Sermon Central
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The Light Of The World
Contributed by Andrew Moffatt on Jan 20, 2025 (message contributor)
Did you know that on the 2nd of January first thing in the morning, just the other day, like in the wee small hours this occurred, and the next night this occurred? [Photos of Aurora Australis] The second one is not the sunset, that is 3am at Blockhouse Bay in Auckland, the first is Queenstown. Did any of you see it on those nights? No, I know why you didn’t see it, one of two reasons well likely only one was the same reason I didn’t see it, it was cloudy, overcast raining here in Wellington or the second reason, if you had been in a place where it was clear, you were asleep of doing something indoors, maybe shift work, not aware of it occurring. But occur it did.
Where I’m going with this is that Jesus said this about himself, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life." John 8:12. Interesting here is that Jesus said this at the feast of the tabernacles when at the temple huge lamps were lit symbolising the pillar fire that led the Hebrew people by night in the wilderness. What he was saying was that he is the one who will lead, he is our divine light, and he will illuminate our way. We know that in following him we are led to victory. For as John says in chapter 1:7, ‘if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, purifies us from all sin.’ (paraphase) However, we have an option a bit like the other night our paths can remain clouded, why because we lack clarity, maybe we don’t understand who Jesus is, maybe we just like going our own way. There are several reasons for this. We lack an understanding of Jesus divinity, that he was and is the atoning sacrifice for the whole world. 1. It could be we are unwilling to follow, a bit like knowing there’s a light show going on outside but having no desire to move to see it. Some people just don’t want to be saved. Why, because the flesh and the spirit are battling the Apostle Paul says it this way in Galatians 5:17: “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” The nitty gritty of this whole battle comes with the realisation that at the end of our lives only one of these two remains, best not to let the flesh be victorious then; if you want the final victory.
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