“The
True Light” By
Bob Heirtzler April 15th, 2018 All right, let's turn to Matthew, chapter three, sixteen and
seventeen.
Matthew, three, sixteen through seventeen: Matthew 3:16 And Jesus, when he was
baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens
were opened
unto him [Wow! So, you're telling me, that
when we get
baptized in Jesus’ name, the heavens are opened to us? Amen. It's
unlimited
what's up there. What God has in store for us. Also, he says,], and he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove, and lighting upon him: The Holy Ghost, moving in our lives is part of us now. Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven,
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. God continues to reveal things to us today, and every day.
May we bow
our heads for prayer? God, I want to thank you for giving us this day, today,
Jesus. God, even
though the weather outside is cold, and icy, and slippery, God, but,
God, you
made a way for all of us to make it here today, Jesus. God, I pray,
right now,
that Your Spirit would move among us all of us, that we would learn
from Your
Word today, Jesus. God, I want to thank you for saving me, many years
ago, and
saving all of us, God. That we continue to turn to You for Your answer,
God, to
look for that light, Jesus, in every situation there is, God. I ask
this, in Your
name I pray, amen. All right. Today, we're talking about the proper light.
Today, we're
going to learn about some lights first. There's different types of
lights in
the world. We know that, right? There is all kinds of lights that we
depend on
every day. Back in the days, in the Old Testament, their lights was a
fire they
used to light the way they were going. But, about a hundred thirty-nine
years
ago, there was a gentleman named Thomas Edison that got together with
his
researchers in Menlo Park, New Jersey and they did three thousand
different
types of designs to make a lightbulb. I thought it was a thousand and
one; it
was three thousand times to make a lightbulb. And, to make the
filament, they
tried everything. And, I was talking to my dad about this Friday, he
said, “Did
you know that used human hair?” “No.” I said, “No, I didn't know that
Dad.” So I
looked it up; they used human hair, they used animal hair, thin bones,
they
tried every type of thread, and they finally came up with a carbon
filament and
it was patented in November of 1879, of a carbon filament to create
lights. As
we walk into Home Depot, for example, you will go into the lighting
section,
and, you walk in this display, all these lights hanging from the
ceiling,
hanging from the walls, on top of things, they're all displaying a
light. A
light. And, one of those is going to catch our eyes, that we're going
to
purchase, if we're looking for a light, whatever the need that we have.
And,
keep in mind, those lights are all on display; we are all on display
for God
with our lights on. And, every one of us have a different calling, and
different
gifts in our lives to present to whoever walks in the midst of us. Does
that
make sense? Also, because all the lights, such as, driving down
Belvidere, there's
lights, now, for a construction site. As you head West, you have an
arrow to
get in the other lane. As you come over the hill there's a flashing
light; that
tells you you're doing thirty-five or more. And, if you drop down to
thirty-four,
the light stops flashing. And, keep in mind, when that light’s
flashing, you
know who is a couple of lanes over, waiting? Our Waukegan's fines, is
sitting
there waiting for us. So, just be careful. If that light’s flashing,
just slow
down, because, the Waukegan’s finest will find us, actually; basically.
So we’ve
got lights that warn us, give us directions, where to go. We also have
warning
lights that tell when we're going the wrong way. Truck drivers also
have warning
lights to let you know if they're going below a certain speed on the
highway.
When I lived in New England, the trucks, when they're going up a hill,
will
turn on their flashing lights to let everybody behind them know that
they're
not going the posted speed limit; to give us warning that, don't
approach that
vehicle too fast. That's all warning lights for us. I remember years ago, a story going the wrong way. I was so
excited to
take Parrish Lee with me to go pick up kids. I was excited, I got
Parrish Lee,
the guy that converted from Muslim, the first time I met him, he gets
to ride
with me. We're going to go pick up kids. And, he kept saying, “One
way.” I
thought, what are you talking about? He said, “One way,” and then he
shouted, “One
way!” He said I was going the wrong way on a one-way Street. You know?
I said, “Oh,
my gosh, I've got to turn around.” Because I was going the wrong way.
You know?
Warning lights. That wasn't a light, that was just somebody yelling at
me
telling me to turn around and make sure I’m not going the wrong way.
But, thank
God for brothers and sisters that tell us we're going the wrong way.
Does that
make sense? And, then we have rescue vehicles with their flashing
lights, they're
coming through. It seems like it's good to see them when an ambulance
comes
through, or the police comes through, or the fire chief comes through,
everybody gets out of the way. You know? They’ve got to go A to B. Most
likely,
you know the reason why I get out of the way? Because I want somebody
to do it
for me if I'm in that situation. You know? So, we’ve all got warning
lights. Then we have traffic lights. We've got red for stop, yellow
for slow,
or go faster, and green to go. But I have seen people go through red,
go faster
through yellow, and go slow through green. But, we know what the rules
are,
right? So, we've got all this traffic, all these lights, we've got the
lighthouse that shines out to the ships out to sea. We've got
flashlights that
we can walk around at night and see things. But, keep in mind, all
these are
man-made, man-made. Man-made lights. Let's turn to John, chapter one,
one through
nine: John 1:1-9
In the
beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning
with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any
thing made
that was made. In him was life; and the life was [What?] the light of men. And the light shineth
in
darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent
from God,
whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of
the Light,
that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was
sent to
bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth
every man
that cometh into the world. And, my title of the sermon today is, “The True Light.” God
directs our
paths every day with His true light. He told us His Word is a lamp unto
my feet
and a light unto my path. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness
at all.
We can look around this room, we can see our shadows casting on the
floor from
the lights above us; even though the lights are on, you can see your
shadows.
But, with God there's no darkness and no shadows at all. God sees
everything.
God sees every little detail about everything. You know? God sees all
that we
do, even things that no one else sees what we do. God
light is pure, causing darkness to flee, and
it shows the sin that needs to be covered by the blood of Christ. We
make
mistakes daily. We've just got to get it right. That pure light shows
us when we’re
in error to make things right. A week ago, I stood in this pulpit
crying my
eyes out, because I needed to get things right. Brother Parrish asked
me, “What
do you want to pray for?” and I just burst into tears, because I didn't
know
what to say. I just wanted to be right with God. You know? I didn't
care what
it took, I just wanted to be right with God. I'm a fifty-seven-year-old
man,
taught that men don't cry from my dad, and I bawled my eyes out. You
know? Real
men cry for Jesus. You know? We have to lean to God for His
understanding. You
know? Every day the real light comes to our path to guide us, helps us
see the
way, gives us direction, where we need to go, gives us warnings when
we're
going the wrong way, think the wrong way, or doing the wrong things.
The light
shows this, teaches us, directs us, speaks to us, and helps us day to
day. I'm
about to do a demonstration; I'm going to ask the ushers to shut off
the lights
for a few minutes. But, I know we've seen this demonstration before,
but I'm into
visual aids, to make the understanding. But, God instructed us that we
are the
light of the world. A city that sits on a hill cannot be hid. Let our
light
shine before all men and women. It's amazing that, Brother Andy and
Parrish, that
the children's church material, today, is “Let Your Light Shine Before
All
Men.” I didn't even know that until they told me that this morning. You
know?
But, why? So they can see our good works and glorify your father which
is in
heaven. This is just one flashlight and, how bright is this flashlight?
I'm
going to put out the lights, I'm going to ask the ushers to shut off
the lights
please. We’ve seen this demonstration before. This is an LED light.
It's pretty
bright, right? Imagine all of us in this room having this light, right
here,
how bright it would be in here? Imagine that? It would be very bright.
Keep in
mind that all our lights are on from God. God lights us up all the
time, every day.
Now, you know that the sun generates its own light, and the moon is a
reflection of that light, right? Aren't we a reflection of God? Amen.
So, if I
shine it towards the mirror, it makes the room a little bit more
brighter.
Right? God's got something for us to do. Could you put the lights back
on,
please? Thank you. My closing scripture, here, before I turn over to Brother
Malcolm, is
in Revelation, chapter twenty-two, one through five. Revelation,
twenty-two, one
through five: Revelation 22:1-2
And he shewed
me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God
and of
the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
river,
was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and
yielded her
fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of
the
nations. We're supposed to yield fruit every month of our lives; not
just
harvest time, like the natural sense, but God wants to produce fruits
in us,
every day, every week, every month, every year, 24/7. And verse three: Revelation 22:3
And there shall
be no more
curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his
servants
shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in
their
foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle,
neither
light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall
reign for ever
and ever. And, God is that true light. As I repeat John, one, nine: John 1:9
That was the
true Light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
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