Sermon Notes

“The Light and the Dark and the Matrix Effect”

By Pastor Bruce J. Wilson

September 19^th, 2010

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            Have you ever tried to find your way in darkness?  Maybe you were at home, and the power went out.  Well, it’s your home, you know your way around pretty well, but you may still have gotten some surprises.  Ow!  Who put that there? Oh, yeah, I did.  You may do some stumbling.  Just getting from point A to point B is a gamble. 

            What if you’re in that situation in an area that you don’t know?  Say you’re in a forested area and it’s getting dark.  Before you know it, it’s pitch black.  Now what do you do?  You don’t know what’s in front of you, or whether you’re going to have to go uphill or downhill.  You may be able to feel your way through, if you take it real slow, but some people would just sit down and wait for daylight, “I don’t want to get injured.”

            There is nothing like the light to help you understand something, whether you are just starting to understand, or have had some experience with it, if you really want to understand something, examine it in the light.

            There are those that will mock the light in a religious experience, “Oh, I saw the light!”  I’m not talking about some dreamy phase; it’s not just an emotional experience or prayer time.  This isn’t us just ignoring our problems.  I know that’s some people’s impression, but they are still in darkness; how can you know without the light?

There are some people that want to argue about how the world began; there is a scientist that theorizes that it could have all happened without God.  How does he know? Was he there?  If there’s a design, then there’s a designer; if there’s a purpose, then somebody created that purpose.  Everything that lives wants to continue to live; can you give me a scientific explanation for that?

 Psalms 119:105          Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet…

             The Word is a light source.  It’s not just a nebulous feeling, the Word is a regulator.  Some say, “I don’t know how you can believe the Bible.”  That’s because they don’t know the Bible.  They’re just too lazy to try to understand the Bible. 

            I don’t have to worry about stumbling, because the Word is a light that shines on the path.  Some people say that Christians are living in a false reality, that religion is a crutch.  Christians are the only ones who really see what’s going on.  Christians are the ones who have humbled themselves and stepped into the light so that they can see what’s going on.

 Ephesians 5:8-17        …now ye are light…

             We understand the will of God?  That’s a bold claim.  He doesn’t tell us everything.  He doesn’t tell us the end from the beginning; we’d be basket-cases.  Our minds just couldn’t comprehend it all.  He does tell us what we need to know right now.  We don’t have to worry, but we do.  How many times have you worried so much about something that it just consumed you, but then a week later, you’ve forgotten all about it?  When you’re on the right path, you have righteousness, goodness, and truth.  All things that are reproved—all things that aren’t good—shall be made manifest.  To manifest simply means to make known; to put it out there where it can be seen.  Light brings things out and show you what they are.  If you care about the truth, then pay attention.  Is there any risk to walking down the aisle when the lights are on?  No, none at all.  There are people out there that are frustrating themselves, hurting themselves, walking in circles.  I can see my way, because I’m in the light.  It says to walk circumspectly.  Circumspectly simply means being aware of your surroundings.  The word circumspectly is related to the word circumference—360 degrees.

            Remember the Matrix?  There were scenes in that movie where they would just stop the action, like a freeze-frame, but then rotate the view around 360 degrees.  They did that by setting up a lot of cameras all around the scene, and then synchronizing them.  At the moment that they wanted to freeze, they just took a frame from one camera, and then the same frame from the next camera, and all the way around the circle.  That way, you saw everything, from every angle.  Sometimes we, as Christians, need to stop and examine things from every angle and see every detail.

 Proverbs 3:5   Trust in the Lord…

             This is a light scripture.  Do you trust the Lord?  Shine the light on your trust, and see if you really trust Him.  Do you only half-way trust Him?  If you know that, then you can work on that.  If you don’t know, you might not ever know that you don’t, unless you put your trust under the light and examine it.  We have no secrets from God.  We should be confident, ready to walk strong on the path without wavering.

Matthew 5:3-9             …Blessed are they…

            God wants you to understand the real truth.  Sometimes you’ll run into people that have strong opinions.  Usually the people that are the loudest and most obnoxious with their opinions, when you get them alone, quiet, in the light, will admit, “Well, I really don’t know.”  We are going to talk about Passover for a moment, and I want you to allow yourself to be there.  You are more like Moses than you know, or maybe Sarah, or Esther.

Exodus 12:1-14     …In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb…

            Now, let’s think about this for a minute.  Who were these instructions for?  The Children of Israel.  What was their profession in Egypt?  They were slaves.  How many possessions did slaves have?  Not many.  But each household was supposed to come up with a newborn lamb.  How were they going to do that?  I suspect that there were probably some people among the Israelites that for one reason or another were not part of the main work force.  These were the people that, up until this time, had the less-important job of maintaining livestock.  Now, suddenly, they were very important.    But even today, you get into situations where people don’t seem important until you need what they’ve got.  You know, in general, men are not good at noticing the needs of others; women tend to be much better at it.  Our society sometimes makes women feel unimportant, but you have a ministry; you’ve got worth; you’re important.  Take a god look at why you’re doing what you’re doing.

            What if you get laid off?  That seems like a bad thing, but maybe God’s trying to get you to see something that you weren’t able to see because your focus was on what you needed to do your job.  Now that it’s gone, He can help you to see other things. 

            What if you want to get married?  There’s nothing wrong with getting married, but you should really pray about, and shine the light on that relationship before you get married.  Marriage will mess up your whole life if you do it wrong.  “But I want to get married now.”  Maybe you’re not ready to get married yet.   Shine the light, examine your own life, ask God to help you with your shortcomings.  You know God will give us the desires of our hearts.

            You know, somebody had to take care of that lamb or goat.  Somebody was in the process of raising it when God commanded the Passover.  How do you think that person felt?  Someone had to console that person, even though that Passover sacrifice was the beginning of great things.

            As we read this passage, we can see that there are a lot of details that God commanded.  The way that they had to eat, the way that the blood was applied to the doorposts, etc.  There were big changes happening.

            We need to walk circumspectly.  There are people around us who need encouragement.  They need you to be standing in the light, so that they know that it’s possible to live in the light.  They need you to be strong and courageous, so that they can see what that looks like.  We have ministry to do:  family, friends, people in our community and workplaces all need to see that light through us.

                             Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd