YOU are the LIGHT // The Light of the World (part 2) // Pastor Drew

Heat. Heat.

about forgot the microphone.

How we doing,

>> man? It's nice to be together inside.

It's a little chilly outside, but I'm so

grateful that we're here together. Man,

can we just give the Lord a little

praise real quick? I'm just feeling it.

I'm feeling what he's doing here.

So, I got we're we're going through this

series is called light of the world. And

I got a question for you. When you hear

the phrase light of the world, there's

some phrases in scripture that you can

kind of if if you know the if you know

the word of God a little bit, uh then

you will be able to hear some of these

words start to complete themselves,

right? For God so loved

the world, right? And then uh you you

have uh but then you have other phrases

that are a little bit more confusing. In

the beginning

there was the word and then you also

have in the beginning God created the

heavens and the earth. Right? You have

these have these statements that you can

kind of start to hear the end before you

even get there and you can finish it.

And so uh this one I want you to hear

the beginning of it. Light of the world.

Think about it. Think about it.

What what is said? What does scripture

say? Who is the light of the world? All

right. What's your answer? Three, two,

one.

>> There we go. I I heard God, us, Jesus,

you. I heard I heard a lot of different

answers. I'll tell you what. John

John 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1, which we highlighted this

last week, highlights this. It says John

1 1-5. In the beginning was the was the

word, and the word was with God. We

talked about this last week, how deep

and powerful that word is. That that uh

that the logos, the word means that

Jesus is not just this ethereal

impersonal revelation of a creator. It

the imperson became personal and that

he's not just a revelation and an

understanding, but the truth became

manifest in a human through the through

Jesus himself. And so we have in the

beginning was the word. The word was

with God. The word was God. He Jesus was

in the beginning with God. All things

were made through him and without him

nothing, not anything was made that was

made and in him was life. In the life

was the light of men. The light shines

in the darkness and the darkness has not

overcome it. Jesus says it really

clearly actually in uh John 8:12. It

John 8:12

says Jesus spoke to them. And he says,

"I am the light of the world. Whoever

follows me will not walk in darkness but

will have the light of life."

So who is the light of the world?

Jesus. Yes. There we go. Jesus is the

Who is the light of the world? We can th

show that. Who is the light of the

world? Jesus is the light of the world.

But

then Matthew 5:14, the sermon on the

Matthew 5:14

mount, he starts to throw this a little

curveball here. Here we go. What's

Matthew 5:14 say? Jesus says,

Matthew 5:14

"Who? You are the light of the world. A

city set on a hill cannot be hidden."

I love this. There's a if if you are a

skeptic of the word of God, you're going

to look at this and you're going to go

it's a conflict. You got an issue. Jesus

doesn't know what he's talking about.

He's got he's you you already have these

disagreements within scripture. And I've

seen people try to list a hundred

different disagreements where scripture

contradicts itself. And guys, every time

if you look at one, the context of the

passage of what is being spoken, and

two, when you actually take a second to

dwell on it for a little bit and to

wrestle with this and to look at the

reality of who God is, who we are, there

are no contradictions in scripture. I

find any time that the word of God seems

to butt heads with itself like this,

there's a deeper reality where it

actually holds hands.

So, how does this make sense?

You are the light of the world. Well,

Jesus is the light of the world.

How How does this is this just Well,

these are illustrations. They don't

quite line up. They're not perfect.

Illustrations aren't Parables aren't

perfect. they or not. You don't you

can't take them too far and build your

theology off of like these little

minutia of how I interpret a parable. Uh

the main idea is what Jesus is talking

about. But here's the reality. He is he

is saying you are the light of the world

and he is the light of the world. And

it's because

when I look at this, if I got if I got a

lamp here

and I look at this and we've got we used

to have a lamp just like this in our

house, a paper uh uh kind of originated

in Japan. And and when I look at this, I

go, man, that's a really pretty light,

right? I like this. It's like just this

this calm. I want to put it in the

corner of my room and like do my quiet

time right beside it. Do some prayer

time. I want to wake up in the morning

with this or like have this be one of

the only lights on in the room at night.

And it's not a great one if I really

want the room super bright. It's not

great for that. But here's here's the

idea. This is this is you are the light

of the world.

It's like I am a lamp. It's like I am

this I I have this light. But here's the

reality. When I look at this, what makes

this light up actually has nothing to do

with the lamp, but everything to do

with the light inside.

In this same way,

John chapter 1, let's keep reading.

John 1 · chapter mention

Let's keep reading. What what does it

say in John 6 verse 6-9? Let's go to

John 6:6–9

verse 6 here. It says right after this,

it says, "There was a man sent from God

whose name was John. He came as a

witness to bear about the light

that all might believe through him. He

was not the light, but came to bear

witness about the light." The what's the

next word? True light. The true light

gives light to everyone was coming into

the world. See, here's the reality. I'm

like a I'm like a lampshade.

People may look to you and people should

see the light of Christ

and they should say, "Man, you are a

light in my life and in my world and in

the workplace and in the household and

in the neighborhood. You're like this

light." But the reality is what they

should be seeing is not you,

but Christ because he is the true light.

So Jesus is the light of the world. You

are the light of the world because Jesus

is the true light of the world. Now,

here's here's where we start to get our

issues because

a lot of times

we we forget that. Here's the big idea.

We're talking about you are the light

today.

You are the light. And here here's what

I want to say. Your light

shines brightest

when you are nearest to Christ.

Your light shines brightest when you are

nearest to Christ. And our main passage

that we're actually going to dive in is

in John 1. It's actually going to be

Matthew chapter 5. If you guys want to

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

open up there where he says, "You are

the light of the world."

Matthew 5:14. We can actually uh we're

Matthew 5:14

going to read a couple more verses here.

Can we pull up Matthew 5:14-16?

Matthew 5:14–16

And this is this is where Jesus in the

sermon on the mount where he begins to

deepen this revelation of who is the

light. He says, "You are the light of

the world." A city that's set up on a

hill, it can't be hidden. Nor do people

light a lamp and put it underneath a

basket. it. No, they put it on a stand

and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine

before others so that they may see your

good works and give glory to your father

in heaven.

Now there's a lot of things that I find

this this revelation and this picture of

who is the light

that gives to us and speaks to us

because as as we look at when Jesus this

it's this perfect image of Jesus's

disciples. Do you know what the word

Christian means?

Means little Christ.

Right? Like this little Jesus minion is

like this idea of like I just want to

and like this I I want to run around and

do my really really bad impression of

Jesus my whole life, right? Like this is

I'm trying to do my best to be like

Jesus. I'm really really bad at it. But

I'm trying to be the discip any

disciple, any follower of Jesus is

supposed to be an extension

of Christ and his ministry and his

purpose and his what he did on earth. We

are supposed to be the extension of that

to the earth.

And so you are the light of the world

because the light of the world, the true

light of the world is in you.

And this is this is why I love this

because you can't fake

you can't fake Jesus being the light of

your life. In this world, there's a lot

of areas of work, ministry, in

friendships, in business. There's a lot

of areas where you're you're kind of

instructed to fake it till you

make it. Right. Right. That's it. You

got to you got to try to fake it till

you make it. But here's the problem.

Spiritual growth is a lot is is less

like performance at work and it's a lot

where you can you can you can fake it

till you make it at work. You can you

can pretend that you love your boss and

talk to them all the time and and and

smile at them and laugh at every single

one of their jokes and oh that one was

especially good. Great job. You can do

all that and guess what? And you may go

home and be like, "I can't stand her.

She is the worst." Right? Like, I don't

know what you may be thinking after, but

you can fake it till you make it. Here's

the reality. When it comes to Christian

expression,

you can fake it till you make it. You

can show up to church. You can not cuss

around the right people. You can make

sure that you're wearing the right

stuff, that you don't smell like the

cigarettes, that you don't that that

you're not that you're not talking to

these people in this way and you like

you you you limit your gossip when

you're around this crew. You can fake it

till you make it a little bit.

But spiritual growth is less like at a

workplace and more like on the farm.

It's a very natural thing. A farmer

cannot cram

and fake it and say, "Honey, I'm going

out and I'm gonna go install some f I'm

going to work on fixing that fence that

broke down." And he goes out,

scrolls on his phone for a little bit,

hangs out for a little bit, puts one

post in,

grabs his spray bottle, and walks back

inside the house. Oh. Oh, man. And it's

a it was a it was a hard day out there.

I'm sweating. I'm like right I'm cover

throw some dirt on your shirt like oh it

was hard. It was hard. Like you can't

fake it till you make it. If you're not

planting you're not getting a harvest.

If you're not if you're not pulling the

weeds you're not actually going to be

getting any of the repercussions. You're

you're not going to get any of the

benefits of the work that you're doing.

You reap what you sow. In the same way,

spiritually speaking,

you can't fake the light of Jesus inside

of you.

You cannot

see. We are called to be the light

everywhere.

And yet we look at our world and we look

at these places around us and we we go,

man.

I just I don't know if I see the light

in my workplace.

I just don't think I see the light in my

home. I don't see this this reflection

of Jesus

where I'm at. I don't see it in my

friend groups when we when we go out and

we're hanging out and we're we're at the

bar and the way that we talk or the

things that we talk about when we're on

the golf course or or when we're hang or

or when we're whatever we're doing at

the coffee shop. The way that like I

just don't see it. I just don't see

Jesus in these places. You don't

understand, Pastor Drew, how dark the

world is that I live in, that I come to.

When I step into my workplace, when I

step into the the school or the

university I'm teaching at, when I step

into these places, it's just it's just

dark.

And the problem I find usually is is

that if it's dark, that's because I, as

a believer, am not doing my job to be

the light. And in say, "No, no, you

don't, Pastor Drew, you don't

understand. I wake up in the morning.

I pray,

I get I get time in the word and I spend

at least 20 minutes, 30 minutes." Pastor

Drew, this last week, I spent an hour

one day reading the Bible and praying.

You don't understand. like I am there

and then I go to work and it's just it's

just dark. And the problem is is a lot

of times

what we do is we have our Jesus time we

spend time whoop with the light and then

we leave the light and we walk over here

and we go where is the light now?

I like to leave those Jesus

conversations. I like to leave those

Jesus convictions on Sunday morning. I

like to leave it in my private time. I

like to leave it when I'm reading the

word and and if he asks me to do

something that's uncomfortable, if I

read something in the word that makes me

feel convicted, like I just kind of

brush over that. I don't really like to

apply it because I don't want to be

changed. I just want to be encouraged.

And what happens is I will leave and I

go, where is this light inside of me?

Because I've abandoned it and the true

light is way over there. and I'm over

here because I'm trying to

compartmentalize Jesus in my life. And

he says, "I don't want your Sunday

mornings.

I don't want your Monday mornings. I

don't want your Tuesday nights. I don't

want your That's not what I'm asking

for. I'm asking for you.

Not just your time. I want to be with

you. Not just slivers of part of where

you are. Because when I start to bring

Jesus in my life, all around my life,

then it begins to change the way that

everywhere I go, things start to look

different.

See, we're called to be the light. You

are the light of the world. A city on a

hill cannot be hidden.

You will find that truth, the light in

you, can't not be a light. When I begin

to one thing I'll do is I'll I'll just

say a quick prayer before I step into

some place. I'm like, God, would you

help me to be a light? Would you help me

to be your life, your heart, your love,

your hope, your purpose, your

encouragement? Would you help me to be

that in this next place that I'm going

in? And man, sometimes I get some

amazing opportunities, some amazing

conversations stir up. I was in in

Panera. It was this was about a month

ago and it was like the last day of 70,

you know, like one of those random 70

days that that happened a few weeks ago.

It feels so far away right now. Oh Lord,

I could use another one of those. But I

was like, this is going to be one of the

last chances I got. And so I'm going to

sit out on the patio. And I found I made

sure I found a Panera that had a south

facing patio. And I'm just I'm just

trying to soak up the the last rays of

sun that I can before I bundle up for

six months, right? Like I am just trying

to enjoy this as much as I can. Uh and

then one of the workers comes out and

takes a smoke break and and she she

engages me and she says, "Hey, is it all

right?" She's like upwind for me and

she's like, "Is it all right if I smoke

here?"

And I'm like, "No, I'm kidding. I didn't

do that." Uh, but I did. I was like,

"You are totally fine. You are totally

fine. I'd love if you'd sit here like

three feet away from me." And what

happened? It started a conversation. And

we had to start getting to talk. And And

I was like, "How you from here? Where

are you? Where are you living? What got

what got you working here? What's your

dream in life? What do you what do you

got going on? Is Panera your dream? Is

like what is this?" And she eventually

comes to like, I made some I I moved

here to get away from some crappy

decisions I made. I moved here and I

made worse decisions. I'm now fighting

in a battle to be able to write myself

and get my kids back.

Man, it just captured my heart. And this

lady, we got to have a conversation. We

got to talk. And then her friend came

out and I invited her to church. and and

just the the way that God began to

intervene in this conversation just

because one of the things that I do is

every day at 9:38 I got an alarm on my

phone that goes off because Matthew 9:38

Matthew 9:38

says pray to the Lord of the harvest

that he will send out more workers into

the harvest field. And so wherever I'm

at, if I'm in a meeting, if I'm

something like just real quick, God,

would you use me to be a light and to

send light to be to to be a worker in

the harvest field and to be someone that

helps to equip people to be able to send

out into the harvest field? Would you

use that? Would you use me for that

today? And I just pray a little. It's

not super spiritual. It's not crazy.

It's just it's just asking God to do

what I cannot do. And and this what

happens is that I end up being a light

and I don't even realize it that I am I

I I I

present this thing. I was on an airplane

a couple weeks ago and and a young lady

that I'm sitting by. We just chatting a

little bit because we're stuck next to

each other uh for a few hours. And she

asked me, I didn't I didn't say squat.

And she says, "You a pastor?"

And I'm like, "Is it that obvious?" I

wasn't trying to give that vibe. You

know what I'm saying? I wasn't trying to

like give the like I didn't whip out my

B my extra thick holy Bible, right? And

uh I didn't see Oh Lord, I beseech thee.

Like I didn't any of that. I didn't do

any of that. I don't ever pray like that

actually. But uh I certainly was not

trying to give this pastoral vibe at

all. I'm just trying to fly home. And uh

and we end up starting this

conversation. I get to talk with her and

she's like, "I got this dream. I'm going

to school for this thing, but I got this

dream to start this like fashion

clothing design thing that I'm doing and

and I'm taking a risk." And I said,

there's nothing that you will see in

your life that'll teach you more about

Jesus than stepping out and taking a

risk in crazy hard difficult things in

business ventures and things like that

when you lean when you're forced to lean

on something that's outside of your

control. The only place you can lean on

is Christ. Do that. And we got a chance

when we got out of the airplane. We got

in the we got in the terminal area. I

prayed with her. I sent her. I have no

clue where she is. I have no clue what

she's doing right now. But just this

just an opportunity to accidentally

be the light

because the whole goal is I just I want

to be that disciple that people look at

and they say I I noticed two things

about you. You're not that special.

You're pretty ordinary. You're totally

average person.

But I can tell you been with Jesus.

That's what they said about the

disciples in Acts 4. a man, I pray that

same prayer for me because you can't

fake it.

And here's the other thing that I

noticed and when Matthew 5:14

Matthew 5:14–16

through 16, if we can pull that up one

more time, what I want to do is I want

to highlight it says in verse 16, in the

same way, let your light shine before

others. So now I want to get into how do

I do this? How do I actually let my sh

my light shine before others? says, "So

that they may see

your light." Right? This is where we're

getting. This is this is the equivalent.

May see your light is your good works

and give glory to your father who is in

heaven.

I find a a lot of times when we think

about being a light in a place, we think

about walking in, head up, smile on,

high-fiving everybody that you can see,

right? Like, I want to be a light. I

want to be that encouragement. I want to

help make the place happy. And I'll tell

you what, light does make people

happier.

But

light is also what, as we talked about

last week, light is truth.

And so if I'm in a situation where I'm

talking to someone and and this lady

will and and she's talking to me and

she's like, "Oh yeah, you know what? I'm

I I am going to I'm I'm today I'm going

to go back to my husband and I'm going

to tell him we are done because guess

what? When we started dating, I was like

50 pounds heavier.

I hadn't really made it in work and I'm

trying to and and I I think I think I

can do better, you know? I just think I

can upgrade. I think I'm a better

product and I think I can get something

better out there. So, I'm going to tell

him we done. I'm going to get myself a

new man that's like jacked and that's

rich and like that can match my level.

You want to know what happy light says?

You go, girl. Right. That's it. That's

it. That's high fives all around. Let's

go. More power to you. That's where it's

at. You deserve the best. He don't get

He ain't nothing compared to you. Right.

Y'all heard this conversation. Right.

Y'all have I've heard this. I've seen

this conversation. I've seen these

things happen. Here's what light

actually does. Light actually goes, I

think he actually might be more valuable

than you are realizing. Because if he's

with you then, he's with you now. and

he's going to be the one that when you

stick to this commitment, I promise you,

you're going to be more grateful for the

faithfulness of this in the future than

you will be hopping around to find the

next best thing. Because when you get

the next best thing, there will be a

next best thing out there.

The light doesn't always

bring a smile, doesn't always make you

happy, but it shows truth. There's a big

difference. And so this is this is the

light is about your good works. It's

less viby.

It's more practical. Make sense? It's

less about like skipping in your way to

work, right? It's not the vibe. It's the

practice so that people may see your

good work. So how am I supposed to be

the light of the world? Here's where I

want to highlight a few things. Take

notes of this. If I'm going to be the

light of the world, what does the light

of the world do? The light of the world

supplies hope. It supplies hope. This is

John 8:12 says Jesus spoke to them

John 8:12

saying, "I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in

darkness." Will not walk in darkness.

You ever been stuck in a room and you're

like, crap, I got to get to the other

side of this room. And I'm like, I I

man, if I could just get a little light,

if I could pull out my flashlight, then

suddenly I got a little bit of hope that

I'm going to make it there without

busting a toe in.

Am I alone in this? Right. You guys, you

guys with me? Right. The light gives

hope. When I am the light, I'm bringing

hope into a situation. Yeah. But I don't

see a way to be able to make my marriage

work out. I promise you. I don't know if

I see it yet right now either, but I

believe that there is a way that God can

restore, that God can establish this

man. I promise you, when you when you

commit yourself to the Lord, when you

commit your money to the Lord, he

actually makes he he will provide for

you. when he will he will give to you

that which what you need. He says how

much more does he care about you than

about the tulips and the liies of the

field and the birds of the air. And yet

he provides for all them. So he will

provide for you.

I'm going to give hope. I'm going to be

the light. Psalm 27:1 says, "The Lord is

Psalms 27:1

my light and my salvation. Who shall I

fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my

life. Of whom shall I be afraid?" The

reality is

that when I inject, when I am the light,

it makes the fear of all the other

things disappear.

I don't know if you walked in here with

some fear

and you do a little worship, you get a

little prayer in and suddenly it's like

nothing changed, but something changed.

You know what I'm saying?

my situ I didn't get a text and the

situation's different. It's just like

all of a sudden I'm like I think I'm

going to be all right.

My hope has changed something. Who else

should I be afraid of? So light gives

hope. Light also gives life just like

the sun. The sun gives light to the

entire world. And that's where

photosynthesis comes from. If we don't

have the sun, the whole world shuts down

in like a month, right? like it's like

we are gone. This is not a good thing.

So in the same way, I love this.

How do I how do I be the light in my

workplace, in my home, in my

neighborhood? I want you to bookmark

this and begin to practice this.

Philippians chapter 2.

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

Philippians chapter 2 14- 18. This is a

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

good one.

Do everything

without complaining and arguing so that

no one can criticize you. Live clean,

innocent lives as children of God,

shining like bright

lights

in a world full of crooked and perverse

people. In a world full of darkness.

What does my light look like? Looks like

Don't be the one that complains at your

workplace.

Be the one that shows up on time. Be the

one that shows up early. Be the one that

takes on the project that someone else

doesn't want to do. Like live an

innocent, pure,

not complaining

life, shining bright, like bright lights

in a darkness of all these other people

that are like, "Oh yeah, I'll be good.

Hey, let's talk about the person that we

just left the meeting with." Right? And

it's like, uh, I don't know. I think

maybe they were maybe maybe they're

doing their best, right? I could see how

they're asking us to do that because

it's hard on us, but it actually

benefits the company and I could see how

who else is going to do it and who else

is going to do as good a job as me,

right? Like, let's go. Let's do this,

right? Like, I'm going to reframe it.

I'm going to end up being the light.

Just don't be and and so hold firmly to

the word of life. Then on the day of

Christ's return, I will be proud that I

did not run the race in vain and that my

work was not useless. Paul is saying if

you are a blessing in your world, you

are the light of Christ in your world.

If you are practically actually doing

things that give life

when people are around you, they should

go, man, I just feel a little bit more

alive.

Right? This is about being excellent at

work. This is about not being a

complainer at home. This is about being

love at home. This is about being

generous in your in as as you just go

about being joyful and generous as you

go around in the world. This is about uh

being being the person who's available

in your neighborhood. This is right.

Being the light. It's very very

practical.

So light shine light gives life. Here's

here's the next one. Light shines

brightest in the darkness.

See we we are the example. We are the

extension of Christ.

And so there's going to be times

where the light of Christ is like

awkwardly bright. You know what I'm

saying?

When I'm forced into this place of

revealing truth and maybe an

uncomfortable situation,

it is brightest in the darkness and

you're going to stand out.

And I got to rec I got to decide right

now on a Sunday morning before I'm

anywhere else. I got to decide right

now. Am I going to be the light wherever

I go? Or am I going to be whatever they

want me to be wherever I go? If I'm

going to am I going to align with

whatever truth you wanted me to align

with, whatever conversation you want me

to speak about. I'll be red. I'll be

blue. I'll be black. I'll be white. I'll

be whatever you need me to be in order

to have peace in this conversation. I'll

be fine with it. I just don't want to

interject a disagreement and offend or

be what like I got to recognize if I'm

going to give light that light is going

to shine brightest in the darkness.

And there's going to be times that I get

to

stand out like a city on a hill,

like a lamp in a room. It's obvious.

One of the one of my favorite ways of

being able I had a conversation with

someone years ago and they said to me I

was in youth ministry and they said to

me, "You don't understand, pastor. I am

the only Christian in my entire school.

I'm not even joking. I am the only

Christian in my" And I was like,

"Baloney, right? I don't believe you for

a second. Ain't no way."

Now, I got a question for you.

If there was, say there's one other

Christian in your school,

would they look at you and say, "I do

know that she's a Christian."

Or would they say the exact same thing?

Is your light shining bright enough

in your friend groups, in your

conversations that people go, "Yeah,

they're like they're not just one of

those like

I'll pray the rosary Christians."

They're like they're like real. They're

I don't know. It like it it interferes

with everything about them, right? Like

they're they're one of those Christians.

It changes everything. This is why Jesus

says, this is why John introduces his p

his whole book, the whole gospel with

the light shines in the darkness, but

the darkness has not overcome it.

If your situation is dark, be the light.

Be the light. So, here's the last thing

or sorry, not the last thing. The light

also, if we got we got some slides here,

if we can pull this up. So, light gives

life. Light shines brightest in the

darkness. And light captures attention.

This is Isaiah 60:es 1-3. Isaiah 60. Can

we pull that up? It says, "Arise

Jerusalem." This is the call that God is

giving to his nation, which now we are

this representation of God, God in

Christ in this world. And so now I get

to I get to own some of this, right?

Arise Jerusalem, let your light shine

for all to see. For the glory of the

Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness is

black as night. Covers all the nations.

covers all the neighborhoods, covers all

the houses, covers all the states,

covers all the companies, covers

whatever it is, right? Wherever your

context is, it covers all of it. But the

glory of the Lord rises and appears over

you.

All nations,

all co-workers,

all fellow uh my my my fellow students

at my at my school, colleagues, all

whatever it may be, all of them will

come to your light. Mighty kings will

come to see your radiance. See, light

captures

attention.

It captures it. And people, I know I'm

doing it right. When someone comes to me

in their hard times and they say, "I

don't really know what to do. I just

know that you

I don't know. I just feel like maybe you

you could help me out with this."

Are you are you that kind of light in

your workplace? And then last thing is

light doesn't just capture attention,

but is also contagious.

Now, here's here's what we forget. We

think about this this passage. You are

the light of the world. Like a lamp like

we have here. We have a whole bunch of

lights in this room. They didn't have

any of these lights in the first

century.

What was the only source of light and

darkness?

Fire.

When you talk about the light, you're

not just talking about something that

emanates light. You're talking about

something that can legitimately give

that light to something else. And like

when I stick a stick in the fire

and when I'm close to the light and then

I get to become the light and I go out.

But just like when I if you've ever done

this or when you were a kid you did this

or you watched another crazy kid go out

and stick a stick in the fire and then

go out and there's this sticks on fire

and they're like, "Yeah, let's go." I'm

like carrying this torch in the

darkness. That's how it should be. But

what happens if I don't got tar on that?

If I don't got something around, then

it's it it goes out pretty quickly and I

got to go back over to the fire. And the

reality is is the the closer I am to

Christ, the more I have Christ with me,

the more he he feeds this fire within me

and it never has to go out. And I I do

have to regularly I got to get away. And

I got to like, Lord, I need you. I just

I'm there's too much Drew involved in me

right now. I need to give my life up. I

need to pursue you. I need a little bit

less of me. I need a little bit more of

you. And would you please fill me in

that way? See, light is contagious.

What'll happen is as you are the light,

other people will start to catch fire.

It's amazing. I look around here and I

see faces that are in here, not because

you found the light of Christ yourself,

but because you saw the light of Christ

in someone else.

And then when they said, "Hey, I want

you to come check out my church. It's

just I don't I I don't know. It's done a

lot good for me. I think it could I

think it'd be great for you. I think

you'd love it. Why don't you come on

over?

Suddenly, your light

caught fire in them. You are a light to

the world

that's contagious. And I'll tell you

what, there's going to be a lot of

things that you look back in life and

you go, "I'm so glad I did this. I'm so

glad I did this." You look at people on

their deathbed, the thing that they they

never talk about is about the the

advancement that they got in their job

that we work so hard for. They never

talk about that one raise that they got.

They never talk about that grade that

they got in that class. They talk about

the things that matter most are the

family and the things that are going to

continue to have impact on the world

once they fade away.

And when you give light to someone else,

when that light catches fire in their

life,

not only did you just

become

a lampshade

that gave a little blessing to someone,

but you gave a blessing that reaches

past your life into eternity.

Into eternity. That's the kind of

blessing that I want to be. Amen. That's

kind of So I just every day I'm going to

do a little something. I'm just going to

pray, God, would you make me more like

your light in the world that I'm in?

Would you make me a lampshade that I'm

not trying to get away from you? I want

people when they look when they dig deep

into me, I want them to see that the

real secret in here is that I've got the

true light inside of me. I'm not

actually that special at all. It's the

light that's inside of me

that is so incredibly special.

How can you be the light?

There's a lot of different examples. I

think about crazy crazy stories that

have happened. I think about Megan over

here who just shared it with in in our

team Slack, our team channel, uh about a

young lady that she was able to pray

over when she was in Costa Rica. And

this this girl, this daughter was not

able to speak at all, was totally mute.

And she prayed and she prayed and she

prayed and she prayed and

nothing.

Well,

I tried.

She kept doing whatever they were doing.

And and a week, it was a week later

about, right, a week later, the same

girl shows up. She finally is beginning

to communicate. She's forming full

words. It's been months and months,

years of trying to get something and

finally something just broke

that week. That's crazy.

Megan got to be a vessel, a lampshade.

Uh, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna be

this lamp and be this fire and and I'm

gonna touch it over here and if it

catches fire, it catches fire. If it

doesn't, man, I really wanted to. Had no

clue that started something that

actually was going to be a miracle that

this young lady gets to stand on for the

rest of her life.

Or something more simple, right? Like

Caleb True Blood going to as he's

driving through scooters highlights that

he gets to he starts talking to the

barista. Something just I don't know the

conversation just comes up. He gets to

encourage her, invites her to church and

just has this like five minute in the

drive-thru conversation that God just

anoints. And once again, I'm going to be

the light going to present the fire.

I'll see what God does. I got no clue.

the barista he talked to. You may be

here in this room right now. You may be

watching online. I don't know.

There's or or when we look at things

like what we did in August with Seek and

Save and we get to fill six,000

meals for people and give those out for

free. Or we get to go and we get to

start knocking on doors and and

partnering with hotels and in order to

save these lost children that are being

trafficked. And now we've seen 14 of

those kids freed and no long and found

and returned back to their home. Amen.

Or we get to do what we've been doing

with our faith offering and we get to

give to places all around the world. We

get to give gifts like what we brought

with this this Christmas gift present.

And guess what? We were able to give

gifts. 455 kids were served yesterday

and Friday at release ministry. Do we

got a picture of that? Can we throw that

picture up? We had a whole group of us

come over and be able to highlight and

celebrate what what and just serve and

walk people around as they received free

Christmas presents for their kids.

This is the light. It's incredibly

practical.

It's not viby.

It's love. Love is action. Love is real.

So, if we can stand up in here,

I want to I want to challenge us.

There's a million different ways you can

be the light.

But Jesus makes it clear.

He is no longer I I I I would think it's

so cool if Jesus is in the flesh

standing on the stage right here by us.

I'd be like, "Take every mic." I'm like,

"Let's go. I'm sitting down. I'm pulling

out my note. I I don't know what I'm

doing. I'm freaking out like like I'd be

so amped. Guess what?

Jesus is here.

He is in the flesh.

He is the light in this place. He's got

a word for every single one of us that

he wants to speak and whisper and he

wants to minister to this world and be

the light in this world through his body

of believers. Will you be the light?

Will you be the light? So, what I want

to I want to challenge us in is begin to

look at ways that I can practically

genuinely just be a blessing. And I want

to challenge us to

a double blessing. Give two good things.

Here's what I mean by that. When you

think about being a blessing, when you

think about being an encouragement, when

you think about something like that,

what I want you to do is I want you to

pair it with a second good thing.

We've got we've got invites here for

Christmas Eve and Christmas day in uh in

and our Christmas Sunday on the 21st

and we got we got these invites and

they're up here in stacks of five

and you can just hey I want to be a

blessing

and I want to I want to give this to

you. This is not an obligation. I didn't

do that nice thing so that you'll come

to my church. Has nothing to do I just I

want to give two good things. I want to

if I want to I came and I provided

donuts for the for my co-workers and I

wanted to provide some invites as well

because I don't I don't I don't know how

to explain it. I can't tell you

everything. I can't give you I can't

answer all your spiritual questions but

I can I can tell you something amazing

is happening here.

God is doing something incredible.

And I I met Jesus in a new powerful

personal real way.

I just want to I'd love to invite you

into that. Would you give two good

things? And I want to challenge all of

us to grab some invites. So go ahead. We

got we got invites up here. If you want

to come on up and grab a stack of five

invites, maybe you want to get a little

crazy and grab two stacks of five.

Whatever you want to do. So, if you want

to come on up, grab that. And this is

just your application. And remember,

it's not just it's not the the paper's

not magical. The thing that's amazing is

being the light in giving a double

blessing doing something on top of just

giving a piece of paper to someone.

Be a blessing. I I I used to I don't

have I ran out, but I I used to have a

whole bunch of just $5 coffee gift cards

and I just keep in my in my backpack and

I'd uh paperclipip an invite to that and

I'd be like, "Hey, I wanted to give this

to you. Just literally no obligation.

Here's an invite about this church that

that my my friends and I have started.

I'd love to have you come, but you don't

have to come. Enjoy yourself a coffee. I

just really like our conversation and

interaction today. Be blessed." That's

it. All right. Look, find some way to

give a second blessing to be

the light to show the true light. I'm

going to challenge us in this. It's

incredibly practical, but I also want to

give an opportunity. If you go, man,

I'm the lampshade without the light.

I don't know about like I've never had

Jesus in my heart or I certainly I've

lived a long time. It's not just in the

morning I've abandoned him but I've been

away from him and I've abandoned him for

a long time and what I need to do what I

need to do and this is what I'm telling

you. Everything else ignore everything

else about this message of this part is

for you.

I believe there's some of you in this

room that this is the one and only thing

you need to catch.

You're the your your light is brightest

when you draw nearest to him.

You need to get nearer. Come closer to

him.

Come back to him or come to him for the

first time ever.

He's got hope for you. He's got life for

you. He's got purpose for you. He's got

a tomorrow for you that's way better

than anything that you can imagine

yourself. I promise you that there is

still a way to redeem your story. God

wants to use this. God wants to do this.

Just draw nearer to the light. And if

that's you, please listen to me. Forget

everything else that I said. Would you

would you draw nearer to Jesus? And

don't do this alone. We got right up

here. We got Russ. We got this table. We

got this banner that says prayer. Would

you just come and find I'm going to hang

out over there. We got a couple of our

prayer team that's going to come over

here. Would you just come on up and over

here before you leave? There's going to

be other people coming up and grabbing

more invites. You're not going to be the

only person walking up. Would you come

up? Just have a conversation because

you're not supposed to do this alone.

It's almost impossible to do it alone.

Do it together. What are the first

steps? We got some gifts we'd love to

give you as well to help equip you on

your walk. Can we pray? Let's do it.

Heavenly Father, I submit all of this to

you. I submit our hearts, our plans, our

desires, all of it. Lord, we are a

lampshade without a light when we are

without you.

Would you remind us to bring you

everywhere we go? Not to

compartmentalize,

not to ignore, not to be ashamed. Father

God, we give it all to you. We give

ourselves to you. In the mighty name of

Jesus, I pray a blessing of the light

over every person. May we be hope. May

we give life. May we bring purpose. May

we bring blessing. May we bring

restoration. May we bring generosity.

May we be a church that is contagious

and draws attention not to ourselves but

to the light that is within us. Thank

you, Father. We praise you in the mighty

name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Come on,

can we give a hand for the word of the

Lord?

>> Hey, thanks so much for watching today's

message. Our prayer is more than the

words that were spoken in the message

that you would remember the things that

God spoke to your heart.

>> Yeah. And no matter what it was that God

spoke to you, I know that part of your

journey is other people being in a

community because we are better

together. So, if you made a decision to

follow Jesus today, would you click the

link below and fill out the form? This

is going to help us so that we can

celebrate with you and equip you with

some tools so that your next steps are

great steps.

>> Yeah. Thanks so much for watching. We're

praying for you. We're cheering you on.

We believe that the best days are ahead

of you.

Heat. Heat. N.