243 ~ THE LIGHT - Advent Series

Hi, welcome to the Via Zion sermon podcast.

We are a local church based here in Chennai, India.

We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will

encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you.

We have started the Advent season and are thrilled that we

get to celebrate Jesus for all that he is, has been, and all

that he will do. We look at Jesus, the living

Word today, the one who left heaven and walked the earth to

be one of us. As you listen in our prayer is

that you will experience the power and fulfillment that only

Jesus gives. Hi Church, what a joy it is to

bring God's word to you today. We have been looking at the book

of John for the Advent series and we have been looking at how

Jesus is the Word. He's the life, Zoe, life.

And today we're going to be looking at how Jesus is the

light, right? John chapter 1 verses 4 to 5

John 1:4–5

says in Him was life and that life was the light of all

mankind. The light shines in the darkness

and the darkness has not overcome it.

Even before I get into the word, I wanted to show you a quick

YouTube shot, a small snippet video of what actually happens.

This was captured under an electron microscope of what

happens at the moment of conception when a sperm and

meets the egg. There's a very interesting

phenomenon that scientists have discovered and I want you to see

it just for a second before we progress.

Can we just have a look at the video?

So if you noticed in this video, there was a a brilliant light.

It's microscopic, but nevertheless it's a light that

shines when fertilization happens.

Basically the minute life begins in the womb of an animal or a

bird, any kind of creature. Even in humans, what happens at

a molecular level is that zinc sparks fly and that is what is

visible as a light. And it cannot be disputed

anymore that light and life belong together, that when Jesus

came into the world as the light, he brought life with him.

And that's what John is trying to say.

And so light and life are inextricably linked.

They are linked to each other. They cannot do without the

other. And it's interesting because

when the Zoe life Christ, you know, gets sparked, when it gets

sparked, it starts to envelope us and we start to live out in

the light of Jesus. Not just is he the light of the

world, but he says we are the light of the world because we

become light bearers ourselves, right?

And if you look at the world that we live in today without

light, life will as we know it will not thrive.

Everything that we see around us that thrives is because in part

of the fact that we have the sunlight all around us shining

on us through the day which is responsible for sustaining and

and creating life at the level that we know.

Spiritually speaking. When you look at the world you

will find that there is darkness everywhere.

We live in a corrupt culture. There is such things happening

that cannot be mentioned about many times things that are

happening in pockets of the world, trafficking, strife,

corruption, crime at an all time high.

So not just physically are there places which are in darkness

spiritually, there are places which are in deep darkness.

And Jesus came to save the world so that all of the earth, the

entire world, every bit of darkness will be consumed and

enveloped by His light. That is the desire that Jesus

had when he came to earth. Maybe you're saying, you know

what? The spiritual darkness does feel

a lot. It's too much for me to even

understand. But today, what we're going to

be tapping into is actually understanding what the

implications are when we have Jesus as the light of our lives.

What does that do in me and what does that do around me?

Because it changes everything. The thing about light is this

John 8 verse 12 Jesus says. When Jesus spoke again to the

John 8:12

people, he said I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have

the light of life. All around us there is a

darkness which is very pervading.

We have social ills, we have dark spiritual beliefs, we have

witchcraft and and voodoo and all kinds of practices that are

very active. We also have the very subtle

ones, the New Age movement, and we have social and cultural

norms which are actually very dark in nature.

These are things that sometimes are not so glaring, but they are

very real. And the interesting thing is

that many times we are blinded to just how much of darkness we

have allowed into our world, into our specific areas.

But Jesus says that whoever walks in me will never walk in

darkness. So what is he saying?

That there is a requirement for us to consciously keep walking

with Jesus, to keep following where he leads because he's the

light of life. And if you look at the light, if

you look at generally any light, the light has a way of justice

being present. The light doesn't have to do

anything per SE, it just has to shine for it to achieve what its

purpose is. You switch on a light and a room

in immediately it it you have light, you're able to see every

element of the room. Suppose you have a movable

light, you can move it to where there is pockets of darkness and

light it up. I'm always intrigued when my

husband produces a a video when he puts together a video, the

lighting, the time he and his people spend on lighting a place

up. And it makes all the difference

to create the right shadows to give the, you know, depth.

But the interesting thing is that Jesus, the light of the

world, is the most versatile light source ever.

He is all sufficient. He is the most extensive, and he

is so life sustaining it's beyond our imagination.

So while we think the sunlight is responsible for everything

that lives on the earth, it's true.

But Jesus, the light preserves our Zoe life, gives us Zoe life

leading into eternal life. And it's amazing because the

light changes everything. I was recently reading this

article about how one of the actors from Star Trek The Next

Generation, the earliest movies made on Star Trek, one of the

actors from the original show actually was taken into space.

They actually took him in an orbit around the Earth, and he

said it blew his mind. The minute they went into orbit,

they exited the Earth's atmosphere and they went into

orbit. He said on one side it was

complete darkness. And then when he looked back, he

saw the blue rim of the Earth. And he said, that's when I

understood what it's like to see light and darkness at the same

time. And we have to understand that

the God we are talking about was the one who said let there be

light in a dark universe, expanse of the universe and

spoke into being light. And then he sends his Son Jesus,

who is the light, who actually brings the light into the

darkest places of our life, who actually brings hope IN the most

hopeless of situations all around the globe.

I was recently reading this. It was a report that had come

from a country that experiences a lot of persecution and a bunch

of believers there have a secret church where people come and

visit them on Sundays just to worship God together.

They we meet underground. And the amazing thing was the

stories of hope that they were talking about.

And these are people who risk their lives to make it into

church. And these were some of the

things that some of these believers said.

This one person says we remember the gift God is to us.

Jesus is the true light, the genuine, perfect, steadfast

light. Another believer said his birth

was a light in the darkness for guiding the people.

Another person said my people are living in darkness and I

pray God would use me to reach my people to live in the light.

These are messages from those living in some of the most scary

regions of the world. Scary for believers.

And yet they are so committed to shining a light in the darkness.

They are so committed to leading others into the light.

And today I want to leave two things with you.

Why we need Jesus, the light of the world.

Why do I need Him as the light in my life?

2 reasons. Whatever you get out of today, I

pray you will receive these two things because these are

essential to understand what Jesus brings and why we need Him

so desperately. The first thing is that the

light brings clarity of vision. If you ever have played dark

room with friends, the minute you switch off all the lights,

there's a catcher who's outside in the light, but he enters a

dark room. So first it'll take you about 5

minutes for your eyes to get acclimatized to the darkness.

But then eventually you'll find that you will be able to make

out shapes even in the darkest of rooms.

You'll be able to discern. And sometimes you'll miss your

friend hiding in a closet or under the bed because you think

they're one of the other darkened shapes.

But the more you your eyes start adjusting to the dark, you'll

start to clearly see things even in the darkness.

And the reason for that is because a dark room, you know,

in our homes is really not fully dark.

There's always light creeping in from a crevice, from a door

crack, from a, a window, from behind a curtain.

There's always light creeping in.

And light has this beautiful capacity of justice penetrating

any space that has that is left open.

And I believe that the light brings clarity of vision.

Maybe 2024 just went by in a blur, blur for you.

Or maybe it was just filled with low moments.

Or maybe you had your highs, you had your low.

But when you're trying to take stock of the year, you're

thinking, I don't know where I was heading.

I don't know where I came. Or maybe you have a direction,

but you're wondering 2025 what is it going to look like?

And I want to encourage you that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of

Jesus reveals things that were otherwise hidden to us.

The beautiful is beautiful thing is that the Bible says where

there is no vision, people cast off restraint.

It is with the Spirit of God, with the Spirit of Jesus

himself, the light that we have vision, we have clarity of

vision so that so that the things that we are looking at,

we can see deeper. The things that are unseen we

begin to see. That's the beautiful thing.

Luke Chapter 11 verses 33 onwards.

Luke 11:33

This is what it says. No one lights a lamp and puts it

in a place where it will be hidden or under a bowl.

Instead, they put it on its stand so that those who come in

may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your

body. When your eyes are healthy, your

whole body also is full of light.

But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of

darkness. See to it then, that the light

within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is

full of light and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of

light as when a lamp shines its light on you.

I want you to look at this verse specifically.

It says your eye is the lamp of your body.

When your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body also is full of

darkness. When your eyes are healthy, your

whole body is filled with light. When we're talking about eyes,

we're talking about things that we see, the things that we

perceive, the things that we discern, the things that we view

through our physical eyes and yet have a spiritual lens to it.

So when I look at an obstacle, if it was just the flesh, I

would be looking at it and saying, Oh God, one more

obstacle. I can't do this anymore.

But when I start looking at it with vision, with discernment,

I'm going, God, there's something that you're doing just

beyond this obstacle. I'm going to push through.

I'm going to look for opportunities.

I'm going to ask you for solutions.

You see how vision changes when the Spirit of God is involved in

it. So often, because our eyes are

unhealthy, our vision is so clogged.

It's like we have spiritual cataracts.

We cannot see the vision that God has for you.

You don't know what you were created for.

You don't know what you were saved for.

You don't know what you're doing on earth when you start looking

at everything in Gray. You think, you know what, maybe

my life doesn't have meaning. You think everyone's out to get

you. You think there is no way

forward. But God is saying, I want to

give you eyes that are healthy. I want to clear your vision.

And that is what the light of the world does.

He gives you clarity. So even if your eyes have been

darkened the whole of 2024, you've looked at it through the

lens of this was a hopeless year, this was a failure of a

year. I want to encourage you, ask God

to give you fresh vision to see the year that has gone by

through His lens, because it's incredible.

When you start looking at things that seemed blurry or confusing

or haphazard, when you invite Jesus to shine a light on it, He

begins to show the dots that He joined.

He begins to show you the solutions that came about.

He begins to show you the people He had to move out in order for

you to reach your destiny. He shows you those situations

where you were made more strong, more enduring.

It felt like crushing, but you came out stronger.

So it's incredible. It's incredible what happens

when the light of the world shines into the dark places of

our heart, dark places of our mind, clears our vision so that

we can see better. It's so important because truly,

when you end a year, sometimes you come to the end of the year

still with, you know, huge remnant, leftover dreams,

leftover ambitions. You have disappointments, you

have anxieties, but when you invite Jesus into your vision,

the light of the world clears your vision.

He gives you a blueprint for the next year.

He tells you, you know what, No matter what happened last year,

this year, this is what I want you to do.

Two Corinthians chapter 4 verses four to six says the God of this

age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot

see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ who

is the image of God. For what we preach is not

ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your

servants for Jesus sake. For God who said let light shine

out of darkness, made His light shine in our hearts to give us

the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the

face of Christ. God has made His light shine in

your hearts so that you have the light or the knowledge of God's

glory displayed in the face of Christ.

It is unimaginable what God does when He actually fills you with

His light. No longer is God a distant

reality, No longer is here removed deity.

He is God in flesh. He is with you, He is Emmanuel.

You are looking at him and saying God.

As I walk through his trial, I know you're with me.

I know you're in me. As you come out of that

hospital, His glory is shining through you.

As you walk out of that grief, people are able to see Christ in

you, the hope of glory. It changes everything when the

light has entered and the the truth is, this is the truth.

The first line says that it displays it in all its honesty.

The God of his age has blinded the minds of unbelievers.

So people who don't know Jesus are so blinded to the reality

and the power of the gospel. But those of us who have said

yes to Jesus and keep saying yes to him, every day we walk in the

light of that gospel. And it's incredible because when

our spiritual vision has God's light shined on it, we begin to

see God as he really is, not as others proclaim him to be.

Other movements, other religions, assume God to be

something else. But when you start having

clarity of vision, God shows you who he is.

The Spirit of God reveals, reveals to you the mind of

Christ. The Spirit of God tells you

what's on God's heart for you. He tells you what's on God's

heart for humanity and you find is very different from what

others are professing of God. When your spiritual vision is

cleared, you start to view people differently.

Up until then you think of people in a certain way.

But when the Spirit of God gives you clarity, you begin to look

at people for who they are. You look at them as image

bearers. You honour them.

You, you show love, you show compassion.

But he also gives you discernment about certain

people. He allows certain things to

happen. He allows certain bridges to be

broken so that you see the person in entirety.

You have discernment about who to allow and who should sit at

your table and who shouldn't. It's incredible because

spiritual vision that is cleared sets you on another plane

spiritually. You start to understand who God

wants in your life, who He doesn't, and you're so submitted

to Him. You allow Him to lead the Spirit

of God when He gives you clarity, when the light of the

world brings light into your activities, the things that you

love to do, the things that you are called to do, your work,

your business, your career, the pursuits that you know thrill

you. When you invite Him in, He

shines a light on that. He shows you how to take the

next step. He teaches you when to restrain

yourself. He teaches you who to include.

He teaches you when to step out. It's powerful when the light of

the world enters my life and clears my vision.

Up until then, it's like we're groping in the dark.

Oh, I started this business, but I don't know how to do it.

I've gotten married, but I don't know how to navigate marriage.

I haven't seen a healthy 1 in the past.

Oh my goodness, I've had this baby but I don't know what to do

with this child. I have a teenager who's this is

my first teenager ever. I don't know how to navigate it,

but when I invite the light of the world in, everything somehow

changes. He starts to show me how to pray

for my children. He teaches me how to love my

spouse. He's teaching me how to run my

business. He teaches me how to promote the

things that I'm passionate about.

He teaches me how to love him deeper and to love people

better. And I would encourage you that

you will start to navigate your life with the light of your

world as the source. It is important that Jesus be

the one that gives you vision. It's great to put up your art

board with your vision, you know, statement for the year.

It's great to do all of that, but let the word of God be your

compass. Let it be the Mac.

Let the Spirit of God be your guide so that he gives you

vision beyond your physical eyes, beyond your senses.

You may think you know how the markets are going to turn out.

You may think you you sense how things are going to be in the

new year. But let me tell you something.

You need the Spirit of God to enlighten you about what's

coming. You need Him to teach you how to

prepare for the future. So the first thing that the

light of the world does is he gives you clarity of vision.

The second thing is that the light exposes darkness.

The light exposes darkness. It's so important to understand

that the light of the world, Christ himself, the

transformation he brings, nothing or no one else can

bring. Those of us who have been

ministry in ministry for a while, even though we've worked

with people who've seen lives turned around, honestly, there

is nothing about those moments of transformation that we can

take credit for. It has nothing to do with us.

Maybe it just takes a little bit of faithfulness on our part to

show up. But there's so many times we

have dropped the ball. And the reason these people

actually get transformed is because of Jesus himself.

Because Jesus is the light that exposes darkness and transforms

it completely. The darkness does not stand a

chance in the presence of the light of the world.

I'm reminded of that demoniac in the region of Gadarenes who

comes completely laden with the demonic.

He is in oppression. But the demons are so afraid

when they say Jesus, the light of the world, standing before

them, and they beg him not to send them into an abyss.

They themselves are scared of the darkness.

And here they're standing before the light of the world.

Bargaining. Send us into something else.

Don't just send us into the abyss.

And I love that our God Jesus exposes darkness so beautifully

and he doesn't leave us groping. He envelops it with his light.

John chapter 3 verses 1921. This is what it says.

John 3 · chapter mention

This is the verdict. Light has come into the world,

but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds

were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the

light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds

will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth

comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what

they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Light has come into the world. People love darkness instead

because their deeds were evil. And a lot of times when we read

this verse, we're thinking of somebody immediately or that

person, or they do this corrupt thing, or they cut corners, or I

know about that person's marriage.

But what if we were to turn this and look at ourselves through

the light of this verse? Jesus, the light has come into

the world. But do I love the darkness more

than I love the light? Everyone who does evil hates the

light. That one light, that one text,

that one cut corner shows that I hate the light and prefer the

darkness. But whoever lives by the truth

comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what

they have done, they have done in the sight of God.

What if we were to start living in such a way where we give God

complete access, complete access to every part of our lives.

We say this often in our sermons.

There's sometimes there's some parts of our life that are not

given access to God. Well, like you know what Lord?

Little bit of light here is OK, but I'm sorted.

The rest of it I can manage. I have this new lamp at home

which has a small regulator. So when I want more light, I

just increase it and brightness increases.

And when I want a very dim feel, I can completely reduce it down.

And sometimes we operate with God like that.

Lord, you know what my business a little bit of your light is

enough because you don't know what the the current regulations

are. You don't know what the

stringent laws are. You don't know what it's like to

run it all completely white and so a little bit less light.

Oh, but in church I put my light on full because I need to look a

certain way, act a certain way. Oh, but when I'm alone at home,

left to my own devices, I switched the light off because I

don't need that. I prefer darkness.

God is calling us into a place of being so self aware of where

our darkness lies. You know, we are a self obsessed

generation, self obsessed people.

We talk about self love, self-care and selfies and the

like. But we are the least self aware.

The minute we read verses like this, we're like, oh, that

person, that person needs their light, you know, needs more

light in their life. There's a lot of darkness.

But I believe God is asking us to search our hearts like David

writes, search me O God and know my heart.

Try me and see if there's any wickedness in me and then lead

me in the way everlasting he's talking about.

He's revealing, he's breaking open his heart and saying, Lord,

shine your light on me. It's like a Searchlight and

searchlights are bright. They are harsh.

If you've ever been in a in a makeup trailer at a, you know,

film shoot, the makeup trailer has a mirror with lights all

around it. And these lights are quite harsh

and bright. The reason being when they

switch that on, the person seated in front ready for their

makeup to be done needs every flaw and line and wrinkle

exposed so that the makeup artist can cover it up.

And here we're coming to Jesus and we're saying, Lord Jesus,

put your shorts Searchlight on me.

I don't need to know what someone else is doing wrong.

I need to know what I'm doing wrong.

God and the light of the world is so magnanimous that even when

his light searchlights are on us, it is on us in order to

bring us to a place of deep repentance, confession, and

release. It is not to diminish us.

It's not to cover it up like makeup would, but instead to

say, hey, I exposed the darkness, but I'll bring life

where I bring light. It's amazing.

Ephesians chapter 5 verses 8 to 14 says, For you were once

Ephesians 5:8–14

darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

Live as children of light. For the fruit of the light

consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

And find out what pleases the Lord.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but

rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention

what the disobedient do in secret, but everything exposed

by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated

becomes a light. That is why it is said, wake up

sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.

It's amazing what he's saying here.

He says children of light, the fruit of the light that is seen

in our lives is righteousness, goodness and truth.

And when we are saved, that doesn't happen overnight.

It happens overtime, it happens over a lifetime.

So don't disqualify yourselves. And when you're reading this and

say, oh, I'm probably a child of darkness, No, the minute you

were saved, you were brought from the Kingdom of darkness and

put into the Kingdom of light. And the light within us is Jesus

in US, Christ in US. And as we get to know Him, as

the light begins to spread, as dark things get exposed and

dealt with, the light begins to grow brighter, and eventually

everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything

that is illuminated becomes a light.

The brighter the inner man gets, the more others begin to notice.

They find that the truth comes out of your mouth faster than a

lie. They find that your

righteousness in Christ comes from Christ.

You're humble and yet you're confident.

They find that you are good to people even when they aren't so

good to you. They find that you are quiet

when you should be ranting and raving.

You're quiet instead of choosing slander.

That's when you know you're a child of light.

You are growing in maturity as a child in the light.

But the question is, how aware are we of the darkness within

us? How aware?

How ready are you for God to show you some of those well

hidden, you know, well crafted camouflaged flaws and

depravities? And all of us have darkness in

US. Let's not kid ourselves.

Every single one of us have dark sides to our character, have

dark sides that have happened over years.

You talk to a little child, any child above the age of five,

there is that hint of darkness in them just because of the

world they are exposed to, because of the things and

situations that they experience. And yet God is saying I am the

light of the world, who he who walks with me will never walk in

darkness. And so there is hope for the

darkest ones of us, the ones, those of us who feel, you know

what? There's too much darkness in me.

I don't think even Jesus can penetrate.

I want to tell you, he can penetrate anything with his

light. He's so powerful, a light

source. You know, all of us have public

and private lives. The public life is our persona.

It's what we carry. It's what we walk into rooms

with. The private life is the one, the

one that we live at home, one that our spouse and our children

see. But some of us have a third

life, which is a secret life, and that is usually what no one

gets to see. And we somehow assume even God

can't see that. But the beautiful thing is when

I invite Jesus, the light of the world in, he begins to expose

that secret life to me. And he says this is the area

which you think you're hiding from me, but I can see it in

plain sight. And I want to see you restored.

I want to see you healed. I want to see you illuminated

from within. So will you hand it off to me?

And today I want to ask you, which part of your life is so

secretive that even your spouse doesn't know about it, even your

parents don't know about it, your best friends don't know

about it. God is calling you and he's

asking you, would you let me light, shine my light on that?

When we give access to Jesus, like I talked about that lamp,

when we give him full access, we're not modulating him.

We're saying God, you be God in my life, Show up as you will.

Shine on me every secret compartment, every compartment,

Shine your light so that there is no compartment with darkness.

All of it has light. Can you imagine what our life

would look like? The problem though is we live in

a time of fake or fabricated counterfeit.

We have people who are making counterfeit coins and and notes.

We have powders that were exported, you know, spice

powders which were fake. They had brick powder and sort

of chilli powder. We live in a time of inauthentic

false. And So what we have done is

instead of turning to Jesus, the light of the world, we have

turned to other sources of light, thinking they were the

light of the world, but in reality they were counterfeits.

They are not the real light. This is the light of the world,

capital L, capital West. But we have looked at other

lights and thought they were the light.

Because, you know, very often it looks like the truth, but it

isn't. It sounds like the truth, but it

isn't. And God is calling us into a

place of saying all that you need.

You will find in me. Jesus is saying everything you

need because my light sustains life.

Everything that you will ever need, you come to me for.

Instead. We're settling for those LED

lamps, whereas settling for Hue. We're settling for those, you

know, small little bulbs because it looks fancy.

It's filament. But God is saying I am the

source. Come to me.

But we keep choosing counterfeit.

I was reading up this article that a science magazine had put

up of how even animals are getting confused by something

called light pollution. You know what that is?

When artificial lights are so bright, it mimics the sunlight

and actually changes the rhythms of birds and animals.

So by migratory birds, migratory animals actually get confused

when they see St. lights. They could get confused when

they see tube lights, turtles that have to migrate into the

ocean and then, you know, go away, far away.

They actually turn away from the ocean, come onto main roads

looking at the light, thinking it's moonlight, and get hit by

trucks. Migratory birds which need to

fly across continents, get confused because of the light,

the artificial light held by cities.

And I was thinking when I was watching that, I was thinking

how messed up life has become even for us humans because we're

so desperate for the light and we have looked at the wrong

sources. When we look at the wrong

source, much like those turtles, much like those migratory birds,

we have gone off track. We lost vision, we lost our

destiny, our destination, and we veered off course and God is

calling us back to him. God is calling us back to Jesus.

It's never too late. We're at the last few weeks of

this year and God is saying, will you come back to Jesus?

The source? Jesus is the source of all

light. Jesus is the true light.

In him there is no darkness. Revelation chapter 22, verses 15

Revelation 22:15

says this. Then the Angel showed me the

river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from

the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the

great city, of the street of the city, on each side of the river

stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its

fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are

for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any

curse. The throne of God and the Lamb

will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him.

They will see His face, and His name will not be on their

foreheads. There will be no more night.

They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun,

for the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign

forever and ever. I love that there are two

elements which are very outstanding in this.

He says He does not. They will not need the light of

a lamp or of the sun, for the Lord their God will give them,

like Jesus, the light of the world will continue to be the

light of the world. But then there's this

interesting thing of the tree of life.

It's found on either side of the river.

And the same thing is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, and it

talks about these trees that are planted beside the river, right?

And they're bearing fruit every month, every season, without

fail. But interestingly, it mentions

one part of the plant, which we don't talk about too much, and

that is the leaves. It says the leaves of the tree

are for the healing of the nations.

No longer will there be any curse.

And what has got my attention for as long as I've read this

passages, What does that mean? Why does he talk about the

leaves? We know about fruit.

We know fruit is important. We know fruit has to be born in

every season, irrespective of how favorable it is.

But the botanist in me had to go deeper.

And this is the interesting thing.

The sign of health in a plant is the evidence in the leaves.

You can have the best fruit and best flowers, but if your leaves

are not thriving, the plant is not healthy.

And so leaves are the areas, they're the kitchen, they're the

the places where the food is made, glucose is made and then

transported to the rest of the plant.

And the source of that energy is the sun itself.

The sun gives energy to the leaves.

Food is prepared in the leaves and then through the veins and

veins is taken to the rest, through all the, you know, the

inner conduction systems. Food is transported everywhere,

but fundamentally to the leaves. Energy is the sun, the light of

the sun. And for those of us who are so,

you know, used to indoor plants, we don't have big gardens

anymore. We live in urban cities.

We have smaller houses, smaller balconies.

We've got indoor plants, right? And so we have these cute little

ZZ plants and spider plant, very cute, very contained in pots.

And the person who sells it to us says, you know what, You

don't have to keep it in direct sunlight.

But I have not yet met a gardener tell me that you can

manage with artificial light. All of them will tell me they

don't need direct sunlight, but once in a while keep them in the

sun. Keep it near a window.

Don't keep it near the glass, but keep it where there's

filtered sunlight. All of them unanimously will

tell me one thing. They need the sun, but not all

the time. Keep it in and keep it out.

None of them told me an artificial table lamp will do

the job. None of them told me the tube

light will do the job. So why are we as humans so

content with fake sources of light instead of going to the

light himself? It doesn't stop there.

The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

As you and I stand in the presence of God as we live

surrendered lives, as we live exposed to Him and saying Lord,

you can shine your light into every part of my life.

I'm an open book. It's incredible because the

evidence of what He is doing in US will bless others.

Anything that is illuminated becomes a light.

We read about that as you become illuminated within, as the

darkest parts of your life are touched by the light of God,

something changes. Something shifts.

Trauma changes into testimony. Brokenness changes into

incredible strength. Long waits turn into these

incredible promises fulfilled. Something changes when the light

touches and no longer are you living for yourself, you are

living for the glory of God because now you are a blessing

to many others. So many of us are so content in

receiving our healing being restored, you know, finding that

inner joy and peace in Christ, but then we do nothing with it.

What you have received must make you a light better so that you

then shine that light on others and draw them to Christ so that

your leaves are then used for healing for others.

Maybe you've felt you've been in a crushing season this year.

Maybe you feel you're heading into a crushing season because

of a diagnosis or a separation or a breakdown of some sort and

God is saying when those leaves are crushed, they will bring

healing to the nations. Don't be afraid of the crushing,

don't be afraid of the breaking, don't be afraid of the of the

you know, the crushing that the Lord allows because in that so

much of power is being released to the nations and the nations

will then turn to Jesus, the light.

For too long we have been running on fake light.

We think the things we are reading, the things we are

consuming, the people we are listening to will be enough.

But it's time we stop looking at the counterfeit and we look at

the true source. The true source is Jesus

himself. You need help on in fitness,

your fitness in your weight loss?

Turn to the light source, the one who created you.

You've been needing help with parenting?

Turn to the light source. You've been helped, needing help

in understanding the Word of God?

Turn to the light source, the one who brings revelation.

Have you been needing help in your relationships?

In your marriage? Stop turning to alternate

sources. Your parent might be wise, but

they're not the light. That podcast, that speaker might

be great as a motivational speaker, but the one who desires

for you to win, desires for you to succeed is the light of the

world. Maybe you've been hooked on to

those YouTube tutorials to advance yourself in a certain

space. God is saying, come to me, do

that. But your source has to be me.

Maybe you've been looking to to grow financially and you've been

looking at all these sources, but God is saying, come to me,

the light source, come to me. Enough of running on fake light.

Ultimately, all of that is hearsay.

When you have unlimited access, why are you settling for

hearsay? Go to the source.

Go to the source. Some of us have allowed

ourselves and, and you know, just opened ourselves up to

counterfeit light. We've allowed the enemy to speak

lies into our relationships. We have, we have indulged in

things we never should have, which was not beneficial to us,

which has been detrimental for our families, our marriages, our

children, our jobs. God is not pleased when we

choose the fake light over the real.

Remember this in Two Corinthians Chapter 11 verse 14, it says,

and no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an Angel of

light. He is an expert impersonator.

He will make bad things look good just for you to consume it.

And after that, when it's too late, we realise just how bad it

was for us. Teenagers today are listening to

motivational speakers. We're talking about finding your

inner peace, growing your circle of influence, making more money.

Science has become a religion. Making money quick seems to be

the norm. None of that is in keeping with

what the light of the world has for you.

He has better things. He has a process.

And when you get to know him, when you allow him in, when you

give him unlimited access, he will direct your parts, he will

show you what to do next. He will clear your vision enough

to know what's next, what to do. He will shine a light on the

dark places in your life so that every part of you is illuminated

and is a blessing to others. Those of you who have little

kids, careful what they watch because the things they are

consuming, lot of it has overtones of witchcraft, of

sorcery, all kinds of relationships that are

encouraged through the small little cartoons.

Be wise. Let us not entertain the Father

of lies. Let us not allow ourselves to

bask in the temporary glory of fake light.

Let's look to the source of light ourselves.

Let us turn to Him. 1 John chapter 1 verses 57 says this.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to

you. God is light in Him.

There is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship

with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live

out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as

He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and

the blood of Jesus His Son purifies us from all sin.

So I pray that even as we read this that we will be like those

trees planted by streams of water, where we're rooted

strongly in the Word of God. And that we are.

We've got roots that go deep and wide, that no matter what storm

comes, we are not pushed around. But then let us be those whose

leaves are turned to the sun, the true source, and so that

every leaf that is being touched by the sunlight is a source of

healing for someone else. You're listening to someone else

could heal them. You're praying for them, could

bring bring breakthrough. You're interceding for of your

family, could change everything. Your behaviour, your attitude,

you're you're stepping out in love, your hospitality, all of

it involves your leaves bringing healing to the nation.

Transformation starts when you allow the light to come in and

transform the darkness within you into light.

I want to ask you, how have you been thus far?

Has this year brought out the worst?

Have you been abrasive, pushy, rash, brash, so much so that

people would rather stay away or just have very limited time with

you? Have you been so difficult in

your marriage that your spouse has probably wanted time away

from you? Have you been heavy-handed with

your children? Have your friends consistently

moved away because they cannot handle yourself willed ways?

It may be time for an intervention.

It may be time that the light of the world has to penetrate the

darkest recesses of your soul. The larger mission.

Remember this, the larger mission, as much as the light

brings us clarity of vision, that vision will always involve

the world at large. It'll always involve the people

that God wants you to reach as much as he wants to transform

the darkness within us. There are pockets around the

world which are so dark, and he has saved us to bring those

places into light. So what is it God is calling you

to do? What is God calling you to do?

As you look at this image, I just want to look at this image.

This was an image taken by a satellite, and it's basically

the earth at any given time. And when you look at this

picture, you've realized that there are some pockets which are

brightly lit, probably because it's it's visible at that time

on the satellite, but there's some which are so dark.

And while we know there's a rationale for that, well, it's

probably night there. So all the lights are on in

those places or I don't know whether that those places are

having experiencing daylight at the time.

Whatever it is, this should be a representation of what the world

looks like spiritually and how we as lights.

If you can picture every every light on that image as someone

who knows Jesus, look at the number of dark patches around

the globe. God is calling us into the

darkest places to be His lights. You bear the light.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

We are called to be the light of the world and God is asking that

the greater mission be fulfilled in our lives.

The greater mission which is as the light touches us, we become

illuminated to become a light for others so that we reach them

and point them to the light of the world.

So what are you choosing to expose yourself to today?

Is it to a fake light? Is it to the light of modern day

culture, modern day religious beliefs, the things that

everyone else settles for? Oregon, will you take the

trouble to open yourself up to the light of the moon?

That's the question. Can we pray?

Father in heaven, I just thank you so much for what you are

doing in our lives. We thank you that God, you are

working deep within us. We thank you that your light is

so powerful yet so gentle. We thank you that Lord, it

probes the darkest parts of our lives, bringing light to every

area. Thank you God that you are the

light of the world. Thank you God that you bring

life wherever you go. And today we ask each of us

here, ask you, God, that you would shine your light upon

every compartment of our lives. Private, public, secret, make it

1. We pray God will be people who

live in awareness of justice. How much we need you.

God, I pray that you would change the parts of our life

where darkness is overwhelmed and overrun it.

We pray that your light would trickle back in.

God, I pray for those who have limited your light's exposure in

their lives, who have Lord kept you out of certain areas.

I pray today will be the day they drop, that they allow you

to shine on them. Father, I pray for those who

need clarity of vision. I pray that you would illuminate

their eyes, God. Their spiritual eyes will be

open to see the things that You have for them.

Help them to see and understand how big Your vision for them is.

I pray for those who've cast off restraint because they have no

vision. I pray today that would change,

that You would open up their eyes.

I pray that You will tune their senses to you, God, we pray that

every false source of light be broken and will fall to the

ground. Expose the false sources of

light in our life, God. If it's social media, if it's an

influencer, if it's a friend, if it's a parent, if it's a spouse,

expose it for what it is so that we, Lord, turn to you, the true

light. Help us God, help us, Father.

May your will in our lives be done so that we bring heaven to

earth. Help us God, help us to be a

light right where you have placed us.

Help us, O God, to lead many more to you.

We pray all of this in your Son's name, Amen.

God bless you. I pray that you will enjoy the

light of the world in this season with all the lights on

your Christmas tree. If you look all around us, we

have lights everywhere, but it's a reminder that we have the

light of the world in our lives. No more do we have an excuse to

stay drenched in darkness that we would come alive in the

light. God bless you.

Have a lovely week. Thanks for listening to this

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Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.