“GET UP AND GLOW”
Intro: I believe that every church ought to have a vision and mission of what they feel that God would have them to do in reaching out to their area with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The challenge I have for you and I as a Church is that which the Lord began to speak through the prophet Isaiah. There is no time, like the time we are in to strive and push with all that we have to see the Glory of God in our midst in such a way that people can’t help but see the power and presence of God flowing from this place. My hearts desire is to see God’s presence is a greater way than ever before. I believe it is in the Year of 2004.
Text: Isaiah 60:1-5
Illustration: The job of the church is not to impact the church, but to impact the world. It’s like a huddle in a football game. 67,000 people don’t pay $25.00 a ticket to watch the Titans huddle. What if you went to a Titans game and for 2 ½ hours you watched 11 men stand in a circle and talk? That’s not what you pay for!! 67,000 people pay $25 a ticket to see what difference the huddle makes. What they want to know is, having called the play in secret, does it work in public? The challenge for the church is not what we do when we call our Sunday morning huddle, but what we do when we break our huddle and head to our Sunday morning assignment. When Satan lines up against us, what difference does it make that we are Christians?...
Illustration: A family from a remote area was making their first visit to a big city. They checked in to a grand hotel and stood in amazement at the impressive sight. Leaving the reception desk they came to the elevator entrance. They’d never seen an elevator before, and just stared at it, unable to figure out what it was for. An old lady hobbled towards the elevator and went inside. The door closed. About a minute later, the door opened and out came a stunningly good-looking young woman. Dad couldn’t stop staring. Without turning his head he patted his son’s arm and said, "Go get your mother, son."
We find two direct commands here. The first one is: Arise! Means to get up from where you are! Sometimes, maybe today there might be people here who need to hear this.You might be feeling down and out – God says Arise! Listen. Winners are those people who stand up one more time after being struck down. Winning doesn’t mean you never fail, it rather means you never quit!
The second command is: Shine! The question is; How can one shine?
I mean people, sometimes, say that my head shines, but that is only because I haven’t got a lot of hair left. The reflection of God’s presence should glow through each of us in a way, like Moses, people can’t help but see the presence of God in a way that they say, they have been with God.
Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
I. GET UP.
A. Isaiah here uses the term arise which means to get up from the place where you are and prepare to do something. To put it bluntly, we are, as a Body, told to "get up, get moving, march forward".The command is to "get up!" We have lingered in the darkness too long. Christ the Light of the world, God’s glory in the flesh is risen that you and I might arise! The imperative to arise calls for faith and obedience.
Mark 2:11-12 "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go your way to your house." 12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
B. The greatest danger in the Church today is complacency, comfort, and professionalism. Many believers feel that it is others responsible for evangelizing, for telling others about Jesus, for trying to lead others to Church. Yet Jesus tells us all that we are to "go into all the world, This means telling your boss, your co-workers, your mailman, and everyone else that you come into contact with. But before you and I can do this, we must make sure that the light of God, His glory, is indeed shining through us.
Acts 3:7 “And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”
V. 8 “So he leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”
II. GLOW
Illustration: Christians in t he midst of the Dark Communism
A. It is time that we as the Church of Jesus Christ, the light of God’s glory, began to glow in our communities and make a difference. We see how that the darkness of sin has covered the whole earth and even gloss darkness, it is time that we glow forth with the shine of God’s glory.
Romans 5:20 “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.”
B. Light dispels darkness and darkness doesn’t understand the light. Holiness and purity symbolized by the light! As dawn dispels the darkness, so light dispels unholiness. Light is an expression of God’s character and the Christians character. It is time that we shine!!!!
- - - - - - - - John 1:1-5 - - - - - - - -
III. GLORY
A. What we need in the church today is the Shekinah glory to shine in the hearts and lives of every believer. GLORY {KABOD} splendor, and honor. Great physical weight or quantity of a thing. Imposing pressure or position. Icabod “Glory had departed.” Kabod is “the Glory’s coming.”
I Samuel 4:22 “And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
B. We find nothing but death when the glory was not presence, but let the glory of the Lord shine and you will have glow of God’s spirit in the lives of people like you have never seen before. Moses said, Show me your Glory. Oh that God would reveal his glory in the church again.
Exodus 33:18 “And he said, Please, show me Your glory.”
