WEBVTT 00:00:00.603 --> 00:00:03.000 But let's turn in our Bibles, please, to Ephesians, chapter five. 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.849 Everybody say I'm grateful for the Word of God. 00:00:05.849 --> 00:00:08.890 Jesus sent His Word and healed me. 00:00:08.890 --> 00:00:10.945 Say it after me. 00:00:10.945 --> 00:00:16.980 Jesus sent His Word and healed me and delivered me from destruction, hallelujah. 00:00:16.980 --> 00:00:19.612 Ephesians chapter five, please. 00:00:19.612 --> 00:00:21.000 And also Matthew, chapter five. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:27.312 We're going to read two places tonight with just a little message of encouragement for us all. 00:00:27.312 --> 00:00:30.007 Thank you, worship team. 00:00:30.007 --> 00:00:32.222 That was beautiful, I'll tell you they. 00:00:32.222 --> 00:00:33.365 Practice and practice. 00:00:33.365 --> 00:00:36.822 They're the best. 00:00:36.902 --> 00:00:51.125 Okay, ephesians, chapter five, verse eight, for you were sometimes darkness, but now everybody's saying right now, now are you light in the Lord. 00:00:51.125 --> 00:01:16.000 Walk as children of the light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable under the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, for it's a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in darkness or in secret. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:25.808 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whosoever does make manifest is light. 00:01:25.808 --> 00:01:29.506 And then Matthew, chapter five let's talk. 00:01:29.506 --> 00:01:32.292 Let's see what Jesus had to say about this subject. 00:01:32.292 --> 00:01:39.841 This was the sermon on the mount, and people that gathered there heard things about God They'd never heard. 00:01:39.841 --> 00:01:42.608 They never heard anybody speak like this. 00:01:42.608 --> 00:01:46.466 Matthew, chapter five, verse 14. 00:01:46.466 --> 00:01:50.463 You are the light of the world. 00:01:50.463 --> 00:01:56.052 A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 00:01:56.052 --> 00:02:05.710 Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it's giveth light unto all them that are in the house. 00:02:05.710 --> 00:02:14.454 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. 00:02:14.454 --> 00:02:18.468 And so tonight I just wanted to share this message. 00:02:18.588 --> 00:02:21.024 The sons of light, that's who we are. 00:02:21.024 --> 00:02:35.629 The Bible says that God is light, and so therefore, since we're the children of God or the sons of God, I prefer sons of God than children, because I just believe we're growing up and, besides that, there's no male or female in the new birth. 00:02:35.629 --> 00:02:40.752 I like to call us all sons, even if we're females. 00:02:40.752 --> 00:02:42.945 I like to say we're the sons of God, amen. 00:02:42.945 --> 00:02:51.051 We're the sons of light, and one of the main mandates of the church of Jesus Christ is to rise and shine. 00:02:51.051 --> 00:02:53.707 You know, rise and shine. 00:02:53.707 --> 00:02:55.818 How can I shine under the bed? 00:02:55.818 --> 00:02:57.743 No, I mean, you got to, you got to. 00:02:57.743 --> 00:03:00.590 Can I shine with the covers pulled over my head? 00:03:00.590 --> 00:03:06.033 No, we've got to wake up, get up and shine. 00:03:06.033 --> 00:03:07.590 I mean, that's what's necessary. 00:03:07.590 --> 00:03:10.718 God gave me that mandate years ago to wake up the church. 00:03:10.718 --> 00:03:13.957 How can the church shine if it's under the covers? 00:03:13.957 --> 00:03:16.957 How can the church do its job? 00:03:17.371 --> 00:03:25.507 And the church is to reprove or to expose or to unveil darkness. 00:03:25.507 --> 00:03:29.120 Unveiling, you know, we're the unveiling people. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:33.578 We're the ones who unveil corruption, we're the ones that unveil evil. 00:03:33.578 --> 00:03:36.318 We can't always change it in our system. 00:03:36.318 --> 00:03:40.497 You know, we just got through having an election and a lot of the evil went right back. 00:03:40.497 --> 00:03:44.150 They were voted on and they got to be elected. 00:03:44.150 --> 00:03:46.270 Whether they cheated or not, that's another matter. 00:03:46.270 --> 00:03:47.052 But you know what? 00:03:47.052 --> 00:03:51.479 We stood up and we pointed the light at the darkness. 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:53.090 That's what we're supposed to do. 00:03:53.090 --> 00:03:56.695 We're not responsible for the results, we're responsible to shine. 00:03:57.258 --> 00:03:59.673 Amen, everybody say. 00:03:59.673 --> 00:04:00.657 I'm a son of light. 00:04:00.657 --> 00:04:06.490 So first, john, one five God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 00:04:06.490 --> 00:04:10.338 Praise God, so we're to shine. 00:04:10.338 --> 00:04:30.209 You know, in Isaiah, chapter 60, one of my favorites not that I enjoy what it says, but I mean it's favorite because it reminds me and Isaiah, 60 years and years ago, the prophet spoke and he said a rise, shine, for thy light is coming. 00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:34.512 The light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. 00:04:34.512 --> 00:04:44.178 You know he's looking over into the future and I believe he saw the church in this time and he didn't say it's gonna, the light is gonna come. 00:04:44.178 --> 00:04:46.714 He said the light is come, it is risen. 00:04:46.714 --> 00:04:50.956 So he wasn't talking about his day, he's talking about our day. 00:04:50.956 --> 00:04:56.976 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness to people. 00:04:56.976 --> 00:05:03.819 But the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be seen upon thee. 00:05:03.819 --> 00:05:04.822 Praise God. 00:05:04.822 --> 00:05:06.574 So there it is again. 00:05:06.574 --> 00:05:22.242 We're the unveilers, we're reproving or we're exposing darkness, and as we pray which we do around here we pray for our world, we pray for our government, we pray for our elections, we pray for our Congress. 00:05:22.242 --> 00:05:24.355 It's about to get in under. 00:05:24.355 --> 00:05:24.757 You know. 00:05:24.798 --> 00:05:28.579 The last one is wrapping up, where they call it the lame duck contracts. 00:05:28.579 --> 00:05:30.716 They always do a lot of evil in the lame duck. 00:05:30.716 --> 00:05:35.211 They always pass a lot of junk in the lame duck session, why? 00:05:35.211 --> 00:05:38.858 Because the elections over, they won't have to face the voters. 00:05:38.858 --> 00:05:40.033 This is corruption. 00:05:40.033 --> 00:05:42.435 They're not doing the right thing for us. 00:05:42.435 --> 00:05:46.788 So I'm speaking it right now, I'm shining light on it. 00:05:46.788 --> 00:05:47.992 But you know what? 00:05:47.992 --> 00:05:49.418 We've had some good news lately. 00:05:49.418 --> 00:05:55.017 I mean we've had, you know, we had some good decisions that have been made by the courts in our favor. 00:05:55.017 --> 00:05:56.394 They won't get into all of it. 00:05:56.394 --> 00:06:00.059 So we want to praise God for the good things that do happen. 00:06:00.059 --> 00:06:03.196 They're not all bad, it's because we're shining the lights. 00:06:03.196 --> 00:06:11.822 So as we pray, as we act, as we vote, as we speak out, darkness reacts and recedes. 00:06:11.910 --> 00:06:13.035 You know, I've been in this room. 00:06:13.035 --> 00:06:17.036 You know, when it's just like during the day, it's just so dark in here you can't see it. 00:06:17.036 --> 00:06:18.031 You can't see it. 00:06:18.031 --> 00:06:22.798 And when we first opened this building, you know I had to come in here. 00:06:22.798 --> 00:06:25.305 I'd left something up on the platform. 00:06:25.305 --> 00:06:25.937 I think it was. 00:06:25.937 --> 00:06:33.266 I left something on the platform and I thought, well, I've got enough light, the lights coming in the daylight from the two doors there. 00:06:33.266 --> 00:06:37.504 I'll just walk through and I'll see it. 00:06:37.504 --> 00:06:38.427 I'll see good enough. 00:06:38.427 --> 00:06:42.545 I'm telling you, I wasn't 15 feet in here till there was no lie. 00:06:42.545 --> 00:06:44.423 I mean I'm talking about this pitch black. 00:06:44.423 --> 00:06:51.142 I mean you know that little bit of light, it just got swallowed up and I walked right up here and I just fell right over the back. 00:06:51.142 --> 00:06:52.862 Then we had all these steps coming up. 00:06:52.862 --> 00:06:55.500 I fell over the step, I tripped and fell over the steps. 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:57.706 It's really smart. 00:06:57.706 --> 00:07:00.081 There is a light switch back there. 00:07:00.081 --> 00:07:03.656 As to I could have switched on the light, you know. 00:07:03.656 --> 00:07:10.281 But when you switch on the light, I'm telling you the light, the light dispels and the darkness recedes. 00:07:10.281 --> 00:07:15.547 You know, we have to know that we're darkness is receding because we're shining Amen. 00:07:17.697 --> 00:07:36.404 And so, back in 2019, god gave me a very challenging word and I had to believe that it was God, and I had to speak it by faith, but it was that 2020 was going to be the greatest year yet and you know, then you had COVID. 00:07:36.404 --> 00:07:38.814 You know, most everybody says that's the worst year yet. 00:07:38.814 --> 00:07:51.375 Well, you know, god gave us a different perspective, and so there were three words that I had for the church during that year I had perspective, power and prominence. 00:07:51.375 --> 00:07:54.495 This ties in to being sons of light perspective. 00:07:54.495 --> 00:07:55.730 What's our perspective? 00:07:55.730 --> 00:08:01.595 Well, we've come out from under the covers and we're seated at the right hand of the father. 00:08:01.595 --> 00:08:05.630 We're, we're cognizant of where we are seated. 00:08:05.630 --> 00:08:06.353 Where are we seated? 00:08:06.353 --> 00:08:06.634 Way down here. 00:08:06.634 --> 00:08:12.141 No, we're seated with Christ in heavenly places, far above, far above. 00:08:12.141 --> 00:08:16.595 Our perspective is always looking down from far above. 00:08:16.595 --> 00:08:20.875 We're not trying to get God to come down here and deliver us from this miserable world. 00:08:20.875 --> 00:08:22.261 No, we're way up of it. 00:08:22.261 --> 00:08:27.021 Looking down on it from God's perspective, we've got to see things his way. 00:08:27.021 --> 00:08:34.604 And from God's perspective, 2020 was supposed to be our greatest year yet and you know, it was the greatest year yet for the glorious way church. 00:08:34.604 --> 00:08:35.265 It really was. 00:08:35.265 --> 00:08:37.842 I mean, we, you know. 00:08:37.842 --> 00:08:41.815 And then he gave us power, that overwhelming light. 00:08:41.815 --> 00:08:45.927 We began to shine and people began to see us shine. 00:08:45.927 --> 00:08:46.708 We weren't hidden. 00:08:48.197 --> 00:08:53.450 I Googled pastor John Griner and I found out that the Washington Post called me the Renegade pastor. 00:08:53.450 --> 00:08:57.809 I mean, all of a sudden, we were noticed. 00:08:57.809 --> 00:09:05.434 All of a sudden, you know, people all over the country took note, articles were written about our stand, that we had sued the state of Texas, that we'd stayed open during COVID. 00:09:05.434 --> 00:09:14.128 So, you know, power, the power to, I'm telling you, we turned up on the light switch and God's power shine through us in a dark world, amen. 00:09:15.798 --> 00:09:28.475 And then the last thing is prominence, and I love that most people shrink from that word because they associated prominence with being famous or being you know the wrong motive. 00:09:28.475 --> 00:09:30.595 Oh, I just I don't want to be noticed. 00:09:30.595 --> 00:09:31.577 I don't want to be noticed. 00:09:31.577 --> 00:09:33.524 Well, you know, jesus said we ought to be noticed. 00:09:33.524 --> 00:09:36.585 Jesus said how can the light shine from under the bed? 00:09:36.585 --> 00:09:41.765 He said, if a city is on a hill, how the light is going to shine? 00:09:41.765 --> 00:09:44.082 We ought to be lights on the side of the hill. 00:09:44.082 --> 00:09:46.604 Everybody should see our light shining. 00:09:46.604 --> 00:09:49.302 I don't know about you, but that means prominence. 00:09:49.302 --> 00:09:55.818 When people start talking about you, even when they start talking bad about you, you know prominence. 00:09:55.818 --> 00:10:00.969 He said my perspective, my power and my prominence. 00:10:00.969 --> 00:10:05.014 In other words, seen by all that's important right now. 00:10:05.014 --> 00:10:08.455 People need to see us as the sons of light. 00:10:08.455 --> 00:10:10.763 They need to see the true light from heaven. 00:10:10.763 --> 00:10:20.167 Whether they agree with it or not, they need to see it and no matter what happens from here forward, they won't ever be able to say well, I didn't know. 00:10:20.167 --> 00:10:22.202 No, they knew because they saw us. 00:10:22.202 --> 00:10:27.368 We're the sons of light, sons of light in the dark world. 00:10:28.677 --> 00:10:55.748 You know, years ago, when I got saved, I became reacquainted with the call of God on my life and I realized that I was called a pastor and God spoke to me and he said you know, my light is going to so shine through you that it's going to draw to you people like a light draws moths. 00:10:55.748 --> 00:11:02.905 You know, when you put a light bulb outside, all the little bugs come, they circle around, they just are attracted to the light. 00:11:02.905 --> 00:11:15.794 You put a light under the water down at Galveston and then you get some bait fish and they start coming toward the light, and then you might even catch some fish, because the big fish that want to eat the little fish are attracted by what the light. 00:11:15.794 --> 00:11:27.508 But the light, and he said, these people that are drawn to you by this light will become your flock, over which you shall become their shepherd. 00:11:27.508 --> 00:11:39.368 Well, I was a long time before I became a pastor, but God let me know that he had called me as a child, and all those years of preparation led us to be together tonight. 00:11:39.695 --> 00:11:42.605 This is by God's grace and God's providence. 00:11:42.605 --> 00:11:53.561 So I'm so glad to be able to stand before you tonight as your pastor and wish you a Merry Christmas, and let's think about Jesus and what he's done for us. 00:11:53.561 --> 00:11:55.986 Hallelujah, thank you, lord. 00:11:55.986 --> 00:11:57.441 Come on, lift your hands and receive. 00:11:57.441 --> 00:11:59.561 Everybody say I'm the son of light. 00:11:59.561 --> 00:12:02.201 I let my light shine. 00:12:02.201 --> 00:12:07.346 When I shine, darkness looks for a place to hide. 00:12:07.346 --> 00:12:10.690 Hallelujah, amen.