Your Light Was Never Meant To Stay Hidden

Darkness doesn’t need to “win” to be dangerous. It only needs you to hide your light. We sit in Matthew 4 as Jesus leaves Nazareth and intentionally goes to Galilee, the region Isaiah called a place of deep darkness, and we ask the question that won’t let us stay comfortable: is there anywhere that is too dark for your light to shine bright?

We talk through why those names and locations matter. Zebulon and Naphtali weren’t random dots on a map. They were trade hubs and cultural crossroads, gateways to the world where Roman roads helped messages travel fast. Jesus doesn’t run to the religious center first. He chooses the messy edges, the mixed crowds, the people others dismiss. Then he preaches repentance and brings the kingdom near, showing us that God’s mission moves toward need, not convenience.

From Genesis to John, we trace what “light” means in the Bible and why darkness can’t coexist with it unless the light is covered. That leads to the hardest part: the moments we feel prompted to speak, to help, to pray, to be honest, and we decide to stay quiet. We close with a clear, practical challenge for Christian discipleship: find one dark corner of your life, bring it into the light, and let that first change become the start of real spiritual growth.

If this challenged you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one dark corner you’re ready to bring into the light this week?

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Transcript

Recap And A New Weekly Challenge

unknown 0:00

No, just like that.

Josh 0:02

Yes, because if the lights were still dim, I would have a lot of trouble. Anyway, so we have now finally made it through the wilderness with Jesus, and our challenge last week was to make war, to stop being a passive consumption-driven Christian, and to start using this phrase be gone, Satan. With that being said, does anyone have anything over the past week that they were like, yep, this is how I'm implementing that? We wanted to be gone a couple times. That's what it is.

unknown 0:39

I agree. I did too. I had to.

Is Any Place Too Dark?

Matthew 4 Reading And The Map

God’s Timing And Doing Things Too Early

Gateways To The World And Roman Roads

Why Jesus Chose The Outsiders

Josh 0:42

Right on. Remember, guys, the more we implement one change a week is 52 changes throughout a year. Alright? So if we really want to see change, we have to change. Right? So this week we're gonna look at two different phrases. One phrase we're pretty familiar with, we've covered before, but we are gonna look at another phrase this week that is a new phrase. But we're gonna start with our big idea, which is this is there anywhere that is too dark for your light to shine bright? All right, some of this we're gonna take back to children's church, right? My little light, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. See, so many, so many of us, especially as we get to be adults, because I guess you know we don't sing that song enough, right? I mean, I'm sure I can talk to a couple of people, and I bet next week we could come in and sing this little light of mine. Because some of us we need to remember, you're giving a light to shine in the darkness. The question is, are we letting it shine? So, that being said, I'm gonna pray and then we're gonna jump in. Father, I just thank you so much for your word, and I thank you for the light that you have given to us, Father, and I just ask by the end of this, we are letting our light shine bright in the darkness. Father, I pray as we go through your word that it be your word, that it is not my thought, not my opinion, but that God, it is you speaking to your people so that we can look more like your son. Father, I ask and I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Y'all ever been so tired that you gotta like be careful when you're praying? Yeah. All of a sudden the blinks last a little longer, right? All right, so in Matthew chapter 4, starting in verse 12, it says this. Now, when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulon and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. The land of Zebulon and the land of Nephtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light for those dwelling in the region, and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, moving from the wilderness to this particular scene, we don't really know how long it had been, right? Like it's not like we get, okay, and three days later, here's what happened. All right. We do know that some time has passed because in Luke, in Luke 4.16, we see that when Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and he, as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read. Alright, so we know that the wilderness happens, and then we know Jesus returns back to Nazareth. Now you're gonna hear, okay, we just heard four different places, right? Five. We heard Galilee, we heard Nazareth, we heard Zebulon, we heard Naphtali, and we heard by the sea. We tend to think in ways where like we're looking at five completely different things. What we need to understand is when they say in the region of, okay, so Zeftali or uh Naphtali and Zebulon, in those regions, it's easier for us to understand what they're talking about if we think about it as counties. Okay? So like in Volusia County, you could be in Daltona or you could be in Daytona. You're still within the same county, but you're in very different places, full of different people. Right? I mean, and anyone in here, like you spend a lot of time out in Pearson, you're not surrounded by people out there, more ferns than anything else, but the people that are out there are different than people that are here in Deltona. So when we see these different places, yes, it may have taken them a day or so to get from one place to another, but they're all within the same kind of geographical region, and that's going to be very important because at some point after John the Baptist is arrested, Jesus like uses that as a signal to go, okay, now it's time for me to move. Now it's time for me to go do. The first thing we have to see there is Jesus is the one who goes, hey, it's time I'm going to do. Again, we'll hear like all throughout Matthew, it is not yet my hour. My hour has not yet come. What Jesus is doing is he's sitting here knowing that there is a divine timetable. Like sometimes the thing you need to go do, it just isn't time for you to do it yet. Like, think about this. We just spent 40 hours going, okay, what time? What time do we need to prep the food? What time do we need to put the food on? What time do we need to wrap the food? What time do we need to pull the food off? What time do we need to start uh building a box? So if we were to look at this through the lens of just barbecue, if you were to open up a pork, like a pork butt, and you were to go ahead and pull it four hours before you're supposed to turn it in, that pork butt is going to be extremely dry. Because what you're doing is you're letting all the moisture out way too early. And that's what Jesus is seeing. Not with pork butt, obviously, but with just time. He's sitting here going, okay, John has been arrested. Now it's time for me to leave Nazareth to go to the region of Zebulon and Nephtali. And if anyone is in here sitting here going, I hated geography when I'm in school, and I don't understand the point of all of the geography we are covering right now. I am so glad you are having that thought because does anybody know anything about these regions? I do know uh one of those those ideas said that the Natali and that was where they did a lot of rage. Rage went through that area because it's easier to go through. Eric is 100% with the is easier to go through. These are both sea towns, right? And so back then, like when you are a port city, everybody goes through there. Because if you want to go anywhere, it wasn't like, oh, we have all these different airports everywhere that could take you places. You had to go to one of these port cities. So, okay, you're a trader, right? You're someone not trader with the T, but trader, like trader Joe's. Okay, so you you were bringing your goods from your hometown where you created them, and you were going somewhere else to go sell them. You would go through these kind of cities. In fact, these regions were known as the gateways to the world. See, a lot of people don't realize, like, why did Jesus come when he came? Like, if you if you're sitting here and you're thinking about infinite in like an infinite timeline, why was it when then? Like, wouldn't it have made more sense for Jesus to come now? Like, think about it, we have the internet. Imagine how cool the real Christmas story would have been if someone could have live streamed. So, like, you know, Mary is in the inn, you know, everyone would have watched this, right? Some young maiden, you know, traveling pregnant, going, there's nowhere for me to sleep. Her husband's like, man, we're down on our luck, they're starting to go fund me, and you know, all of this other things. And then the host of heavenly angels just appears in the sky. I mean, think about how excited we got because we got some like UFO videos. And everyone like can't stop talking about it. Imagine if like all of a sudden there was just the heavenly host in the sky, and they're like, just look at what I saw last night. Hashtag amazing, hashtag blessed. But why would Jesus come when he came? Because when he came, what did Rome already perfect? Very close with transportation. Roads. See, when when Rome came in, Caesar knew, okay, if we want to take over the world, we have to be able to get our military anywhere in our kingdom very quickly. In fact, our interstate system here in America uses the same thought pattern to justify its existence. It's called the Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate System. And what it was designed for was if we were to be invaded by Russia, we want to be able to move our military quickly. So let's make these straight roads that don't have any traffic on them because there's no traffic lights, so we can move quickly through things, right? And I-4 is a perfect example of that. Just think about how quick you can go from Daytona to Tampa. Right? But so when Jesus shows up on the scene here in Rome, what you're gonna find very quickly is now the gospel can spread just as quickly as the military can spread, which is huge. So when Jesus shows up in this region, there's a reason. The first thing we got to remember about Neftali and Zebulon is this is they're in the land of Canaan. They're in the promised land. And when Israel first comes in, in fact, Zebulon and Nephtali, which are one of two of the 12 tribes of Israel, they're the ones that settle this land. And God told them, When you come into the land, drive out all of the inhabitants of the land. Just spoiler alert, the reason there's so much unrest in the land today is because they did not drive out all the inhabitants of the land. In fact, ignoring God, not only did they not drive out the inhabitants, they looked at the inhabitants that were there and went, oh, they're pretty. And so they they wind up intermarrying with the inhabitants of the land. Well, the problem with that is if if you've ever been in a relationship, a happy, what is it, a happy something, happy life. What is it? Oh, a happy, yeah, that's right. A happy wife, a happy life, right? And if you're a guy in here, you're like, yep, because if she ain't happy, she's nagging. And there's nothing worse than a nagging wife. The Bible even says this that it's better for you to live in the desert than when a nagging uh wife. And if you're a husband in here, you can go, but that is how we know the Bible is true. Because I've been awake now outside of last night for 40 hours straight in the desert. Right? We were just in a field for 40 straight hours. And I went, this is still better than a nagging wife. Not that I have one, because I hear how that sounds.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

But keep going.

The Church Must Go To The Sick

Deltona As A Mission Field

What The Bible Means By Light

Josh 12:35

But I get it. And so we look at this region and we go, okay, this is bad because if we know anything, if we remember anything about like the Jews and Samaritans, for example, are the Jews fans of these half-bred Jewish people? No. In fact, they would walk all the way around Samaria just to get to the other side of the country rather than just walking straight through. Because heaven forbid you even got the dirt of Samaria on you. And so what we have to remember is that Jesus is choosing to go to these regions where everyone else went, why? What's the point of even being there? Like, what good is up there? How is this going to benefit anybody? You're going to these disgusting, terrible people, these mixed race people. It's called the Galilee of the Galilee of Gentiles. These are not people that the Jews are fans of. They can't stand the Gentiles. You are not part of who we are, and therefore we are greater than you. And what Jesus does is he goes, not only am I going to go there, but this is where Jesus will spend the majority of his ministry in the area surrounding Galilee. This is where he's going to call his disciples from. These are the people that Jesus is going to choose to go, hey, the history of this church that I'm building, or the future of the church, our history, is going to be based on you guys. These second-rate citizens. See, could Jesus have gone to Jerusalem, you know, the epicenter of the Jewish world? He could have. He could have chose to go, hey, I'm going to go to Jerusalem. I'm going to go ahead and get the Pharisees to follow me, and then I'm just going to run this thing like a kingdom. However, the Bible painted a very, very different picture because Jesus did not go to Jerusalem. He doesn't go to the epicenter of the Jewish nation. He goes to this little town in the middle of nowhere that seems to have no significance. In fact, later on, and we'll see this in just a couple of weeks, but Nathaniel is talking to Philip. And in John 146, Nathaniel asks this when Philip's like trying to explain to him why he needs to come see Jesus. Nathaniel goes, This is there anything good that can come from Nazareth? Anyone in here, you look at towns like that? I'll tell you as a deputy, I did. Like I can tell you exactly how I looked at our fair city as a deputy when you're spending all 12 hours just going to call to call to call to call to call. You know how many times I've looked at Debbie while I was a deputy and went, and we're moving out of Deltona. Let's go back to Sanford. Sanford must be perfect because I don't remember Sanford being like that. Now that's only because I didn't see Sanford like that, but what Nathaniel is sitting there asking is the same thing that most people would have asked when Jesus went, hey, this is where I'm gonna go. Why would you go there? Can anything good come out of there? It's just a disgusting, dirty place, and Jesus is choosing to go there. See, some commentators have written that like Jesus was afraid when uh John gets arrested, so he went into hiding, and that's how he wound up here. But let me ask you, does that make any sense? Jesus stands before Pilate and isn't afraid. In fact, Pilate goes, I hold your life in my hand. I have the power to take your life, I have the power to give you the life. And Jesus goes, You have no power over me. What I give, I lay down. Like Jesus isn't afraid. He's sitting here going, No, this is where I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go to this backwater dumps, to the slums where the Gentiles are. Why? I mean, here's the son of the living God could have gone anywhere. Jesus could have walked right into Rome, who owned the world at the time, and went, Hey, you know what, Caesar? That's mine now. I like that. Everyone can worship me. But there's two reasons why Jesus went here. Reason number one, as Matthew pointed out, is this is a fulfillment of Isaiah 9, verses 1 and 2. Okay? Isaiah, I mean, Jesus word, Matthew word for word, says, He went there because the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, you guys see it's in the land of Zebulon and Nephtali. So number one, we see this great light going where Isaiah said it was gonna go. Number two, however, the more practical reason, here's why Jesus went there. Because they needed Jesus. See, in Mark 2.17, we see this like gorgeous argument with Jesus and the Pharisees. And what Jesus is trying to get them to understand is he says this I didn't come for those who are well. Like you don't take a well person to the doctor. Right? Like you're feeling good and everything, nothing's bothering you. Why are you going to the doctor? However, someone who's sick, what are you taking? Did you say possibly to the doctor? I was like, we're not doing this whole doctors make people sick thing, okay? But what Jesus is driving at here is I didn't come for the well. I came for the sick. Now, the question I have is, is that the mission of the church? Because I'll tell you right now, most pastors I talk to, when when as soon as like things like membership and like how many you run in come up, you very quickly realize you're not gaining new believers as much as you're gaining transplants from other churches. But they moved, and so they had to move somewhere, you know, they had to find a new church to go to, or like there was a fight at the church, because I know that never happens with brothers and sisters. And instead of actually doing the work to actually go, hey, like let's figure this out, it's easier to just go bye, I'm gonna go to a different church. I mean, you guys do realize like there are churches that are in existence because there was a fight at a church. And someone got mad and went, fine, I'll just go start my own church then. It happens, right? It blew me away how many travel like baseball and softball teams there are now. Because your kid didn't get enough playing time, so you what? I'm gonna just go start my own team now. Well, I don't like the coach, so I'm just gonna start my own team. See, and this is what we see. But Jesus is sitting here going, I didn't come for the well, I came for the sick. Well, it's hard to come for the sick if you're not gonna go to the places. Like, like, think about this. And this is one of the things that always killed me with televangelists. So again, if you're a millennial, I have no doubt at some point in your life you were up late watching what is it, TBN, CBN, one of the one of those things, and you know this phrase. Be healed. You just sew in. Here's my problem with this. If you have the power to heal people, why are you doing it at a convention center and not just walking through the hospital? Like, wouldn't that make a lot more sense? See, Jesus understood that and went to the hospital. He didn't go, hey, I'm gonna go hang out in Jerusalem with the well people. He went, I'm gonna go to the land of Zebulon and Nephtali, where the sick people actually are, and I'm going to bring healing to them. I'll never forget, I've told this story so many times. When we first started talking about planting, every single pastor I talked to went, here's the deal, do not plant in Deltona. It makes no logistical sense to plant a church in Deltona. Deltona is just a hard city to plant into. People here, they they there is no tie to a community, like there's no downtown, there's no like place where people can go and just gather, and and so you have the opportunity to get out there and meet people. It just is too hard, the ground's too tough, you'll never gain any traction. It just does not make fiscal or logistical sense to plant in Deltona. And you want to know what? Six years later, I get it. I get why they said it. Because listen, yeah, it is hard to plant here in Deltona. It is hard to reach a city who really, let's be honest, most of The residents only sleep here. Like very few people actually like live, work, and play here in the city. This is why so many of us in here, like if I went, hey, what's your favorite restaurant? I can almost guarantee it's not going to be within the city. And I love when I we have conversations like that because people will say, like, oh, you know, like whatever, and it's like, nope, once you cross I-4, you're out of the city. Those are all in Orange City, those aren't Deltona restaurants. See, and this is the same thing. We went, but this is where God has us. We went, Deltona's the largest city by population in Volusia County. Yeah, it's hard. And it's hard to create community, and it's hard, I mean, think about it, this is why Uncle Joe's actually exists. Like, yeah, we did our first competition yesterday, and yeah, we got a couple of call-ups, and that was awesome, especially for it being our first ever competition. But that's not why we even started doing it in the first place. We started doing it because we went, hey, we're gonna set up right here in the parking lot, and anyone who shows up, we'll just give them food. And let's set up some tables so we can sit down and meet people in our community with meat. And let's talk to people and let's get to know people. See, because I don't know if you know this or not, there are people right here in Deltona who are living in darkness. There are people right here in Deltona who are sick and in need of a savior. The question is, are you going to be the same light that they're referring to Jesus as? And that's our new phrase. That's our new thing that we're gonna stick on. So let's take some time and let's let's look at that phrase light. Because too often here in, especially in church, we have like these churchy words that we like to use, right? Like, oh, living in darkness. And yeah, us churchy people, we can we we know what that means, right? What's that mean?

unknown 24:13

Living in sin.

When We Hide Our Light

Bringing Light To Everyday Places

Josh 24:14

Living in sin? Just wilding out, just going crazy, right? Living without the truth of the gospel. But you see, even when we like describe what it means, we're using other churchy words to describe it. Even though we all know what it means, let's actually look at the Bible because in September, I'll go ahead and give you a forewarning. In September, we're gonna cover this verse in Matthew 5.14 that says this: You are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. So we're gonna wind up starting to cover this super deep here in a couple of weeks when we get into like the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount and all of these different things. So, what does that actually mean? Because this phrase exists all over Scripture. In fact, if you go all the way back to Genesis, in Genesis 1.4, we see that this contradicting concept was introduced. So we just sang awesome God this morning. One of the words into the in that, or one of the verse lines in that is He spoke into the darkness and he created the light. And right after that verse in Genesis, we see Genesis 1.4 that says, and God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. You guys want to know, like you, especially Gen Xers in here, you want to know why Star Wars is like one of the highest-grossing films of all time? Because it separates the light from the darkness. It is not a new story. This is a story that has been told since the creation of the world. God set that dichotomy up. God went there is a difference between light and darkness. But in Proverbs 2020, we see this separation existing in a different way. It says this if one curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in utter darkness. When Jesus is talking about what hell is, what does he say? You will get cast into the outer darkness where there is no light, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Isaiah 5.20, it shows us not to confuse light with dark. It says, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. And then the ultimate version of what light is, when we get to John 1, 4 and 5, talking about the birth of Jesus, it says this of Jesus, in him was life, and the life was the light of man. The light shines into the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. I want you guys to hear that one more time, because that is the key. The light shines into the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. See, the big thing we have to understand about light and darkness is this is darkness cannot be where light is. Listen, darkness can't be where light is. I have a lot of people, and I don't know why people always want to talk about stuff like this, but I have a lot of people that ask me questions about like demonic possession and what demonic, you know, because someone always comes up to you as a pastor, and like, oh, I think my whoever is possessed by a demon. And I go, I try to get them to understand there is a huge difference between demonic possession and demonic oppression. See, if someone is in the light, so if you have the Holy Spirit residing in you, can you be possessed by darkness? Can anyone in here think of any situation where darkness overcomes light without light going out? Like, can we make this room dark without turning off the lights? No. Because where the light is, darkness can't be. The problem is, is we hide our light. Anyone in here you're like talking to someone, and like you feel that urging inside that you're like, I need to say something about Jesus. And then you leave the conversation and you're like, dang it, next time I'll do it. We were walking in Publix one day, and we're walking down the aisle this way, and and this guy, like, and when I say guy, I'm talking about like a Joe-looking guy, is walking up the aisle this way, and he is just full on in tears. And as I'm walking down the aisle, everything inside of me is going, ask him what's wrong. Just ask him what's wrong. And then I'm looking at him and I'm like, I don't know him like that. And that's like an intimate thing. But like everything inside me was like, you could be the one that prays with them, you could be the one that talks with them, you could be the one that reaches out, you could bring light to the darkness. And we passed him. And I looked at Debbie and I was like, Man, I really should have said something to him. So then Debbie, not being nagging, but being encouraging, goes, turn around and go find him and go say something to him then. This dude vanished. I mean, just gone. I looked throughout the entire store and we could not find him again. And I go, any of us, that's where we live? Where you had the opportunity to bring light to the darkness, but instead you put a lampshade on. And you went, this light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, but I'm gonna let it shine for me. Because I like being in the light. You weren't given a light so that your life is bright. We were given the light so that we can go into the darkness, so that we can illuminate the darkness. In the book of John, Jesus talks about, like, just a couple of verses after this, that men love the darkness because their deeds are wicked. This is why the Bible would tell us that everything that is done in the darkness will come to the light. Eventually, and it may not even be here, it may be in front of God where everything comes to the light. Some of us, we love the darkness. I will tell you right now, I think Batman was on to something. I really do. Because I love nighttime. It is much easier for me to be awake at midnight than it is for me to wake up at 6:30. Super easy. It is like probably one of Debbie's biggest pet peeps because Debbie is early to bed, early to rise. Debbie has no problem, you know, getting up at 4, you know, to go work out and do all sorts of weird things that we shouldn't be doing at that hour of the day. But then come 8:30 at night, Debbie's on the couch with the eyes closed and going, I've been up since four. Where I'm sitting here at midnight and I see something like on YouTube or something, and I'm like, Deb, deb, deb. And then she's getting mad because I'm waking her up because I'm like, look at the size of this fish. Isn't that so cool? But see, I love the darkness. I love when it's nighttime. But is that the darkness that the Bible is talking about? No. What the Bible is sitting here doing is all these little things that we do in the darkness. You guys have heard me say this to you over and over and over. When you come here on a Sunday morning and I go, hey, how's it going? And you're like, oh, it's good. A little tired. It was a rough week, but it's good. You are only hurting yourself because you're trying to keep in the darkness those things. Because heaven forbid anyone in here ever look at you and go, they got problems. You wanna know a secret? Y'all got problems. Every single one of us in here have problems. Your problems may look different than my problems. You may look at my problems and go, why is that even a problem? That's stupid, dude. All you gotta do is turn the TV off. You wouldn't be as tired as you are. But see, think about this. Here's where we love to play. I'm good, blessed and highly favored. And you know why nothing in your life changes? Because you don't reach out to anyone to go, hey, let's bring to light the things that are hidden in darkness. We sit here and go, I got it. I got it. Some of you guys in here, I have no doubt there have been times where you got mad at your wife because you were like, why in the fill in whatever word you want, would you have told Debbie that? You know Debbie's gonna tell Josh. And I get it. Because then you're like, what if he calls me now? Why would you be upset at that? Here's what you should be doing. Thank you for telling Debbie, because I'm not man enough to actually reach out to Josh by myself. So since you caused all of this, I just want to tell you thank you. Because once you bring it to the light, guess what can happen? Repentance, healing, growth. You ready? The big C word, change. It doesn't have to look like that. It doesn't have to keep going that way. It does because we like to hide it in the dark. Jesus went, hey, I'm gonna go to the Galilee of Gentiles, or the Gentiles of Galilee. I'm gonna go to these people, I'm gonna go where it is the darkest because I'm gonna bring the light. But is the same true for us? Because most of us, especially Christians, we want to stay where the light is, right? We will only want to eat at Christian restaurants, so like Chick-fil-A is our favorite. Mind you, I haven't eaten at Chick-fil-A in years. Because as soon as they went to the dark with antibiotic allowed chicken, I went, keep it. But we only want to eat at Chick-fil-A. We only want to listen to Christian radio stations, we only want to go shop at Hobby Lobby, like Michael's all of the sudden is the worst store you will ever walk into, right? Sell the same things, but how dare we go in there? And I go, and this is how we live life. And we try to separate from the darkness. Because I don't want to go in the darkness. The darkness makes me uncomfortable. I don't like the darkness. Here's the thing: you shouldn't like the darkness. It should make you uncomfortable. But if you're not bringing light to the darkness, how are you pushing back against the darkness? Like, think about it. Why don't we have anybody in here? I know Debbie talked about it years ago. She was gonna go to like women's prisons. And she did it once, and then she came home and she was like, oh, that was amazing, and then that was it. Because COVID, and then we just never looked into it after COVID. But why aren't we doing things like that? Like, how easy is that? You have literally a captive audience that isn't going anywhere. Think about that. There is no will you see them again next week? And do they need Jesus? They do. Because regardless of what they got locked up for, you know what the solution is? Jesus. What about our marriages? Some of us we got some dark marriages. Now we don't we don't say that to other people, because heaven forbid, you go to someone who's been married, you know, 20 plus years and go, hey, what are you doing that you can do this? I mean, you got Miss Kathy and Mr. Allen, my mom. I mean, you have all of these people in here who actually have done what you're doing. And how many of us go to them and go, hey, like, this is too much for me? And how did you do this? Oh, none of us. Because we don't we don't want to do that, right? I don't want to go to someone and go, hey, I need your help. Because then how would you look at me? What about our jobs? Your workplace. Some of us in here? You're like, man, I can't stand where I work. And I get it. Understand, if you're your own boss and you're going, I can't stand where I work, that is kind of on you, right? But how many of us are like, oh, it's a it's a tox listen, I hate this word.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

It's a toxic work environment.

Josh 38:24

Some of you need to realize you're the toxic one, though. You want to see change? Change. Stop being miserable. Stop worrying about every little thing. What about your school? You kids in here? Students? Young people? Think about it. Your school probably looks the way you do because you're at your school. What about your grocery store? Anybody in here? You shop at Walmart? That's that's almost the same as going to the prison system, right? A Walmart ministry and a prison ministry. I mean, those kind of would look similar. But are we bringing the light there? No, we're not gonna bring the light there.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

There is one man out. I will tell you, because I go all the time, and he will ride through Walmart just to tell people. You said ride through. Yeah, he is on the door.

Josh 39:26

They always kick me out when I get on those.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

No, he's he he rides through and he just says, I just want to tell you, God bless you. All the time. He goes to Google, too.

Josh 39:35

And I'll tell you, super, super easy with the he is he super pushy? Like is coming up to you being like, hey, put your faith in Jesus or you're like going to hell?

SPEAKER_02 39:45

No, he just says, I just want to tell you, God bless you, where it's going.

Josh 39:48

And and here's why I asked that. I have lost count at how many cashiers at Publix that you're leaving. You've you've checked out, you've paid, and everything, and they go, hey, God bless you, have a great day. And I've lost count at how many times I went, whoa, like it's just a simple phrase. We were lucky enough to meet this gentleman at the barbecue. We had we wound up having a two and a half hour conversation. I don't even remember, oh, he went, what is mission sent? You know, because the Uncle Joe's barbecue shirts. I was like, oh, it's the church, it's the church we're we're with. And with that, that led into a two and a half hour conversation about who Jesus is and about different passages in Scripture and all of these different things. Off of a simple, I just wore a shirt that said mission sent. Like, think about this. I'm not sitting here going, hey, here's what you guys need to do. You need to go be the Jeff Durbins of Deltona. You need to be the whoever, what's his name? Ladder with Crowder. You don't need to set up a table with like the most controversial topic on it and go, you know, whatever, abortion's murder, change my mind. Like, I'm not saying that's what you need to do. Here's all you need to do: bring light to the darkness. Just have a conversation with someone. Be bold enough to go, like, hey, hope you're having a great day. I promise, you tell that to the right person, I don't care where you are, you will learn their entire life story. Debbie is the queen of this. Our kids will roll their eyes as soon as like we're in the store, and Debbie goes, hey, because they know you just lost 45 minutes of your day. And then, like, we'll go do all of our shopping, and then come back to the produce area and go, Deb, alright, come on, let's wrap it up. Like, we have stuff to go do now. And it just started with hey. See, and that's the problem. Jesus chose to go where it was too dark because he knew that where the light is, darkness can't be. It can't, it physically cannot be there. Otherwise, the light isn't there. And we love saying things in the church where it's like, oh, the gates of hell will not prevail. But how are you knocking on the gates of hell? Because again, most of us we just want to live this passive consumption Christian life. I'm gonna go to Christian concerts, and I'm gonna listen to Christian music, and I'm gonna watch Christian TV shows, and I'm just gonna sit back and I'm gonna wait, because one day Jesus is gonna come, and then everything will be perfect. Was that the mission Jesus left the church to do? No. Do we see that anywhere in scripture where we get saved and then we just get to relax? No. Like what what how did Paul handle conversion? Paul goes from being a persecutor of the church to being the greatest missionary of the church. We get saved and we're like, alright, Jesus has got me now.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

No weapon formed against me shall prosper.

Are You Someone People Want Around?

One Dark Corner And Practical Next Steps

Josh 43:22

Dance and sing for me. Oh, they put the words up on the screen, but that's just so the people singing, using the eyes in the back of their head, they can sing. That's not for us out here to sing. Alright, now this guy's gonna get up. God, I hope this is a short one today. He said he was tired, so he probably won't go long. Every once in a while he'll tell something funny, even though he in his mind it wasn't a joke, but then people just started laughing, so he rolled with it. That's not what we're called to. We're called to come here to be equipped, to go out there and bring light to the darkness. You work at a Christian school, guess what? There's still darkness. Are you bringing light to it? You work at Chick-fil-A. There's still darkness. Are you bringing light to it? You work at Hobby Lobby. There's still darkness. Are you bringing light to it? See, I'm not even saying, hey, like, go find the darkest thing you can and bring light to it. Like, I'm not saying like there is a ministry locally here that does fight like sex trafficking and human trafficking and all of that. I'm not saying go join that today. Some of you might want to think about it. You got some pretty good size on you. You could fight a pimp. But do something. How are you bringing light? Let me ask. And be honest with yourself. You don't have to answer this one out loud because I'm going to close with this. When people are putting together an event, are you one of the first people they're thinking about calling? Are they like sitting here going, you know what, we got to make sure Steve, Steven, and Christy are here? Or are you on the bottom of everyone's going, okay, we have to invite them. You know, they get offended if we don't. And I'm sitting here going, like, be honest with yourself with that. Because when we're honest with that, that that's a good indication of are you bringing light with you? Especially when it concerns your brothers and sisters. Because let's be honest, us in this room, like we looked at earlier, we know the difference between that. And we're not gonna just invite, you know, all sorts of malarkey because we don't like that. But be honest, are you bringing light to the darkness? So as we close today, our challenge is this find one dark corner of your life and bring light. Find that one part of your life that you're sitting there going, I need illumination. For some of you, that may be your marriage. You may be sitting here going, hey, this thing's on life support. Here's how you bring light to it. Find someone who's been married a lot longer than you successfully and go talk to them about it. Here's how you, here's how you reinvigorate your marriage. You ready? Start praying. Together. As a couple. Maybe you're sitting here and you're going, my kids are just, I'm done. I'm done. I get it. Start doing a family walk every night. Start sitting here going, you know what? No, we're gonna sit down at a table, like people, and we're gonna eat dinner together. And no, you can't have your electronics at the table. No, you're gonna sit here and you're gonna have a conversation. That's how you bring light to your kids. Because some of us, we don't even know what our kids are into. Because they live in the digital world and you live in the physical world, and very rarely do those two overlap. But if you're their parent, guess what? You can tell them where they're eating at. Maybe it's your job. Maybe you do need to go, hey, you know what? This week I'm gonna do one nice thing for a coworker. And I'm gonna even pick the coworker I don't like to do the nice thing for. Because doesn't Jesus tell us, right? It's easy to love those who love you back, but we're called to love our enemies. That's a little harder, right? That person that wronged you? That person that like just slighted you? What if you just sent them a thank you card this week? Just thinking of you? How much are you blowing their mind when you go up to them and you're the one going, hey, how's your day going? Hope you're having a good day. But find that one dark area, that one dark corner, that one dark place, and go, I'm gonna bring light to it. Because once you light up that corner, how easy is it now to move to the next one? And then the next one, and the next one, and the next one until the entire room is full of what? Light. But it starts with one, just like we talk about every week. Change starts with one. So, Father, I ask and I pray that as we move forward from here, that Father, just like you, went to the region of Zebulon and Neptali and brought light, that Father, we bring light. Now, Father, we start first in our life, bringing light to our own life, but then Father, that light becoming so bright, Father, I just pray that it starts to shine outward. That I pray that above anything else, that Father, we we just become your light to the world. Father, I ask and I pray that if there are people in here that are sitting here going, he's right. That Father, they just stop making excuses. And that Father, they just start being the light. Father, I pray if there's people that need encouragement, that through the power of your spirit, you just sit there and just nudge them. Just go, let's go. You know better than this. Start fighting against it. Father, I just pray that we look more like you. And Father, I pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen.