Are You Shining??

Are You Shining your Light to the World

Matthew 5:14-5:14

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth light to 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 is a dark place and it’s growing darker every day. Years ago, when I was still young in the Lord, working in whatever ministry God would give to me, I never dreamed that we would have ever had such open sin in America as we have today.

Homosexual and Lesbians roam the streets in open defiance of God’s Law and of the Law of the land. We murder unborn and partially born babies by the thousands in the name of scientific research so that others may live just a little longer. The thought of terrorist attacks on our soil is an ever present point of anxiety for so many of our citizens. And yet, it has only begun. The day is yet to come when peace will be utterly gone from the face of the earth. How far down will man go into his depraved state of sin?

None of us could have imagined how much immorality would increase and that sinners would have such liberty to blaspheme the name of God and to live in the perversion and filth as we have everywhere today. The name of my Jesus, my Lord and Savior, has become nothing more than a curse word. He is not called upon in prayer but he is cursed in anger and frustration.

Surely a gross darkness is covering the world and men are becoming more blinded by sin than ever before. Morality is thought of as a prudish thing that only the “old fashioned” will even take into consideration. Immorality rules in the hearts of our youth, our kids and in all of society.

the scripture is being fulfilled right before our very eyes, marking the end of the Church Age and we can sense that Jesus will soon be coming in the clouds of Glory.

1 Timothy 4:1-2, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron…"

Who can deny the fact that our nation has lost its conscience? Guilt and conviction of sin has been replaced by arrogance and self-righteousness, even in the church!

Now we have a generation of children who are growing up in homes where mom and dad are not mom and dad at all, but mom and her girlfriend, or dad and his boyfriend. Our kids are growing up in a darkness of sin that we, as older people, never knew in our time.

Yes, thinks are looking mighty dark out there, but I want you to know that there is some Good News! That’s what I’m here to preach to you about tonight – the Good News! What is the Good News? The good news is that if you are truly a born again, blood bought, child of the Living God, then your light is going to keep getting brighter and brighter in the darkness of this old sinful world, that is, unless you decide to cover your light and hide in fear.

What do I mean when I say that your light is going to shine bright?

How many of you have ever stepped into a dark room and turned on the light? What happened? The darker that room was, the brighter the light seemed.

Sometimes, even the light of a single candle, or a small flashlight, can be blinding to those who are in utter darkness.

If you were to take that same little candle, or that flashlight and light it outside on a bright sunny day, the light would be there but you it really wouldn’t have much of an effect.

I want you to know that the darker in sin this world goes, the brighter your light is going to shine for the Lord and you can’t help but be a bright light in a dark place.

Jesus didn’t say in this verse that He was the light of the world. Now we all know that the only real source of Light is the Lord, and the only light we have is the radiant glow of the Spirit of Christ within us and the reflection of His glory upon us. But Jesus’ own words to His disciples, and to each of us were, “YOU ARE THE LIGHT of the World!”