Take your Candle, Go Light Your World
This little light of mine
I’m going to let it shine
Oh, this little light of mine
I’m going to let it shine
Hallelujah
This little light of mine
I’m going to let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
Hide it under a bushel, No?
I’m going to let it shine!
Won’t let satan blow it out, No!
I’m going to let it shine, let it shine,
Let it shine!
If you ever went to VBS. Growing up during the sixties and the seventies that was a song that everyone learned and loved to sing.
You got to do all the body language with it, it had a great message, it had a snappy little beat to it and it was easy to remember.
Many a child thought to themselves, why wouldn’t everyone want their light to shine?,
I’m going to tell everyone about Jesus when I grow up.
The road to adulthood in Christianity, is paved with good intentions, but somewhere along the way,
we forgot to keep the batteries charged up, or changed in our light
and for a lot of Christians, their light aint been so shiny lately!
If you go to Christian witnessing stats. On the net, this is what you will find.
Of the 7 Billion that now live on planet earth, 15-25% of the population of the world is yet to hear a clear presentation of the gospel so that they can personally place saving faith in Christ for salvation.
Only 6.3% of the world’s population lives in a culture without a witnessing church – though in large populations many would have little chance to visit one.
93.7% of the population lives where they have a witnessing church, but most Christians are not sharing their faith, usually about 2% do on a regular basis.”
Every one who has accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, though they may not realize it, has a calling on their life,
While most are not called to be preachers or evangelist, or anything to do with public speaking, all are called to share their faith.
It was the last charge, or marching orders that Jesus gave us before He ascended to Heaven,
You find it in Matt. 28:18-20 NKJ. It is known as the Great Commission
18. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Preachers have been telling their congregations about it, ever since Jesus said those words, to those who were there that day!
Makes you wonder why, after all this time, only 2% share their faith,
maybe the other 98%, just need a little more clarification,
Matt 5:13-16 MSG.
13"Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
14-16"Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept.
We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you?
I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives.
By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”
That makes it pretty clear, doesn’t it?
In fact that makes it crystal clear,
You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept.
All Christians should know this, then why are the 98% choosing to have a Jonah experience day in and day out.
Jonah 1:1-3 NKJ.
1. Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
3. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
You see, Jonah knew what God wanted him to do. But like a lot of people in this world, all down through the ages, he chose not to.
Why is it some still choose to not do the Lords will, even when they know that there will be consequences?
Jonah quickly found out, that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t out run what God wanted him to do,
As long as what, he knew he was to do, was in his review mirror, he found out that life could be pretty tough.
Like Jonah, a lot of people over the years, have made life, harder on themselves, then it needed to be.
And Suddenly, there was a great storm and it got Jonahs attention as well as everyone else’s that was on that boat that day.
Jonah learned quickly, but some people just choose to have suddenly moments one after another, their whole life long.
God’s plan was much more than just getting Jonah off of that boat, It was to show Jonah who was in control.
Shortly after Jonah hit the waves, the storm died down and subsided.
He quieted the wind and sent a fish to swallow the future prophet, and deliver him to Ninevah.
God’s plan, would not be deterred by a man refusing to follow.
When God calls someone to serve, no matter how much they protest, His will WILL be done!
They can come kicking and screaming along the way or not, but one way or another, they will come!
If we try to hide our light, God will find a way for it to shine through, one way or another.
How’s come, when we know what we should be doing, we find every avenue and reason not to do it?
Then when we finally do it, we realize that we should have done it a long time ago and get upset with ourselves, cause we didn’t do it sooner.
Makes you wonder about the possibilities, we would see, if we just would listen the first time around, to what the Lord was wanting us to do.
It would most definitely be easier on us!
1st Sam. 3:4-10 MSG.
4-5. Then God called out, "Samuel, Samuel!"
Samuel answered, "Yes? I’m here." Then he ran to Eli saying, "I heard you call. Here I am."
Eli said, "I didn’t call you. Go back to bed." And so he did.
6-7. God called again, "Samuel, Samuel!"
Samuel got up and went to Eli, "I heard you call. Here I am."
Again Eli said, "Son, I didn’t call you. Go back to bed." (This all happened before Samuel knew God for himself. It was before the revelation of God had been given to him personally.)
8-9. God called again, "Samuel!"—the third time! Yet again Samuel got up and went to Eli, "Yes? I heard you call me. Here I am."
That’s when it dawned on Eli that God was calling the boy. So Eli directed Samuel, "Go back and lie down. If the voice calls again, say, ’Speak, God. I’m your servant, ready to listen.’" Samuel returned to his bed.
10. Then God came and stood before him exactly as before, calling out, "Samuel! Samuel!"
Samuel answered, "Speak. I’m your servant, ready to listen."
He listened, he grew in the Lord, and he became a great prophet.
God had a plan, and Samuel knew he was going to be a big part of that plan, and so he worked to fulfill that plan.
He let his light shine brightly and was a light to all of Israel, so everyone could see the truth that God revealed to him and through him.
Did you ever notice, some people when called or challenged to do something,
Some are like Jonah and run from the challenge,
some are like Samuel and listen to the challenge,
And some get so excited they tell everyone else about the challenge!
John 1:40-46 MSG.
40-42. Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, "We’ve found the Messiah" (that is, "Christ"). He immediately led him to Jesus.
Jesus took one look up and said, "You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas" (or Peter, which means "Rock").
43-44. The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, "Come, follow me." (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
45-46. Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, "We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!" Nathanael said, "Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding."
But Philip said, "Come, see for yourself."
The word “found” is important to see Phillip’s state of mind as it’s the same word “Eureka” in English.
Webster’s defines as: expressing triumph: used to express delight on finding, discovering, or solving something
This wasn’t just a simple discovery, he was excited, you would have thought he just struck oil, or found a gold mine!
What they had discovered was way beyond worldly wealth!
They may have been brand new disciples and didn’t totally understood everything that they believed yet,
But the main thing that they did know and realize, that this was way too good to keep to themselves.
They had to share it, they told everyone they knew and even those that they didn’t know!
It’s the new Christians that are often so vocal about their faith; they know and realize what they’ve found and they want everyone else to know it too!
There is such an excitement when someone gets saved, they cannot wait to let their little light shine,
For them, its like the light finally went on and its a wonderful experience.
You see, they haven’t gotten their faith all bogged down with other peoples opinions and traditions.
they haven’t come to believe that other people aren’t or might not be interested in what they have to say.
After all, they were interested, so others should be interested too, Right?.
There new theme song is; everybody ought to know, everybody ought to know,
everybody ought to know who Jesus is,
When did that song quit being all Christians theme song?
We need to get back the passion and excitement we once had as new born again Christians.
What a difference it would make if more people would do that!
Those disciples had it and they turned the world upside down, we can still do the same today.
Jesus hasn’t changed, he is still an “Amazing” eureka moment worth not only discovering and but also sharing with others,
And the sooner, we are all willing to get involved in telling everyone about Him, the sooner He will return to take us all home,
TBS. He won’t be returning until the whole world knows!
We need men, women, boys and girls of all ages,
who love their friends and family so much, that more than anything, they want to bring them to Jesus.
It doesn’t take a lot of learning, education, or experience.
The only real requirement it takes, is a love for Jesus, and the faith that believes no one is beyond the reach of God’s gift of grace.
We have the life line the world is in such desperate need of,
Its time we took up the task of, throwing out the lifeline and letting our light shine,
so that all men will see and have the opportunity to come to know Jesus and His Life Changing Message of Grace!!
Ill. I read, A young man accepted Christ. A little while later, a Christian teacher asked him:
"What have you done for Christ since you believed?" He said, "Oh, I’m only a learner."
"Well, when you light a candle do you light it to make the candle more comfortable, or to have it give light?"
He said, "Well… to give light."
"Do you expect it to give light after it is half burned, or when you first light it?"
He replied, "As soon as I light it, of course."
"OK," said the teacher, "Why should you be any different? Go and do likewise.”
Ill. (song) There is a candle in every soul
Some brightly burning, some dark and cold
There is a Spirit who brings fire
Ignites a candle and makes His home
Frustrated brother, see how he’s tried to
Light his own candle some other way
See now your sister, she’s been robbed and lied to
Still holds a candle without a flame
Carry your candle, run to the darkness
Seek out the hopeless, confused and torn
Hold out your candle for all to see it
Take your candle, and go light your world
Take your candle, and go light your world
We have a real opportunity to be a city on hill, right here in our community.
Lets make the most of the opportunity that we have been given.
No more looking at the opportunity in the rearview mirror, lets hold it out in front of us and let it light the way,
So that all men will have the chance to be drawn to the true light of the world,
Amen?
Lets pray and thank the Lord for the wonderful opportunity that He has given us!
*Thanks to Scott Jensen for the sermon starter
