TRANSCRIPTION | Sunday, September, 5, 2021 | God Is “___” Series | God Is...LIGHT

 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I get to share in our continued series “God Is,” “God Is.” I had the privilege to share the first installment in that, which was “God Is Life.” And we've been looking at the book of 1 John. And we've been kind of just seeing how that John unfolds for us these things that God can be described as. Last week, Dr. Swan did a phenomenal job sharing with us that God is love. First Bible verse I ever learned, my mama taught it to me in Sunday school, out of the book of 1 John, God is love. Today, I get to continue, and I want to share with you through the book of 1 John how that we can learn that God is light and what that means to us. And I'm really, I mean, I'm excited about the message I get to share today. I really feel like there's some impactful moments where if you'll lean in, I think God's got something he'd like to share with us. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Father help me to preach, help me to teach. God, I pray that you would use this moment by the work of your Holy Spirit to provoke each of us to take our next step in you, whatever that might be. Lord, let it be done in Jesus’ name. And this church said, amen. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I want to share a picture with you. I tried to find a picture that maybe was more high definition or more high quality, I wasn't able to succeed at that. But this picture has something in it that you may or may not be familiar with. Now, the first thing that you'll notice is that there is a fire engine in the background. And the reason for that is because this picture is taken in a firehouse that's located in California. This center of the picture, though, is this light bulb. And that light bulb is significant because of what it represents. In 1879, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. And it was about 22 years later, that someone working off of the schematics of his invention created this light bulb. It was actually developed by a company known as the Shelby Light Company. They installed it in this fire department, and from 1901 until now, it has never been turned off. It has burned consecutively. The only exception to that would be when there would be a major power outage or something of that nature. But as far as the light itself, it continues to burn. They say that by modern standards, it should have burned out by over 852 times by now. But it just continues to burn. In fact, it's become such a phenomenon that it's been labeled the centennial bowl, or the centennial light. And if you Google it, you go online, you can actually find a live webcam feed of this light. And to think about something being installed in 1901, never being turned off, continuing to shine. And yet here in 2022, to have never burned out. Don't you wish that described you? 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

You know burnout is something that most people wrestle with. We may call it different things, we may say, I'm tired or exhausted, or I'm fatigued. But when that goes beyond something that you're using to describe a particular day, and you're using it to describe your season of life, that is typically what the definition of burnout would be. And I've noticed that there seem to me to be just an increasing number of people that are struggling with burnout. That they really are in a season of physical, spiritual, emotional exhaustion. And there's some kind of fatigue that's associated with it as it feels like their passion is growing dim, and they just don't have that fire shining, burning inside of them the way that maybe they once would have had towards the things that they used to consider the literal purpose of their life. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so it leads me to want to ask a few questions. Does your life feel meaningful or meaningless? like have you kind of reached a point in your life where things that you once would have thought were meaningful are now mundane or meaningless. In fact, you've even just started to wonder like, I don't feel like I'm doing any good. I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything. I don't feel like that this is having the effect that it should have. You know, what I've discovered about my life when I am the most vulnerable to burnout is when I am bored. And it's when the enemy begins to convince me that the things that I'm doing are not meaningful. They're meaningless. And the monotony of that, the mundane aspects of that cause me to just start to really struggle with feeling burnt out. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Maybe you can relate. If so, I want to ask you another question, and it’s this: are you complaining about the things that you used to pray for? I want you to think about that for a second. There may have been a time in your life when you prayed, and you asked God to do specific things in your life to give you specific opportunities. And now, somehow, someway, you find yourself actually complaining about those things. You know, our church, we've had a time this week to just kind of reflect on old pictures and kind of see some of the things that God has done over the years. And we started 21 years ago in a converted truckstop restaurant. It would seat at maximum capacity about 85 people. We could not afford the chairs to go in that facility, so we had to borrow folding chairs from local funeral homes. Our rent bill was $500 every week, and that included the utilities, $500. And so when you think about $500, maybe that doesn't sound like a profound amount for a large group of people, but it was not a large group of people, we only had about 12 people. On a big Sunday, we would have about 30 people. And we would actually have to have yard sales to try to come up with the funds to be able to cover our rent. And so I remember praying, you know, God grow the church. God expand our influence. God, let us be able to do more in our community and for our community. And, if you're not careful, one day, you look up and things have expanded and things have grown. And you can actually start to complain about the things that you used to pray for. Maybe you can relate, maybe you've asked God, bless my business. God, let people call me and want my services. And now you're kind of at a place that if one more person rings my phone or dings my text, I'm gonna lose my...

Okay, no? Let me roll up my sleeves here, and we'll keep talking about it. Maybe you're at that place where it's like, you asked, and God, please give me authority in my workplace, God, please give me responsibility, please move me up the ladder. And now you're like, if I get one more email, I'm going to lose my mind. Isn't it amazing how that we can start to complain about the things that we prayed for. The reason that happens is because the enemy begins to very subtly work in our life, and begins to blind us to the meaningfulness and instead expose us to the meaninglessness. And so we begin to focus on the wrong side of things. And instead of seeing it through a God's perspective, we begin to see it through the world's perspective. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I want to show you this morning, if you're struggling with burnout, or if you've lost passion, or if you feel like maybe things just aren't as bright in regards to your purpose, as they once were, I want to show you some things that John had to say to this little book 1 John, about the importance of God's light. In fact, in 1 John chapter one, he's not even five verses in when he says, “This is the message which we have heard from Jesus, and we declared to you.” And so I want you to notice something, John is saying, this is the kind of thing that Jesus preached. He had a personal relationship with Jesus, he sat under multiple teachings and preaching moments with Jesus, and he's saying, Jesus, this was a major part of his message, that he would declare to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness. That's an incredible statement. Would you just say it out loud, “God is light.” I messed you up didn’t I? Alright, ready, begin, “God is light.” God is light. And in him, there is no darkness. I want you to think of it this way, that darkness is anything of this world. So when you hear Scripture using the term dark or darkness, it's referring to anything that got its origination in the world. But when we think about light, as we're going to really drill down into in just a moment, when Scripture is referencing that it is anything that comes from God's word. Let me give you an example of that. Genesis chapter one, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void. And God said, let there be light.” So light, in its very beginning, was created by the Word of God. You cannot separate the Word of God, from the light of God, nor the light of God, from the Word of God. And so when you go into Scripture, and you see in the book of John chapter one It would say something like, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And it's talking about Jesus. How could Jesus be the Word? Well, Jesus was the voice of the Word of God in a sinless capacity made manifest in the earth. That's why Jesus could also say that he was the light of the world. So I want you to think about this, if anything that's in the world represents darkness, and anything that's coming from God's Word represents light, then you need to know that when you open your Bible, you turn on the light. It's literally like you begin to flip a switch in your situation. And some of you are in a very dark moment, and you're kind of wishing somebody would come around and flip the spiritual lights. And I think God wants to let you know, all you got to do is open up the Word of God. And at that moment, you literally begin to turn on the light. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I can prove that to you through Scripture's own testimony, Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and it is a light unto my path.” It's his word. That's what God's word does in your life, it illuminates a path. But what you have to realize, God gives us opportunities to see in the dark, but it's up to us to use the light. Just because the light is available does not mean that you are benefiting from it. You have to make a decision to go to the Word of God and find out what God wants to illuminate in your life through that word. Something that's helped me to kind of understand this better is that Scripture tells us that we are to abide in Jesus Christ. But then scripture also, John wrote this down for us in his gospel, tells us that the only way you can abide in Jesus is if you obey Him. So we all want to abide in Jesus, but then we learned the only way we can abide is if we obey. Well, how do we obey? You have to learn what his commands are. And so what you will begin to discover is that when you begin to develop a relationship with the Word of God, it helps you to come to a better understanding of what God's commands for your life are. And then as you begin to obey them, you begin to utilize the light, to keep you out of the dark places, or to light up the dark places.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I want to show you in John chapter eight, verse number 12, Jesus spoke to the people surrounding him to his disciples, and he said, I am the light of the world. Isn't that an awesome promise? So what you need to learn from that is you will never be able to see the world the way God intended unless you develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's the only way to truly experience what God has for you in the world, is to let Jesus be the light that shines in it. And we can get excited about the fact Jesus is the light, hallelujah, all the responsibility is on Jesus, to light up the dark places, and to be the light in the dark places. And Jesus is the light hallelujah. But that is not where Jesus stopped. And I feel like there's a lot of people that have missed this memo from Scripture, because in Matthew five verses 2 and 14, Jesus opened his mouth again, and he taught them you are the light. Whoa, wait a second. I thought he was the light. How? How am I the light? Do you understand what Jesus just did? He just put some responsibility on you when it comes to the world being lit up in spite of its darkness. That Jesus looked at his audience, he looked at his followers, he looked at the believers, and he said to them, yeah, I'm the light. But so are you. Well, how does that play out in our life? You receive the light by believing the word and you release the light by obeying the Word. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So everything we were talking about just a moment ago, of how when we want to abide in Jesus, and we want to walk with Jesus, the only way we can do that is if we obey the commands of Jesus. And so when we open up the word, and we believe what the Word says to us and about us and for us, we receive light into the dark places. Let me give you an example. You may be struggling with an addiction. And as you are struggling with that addiction, it's gotten really dark, it's gotten really depressed, you've gotten really discouraged, you've lost a lot of things as a result of that addiction, but then you read Scripture and it says “Whatsoever spiritual bond on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever spirits you loosen, earth shall be loosed in heaven, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ, that you are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus, that the weapons of your warfare are not carnal through man's hands, but they, I wish I could get somebody to say amen. When you read the light and you believe it, you receive that light, and you begin to realize I don't have to settle for this darkness ruling my life anymore. I don't have to settle for this darkness blinding me to the good things that God's got for me, I can receive the light. But it's not just that you would receive the light, God also wants you to release the light. And the way that you release the light is by obeying the Word. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so we'll see in just a moment that there are some specific ways that when you begin to obey the Word, you start turning the light on in dark places. But, first I want to show you why it's so important. Because Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that “The god of this age, the devil, the enemy has blinded the mind of those who do not believe lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ would shine on them.” And so when someone doesn't receive the light, through believing in Jesus, they stay blinded to the things that God has for them, because the devil keeps ruling their heart and their life. So when we look at the fact that the god of this age is trying to blind the world, I think you and I ought to make a decision to turn the light on. Come on, would you just look at somebody and tell them, “turn the light on.” So every time that I believe the Word of God over my life, I receive light. And every time I obey the Word of God, I release light. Every time that you believe the Word of God over your life, you receive light. And every time you obey the Word of God, you release light. Turn the light on. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So you want to talk about how easy it is to turn a lot of God on? It's not complicated. The enemy makes us think it's complex. It's really not. It's as simple as this: love God, and love people. In fact, when I wrote this part of the message, I stopped for an extended period of time, and I thought I really probably should come up with a way to be more profound. And the more I looked at it, the more I prayed through it, the more I realized, no, it's just really this simple. Because the greatest two commands in all of Scripture are first that you would love the Lord thy God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul, and second that you would love your neighbor as yourself. You know what that means? Love God and love people. And if you obey God, in those two commands, you're going to discover that you're going to turn the light on in some dark places. Here's what you'll discover. In fact, the light will reveal what the love of God can heal. So why don't you just let the light of God start going to work in your life. So when you show up on a Sunday morning, and you are worshiping God in a corporate environment, and you're displaying your love for God, you're turning the light on. When you're making that decision that you're going to love people, even if they're a little bit difficult, and they're a little bit hateful, and their little bit honorary, you are turning the light on. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

John talked about loving God and loving people in his own way in this little book. He said, this is the message which we heard from Christ and we declare it to you that God is light. We read that earlier. But now look at verse six, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and we walk in darkness, we lie and we do not practice truth.” Love God, but also love people. Chapter two verse nine, he said this: “He who says he is in the light and he hates his brother is in the darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, but he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and,” does that say what I think….”does not know where he is going.” Well now that made the world make a lot more sense, didn't it? I'm not just talking about the people you followed to church this morning, I'm talking about the joker's you're hanging out on social media with. Or maybe the people that are in your life on the peripheral edges, and you can just tell man, they do not know where they go in. In and out of relationships, in and out of career opportunities, in and out of churches. I can't get no help on a Sunday morning. And y'all know the truth. A lot of us don't know where we going. It’s gettin quiet in here. But here's the reality. God's like that Centennial light, he don't burn out. And he is ever available. You know what's amazing about that Centennial light. It was built by the Shelby Light Company, as I told you, but you know what's wild, the Shelby Light Company went out of business. Do you know why? Because when they built a bulb, it was so long before anyone else had to reorder. God don't burn out. And when you start to think that you can live life knowing where you're going, because the light begins to show up, because you stop settling for the darkness that has blinded you. Who blinds you, the enemy. And you start realizing I'm not going to hate anybody. I'm not going to speak ill of anybody. I'm not going to live in bitterness, and unforgiveness, and deceit, and lies, and stealing, and cheating. Like, I'm going to love people. Make that decision in your life. And when you start loving people, you start shining light. I’ll just say to you again, turn the light on. And another way of doing that is to serve God and serve others. In fact, it's impossible to love God and love people unless you serve God and you serve others. And as long as you are just content to consume, you will never contribute light. And there are a lot of us that we just want to receive light, receive light, receive light, but we never want to release light. And if you want to know what's wrong with the world, it is not the fact that the church has not received the light, it is that the church has not released the light. And the reason that you have an atheistic, agnostic, reprobate minded society is because people who have received the light have not released the light. Because what Scripture says in Matthew chapter five, verse 16, is that if you will let your light so shine before men, that they will see your good works, and they will glorify your Father in heaven. All the world needs is for the light to be turned on and to see some good stuff happening through some sold out followers of Jesus Christ. Am I making sense to anybody on a Sunday morning? Look over to somebody and tell them, turn the light on. Turn the light on. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I mean, just chew on this verse for a second,lLet your light so shine before men, that they see your good works, and they glorify your Father in heaven. Serve God and serve others. When you come to church and you say something like you want to be a part of the Host Team, and you show up and you're out a door or you're maneuvering through a facility and you're just being friendly, and you've been assigned to that post, the enemy has a way of making you think that that is absolutely meaningless, and that you're not doing any good whatsoever. But the truth of it is it is incredibly meaningful, because you are ministering to people through a handshake, through a smile, through a big howdy that impacts people that have been beat down and beat up and been treated horrible all week long. But when they come to a place called 3trees, or a church that represents Jesus Christ, they are going to find a light that is shining. In fact, when we all get together, it should be like a city that is set up on a hill according to Jesus, because there's so much light that's being distributed all in one place. When somebody is over in kids church, and they listen to a bunch of kids scream and holler, and all the sudden this kid's got a runny nose, and that kid's got to have a diaper change, this kid’s screaming for its mama, all of a sudden, you can think what am I doing here, this is absolutely meaningless, unless you begin to understand how meaningful the light of God is when it gets into somebody's life, such as a child that needs to be reminded there is an enemy, he's going to try to steal, he's going to try to kill, he's going to try to destroy. But there is a God who so loved you that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That’s light. That's light.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

When you come in and you worship, and it's not just a spectator sport for you, where you tap your clock or look at your phone and think when is this going to be over, but you actually engage. Nobody's saying that your worship has to be as expressive as anybody else's. But to actually lean into the words and give God the opportunity to receive your worship, you're turning the light on. Serve God, serve others, do good works. Like the world needs the church to do something other than show up and tell them how wrong they are. Most of them already got that figured out anyway. How many people have you run into that are backslidden on God, completely disconnected from the Lord in their relationship, and you'll start talking to them a little bit trying to shine a little light, and they'll immediately admite, well I know I need to straighten up, I know I need to get back to church, and i know, I know. So many of them already know, they just need somebody to love them. It doesn't mean you stop sharing the truth, but when you do it you're not some self righteous hypocrite, you're doing it because you love them. You're not trying to prove to them how wrong they are, you're trying to prove them how right they could be. The good works. That's why we're so intentional about Captivate. Guys it is hundreds of 1000s of dollars that you put back into our community, and back into planting churches, and it's amazing how it adds up, all the little things that you do just turns into astronomical figures. Why don't we do that? Because you just keep believing that someday they’re going to see the good works, and they’re going to realize that God deserves to be glorified. Sometimes you meet the material need because you're opening someone to the spiritual truth. You just let your light shine. Let your light shine.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I was thinking about Benjamin Franklin. He is a founding father, a brilliant man supposedly, and an inventor. And one of the things that he did, he lived in Philadelphia for a season. And while he was in Philadelphia, he discovered that there was a need for streetlights. And so he didn't call a town hall, he didn't meet with a bunch of people, he didn't try to sell his vision. This is what he did: he went outside his house, and he took a lantern, and he filled it with fuel, and he made sure the wick was good, and he polished it as much as he possibly could. Every night, he would go outside and he would hang it right outside his house and light up his section of the street. And people started noticing when they would pass by his house, that they benefited from that light. And that it helped to navigate the darkness. So the next thing you know, neighbors started every evening going out and getting their lanterns and making sure that they were fueled and shining light into the dark places of that city. And before long the city council got together and they said, we need streetlights. It all happened because one man chose to light up his section of darkness. One man chose to go outside of his house and do something about the darkness that was in his domain. And I just wonder in your life, I know the enemy can make it feel meaningless. But you might be surprised at how contagious light can be when you decide to let it shine through you and in you. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, I want to leave you this morning with just three simple statements about light. And I wanted to encourage your faith, and I want it to provoke you to go be the light of Jesus in this world. First statement is this: light tells darkness how far it can come. Darkness does not tell light what to do. Light tells darkness what to do. When you look at the pitch of these lights and the way that they bring their light down, you will discover that the darkness can only come as far as the light permits. And that's important to know because sometimes when you're living in a culture such as we're living, it can feel like you're losing, and it can feel like things are getting darker and darker. But you need to understand that according to Scripture 1John 2:8, “Again a new commandment I write to you which thing is true in Jesus and in you because the darkness is passing away. And the true light is already shining.” You need to understand something, darkness can only come as far as light allows it. And the enemy may have a plot, but God's got a plan. And God was saying even 2000 years ago the darkness is going to pass away and in the end the light will be all that prevails and there will be no darkness left to remain. So don't you give up on the light you keep letting the light shine, the true light will always shine. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

The second thing I want to say to you about light is that light helps find that which is lost. In Luke chapter 15 we're given the parable of three lost things. One of the things that's lost is a coin. It's lost in the house. It says what they do is that they light a candle, they light a lamp, and they go through, and they start to sweep the house. And then as they're sweeping the house with the light, it helps them to find that lost coin. Have you ever dropped something and said, can somebody bring me a light? Have you ever had something like fall and looked over at somebody and said hey can you hold this light for a second? It happened to me just a few weeks ago. I was working on the truck, and I dropped a bolt, and I was trying to find the bolt. And I had to call one of the kids out of the house, and I was like, hold the light. I gotta….hold the light, right. Hold it right... Isn’t it amazing how light can help you find lost things? You know, the thing about light is not only can you open up the Word of God, and it can begin to help you to discover the things that you've lost in your own life, but it can help you to discover that you yourself are lost. And it can begin to expose the reality that you need to lift your hand into the air and totally and completely commit your life to Jesus Christ and ask Him to forgive you of your sins, and believe that He is the Lord who is capable of making old things pass away and everything become new again. And in an instant, you can see the light turn on in your life, and you can discover that the lostness can be replaced by being found in Jesus.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I leave you with one final thing, and it's this: light always wins. You know how I know that? Because God is light, and God don't lose. I’m going to ask them to begin to play some music softly, and I would just challenge you, if you have not aligned your life with the light, give some strong consideration to doing that today. Don't settle for darkness. I've met so many people that after they come to a relationship with Jesus Christ, they will admit, man, I had no idea how dark my life had gotten. It's amazing how the enemy can just take sin and so blind us to make us think it's not that big of a deal, or I've got tomorrow or I'll work it out later. And when we do that we're just stumbling through life in darkness. But in one instance, you could make the decision to say, Lord I’m lost, and I need to be found. And I receive the work of your Word in my life today. And today, if you're under the sound of my voice and you're like I need the light, like I get it that could mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people. So just, I’m going to ask you, heads bowed, eyes closed, like just don't look around for a second. Let's just all have a private moment in this public place. If you're here and you say I need the light, I'm going to ask you just to lift your hand. I think for some people that means I need to be saved. For somebody else that means I need to rededicate my life to Jesus. For somebody else it means man I'm like surrounded by darkness everywhere and I just need some light. However it connects with your heart, however it connects to your personal relationship with Jesus, if you would say I need the light, I need the light of God to show up and win for me. I need to receive it so I can release it. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Father, right now we repent of sins that might have created dark places in our life. We repent of indifference to the darkness. God we repent of places in our life where we've just settled for it being a little more dim than it should have been. And we thank you God that today your Word and your presence is just turning the light on. And that God your light is beginning to be received in our hearts and in our lives. And we're praying, God that not only is it going to do a work in us but that it's going to do a work through us. That God what we're asking you is that when we leave this place even if we're a brand new Christian, that God we would let that light shine by testifying to somebody what's happened to us. If we've re-dedicated our life that we would let that light shine by letting somebody know hey man, some new stuff’s about to go down in my life. If God were in that place where that we've just not been all in, and right now we realize I need the light, that God we would have the courage to let the whole world know I'm done playing games, man. I need the light, and it's gonna shine through me. I'm not going to hide it under a bushel. I'm going to be like a city that’s set up on a hill. I mean, I feel like I've got a big light, but God I'm going to pray that my light will shine into the darkness and that people will see the good works as a result of it and glorify your name. God, we thank you for the light. We thank you Father.