Latest / The Salt Company - Denton / John 8 | Light of the World

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John 8 | Light of the World · The Salt Company - Denton

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Guys, welcome to Salt Company.
0:01
SPEAKER_00: So good to see you guys here tonight.
0:03
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0:05
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0:07
SPEAKER_00: My name is Owen.
0:08
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0:22
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0:25
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0:29
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0:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then global trips is like you've already heard it.
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SPEAKER_00: Ashley is so passionate about this.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, she uh loves global trips.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: It's like if you are thinking about it, even just a smidge, you should ask questions, you should consider it.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Even if you're like, man, I don't know if I want to give up my entire summer.
0:47
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0:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like there's nothing uh worth setting back more than uh your career than uh pushing back the gates of hell uh uh by going overseas.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: So we would love for you guys to consider that.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh you still got a solid amount of time um before that app even opens, and then uh obviously we'll have interviews and all that.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: So you've got plenty of time to think about it.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: Um but seriously, I was never able to go, unfortunately, but uh you know, you should talk to Ashley.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: She would be able to do that.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: So uh but hey guys, here we go.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Before we're uh we're gonna dive back into the book of John tonight, we're gonna continue in to our series.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about this question, uh, and I'm curious what y'all would say.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: If like, what is something that if it just got completely wiped from existence, you just wouldn't even notice?
1:31
SPEAKER_00: Like you would not even notice at all.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay, like something gone completely, you never see it again, you never have it.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a food.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: For me, almonds.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's like we would be so good without almonds.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, at least personally, I I'm I'm okay with it, okay?
1:45
SPEAKER_00: Guys, seriously, do you know the amount of water it takes to like grow almonds?
1:49
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's nuts.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: I would be totally fine um without almonds.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: What is it?
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unknown: It's nuts.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: Nuts?
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's just nuts.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh-uh, oh, it's nuts.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Is that a joke?
2:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Guys.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, what what about something the other way around?
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SPEAKER_00: Like, what is something that you absolutely could never live without?
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SPEAKER_00: Like, if it disappeared, you would low-key disappear with it.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, is there anything in your life like that?
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unknown: Coffee.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Coffee?
2:17
SPEAKER_00: Guys, for me, the El Langley Bum energy drink.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I don't know what they're putting in that, but I have had like four of those uh today.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: I could not live without that thing.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: So good.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: God is seriously, there's there's plenty of like big things, you know, oxygen, water, food, but there's something that none of y'all are saying or even thinking about, and it's this, it's light, okay?
2:39
SPEAKER_00: Light.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: There are like few times in my life where I am like actually thinking about the light that's that's around me.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: I take it for granted.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: Seriously, I go outside when it's light outside, I take it for granted.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, that the sun comes up.
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SPEAKER_00: This room right now, that it's lit.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm not even thinking about it, okay?
2:52
SPEAKER_00: But there are like so many things in this world that we take for granted.
2:55
SPEAKER_00: Light is certainly one of them.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: I I did my research, I looked it up, I said, how long could human like humanity live without light in this world?
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it told me eight and a half minutes, okay?
3:06
SPEAKER_00: And then we would start to like start to die, seriously.
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SPEAKER_00: It's either you go underground towards the core of the earth, or you just die and I would die.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: But seriously, we need light to live.
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SPEAKER_00: Absolutely need it.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: I am I be able to live without almonds.
3:19
SPEAKER_00: We can't live without life, okay?
3:21
SPEAKER_00: Or without light.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: But here's why I bring this up.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: Okay, one, I do hate almonds.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: Two, is that tonight we're jumping back into our series.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: We're going through the I am statements of Jesus.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're calling it I am.
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SPEAKER_00: Six weeks, we're going over seven statements where Jesus is talking about himself and we're studying through what he is saying and how we can better understand who he is, what he has come here to do, and how it impacts us today.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay?
3:42
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're gonna do.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: We're in week two.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you missed out last week, I'll catch you up real quick.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's it's no biggie.
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SPEAKER_00: Last week we covered the first statement, which I am the bread of life.
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SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus says.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he preaches it to a crowd who is gathered around him.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: He feeds 5,000 people, okay, miraculously.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, I am the bread of life.
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SPEAKER_00: He feed or he is preaching to a crowd that just wants to take advantage of him.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, they're just there uh because they want to get something else out of him.
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SPEAKER_00: They've seen all the miracles that he's performing, and they're like, maybe he'll do another one, maybe he'll do it for me, maybe he'll like turn my you know one dollar into a million, and I'll be rich for the rest of my life.
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SPEAKER_00: That's their mindset, okay?
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SPEAKER_00: But in the end, he says, guys, I am the bread of life, the one who satisfies.
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SPEAKER_00: If you feast on me, you will never hunger ever again.
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SPEAKER_00: Guys, after this, we see it's a hard teaching for a lot of them.
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SPEAKER_00: For a lot of the people who are following him, too hard, they decide to leave.
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SPEAKER_00: And this is where we are in our next uh I am statement.
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SPEAKER_00: You go to John chapter 8.
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SPEAKER_00: So just two chapters later, we're gonna be in verse 12.
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SPEAKER_00: It's a short one.
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SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says It says, Jesus spoke to them again.
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SPEAKER_00: I am the light of the world.
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SPEAKER_00: Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I heard a lot of pages continuing to flip as I read that.
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SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna read it again, real quickly.
4:56
SPEAKER_00: It's nice and uh nice and easy.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the light of the world.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's literally what we're gonna do uh for tonight.
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SPEAKER_00: Very simple statement, a short one, but it has a profound impact on us tonight.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: A profound impact.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay?
5:14
SPEAKER_00: With with this statement, we get uh so many different angles, meanings that we're gonna jump into that.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna cover all of them.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: But before we do that, we're gonna we have to gather a little bit of context, but but before we do that, okay, we gotta know what's going on in the story before we can fully grasp what this means.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so in this section of John, chapter 8, we're in Jerusalem, and it would have been um a time where we're celebrating like crazy.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there are these series of festivals and feasts that that uh the Jewish people would have done to remember all that God has done from like past all the way to present, and they would have had these big celebrations so they don't forget.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay, they don't forget.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: And we are currently in one of them, okay?
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Specific time that we're in.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: It's called the Feast of the Tabernacles, okay?
5:54
SPEAKER_00: It's like what's a tabernacle?
5:55
SPEAKER_00: Don't know.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: But we're in the Feast of the Tabernacles, okay?
5:58
SPEAKER_00: This is the main goal for that specific festival is to remember what God has done in the past, specifically in Exodus.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Okay, in Exodus, we kind of talked about it last week uh when God made bread rain down from heaven, manna, he got that bread, he made it rain down from heaven, and similarly, through that same exact time, the Israelites are just wandering throughout uh the desert as they're trying to get to the promised land.
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SPEAKER_00: And they're not mindlessly wandering because they have the presence of God in the form of a cloud, and then more specifically in a pillar of light.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay?
6:31
SPEAKER_00: So they're they're wandering around in how they know where to go, uh when to stop, when when making they're on the right path, they're safe from their enemies, God presents himself, reveals himself in a pillar of fire and says, Hey, when this thing moves, you move.
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SPEAKER_00: Okay?
6:45
SPEAKER_00: And then when it's day, when it's light time out, that he gets a giant cloud and he says and hey, when this thing moves, you move.
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SPEAKER_00: And they do it.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and they they're just trying to get to the promised land.
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SPEAKER_00: Then this feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, man, it's a huge part because here's what they would do: they would light these giant candles, basically, like these massive candles chandeliers, like think the one out in the lobby.
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SPEAKER_00: Every single night of the week, they would light up the entire city of Jerusalem.
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SPEAKER_00: Right?
7:11
SPEAKER_00: Like they would turn all the lights off, and these candles would just be up.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: And they are like, it would be a lit party, okay?
7:16
SPEAKER_00: They're bringing out all the best food, all the best alcohol for this.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: It's like DJ uh Ty clone, who's gonna be at Flour Treatment.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: He's coming out, he's gonna DJ the whole thing, and Ashley's hitting the worm in front of all these candles.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure it was toga themes too.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's like they were they were going crazy for the Feast of Tabernacles, and everyone is just parting.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but you can imagine, here's where we are, we gotta go back.
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SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus says, I'm the light of the world, which is a big deal when you put it in the context that we're in.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jesus, he's at this feast, and it's maybe right at the start when they're lighting all these candles, or maybe it's at the end when all the candles are starting to burn out in front of everybody.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus says this.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the light of the world.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: I am the light of the world.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: And you can imagine, like, man, we see this uh again where Jesus is using something that is in front of the Jewish people's eyes, and he's uh using it to connect it back to who he is, right?
8:08
SPEAKER_00: Before, I am the bread of life.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: And then it says, I am the light of the world.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to show these people who he really is.
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SPEAKER_00: There's a deeper message that he is trying to get these people to see.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is making a statement here that could possibly single-handedly be the most important thing that he says in his ministry.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Everyone, like, oh, and he's talking about some candles.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: That's not that big of a deal, okay?
8:28
SPEAKER_00: But seriously, when you look at it, I mean, I think you're missing out on a lot if that's what you think about John chapter 8.
8:35
SPEAKER_00: See, John, the guy who's writing this, he understands.
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SPEAKER_00: He knows exactly what Jesus is doing here.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Right?
8:40
SPEAKER_00: When he's going back and he's writing this thing, he knows, like, okay, Jesus is gonna, he means he's saying this and he means this, and he's connected it all together, and he's given us a good trail to follow.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: And he knows exactly what Jesus is meaning, and he knows that it's significant.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: So, what does he do?
8:54
SPEAKER_00: He starts his entire book with it.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you go back to John 1.
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SPEAKER_00: The first thing that he is ever gonna write about Jesus, he he says this.
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SPEAKER_00: It's gonna answer the question for us tonight.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean for Jesus to call himself the light of the world?
9:06
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1 in John, it says this in the beginning was the word.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: And the word was with God, and the word was God.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: He was with God in the beginning.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: All things were created through him, and apart from him, not one thing was created that has been created.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's a little confusing.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
9:24
SPEAKER_00: That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it, overcome it.
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SPEAKER_00: So who's this talking about?
9:31
SPEAKER_00: Like, like, who does this sound like?
9:34
SPEAKER_00: I know you guys are all educated, so you guys know this.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Man, it's Jesus, okay?
9:38
SPEAKER_00: This is who John is talking about.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about Jesus.
9:40
SPEAKER_00: He starts it off right away and he compares him to light.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: What John is saying here, man, it's something that just goes over the heads of a lot of people.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: Okay, not everyone understands this.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, it's like even Jews themselves.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: They miss what John is trying to say here.
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SPEAKER_00: I saying that Jesus is God.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: John 1 1 is talking about Jesus.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: And now Jesus is God.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: He's on the same level as God.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: He describes Jesus as the word here, and he points out some crucial times where he shows up in history.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
10:14
SPEAKER_00: You can see Jesus meant the word was in the beginning.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he's at the start of time was Jesus.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: He was with God.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: Not only was he with God, but he was God.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: And then he's the light of all men, you know?
10:29
SPEAKER_00: But we we see that.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's talking about Jesus, we know it.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: Because if you go down just a couple verses in verse 14, it says that the word became flesh.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: The word or logos became flesh and he dwelt with man.
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SPEAKER_00: Jesus became a man.
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SPEAKER_00: The word of God became man and dwelt with us.
10:49
unknown: Right?
10:49
SPEAKER_00: So we go back all the way to the scenario that we're in in John chapter 8, right?
10:55
SPEAKER_00: We're in the scenario where Jesus is in the middle of this feast, he's saying, I am the light of the world.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: And more importantly, he's saying this, he says, I am God.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: I am God.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is saying.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: And you know, light, that's the thing, light is the whole reason they're having this feast.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: They're trying to remember the light that God led them with.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: So what Jesus is saying here, if if man, they go back to Exodus and try to remember, Jesus is comparing himself to the light of Exodus.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: He says, I am the light of the world, the light of Israel.
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SPEAKER_00: That's me.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the pillar that led uh you guys out of uh the wilderness into the promised land, it's like that's me.
11:35
SPEAKER_00: I'm the better light of the world.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, but I'm the light that's never gonna burn out.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, these candles, they're gonna like lose their, lose their power, they're gonna, you know, whatever, they're gonna melt and the wick's gonna burn off.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna burn off.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: I never will.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: I will never lose my light.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: I'll never turn my back on you.
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SPEAKER_00: I will always light the path that's in front of you.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: Right?
11:54
SPEAKER_00: The light of the world that in life is found in Jesus.
11:58
unknown: Right?
11:59
SPEAKER_00: So to these people who knew this, it would have been like, okay, a big thing is going on right now.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that I am the light of the world.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am the pillar at next to this, but to them they're saying, man, he's he's saying that he's the savior.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: So not only is Jesus saying I am the light of the world, but he's saying I'm the savior of the world too.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: You see the entire Old Testament filled with all these prophecies and depictions of a savior that's coming for God's people.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: And one in particular in Isaiah, it says that God will send a light to the nations, a light to the nations.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: Guys, in if you know, between uh Malachi and uh Matthew, there's a long gap uh of darkness in the world where God is not talking to his people.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's uh a gap of darkness where there are no prophets, there's no light in the world, and then Jesus shows up on the scene in John 8 and he says, I am the light of the world.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: So not only will Jesus be the light that never runs out, but he's the savior that everyone needs.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: The light which shines in the darkness and the light that will save the earth.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: This is who Jesus is, and this is why Jesus calls himself the light of the world.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's so profound.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: There's so many complexities to it.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: It's deep in ways that honestly we still are finding to understand.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so so what does this mean for Jesus to call himself the light of the world?
13:15
SPEAKER_00: To call himself God.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he is the light and he is the word that came in flesh and dwelt among us.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay, what does that mean for us?
13:23
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I want to do.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: The rest of the time our night, the rest of our time tonight, here's what I want to do is I want to shed some light, pun intended, on what that does for us.
13:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Jesus being the light of the world, how does that affect us today?
13:34
SPEAKER_00: And here's where I go.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: Three three places in scripture that God, or that Jesus being the light of the world affects us.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's the first one in Jesus in Genesis chapter one.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you know your Bible, you can go all the way to the front.
13:45
SPEAKER_00: Genesis is the first book of the Bible.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: You get past the table of contents and you're gonna be in Genesis.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: You can go there quickly.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna take uh just uh a quick look.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: And if you know Genesis one, we're in creation, okay?
13:55
SPEAKER_00: Nothing's created yet.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh and God is in the process of creating everything.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: And because we've read John 1 and we understand that Jesus is in the beginning, we know that Jesus is present in these pages.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says it says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: Now the earth was formless and empty.
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SPEAKER_00: Darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
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SPEAKER_00: Not what this means.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: It says that in the beginning, before earth, before, you know, the sun, before animals, anything, before humanity was created, God He creates the heaven and the earth.
14:31
SPEAKER_00: But notice how the earth is described here.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: It's created, but yet it's still formless.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: It's still empty.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: Formless and empty.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: Those words translated, I can't give me like void, confusion.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: One translation even calls it like unreality, which I don't even know what that under like, I don't even know what that means.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay, unreality.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm just like, I know it's bad, okay?
14:51
SPEAKER_00: It's not good, that it's unreality.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: But he describes the world as formless and empty.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: And then God speaks light into existence.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: And that's when you see the first thing that man, light is good.
15:02
SPEAKER_00: Could we be on the same page?
15:03
SPEAKER_00: Light is good, darkness bad, okay?
15:05
SPEAKER_00: That's what we see from Genesis 1.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: Light is good.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: So we go from this empty, dark world that's not filled with light.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: And this is where we see the first way that Jesus being the light of the world affects us because light fights against darkness.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Light displaces darkness.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: Where there is light, there is no darkness.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: Where there is darkness, there is no light.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: And if you think about the earth that's described before God puts light into it, it kind of sounds like even our own hearts before Jesus enters into our lives.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: Or we're we're unformed.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: There's a void, it's empty.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: The earth is without light, so are our hearts.
15:45
SPEAKER_00: Empty, depressed without without Jesus in it.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: Right now, if you're a believer in the room, man, there's you know the good news.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: You know that you you can think back to your life before Jesus and think, man, yeah, that was a tough time.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: Seriously, like there was darkness in my life.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: Some it's like depression, there's like uh footholds of sin in my life that I could not get away from.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus enters into your life and bam, there's light now.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's your heart right now.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Then you describe your heart.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, I feel empty inside.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: Depressed.
16:17
SPEAKER_00: Can't see the good in anything.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: There's no purpose, no direction for me.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: Empty, emotionless, emotionless, avoid.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: There's good news for you, if if that's you tonight.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says in Ezekiel.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: God, man, he enters into our life and then something changes.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: He transforms our hearts.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: In Ezekiel, it says, from a heart of stone and into a heart of flesh.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: When we are encountered by God, our hearts are transformed by the goodness of the gospel, his mercy, and his grace.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: And when light enters into the equation of our lives, it changes forever.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden we experience the mercy of God in our lives.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have freedom from sin, we have unity between other believers, and now we have a story that's worth telling.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: That is why when Jesus says that he is the light of the world, he doesn't just stop there.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Okay, because he actually continues down.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: He continues down and he gives almost a charge or a challenge to the believers that are around him.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you can look back, he says, I mean, I am the light of the world.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: Then he says this anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: Guys, when we encounter the God of the universe, there's something that should change in us.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: There's something that should be different in our lives.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: When we are met by the God of the universe, we should expect some things to change.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it leads us to ask this question tonight is are we living in the light?
17:40
SPEAKER_00: Are you living in the light?
17:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, seriously, if if I was able to write your entire life down on a piece of paper, okay, we got everything that you did uh this week.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: We get the Strava map of your life.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: It's like everywhere you went, we know everything that uh you know you looked up on your phone.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: It's like we've got your your search history, we've got uh your phone calls, text messages, uh your recently watched on Netflix, it's like everything.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: We've got it all down on a piece of paper.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: If some random was able to come and look at it and just can't compare it to even just the average student at Unity, the average student at T Dub, it's like, would they be able to differentiate between you and that person?
18:16
SPEAKER_00: That's basically what this is saying.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: It's like, would they be able to look at and be like, yes, that dude, man, he he living differently than that guy.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: That gal, man, she's living on fire for Jesus.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: She's like, she's got there's something different about her than all of her peers at T Dub.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: That sounds like a lot of people's worst nightmare.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: But like, is that true?
18:36
SPEAKER_00: If we got the evidence of your life on a piece of paper, would it look any different from your peers?
18:45
SPEAKER_00: Because when we're met by the power of God, all of a sudden something changes and we walk in the light.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: And then it leads us to this next question.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, are we walking in light?
18:56
SPEAKER_00: If not, it leads us to this question.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: If there is a persistent pattern or state of walking in darkness, then you gotta ask your question, am I actually walking in the light?
19:06
SPEAKER_00: You may be a believer, and you gotta ask yourself this question.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: If there's a persistent state of walking in darkness, am I actually walking in the light?
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Like your sin is your your life is defined by this sin that you just continue to go back to.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: It's like when it calls, there's no, there's no other option except for yes.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, maybe there's a sin that you haven't even took, like no one in this room knows about, and you're just so scared that if someone finds out they're gonna look differently about you.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe there's a grudge that you've had for years and years and years because your dad did that thing, or your mom did that thing, or your roommate did that thing last week, and you just can't get it out of your head, right?
19:39
SPEAKER_00: That you will just not give up is long past due.
19:44
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says to his followers, man, we need to walk in the light.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: We need to walk in the light in those situations.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: So for some of us tonight, man, what does it look like to walk in the light?
19:54
SPEAKER_00: Maybe God is calling you to walk in the light for the very first time.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: Maybe God is saying, Hey, you need to you need to walk in the light for the first time and become a believer.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: To walk in freedom knowing that you are forgiven.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: The grace of God is free.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: There is mercy for you to walk in the light.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: And maybe you have accepted that that free gift.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: That you have been walking in the light, but in the past week or the past two weeks, that's I mean, your life looks no different than anyone else.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: That you've regressed back into the darkness.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to confess your sins that you might be healed.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to forgive that person because Jesus first forgave us.
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Light fights against darkness.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: In a similar vein, we can look at the second way that light affects our life, and it's that light shows us the path that's before our feet.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want to go back to this whole context thing.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: Okay, John 8, where we're back in.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Let's go back to that.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: Let's get our heads back in that space.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: We go to the feast.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: Tabernacles, we're there.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: There's a big this big story, uh, or these big candles with a big story behind it.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: And it's really something that we need to look look to, okay?
21:03
SPEAKER_00: Exodus 11 is where, or Exodus 13 is where this whole story stems from.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: But we we've already talked about this, okay?
21:09
SPEAKER_00: So we won't spend too much time on it.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: So, right, these Jewish, uh, the whole nation of Israel, they were about to enter into the promised land.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden, these people have a doubt.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: They have disbelief in God that He's actually gonna uh you know give the Canaanites into their hands.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: So what does he do?
21:23
SPEAKER_00: He bans them.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: He says, guys, this generation is not entering into the promised land.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: So he does, he sends them on this whole long journey.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: For 40 years, he says, no one's gonna enter until that generation has died because they suck.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: But here's what we're gonna do.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna just wander around for 40 years, right?
21:38
SPEAKER_00: He does although they leave the potential of the promised land, God's presence does not.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: God's faithfulness does not leave them.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and this is everything that that we're trying that we're celebrating here in John 8 is that God's faithfulness didn't leave.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Man, how good is God! And here's what it's here's it described in in Exodus 13.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: It says this in verse 21 it says the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: So that they could travel day or night.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22, it says this is what I want you to see.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Never left its place in front of the people.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Man, this is good news for us.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: Seriously, such good news for us.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it reminds me I'm um uh just earlier this week, I'm watching Indiana Jones.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay, don't know why.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: Uh it came on my TV.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't mad.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, so what did I do?
22:38
SPEAKER_00: I I watched it, uh, and it it really reminded me uh of this right here as I was writing it.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: And if you've ever watched Indiana Jones, you know The Last Crusade.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know that one?
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they're trying to find the Holy Grail.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: Here's what they do they're fighting off all these Nazis and they're trying to find the Holy Grail, and it leads them to this like desert temple.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, I think it's in Arizona or something.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: It's not in Arizona, but it's uh it's like this desert temple, and they go in and they're trying to find the holy grail.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: And what's happening is they're being put through these series of challenges to test their faith, to test the faith of Indiana Jones.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Right?
23:10
SPEAKER_00: The first one, a bunch of blades come out, and there's a bunch of skulls, but he gets past it.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he gets past it, he says the penitent man will pass, and he passes.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: So, man, they go, and the next thing that they gotta do is they gotta cover this large gap.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's like one wall with Indiana on it, he's gotta get across.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: It's basically saying, like, hey, how are you gonna get a get across?
23:27
SPEAKER_00: It says, he who believes will take the next step, something like that.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: That's not exactly what it says, but that's the general vein of it.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so Indiana man, he opens up his book, he's trying to decipher everything.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Okay, I can't jump that far.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: How do I get across?
23:40
SPEAKER_00: And what he comes to is he comes to the edge, similar to similar to this, and it's like a whole like pitfall down there.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: It's just darkness.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Okay, I gotta take a step of faith.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: A leap of faith.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: I got faith, I'm gonna take a leap of faith.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: And all it is, he literally just puts a foot out and he steps.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden, he's he's on this like invisible path, and it's crazy.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: And and the music gets loud, and all of a sudden, I mean he goes and he gets the holy grail, and and everyone, you know, it is fine.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Sorry about that.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: It's like that they get the holy grail before the Nazis, everything works out, and it's great.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: But the path, you know, that that we're on, the path of God is rarely like Indiana Jones, guys.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: Rarely like that, okay?
24:16
SPEAKER_00: It's like God is almost never gonna call you to take a step out over the Grand Canyon, okay?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: If he does, it's like you should get seek wise counsel before you do that, okay?
24:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you have dreams of stepping out over um, you know, the Grand Canyon, you should talk to someone about that.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I'm trying to say is that rarely is God calling us to step out onto an invisible path of obedience.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: Rarely is it like that.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Why?
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Because we don't see that in scripture.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: We don't see that when the pillar of fire never leaves them, is lighting the path that they have to go before.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: It's never leaving them like that.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: All throughout scripture, we see that God will light the path that's at our feet, that we might walk in obedience to Him.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I I get it.
24:56
SPEAKER_00: Life can be so confusing sometimes.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: There can be times when it's like, oh my gosh, God, I'm just trying to faithfully follow you, and there are some questions that I need answers to, and like if you don't give that to me, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do it.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: But God, He's still faithful in every single scenario.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it can be frustrating that He doesn't let us see the whole picture.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: But every time, guys, here's an encouragement for you.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Every time, I mean, Scripture just says God will light the path at your feet.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: It literally says that.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 119, 105 says this your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.
25:30
SPEAKER_00: Because the light of the world brightens the path that he has set before us.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: Guys, when I was deciding whether or not I need uh wanted to go into full-time ministry or that God has called me uh to go into full-time ministry, I was a senior in college.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh I had the opportunity to go back to school to get my master's degree.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: I could still run at Michigan State um doing that, and it was paid for and it was a good deal.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: But this tattooed was literally like this verse was tattooed on my lips, okay?
25:54
SPEAKER_00: There was almost there's not a day where I was not praying.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: This like, Lord, light the path at my feet.
25:59
SPEAKER_00: It's like two rows diverged in a wood, and I I I couldn't decide which one to go, okay?
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: Every single day I was praying this, but the Lord lit the path at my feet.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: He made it uh He made it clear which way I needed to go.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Remember when I was thinking about uh marrying Maggie?
26:17
SPEAKER_00: It was like abundantly clear, okay?
26:19
SPEAKER_00: The Lord put a pillar of fire on that path.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: He was like, Yes, you need to do that.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: You need to marry her before she leaves you.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh and it was like so clear.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord graciously lit the lamp that was before my feet.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
26:30
SPEAKER_00: When we're thinking about moving across the country to help start a church, Maggie and I, I mean, we're praying, we're not even married yet.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: We're we're engaged, we're like, gosh, is this what God is really calling us to do?
26:38
SPEAKER_00: Seems like a big uh you know thing.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Did you get married then move across the country?
26:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he graciously lit the path that was before our feet.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have it any other way because I wouldn't be best friends with all of you guys.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: It's like, like, seriously, the Lord will light the path that's at your feet.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: To walk in obedience to him.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here, here, notice what it says though.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Notice what it says.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: It says that the word is the lamp for your feet.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: He promises that the light of the path, man, the next step, man, it's at your feet.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's gonna show you the next step of obedience.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: The light will show you where to step next.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't show you the whole path, but he does show you where your next step is.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay, in other words, he's gonna show you, man, what to do?
27:23
SPEAKER_00: Man, are you wrestling with maybe going overseas?
27:25
SPEAKER_00: You've always been called to do it.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: It's like, should I apply?
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it's like, should I uh, you know, go to fall retreat this year?
27:31
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I don't know, that's uh a decent bit of money.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: I don't know any of these people.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: It's like, could that be the next step uh, you know, with him?
27:38
SPEAKER_00: Maybe for you, it's like I just gotta go to fall like Fall Louis.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: It's like I gotta get friends, you know?
27:41
SPEAKER_00: It's like taking that uh step of obedience to drive 15 minutes to go have a good time.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: For some of you, the next step of obedience is to place your faith in him, which is a big step.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that the Lord would light the path at your feet and that you might be able to take the next step of obedience, to be like Indiana Jones, not stepping onto an invisible bridge, but stepping onto a bridge towards obedience.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: The path before our feet will be lit.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: That's an encouragement to you guys.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: That's how light affects us in a second way, and here's the last one.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Light fights against the darkness, it pass it lights the path at our feet.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: And lastly, light is missional.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: Light is missional.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: Mission impossible, it's that, okay?
28:22
SPEAKER_00: It's missional.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: As if you came a few weeks ago, we actually already looked at at what we're about to read, okay?
28:27
SPEAKER_00: We're going through our series, uh, through our essential series, and we're going through our last uh one is uh on mission.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: And we're saying, man, how can we uh be people of uh the word of God in God's community and on mission for God?
28:39
SPEAKER_00: And we're saying, okay, we need to be the light of the world.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna read Matthew 5 in here in just a second.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: But guys, if there's anything that uh I have learned, there's a lot of things I've learned in the past eight years.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: But one thing is that I could read the same stinking piece of uh scripture every single day, and I would learn something new about it.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, there's gonna be new angles to it.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: It's like you can look at a diamond like 50 ways and you're gonna see a new sparkle.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: It's like the same thing with God's word, okay?
29:02
SPEAKER_00: Every time you read it, a new nugget of truth cut comes uh forth.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: So here's what we're gonna do.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at it, we're gonna see, man, how can the light affect our life to be, to reflect God uh in our lives today?
29:12
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says uh Matthew 5, uh verse 14.
29:15
SPEAKER_00: It says, You are the light of the world.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.
29:21
SPEAKER_00: So no one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, in the same way, let your light shine before others, so that may be that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, I don't I don't know if you know, like um, you know, engineering of the day, um, but back then houses a lot different than what they were uh today.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, not what uh we're used to here in uh North Texas.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh most of those houses, one room, maybe two, if you were loaded, okay?
29:52
SPEAKER_00: It's like one, maybe two uh rooms.
29:54
SPEAKER_00: And what they had to do, they mean they had no water, they had no uh, you know, electricity to like go flip on a switch, they had to walk uh five miles for the water.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: I walk five feet, okay?
30:03
SPEAKER_00: It's like man, we are blessed.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: They didn't have modern technology these days.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: So what they had to do is when when the sun goes down, on my side of town, you know, when the when the sun goes down, what they had to do, I'm sorry, what when the sun went down, they had to light a candle.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: They they lit a lamp to like light up their room.
30:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
30:20
SPEAKER_00: If it was a big house, they'd light one, maybe two.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, man, you don't light a lamp, or you yeah, you don't light a candle just to put a lampshit on it.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
30:28
SPEAKER_00: What this is saying is, guys, it's like when you light a lamp, you let it shine bright.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
30:35
SPEAKER_00: And man, this applies to us because if you look at our world today, we are a lot like an unlit house.
30:43
SPEAKER_00: A house with no water, with no light, we are dark.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: We are living in a dark place.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: Our culture, the world we live in, then the campuses, our our nation, our world is a dark place.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you can you can like turn on your TV.
31:01
SPEAKER_00: You can go home tonight, uh, you can turn on your TV if any of you like watch live TV anymore.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and you can turn on the news, and there's gonna be uh 50 examples of how darkness is running rampant across uh our world.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we are still feeling the effects of sin every single day.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: And there are example after example after example of how this is true.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you turn on the television, it's like, yep, there goes uh another uh corrupt politician.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh there goes, yep, another war that was just started.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh the gas of price just went up.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: It's like, gosh, darkness.
31:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
31:30
SPEAKER_00: Another murder in our town, darkness, another disease that is like running around uh, you know, our our country or in a in a different country, darkness.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: We live in a dark place.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: But guys, here's what we have been called to do.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: We've been called to be the light of the world.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: The light of the world.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: And in not we don't even have the responsibility of being the light of the world, but we are called to be a reflection of the light of the world.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're not the sun.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the main source of light.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: We are simply the moon.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you realize when it gets dark, uh, it's still light outside, and the sun projects off the moon and then comes uh to earth.
32:10
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's still light out.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we are called to be reflections of Jesus in a dark place.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I I'm a uh I'm a strictly visual learner, so here's what we're gonna do.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna shut off all the lights here in just a second, okay?
32:21
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna show you guys uh how this means.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: I want everything uh to be off.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a part of that, can you please do that?
32:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh that would be great.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: Um but but here, I'm gonna illustrate how our world uh can be very, very dark in quick.
32:34
SPEAKER_00: I want it to be really dark, so I'm gonna I'm gonna turn all of these off, okay?
32:37
SPEAKER_00: Um there we go.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: That's that's coming off.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: Last one.
32:40
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
32:41
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is an example.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: This is like way darker than I thought.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: But guys, seriously, okay.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: Let's lock in.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: It's dark.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I can't even see the front row right here.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: This is crazy.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: But guys, seriously, this is why we're afraid of the dark.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I'll tell you, it's not easy to be lights in a dark place.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: It's not easy at all.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Why?
33:03
SPEAKER_00: Because we're afraid of what happens in the dark.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: We're afraid of what happens in the dark, okay?
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Because in the dark is where the first lie is told about your coworker.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: In the dark is where greed starts when you just take a little bit extra when you're not supposed to.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: In the dark is where sexual immorality starts behind the screen, okay?
33:21
SPEAKER_00: In the dark is where murder happens.
33:23
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is our world right now.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: It's dark.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: But then one person is a light.
33:29
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
33:30
SPEAKER_00: It's like, whoa.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: In a dark place, it it lights it up pretty good, right?
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Man, but there's still people in the back.
33:38
SPEAKER_00: Man, I can't see.
33:39
SPEAKER_00: There's still there's still darkness over here in the corners.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's what I want you to do.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: I'll pull up your phone.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we are called to be the light of the world.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: When one person does it, yeah, it's okay.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: But seriously, when everyone does it, man, there's nothing that that can hide.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: There's no more uh breeding ground for darkness and for evil in our world when we are a bunch of lights in a dark place.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: Before, I I could have been flipping you guys all off and you wouldn't even know.
34:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
34:10
SPEAKER_00: But seriously, now when there are a bunch of lights, a bunch of people who are afflecting Jesus in every single aspect of their life, light starts to illuminate.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: Cultures start to change.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Okay, campuses start to act differently, friend groups start to act differently.
34:25
SPEAKER_00: They form, it's like when Jesus enters in your life, you you act differently.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: What happened if Jesus entered our culture?
34:30
SPEAKER_00: What happened if a bunch of lights were turned on?
34:34
SPEAKER_00: What would happen if all of us were sent on mission to God to be a light in a dark place?
34:40
SPEAKER_00: I think it looks something like this, where finally we can all see each other.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we can turn the lights back on.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm gonna do.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: I gotta turn these back on too.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: I told Tyson I would.
34:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we need to lock back in.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we're called to be a light in the dark place.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: The responsibility of being the light is not on us.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: Yet we are called to be reflections of Jesus.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: Guys, how we talk, where we go, what how what we post on social media, how we talk about other people, how we talk about our coworkers who no one likes.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we are we are not uh people who adapt with uh our our culture, we are people who change the culture.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: North Texas would look a lot different if we were a bunch of lights that were set out to be light in the darkness.
35:33
SPEAKER_00: I pray that this room would be the start of something here and then.
35:37
SPEAKER_00: That would be a start of people who would want to come to UNT because they know, man, there is a lot of godly people that go there.
35:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, parents who want to send their daughter to Tita because they know that there are people who are living for the Lord there.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: People who are coming to know Jesus every single day because of what you guys are doing.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: One light is a little effective, a lot of many lights is greatly effective in our culture.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: Guys, here's what I'm praying.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: We we're gonna worship here in just a second.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm praying is that we would be lights in a dark place.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: So this week, I man, I pray and I hope that you would pray that God would use you to be a light in a dark place.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna pray and we're gonna we're gonna worship.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for uh the I am statement, the I am statement that you are the light of the world.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: God, with God, without you, we know that there is nothing that's possible.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: That's what it says in your word.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we know that without you there is no light in this world.
36:37
SPEAKER_00: We are simply reflectors.
36:38
SPEAKER_00: God, we are the moon, but God, I pray that you would shine brightly through us.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray for boldness for these students as they leave here today.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: God, would they go to their campus with boldness with the word of God?
36:54
SPEAKER_00: Lord, would you light the path that's at their feet for them to take the next step of obedience towards you, God?
37:01
SPEAKER_00: I pray for salvations.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: I pray for baptism that people would come to know you because of what these students are going to do.
37:07
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, I pray that you would light up our campus and our culture for you.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: I praise in your name.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: You guys can stand.