Hi, welcome to the Via Zion sermon podcast.
We are a local church based here in Chennai, India.
We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will
encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.
We have started the Advent season and are thrilled that we
get to celebrate Jesus for all that he is, has been, and all
that he will do. We look at Jesus, the living
Word today, the one who left heaven and walked the earth to
be one of us. As you listen in our prayer is
that you will experience the power and fulfillment that only
Jesus gives. Hi Church, what a joy it is to
bring God's word to you today. We have been looking at the book
of John for the Advent series and we have been looking at how
Jesus is the Word. He's the life, Zoe, life.
And today we're going to be looking at how Jesus is the
light, right? John chapter 1 verses 4 to 5
says in Him was life and that life was the light of all
mankind. The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness has not overcome it.
Even before I get into the word, I wanted to show you a quick
YouTube shot, a small snippet video of what actually happens.
This was captured under an electron microscope of what
happens at the moment of conception when a sperm and
meets the egg. There's a very interesting
phenomenon that scientists have discovered and I want you to see
it just for a second before we progress.
Can we just have a look at the video?
So if you noticed in this video, there was a a brilliant light.
It's microscopic, but nevertheless it's a light that
shines when fertilization happens.
Basically the minute life begins in the womb of an animal or a
bird, any kind of creature. Even in humans, what happens at
a molecular level is that zinc sparks fly and that is what is
visible as a light. And it cannot be disputed
anymore that light and life belong together, that when Jesus
came into the world as the light, he brought life with him.
And that's what John is trying to say.
And so light and life are inextricably linked.
They are linked to each other. They cannot do without the
other. And it's interesting because
when the Zoe life Christ, you know, gets sparked, when it gets
sparked, it starts to envelope us and we start to live out in
the light of Jesus. Not just is he the light of the
world, but he says we are the light of the world because we
become light bearers ourselves, right?
And if you look at the world that we live in today without
light, life will as we know it will not thrive.
Everything that we see around us that thrives is because in part
of the fact that we have the sunlight all around us shining
on us through the day which is responsible for sustaining and
and creating life at the level that we know.
Spiritually speaking. When you look at the world you
will find that there is darkness everywhere.
We live in a corrupt culture. There is such things happening
that cannot be mentioned about many times things that are
happening in pockets of the world, trafficking, strife,
corruption, crime at an all time high.
So not just physically are there places which are in darkness
spiritually, there are places which are in deep darkness.
And Jesus came to save the world so that all of the earth, the
entire world, every bit of darkness will be consumed and
enveloped by His light. That is the desire that Jesus
had when he came to earth. Maybe you're saying, you know
what? The spiritual darkness does feel
a lot. It's too much for me to even
understand. But today, what we're going to
be tapping into is actually understanding what the
implications are when we have Jesus as the light of our lives.
What does that do in me and what does that do around me?
Because it changes everything. The thing about light is this
John 8 verse 12 Jesus says. When Jesus spoke again to the
people, he said I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have
the light of life. All around us there is a
darkness which is very pervading.
We have social ills, we have dark spiritual beliefs, we have
witchcraft and and voodoo and all kinds of practices that are
very active. We also have the very subtle
ones, the New Age movement, and we have social and cultural
norms which are actually very dark in nature.
These are things that sometimes are not so glaring, but they are
very real. And the interesting thing is
that many times we are blinded to just how much of darkness we
have allowed into our world, into our specific areas.
But Jesus says that whoever walks in me will never walk in
darkness. So what is he saying?
That there is a requirement for us to consciously keep walking
with Jesus, to keep following where he leads because he's the
light of life. And if you look at the light, if
you look at generally any light, the light has a way of justice
being present. The light doesn't have to do
anything per SE, it just has to shine for it to achieve what its
purpose is. You switch on a light and a room
in immediately it it you have light, you're able to see every
element of the room. Suppose you have a movable
light, you can move it to where there is pockets of darkness and
light it up. I'm always intrigued when my
husband produces a a video when he puts together a video, the
lighting, the time he and his people spend on lighting a place
up. And it makes all the difference
to create the right shadows to give the, you know, depth.
But the interesting thing is that Jesus, the light of the
world, is the most versatile light source ever.
He is all sufficient. He is the most extensive, and he
is so life sustaining it's beyond our imagination.
So while we think the sunlight is responsible for everything
that lives on the earth, it's true.
But Jesus, the light preserves our Zoe life, gives us Zoe life
leading into eternal life. And it's amazing because the
light changes everything. I was recently reading this
article about how one of the actors from Star Trek The Next
Generation, the earliest movies made on Star Trek, one of the
actors from the original show actually was taken into space.
They actually took him in an orbit around the Earth, and he
said it blew his mind. The minute they went into orbit,
they exited the Earth's atmosphere and they went into
orbit. He said on one side it was
complete darkness. And then when he looked back, he
saw the blue rim of the Earth. And he said, that's when I
understood what it's like to see light and darkness at the same
time. And we have to understand that
the God we are talking about was the one who said let there be
light in a dark universe, expanse of the universe and
spoke into being light. And then he sends his Son Jesus,
who is the light, who actually brings the light into the
darkest places of our life, who actually brings hope IN the most
hopeless of situations all around the globe.
I was recently reading this. It was a report that had come
from a country that experiences a lot of persecution and a bunch
of believers there have a secret church where people come and
visit them on Sundays just to worship God together.
They we meet underground. And the amazing thing was the
stories of hope that they were talking about.
And these are people who risk their lives to make it into
church. And these were some of the
things that some of these believers said.
This one person says we remember the gift God is to us.
Jesus is the true light, the genuine, perfect, steadfast
light. Another believer said his birth
was a light in the darkness for guiding the people.
Another person said my people are living in darkness and I
pray God would use me to reach my people to live in the light.
These are messages from those living in some of the most scary
regions of the world. Scary for believers.
And yet they are so committed to shining a light in the darkness.
They are so committed to leading others into the light.
And today I want to leave two things with you.
Why we need Jesus, the light of the world.
Why do I need Him as the light in my life?
2 reasons. Whatever you get out of today, I
pray you will receive these two things because these are
essential to understand what Jesus brings and why we need Him
so desperately. The first thing is that the
light brings clarity of vision. If you ever have played dark
room with friends, the minute you switch off all the lights,
there's a catcher who's outside in the light, but he enters a
dark room. So first it'll take you about 5
minutes for your eyes to get acclimatized to the darkness.
But then eventually you'll find that you will be able to make
out shapes even in the darkest of rooms.
You'll be able to discern. And sometimes you'll miss your
friend hiding in a closet or under the bed because you think
they're one of the other darkened shapes.
But the more you your eyes start adjusting to the dark, you'll
start to clearly see things even in the darkness.
And the reason for that is because a dark room, you know,
in our homes is really not fully dark.
There's always light creeping in from a crevice, from a door
crack, from a, a window, from behind a curtain.
There's always light creeping in.
And light has this beautiful capacity of justice penetrating
any space that has that is left open.
And I believe that the light brings clarity of vision.
Maybe 2024 just went by in a blur, blur for you.
Or maybe it was just filled with low moments.
Or maybe you had your highs, you had your low.
But when you're trying to take stock of the year, you're
thinking, I don't know where I was heading.
I don't know where I came. Or maybe you have a direction,
but you're wondering 2025 what is it going to look like?
And I want to encourage you that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of
Jesus reveals things that were otherwise hidden to us.
The beautiful is beautiful thing is that the Bible says where
there is no vision, people cast off restraint.
It is with the Spirit of God, with the Spirit of Jesus
himself, the light that we have vision, we have clarity of
vision so that so that the things that we are looking at,
we can see deeper. The things that are unseen we
begin to see. That's the beautiful thing.
Luke Chapter 11 verses 33 onwards.
This is what it says. No one lights a lamp and puts it
in a place where it will be hidden or under a bowl.
Instead, they put it on its stand so that those who come in
may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your
body. When your eyes are healthy, your
whole body also is full of light.
But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of
darkness. See to it then, that the light
within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is
full of light and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of
light as when a lamp shines its light on you.
I want you to look at this verse specifically.
It says your eye is the lamp of your body.
When your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body also is full of
darkness. When your eyes are healthy, your
whole body is filled with light. When we're talking about eyes,
we're talking about things that we see, the things that we
perceive, the things that we discern, the things that we view
through our physical eyes and yet have a spiritual lens to it.
So when I look at an obstacle, if it was just the flesh, I
would be looking at it and saying, Oh God, one more
obstacle. I can't do this anymore.
But when I start looking at it with vision, with discernment,
I'm going, God, there's something that you're doing just
beyond this obstacle. I'm going to push through.
I'm going to look for opportunities.
I'm going to ask you for solutions.
You see how vision changes when the Spirit of God is involved in
it. So often, because our eyes are
unhealthy, our vision is so clogged.
It's like we have spiritual cataracts.
We cannot see the vision that God has for you.
You don't know what you were created for.
You don't know what you were saved for.
You don't know what you're doing on earth when you start looking
at everything in Gray. You think, you know what, maybe
my life doesn't have meaning. You think everyone's out to get
you. You think there is no way
forward. But God is saying, I want to
give you eyes that are healthy. I want to clear your vision.
And that is what the light of the world does.
He gives you clarity. So even if your eyes have been
darkened the whole of 2024, you've looked at it through the
lens of this was a hopeless year, this was a failure of a
year. I want to encourage you, ask God
to give you fresh vision to see the year that has gone by
through His lens, because it's incredible.
When you start looking at things that seemed blurry or confusing
or haphazard, when you invite Jesus to shine a light on it, He
begins to show the dots that He joined.
He begins to show you the solutions that came about.
He begins to show you the people He had to move out in order for
you to reach your destiny. He shows you those situations
where you were made more strong, more enduring.
It felt like crushing, but you came out stronger.
So it's incredible. It's incredible what happens
when the light of the world shines into the dark places of
our heart, dark places of our mind, clears our vision so that
we can see better. It's so important because truly,
when you end a year, sometimes you come to the end of the year
still with, you know, huge remnant, leftover dreams,
leftover ambitions. You have disappointments, you
have anxieties, but when you invite Jesus into your vision,
the light of the world clears your vision.
He gives you a blueprint for the next year.
He tells you, you know what, No matter what happened last year,
this year, this is what I want you to do.
Two Corinthians chapter 4 verses four to six says the God of this
age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot
see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ who
is the image of God. For what we preach is not
ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your
servants for Jesus sake. For God who said let light shine
out of darkness, made His light shine in our hearts to give us
the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the
face of Christ. God has made His light shine in
your hearts so that you have the light or the knowledge of God's
glory displayed in the face of Christ.
It is unimaginable what God does when He actually fills you with
His light. No longer is God a distant
reality, No longer is here removed deity.
He is God in flesh. He is with you, He is Emmanuel.
You are looking at him and saying God.
As I walk through his trial, I know you're with me.
I know you're in me. As you come out of that
hospital, His glory is shining through you.
As you walk out of that grief, people are able to see Christ in
you, the hope of glory. It changes everything when the
light has entered and the the truth is, this is the truth.
The first line says that it displays it in all its honesty.
The God of his age has blinded the minds of unbelievers.
So people who don't know Jesus are so blinded to the reality
and the power of the gospel. But those of us who have said
yes to Jesus and keep saying yes to him, every day we walk in the
light of that gospel. And it's incredible because when
our spiritual vision has God's light shined on it, we begin to
see God as he really is, not as others proclaim him to be.
Other movements, other religions, assume God to be
something else. But when you start having
clarity of vision, God shows you who he is.
The Spirit of God reveals, reveals to you the mind of
Christ. The Spirit of God tells you
what's on God's heart for you. He tells you what's on God's
heart for humanity and you find is very different from what
others are professing of God. When your spiritual vision is
cleared, you start to view people differently.
Up until then you think of people in a certain way.
But when the Spirit of God gives you clarity, you begin to look
at people for who they are. You look at them as image
bearers. You honour them.
You, you show love, you show compassion.
But he also gives you discernment about certain
people. He allows certain things to
happen. He allows certain bridges to be
broken so that you see the person in entirety.
You have discernment about who to allow and who should sit at
your table and who shouldn't. It's incredible because
spiritual vision that is cleared sets you on another plane
spiritually. You start to understand who God
wants in your life, who He doesn't, and you're so submitted
to Him. You allow Him to lead the Spirit
of God when He gives you clarity, when the light of the
world brings light into your activities, the things that you
love to do, the things that you are called to do, your work,
your business, your career, the pursuits that you know thrill
you. When you invite Him in, He
shines a light on that. He shows you how to take the
next step. He teaches you when to restrain
yourself. He teaches you who to include.
He teaches you when to step out. It's powerful when the light of
the world enters my life and clears my vision.
Up until then, it's like we're groping in the dark.
Oh, I started this business, but I don't know how to do it.
I've gotten married, but I don't know how to navigate marriage.
I haven't seen a healthy 1 in the past.
Oh my goodness, I've had this baby but I don't know what to do
with this child. I have a teenager who's this is
my first teenager ever. I don't know how to navigate it,
but when I invite the light of the world in, everything somehow
changes. He starts to show me how to pray
for my children. He teaches me how to love my
spouse. He's teaching me how to run my
business. He teaches me how to promote the
things that I'm passionate about.
He teaches me how to love him deeper and to love people
better. And I would encourage you that
you will start to navigate your life with the light of your
world as the source. It is important that Jesus be
the one that gives you vision. It's great to put up your art
board with your vision, you know, statement for the year.
It's great to do all of that, but let the word of God be your
compass. Let it be the Mac.
Let the Spirit of God be your guide so that he gives you
vision beyond your physical eyes, beyond your senses.
You may think you know how the markets are going to turn out.
You may think you you sense how things are going to be in the
new year. But let me tell you something.
You need the Spirit of God to enlighten you about what's
coming. You need Him to teach you how to
prepare for the future. So the first thing that the
light of the world does is he gives you clarity of vision.
The second thing is that the light exposes darkness.
The light exposes darkness. It's so important to understand
that the light of the world, Christ himself, the
transformation he brings, nothing or no one else can
bring. Those of us who have been
ministry in ministry for a while, even though we've worked
with people who've seen lives turned around, honestly, there
is nothing about those moments of transformation that we can
take credit for. It has nothing to do with us.
Maybe it just takes a little bit of faithfulness on our part to
show up. But there's so many times we
have dropped the ball. And the reason these people
actually get transformed is because of Jesus himself.
Because Jesus is the light that exposes darkness and transforms
it completely. The darkness does not stand a
chance in the presence of the light of the world.
I'm reminded of that demoniac in the region of Gadarenes who
comes completely laden with the demonic.
He is in oppression. But the demons are so afraid
when they say Jesus, the light of the world, standing before
them, and they beg him not to send them into an abyss.
They themselves are scared of the darkness.
And here they're standing before the light of the world.
Bargaining. Send us into something else.
Don't just send us into the abyss.
And I love that our God Jesus exposes darkness so beautifully
and he doesn't leave us groping. He envelops it with his light.
John chapter 3 verses 1921. This is what it says.
This is the verdict. Light has come into the world,
but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds
were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the
light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds
will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what
they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Light has come into the world. People love darkness instead
because their deeds were evil. And a lot of times when we read
this verse, we're thinking of somebody immediately or that
person, or they do this corrupt thing, or they cut corners, or I
know about that person's marriage.
But what if we were to turn this and look at ourselves through
the light of this verse? Jesus, the light has come into
the world. But do I love the darkness more
than I love the light? Everyone who does evil hates the
light. That one light, that one text,
that one cut corner shows that I hate the light and prefer the
darkness. But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what
they have done, they have done in the sight of God.
What if we were to start living in such a way where we give God
complete access, complete access to every part of our lives.
We say this often in our sermons.
There's sometimes there's some parts of our life that are not
given access to God. Well, like you know what Lord?
Little bit of light here is OK, but I'm sorted.
The rest of it I can manage. I have this new lamp at home
which has a small regulator. So when I want more light, I
just increase it and brightness increases.
And when I want a very dim feel, I can completely reduce it down.
And sometimes we operate with God like that.
Lord, you know what my business a little bit of your light is
enough because you don't know what the the current regulations
are. You don't know what the
stringent laws are. You don't know what it's like to
run it all completely white and so a little bit less light.
Oh, but in church I put my light on full because I need to look a
certain way, act a certain way. Oh, but when I'm alone at home,
left to my own devices, I switched the light off because I
don't need that. I prefer darkness.
God is calling us into a place of being so self aware of where
our darkness lies. You know, we are a self obsessed
generation, self obsessed people.
We talk about self love, self-care and selfies and the
like. But we are the least self aware.
The minute we read verses like this, we're like, oh, that
person, that person needs their light, you know, needs more
light in their life. There's a lot of darkness.
But I believe God is asking us to search our hearts like David
writes, search me O God and know my heart.
Try me and see if there's any wickedness in me and then lead
me in the way everlasting he's talking about.
He's revealing, he's breaking open his heart and saying, Lord,
shine your light on me. It's like a Searchlight and
searchlights are bright. They are harsh.
If you've ever been in a in a makeup trailer at a, you know,
film shoot, the makeup trailer has a mirror with lights all
around it. And these lights are quite harsh
and bright. The reason being when they
switch that on, the person seated in front ready for their
makeup to be done needs every flaw and line and wrinkle
exposed so that the makeup artist can cover it up.
And here we're coming to Jesus and we're saying, Lord Jesus,
put your shorts Searchlight on me.
I don't need to know what someone else is doing wrong.
I need to know what I'm doing wrong.
God and the light of the world is so magnanimous that even when
his light searchlights are on us, it is on us in order to
bring us to a place of deep repentance, confession, and
release. It is not to diminish us.
It's not to cover it up like makeup would, but instead to
say, hey, I exposed the darkness, but I'll bring life
where I bring light. It's amazing.
Ephesians chapter 5 verses 8 to 14 says, For you were once
darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light. For the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
And find out what pleases the Lord.
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but
rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention
what the disobedient do in secret, but everything exposed
by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated
becomes a light. That is why it is said, wake up
sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.
It's amazing what he's saying here.
He says children of light, the fruit of the light that is seen
in our lives is righteousness, goodness and truth.
And when we are saved, that doesn't happen overnight.
It happens overtime, it happens over a lifetime.
So don't disqualify yourselves. And when you're reading this and
say, oh, I'm probably a child of darkness, No, the minute you
were saved, you were brought from the Kingdom of darkness and
put into the Kingdom of light. And the light within us is Jesus
in US, Christ in US. And as we get to know Him, as
the light begins to spread, as dark things get exposed and
dealt with, the light begins to grow brighter, and eventually
everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything
that is illuminated becomes a light.
The brighter the inner man gets, the more others begin to notice.
They find that the truth comes out of your mouth faster than a
lie. They find that your
righteousness in Christ comes from Christ.
You're humble and yet you're confident.
They find that you are good to people even when they aren't so
good to you. They find that you are quiet
when you should be ranting and raving.
You're quiet instead of choosing slander.
That's when you know you're a child of light.
You are growing in maturity as a child in the light.
But the question is, how aware are we of the darkness within
us? How aware?
How ready are you for God to show you some of those well
hidden, you know, well crafted camouflaged flaws and
depravities? And all of us have darkness in
US. Let's not kid ourselves.
Every single one of us have dark sides to our character, have
dark sides that have happened over years.
You talk to a little child, any child above the age of five,
there is that hint of darkness in them just because of the
world they are exposed to, because of the things and
situations that they experience. And yet God is saying I am the
light of the world, who he who walks with me will never walk in
darkness. And so there is hope for the
darkest ones of us, the ones, those of us who feel, you know
what? There's too much darkness in me.
I don't think even Jesus can penetrate.
I want to tell you, he can penetrate anything with his
light. He's so powerful, a light
source. You know, all of us have public
and private lives. The public life is our persona.
It's what we carry. It's what we walk into rooms
with. The private life is the one, the
one that we live at home, one that our spouse and our children
see. But some of us have a third
life, which is a secret life, and that is usually what no one
gets to see. And we somehow assume even God
can't see that. But the beautiful thing is when
I invite Jesus, the light of the world in, he begins to expose
that secret life to me. And he says this is the area
which you think you're hiding from me, but I can see it in
plain sight. And I want to see you restored.
I want to see you healed. I want to see you illuminated
from within. So will you hand it off to me?
And today I want to ask you, which part of your life is so
secretive that even your spouse doesn't know about it, even your
parents don't know about it, your best friends don't know
about it. God is calling you and he's
asking you, would you let me light, shine my light on that?
When we give access to Jesus, like I talked about that lamp,
when we give him full access, we're not modulating him.
We're saying God, you be God in my life, Show up as you will.
Shine on me every secret compartment, every compartment,
Shine your light so that there is no compartment with darkness.
All of it has light. Can you imagine what our life
would look like? The problem though is we live in
a time of fake or fabricated counterfeit.
We have people who are making counterfeit coins and and notes.
We have powders that were exported, you know, spice
powders which were fake. They had brick powder and sort
of chilli powder. We live in a time of inauthentic
false. And So what we have done is
instead of turning to Jesus, the light of the world, we have
turned to other sources of light, thinking they were the
light of the world, but in reality they were counterfeits.
They are not the real light. This is the light of the world,
capital L, capital West. But we have looked at other
lights and thought they were the light.
Because, you know, very often it looks like the truth, but it
isn't. It sounds like the truth, but it
isn't. And God is calling us into a
place of saying all that you need.
You will find in me. Jesus is saying everything you
need because my light sustains life.
Everything that you will ever need, you come to me for.
Instead. We're settling for those LED
lamps, whereas settling for Hue. We're settling for those, you
know, small little bulbs because it looks fancy.
It's filament. But God is saying I am the
source. Come to me.
But we keep choosing counterfeit.
I was reading up this article that a science magazine had put
up of how even animals are getting confused by something
called light pollution. You know what that is?
When artificial lights are so bright, it mimics the sunlight
and actually changes the rhythms of birds and animals.
So by migratory birds, migratory animals actually get confused
when they see St. lights. They could get confused when
they see tube lights, turtles that have to migrate into the
ocean and then, you know, go away, far away.
They actually turn away from the ocean, come onto main roads
looking at the light, thinking it's moonlight, and get hit by
trucks. Migratory birds which need to
fly across continents, get confused because of the light,
the artificial light held by cities.
And I was thinking when I was watching that, I was thinking
how messed up life has become even for us humans because we're
so desperate for the light and we have looked at the wrong
sources. When we look at the wrong
source, much like those turtles, much like those migratory birds,
we have gone off track. We lost vision, we lost our
destiny, our destination, and we veered off course and God is
calling us back to him. God is calling us back to Jesus.
It's never too late. We're at the last few weeks of
this year and God is saying, will you come back to Jesus?
The source? Jesus is the source of all
light. Jesus is the true light.
In him there is no darkness. Revelation chapter 22, verses 15
says this. Then the Angel showed me the
river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from
the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the
great city, of the street of the city, on each side of the river
stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its
fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are
for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any
curse. The throne of God and the Lamb
will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him.
They will see His face, and His name will not be on their
foreheads. There will be no more night.
They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun,
for the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign
forever and ever. I love that there are two
elements which are very outstanding in this.
He says He does not. They will not need the light of
a lamp or of the sun, for the Lord their God will give them,
like Jesus, the light of the world will continue to be the
light of the world. But then there's this
interesting thing of the tree of life.
It's found on either side of the river.
And the same thing is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, and it
talks about these trees that are planted beside the river, right?
And they're bearing fruit every month, every season, without
fail. But interestingly, it mentions
one part of the plant, which we don't talk about too much, and
that is the leaves. It says the leaves of the tree
are for the healing of the nations.
No longer will there be any curse.
And what has got my attention for as long as I've read this
passages, What does that mean? Why does he talk about the
leaves? We know about fruit.
We know fruit is important. We know fruit has to be born in
every season, irrespective of how favorable it is.
But the botanist in me had to go deeper.
And this is the interesting thing.
The sign of health in a plant is the evidence in the leaves.
You can have the best fruit and best flowers, but if your leaves
are not thriving, the plant is not healthy.
And so leaves are the areas, they're the kitchen, they're the
the places where the food is made, glucose is made and then
transported to the rest of the plant.
And the source of that energy is the sun itself.
The sun gives energy to the leaves.
Food is prepared in the leaves and then through the veins and
veins is taken to the rest, through all the, you know, the
inner conduction systems. Food is transported everywhere,
but fundamentally to the leaves. Energy is the sun, the light of
the sun. And for those of us who are so,
you know, used to indoor plants, we don't have big gardens
anymore. We live in urban cities.
We have smaller houses, smaller balconies.
We've got indoor plants, right? And so we have these cute little
ZZ plants and spider plant, very cute, very contained in pots.
And the person who sells it to us says, you know what, You
don't have to keep it in direct sunlight.
But I have not yet met a gardener tell me that you can
manage with artificial light. All of them will tell me they
don't need direct sunlight, but once in a while keep them in the
sun. Keep it near a window.
Don't keep it near the glass, but keep it where there's
filtered sunlight. All of them unanimously will
tell me one thing. They need the sun, but not all
the time. Keep it in and keep it out.
None of them told me an artificial table lamp will do
the job. None of them told me the tube
light will do the job. So why are we as humans so
content with fake sources of light instead of going to the
light himself? It doesn't stop there.
The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
As you and I stand in the presence of God as we live
surrendered lives, as we live exposed to Him and saying Lord,
you can shine your light into every part of my life.
I'm an open book. It's incredible because the
evidence of what He is doing in US will bless others.
Anything that is illuminated becomes a light.
We read about that as you become illuminated within, as the
darkest parts of your life are touched by the light of God,
something changes. Something shifts.
Trauma changes into testimony. Brokenness changes into
incredible strength. Long waits turn into these
incredible promises fulfilled. Something changes when the light
touches and no longer are you living for yourself, you are
living for the glory of God because now you are a blessing
to many others. So many of us are so content in
receiving our healing being restored, you know, finding that
inner joy and peace in Christ, but then we do nothing with it.
What you have received must make you a light better so that you
then shine that light on others and draw them to Christ so that
your leaves are then used for healing for others.
Maybe you've felt you've been in a crushing season this year.
Maybe you feel you're heading into a crushing season because
of a diagnosis or a separation or a breakdown of some sort and
God is saying when those leaves are crushed, they will bring
healing to the nations. Don't be afraid of the crushing,
don't be afraid of the breaking, don't be afraid of the of the
you know, the crushing that the Lord allows because in that so
much of power is being released to the nations and the nations
will then turn to Jesus, the light.
For too long we have been running on fake light.
We think the things we are reading, the things we are
consuming, the people we are listening to will be enough.
But it's time we stop looking at the counterfeit and we look at
the true source. The true source is Jesus
himself. You need help on in fitness,
your fitness in your weight loss?
Turn to the light source, the one who created you.
You've been needing help with parenting?
Turn to the light source. You've been helped, needing help
in understanding the Word of God?
Turn to the light source, the one who brings revelation.
Have you been needing help in your relationships?
In your marriage? Stop turning to alternate
sources. Your parent might be wise, but
they're not the light. That podcast, that speaker might
be great as a motivational speaker, but the one who desires
for you to win, desires for you to succeed is the light of the
world. Maybe you've been hooked on to
those YouTube tutorials to advance yourself in a certain
space. God is saying, come to me, do
that. But your source has to be me.
Maybe you've been looking to to grow financially and you've been
looking at all these sources, but God is saying, come to me,
the light source, come to me. Enough of running on fake light.
Ultimately, all of that is hearsay.
When you have unlimited access, why are you settling for
hearsay? Go to the source.
Some of us have allowed
ourselves and, and you know, just opened ourselves up to
counterfeit light. We've allowed the enemy to speak
lies into our relationships. We have, we have indulged in
things we never should have, which was not beneficial to us,
which has been detrimental for our families, our marriages, our
children, our jobs. God is not pleased when we
choose the fake light over the real.
Remember this in Two Corinthians Chapter 11 verse 14, it says,
and no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an Angel of
light. He is an expert impersonator.
He will make bad things look good just for you to consume it.
And after that, when it's too late, we realise just how bad it
was for us. Teenagers today are listening to
motivational speakers. We're talking about finding your
inner peace, growing your circle of influence, making more money.
Science has become a religion. Making money quick seems to be
the norm. None of that is in keeping with
what the light of the world has for you.
He has better things. He has a process.
And when you get to know him, when you allow him in, when you
give him unlimited access, he will direct your parts, he will
show you what to do next. He will clear your vision enough
to know what's next, what to do. He will shine a light on the
dark places in your life so that every part of you is illuminated
and is a blessing to others. Those of you who have little
kids, careful what they watch because the things they are
consuming, lot of it has overtones of witchcraft, of
sorcery, all kinds of relationships that are
encouraged through the small little cartoons.
Be wise. Let us not entertain the Father
of lies. Let us not allow ourselves to
bask in the temporary glory of fake light.
Let's look to the source of light ourselves.
Let us turn to Him. 1 John chapter 1 verses 57 says this.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to
you. God is light in Him.
There is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship
with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live
out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as
He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and
the blood of Jesus His Son purifies us from all sin.
So I pray that even as we read this that we will be like those
trees planted by streams of water, where we're rooted
strongly in the Word of God. And that we are.
We've got roots that go deep and wide, that no matter what storm
comes, we are not pushed around. But then let us be those whose
leaves are turned to the sun, the true source, and so that
every leaf that is being touched by the sunlight is a source of
healing for someone else. You're listening to someone else
could heal them. You're praying for them, could
bring bring breakthrough. You're interceding for of your
family, could change everything. Your behaviour, your attitude,
you're you're stepping out in love, your hospitality, all of
it involves your leaves bringing healing to the nation.
Transformation starts when you allow the light to come in and
transform the darkness within you into light.
I want to ask you, how have you been thus far?
Has this year brought out the worst?
Have you been abrasive, pushy, rash, brash, so much so that
people would rather stay away or just have very limited time with
you? Have you been so difficult in
your marriage that your spouse has probably wanted time away
from you? Have you been heavy-handed with
your children? Have your friends consistently
moved away because they cannot handle yourself willed ways?
It may be time for an intervention.
It may be time that the light of the world has to penetrate the
darkest recesses of your soul. The larger mission.
Remember this, the larger mission, as much as the light
brings us clarity of vision, that vision will always involve
the world at large. It'll always involve the people
that God wants you to reach as much as he wants to transform
the darkness within us. There are pockets around the
world which are so dark, and he has saved us to bring those
places into light. So what is it God is calling you
to do? What is God calling you to do?
As you look at this image, I just want to look at this image.
This was an image taken by a satellite, and it's basically
the earth at any given time. And when you look at this
picture, you've realized that there are some pockets which are
brightly lit, probably because it's it's visible at that time
on the satellite, but there's some which are so dark.
And while we know there's a rationale for that, well, it's
probably night there. So all the lights are on in
those places or I don't know whether that those places are
having experiencing daylight at the time.
Whatever it is, this should be a representation of what the world
looks like spiritually and how we as lights.
If you can picture every every light on that image as someone
who knows Jesus, look at the number of dark patches around
the globe. God is calling us into the
darkest places to be His lights. You bear the light.
A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
We are called to be the light of the world and God is asking that
the greater mission be fulfilled in our lives.
The greater mission which is as the light touches us, we become
illuminated to become a light for others so that we reach them
and point them to the light of the world.
So what are you choosing to expose yourself to today?
Is it to a fake light? Is it to the light of modern day
culture, modern day religious beliefs, the things that
everyone else settles for? Oregon, will you take the
trouble to open yourself up to the light of the moon?
That's the question. Can we pray?
Father in heaven, I just thank you so much for what you are
doing in our lives. We thank you that God, you are
working deep within us. We thank you that your light is
so powerful yet so gentle. We thank you that Lord, it
probes the darkest parts of our lives, bringing light to every
area. Thank you God that you are the
light of the world. Thank you God that you bring
life wherever you go. And today we ask each of us
here, ask you, God, that you would shine your light upon
every compartment of our lives. Private, public, secret, make it
1. We pray God will be people who
live in awareness of justice. How much we need you.
God, I pray that you would change the parts of our life
where darkness is overwhelmed and overrun it.
We pray that your light would trickle back in.
God, I pray for those who have limited your light's exposure in
their lives, who have Lord kept you out of certain areas.
I pray today will be the day they drop, that they allow you
to shine on them. Father, I pray for those who
need clarity of vision. I pray that you would illuminate
their eyes, God. Their spiritual eyes will be
open to see the things that You have for them.
Help them to see and understand how big Your vision for them is.
I pray for those who've cast off restraint because they have no
vision. I pray today that would change,
that You would open up their eyes.
I pray that You will tune their senses to you, God, we pray that
every false source of light be broken and will fall to the
ground. Expose the false sources of
light in our life, God. If it's social media, if it's an
influencer, if it's a friend, if it's a parent, if it's a spouse,
expose it for what it is so that we, Lord, turn to you, the true
light. Help us God, help us, Father.
May your will in our lives be done so that we bring heaven to
earth. Help us God, help us to be a
light right where you have placed us.
Help us, O God, to lead many more to you.
We pray all of this in your Son's name, Amen.
God bless you. I pray that you will enjoy the
light of the world in this season with all the lights on
your Christmas tree. If you look all around us, we
have lights everywhere, but it's a reminder that we have the
light of the world in our lives. No more do we have an excuse to
stay drenched in darkness that we would come alive in the
light. God bless you.
Have a lovely week. Thanks for listening to this
message. We hope you were blessed to hear
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Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.