Thanks for checking out the Anchor Faith Message podcast
from St. Augustine, FL.
Now enjoy this message. Well, you know, Pastor
ministered was it last Sunday on May to display and he's talked
about Kingdom righteousness, right?
About the fact that we are supposed to be displaying
righteousness to the world. We are a representative of the
Kingdom of God in the world. Amen.
We are what Paul says, ambassadors for Christ, right?
And we have a position to live before the world.
Well, I want to piggyback off of that.
And he called it made to display.
So I want to say made to display part two or two point O whatever
you want to say Amen. I want to read.
First and foremost, this is going to be our text that I want
to work walk through today as far as we can get out of
Ephesians Chapter 5, Ephesians Chapter 5, one through 21.
OK, yes, we love the word here. OK, all 21 verses, OK, all are
imperative for us walking out our righteousness today and what
we must do and I believe is a part of just as the prophetic
word came or the tongue and interpretation came from Audrey.
That when we walk into a room, people are going to know the
Kingdom is here. They're going to know it.
And we want to make sure that we are being imitators of Him and
his righteousness and the way that he tells us that we need to
walk in this last day, so in verse one.
Of Ephesians chapter 5, it says this.
Therefore, be imitators of God. Say I'm an imitator as beloved
children, and walk in love. Say walk in love, just as Christ
also loved you and gave himself up for you as an offering and a
sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
But immorality? Or any impurity or greed must
not even be named among you. We know Ephesians is talking to
the church believers, the Ephesian church, and talking to
us. It says as is proper among the
Saints and there must be no filthiness and silly talk or
coarse gesturing. I could break all of this down
because you know what's sad is I hear so many Christians talking.
The way they shouldn't be talking.
But anyway I got to move on because I want to focus on some
other things, coarse, gesturing, which are not fitting but rather
giving thanks. For this you know with certainly
with certainty, sorry, that no immoral or impure person or
covetous man who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the
Kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with
empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God
comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Therefore do not be partakers with them.
For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the
Lord. Walk as children in the light.
For the fruit of the light or the Spirit, consists in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth, trying to learn what is
pleasing to the Lord. Are you actually trying to learn
what is pleasing to the Lord and what displeases him?
Because, you know, coarse, gesturing and all this kind of
talk is not pleasing to him. It's not pleasing.
You know, all these little jokes, starting to get into
carnality and all kinds of things that you just carry on
and laugh about and think it's funny?
And he says we ought to not be doing it.
It's not pleasing to him. But he's telling us we need to
learn what is pleasing. It says do not participate in
the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even
expose them, expose them, expose.
People that are still saying they're believers, but acting
like the world, talking like the world, joking like the world,
doing all kinds of things like the world.
You're supposed to, as a believer, as a sister and
brother in Christ, expose these things and say that's not light,
that's not light, that's not what righteousness is.
Right. We have a responsibility.
We're going to see expose them. For it is even disgraceful even
to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.
But all things become visible when they are exposed by the
light. They're exposed by the light,
for everything that becomes visible is light.
For this reason, it says awake. Sleeper and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you. Therefore say therefore, be
careful how you walk. Be careful how you walk, not as
unwise man, not as an unwise man or woman, but as wise.
Making the most of your time because the days are evil.
So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the
Lord is. See this.
Do not get drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit
speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual psalms,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Always giving thanks for the things in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ to God, even the Father, and be submitted 1 to
another in the fear of the Lord, in the fear of the Lord.
A lot of powerful things right here, so I want to break some
things down for you through this scripture.
We are to be imitators of Christ.
It says. First and foremost, we were made
to display an image. And what is that image the one
of Christ? What is that image that we are
to be imitating? Are we to be imitating the image
of the world? Hollywood superstars, You know
all these other things? Are we to be imitating Christ?
Our Heavenly Father, right We are to imitate Him.
We are to An image is a what? Reflection.
An image of him is a reflection. And when people see us, they
should see the reflection of the Kingdom of God in our life.
They should see the reflection of Jesus Christ in our life.
They should see the reflection of righteousness.
Amen. They should see it on display.
So that when people see you, they see the Kingdom.
When people come into your presence, they just came into
the presence of the Kingdom of God.
Amen. Genesis one, we know this so
very well in this house. And verse 26 through 28.
It all began right here. God has not changed his mind
just because there was the fall of man.
We know that he sent his Son so that we could be put back into
Christ or back into the image of the very one that he designed
for man to be from the first place.
In Genesis 126 and 28 it says this.
Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our
likeness. One translation and you can
actually look it up. It means a carbon copy.
A carbon copy exactly like him. That's what he created man to be
one just like him. A carbon copy.
And let them rule. And we know on and on and on.
And they were to rule over the earth, over all the
circumstances of the earth. Over all the earth, right?
In his image, in his likeness. And once we get born again, now
we can begin to rule and have dominion in the earth, just like
he said we could. Adam could.
Amen. But we are to look just like him
in the earth. It look and imitate.
Him. And that means the greatest way
we're going to reflect or have the image of him, or walk in his
likeness, right, or be that carbon copy is going to come
from the reflection of the word, right?
We know in Corinthians it says we behold the word as a mirror.
So this is that reflection when we read the word.
It's that mirror to us of what we are to be reflecting to the
Earth. Everything within the word.
We don't get to pick and choose and decide what part of the word
we want to reflect or what we don't want to reflect.
But many people still do. No.
There's one reflection. There's one image.
There's one look that he wants each and every one of his
children to look like. We're all individuals.
We all have our own makeup. But the image that we are to
reflect is in Christ and in His word.
What is His word? Say as a believer we are to
reflect to the world and the thing about it is, is there's
all kinds of mixed up images. Right.
It's almost like going to the fair, you know, or the carnivals
or whatever. I haven't been what to one and
Lord knows how long? Over 20 years, probably.
But anyway, you go into that room and there's all kind of
distorted mirrors. Has anybody ever went in one of
those? The fun house?
Yes, that's what it's called. Thank you.
Thank you for helping me, the funhouse.
And you go in and you looked all wonky like the walkie donkey.
Have y'all ever heard that song? Anyway, you look all wonky and
all distorted and all messed up, and so many believers still look
that way because they're not looking at the right image.
They're not looking at the right mirror.
That's supposed to reflect Christ in every area of our
life. We don't get to withhold 1 area
of our life from the Lord. He tells us we are to love him
with all of our heart, with all of our strength, with all of our
soul, with everything that is within us.
We don't get to decide we're not going to let him have that part
of our life. Because when we don't let him
have that part of our life, we mess up the image, We mess up
the reflection because it's going to still look walkie.
And distorted. Yeah, all along you're trying in
the mirror. It's reflecting you, right?
But there's still a messed up image.
So it's still you're in Christ, but you're still not reflecting
the right image. And so, as a believer, our
number one desire should be. That we reflect His image
completely and honestly and exactly the way the word says
that we are to project it and reflect it.
Amen. But see here in Ephesians
chapter 5 and verses one through 21, we read that, but I want to
just focus on one through 7 right now.
The first thing that we're going to have to do if we're going to
continue to be. Those that walk in righteousness
and are made to display his righteousness in the Kingdom, we
are going to have to first and foremost display love.
And we see that here it says walk.
In love as Christ also has loved us and given himself up for us
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.
So the first thing that people should see in our life if we're
going to reflect and display the proper image of Christ is that
we walk in love. We walk in love.
And this is not what the world says.
Love is. Love is love.
This is not what the world says love is.
This is not lust. This is not, you know, the new
kind of love they say there is today?
No, this is agape love. This is God, God's love.
He said God is love, God is love.
And so this is the image that we want to display.
The real kind of love, God kind of love the way that he says we
are to love. Because without it we can't
love, right? We won't love, right?
We can only be those as believers that are going to walk
in the real kind of love which is agape.
Amen. So we must first and foremost
display the love of God. Now let's look at a couple of
scriptures concerning the love of God.
John 1334 through 35 says this a new commandment I give to you
that you love one another. Another thing I like to say here
just. As this we're reading the
scriptures, you can see that this love was not just for you.
Well, he loved me. It's just me and Jesus and we
have our personal relationship. It was never meant to be that.
No, we've distorted and got unbalanced with that.
His love has to give of itself. It can't just be about you.
That's American indoctrination. It's all about me.
Yolo, you know, it's all good. Love is love the way I want to
love. It's all about me.
I'm not harming anybody. All these things.
This is the world's philosophy, and it's the pit of hell.
It's doctrines of demons. Because this love was his love
was never meant to be selfish. It was never meant to be just
about you. When you're actually walking in
the God kind of love, it says a new commandment.
I give unto you that you love what one another.
And This is why I say that it was always about one another,
always about one another, as I have loved you, that you also
love one another. Amen.
And by this all will know that you are truly one translation,
says my disciples. So how is the world going to
know that we are truly his disciples?
How's the world going to know and and see the display of
Christ in the earth? Is it when we actually walk in
love with one another? That means we don't get offended
with one another. We don't take on offense with
one another. We don't look at one another as
as individuals that are trying to, you know, do this or do that
know. Our attitude towards one another
is that we're going to believe the best in everyone.
I am going to believe the best that it.
Towards everyone, even though I know they aren't saying the best
and doing the best towards me. That's called walking in love.
Amen.
When you know that people aren't saying things right about you
and people aren't doing things towards you, that's right.
When you actually put on the God kind of love, that means, you
know what? I'm going to love him no matter
what. I can love him Now.
That don't mean I have to hang out with them.
And I don't have to be their best friend.
I can love them, bless them, Amen.
Pray for them. And not that they would, you
know, not do that to me anymore. Pray for them.
Just that God will just bless them.
Because that's between them and God.
That's walking in love, that's letting things go and the world
is going to know it. That we're truly His disciples.
Because we have love for one another and we love each other
and we forgive each other and we believe the best in each other
and we let things go and we don't hold account of a suffered
wrong towards one another. Marriages.
No matter what, I'm not keeping a record of wrong.
I'm letting it go and giving it to God and trusting him.
For he is my avenger. He is my defender.
Amen. First John 323 says this.
This is his commandment. That we believe in the name of
the Son of Jesus Christ and we love one another just as He
commanded us. Again, so many scriptures.
I don't even have time to read them all to you concerning how
this was about us loving one another.
And if we are going to display the proper image of Christ and
his Kingdom to the world, then love is going to have to be the
first thing that we recognize in our life that we need to do.
Ephesians 317. That Christ may dwell in your
heart by faith, that you would be rooted and grounded in love.
Rooted and grounded in love. And this is God's love.
Amen. Ephesians 4/2 And then Ephesians
4/2 and then verse 15. With all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.
That means we're going to have to for bear some things with
people in love. Amen.
We're going to have to have some long-suffering with people in
love. Hallelujah.
That means you're going to suffer.
It's not going to be easy. You're going to suffer.
It's going to be painful, right? To be able to forgive people and
walk in love towards people and be long-suffering towards
people. But he says we are commanded to
do it as believers. And if we want the world, if we
want to, for the world to see the great display of the Kingdom
of God, then they must first see love in our lives, and us
walking in it every day. First Peter. 122 Since you have
an obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a
sincere love of the brethren. Fervently love one another from
the heart. You see how it's connected to
one another always. It wasn't fervently love me.
Now, he does say that in Scripture, but he also says
this, so we cannot separate the fact that he lets us know that
our relationship between brothers and sisters in Christ
are just as important as our relationship with the Lord.
Just as important, and I'm going to tell you you are not loving
the Lord, I will straight up tell you you are not loving the
Lord if you are not loving your brother.
He actually says you're a liar. I didn't put that scripture
down. I was thinking I would hold
myself back from that, from calling people a liar.
But he called him, not me. He called him out.
He calls you a liar if you say that you love him, but you have
something against your brother. OK, we got to get people set
free. I'm going to tell you, we need
to recognize the time that we're living in, and we need to make
sure we're getting our self in alignment.
Every area of our life. Every area of our life.
Hallelujah, Colossians, Chapter 3, verse 14.
But on all these things. Say put on, say put on.
Every morning when you get up, you stand in the mirror, you see
a reflection. I didn't know what I wanted to
wear today, and I changed clothes a couple of times.
I saw a reflection. I didn't know if I was liking
the reflection or not. And then I just said forget
about it. And we have a choice every
morning when we stand in the mirror to put on, to put on
whatever clothes we're supposed to wear, right?
Well, you know what? It's the same context where he
says put on love every morning. When you get up, you are
supposed to be a person that's I'm going to put on love.
I had to put on love this
weekend. I didn't want to put on love.
I didn't want to grab that out of the closet and put that on
for a split second and I didn't want to put on love.
And I said, well, OK, Lord, I'll do that if I can say this.
And he said, no, you can't say that.
Well, what if I do this? No, just put on love and don't
say a word. Put on love and don't say a word
because it doesn't matter anyway.
Every day you have a choice that you're going to have to make the
decision. If you are going to reflect the
image of Christ properly, you're going to have to make the
decision to put on the love of God.
And that should be the first thing that people see within
your life. Amen.
The love of God. First Corinthians 16.
Oh no, let me finish that. Colossians 314.
Because I like the rest of that said, beyond all things, put on
love. What?
Which is the perfect bond of unity.
You see that? When we begin to put on love,
what does it do? It unifies.
It will unify your marriage. It will unify your
relationships. Come on.
It will unify the body of Christ.
When we decide we're all just going to love one another.
Yeah, that's what he says. We are going to be people that
are known by our love. We're going to choose to put it
on. And when we do that, that will
bring a unity. Because God is always about
unity. He is not about division.
He's not about strife. He's not about discord.
He's always about unity and building the body up, unified
with one another in our differences.
Amen. Hallelujah, 1st Corinthians 1614
says, Let all that you do, say all that I do right Be done in
love. That means everything, no matter
what. Everything that you do, let it
be done in love. Let it be done in love.
I teach this in my Kingdom Institute class.
That love is the foundation of the Kingdom, and love should be
the motivation of everything that we are doing in the earth.
I'm not doing anything because of you.
I'm doing everything because of the love of the Father.
That is my #1 motivation because of his love and what he has done
for me and for us. The motivating factor of my
heart is because of the love of God, and I want it to permeate
right in everything that I'm doing.
If I'm getting up to serve or whatever, I'm doing it because
of the love of God. The love of God compels me.
The scripture, I didn't read it, but there is a scripture that
said let the love of God compel you.
Let it be your guiding point. Let it be the thing that's going
to set your course love. So in everything that you're
doing, you're doing it by the motivation of the love of God.
Not from selfishness, not from a selfish desire, not because of
tit for tat. You do this for me and I do that
for you. There's no selfishness in it.
It's just because he is love and I'm going to follow and emanate
his love and I'm going to put it on and I'm going to do it no
matter what. In everything.
Everything and all of my serving and everything I'm doing.
The fact that I go to my job is because I'm just love him.
Everything should be motivated by the love of God.
You getting up and serving your husband, serving your wife,
serving your children, doing things for your friend.
Listen, it ought to be because of the motivation of love.
And where there is love, there's no selfishness.
So it doesn't matter if they say thank you.
It doesn't matter if they don't appreciate that you made them
this meal and brought it to their house when they were sick
and you would think you would be able to.
None of that matters if it's motivated by one thing, which is
the love of God. If you never heard another thank
you, would it still? Would you still do it?
Because he said to do it? Come on.
Everything, everything you do should be motivated by the love
of God. Hallelujah.
Glory to God. Not because they're your best
friend, I'm just saying. Not because they're your best
friend. No, the world does that for
their friends. It's because of the love of God
that should be the compel, compelling factor within your
heart. I'm going to do what I do
because of the love of God. And when you stay focused on
that, you won't loud flesh and that selfish desire to creep in,
you'll put it under. You'll say no, shut up.
I don't care if they never tell me.
Thank you again for the rest of my life.
Because that's not why I'm doing it.
I'm not doing it for thank you. I'm not doing it for you're the
best. I'm not doing it for any guilt
trip or form a manipulation out of a selfish desire.
I'm doing it because of the love of God and the love of God of
all alone. That compels me.
You see that? So it says this and Proverbs 79
He who conceals A transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a
matter separates intimate friends.
Man, man, O man, O man, O man. We and the body of Christ need
to just keep our mouths shut about people in our body because
it's nobody's business that's loving.
I don't have a right to go around and just talk about other
people's business and what's going on in their life and what
I think about it. I don't go around talking about
your life and what's going on in your life.
So what gives people the right to think that they can go around
and talk about other people in the body and things they may be
dealing with or things they may be growing through or not even
that you just have an opinion about this person and you've
shared that opinion with someone else.
And you know what that is? It's called gossip.
But we've made it like, oh, I'm
just concerned. You're not concerned.
You just want to be in everybody's business and you
want to have your opinion about everybody and you want to talk
about everybody. It's not right.
It's not right.
Say it again.
We need to learn to just keep our mouth shut.
I I understand why. You know, one of the things they
said about Brother Hagan was that he never talked.
He never talked. You know that I bet there was a
lot that he could talk about, a lot of things he saw and dealt
with and went through and still people on Google talking about
him today and he's been in the grave over 20 years.
But he never said not one thing about anybody, wouldn't even
share his opinion about what he thought.
When are we going to get to that?
You know why we're not? Because we're Americanized.
Because it's, you know, what's what's on the next tabloid.
Let's talk about everything going on like we just can openly
talk about it and it's no big deal.
No, it's talking about people's lives.
It's talking about people, joking about people, what you
think about them. And it's coarse, gesturing, all
those things. It's not right.
It's not the love of God, Because the love of God will
conceal, it will protect, it will cover.
We have no right talking about other people's business.
Amen. But he who repeats a matter
separates friends. You know, people, Friends get
mad at each other. People in the body get mad at
each other because they heard so and so said this about them.
It separates, friends separates. It brings what Division.
It brings division. So we ought to, we need to just
take a little break from our mouths and just say, I don't
have an opinion on the matter and I don't want to hear it.
Can we ever start getting to that?
That would be maturity. I don't want to hear this move
along, right. Can we ever get to that?
I believe we can because we must.
Because it's wrong. It brings strife, It brings
division. It's gossip and it's not right.
It's not right before God and it and it hurts people's lives.
So let's move on. The next thing that we're going
to have to display, and it starts in verse eight.
It says we're going to have to display light.
For you were once in darkness, This is Ephesians 5, verse
eight, you were once in darkness, but now you are light
in the Lord. Walk as children in the light.
So #1 if we're going to display
Christ, we're going to have to walk in love. #2 if we're going
to display him properly, people ought to see us walking in the
light. That means there is no longer
any any shadow of darkness in my life.
No darkness within my life. Only light.
There's no shadows in me. That means who I am, you see
every day. That's who I am.
There's nothing being done in secret.
But do you know, if it's not in secret, even the light will
expose it. So we are to walk in light.
We were made to display and permeate the light of God.
Amen. It says walk as children of
light. And what is the light consist of
the fruit of the Spirit. It consists of goodness,
righteousness. There's that word righteousness
that Pastor talked about and the truth.
We will not walk as children of the light or in the light.
If we are not in the word, the truth of God's word.
We won't, we won't be able to walk it out.
We'll begin to have that warped image as well.
That reflection will look warped.
If you're not gaining your the by the Holy Spirit, the truth of
God's word, you're not going to be able to permeate that light
correctly. It says finding out what is
acceptable to the Lord. We have a responsibility to find
out what is acceptable to the Lord and what is not.
And the way we do that is through His truth, through the
Word of God, and letting the light and the revelation and the
illumination of His Word come to our Spirit and our mind.
Amen, it says. And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness. Amen.
So we should not be participating in any forms of
darkness, any forms of darkness, but rather expose them, rather
exposed them. And there are all kinds of forms
of darkness that believers still want to dabble in.
One of them is crystals, This new rage of crystals that is
witchcraft. And there is darkness there, and
we should not be dabbling in them.
Amen. So I it says, but rather expose
it so I'm exposing it. Don't be messing around with
crystals, OK, so he says, expose them.
For it is shameful even to speak of those which are done by them
in secret. But all things that are exposed
are made manifest by the light. For whatever makes manifest, for
whatever makes manifest, is light.
Therefore, he says, awake You who sleep arise from the dead.
Christ will give you what light when he says to walk in love,
when he says to walk in the light.
That word, walk, means to regulate one's life, to conduct
one's life, to make one's progress and to be occupied.
To be occupied. We should be occupied by the
love of God. We should be occupied by the
light of God. We should be walking in it every
day, every day. We should allow the light and
the love of God to regulate our lives.
That means when I am, whatever I'm doing through the day.
I'm regulating whatever decisions I'm making through the
day. However it is, Whatever is going
on in my life, I'm going to regulate my life, make those
decisions for my life, govern my life by the light of God's Word
and the love of God. Period.
Those need to be. I don't do anything if the Word
doesn't say it. I'm not going to participate in
anything that the Word says not to participate in.
That's how I regulate my life. If it is not appropriate with
God, then it's not appropriate for me to be engaged in it.
Amen. That's how I regulate my life.
It's not just that I come to church.
I regulate my life by the word of God.
I walk in the love of God. I walk in the light of God.
I walk by the word of God regulating my life.
Amen. First John One, First John 1537.
It says this. This is the message we have
heard from him and announced to you that God is light, and in
him there is no darkness at all. So we should not be
participating with dark deeds. Amen, It says.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk
in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Let's say you're not born again. It just says you don't practice
the truth. You don't regulate your life by
the word. There's plenty of believers that
do not regulate their life by the truth of God's word.
They don't live for the word of God and by the live of by the
word of God. They don't live by it.
They don't walk by it. They just are religious.
They they think they got saved and they're good to go so that
one day when they die, they go to heaven.
Yet they don't regulate their life by the word, by the truth
of God's word. So therefore they still
participate in deeds of darkness.
You see that? But he goes on to say what?
What verse was I in? Verse six.
So if we say we're partakers together and enjoy fellowship
with him, when we live and move and are walking about in
darkness, we are both speaking falsely and do not live and
practice the truth which the gospel presents, which the
gospel presents. You live in your own truth,
thinking you going to die and go to heaven, but that's not the
truth the gospel presents. You see that?
And then he goes on to say. But if we are really living and
walking in the light as he himself is in the light, we have
true and unbroken fellowship. I'm reading Out of the Amplified
with One another and the blood of Christ his Son cleanses and
removes us from all sin and guilt and keeps us cleansed from
sin in all it forms and manifestation in all its forms
and manifestation. So we are to walk in the light.
Amen. This is important because in
Matthew there's several other scriptures, but I'm going to
move on because of our time. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 14
concerning the light, Jesus says this that you are the light of
the world. You're the light of the world, a
city that is set on a hill that cannot be hidden.
So if we are going to display the true image of God, then
we're going to have to let his light shine before the world
come on and have no shadows of darkness within our lives, he
says. You are the light of the world.
That means people should see you and see the light.
Listen, people ought to be drawn to you, just like bugs are drawn
to the light. Absolutely.
You turn off, turn on the light at night, and what happens?
All the mosquitoes are out, All the bugs are flying.
The flies, the gnats, whatever. And what are they doing?
They're coming to the light. All the bugs, all the creeps,
all the things in this world. They ought to be drawn to you by
the light. They should see the light of God
within you, so bright shining that people are just drawn to
you. Amen.
They just want to come be around you.
There's something about you that is illuminating the life of God
and the light of God. And they.
I'm telling you, we've have people all the time.
And now we've made like, this little.
I don't know, I guess we're just like the pastors of this
restaurant that we go to all the time.
And one little girl was a waitress in there, and she's
been a waitress for a while. And every time she's like, why'd
you come in and didn't tell them that I wanted to be your waiter,
you know, waitress. And anyway, so we've been
sharing with her and loving on her and and all this stuff and
ministering to her and they just love to come.
I mean, the owner of the restaurant calls us Pastor Earl,
You know, he knows we're pastors.
And so anyway, we were sitting there minding our business,
having lunch, but they can't not stop and come to the table.
And so she came. She said, I just want to let you
know, like she want to let me know that she wasn't going to be
working there anymore, that she got a new job and told me where
her new job was going to be and all this stuff and, you know,
asked us to just be, you know, pray with her and that she would
do good at this new job. She's stepping out.
She had been in the restaurant business for over 20 something
years. I mean, she's a young girl, so
she started when she was 15. And so anyway, you know, and I
thought, wow, this is really cool that they want to come up
and tell us they're no longer going to be here seeing us.
And she said, I'm going to miss seeing y'all because you always
so happy when you come in, you know, But I just want to let you
know I'm going to be going over here.
I'm not getting fired or anything.
I'm, you know, taking another position.
And I thought, wow, you know what?
They see the light of God. They see the life of God.
They they want to come and talk and they know there's something
and one day they're going to know.
They're going to know there is something, right?
But Matthew 516, it says this let your light show shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your father.
So what happens when you are letting your light shine?
They're going to see. I mean, this guy that owns the
restaurant that we go to, he's always coming and talking to
Pastor Earl about what we're doing in the mall when she's
never even been. But he sees everything that is
going on and he's building a new restaurant.
And so him and pastor are talking about building and
permits and all kinds of stuff and relating to him and sharing
with him and to where now every time we come in, it's Pastor
Earl and he makes sure we have a table and all these things.
And I'm thinking, you know what our light is being shown?
And do you know what it is? So that they can see the good
works. People can see the works that
you're doing for the Kingdom of God.
They see the things taking place in your life and the
demonstration of what God is doing through your life to
advance the Kingdom of God. And that will bring glory to
God. Even though they're lost.
They'll see this thing must really work, and that is great.
That should be our desire is that people see, hey, we're a
part of a Kingdom that really works in the earth.
And if you'll just watch, you'll see right the manifestation and
the demonstrations of the glory of God and the power of God.
So much so that when people look upon the city, they'll see God,
they'll see his glory, and they won't be able to deny it.
They won't be able to deny it. Amen.
So it brings glory to him when you actually are producing
things in the Kingdom of God. Proverbs 418 it says.
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that
shines brighter and brighter until the full day.
Hallelujah, it shines brighter and brighter.
We don't have to worry about it. We're just going to be shine and
brighter because the world is going to be so dark, right?
If this room pastor said this before, if we cut off all the
lights in this room and we just struck one match, what would it
do? It would lie.
It would drive out darkness and light up this whole room. 1
little match and that's what it is.
One little person that has the light of God going in and out
through our community letting it shine.
It is pushing back darkness and people can see the light of God.
Amen. Hallelujah.
Now let me read Philippians 215 real quick.
I want to close, it says so that you will prove yourselves to be
blameless and innocent children of God above reproach.
In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom
you appear as lights in the world, in a perverse and wicked
generation, you appear lights to the world.
We need to just keep letting our light shine, shining before all
men. Amen.
He is light, and in him there is no darkness.
And therefore we are going to be full of light, full of love,
displaying what it looks like to live in the Kingdom of God so
that the world will be drawn to us.
Amen. And the Third Point, which I
won't be able to get to, is that we say it's in verse 15 of
Ephesians 5. See then that you walk
circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time
because the days are evil. Again, three things that we are
supposed to display Love, light and wisdom.
Wisdom to the world. We are not to walk like fools,
but we are to recognize what time it is that we are living in
and walk in the wisdom of the Word of the Lord.
In the midst of this crooked, perverse generation, we're to
have wisdom. Wisdom.
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