Light is important for many of life’s basic functions. The Bible says Jesus is the “Light of the world,” but Jesus told His followers they were to be “the light of the world.” Discover His plan to use you to light up the world with a revelation of His character. 

<p>Light is important for many of life’s basic functions. The Bible says Jesus is the “Light of the world,” but Jesus told His followers they were to be “the light of the world.” Discover His plan to use you to light up the world with a revelation of His character. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

It Is Written

John Bradshaw

Lightened With His Glory

It's good to have the opportunity to open the Bible with you today.

Our Father in heaven, thank you for your word, for the light that shines from its pages, and for Jesus, the light of the world.

Let your light shine into our heart now we pray and thank you.

About 5 miles from Union College is the Extreme Light Laboratory at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

Recently, scientists at UNL succeeded in producing a beam of light 1000000000 times brighter than the surface of the sun.

Now that flash of light only lasted for 30 billionths of a millionth of a second, but still.

There was some scientific utility arising from the experiment, but it's hard to get away from the fact that at the end of the day, they created a really, really bright light.

Now, light, as you are aware, is important in multitudinous ways.

Serotonin levels plummet on dark days and increase when there's plenty of light and therefore impact our happiness.

Light affects productivity and creativity.

It affects sleep cycles, our eyes, even decision-making.

And I'm sure you've seen impressive light displays or impressive lights.

The Eiffel Tower, the London Eye, the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, all of them lit up with magnificent displays of light.

I'm sure you can think of others you've seen.

We filmed the little Christmas greeting for It Is Written in a neighborhood in Chattanooga where someone makes the local power company very, very happy every Christmas.

Once we drove to McAdinville, North Carolina, when my children were just small, and we marveled on several levels at the Christmas lights there.

And I remember taking the children out of town and we would drive on the way to their grandparents' house.

You could drive down the long driveway right past the front of the house and across the property to another road every year.

They would set up Christmas lights of all kinds and let you drive right through their place and marvel at the varying things that they had on display.

It seems that human beings are a little bit like moths in that we're attracted to light.

Now those old incandescent light bulbs you used to burn in your home would last for maybe 2000 hours, which is not really very long.

LED bulbs are supposed to last much longer.

There is a light bulb burning in Livermore, California that has been burning for 117 years.

The reason is it was engineered before the days of what is known as planned obsolescence.

Light bulb manufacturers figured out that light bulbs that burn for 100 years do not make light bulb manufacturers a lot of money.

And so they gathered in Geneva, Switzerland in 1924 and decided to make light bulbs that lasted considerably less long.

Members of what was known as the Phoebus Cartel were actually fined if they produced bulbs that burned for longer than 1, 000 hours.

It opens with the words that say, in the beginning God created, and the first thing God created during creation week was light.

God gave Israel light during the plague of darkness.

He sent with his people a pillar of fire to provide light.

A seven-branched lampstand in the sanctuary produced light, which glimmered and reflected inside that beautiful and vitally important structure.

God's Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

David wrote that the entrance of God's Word gives light.

Jesus declared Himself to be the light of the world.

John 9 verse 5 says, "...as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." That was Jesus speaking.

But the plot thickens when we hear Jesus say in Matthew 5 and verse 14, "...you are the light of the world.

A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

Now, There's part of me that doesn't much like that, because that selfish part of me that must be crucified daily wants time out, time off the clock, to not be on duty.

God's injunction does not contemplate our being part-time lights, but full-time lights.

It's because we live in this desperately dark world.

Isaiah 60 verse 2 says, For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen on thee." Jesus goes on to say, "...neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." The world needs to see light, a revelation of the character of God, in a world where men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, unthankful, unholy, false accusers, fierce, traitors, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, in that sort of world.

But wait, perhaps Paul is saying that sort of church, because he speaks in 2 Timothy 3 verse 5 about people who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.

My goodness, could that be us denying the power thereof, the power of God's grace, the power of God's forgiveness, the power of God's presence in our lives, the power of the Holy Spirit working in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

And the danger is that that's going to bleed more and more into the church.

Instead of light, there's too often darkness in the church, dark attitudes, dark disagreements, dark words.

But that's not what's going to win the world to the love of God.

Isaiah 60 in verse 3 says, And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Isaiah 42, 6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." Why was it that Jesus came into the world?

Luke 1 verse 79 tells us, "...to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace." John 1 verse 4, "...in him was life, and the life was the light of men." You know, it can be easier to keep the Sabbath than to reflect the character of Jesus.

Of course, you're going to say, well, you can't do 1 without the other, and you would be right.

It's easier to know the 2, 300-day prophecy, or eat the right food, or give an offering, than it is to manifest the character of Christ.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad when people persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." Oh, hey, hey, that's not what I signed up for.

That's what we call taking away the heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh.

Jesus is talking about working in us so powerfully that we aren't simply right, but we are light.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

If all we have is religion without having Christianity, if all we have is the form of godliness but we deny the power thereof, if all we have is compliance, if all we are is assenters, Then we don't have Jesus.

There's a song we used to sing in the Catholic church where I grew up.

There's a line in that song that says, how can we love God above and not our brother.

There were times I wished that I was adopted so I didn't have to be my brother's brother.

But I would hear that song and it would tell me that Evidently I was to love him.

I was happy going to church, happy trying to figure out how to go to heaven, but I did not love my brother.

I'm happy to tell you that in the intervening years things have changed, but I'm making a point here.

Growth in your church doesn't prove you're a Christian.

Your position, whatever it may be, doesn't prove that you're a Christian.

We can sing and we can shout and we can preach and we can give and we can do outreach and run programs and attend conferences, and none of that is the acid test.

People at a restaurant in China ordered a meal of fried fish.

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Lightened With His Glory

Transcript

Description

Sponsor

Recorded

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General Sessions

In His Presence

1h 30m

Christ In You

34m

Restoration 2009: Expect It

God’s First Promise

48m

What Can I Give Him?

32m

Our Heritage of Truth

52m

The Art of End Time Preaching

1. The Power of the Tower: The Theology of Preaching

1h 9m

The Way of Love

The Way of Love- Part 4

46m

Plenary

Unique Purpose

37m

Just This One Time

48m

Christ: Our Example in Prayer

1h

Restoration 2005: To The Point

Clean, but Empty

38m

Godly Living

Called to be Seekers

54m

Sound Doctrine