The Lighthouse

But thank God, there is a lighthouse for this dark and dangerous world. God has put a lighthouse in the darkness that projects a light onto the seas of life. This church, even though we may be small, has the same bright light to shine forth that the biggest churches in the country have. Our purpose is the same – Our purpose is to project the light of the gospel and to save souls from being destroyed on the rocks of sin.

I am worried that the church, in general, has forgotten its real purpose for existence. We have become to believe that our purpose is to supply the emotional, physical and material needs of mankind, but that’s not our purpose at all.

Illustration:

Our purpose is not giving shelter to the homeless, or food to the starving, or improving the conditions of 3rd world nations, or counseling dysfunctional families, or working to correct abuse, comforting and aiding the sick, saving the whales, or saving the rainforest. Our purpose is not just to have fellowship with one another or to come together for times of praise and worship.

Jesus taught that the soul is more important than the body. 1 Timothy 4:8, "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." He also taught that eternity was vastly more important than time so that our focus should be on things eternal and not on the things of this world.

Matthew 6:19-23, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"

If there is any doubt, then ask yourself this question: Who is Better off, Lazarus, a poor man in Heaven or the Rich man in Hell? Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul; or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

The church’s purpose is to Send out the Light and to Rescue the Perishing!! We send out the light through missions, and preaching of the gospel. We rescue the perishing by throwing them the only real life preserver that matters, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are fishers of men but we don’t fish like a natural fisherman. We are never satisfied with the quantity we catch, no matter how much the church grows. We are always expecting greater things and praying for a greater move of the Holy Ghost. We are constantly throwing out the net, baiting the hook, and we try to catch every kind of fish in the seas, and then we do all we can to see that none escape and go back into the world of sin again.

The Light in the Cape Hatteras lighthouse is made extremely powerful and bright through the use of prisms that focus the light as it reflects from mirrors to a central point or beam that is then projected through the darkness.