Let Your Light Shine

Welcome to Gateway Church's podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Wow.

Hey Gateway Church, great to be back.

Whoa.

Thank you so much.

You may be seated.

Oh, coming here always feels like family reunion to me.

And and Sweden says hi.

Princess Elsa and Anna are doing just fine.

Still reciting in the castle of IKEA and having a great time.

I'm I'm so happy that I'm here with my beautiful wife, Maria.

Honey, would you stand?

We uh yeah.

Somebody over there shouting, Maria! That's what I always do.

And we just celebrated our 35th anniversary, by the way.

That's 35 wonderful, beautiful years.

Also, so excited to have a whole delegation of pastors, senior pastors and leaders from our church back home in Sweden.

Would you stand and greet the church?

Also, for the conference, we'll be bringing in a whole group of pastors from the Word of Life movement in Ukraine.

And that all that is all due to your contribution.

So thank you very, very much.

And here's what I want to turn to the father and the mother of the house, Pastor Robert and Debbie.

And just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Representing a church in another nation on another continent.

Thank you for building gateway into a church that does not only care for its city, although you do, or your nation, although you do, but cares for the entire world.

We're honored to partner with you to see the kingdom built and his will be done all over the world.

Let's give it up for our leaders.

God bless you.

Also, what a great honor to speak into every single one of the Gateway campuses and every single one of you watching online.

I hope you will be blessed by the word, even though it's brought to you with a Swedish accent.

And I hope you're fine with that.

I want to share a message with you today that I called Let Your Light Shine.

Let your light shine.

And really, when we think about it, the whole story of the gospel is a story about light.

And all goes back, of course, to the fact that God Himself is light, his essence, his nature is light.

First John 1 5 says, This is the message we have heard received from him, and that we declare unto you that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

And then when God, who is light, decides to create a universe, isn't it interesting that he starts not by saying, Let there be an ocean, or let there be a mountain, or let there be an elephant?

He starts by saying, Let there be light.

And then after the light has come on, God starts to work.

First the light is turned on, then God starts to work.

Would you keep that in the back of your mind for just a few minutes?

And then God goes on to create everything that is that we see and know, including man, woman, and and and man created to live in this glorious light.

But then, of course, we know about the tragedy, how we walked away from him in disobedience.

And uh when we did, we did not die, we did not cease to exist.

But when we walked away from the God who is light, we walked into darkness, spiritual inner darkness.

A few years ago, I heard that some German scientists were doing a scientific research.

And by the way, when Germans are up to anything, we better pay attention because Germans don't mess around, you know.

We better listen up.

So these German scientists were doing this scientific research, finding out, listen to this, how humans behave when surrounded by complete darkness.

They get funding for these things.

So, anyway, the way they did it was that they brought a lot of people into a big room and then they lined them up with their back against one wall and then they turned the light off.

So now it's pitch black inside this room.

And all the people were then asked to try to walk in a straight line in through the pitch black room to the opposing wall, and then they monitor their movements.

And hundreds of people went through this experiment trying to walk in a straight line over to the wall on the other side.

However, when they started comparing the data, they realized that every single one of the people that try to walk in a straight line in complete darkness started to walk in circles.

Every single one.

Without the light of God, we walk in circles, round and round and round, repeating our own mistakes.

Now we try to pretend that we're making progress because we invent new stuff.

You know, hey, there's the new iPhone out.

We're going places, but morally and ethically, we're going around in circles.

Five thousand years ago there were wars and crimes and injustice.

Today there are wars and crimes and injustice.

Without the light of God, we walk in circles, amen.

But of course, God will always win at the end.

So he had this master plan to bring the light back into this world, and he sent men and women of God throughout the Old Testament to point to a day when the light would come back on again.

Isaiah prophesies that the people who walk in the darkness shall see a great light, and in those who live in the land of deep darkness, for them a light will shine.

And then 2,000 years ago, he came.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, steps into this world, into our time and reality, and he proclaims, I am the light of the world.

He who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

And remember what we just said: when the light comes on, God starts to work.

When the light comes on, his miraculous power is released.

So the light is now back on with Jesus, and God starts working.

Sinners are being forgiven, and sick people are being healed, and dead, the dead are raised, and and the oppressed are being delivered, and and the light is back on, and so is God's miraculous power.

Now, now there's only one problem left.

And that is the fact that Jesus, the light of the world, is still limited to one physical body.

He cannot shine in Jerusalem and in Sweden and in Dallas, Texas, at the same time.

But here's where God's second master plan was released: Jesus Christ, the light of the world, looks out over his disciples, ordinary, broken people like me and you, and he looks into their eyes and he says, This you are the light of the world.

Meaning that you have not just received the light for your own forgiveness and for your own salvation, you have now become a carrier of this light into your world, and wherever you go with this light, God's miraculous power will be released.

And when you turn on the light in your world, in your school, in your university, in your workplace, wherever you are, through an initiative like praying or sharing Jesus or go in public with your faith, the light comes on, and God will start to work.

And there's nothing I love more than seeing that happen and seeing Christians step into this reality of realizing they are the light of the world, and when the light comes on, God will start to work in their world.

And I especially love when young people are doing it, because that's just my how my heart is wired.

I can't help it.

And I just want to share one testimony with you.

Is that okay?

Please say yes.

I'm gonna do it anyway, so you should you might as well.

I just want to introduce you to one guy from Sweden.

This guy is called Johan, and uh Johan is 16 years old, and that's a yellow hair if ever I saw one.

Johan came to Jesus when he was 16 at a Christian youth camp.

He gave his life to Christians to Jesus out of out of nothing, no Christian context, no Christian family background, just gave his whole life to Christ.

And the first thing he heard was that he's the light of the world now, and he's supposed to turn on the light so that God's miraculous power could start to work.

So a few weeks after he gave his heart to Christ, he came back to his high school and he took a photo of himself in a cool pose like this, and then he merged the photo and made a poster out of it, and the poster was his photo, and then the words, I am a Christian, ask me why, and he printed this poster in 50 copies and put it up all over his high school, where he was now the only Christian available, and wherever young people went in this high school, Johan was looking at them.

I am a Christian, asked me why.

Two days later, he called me, and I still don't know how he got my number, but he did.

He called me and said, Pastor, this was the greatest thing I've ever done.

Young people come up to me all the time, asking me, like Johan, uh, why are you a Christian?

Because we assume that the world is not interested.

That's not the problem.

The problem is that the world doesn't know where to go with their questions, they need the lights of the world.

In that first year alone of Johan becoming a Christian, he led over 40 students in the school to faith in Jesus Christ right there in the school.

How could that happen?

Because when the light comes on, God starts to work, and what was only posters in the eyes of Johan was the light switch in the eye of God.

The light came back on, and wherever the light comes on, God will start to work.

Amen.

Now God knows this.

God knows that you're a potential carrier of his light, and also the devil knows it, which means he's scared to death about you actually stepping into this reality of realizing that you can carry the light of Jesus Christ, and that will do some damage, serious damage to his kingdom of darkness.

So he will try to whisper lies into your ears, saying that you don't qualify for this, planting an image inside your heart and inside your mind, saying, suggesting that oh no no, this is only for pastoral people or preachery.

I don't know if you can say that, I just did.

Or preachery people, you know, this is only for the people who came out of their mother's womb with a King James Bible and a preacher's haircut.

You know, those are the people who qualify to do all these things.

And maybe he's trying to tell you that no, you don't have what it takes, you don't have the right personality.

You have your personality, and that's the wrong one.

Well, I'm here to tell you today that God gave you a personality, God gave you gifts, God gave you an ability to shine your light into your world like no one else can.

Amen.

And just to try to illustrate what I mean by this, let's let's just try to create an image in your mind here.

So um, this light bulb is from a collection called apricot soft light.

And when I look at this light bulb, I feel warm and fussy on the inside.

I feel so good, I feel accepted, I feel affirmed.

I think there's hope in the world after all, and maybe that's you.

Maybe that's the kind of light that God has given for you to shine.

Maybe you just have that gift of bringing harmony and peace and a beautiful atmosphere wherever you go.

Maybe you're sent into this world to just warm it up a bit and help people relax and open up their hearts.

Maybe you're the kind of person who, if we will let you into an empty bare room, in 10 minutes' time there will be curtains in there, there will be rugs and pillows and scented candles, there will be incense, there will be a guy in a corner playing the violin in the background.

You just have that gift to create a beautiful atmosphere in which we can relax, and you are needed in the kingdom of God, you are needed to help us turn churches into homes and families.

Gateway, can we give it up for all the apricot soft lights of the kingdom of God?

Or maybe, maybe you're uh an oven light bulb.

Now, the oven light bulb isn't seen that much.

You rarely see him, actually.

He's very good for letting us know when the frozen pizza cheese has been melted.

But really, this guy is like an introvert, he stays inside the oven.

And honestly, maybe that's you.

Maybe you don't have the need to be seen and heard and be the center of attention all the time.

Maybe you're just happy with doing your own thing and serving in the hidden place.

And because you're a bit of an introvert, and because you're a bit smaller than the other light bulbs, maybe you think to yourself, Well, I'm not as significant.

But let me tell you one thing about this lamp that no one else has.

This light bulb can take the heat of 500 degrees and he will keep shining.

Where all the other light bulbs they go out, this one will stay there and he will serve faithfully and he will keep shining.

And when the temperature temperature rises and when the pressure comes, he will keep shining for the glory of God.

Gateway, can we give it up for the oven light bulbs of the kingdom of God?

Or maybe you're a crystal light bulb made for the chandeliers of power and influence.

Maybe God called you to be a politician or a king.

Well, not king, if you're king, you already know about it.

But maybe he called you to be a politician or a lawyer that would rewrite laws to bring back righteousness and justice to nations.

Maybe he called you to be an influential businessman who would raise millions and release them into the kingdom of God.

Maybe he called you to be an influencer or a journalist that will direct people's attention to Jesus.

And if this is you, I guess your parents knew all along that one is special.

Maybe they realized when you had your first election campaign, running for president in the student body of kindergarten.

Or maybe when you became the judge duty of the schoolyard, or when you had your first negotiation with your preschool principal over longer recess.

You know, if God gave you that gift of of power and influence, you need to shine that light because we need it in the body of Christ.

Amen.

Can we give all the crystal lamps of the kingdom of God a big hand?

Uh-oh.

Or maybe you're God's party lamb.

And with you, everything is high energy and top volume.

Wherever you go, you don't have another mode in your body.

You you're the kind of person who will bring a smoke machine with you everywhere just in case.

Night time you will drive around downtown in a yellow, bright yellow Ford Mustang with no engine.

It's it's driven forward strictly from the 11 loudspeakers inside of it going oomps, boom, oomps, oomps like that.

The steering wheel has nothing to do with steering, it's a volume control.

And you always fall asleep at Bible studies.

And of course, maybe you need to kind of relax once in a while and realize that not everything in the kingdom of God is high speed and high volume.

But having said that, we are so happy to have a few party lamps in the kingdom of God.

Gateway, can we give it up for all the party lamps?

I see people all over church going, Yeah, man, that's so much you.

Yeah, that though that's you over there.

Or maybe you're this lamp, you're God's flashlight.

And you know what?

What makes this lamp unique is that it's cordless, it doesn't have to be attached to a certain place or city or nation.

This is God God's missionary lamp that can go out in the whole world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, establish his kingdom, fight poverty, and establish righteousness all over the world.

And and maybe you've known all along that man, I have this desire to travel and meet new people and see new cultures, and your parents would have known all along as well, because the first word that you spoke when you were a baby was not mom or dad, it was Zimbabwe.

And if this is your calling, if you're God's cordless flashlight sent into the world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, let me tell you, we need this light more than ever, all across the world.

Let's give it up for all the flashlights of the kingdom of God.

Or maybe you are God's prophetic lamp of the end times, and the light you shine is so strong, it's almost uncomfortable.

And it reveals dust, dust in the room that none of the other lamps reveals.

Oh man, you you're the kind of person who just go around, you know, and and and quoting Jeremiah and Naum.

And wherever you you can smell sin from a mile's distance, and you will point that sin out.

You only have one mold.

What are you when you're in a fast food store, you don't say, like, can I have a big Mac Meal, please?

You say, Thus saith the Lord, can I have a Big Mac Meal, please?

And you don't like this guy at all.

Oh no, that's a world leading sign of a lamp right there.

And maybe you have to relax a little bit, and maybe you have to add some grace to the truth that you're constantly preaching.

But having said that, we are so happy to have a few prophetic lights in the kingdom of God.

To keep us all on course, let's give it up for the prophetic lamps of the kingdom.

Or maybe you are God's dark room light bulb, and you're involved in the delicate process of developing what used to be a blank white sheet of photo paper, seemingly nothing there, into a beautiful photograph of colors and motives and beauty.

And maybe that's your gift, my friend.

Maybe you have that gift of looking at someone of whom other people say there is nothing there, there is there's just hopelessness.

This man or this woman will never do anything.

Uh, you know, it's just a hopeless case.

But with your gentle light, you'll be able to take that person's hand and let him or he or she step by step into all the purposes and plans of the Lord.

You have that anointing, you have the light that will develop callings and beauty inside people that nobody believed in.

And let me tell you, in the end time, church, we need this light in the church, this church of this light of restoration and this light of developing people.

Amen.

Can we give it up for God's dark room lamp?

Or maybe you're just a bit weird.

You're a green light bulb with black spikes on it.

You're you're just a bit weird.

And you maybe you feel you don't really fit in much, you know, you're just different, you're kind of orbiting in your own little private universe, and when other people go out to a restaurant to eat or hang out at the mall or check out the new Batman movie, that's just not your thing.

You want to stay at home and watch Belgian black and white movies from 1932?

You want to play Atari video games?

Really Atari?

And eat Doritos and drink Mountain Dew.

That's you, that's your universe, that's your paradise.

And maybe because you're a bit different and because you don't fit in, maybe you think about yourself thinking, hmm, God can't really use me.

But let me tell you this: if Jesus is in your heart, you can shine his light.

And out there there will be someone that needs to see that light of Jesus Christ through you and won't see it if you don't shine it.

Okay, wait, can we give all the weird lamps of the kingdom some appreciation and some love?

You know, when I look at all these lamps, what I see is the church, the church of Jesus Christ, who is never called to be exactly the same.

We're not the same group of people, and we're not a group of people that are in the process of becoming the same.

The gifts are many, but the spirit is one and the same.

What we need to watch out for is that so the diversity of the church will not cause division in the church because we've had enough of division in the church.

We need to come to the point together where we realize we're not called to compete but to complete one another as we all shine for Jesus Christ, and you know what?

I am convinced in my heart that God once again wants to look down upon this world, including the United States of America, and once again say, Let there be light.

And when he does, I pray this is what he will see.

Every one of us shining together, according to the personality and the gifts that God has given to every single one.

And I say, God, yes, let it be so.

Let us be the light of the world, and when we take an initiative for God and turn the light on in our world, may your spirit start to work and create miracle after miracle after miracle.

Can we say amen in the church?

Thank you, Lord.

So, Father, we thank you so much for being the light, for being a God who is light, and in you there is no darkness at all.

Thank you, Lord, for sending Christ Jesus as the light of this world and also now calling us the light of the world.

And Father, I pray for every single one in this church and the campuses, people watching online, whoever they are, and whatever kind of light bulb that they are, Father, I thank you for boldness that as we leave this service, Lord, that we will be committed to shining your light, turning the light back on according to the gifts and the personality and the calling that you have given to us.

And when the light comes on, you can start to work in our worlds and change it through the power of salvation.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Can I uh the last few minutes of this service, can I please ask you to stand really quick?

And then before we close, I can't take for certain or for granted that every single one in here has that light glowing on the inside of them.

You see, every single one in here is just like this light bulb.

You are beautifully created to shine, and that's your purpose.

But in order for you to shine, you need to connect with the electricity, amen.

Now, a light bulb who will never connect with the electricity is going to be the saddest light bulb in the world because he or she, or whatever a light bulb is, will never see its true potential and the true reason of existence.

And this is this might be you.

You might be someone who is not yet connected to the power that is God's love, or maybe you once were, but if you're honest to your own heart, now you don't really know if you're really connected with Jesus the way you should be, and I want to give you this opportunity to connect or reconnect with Him.

Because when you do, you will go from just being a light bulb that is unconnected and doesn't really make sense into being a light bulb that shines and does what it's called to do.

Can I have every eye closed and every head bowed just for a second?

If that's you, if you're unsure of whether or not you're connected to God's love the way you you should be, maybe you once were, but things happened in your life, and and and now you're not really sure about your connection, about your your relationship with the Lord.

If that's you and you need to connect or reconnect with Jesus today, whoever you are, I would like to pray with you wherever you are in this room or in the campuses or watching online at home.

If you want me to pray for you for that connection to be re-established or made maybe for the first time, would you just lift your hand right now and I will include you in a prayer?

There are so many hands going up all over the church.

If your hand needs to be among those raised right now, don't fear, don't hesitate.

Raise it and allow God's love to reconnect you with his power and his presence right here and right now.

Let's all pray this prayer together.

The whole church can pray with me.

But if you raise your hand right now, pray it from the bottom of your heart, and God will hear you.

And as you pray, you will be reconnected with his love, and you will walk out of this church as a light of the world.

Let's pray, dear Jesus.

Thank you so much for being the light of the world.

I receive that light, I receive salvation, forgiveness, and new life.

I leave my past behind.

I proclaim Jesus as my Lord, and as long as I live, I will love Him, serve Him, and stay with Him throughout the rest of my life.

This is my commitment today, in Jesus' mighty name.

And all people said, let's give all of our brothers and sisters a big welcome hand.

God bless you.

Thank you so much, Gateway.

Let's have a wonderful rest of the week.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.