Sermon

Perfect Christmas Week 2 - Light It Up - Pastor Kipp Penrod

Life House Church

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  1. Thank you for listening to this message from Lifehouse Church.

  2. All right, good morning, Lifehouse.

  3. It's good to have you in God's house this morning.

  4. Heard you worshiping all morning long.

  5. I do know this.

  6. God's word says that God inhabits the praises of his people.

  7. And I notice as the worship goes up, you can feel God's presence come down, right?

  8. The more we engage in worship, the more we feel God's presence all around us.

  9. You begin to sense his move.

  10. And I have felt that.

  11. And I don't know, there's just this interesting thing as I felt God's presence coming in today.

  12. There's this sense of peace.

  13. I don't know if anybody else has experienced it, but there's this sense of peace in my

  14. spirit.

  15. So it's good stuff.

  16. Man, it is good to be in God's house.

  17. I love when God speaks, moves, and touches.

  18. That's why you come, right?

  19. You don't come just to hear me or just to see the person sitting beside you.

  20. But we should become to experience God himself.

  21. All right?

  22. Amen?

  23. Amen.

  24. Well, it is Christmas time.

  25. It is, hopefully you've experienced some of that Christmas spirit as you've gone along.

  26. And this morning, I kind of want to talk about something that goes along the lines with Christmas,

  27. something that's pretty familiar.

  28. And where Dixie and I live currently, we moved two years ago and where we live now, when

  29. we call home now, I would describe where we live as a suburbanite meets country kind of

  30. area.

  31. All right?

  32. Our neighborhood is tucked between two farmer's fields.

  33. They love to spray manure there.

  34. So, right?

  35. So in the summertime, when the wind's just right, we smell all like a barn, right?

  36. And when the wind goes the other direction, not so much.

  37. And I love this neighborhood because we're not quite sure for suburbanites or for country

  38. folk.

  39. And it works out really well for Dixie and I because the inner suburbanite and her comes

  40. out and the country, Hick and me comes out all at the same time where we live.

  41. But one of the interesting things that happens in this neighborhood, we're able to tell when

  42. Christmas is approaching because in this neighborhood, people begin to put up Christmas lights early,

  43. right?

  44. The houses, if you come into my neighborhood and it begins to get dark, right?

  45. All of a sudden, the houses begin to be outlined with lights.

  46. You start to find lights in the front yards.

  47. You start to find houses lit up.

  48. And if you happen to live in a suburbanite neighborhood like we do, right?

  49. No matter what size that neighborhood is, how many know there's always that person who

  50. gets their lights up first?

  51. Yeah, right?

  52. You know, there's that person in the neighborhood who's the first to get their lights out, always

  53. a little bit too early, in my opinion, right?

  54. But they get them up first.

  55. And I'm not going to lie.

  56. I want to be that person.

  57. All right.

  58. I want to be the first one and I want to be the best in my neighborhood.

  59. That rarely happens.

  60. But I want to get the lights just right.

  61. I want to get them perfect.

  62. I want to light it up.

  63. I want to set the mood for Christmas, right?

  64. And I got to tell you, there's a little bit of spiritual competitiveness or maybe unspiritual

  65. competitiveness that comes out in getting those lights up first.

  66. And you know, I don't know what it is.

  67. We want to pull into the neighborhood.

  68. We want it to feel good.

  69. You want to feel like Christmas.

  70. You want it to feel perfectly like Christmas, right?

  71. How many know sometimes you get that feel good feeling when you go to see the lights?

  72. Anybody go see the lights yet?

  73. Right.

  74. Cruise around.

  75. You head up into Hershey lights somewhere like that.

  76. And we go to great lengths, really at Christmas time, to make sure that it feels like Christmas.

  77. We put up decorations, right?

  78. We put up lights and lights play a big part of that.

  79. We put Christmas lights all over everything.

  80. It's true in here.

  81. It's all lit up with Christmas trees, right?

  82. We put lights on our trees.

  83. We put lights on our houses.

  84. We put lights on our front lawn.

  85. We put lights on our cars.

  86. We put it on tractors.

  87. I've seen it on a backhoe this year, right?

  88. Last night I saw a school bus.

  89. The thing from front to back was lights, right?

  90. We'll light up just about anything and stick lights on anything for Christmas to feel like

  91. Christmas.

  92. Tell, go ahead, turn to your neighbor right now.

  93. Tell them the weirdest thing you've ever seen lit up in a front yard.

  94. Go ahead.

  95. Tell them right this second.

  96. Come on.

  97. The weirdest thing you've ever seen lit up in a front yard and it could be in your yard.

  98. I don't know, right?

  99. But you name it.

  100. You name it.

  101. We slap lights on it and we want that Christmas feel.

  102. We want that perfect Christmas.

  103. We want to go down the road and do the ooh and do the ah.

  104. And while we are big proponents of those Christmas lights, helping us to feel like it is the

  105. perfect Christmas, we may or may not be aware of how significant those little lights really

  106. are.

  107. Honestly, I can't overstate the importance of light when we talk about Christmas.

  108. When we talk about Jesus and His birth, I cannot overstate the reality and the importance

  109. that scripture bears out of light in our lives.

  110. And matter of fact, all the scripture really boils down all of life to light and to darkness.

  111. It really does.

  112. If you start to look at scripture from Genesis to Revelation, you'll start to find out that

  113. all of life boils down to light and to darkness.

  114. And while so many people will argue about the gray, right?

  115. Everybody always wants to talk about the gray.

  116. You know, well, this is kind of a gray area.

  117. That's kind of a gray area.

  118. Scripture doesn't talk much about the gray.

  119. It talks about light and it talks about darkness.

  120. You can start in Genesis and move through to Jesus' birth and you can go the whole way

  121. to Revelation and you're going to start to find out what God says about light.

  122. Even in generation, in Genesis, God gives light an assignment.

  123. So if you got your Bibles this morning, I want you to go ahead and turn to Genesis chapter

  124. one.

  125. Kind of an odd place to start with the Christmas message, but I want to go to Genesis chapter

  126. one and we're going to start at verse three.

  127. And while you're turning, I'm going to pray over our ears receiving the word of God.

  128. Father, we come before you grateful, thankful for this day.

  129. God, I thank you for your word.

  130. God, that soaks into our spirit, into our heart.

  131. I thank you for the light of God, Lord, the light that shines in our path.

  132. Lord, I pray God illuminate today.

  133. God, I pray that you light up today in our spirits.

  134. God, your word.

  135. God, that it might impact us in an amazing way, and Lord, we'll just give you praise

  136. and glory all along the way.

  137. In Jesus name, I pray this.

  138. Amen.

  139. Everybody say it together.

  140. Amen.

  141. Amen.

  142. Genesis chapter one, verse three, it says this, and God said, let there be what?

  143. Light.

  144. Right.

  145. And there was light and God saw the light and it was good.

  146. And God divided the light from the darkness.

  147. God called the light day and the darkness He called night and the evening and the morning

  148. were the first day.

  149. So at the creation of the planet, right?

  150. When God, the creator steps out and says, I'm going to create all things on this earth,

  151. He takes light and He takes darkness and He separates the two.

  152. He puts one over here and one over here.

  153. And God Himself begins to divide light from the darkness.

  154. He literally gives each of them an assignment and actually in particular light and assignment.

  155. If you jump down to Genesis chapter one, verse 14, it says this, then God said, let there

  156. be lights in the firmament, right up in the heavens in space to divide the day from the

  157. night and let them be for signs and seasons for days and for years.

  158. Right.

  159. Light, right.

  160. Night and day separate us.

  161. Right.

  162. That's what you have in the day.

  163. Right.

  164. You got night and day makes a day.

  165. It makes years.

  166. Right.

  167. We measure time by this seasons and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens

  168. to give light on the earth.

  169. The obvious reason for light.

  170. And it was so.

  171. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, which is the sun, S-U-M

  172. and the lesser light to rule the night, which is the moon.

  173. And He made stars also.

  174. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over

  175. the day and over the night and to divide light from darkness.

  176. And God saw that it was good.

  177. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

  178. As we look close at verse 18 in this particular passage, we see a God given assignment for

  179. light.

  180. God says that the light is to rule over the day and light is to rule over the night.

  181. Right.

  182. It is light's God given assignment is to rule over darkness, is to rule over the day and

  183. is to rule over night.

  184. Anytime light is present, God's given assignment for it is to rule over darkness, is to rule

  185. over the day, is to rule over the night.

  186. The Bible does not say that light and darkness are two equal opposing existing forces.

  187. It doesn't say that in God's word.

  188. It never mentions darkness ever just ruling over the light.

  189. God's word never speaks about darkness having the power over darkness or over or darkness

  190. having power over the light in any way, shape or form.

  191. God's divine order for light is that light rules over darkness anytime and every time

  192. that light is present.

  193. It is supposed to rule.

  194. Now I know some of you have seen the Burger King commercial.

  195. And you think you're supposed to rule.

  196. All right.

  197. How many know what I'm talking about?

  198. I mean I get three people in the house seen a Burger King commercial.

  199. All right.

  200. Give them all.

  201. You rule.

  202. Nothing.

  203. Got nothing.

  204. Go look it up.

  205. I thought that would go over a lot better.

  206. But God said that the light is to rule.

  207. Tell me you're going to get this by Thursday.

  208. Go watch the commercial.

  209. In God's divine design, right, in his order in the universe, in creation, light is assigned

  210. a purpose.

  211. It's one of God's universal laws.

  212. And you might say, well, why is this significant to you and I?

  213. Why does this matter?

  214. Because this is one of those times in God's word where the physical slides over into the

  215. spiritual.

  216. What God spoke in the physical also applies in the spiritual.

  217. We need to realize how powerful this really is in the world that's around us and in our

  218. own lives, physically and spiritually.

  219. If we were physically to have the sun not rule any longer, what would happen if the

  220. sun would suddenly cease to shine?

  221. What would happen?

  222. How many know we would radically alter our lives, right?

  223. If the sun stopped today at noontime, it no longer would shine.

  224. The moon would no longer reflect the sun's light in the evening.

  225. We would be in huge trouble in a very short period of time.

  226. Everything about life as we know would shift and change very quickly.

  227. Besides not being able to see very well, besides being stumbling around in the dark, right,

  228. within the week, a scientist tells that the average temperature on the surface of the

  229. earth would drop well below zero degrees, right?

  230. All across Florida would be zero degrees, right?

  231. Jamaica would be zero degrees and colder.

  232. In less than a year, the earth's surface would begin to cool and it would begin to cool off

  233. and it would actually drop to a temperature of negative 100 degrees.

  234. Our atmosphere would begin to liquefy and collapse, right?

  235. And the top layers of the earth would freeze and the oceans on the top layers would begin

  236. to freeze over.

  237. And at a minus 100 degrees, every living thing on the face of the earth would freeze and die

  238. if light did not rule over darkness.

  239. And in apocalyptic irony, really, the deep oceans would take about another thousand years

  240. from the heat's core to, and because they're so deep to freeze in place.

  241. And when they would freeze in place completely solid, the earth would be a balmy negative

  242. 400 degrees.

  243. This is according to scientists at the California Institute of Technology.

  244. This is where we would be if light would not rule over the darkness, if light would cease.

  245. What's the theology?

  246. What's the knowledge?

  247. What's the wisdom here?

  248. What's the Christmas truth in this?

  249. Anytime darkness rules over the light, death is inevitable.

  250. And anytime light rules over the darkness, God's plan for life is taking place.

  251. And that is in the spiritual, that is in the physical, it crosses both borders, right?

  252. And that's why at the very first Christmas, when Jesus came in a way, right?

  253. When God came to earth, God wrapped in flesh, came in a way nobody was expecting.

  254. The incarnation of God, God in flesh, Emmanuel with us, right?

  255. He comes to live among us.

  256. He comes to be a part.

  257. Light played a huge part in the announcement of Jesus.

  258. The very first Christmas had the very legit Christmas lights, right?

  259. It was a dawn of something.

  260. Someone, and some of those who would first hear the message and some of those who would

  261. first hear the announcement and would see the light was the shepherds who were out in

  262. a field.

  263. The word of God says that they were watching, right?

  264. The shepherds were out watching the flocks by night and an angel of the Lord appears

  265. in the sky and the heavens begin to open up and the angel begins to announce them the

  266. birth of Christ.

  267. And the word of God says that the heavens opened, light began to shine everywhere, right?

  268. There was light shining and it scared the heebie-jeebies out of these shepherds.

  269. Have you ever had the heebie-jeebies scared out of you?

  270. How many know what I'm talking about?

  271. Somebody stands behind the door.

  272. One of your family members thinks it's funny.

  273. You walk through the door.

  274. They scream.

  275. You jump.

  276. You slap them a little bit.

  277. Okay, right?

  278. Right?

  279. But these shepherds, they saw light scared the heebie-jeebies.

  280. That's what the word of God says, right?

  281. In Luke 2 10, it says, do not be afraid for behold, this is the angels talking to the

  282. shepherds because they're freaked out because of all the light.

  283. I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people for theirs born to you

  284. this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord.

  285. And this will be assigned to you.

  286. You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.

  287. And when the shepherds get done freaking out from all the light and from the heavenly announcement

  288. and they begin, they experience light rolling over darkness, they set out to find the light,

  289. Jesus Christ in Bethlehem because the light showed up and rolled over the darkness.

  290. And it didn't end there because wise men, Magi from the East, kings from the East, they

  291. followed a light to find Jesus Christ.

  292. They found, in Matthew 2 1, it says, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the

  293. days of Herod the king, behold, wise men, these were other kings from the East, other

  294. leaders, Magi came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

  295. Where we have seen his star, right, in the East and have come to worship him.

  296. Now I don't know about you, but I don't know anybody else on the face of the planet who

  297. has a legit star that followed them when they were born.

  298. Anybody in the house have that happen?

  299. Anybody know anybody that that's happened with, right?

  300. Jesus, when he's born, God lights up the heavens, right?

  301. The father lights up.

  302. He actually assigns a star to Jesus.

  303. He says this star is your star and this star is going to follow you and it's going to lead

  304. others to you and there's going to be some kings that are going to come.

  305. And he literally assigns light in the darkness to follow Christ.

  306. And I know these days, right, you can get, I don't know if you know this or not, but

  307. you can get his star assigned to you.

  308. If it's a very romantic gesture, apparently, right, you can get somebody's name, their

  309. name assigned to a star somewhere in the universe.

  310. I don't know who came up with this, but how many know that star does not follow you around?

  311. It is not going to come to your house and shine light down upon your house and let you

  312. know that's there.

  313. But God the father, when Jesus came to earth, when God himself comes, he places a light

  314. in the sky and he literally sends some men, some wealthy, educated Magi that were kings

  315. in their own right and they followed this star and this light.

  316. Have you ever stopped to wonder, how do they know?

  317. Did they just go out one night and look up like, wow, look at that nice bright star.

  318. I bet you that leads to Jesus.

  319. I bet you that leads to the king of the Jews, right?

  320. Hey, let's pack our bags and head that way.

  321. Do you ever wonder how, you know, I thought about that a little bit.

  322. I thought, how in the world do they know?

  323. You know, how did they get, you know, how did they just look up in the skies or study

  324. the heavens and decide, you know what, this star's moving.

  325. This thing's following somebody.

  326. I believe this.

  327. I believe the Holy Spirit spoke to them or angels spoke to them or God came to them in

  328. visions and dreams, all of them.

  329. I don't know how it happened.

  330. I don't know what order, the word of God doesn't tell us, but God's word does tell us that

  331. these Magi, these kings traveled to find the child, the Messiah and not sure, right, were

  332. the stars even going to land them.

  333. Verse three says, then hered the king, heard this, hered the king at the time, right?

  334. And he was not a righteous king, which troubled in all Jerusalem with him.

  335. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired

  336. them where the Christ was to be born.

  337. These Magi come into the country.

  338. They go right to the king of that country, which was Herod.

  339. And they say, we're here.

  340. We're following a star.

  341. We know the Messiah has come.

  342. We know God is here somewhere and we, he's king of the Jews, right?

  343. And Herod hears this and he's thinking, I don't want no other king.

  344. I'm the king.

  345. And he starts to play along.

  346. So they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, but

  347. you Bethlehem.

  348. Now it's prophesied that Jesus is going to be born.

  349. The Messiah is going to be born in Bethlehem.

  350. But you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among these rulers of Judah.

  351. But for our view shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

  352. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the

  353. star appeared.

  354. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young child.

  355. And when you found him, bring word back to me that I might come worship him also.

  356. Herod is evil.

  357. He gets these kings, these magi in front of him and he says, man, that sounds wonderful.

  358. When you find him, you just bring word right on back to me and I'm going to come worship

  359. him too.

  360. But that was not his plan.

  361. His plan was to kill Jesus.

  362. His plan was to take out the next king.

  363. He didn't want the Messiah to rise up.

  364. And the word Matthew 2, 9 says, then when they heard the king, they departed, the magi

  365. departed and behold the star which they had seen in the east went before them to a came

  366. and stood over where the young child was and they saw the star and they rejoiced with exceedingly

  367. great joy.

  368. And when they had come into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother,

  369. they fell down and worshiped him and they opened their treasures and they presented

  370. gifts to him.

  371. Gold, frankincense and myrrh.

  372. They come, they find Jesus.

  373. They come into the house where Jesus is now living with his parents and they begin to

  374. present gifts to him.

  375. Gold, frankincense and myrrh.

  376. A lot of people, scholars say that those very extravagant gifts actually funded that family

  377. as they raised Jesus up.

  378. I don't know.

  379. You know, you can look that up for yourself.

  380. But it says then being divinely warned in a dream.

  381. Now this is the magi, right?

  382. That they should not return to Herod.

  383. The Holy Spirit, maybe an angel came to him.

  384. Maybe it was another dream.

  385. They departed to their own country in another way.

  386. God starts in Genesis and tells us that light is to rule over the darkness.

  387. And when man invites darkness in to rule over us by sinning, right?

  388. Engaging in sin.

  389. Once again, God intervenes and he has light come into the world.

  390. He unfolds his plan to rule over darkness with Jesus Christ.

  391. Those twinkling lights that we hang all over the place, right?

  392. Christmas time should remind us of the perfect Christmas when light once again came into

  393. the world to rule over darkness.

  394. When Jesus came to this earth, they should remind us of the magi that were divinely directed

  395. to come into Bethlehem.

  396. They should remind us that Jesus is the light of the world who rules over sin completely.

  397. They should remind us that there's no principality.

  398. There's no power.

  399. There's no ruler of darkness that can overcome the light who is Christ.

  400. That God himself, this is God's divine order for light to rule over darkness.

  401. And it makes complete sense because the word of God also tells us that God is light.

  402. If you go to 1 John 1, 5, this is the message which we have heard from him and declare to

  403. you that God is what?

  404. Light.

  405. And in him is no darkness at all.

  406. Genesis tells us that God created light to rule over the darkness.

  407. Matthew chapter 2 tells us that Jesus comes to earth and ushers in light to return light

    Matthew 2 chapter mention

  408. back, the authority back to light.

  409. And then John 1, 5 tells us that God himself is light and there's no darkness in him at

  410. all.

  411. And if you go into Isaiah and you move from there into Revelation, you'll see that God

  412. not only is this spiritually, not only is this a metaphorical kind of thing, a concept

  413. kind of thing, but God literally, physically is light.

  414. Isaiah 16, 19 says this, the sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness

  415. shall the moon give you light to you.

  416. The Lord will be your everlasting life.

  417. This is talking about in the future.

  418. This is talking about heaven and your God, your glory.

  419. Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdrawal itself for the Lord will

  420. be your everlasting light and the days of your morning shall be ended.

  421. Revelation 21, 23 says the city had no need of sun or moon.

  422. This is talking about the New Jerusalem.

  423. This is talking about one day when we're with God to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated.

  424. The lamb is its light and the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light and

  425. the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

  426. Revelation 22, 5 says there shall be no night there.

  427. They need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall

  428. reign forever.

  429. God himself is light, not just metaphorically, not just spiritually, but also physically.

  430. And you got to understand this word is important.

  431. We have to get in our spirit.

  432. Light's assignment is to rule over what?

  433. This in every aspect and in every way over the day and over the night.

  434. And if I can bring this around full circle in his word, look what the word of God says

  435. about you and I. If you're redeemed, if you're saved, if you're

  436. righteous, if you're born again, if we're sons and daughters of God, Matthew 5, 14,

  437. Jesus says this, you are the light of the world.

  438. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under

  439. a basket, but on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house.

  440. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father

  441. in heaven.

  442. Now wait a minute.

  443. Let's recap all this.

  444. God the Father creates light.

  445. He assigns light to rule over darkness.

  446. Darkness comes into the world through Adam and Eve sin, right?

  447. It's the script, so to speak, darkness begins to rule.

  448. The Father sends his son Jesus, who is light, who is God, right?

  449. Wrapped in flesh and says, nope, we're going to flip the script.

  450. Jesus comes, he dies on the cross.

  451. He grazes out of the grave.

  452. He takes the authority back and he says, no, light is going to rule over darkness.

  453. Right?

  454. And it's announced that angels announced this, angelic beings announced this, the heavens

  455. open and then Jesus says, I'm here to set all things right.

  456. I'm here to put things back in divine order for light to rule over the darkness.

  457. And then through Jesus' resurrection, the word of God says that you and I can come to

  458. a place where we come into relationship with God.

  459. And that is so true.

  460. That is so evident that God says not only am I light, but you are light.

  461. This is full circle.

  462. Right?

  463. Our God given assignment is to rule over darkness.

  464. Our God given assignment.

  465. The first Christmas was the perfect Christmas because it was the rebirth of God's divine

  466. order of light ruling over darkness.

  467. Satan tried to mess it up.

  468. Right?

  469. He tried to rob that authority.

  470. That's what he was doing in the garden.

  471. He was trying to flip the script so darkness would rule over light.

  472. And God said, not so fast.

  473. I'm going to send my son and he's going to come as a baby.

  474. He's going to die and he is going to go back to the divine order as the worship team comes.

  475. And as you stand, let me read you some scriptures.

  476. I want you to get this in your spirit.

  477. First Peter 2, 9 says this, for you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy

  478. nation, his own special people.

  479. And you may proclaim the promises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous

  480. what lights.

  481. First Thessalonians 5, 5 says, you are all sons of light and sons of the day.

  482. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

  483. Colossians 1, 12 says, giving thanks to the father who has qualified us to be partakers

  484. of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

  485. And Ephesians 5, 8 says, you were once in darkness, but you are now the light of the

  486. work in the Lord.

  487. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness

  488. and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord and have no fellowship with the

  489. unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

  490. We should never ever look at another set of Christmas lights the same.

  491. It's not about how it makes me feel.

  492. It's about the transfer of authority.

  493. Christmas, Jesus come into this earth, set everything back into divine order.

  494. That light rules over the darkness.

  495. And as you stand here this morning, you know, I want you to consider this.

  496. I want you to think about this because Jesus said that we are light, right?

  497. That we are light.

  498. Do you believe that God has in his divine order, if you know Jesus and Lord and Savior,

  499. do you believe that you have authority over the darkness?

  500. Amen.

  501. I know this is deep, right?

  502. I got digging into this and I'm like, Oh man, I just started peeling back the layers, layer

  503. after layer, right?

  504. Light light as authority.

  505. This shifts how we live.

  506. This shifts how we think.

  507. This shifts how we move.

  508. If we understand that Jesus came, some of the some of the divine things that God put

  509. into place that the enemy tried to pervert and tried to shift.

  510. Right?

  511. So many times we stand and we think darkness has authority over us.

  512. So many times.

  513. And I'm not saying that darkness doesn't exist.

  514. I'm not saying that you're not in the battle with it, right?

  515. The battle's there and light and dark are separated.

  516. It's there.

  517. But it does not have authority over me in Christ.

  518. Because light always has authority over the darkness.

  519. That's what Jesus came.

  520. One of the things Jesus came back to set in order, divine order.

  521. So do you believe that in your own heart and life?

  522. Do you believe that?

  523. Do you believe that because you are light, because you are in him, you have authority

  524. over the darkness?

  525. How many know that begins to alleviate some fears in your life?

  526. Sometimes I think the enemy works so hard to help us to try to make us think we have

  527. no authority.

  528. To think that he wants us to think that he has the upper hand.

  529. And we're just scraping through.

  530. We're just going to get through.

  531. Jesus came.

  532. He was a baby.

  533. You know, and that's all good and fine.

  534. There was a divine shift that took place when he came to this earth.

  535. Huge.

  536. So I'm going to ask you to bow your heads.

  537. Where are you at?

  538. If you're listening this morning and you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, if you're listening

  539. online this morning, if you're in the house this morning and Jesus is not Lord of your

  540. life and he is not Savior of your life, I'm here to tell you darkness can rule over you.

  541. It can have its way with you.

  542. And the only way out of that is through Jesus Christ.

  543. He came to flip the script.

  544. He came to shift the authority back to the light.

  545. And if you confess him as Lord and Savior, and if you commit to follow him, the word

  546. of God says that you will be saved.

  547. And when that salvation takes place, the authority shifts in your life because no longer can

  548. darkness rule in your life.

  549. The only way the enemy, if you are saved, the only way the enemy can have foothold in your

  550. life is if you let him.

  551. If you, if he's convinced you that he has the authority and the power in your life.

  552. He can battle us all he wants, but he cannot win the war.

  553. He cannot take authority over what Christ has authority over.

  554. So Father, we come to you today.

  555. God, I thank you for each one that's in the house.

  556. I thank you for your word.

  557. God that teaches us divine order.

  558. God it teaches us divine authority.

  559. God it teaches us Lord who we are in you.

  560. And God as each one in this house goes into the Christmas season, Lord I want them walking

  561. as children of light.

  562. God I want them walking in your authority.

  563. God the enemy might come and buffet.

  564. The enemy might come and cause war, but he cannot win.

  565. He cannot rise above.

  566. He cannot take authority.

  567. We must take authority over the darkness.

  568. Because it is your divine assignment for light.

  569. Lord I thank you for this day.

  570. I thank you for each heart that's here.

  571. God I pray that for minds to shift.

  572. I pray for spirits to shift.

  573. God I pray for fear to drop off.

  574. God like dead weight just drop off of lives.

  575. God as they begin to believe in what your word says.

  576. And Lord I give you praise and I give you glory and honor this morning.

  577. Lord we thank you.

  578. We thank you.

  579. In Jesus name.

  580. In Jesus name.

  581. In amen, in amen, in amen.

  582. Can I share one quick personal story?

  583. You all got a minute or two?

  584. Raise your hand if you got a minute or two.

  585. If not I'll let you out.

  586. Alright that's enough of you.

  587. The rest of you are just going to have to put up with it.

  588. We sang that song at the beginning.

  589. It was a Christmas song right?

  590. Oh come all you faithful.

  591. That took me back in my mind to when I was a kid.

  592. We got, me and my buddy got picked to sing a special.

  593. And I don't know why but we got picked to sing this special.

  594. So we were just little kids right we were young and they put us up front.

  595. I remember this very clearly.

  596. They put us up in front of the church and it was a church about this size and they put

  597. us up front and we were supposed to sing and the music started and my buddy started to

  598. sing and I froze.

  599. I don't know if you ever got stage fright but I literally froze.

  600. I froze solid and I was not going to sing.

  601. And I just did it literally the whole time with lip locked.

  602. I was just there to support I guess.

  603. I don't know.

  604. Right I did not sing at all.

  605. And he sang he belted out the song and got it all done.

  606. And I remember fear gripping my heart in that moment as a kid.

  607. And I remember vowing to myself I will never ever do this again.

  608. I will never get up in front of people.

  609. I will not stand in front of people.

  610. I will not ever do this again.

  611. That haunted me till I was in my 30s.

  612. It was the fear in my life that gripped me till I would almost puke if I got in front

  613. of people.

  614. Not much fear would grab a hold of my life.

  615. And it was not until I got into God's word and I started to understand it.

  616. Listen the enemy will speak in your ear and he will tell you this is who you are.

  617. And this is what you are.

  618. And this is the fear is the legitimate fear in your life.

  619. And you can just hang on to this and it's okay because right because that happened to

  620. you and it's totally understandable.

  621. And he will beat you around and convince you that this is okay in your life.

  622. And it stalled my ministry for 10 years.

  623. I'm convinced of that.

  624. To not let the enemy take authority over you.

  625. You are light.

  626. If you are in him, God's divine assignment is for light to have authority over the darkness.

  627. He cannot tell you who or what you are.

  628. Amen.

  629. Cannot do it.

  630. He has no right.

  631. He has no authority.

  632. He speaks lies the word of God says when he speaks a lie.

  633. When something comes out of Satan's mouth, it's a lie.

  634. It's a perversion of the truth.

  635. Amen.

  636. I don't know who this is for this morning but it's for someone.

  637. Do not let the enemy do it.

  638. He can bind you up for years.

  639. One simple thing like that.

  640. How many of you are light in here?

  641. How many know you have authority over the darkness?

  642. Talk like it.

  643. Thank you for tuning in to this message from Lifehouse Church.

  644. Amen.