.
If the real light is there, people are going to follow you. You're going to be a guide to some people around you. Don't take this lightly church. Be the light that God has called you to be Philippians will say it this way.
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I'm away, it is even more important. Now, watch this right here. Work hard to show the results of your salvation.
You didn't work for your salvation. But God says we have to work hard to show the results of our salvation. That we have a responsibility to do that. That we have a responsibility to shine in this dark world.
So we've got to work hard, but watch this right here. Obeying God with deep reverence and fear. Now, here's the key to this right here. For God is working in you, giving you the desires and the power to do what pleases him.
Let me say this before I go any further. Do you understand what that scripture just told us? We've got to work hard to do what God has called us to do and be who God said we ought to be. We have to work hard for that.
We study, we read, we pray, we have this relationship with the Lord. But understand this, God is working hard to give you the desire and the power to do what pleases him without God working without the Holy Spirit working. And I can't do what we need to do to please God. In other words, my desires, a lot of times I want to line up with God's desires.
Did you realize that? As a preacher of the gospel, I'm as human as you are. But here's what I've learned about God. I have to understand that and I have to understand my makeup and then I have to pray God.
You said in your word that you would give me the desire to follow you. You would give me the desire to be a lamp. So if you're here today and you don't have that desire, pray to God. So, hey Lord, you said you would give me that desire.
Would you give me the desire to be more like you? Would you help me have more character like you? Would you help me have a better communication like you? Would you help me have a better language, a better attitude, more Christ of likeness in my life?
Would you help me do that because here's reality without him you can't do it. But what's this now? Not only you need a desire, but the power to do what pleases him. Now I have to go to God and say, God, you know what?
I'm not shining like I need to shine. Now we understand what that means because I just expressed that to you, right? I don't have the desire to shine like I need to shine. And Lord, the truth is I don't have the energy to do it.
But God, the Word says you help me do that. So I'm coming to you. I just give somebody two powerful keys right there. God, help me have the right desires.
And God, help me have the energy that I need to do your word. Do everything without complaining because here's the way it is right here. See, I can be the pastor of the church. I'll use me for a moment and I can do my job.
I can preach. I can count so I can do all that stuff and teach classes. But if I'm complaining about it, something's wrong. Now, how many of you know it's easy to complain?
Just like you. So you can be doing what God's called. You do. But he says, look, I want you to do that.
Pray to God. Give me the energy to do it. Pray to God. But you've got to stop complaining.
Watch what he says. And argue. You can't argue about it so that no one can criticize. You live clean innocent lives as children of God shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
God, help me. God says you and I are the light of the world. And he says, I'll give you the desires to be more like me. I'll give you the energy to be more like me.
Understand you can't have that unless I give it to you. Pray that I give that to you. But there's one thing or two things you're going to stop arguing and stop complaining. You can be the best mother or the best father, the best wife, the best husband, whatever you are.
You can apply this anywhere. Business owner or worker or whatever you want to do there. You can be the very best. But if you kill that with the complaining and you kill that with the arguing, then you stop the light.
In other words, all the good that you're doing, God may have given you desire and he gave you the energy. But if you let your mouth run when it shouldn't run. You kill the light that God is placed there. First Peter would say this, but you are not like that for you or a chosen people.
We got to know who we are that God chose us. You are a royal priesthood. If the king is Jesus Christ, we are priests. Somebody help me right there.
A holy nation. That word holy means one. We live a different way. We live by different standards.
We live to please God. And we order our lives after what God said is right. We don't live like we want to live. We live like God says.
We ought to live. We got to understand that if our light is going to shine, that not only are we a priest and not only are we a chosen people, but we are holy people. We're set apart. God is a part of God.
That means we're one with God. What I would love to see is a church full of people that understand that we are one with God. Whatever God says, that's what I say. Whatever God does, that's what I'm going to do.
However God thinks about something, that's exactly how I'm going to think about something we are holy. People set apart for God. God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God for he called you out of this darkness into this wonderful light.
He's called us out of this dark world. What does that mean church? It means he doesn't want us to be like the world. He doesn't want us to conduct ourselves like the world.
He wants us to conduct ourselves like the world. He wants us to conduct ourselves as citizens of heaven. With godly principles guiding our life, biblical principles directing our life. That's what God's called us to do.
Watch this statement right here. Your life is meant to be seen. You can't be a secret Christian. Uh oh.
A city on the hill is visible from every direction. Your faith is meant to be public, not private. Light by its very nature illuminates darkness. See, we ought to be careful.
Now here's what I want you to understand. If I were preaching this in another country, I would have to say this. There are some people living in countries right now that can't publicly live out their faith. In other words, they can't preach.
Like I'm preaching. They can't do that. They can't go out and knock on doors and hang out flyers. They can't breathe their bodies.
Because their life would be taken. I don't understand that. But here's what I want you to say. No matter the environment you're in, no matter how hostile it is to God.
No matter about the workplace, no matter about the public schools, no matter where you are, maybe they say you can't do this. You can't do this. But here's what I want you to see. Godly character can shine anywhere.
Godly character can shine anywhere. I can live by the principles of God in my heart. I can be Christ like in my heart. I can have.
I have to be careful about my outward expression in some places in the workplace or in the school or wherever. I have to be careful about my outward expression. I'll tell you one thing. I don't have to be careful about the godly characteristics in my life.
If I'm close to the Lord, I can be a walk and testimony without saying anything to anybody, not even using the word. Somebody say amen. You can do that final point. I want you to see about this sermon.
Your light is purposeful. It glorifies the Father. We're called to glorify God. You got to get that right.
The light of the world glorifies the Father. So the scripture for that is this in the same way. Let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. Give glory to him.
What does that word glory mean? See some translations say glorify the Father. This says please. So here's what I want you to see right here.
What does it mean? Well, when you look at that word, glory means praise. It means honor and magnified. So the question I ask at the beginning is could you glorify God more when you think about your life?
Do you need to glorify God more in your life? So someone would ask behind the word we do that. Well, you got to ask God for God. The desire is right.
You got to do that. You got to ask for the energy to do it. You got to really be responsible as a believer and not allow some things to be in your life. You got to do that.
You got to ask God to help you with all that. But when you think about how we glorify him, we glorify him through good works. One of the greatest ways you can glorify God after becoming Christians not reach your Bible. You need to read your Bible.
That's part of your life. Praying as a part of your life. You got to do that. But we're talking about glorifying God out in the public.
How do you do that? I tell you how you do it because good works is a part of that. Acts of love is a part of that. We're called to do that.
We're called to be the light in the world. Acts of service is a part of that. A lot of you came in here earlier this morning. You worked all week.
You have children. You have all these other kinds of things going on, but you made time to come in here. Some of you own businesses that work. Ungodly hours all week long to work your fingers to the moment, but you come in here on Sunday morning.
You find your spiritual gift. You get busy doing what God's called you to do. You find your place and you do that. Those are things that help your life to shine in this dark world.