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Psalm 67 in your King James Bible, God be merciful unto us and bless us, Psalm 67, let's start going to verse 1. God be merciful unto us and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving help among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for thou shalt judge the people righteously and govern the nations upon earth. The nations upon earth seal us. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Then shall the earth filter increase, and God, even our own God shall bless us, God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. Let the people praise thee, O God, let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Great singing, but I thought we could pray for the tithes. Okay, we are in Genesis chapter 1 this morning. Genesis chapter 1, the Bible reads, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas, and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth, and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb seed yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after his kind, and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also, and God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales in every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Brother Robert, could you pray for the service? Is this mic actually on? Okay. We got TKO'd last night. All right. Well, once again, thanks for coming this morning. And I'm preaching a kind of a different sermon, and it is the holiday season, so I figured I'd, you know, preach something that kind of goes with the holidays a little bit. It's not necessarily a holiday sermon, but the title of the sermon this morning is Lights That Shine in the Darkness, Lights That Shine in the Darkness. And we have a lot of, we have a lot of lights in the world, and different types of light. We have man-made light, but of course, in Genesis chapter one, we see where God created light, and then God made the sun. You know, He doesn't call it the sun and the moon in this chapter here, but it says that He created lights to give light to the earth. And before I get into that, I just wanted to, that I'm going to be, so the sermon I'm preaching about is different types of light that shine in the darkness. And obviously, we have some really important light. You know, it's light in here, and I'm glad for it. You have Christmas lights like, and there's a lot of Christmas lights up already, which I think is great, because if you already have snow, you might as well just put the lights up anyway, right? So usually people wait till after Thanksgiving, but I think a lot of people are excited about just having their lights up, and their trees, and all that kind of stuff, so it's pretty cool. But yeah, so I just happened to see, just driving through Spokane last night, a lot of people already have their lights up, and that's cool because, you know, lights and the holidays kind of, you know, light is kind of a big deal because we're going into that season where it's dark earlier, and it just seems like it's dark all the time. And so when there's light, that shines light and gives people hope, and it makes people feel good, and so I think that's why people like lights during the holidays and things like that. So we have three different holidays that are the holiday season. Of course, we have Thanksgiving, which is coming up this week, and then we have Christmas, or Christmas Eve, and then we have New Year. So those are all good holidays, in my opinion, to kind of refocus your life, have everything die down a little bit, so it's not such a hustle and bustle. This is my last trip of the year going anywhere, so, but I wanted to come and see you guys one last time before I wound up my travel for the season. So anyway, Genesis chapter number one, look at what the Bible says in verse number 14. It says, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day and from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great church here in Spokane, Washington, and Lord, I just pray that you bless this church. Lord, it's already blessed with all the people that are here, and Lord, we appreciate them so much, and we don't get to say that to them enough, and Lord, I am thankful for this church. I'm thankful for every single person here today. Pray you just bless us today with a great day of just preaching and fellowship and soul winning, Lord, and we'll give you the praise and honor for that in Jesus' name. Amen. So in verse number 14, we see God creating these great lights. Of course, we know that those lights are the sun and the moon and one to rule the night, and they have more than just one purpose, obviously. They also teach us something about God. They teach us, you know, many different things. It says it's to divide. The first thing was to divide the light from the darkness, and obviously the spiritual meaning behind that was that if you're light, if you're saved, if you're for righteousness, that you're going to divide yourself the darkness and the things that are wicked in this world. It's a picture for us to understand that God wants there to be a separation with us from the darkness. When we get saved, you know, the Bible says that we're supposed to be separate, right, from the world, from the wickedness, from the devils and all the different wicked things that are in this world, and so that's a great picture just from the very first chapter in the Bible that God wants there to be a difference between light and darkness, and so when someone says they're a child of light, you know, Christian or whatever you call, you know, you call yourself, which Christian would be a good thing to call yourself, but if you're one of those things, then when people see darkness in you instead of light, it can affect them in a negative way, and so God wants us to be light in this world and try to walk as best as we can, keeping his commandments and things like that, but he physically made the sun, moon, and stars also to have them for signs, right, so it says for signs and for seasons, so what kind of signs? Well, maybe the sign, a sign that the harvest is here. Who saw the harvest moon when September rolled around? You know, I know scientists and atheists and everybody that doesn't believe in God will try to explain that away, but how do you explain that every year at the same time of year when the harvest is here that there's the the moon turns like this crazy looking orange. It's not the blood moon. It's just, it's called the harvest moon, and they call it that because that's the time when the harvest comes. Why is that like that? Well, people, well, the light hits it, and then I don't care how you explain it scientifically. God said that he made those things for signs and for seasons, so what's the season? Well, it's the fall season, right, and so the moon will be a super moon at certain times. It'll be a full moon. It'll be a split. You know, it helps us to count time. It helps us to see signs in biblical terms, so you know, what did Jesus say was going to happen before he returned? He said the sun would be darkened, and the moon would be turned to blood, so obviously that could mean some kind of eclipse, but you know, the Bible talks about it being dark and darkness when the time, when the wrath of God is poured out and things like that, so there's multiple, multiple reasons why God made the heavenly bodies, and it lists all those things right there in verse number 14 for signs, for seasons, to divide the day from the night, for days, for years. It's for tracking time, so and then if you think about what, what the sun, you know, the sun reflects its light, and that's what reflects it off the moon, and the moon at night is a reflection of the light of the sun, so you can see that it also would picture, you know, God's light reflecting onto the world through other people, so and it also, you know, in the book of Genesis, it talks about how the sun, you know, would represent the dad, the moon would represent the mom, and the stars, the children, so that's a good picture for it too, but you know, the, the heavenly bodies are the number one, my number one point is that lights that shine in the darkness, the first point is the heavenly bodies, so and obviously there's multiple different things about light that I could talk, but I don't have points this morning. The first point is the heavenly bodies are a light that shine in the darkness, and even at night, you know, if it's pitch black outside, isn't it nice to have a moon up in the, up in the sky that we can actually have some sort of light, and stars give up light too. If you live in the city, you don't see that so much, but if you're out in the country, or you're out camping or something, and you just look up at the stars, and it's a clear night, I mean you can see just more stars than you can even count, and it's nice to see that. It's a beautiful thing. God also made those things to show His splendor, to show His magnificence, to show how awesome He is, because He's the one that made those things. He spoke those things into existence, literally spoke them into existence. Turn to James chapter 1 verse 17, Genesis 1 though, you might have a hard time finding your way back to Genesis 1, because it's so deep into the Bible, but, and I believe that God did this also for mankind as a gift, and also for the animals that He created, and you know, we can, people navigate with the stars. There's just all kinds of things that the heavenly bodies can do for us. Of course, you have the north star, where people navigate through that, or if you're lost in the woods somewhere, you can, you know, you can find north at night, and things like that. So, but look at James 17, it says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of, what's it say, heights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. So, every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above. It's from God. Everything that you have in this life, everything that's something that you enjoy in this life, is something that God has given to you specifically, and it says that He's the Father of lights. He, and He is, He's, they came to pass because God put them there for us. So, look at Genesis chapter 1 verse 15, go back to your text in Genesis chapter 1. So, now this isn't the first light that God created, but this is the first point, because my next point is going to be about the other light that was made before, but look at your verse down, Genesis 1 15, it says, let them be for lights and for the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and it was so. And so, it's, it's not just, or, sorry, sorry, my phone is like tweaking, anyway, sorry about that. Okay, so, let me get back my train of thought here. So, let them be for lights and for the firmament of the heaven upon the earth, and it was so. He made these lights for us. He gave it for light to be shining upon the earth. Look at verse 16, and God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. So, I mean, just saying that as an afterthought is pretty interesting, because the stars are pretty amazing, and a lot of the things that we see up there are also planets. Obviously, you can see some of the planets that God made, Venus and things like that. So, Mars, you can see the planets up there that God made, and it says, and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness, and God saw it was good. Now, obviously, there was no sin in the world at this time, but God still obviously knows He has the foreknowledge that sin is going to be brought into the world at some point, and so I think that His foreknowledge is the reason why He probably made it like that, so it could be a picture for us to us so that we could understand that we need to divide from that darkness. So, it says the evening and the morning were the fourth day, so He made all this stuff on the fourth day. It's not the first day, it's the fourth day that He made the heavenly bodies. Of course, then He made all the vegetation and stuff like that, and then He made the animals after that and the humans after that. So, again, there's spiritual application in all this, obviously. These heavenly bodies are made literally for us, literally for mankind, literally for the earth, so that people could have light, but then the spiritual applications are also very telling to us in 2022, and the stars and moons and planets, they help us understand also that this world is a dark place, so at night, you know, if we didn't have the stars and the moon, it would be really dark. We wouldn't be able to see anything. Obviously, we have man-made lights and things like that, but it hasn't always been the case. There hasn't always been electrical grids where, you know, you can be in a dark basement and, you know, you got lights shining all over the place. It hasn't always been like that, but I think that the picture of the stars is a great picture for us to understand, too, because, you know, you have all this darkness, but then you have these bright spots all over in that darkness, and I believe that that's a great picture of the children of God, you know, the children of God. God saves people, and they become lights all over in the dark world that we live in, so let's turn our Bibles to John chapter 12, John chapter number 12, and God intended for us to be light. He intended for people to be safe. He never intended to stay here. He always intended that He was going to die for the people and that He would go back to heaven and He'd leave light here on this earth in the darkness. Now, Jesus, what would He represent when you think about the sun? Well, the sun rises, doesn't it? The sun gives light unto the whole world, and so during the daytime, it's completely light. That represents Jesus Christ. There's no doubt about that. You know, people have this flat earth model view, and they have this view that, you know, some people believe in geocentricity, which means that everything revolves around the earth. That doesn't make sense. Why would it revolve around us? Don't you think everything should revolve around something that represents the sun? It's spelled S-U-N, talking about Jesus Christ, I think, in the book of Malachi, and so think about this. You know, Jesus Christ is that light that shines and makes it daytime, and He rose from the dead, and when He rose from the dead, that gives light unto the whole world, but the sun, you know, we go around the sun. Everything revolves around the sun, and that's the way it is in the Bible, too. Everything, when you boil it down, it's all revolving around Jesus. So, if you think about how God formed the universe, and obviously people worship the sun, the actual star that we revolve around, but they're fools, because that's something that God made. God didn't make Jesus. Jesus has always been and always will be. John chapter 12 verse 35 says, Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you. For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While you have light, believe in that light, that you may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them. So, He's talking about how He's only going to be there for a while. While you have the light, believe in that light. He's telling this to people, and then right after this verse, if you're there, I don't have it in my notes, but it talks about how, even though He did all these miracles, people wouldn't believe in Him. And so, there's always going to be people in this world, and the majority of the people in this world will not believe in Jesus. But again, if you think about the stars in the sky, I personally believe that that does represent Christians in the world. That does represent the light that God has left in the world for mankind. Turn to Daniel chapter 12 verse 2. Daniel chapter 12 verse number 2. Daniel chapter 12 verse number 2 says, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. See, it is a picture of people that are, you know, obviously this is a picture here of people that go forth and get people saved. And you know, some people are going to wake to everlasting life, some to everlasting contempt, going to hell. But He liked us that would go out and be soul winners to those that would shine as the brightness of the firmament. And it literally says as the stars for ever and ever. So that is a picture, the stars are a picture of the light that's in the firmament, the light that's in the world, to light upon all the earth. And let's turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And so obviously, you know, we got, you know, the light and darkness, a picture of our separation from sin in the world. And then we have, of course, the literal meaning of all the lights, the sun, the moon, stars, and the planets. Those things are lights for the earth to actually see and navigate and for signs and for seasons, for literal seasons, and also for maybe seasons upon the earth. You know, at the full moon, I think that they had to blow trumpets or something in the Old Testament. We obviously don't do that anymore. If somebody walks in here with a trumpet on the full moon, they're going to get tossed out of here. But because we don't have to do that anymore. You know what I mean? So that's not something we do anymore. But those things were for, you know, counting days, counting time. And so there's a lot of reasons why God made those things. But, you know, even in the end, those are for the signs and the seasons that Jesus is coming. He's coming soon. Now, do we have blood moons that happen now? Yeah. So people will probably be like, oh, yeah, we've seen that before or whatever. But, you know, when everything is rolled back like a scroll, that when the cover is taken off, people are going to freak out. And people are going to know that Jesus is coming. They're going to hide in the caves and the dens of the rocks of the earth and say, fall on us and hide us from the face of the lamb. So they are for signs and for seasons. But what is Jesus saying? The things that you see in the heavens are a sign that I am coming. So very interesting stuff. But anyway, First Thessalonians chapter five, verse one. And the apostle Paul is actually talking about the rapture here says, But the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. There's going to be a time when they're going to be saying peace and safety when the Antichrist is ruling everything. And then, you know, when they say that, because and that was a slogan of the Roman Empire, by the way, peace and safety. It's been the slogan of lots of different world powers. But once, you know, once the baby starts to come, there's no stopping it. Right. Brother Jason and Mr. Molina know that. So I think like Pastor Robinson had like his wife had their baby in a truck. Right. I want to say it was right in front of the hospital. I know he told me the story, but it's been a while. But you have a similar story. So once the baby's coming, the baby's coming, whether you want it to or not, doesn't matter whether you're in your truck, in your car, at your house, or wherever you're at, it's going to happen. And that's what he's saying right here is that, you know, they're going to be saying peace and safety, but then the travail is going to come upon them. And it says they shall not escape. So they're going to try to escape. They're going to try to hide, but nothing is going to hide them from the wrath of God. And it says, but ye brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. See, a lot of all the world is going to be fooled by all this stuff, but we are not in darkness. We are not in darkness. God has given us the light of the scriptures, hasn't he? And it says ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. So again, there we represent, you know, things that would not be dark. We'd be represented as light. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for in helmet the hope of salvation. So I just want to show you that because it's talking about times and seasons. Like Paul's saying, you know, I don't, you know, I don't need to tell you about this. You already know that he's going to come as a thief of the night. It's going to be unsuspecting to the world, but we're, we're going to understand what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 24 and say, hey, no, don't go out to the desert place. You know, don't go out there. It's a trap. You know, you can, you can just automatically assume that anything, anybody saying that they're Jesus being out somewhere, or he's in secret chambers or anything like that. Don't believe them because he's going to come as a thief. But when we see the sun, moon, and stars, and everything happening in the heavenly places, we will know for sure that his redemption is drawing nigh. So point number one, we have the heavenly bodies or a light that shines in the darkness and represent a lot of different things that I've already mentioned. Number two, the light of Jesus, the light of Jesus is a light that shines in a dark place. Let's turn back to our text in Genesis chapter one. Let's look at verse number one. So the light of the world is Jesus Christ. We sing that song. It's a great song. I've preached a whole sermon about that a couple years ago about the light of the world being Jesus. It's clearly taught in scripture all over from Genesis to Revelation, as it doesn't say he's the bright and morning star in the book of Revelation. And here in Genesis 1-1 it says, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said let there be light and there be light. And God saw the light that it was good and God divided the light from the darkness. So where we started was Genesis chapter 1 verse 14, right? But there was a light before the sun. There was a light before the moon. There was a light before the sun or the stars, excuse me. There's a light before those planets that we can see sparkling everywhere and God made this light and he said it was good and divided the light from the darkness. So in the first three verses of Genesis we have the father represented by God in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and then it talks about the spirit of God in verse number two moving upon the face of the waters and then in verse three God said let there be light and Jesus Christ is the word of God. So all things were made by him and for him, right? And then nothing was made that was there wasn't anything that was that wasn't made by him. So and then you think about this there was already darkness. When Jesus came to this world what was it like unto? A light shining in a dark place. The light coming into the world and the world comprehended it not. They didn't understand who he was even though he looked just like a regular man. No he wasn't wearing a dress. No he was not a hippie. No he you know didn't have long hair. He was a man. He didn't look like a queer. He looked like a man didn't he? And let's turn to John chapter one. You see in Genesis chapter one right from the very beginning God made this light. What is that light that he made? It doesn't really explain that does it? And how do you explain that light was in the world but yet the sun hadn't yet the sun had not been made yet. Well that light is Jesus. We live with Jesus in the new Jerusalem what's it say? The light of the Lord lights that place up. There is no need for the sun and the moon. So there was no need for the sun and the moon then. But yet that's how we discern time. That's how we discern light. That's how we discern the day to day that sun rising up and giving us hope that we're not going to be you know in darkness forever. So look at John 1 1. So remember Genesis 1 1 said in the beginning right in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Look at John 1 1. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So that word in Genesis chapter 1 verse number 3 or that light in Genesis 3 is God said let there be light and there was light and so in the beginning was the word. The word of God was spoke this light into existence and you know it spoke the universe and everything into existence in the beginning. Isn't that what it says? In John 1 1 in the beginning was the word the word with God the word was God. It's not a God. No he is God. The same was in the beginning with God. So what does it it's clearly talking about. What is the first chapter of the Bible? Genesis 1 1 and it explains to us the beginning. Okay this is what it's talking about. This is the context it's trying to help us to understand here. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. So in him was life. So when he came upon the scene as a man born by the Virgin Mary or you know he wasn't a man when he was born but he was a baby when he was born by the Virgin Mary and he grew up to be the man that would be the messiah. The man that would be this light that was prophesied from the very beginning and it says the light shineth in the darkness. So I mean obviously there's another picture for us to see because obviously the sun coming up rising up represents also Jesus Christ rising from the dead right. But if you think about the moon and the stars those are lights that are shining in a dark place aren't they? And so if you think about also you know the the moon reflects that light and shines it upon the world. So I mean what would that represent? Yeah I mean it would represent us. I mean it could represent when mom's home and dad's away then his light shines upon that moon and gives the children of the light right. I don't know but anyway I don't want to get too deep into these different applications but I want to focus on Jesus here for a few minutes. Look at verse number six it says there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which lighteth every man and cometh into the world. So it's interesting how you know it starts out talking about Jesus the word. Jesus is God. He was in the beginning and then he's being called the light. It says it several times verse seven the light verse eight the light oh that light verse nine true light and then yeah so I mean it's talking about it's referencing us back to the beginning isn't it to that light. So it says he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not and that being the creator of all things you're with the the people that you create you're in the creation that you've created you've been made in the image of a man nobody knows who you are that's that's I mean that'd be kind of weird right but that's what it is. He came into his own and received him not talking about the Jews would not receive him as he was the messiah but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name. So that's how we become the sons of God. He gives us that power to if we believe on his name he will save us and he gives us the power to become the sons of God and again the sons of God would represent what the stars of heaven right. So which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh so it wasn't by what bloodline you're from it wasn't the will of the flesh it's not our works it's not the good things that we do that make us saved nor the will of man but of God. So it's not anything so God is the one that wills us to be saved he wants us to be saved and it says verse 14 and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. What is glory? The glory is a shine is shining right he was shining and that glory is like a glistening you know shine that and Jesus glory is so powerful that John in Revelation fell and was like like he was dead. So it says the glory is of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth so this word of God that's talked about in the beginning that creates all things by the power of his word he comes to dwell among us he is that light that shines in the dark place he is the true light he is the light of the world right turn to John chapter 3 verse 19. John chapter 3 verse 19. I mean because what is the Christmas holiday about it's about how that light came into the world he was born into this world and people are like oh you know Christmas is on a different day I'll dress up tonight okay I'm not going to preach a Christmas sermon tonight but I am going to bring up holidays so this afternoon anyway John 3 19 says and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love what darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil so even though the light has come into the world not all people take comes to them do they because you know we're not a bunch of robots God created us with free will and so if people want to love him if people want to believe in him they're going to do that but he does give them a choice but what is the choice that they're really off they're offered they're offered salvation everlasting life and I would probably say this that every single person that's in hell if they could if they could go back and make a diverse decision I'm sure they would after they've been roasting in hell all this time yeah even if you've only been there for one day even if you've only been there for an hour I'm sure that they would say okay all right I understand now you know because they're going through torments but you know we only have one chance to be saved and that's in this life the life that we live in this flesh is the only life that we have and so we have one chance to be saved which is while we're alive maybe not one chance but we have one lifetime but you know you might not be able to speak on your deathbed you might not be able to think on your deathbed so all these people that say oh yeah you can just get saved up to the final breath you know I'm sure that there are people to do but I'm sure that's also a rare thing I'm sure it's not as much as people would like to think it is but it's nice when someone does get an assurance of their salvation or we a family member because you know we really want our family members to go to heaven also I mean who who in their right mind wouldn't want their mom to go to heaven who in their right mind wouldn't want their dad to go to heaven or their uncles or their brothers or their sisters or nieces nephews all that stuff and you know they have this one chance here but many of our family members have rejected us have rejected the truth haven't they so but you know it's good for them to understand that light has come into this world while they have that light they should receive that light because that light might not be presented to them in the same way ever again for the rest of their life some people send away their day of grace by rejecting us at the door that might have been their last chance to hear it you know and especially when it's an elderly person and then they just shut the door in our face those are the saddest ones to me is that that person even was brought light to their door because aren't we just bringing light that's not our light I mean we do have our own light because we have the holy spirit but the light that we're trying to shed abroad to them to every single door that we knock is that light of Jesus and then when that person that's you know in their 80s or their 70s or whatever and even if they seem remotely interested but then they just reject you outright that's really sad because it's probably the last chance that God gave that person it's like well you know maybe they didn't maybe they didn't get a clear presentation of the gospel but when they won't even hear what you have to say that's that's just sad it really is and I'm sure that you've all knocked a door that you thought maybe in a different circumstance or or something along those lines or maybe if their dog wasn't barking in the background and stopping them from coming out to talk to you because it was too cold or whatever I mean people have all kinds of excuses don't they but you know some people I I guarantee are replaying the excuse that they gave in their mind when somebody came to the door and brought that great light to them and they refused it so it says men love men darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil what is the choice they have get saved or stay in love with darkness and a lot of people want to stay in love with darkness they'd rather enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season than to suffer reproach with the people of Christ Moses said you know what I'm going away from Pharaoh I'm going away from Egypt and I'm going to go and be with God's people and did he suffer for it yes he did suffer for it but you know what he has a greater resurrection he's a great man of God people would say well you've made the wrong choice Moses look what all you look at these people just whining in the wilderness for 40 years and then got you so mad that you didn't even get to go into the promised land because you threw a temper tantrum at the waters of mariba you know but still I'm still sure that Moses would never say well I made the wrong choice you know what the wrong choice would have been to stay there and become tooting Moses or whatever he was going to become and learn all this worldly you know philosophy and wisdom he'd already learned all that stuff but see there's a time when the light comes to us and we got to make that choice and a lot of people love darkness so much look at look what Moses just think about what Moses had he was in the river pulled out of the river by Pharaoh's daughter raised as a prince of Egypt learned all their wisdom had all their treasure had all kinds of nice clothes he had it made but then he said you know what I don't care about this stuff it's just like the apostle Paul he had a mate he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees he was of the tribe of Benjamin you know you know circumcised the eighth day he was just like he was a perfect Pharisee you know had it going on and then he said you know what I count that as dung and you know what dung is right dung is not something that you want to mess around with so but that's what he counts it as all my education dung throw it in the dung pile I don't care it's not worth it to me look at verse 20 for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved because a lot of people want to continue you know people do sure that people make the choice of your you know you have those people that that you get to the end with them and then you say well if you believe all those things let's let's pray and ask and and have me trust Christ to save you and they go no I'll do it I'll do it later or they'll say yeah I'm just not really comfortable doing that in front of you whatever their excuse is but I guarantee you a lot of those people they're either still they could still be mulling it over I understand that never makes a decision the first time some stranger comes to their door and tells them something and then throws out their whole religion based upon something some stranger told I get that but there's also the people that probably say I don't want this because I want to keep doing what I'm doing now and I know that if I choose this decision that all this stuff is finished and that's a lot of the reason why people will make that decision they would rather enjoy their sin they would they love this says they love darkness and I love how these greek go back to the greek people love to just say oh agape love and you know if you look at the underlying greek word in that verse in verse 19 it says men agape that word for the word for agape love or whatever is that word love darkness and so their little greek thing falls on its head agape means love okay but men love like because they'll say agape is a godly love or whatever the look that god has for his people it just means it's just another greek word for love it doesn't mean anything necessarily special but it if it did you know agape darkness rather than light that means that they love that darkness so much that it's like god it's like there it looks like god's love for us but they love it for darkness I don't know if that I mean I'm not saying that's what it means I'm just saying that agape the word agape is is the underlying greek word there not going back to the greek so but anyway look at verse 21 it says but he that doeth the truth cometh to the light that deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in god so there are people that are going to accept that light but there's also going to be people that hate that light see there's a difference between someone that love they love darkness but then there's also the the category of people that hate light and those are the you know because it says the ones that do with evil hate the light neither come to the light so these are people that never come to the light so what would you call those people yeah reprobates here's the reprobate doctrine in john chapter 3 verse 20 anyway look at verse look at john 8 12 john 8 12 but some people hear the gospel but they will never come to the that's the scary part is when someone gets to that point where they're just like you know what I hate the light I don't want the light and then that that's what turns that person into a god hater it's just they once they hate that light once they hate so because the light is jesus right and so what are they hating that light they're hating that light they're hating god so then they become something that they probably wish they'd never become john 8 12 says then spake jesus again unto them saying i am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life so he is he proclaims himself to be the light of the world again referring back to genesis chapter one isn't he i am the light of the world he that follow with me shall not walk in darkness so what's he what's he's saying when we follow jesus where our pathways are going to be bright we're going to walk not walk in darkness we're not going to stumble and trip over stuff because we're going to have hit if we're following him i always tell people this that say they want to follow me in a car i say follow me like you'd follow jesus that means close and usually when i tell someone that they're like eight miles behind me in the slow lane i was just like that's not following is that how you that is how you follow jesus no i'm just joking but the point is is that i'm telling people to stick with me otherwise you're going to get lost so and it's the same thing with us if we don't stick close to jesus if we don't follow close to jesus we're going to lose our way and he says he that follow with me he didn't say he who saved won't walk in darkness it says he that follow with me see because getting saves the easy part following is the hard part and if you're going to follow jesus you know don't be like peter and it says peter followed him from afar because he was a reproach of some little girl that was saying you're a galilean and all that stuff obviously got his act together and did well but that verse in john where he says peter followed him afar off he warmed himself by the world's fire by the world's light think about that we want to follow jesus closely and when we follow him closely we're going to have the light of life we're not going to walk in darkness all of our steps are going to be the steps of a good man are ordered by god aren't they so number three this afternoon or this morning or whatever time it is the light of the church the light of the church so obviously jesus died for the church jesus died so we could be here today gathered together spirit-filled believers we are the church here right now we are the church and we're spirit-filled believers okay turn to colossians chapter 1 verse 26. colossians chapter 1 verse 26 so jesus is the light of the world we also have lights that god made to help us literally have light and to give us wisdom and pictures of spiritual things obviously jesus is a picture of the light that was created on day one there and then we have the light of the church so once jesus left he left us here to fulfill his great commission which is to go into all the world and preach the gospel and teach people the bible baptize people so that's the job of the church right colossians 1 26 says even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his saints so what does that mean it's shown to them right there was a time when jesus in the old testament was not he was not clearly shown in the old testament was so you know how the bible says dark saint that jesus you know talked to them in dark scenes and in proverbs it's so that people that can't understand that light couldn't understand the things that he was saying they're dark things are things that are hard to understand they're pictures that he was trying to give that unless you have the spirit of god you're not really going to understand those things and he spoke constantly in parables when he was preaching to people and even his own disciples were like what is he talking about you know because there are things that are spiritually discerned now obviously when we we read the gospels there will be times when jesus interprets those things for us or you know the spirit of god that dwells inside each believer and will help us to understand the scriptures but it says in verse 27 so he made manifest to the saints it had been hid from ages and generations so what does that mean it's hid well it wasn't enlightened to people it's hid it's in it was kind of in darkness not being able to be understood until it was manifest when things are manifest they're shown you hide something you can't see it right so it's blindness in a certain way right so it says in 20 verse 27 to whom god would make known what is the riches of the glory of this ministry or excuse me mystery among the gentiles which is christ in you the hope of glory the hope of glory remember glory is like intense shining right so the riches of the glory of the mystery among the gentiles so he's made known to us these things and what is what is the mystery christ in you the hope of glory so christ once you believe on in jesus christ the spirit of god comes and dwells with inside you it seals you with that spirit of promise and you can never be separated from god nothing can separate you from god you can't lose your salvation the spirit of god is going to dwell in you for all eternity and it says christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach warn every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in christ jesus so you know what are we supposed to preach well we're supposed to warn people aren't we and so that's what we're doing when we're going out and preaching the gospel we're warning you know sometimes people won't get saved you know a lot of times people get saved depending on where you're at you know Belize was apparently pretty receptive but you know you probably have put well way more hours in the soul winning here and and i was reading there's like a hundred and something salvations right which doesn't seem like a lot but if you're in a dark place it does seem like a lot you know and obviously Belize is very receptive and i'm very thankful for all the people that got saved down there and it's great news but we still have a job to do here if you want to go to someplace receptive you're probably going to have to go on a missions trip to a place where it's a lot more receptive but not everybody can do that you know so save up if you want to do that and um you know obviously we're doing a detroit soloing trip and that was very receptive last year so that's going to be in april um if anybody wants to go just see me after the service for details but anyway um so we're supposed to preach warning every man so when you know pastor menes says this a lot that we're your soul warning so even if you're warning people you're still doing the job that god sent you to do we're supposed to warn people to to what to flee from the wrath that's coming to them the wrath of god abides on all who will not believe right that's a they're just walking dead they're on a death sentence they're on a death warrant right now and unless they change and believe the gospel and decide you know what darkness isn't worth it i'd rather have the light i'd rather be separated from this darkness and take that light in me that's the job of us that's the job of every person in here is to warn every man teaching every man in all wisdom see we have an advantage that a lot of people didn't have before we have everybody here probably should have a king james bible that they can trust and that they can read every chapter of the bible that's nothing missing you're not having to unroll some scroll and you know stretch it around the room so everybody can read the book of isaiah i mean we got it made right now we have all the wisdom in the palm of our hand we have wisdom you can have all the wisdom right here in a little super computer that you carry around in your in your pocket all day i mean we have a lot of advantages so we can teach them all wisdom and present every man perfect in christ jesus because we have the advantage we have the roman's road you know paul you know there's people getting the book of acts but paul hadn't written the roman's road down yet had he but obviously there's other verses in the bible before that we're able to get people saved and still are but i'm saying that it's easier with the roman's road isn't it and just like it was easier for people to commerce in the old world of the romans because they had all these different various roads that are still visible and still intact in very many places which is really crazy because they're over 2 000 years old they had a pretty good infrastructure but we have the infrastructure of the bible in our hand where we can just walk up to someone and go here let me show you this verse and you know we have all wisdom right here at our hands every question that people ask at the door oh yeah you want to know about what happens if you kill yourself or what how you know do you have eternal security well yeah i got like 15 verses on that or whatever we have all the wisdom that we can present every man perfect in christ jesus because when they get to church they can learn the bible they can learn how to become that perfect man i'm not saying walking on water okay i'm talking about just being the complete package of a complete christian turn to matthew chapter five matthew chapter number five look at verse 10 the bible says blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you hey don't don't get all upset when people start reviling you and persecuting you and saying all kinds of mean things about you you know saying mean things about jason because he preached against margery green taylor or whatever and taylor green or whatever who cares that's what's going to happen you know if people aren't getting persecuted that's the problem it's like well what aren't you doing why are you not getting persecuted and you know so don't be ashamed of the fact that you're getting persecuted for saying what the bible teaches because i watched those videos that were the rebuttal videos and i was just like you have no understanding whatsoever do you they're like that's you know the bible doesn't teach any of that or whatever it's just like hold on a second the bible says that women are supposed to obey their husbands what are you talking that's what jason said wasn't it that they got everybody all even even you know republicans are mad at him you know it's just like even another so-called christians mad at them who doesn't teach the eternal security by the way yeah so you know don't be upset when things get preached your husband gets up here and preaches a sermon and then people are throwing them under the bus on twitter or whatever and making videos who cares that's what the bible says it's gonna happen you're like well what does this have to do with light well let's look down to verse 13 it says year the salt of the earth and you know what salt does it irritates doesn't it if you sweat profusely and and sweat goes into your eyeballs what do it stings doesn't it it stings and so a lot of people wear headbands or you know whatever or they wipe their head a lot or whatever they do but you want to try to keep that sweat out of your eyes because it stings why because of the salt if you ever go swimming in salt water and you have sensitive skin that salt will sting your skin and like i don't like my wife has to instantly take like a shower to wash all that salt water off because it irritates your skin that's what salt does but what else does it do it preserves doesn't it people tan hides or whatever do people that do taxidermy and they'll skin they'll take those skins and they'll put that salt on there to tan the hide but because what it preserves that skin doesn't it and so salt is used as a preservative for lots of different things and it's also used for good taste for savory taste so you know if you ever had a two dollar steak you're gonna need a lot of salt and a tenderizer but salt is good on food isn't it look what it says you're the salt of the earth but if the salt has lost his savior what am i talking about if the salt has lost its savor excuse me then is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men so we're supposed to be the salt aren't we we're supposed to be you know we're not here just to irritate we're here to preserve and preserving is a picture of what the the fact that we're preserved forever by jesus christ so we're we preach the word and to some people it's really irritating to some people it stings but to some people that preserves their life for for everlasting right you're like well what does that have to do with light well let's go down to another verse in verse 14 it says you're the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven so jesus starts out by talking about how we're blessed because we're being persecuted that's a blessing when men revile you when they cast out your name is evil when they when they say you're you're in a hate you're in a hate preaching cult or whatever and they won't give you a job or you lose your job because of that let me tell you something your reward is great and they're going to be punished that's right they're going to they're going to get destroyed you know the bible talks about jesus talks about how those that fall upon the rock you know and then it talks about the rock crushing them so you can either fall on that rock for mercy or you can be ground into powder by it so and you can either accept that light or be burned by that fiery light that's going to come for you at some point but we're supposed to be the light of the world because jesus isn't here anymore so the light of the world is jesus but now it funnels through his children the children of light he says ye are the light of the world let's talk about you so let's talk about the church let's talk about people that are saved and so it says we don't a city that's set on the hill can't be hid you can try to hide the fact that you're a christian all you want but people are going to find out people are going to know and if you're thinking different if you're talking different if they they can catch on that people can pick christians apart at workplaces really easily oh you want to come have a beer with us no why not what are you a mormon or something no i'm a baptist you know it's just like they're going to be able to know oh how many kids do you have eight oh you must be a catholic no i'm a baptist but you know what i'm saying like people you can't hide the fact that you're a christian you know so why even try a city that's you know it's comparing you as the light of the world to a city that's set on a hill if you put a city on a hill you know in the old times before you know there was all this electricity and stuff if a city was on a hill that would people could see that for miles around and they would go to that place right so the city that's set on a hill it can't be hid you can't hide your light so why not just let it shine why not let it shine so it says neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel so when you light a candle what's the purpose of lighting the candle it's to give light right it giveth light until all that are in the house when you put it on the candlestick what is the candlestick represented in revelation chapter one church yeah revelation chapter two the candlesticks are rep are the the seven golden candlesticks are the seven churches that he's writing to so when you light that candlestick if you light that candle then it is you know so saying you know he's going to give light to the church and that light is the light is you because this building here is not the church the people that are inside it are the church christ in you the hope of glory so it says let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven so that's why there's the separation between the light and the darkness because if people can't see the difference in you then it's going to be a confusing message to them isn't it but what are we we are supposed to have good works we're supposed to be careful to maintain good works you know this church does not have a problem with that you guys are out soloing every single week and you're here you know faithful to church services and i really appreciate that there's a lot of things i appreciate about this church but the fact that you know you guys are out soloing every week even though it's not the most receptive place in the world maybe you guys are just knocking on receptive areas but i mean it's not the most receptive place in the world you know so when you get people saved it's even more joyous isn't it but here's the thing so all the church plants that we have are in areas that are pretty much dark spiritually we're not in the bible belt we're not in places where you know there's every a baptist church on every corner and it what was it in georgia there was literally we're out in the country and there's baptist churches on every corner i'm not even kidding but how many of those baptist churches do you think are worth something probably not a lot probably not a lot you know baptist a lot of times means southern baptist you know how far off the edge they've jumped so i'm never going to give up the name baptist i think everybody else should just take baptists off their name that's good if they're going to not be baptists and not you know get up and preach the bible like it should be preached and they're not going to be soul winning and they're not going to you know teach separation from the world and uh you know i think that they should take their name off i'm not going to give up the name baptist i like the name baptist there's a there's a guy named john the baptist he was a pretty good guy and he baptized jesus so you know and that's what we're supposed to do go out and baptize believers that are saved right so we're baptists because we follow after that pattern that's the biblical pattern right and we believe the bible right so we have all these church plants that are in dark spiritual areas so vancouver washington is not super receptive to the gospel anymore it it was more receptive but it's not as receptive now in portland yeah i mean your uh chances for confrontation in the inner city when you knock those doors you know we haven't even begun to knock the inner city doors there but you know they got rainbow flags hanging off of most of their houses and their churches and they they're it's pretty bad over there and i'm not saying people can't get saved there i'm i'm sure they can be it's just that's going to be a a step up in the war zone right but of course we got surrey bc and you know but people still get saved every week at our church people still get saved every week in surrey people still get saved here in spokane and you know in the united kingdom who knew that was going to be as receptive as it is but it's very receptive they've gotten you know almost a thousand salvations this year so they had over a thousand the year before so i mean it's been very receptive there and now we have the new church plant in winnipeg manitoba canada and that place you know it's cold in the winter time they say it's like minus 30 or 40 sometimes so talk about polar soul winning and they still go they still go so i'm you know i like you do invite people have people invite you in or let me in right now i'm gonna give you the gospel i mean that's what i would be like it's an emergency let me in okay i just want to tell you you're gonna die and go to hell once you believe this but but our churches are not exactly in the bible belt are they so but here's the thing that's that's that's neat about our churches and where they're at is that in a place that's so dark that's where our brightness can shine brighter than in other places if you're in a place where there's a church on every corner it it's not special to people anymore is it but when you're in a church like this in a town like this where it's it's i mean are there a lot of christians here i'm sure there are a lot of christians here i'm sure there's a lot of people that are probably saved here but there's a lot of darkness here too i mean apparently you gotta have a lock on everything everywhere i mean it's it's like that in portland too you know it's getting that way in vancouver but our light can shine brighter because if you're in a dark place and you are that light it is going to shine brighter than most places now are people always going to be trying to constantly put the candle out yeah they are but you know what jesus christ said i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it that's not going to happen so as long as we're still continuing to do what we do and you know maybe and if this church has stayed the same size and everybody here stayed spiritual and everybody here went sowing every week i'd be happy i'm happy i mean the church hasn't really grown but you know you guys were in a hard spot you guys have been in a tough spot this year and it hasn't been easy you know you lost your leader from before and you know things just it got ugly we lost our building but now we're back you know and things were probably bleak and dark but one thing i really appreciate and i'm thankful about for this church is that i never heard one person whine about it you guys just continue to go people and brother paul and miss victoria and brother jason and brother daniel and miss marina and miss malina i really appreciate the fact that you opened your home up so that people could come and still go to church because not a lot of people will do that it's a very rare breed and you guys did it for what four months or something like that or was it more what may to what that's four months bro anyway it seemed like six it seemed like 666 so yeah and if you keep preaching hard then you might be back to jason's house but you know i i do i'm thankful for this church and i'm thankful that you guys stuck it out and gutted it out and i know that those weren't easy times those weren't easy situations but i do i am thankful for everything that you guys do here and i don't think there's a person here that doesn't do something and that's another thing that i really am thankful for in this church everybody does something everybody contributes and i appreciate that i'm thankful for you guys thankful for this church being it's a spiritual church it is a light shining in a dark place turn to uh isaiah chapter actually turn to second peter 119 second peter 119 second peter 119 says we have a more sure word of prophecy where unto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart so he says to take heed to this you know we have a more sure word of prophecy we have the bible that shines that light and you know we're the people that god has chosen to to shine that light on others we are the children of light we are the light of the world you know people say well that's blasphemy to say that's what jesus said didn't he say it he said ye are the light of the world you're the salt of the world you know and and so you guys are doing exactly what you need to be doing you know if people are if your sermons are going on uh news week and stuff like that you're doing something right because nobody else is preaching against margery green taylor or taylor green or whatever her name is i don't even know who she is really i just know that she you know jason didn't realize that they were divorced you know i mean he's it's not like he's keeping up on every single step of politics who cares that's right the point is and you know the point is still true she still should be at home if maybe if she would have stayed home and listened to her husband and let him run for office maybe they'd still be married that's right and their kids wouldn't be in a divorced home amen how about that and it's like you know people just get so upset about this stuff men and women are different like women need to just quit trying to be men and men need to quit trying to be women that's right this world is upside down and topsy-turvy turn to isaiah chapter 9 verse 2 chapter 9 verse 2 and when jesus came into this world it was obviously prophesied you know back in the old testament isaiah chapter 9 verse 2 it says the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them had the light shined turn to matthew chapter 4 verse 13 matthew chapter 4 verse 13 so we know that this is a prophecy that is talking specifically about jesus because it actually says it in matthew chapter 4 matthew chapter 4 verse 13 says and leaving nazareth he came and dwelt in capernaum which is upon the sea coast in the borders of zebulun and neftalim that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by isaias the prophet saying the land of zebulun and the land of neftalim by the way of the sea beyond jordan gallily of the of the gentiles the people sat in darkness saw a great light and to them in which sat in the region of the of the and shadow of death light is sprung up for that time jesus began to preach and say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand a great light what we're talking about is talking about jesus the light the great light that they saw was jesus and again we are now that light psalm chapter one uh go ahead second corinthians 4 3 i'm going to read psalm 119 104 it says through thy precepts i get understanding therefore i hate every false way thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path kind of goes along with the following jesus thing and if you look if you're following jesus one of the things you're doing is reading this book because if you're not reading this then how are you saying you're following jesus because his words are in this book how do you know how to follow jesus well he tells you he tells you what to do he tells you how to follow him so instead of getting directions from google in a car trying to follow me around you know think about following jesus you got to read the directions in this book right here and he's going to show you the way of of the way there right he's going to show you the way to follow him so second corinthians chapter 4 verse 13 says but if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the what's it say the light of the glorious gospel of christ who is the image of god should shine onto them and what are we trying to do we're trying to wake people up we're trying to snap them out of the spell that they're under that spell is satan taking people captive at his will he has blinded people's minds and given them all their dreams to come true and all this look people live vain lives in this world like oh i want to be an astronaut when i grow up daddy or whatever and you know you you live your life with this certain goal that you want to do some people are like well i know what i wanted to do with my life from the time that i you know was five years old or whatever well not everybody feels that way but those lives are vanity if they don't have christ in them that's right you could do all this stuff and you could retire with this nice house with the white picket fence around it the two dogs the two and a half dogs the two and a half kids and they all went to college and you can go and brag to your friends how your children went to college and they're ivy league you know professors or whatever whatever your you want to do is your vanity in life but when you die and you're buried under the dirt what does all that matter if you die and go straight to hell that means nothing everything you did meant nothing your yard that was immaculate and perfect means nothing it's going to be sold and the kids are going to fight over everything that was in the house and they're going to divide the dog in half now and they'll probably have custody battles over the dogs because people worship their dogs there literally is custody battles for dogs i mean anyway i'm not preaching about that look what it says in verse five for we preach not ourselves but christ jesus the lord and ourselves your servants for jesus sake for god who commanded the light shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ what is our job well he lays it out pretty simply for us and we're not going to preach ourselves don't go out today and preach your testimony brother but go out and preach that there's a light that is shined out of the darkness you know and it shined in my heart let me show you how it can shine in yours so there's many different lights in this world i just covered three basic you know points today but i just want us to remember the mission as we move forward into the holidays even though according to daniel thanksgiving is already today but thanksgiving christmas and new year let's focus let's refocus and remember that the main thing that we're here to do is we're to reflect the light of jesus christ in our lives and in our church to a lost and dying world and that's what it's all about is jesus we revolve around that great light and we get our light that we shine back onto other people from him so it's the light of jesus so let's pray heavenly father we thank you lord so much for this great church lord i'm so thankful for each and every person here just continue to bless this church lord and i pray that lord that this will be a light that shines in a dark place for many many years to come and i just pray that lord you that's the thing that's done keep us safe today we go out and i just pray that you would give a sweet fellowship and you