Today’s message summary of January 13, 2019 from Pastor Gus Brown:
Last week, we looked at the Book of John and noted that Jesus Christ was a part of the creation and that He created all things. The philosophies of man have repeatedly tried to tear down this truth.
Jesus is Lord.
Jesus is the true light for all humanity. This light reveals truth and knowledge for everyone.
The words “light” and “darkness” are metaphors for one’s moral condition.
A metaphor is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison.
Jesus teaches us in the midst of our failures. We learn lessons as we are in a humbled position.
In most instances, light travels faster than sound. Light is instantaneous, which sound takes about five seconds to travel one mile.
Lightning and thunder both occur at the same time. We see lightning before we hear thunder because light travels a million times faster than sound.
You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Let your light shine before men (Matthew 5:16).
People see the light of your life before they hear your words. Humanity cannot survive without light. Everything grows in the light.
In the Book of John, he shares with us about who Jesus is. The Word as being life and that His life was the light of men (John 1:4).
John 1:5
That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
All of the false teaching and confusion over Him will never move you away from Jesus once you understand who He is and what His Word means to you.
You need light to understand truth.
The more that you allow Jesus to shine as the light in your life, the greater the reflection you will have with others.
Knowledge is very important. It is critical to have knowledge of important aspects of life such as marriage or handling finances. Jesus desires for Hs people to have knowledge that comes from His wisdom.
Why is Jesus and His light important? It was because people were living in darkness. They were in darkness concerning God (John 1:5).
1 Corinthians 1:20-21
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.
Colossians 2:8
Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.
You have to be your own caretaker with your relationship with Jesus Christ and His Word. The Holy Spirit reveals this truth to you, but you have to accept it for what it is.
2 Corinthians 4:6
For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
God reveals Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus desires to share his wisdom and knowledge to us. It is up to us to seek after Him as we learn and grow. We need to see Him more and more.
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
The philosophy of man doesn’t understand the teaching and the works of God.
Isaiah 55:6-11
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call to him while he is near. Let the wicked one abandon his way and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, so he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will freely forgive. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.”
The Word was sent to accomplish God’s purpose in your life. It was not sent for personal bragging rights that you have a relationship with Him. Salvation is only the starting point of your life–it’s not the end.
If you are really saved by Jesus, you want to learn more about Him. You want to know how God wants to use you according to His will and purpose.
John 3:19-21
“This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
People love their own way of life—their own teaching.
Ephesians 4:17-24
Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. But that is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take of your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
Psalm 18:28
Lord, you light my lamp; my God illuminates my darkness.
God brings us out of error and into truth.
Psalm 119:105, 130
Your word is a lamp for my feet
and a light on my path.
The revelation of your words brings light
and gives understanding to the inexperienced.
The word “simple” can mean foolish and silly, unlearned, darkness, unacquainted with something.
Let us accept our responsibility to be more than just simple-minded. There is no shame in Christ and His gospel. Stand up for Jesus and let Him work in your life.
Jesus us out life and knowledge for this purpose.
Philippians 2:12-16
Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing.
If you have the desire to live blameless and pure, pursue being a child of God that is indeed without fault because of His forgiveness. Jesus wants you to shine like stars.
Jesus makes it all possible by being the life and light of our life. He is our light and our salvation.
1 John 1:5-7
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Psalm 89:15
Happy are the people who know the joyful shout; Lord, they walk in the light from your face.
Psalm 27:1
Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation–whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life–whom should I dread?
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