Turn over to Psalms chapter 27, verse one.
Psalms chapter 27, verse one. Hey man, we're going to talk a
little bit about Kingdom evangelism a couple of Sundays
ago. You know, we took some time to
talk about the issues that are going on in the world.
And if we don't watch out, you know, we will have walked in the
Kingdom of God so much that we are forgetting that there's, you
know, quite a few people that are not going to be with the
Lord forever. And we made the mention that
right now, I think it was a little over 8 billion people are
on the planet, of which they only associate 2 billion with
Christianity. And based upon what I'm telling
you right now, those who believe that statement aren't even
Christians. Are you hearing me?
So I can't tell you that of the 2 billion, they're actually born
again and have the Holy Ghost inside them bearing witness with
their spirit, their child of God, which means they're right.
Now, even if we did take all two, we still have more 75% that
aren't even going to make it. Now, that is the parable of the
sower, just to let you know, Parable of the sower, of the
seeds sown on the four different grounds, only 75% produce.
Only 25% produce fruit, period. But it still doesn't mean we
shouldn't have a heart to want to make sure that we are doing
what we need to do with God's Kingdom so that people could
have an opportunity to come into the Kingdom of God.
And, you know, so there's some things about, you know, winning
the loss that we need to explore from the Scripture.
Because if we don't watch out, I think we can get some thoughts
in our heads through certain revivals and different things
that we get an expectation of what we think the harvest looks
like or how to go about it when we really need to stay with the
Word of God. Are you hearing me?
Because I would not want to miss a harvest because I'm looking
for something spectacular. All right, Psalms 27, one says
this. It says the Lord is, is my light
and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life.
Whom shall I dread? What a powerful statement,
right? The Lord is my what light.
Light is what opens up salvation.
Because we were all in darkness. I said we were all in darkness,
and we're going to talk a little bit about that.
So it's the light because the Lord is my light or he is light.
God is light, all right? Meaning he's obviously light,
but also he is the one who brings revelation, darkness and
light. In Scripture, it can be a type
and shadow of ignorance and knowledge.
So when you're ignorant, you're in the dark.
We say that all they're in the dark, but when you know
something, then you're in the light, OK.
And God knows everything. He's all knowledge, right?
And so God brings everything to light, and light always
overtakes darkness. All right, I got talking to some
people today and I was going to have them kill all the lights,
even the screens, but we didn't do that.
But with the turn the lights off anyway, just for fun.
All the way off. Yeah, even these now, obviously
we still have some light here, but I mean, how would you feel
if we went pitch black and then I just started preaching?
They're like, OK, what's going on?
Right? I mean, you hear my voice, but
you don't see me. You can't even see in front of
your head. You know, your hands in front of
your head. Now I know all you got your
phone, so we can never get it dark here.
But the point is, is that who wants to go through life in
darkness? Go ahead and close your eyes
just for a moment. All right?
Everybody close your eyes because it's what it means to be
in darkness. Now, you can hear me, but you
can't see me. You're not, you know, you don't
know exactly where I'm at unless I'm getting close to you.
And you're assuming that's the case, OK.
And so, you know, we used to be people of darkness.
All right, open your eyes. OK.
So the reality is, is, do we want to live this way?
I mean, life's a pretty amazing thing.
Who wants to go through life like this?
Because again, if it went pitch black, what are we doing now?
We're what we call groping. You're starting to, you know,
reach out and you're looking because you don't know where
nothing's at. You're more susceptible to hurt
and pain, running into things, hurting yourself.
I mean, again, you could walk slap off a Cliff and wouldn't
even know it. I mean, you could die easier in
darkness because you cannot see at all.
Who would ever really want to live this existence?
All right, put the lights back up.
Jesus is the lie. Well, Christopher, you might
fall asleep if I leave them off. Jesus is the light.
Amen. Look what it says here in first
Peter two, First Peter 2 and 9 it says, But you are a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for God's own
possession, so that you might proclaim the excellencies of him
who has called you. What out of into what kind of
light is it? It's marvelous.
Say it's marvelous. I mean, it's marvelous to be in
the light. Hallelujah.
Now I'm going to read this out of Passion translation because I
like it. It says this, but you are God's
chosen treasure priest. Who are kings?
Are you kings? He's the king of kings.
Who are those kings? And when are we those kings?
Right now, OK, we're children of God and our Father in heaven and
Jesus Christ his Son are kings, all right, They rule and reign.
Thrones are in kingdoms, not in religions.
So we are pretty sure kings, a spiritual nation set apart as
God's devoted. 1 He called, He called you out of darkness into
to experience his what marvelous light, right?
But it goes on and says, and now he claims you as his very own.
He did this so that you would broadcast his glorious wonders
throughout the world. You are supposed to broadcast
before you could do. When we were all in darkness,
nobody sees anything but the minute you turn it, you know as
well as I do you can be a complete darkness, but you get
one light. Everybody all of a sudden will
see that light, and the one who's illuminated you can rally
around, but the one who's not, so you understand.
He called us out of this life that nobody sees.
Let me just say it that way. Nobody sees people who are in
darkness and the way they broadcast this as if it's like
the best thing. Nobody sees this on the grand
scheme of the Kingdom. God doesn't even see it because
it's in darkness. Now, I'm not saying he doesn't
see their sin and he's not going to hold them accountable.
I'm not saying that. I'm just saying their deeds are
done in darkness. And you know what?
When you're in darkness, nobody sees.
In one sense, there's no it says if no one, you're not
significant. Yet the enemy in his domain of
darkness wants to think, wants you to think that you are the
most significant when you're actually the least.
How least? Well, if you do not change,
you'll be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death,
and no one will remember you ever.
There'll be no memory of you. So you need to be born again.
What's it say in Matthew chapter 5 verse 13?
Because if we are going to change our community, then we
need to know that we've come out of something.
We are to come out, not to stay with, but to come out.
Why is this? Look what it says here in
Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 through 16.
It says you are the salt of the earth.
But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made
salty again? This is a problem.
It is no longer good for what anything is said to be thrown
out and trampled under the foot of men.
I'm not going to technically deal with the salt today, but
you understand you need to stay salty.
All right? Have the salt.
Life 14. You are the light of the world.
You're the light of what? You're the light of the world.
That is not earth, that is sectors of society.
You are the light. God entrusted you to be the
light. You are the light of the world.
OK, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light
a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and
it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light what? Let your light what?
Where? In church?
In church, no before men so that in such a way how's your life
supposed to shine in such a way that they may what?
See your that's why I said this earlier.
See your good works and glorify your Father who was in heaven.
Your work, independent of the voice of God, is not a good
work. It's still bad, but when God's
asked you to do something and you're doing it in Christ, then
it is a good work because it's by faith, because your faith has
a work and it shines because God is the light.
His Word is light. So when you obey His Word, then
you are the light. We are to walk in the light.
We're going to see this. So again, we are to let our
light shine before men, not just in church, not just around other
Christians or believers, but where to let it shine, period.
Now, this one particular scholar said this, and I like this.
He said the Christian. And again, you know, that's a
term that was given in the New Testaments only a few times it's
actually mentioned. It's not an emphasis.
We've emphasized it. The world has emphasized it.
Jesus emphasized the disciple, we emphasize Christian.
There's nothing wrong with being a Christian if you are what
Christian means, which is Christ like.
If you're not Christ like, then you're just a label.
You're labeling it yourself, something that you're not.
Jesus actually said, go into all the world and make what not
Christians. Now you'll be Christ like if
you're a disciple. But we need to get disciples.
Like when I go into other countries, specifically in
Spanish speaking countries, senor is the word for Lord.
Well, senor is also the word for Mr. Well, it's not Mr. Jesus.
So I use other terms like dueno, which is owner, or maestro which
is master. You know, you're putting another
spin on because you need to know he is your owner, He's your
Lord, He's supreme in authority. He's the one you're yielding and
submitted to. He's the one that you're you're
following all the days of your life.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? And so if we don't watch out,
we'll say Christian, but still are walking in darkness.
Yet nowhere Scripture does a Christian walk in darkness.
They've come out, say, come out, they've come out.
And again, the life I'm living in the light.
I'm not living it on my own power, but I'm living it through
the grace of God and the power of His Word.
Working in my life. Because by faith I believe I can
have what He says, I can do what He says, I can respond like He
says, even when I don't feel like it in my flesh wants to do
something else. But that's darkness.
I don't live in the darkness anymore.
I live in the light, so we are not to cover our light yet.
When, when is it that all of a sudden Christianity decided to
cover up? When did we go in the closet?
Now, how do you know you're in a closet?
Because you go into the world and you're doing the same thing
the world's doing, but saying we have.
And I asked Jesus into my heart to save me.
How can you live in darkness and call yourself light?
I mean, we in our, you know, nation has really are making a
lot of excuses to cover up our light.
I mean, we, and I think it first started with, you know, well, we
don't want to look different than them.
You are different. I mean, you came out of that
whole thing. I mean, why do you want anything
to be relatable in that context? You want a shot when I want to
make them feel bad. Well, this particular scholar
said it this way. The Christian often pains men to
heal them. Now I like that.
Now he was coming from the perspective of salt in a wound
that you put salt in the wound and it hurts, but it's bringing
healing. We understand if you've been in
darkness and a light flashes, it'll hurt your eyes.
Have you ever been in somewhere dark and you come out, woah,
golly, right out here. My wife's like give me the
sunglasses. I can't handle it.
My wife doesn't go outside hardly without her sunglasses.
She's like, man, this hurts my eyes.
This hurts because she's not acclimated to the light.
So you understand your existence should create pain to those
around you in your world. Oh, well, I just don't want
anybody hurt. Are you light?
They're going to hurt because the fair and darkness you, the
bright thing that walked in that morning, you just reminded them
of what they shouldn't have been doing that weekend because you
didn't do it. They know you didn't do it.
And when they try to talk about what they did, they know it
doesn't go anywhere with you and they feel convicted because of
what the light does. And you can't.
You, you, you can't. You can't.
The only way that you're going to is if you cover up.
Well, I don't want. I'm just being me.
I am of the light. That's what I am now.
And guess what? You can be of the light too.
Say come out so you got to let your light shine before men in
such a way that they may see your good works.
I mean when they see your. Here's the thing the world best
especially those that do grapple wanting to know is there a God
know that there's a hole in their life and that they need
something different. But yeah, they've heard this
term Christian for so long and seen so many go to the club with
them on Saturday night. But then go, right, you know,
have sexual relationships outside of wedlock.
I mean, speak the same language backed by gossip.
I mean, it's just like a habit. No problem.
You can jump into the conversation with the best of
them. I mean, there's no different.
You've been around. Have you ever been around when
you're like, you would start to share Jesus And they're like,
oh, I'm saved. And you're like, bro, never.
Jeez. Nah, no, never went in on that.
You'd be like, you need to, you need to pull the basket off your
light then, because we have a problem.
This is it. This is not how God expected
you. We are not undercover.
Believers are not undercover. They shine, Say I shine now
again, shiny. You're not bringing attention to
yourself. The light brings attention to
him. Hallelujah.
And I know I have plenty of testimonies of people that have
been in situations where you know, you've let your light
shine and people like, how come you're not concerned?
Aren't you concerned they're laying people off?
How come you're not worried about this?
How come you seem to never get sick and if you do, it never
stays around? Guess what?
Your light is shining. How come I never hear you cuss
ever? There's a particular comedian
that is, you know, in the Christian circle, and he got
around some secular comedians because he's become that
popular. And they were like, they want
him to cuss, and they're just trying to egg him on to cuss.
And he's like, yeah, I'm not going to do it right.
Why? Because darkness wants to try to
overtake, but darkness can never know that it can never overtake
the light. Darkness can never overtake the
light, even in an eclipse. When it goes black here, it's
not because the light left, it's because something got in front
of it. The only reason that would keep
your life from shine is if you're letting stuff get in
front of it. If you're letting issues, if
you're letting you know the things that are of the flesh
getting in between you and what God wants to do through you, you
got to keep that stuff off because this is how God will
draw people because people really want you to be
successful. But you know what?
They want to know that what you're doing is real.
They'll consider you a fad. They consider you like everybody
else, dime a dozen that have went to church and now don't go
to church at all. I mean, we know them ourselves.
We know them ourselves that have backslidden, gone in and you
know what? Those things are hindrances to
harvest. Again, there are very few plants
that grow in only in darkness. The majority need the light and
any of Jesus's examples were just that.
Are you hearing me now? I will tell you this, sin can
grow in darkness, but in the end it's worthless for nothing and
it's thrown into the lake of fire.
So in order for you to have the seed of God's word to be able to
start manifesting in a person's life, you have to be the light
to the seed that you've sown in their hearts.
Because again, a seed does not bear fruit overnight.
And you understand, for us, the majority of our evangelism is
going to be day-to-day showing up with the light.
That's how it's going to work and you're going to be with a Co
worker and the next thing you know, they're going to find out
you believe in Jesus and you say it not like I'm trying to do
good things to get to heaven. You're not going to say that.
You're going to say Jesus Christ is the only way I made him Lord
of my life. I follow him by faith.
Oh, OK. I see how that is.
And the next thing you know, you just are.
They never hear you, you know, say anything right.
And if you do something wrong, you're like, you know what?
That's not how I'm supposed to be.
Please forgive me. Now they're blown away by that
stuff because we're not perfect people, but we can be mature
people and we should mature. If you didn't hear that message,
you need to go and listen to it. The point is, is that our light
needs to shine because most people that are in darkness,
they're too prideful to admit they're wrong.
But a believer will say, you know what?
I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't acted that way.
I should not have raised my voice.
Please forgive me. You understand that light
actually gets brighter even though you've done something
wrong, because now they're blown away at your ability to yield
submit, your ability to acknowledge you were wrong with
no selfish motive. And what it does is all of a
sudden that seed of the word now is taking root in their heart.
And then they get an issue and then they come to you, right,
Eric? And they're like, hey, would you
pray for me? Why?
Because they don't know how to pray.
They're not even born again. They don't even know what.
And you're like, you know, I pray I'll talk to the King for
you. And then the king could do
awesome things for them just to show them that he's kind because
it's the kindness of God that leads people to repentance and
God's very kind. But again, what do you do?
You're you're, you're causing that plant to grow because you
bring the light all the time. This is why you cannot have down
days. You just need to get that 4th
Frank's on. I'm going to have a good day,
right? I'm about to have a good day
because you get coffee in your cup like black.
You going to have a good day, people going to have a really
good day. All right, so anyway, we need to
shine. This is our first.
This is our first phase of, of evangelism.
Because again, how are you going to have someone come to the
church if you yourself aren't living it?
Now again, a lot of times people can invite people and say, Hey,
we do this too, but we go to church and you're like, oh, I
can still sin and still go to church.
This is super cool. You know what?
That's not in the Bible and that's misleading, and that's
really gross neglect. It's what I call spiritual
malpractice. It's called spiritual
malpractice. No, we are, to be honest, again,
I can be kind to a lost person. I'm going to be kind to a lost
person and I'm going to be patient.
Like, wow, you have been so patient with me.
Yep, I'm patient because you're in darkness.
I mean, if it weren't for me, you wouldn't even know where to
go. You understand?
When you're carrying the flashlight, you are the one
that's helping lead them. In essence, God is allowing you
to be the light to Him. You're illuminating the pathway.
So This is why you can't turn your light off.
It's got to be on all the time. And this light has got better
batteries in the Energizer Bunny people.
It's got us the Holy Ghost. All right, Proverbs chapter 4,
verse 18 to 19 says this. But the path of the righteous is
like the light of dawn. My gosh, you got to understand
you are the righteousness of God in Christ.
You must visually see this when you go anywhere.
You are lit, fully illuminated, you are spotlight.
I mean, when you are really serious about your walk with
God, it cannot go unnoticed. The path of the righteous is
like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter
until the full day. You just keep showing up and it
gets brighter and brighter, clearer and clearer how this
thing works, that we live for God, how it is Christ in me, the
hope of glory. I mean, we have to be serious
about our walk with God. He is Lord of our lives.
We've laid down our life because He laid down His.
It's not how I want to do it. I'm not negotiating with God and
say now listen, I want to keep these things of darkness in my
life. You good with that?
I mean, it's like people like, well, I just want to be AI just
want to be a match, man. I just want to be a match.
I mean, again, a match in complete darkness will draw, but
you understand as you grow, there's no way you just a match.
It's just not going to happen. You are a pathway.
But what's the next verse? Say the way of the wicked is
like darkness. They do not know over what they
stumble. I mean, how many times you've
been around, you know, back in the day now or you went to work
and someone's like, man, this weekend, I don't even know what
happened. You're like, bro, you don't even
know what happened, man. I went to a party and I just
who, what, who wants to live like that?
And they act like that's the whole deal.
And you're like, thank God I have been delivered.
I have been, I have been transferred out of that domain
into the marvelous life. And I'm not waking up going,
who, who are you? Oh my gosh, you look way better
last night. And what's happened now?
Why are my loins on fire? I'm telling you, right?
I mean, who wants to be at 3:00 in the morning willfully
throwing up? Oh man, we had such a great
time. You don't even remember.
You have puke all over. I mean, think about this.
But as believers, we have to shine bright.
Are you hearing me? Ephesians chapter 5, verses 8
through 14. The remedy translation says it
this way in the past. Come on, help me out with this
word you promulgated the dark lies and methods of Satan, but
now you are conduits of the light of truth and the life
giving methods of the Lord. Live as children of this light
now. Paul's being real clear to the
church. Church, we are of the light now.
I mean, Paul was very clear to the churches he planted the
church at Corinth was sucked, came out of such horrible
heathen worship, Pagan worship. I mean, it was bad sexual
immorality, like horrible. And he's like you used to now
you don't you formally. Now here's where you are.
Because light does not do what darkness does.
And light doesn't say it's OK to be dark every once in a while
because God is light and there's no darkness in him.
He doesn't say that's OK. Well, you know what?
I'm, I'm forgive. You know what?
And we use this term a lot even in, you know, I, I hear people
say, you know, it's better to ask for forgiveness than
permission. So you want to rebel.
I mean, how many times does the believer, they don't watch out?
I'm telling you, these are these are slippery slopes to want to
trample on the blood of Jesus. You know what, I'm going to do
it anyway, and I'll just ask God to forgive me.
What? That's not why the blood's
there. So that you can keep in darkness
and keep splashing the blood. No, He's changed you.
You're a whole new species of being.
You're a new creature in Christ. You're not the same.
You've got you have to renew your mind, you have to let go of
deeds of darkness, but you have the power by the Holy Ghost in
you to do something different. Amen.
So it goes on to say for those who live by the light, practice
the principles of goodness, doing right in all situations
and how many situations in all situations, and understand God
and His purposes and what He is pleased with, right?
Without faith it's impossible to what so they're saying here,
they find out what God wants to do in any situation.
They hear the word of the King, and then they stand and believe
on that word is going to come to pass.
That's what we do, OK, because we're in the light now.
We're not stuck in darkness. Verse 11 don't have anything to
do with the destructive practices of those whose minds
are darkened, but rather present light of truth, which exposes
them. Now really another translation
says it says in this way, in essence, the things that they
are ignorant of because you're around, you can bring exposure
to what will set them free. This is not like, oh, I'm
telling everybody about you, I'm exposing you.
Oh rain, I'm exposing. That's not the what he's saying
here. What he's saying here is that
you get around someone that's in darkness and they don't know how
to act different because sin or sin, they're professionals.
We were professionals at one time.
We were really good at this and some of y'all even better than I
was. Meaning you just have a longer
rap sheet. The point is though, we all have
participated in darkness, but you get around someone to light,
all of a sudden they give you options.
They begin to say, you know, you don't have to what you don't
have to. They've never seen that because
you just turn the light on. Now you said, well, you could.
You know what, let's do this instead.
I never thought, come on, let's let's.
And next thing you know, you're giving them revelation of
another way to live, that all of a sudden they're like, man, I
want to come over to where you're at.
So that's what this means here. For it is damaging and degrading
to dwell upon what the disobedient do in secret.
Yeah, You know what, believers, It seems as if they're like,
what can I get away with? They did that.
Seem like they're having so much fun.
You're dwelling on darkness that you were redeemed from, that you
have been pulled out of glory to God.
You actually are the one who can see.
You're no longer blonde. This is amazing, OK?
For everything exposed by the light of truth becomes
understandable, you know? And that's what we're here to
do. We're here to help people
understand that Jesus Christ is King and the life we live now,
we live in him. And he opens up things so that
we can navigate in a world that's dark and crooked.
He makes the crooked places straight, says for it is the
truth that reveals all things. This is why it is said, wake up
your brain and start thinking. Stop zoning out like you're
dead. And Christ will shine the light
of truth into your mind. Man, aren't you glad when God
opens up your mind with truth? You're like, wow, there it is.
That's what I need to do, Thank you Lord.
And then you stand on that. Then it comes out like he, just
like he says it. And you're like, glory to God,
He's amazing, right? He does this in trials and
tribulations with us and we get to be again, I'm not telling you
to go bare your soul to people. Please don't do.
But again, if someone like what's going on, well, I have
this situation, but I'm trusting God now at that point, like, OK,
well, you just trust 'cause then when it happens that way,
they're like, I remember one time family member had this
issue going down and, and so I showed up at the hospital and
it's life and death stuff. And so I came in and I knew that
the, the, the extended family did not function in this type of
belief system. Kind of a little more hope God
will do something and hope is not faith.
So but by unction of the spirit, I came in, grabbed their hands
and I said, let's pray and I began to declare they'll live
and not die. They'll do this, this, this
again. I, I was hearing from heaven
what to say and I spoke these things out.
OK. The next day I went with a
family member to lunch and it turned out exactly as was
spoken. Now again, I didn't think of
this. I heard from heaven.
The Holy Ghost was speaking to my spirit and I was just
declaring it. But they recognized that
everything that was spoken in that prayer came to pass just
like it. That is bringing light into a
dark situation. And we have this ability.
And you know what? There are more and more people
that if we will function this way, it will be easier to see
people coming to the Kingdom. I I'm, I'm concerned that the
reason why we don't see this big harvest is because we don't have
enough lights. OK, now why do I say that?
Romans chapter 13? Romans 1311 to 14 says it this
way. Do this knowing the time that is
already, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from
sleep. For now salvation is nearer to
us than we, than when we believe.
Do you know Jesus Christ is coming?
It is very highly probable that He would come in our generation.
Now, I know the generation before, but why should we not
believe that He could literally come and you could be somebody's
going to be the generation that has changed in the moment, the
twinkling of an eye. So let it be us.
I'll take it. I'll take it.
I want to put on the glorified suit and go, whoa, look at this
man. It's just just hold on a minute
because I'm about to jump up out of here faster than Superman,
right? Because again, it says you'll be
changing the moment and twinkling.
A nod doesn't say you're leaving at the same rate.
You're going to have time to talk to some people before you
go. Scripture bears that out.
Anyway, With that being said, this salvation is nearer to us
than ever before. So we need to be awake.
We need to be realizing that our number one witness is being the
light every day. You need to turn the light
switch on in your life every day.
That way when you walk into any store, any place of business,
any house, the lights on and everybody's going to be affected
by your light and you're not going to please everybody.
Because those who the Bible tells us that Jesus came, they
beheld the light, but they love the darkness.
There's going to be people who hate you because you're light.
Just stay light because it's not.
It's not your responsibility to win them if they don't want to
come. It is your responsibility to
shine. Are you hearing me?
Because evangelism is not just winning the lost.
I'm going to say this again. Evangelism is not just winning
the lost. I think we have kept this in one
category, and that's a problem because we discredit other
evangelistic opportunities. Number one, none of us can save
anybody. And #2 no one can actually be
saved unless the Spirit draws them.
Will the spirit be drawing people?
Absolutely. The question is, is you don't
know when and I don't know when unless he talks to us about it.
Because it's very clear that sometimes you're showing up
would like just to plant a seed and you're never going to
harvest that person. You were the one who put the
seed in them from the first place.
You may be someone who's just coming by watering them, which
means you may consistently water them for a season of their life
and then they go to another job or you go to another job and you
never see them again, but you are watering that Now.
What we do is we take evangelism as if they must be born again so
we can put a notch on our belt and say, look, we LED someone to
Christ today. That's not your responsibility
to lead someone to Christ today. It's your responsibility to let
your light shine. Now.
It may include harvesting someone and it is a great
privilege and you should be listening and focused that God
may put someone by your path that's ready to harvest.
And you are the one to to share with them and communicate to
them how to receive Christ as their Lord.
But take it all the way home and say, now we're going to church
because this thing is not about where you're going to go when
you die. This is a life commitment now.
And it starts, you're going to be a disciple and disciples are
in church. I'm not here to get you
converted. I'm here to get you to church so
that you can be trained, trained to reign.
Are you hearing me? So again, this is not about
leading someone in publics and then running home and shouting
about it. Then we never see them.
It's about the responsibility of hey, give me a number.
I'll come pick you up. We get you over here.
Listen, God sure said he'll never leave you nor forsake you
and we're not here to abandon you.
You live in the same town I am here we go.
Or if there's just someone that's from somewhere else,
vacation and you're like, where are you living?
I'm a find your church. Do you know someone back home
that's going with is you got something planned?
Can I get you number? And you're following up with
these things that way when they get back into Massachusetts, did
you get to church? Did you get then?
I understand you can't force them, but you want to go a
little bit further because evangelism has a light shining.
A lot of people need to get saved in Boston, right?
Hallelujah. And New York, not so much.
In Kansas City. Just kidding.
They're already Royals. OK, with that being said, let's
go on verse 12. The night is almost gone and the
day is near. Therefore here it is.
Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on.
Now here's crazy thing. The Bible tells us that when
you're born again you become a child of light.
Yet Romans tells us you got to lay something off and put
something on in the Spirit. You are light.
When you're born again, you've been made the righteous of God
in Christ. Inside you is the greatest.
I mean, there is no spotlight that is brighter than how you
are in the Spirit. The problem is, is that your
mind can put a basket over the illumination that you are on the
inside just wanting to get out. What good is the lighthouse if
we cover the light and it can turn around on the inside all
day long and be so bright that if you were inside and it was
covered, you would be like, I'm about to be blind.
It's so bright in here, but it's not for in there.
It's to go out into the darkness so that people can be drawn to
the light. That's the point.
We come to church and it gets so bright in here, but then we want
to get out and cover it up when we're at work.
You can't do that. It is the be out in darkness.
The world needs you to shine. They need you to shine.
So you have to lay aside the deeds of darkness.
When you're like, man, I don't. Why do I not do this anymore?
Because I'm a different person. The one who did is dead.
They're not even alive anymore. I'm a new creature in Christ.
I'm not the same person. And when you accept that as the
reality of your new birth experience, then you'll start
saying I'm not. That is a deed of darkness.
That is you're taking captive
thoughts that puts you back in darkness and covers up who you
are. And you're like, no, I'm going
to put on the arm or light. I'm going to do it God's way.
He's light. I'm light, I do it his way.
So what is some of these things? Verse 13 Let us behave properly
as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual
promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
All those things are dark deeds. We don't do these things say I
don't do them anymore. When you do your willfully
putting a basket over your light and it was never designed for
you to do that. The light is supposed to shine.
All right, the world needs you to shine.
Verse 14 but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no
provision for the flesh in regards to us lust.
See, when you don't live a fleshly life, you live a life
full of light, period. Full of light.
All right, last Scripture, Philippians, chapter 2.
Philippians, chapter 2, verse 15 and 16.
Our number one assignment. You say, how are we doing in
evangelism? Well, how how bright is your
light shining? I mean, the church could
technically double over on Sunday if you invited someone
and actually got them here. I mean, you understand numbers
in a sense really aren't that hard.
The point though is, are you letting your light shine in
invitations again, Ernie and Evelyn?
Evelyn, before she married Ernie, she said she had a Co
worker that I think it was for 10 years invited her to church.
That means 10 years, this person couldn't help but shine and know
that your life's not going to change until you get right with
God and one place that I can bring you to a very a big
bonfire. In essence, when you bring them
to church, you bring them to a bonfire.
It's just a big bonfire is what we got is like, wow, look at
this big bonfire, right? And so they come in and man,
here you go. And she was like, fine, I'm
going. And man, God showed up because
he was already a light to her life, consistent.
And she saw how he lived for 10 years.
He was different. Some people we go on to see
coming to the Kingdom of God may take 10 years.
So don't feel bad about that. We may see things faster.
That's great too. But at the end of the day, it
doesn't come without being the light because we're sure not
drawing them if we're dark. All right.
So this last verse is this Philippians 215 and 16.
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. Verse 16, holding fast the word
of life. How do you keep the light on
you? Hold fast the word of life.
If you are not in the word, knowing the word, rightly divine
the word, you are letting your light die.
And I, I can tell you there's plenty of people that are safe.
I asked you to send in my heart to save me and they have not
stoked that fire ever since. And if you saw them in the
world, they are carnal Christian.
In fact, they're just a babe. I remember Paul said, look, I
wanted to say something different to you guys, but I
have to speak to you as babes. You know, how do I know you're
babes? Because you're acting like the
world. He says.
You're acting like mere men. First Corinthians 3 mere men.
I I can't tell the difference between you and those that are
outside the Kingdom. I cannot tell the difference
between you and those that are in the domain of darkness
because of how you're acting the fruit of your life right now.
So they in order to keep your light shining, you must feed the
fire, and that is with the word of God.
You hold fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I
will have no reason. He says to glory, because I did
not run in vain, nor toll in vain.
Paul was greatly concerned and I believe that this needs to
become our concern. Paul had a deep concern, not
just for those that were outside the Kingdom, but for those who
were in it. He had a deep concern.
I mean, you understand our modern day gospel in the United
States is this, hey, have you asked Jesus into your heart?
You know, let me pray with you, OK?
Let me pray with you, brother. Can we when we're going to pray
and you pray and you pray, the sinners praying like man, you're
born again, man, you're going to go one day and then you're gone.
And you never see the person. You don't give them any
additional responsibility. It's like having birth of a
child and then you walk away and nobody's there to care for it.
And then we're running around saying I saw that I got this
person born again here and I got this person born again here.
And that person is crying out for milk, but there is no milk
because they've been late. They've been left there.
They're an infant. They don't know how to.
Now I understand a person born again can hear the Holy Ghost
and can move. I get, but we are putting way
too much on an infant in Christ who does have the Holy Ghost to
have to navigate it. God never intended for the Holy
Spirit once they get inside a person to do it without the rest
of the body. There be there's no reason for
us to even have church then. And a lot of them are already at
that. But you know what, they're just
babes. They're just babes.
So the point is, is that we are are we've got to let our light
shine. We have to actually have concern
for the law for the the believer, the Hey, keep your
light shining. You need to keep your light
shining. You need to keep your light
shining because Paul's like man on that day when I stand before
the Lord and you show up and I I hope that at the end of the day,
I didn't do that for nothing. And all that labor, all that,
you know, feeding you wood for your fire, you know, fueling you
to follow. And then you just let your
lights die out. And he had problems.
He said Demas name names Demas. He has the cares of the world.
He's abandoned me a couple others.
He said, man, these people here, I had to pray to deliver them
over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh so
they wouldn't blasphemy. That wasn't good.
And one of his churches unfortunately had a very bad
report from the head of the church because in one of his
things he says, send this letter to the Church of Laodicea, and
they have a letter that you should read.
But then we get to revelation the Lord's like, I'm about to
spew you out of my mouth because you're neither hot nor cold.
You're just lukewarm. When did we in the United States
accept being born again but live like we're in the dark?
It was never the purpose. So for us, let's let our light
shine.