The Son Is Shining By: Dr. Pete Norris

Today there is power in the word. But thank goodness that Jesus is alive and well for evermore. And he's made us a new creature. And old things have passed away. And now behold all things have become new to us. And now we want some kind of something. Turn to somebody and say I want some kind of something. Because of the finished work of Christ. So what happened? The knowledge shined in the middle of your darkness. And your darkness couldn't be contained no more. Because the light was the light of men in you and me. John 17, 17 says the word of God is truth. You and I are the fulfillment of God's word. If you want enough God's real, look at my life. Welcome to Power in the Word. When the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ comes into our lives it brings change. Well today Dr. Norris shows us in the word of God. How knowing Jesus brings the light of peace, joy and contentment into our lives. Which transforms us and gives us new life. You stay with us and be encouraged by God's word. Go to John chapter 12 verse 46. And we're going to talk about the sun is shining. God is doing some good stuff. All around the world God is doing good stuff. And all I want you to know today is that how much He loves you. And if you can ever get a hold of that revelation. I heard a man named E.W. Kenyon make a statement one time. And I was a young man in Christ. This has been, well, I was in my 30's back then.

So that's been a while back. But I heard him make a statement. Here's what he said. He'd been a minister for 60 something years at the time. He had started Mooney Bible College. He started newspapers. All kinds of Christian work. He had spoken all over the world. Just a really, he'd written 14 or 15 books. And here's what he said. He said the greatest revelation I ever got was that Jesus loves me. This I know. And I thought, you know, that's pretty weak. At the time. But I realized that when I said that, I didn't know him like that. I was saved. I was changed. I was transformed. But did I know him? And that's the part I want to talk to you today about. I want you to understand what's on the inside of you. And that the reflection of what's on the inside of you wants to illuminate a world and draw them into your world. And that's exactly what Jesus come to do. He came to earth, took on flesh, dwelt among men, full of truth and grace, died that me and you would have freedom, and sat in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And you say, well, Pastor, I'm not sitting in heavenly places. I'm right here. But in the Spirit, you're bigger than you are right now. Listen, the shadow of you is bigger than you are. So I want you to go to John 12, verse 46, and we're going to get going.

Look at somebody and say, the sun's shining now. Now this is Jesus talking. He said, I've come as a light into the world. Whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. Now I want to stop right there, because you've got to understand the Scriptures to understand what God is saying. The word Scripture here, in the Scripture here, darkness is an actual Greek word that means ignorance. Because God never created darkness. Darkness is only the absence of light. It's kind of, you can't measure darkness, because there's no such thing as darkness. You can take a dark, pitch dark room, and you can put a little bit of candle in it, and that light will illuminate that entire room. Why? Because there's no such thing as darkness. And God was trying to tell us that He was not talking about light, as we know it, as a beaming light that you turn on. He's talking about the light of the knowledge of God on the inside of me and you that is going to reflect out of us. Listen, God had chose you before the foundation of the world. God has selected you before the foundation of the world. He had made you accepted in the beloved before the foundation of the world. Everything was done prior to you getting here. All He wants you to do is believe He's the answer to all that. And because of that, He put Himself in you before the foundation of the world. All He wants you to acknowledge is that He did that. Listen, the Bible said your name was written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. The Bible said Christ was crucified before the foundation of the world.

So everything took four. That word before there is also a preposition, and it means it's in the eternal past. In other words, God had done everything, because in God there is no time. And when me and you understand that there's no time, time won't no longer control us and contain us. We live outside of time to where it's not about what we do, but it's about what He did in us. And that's the manifestation of what God's trying to bring to pass. I've come as a light into the world. Now, the word world here in the Greek is the word cosmos, and it means the age or the rulingship or the time or the season or the kingdom or the generation. So whoever believes in me shall not abide in darkness. He's not talking about pitch dark. How many of you, before you even got recreated, you've done some good things every once in a while? Every once in a while. It's just every once in a while, but you've done some good things every once in a while. Doing those good things, did that make you righteous? No. But once you got recreated and become a new creature and old things passed away and behold all things come anew, once you get out of that and you do some things that are not, that are darkness or not righteous, does that make you unrighteous? Absolutely not. Because the right and wrong didn't make you righteous or righteous. It was Christ that made you righteous. So when Christ declared us to be righteous in 2 Corinthians 5.21,

Him whom you know sinned became sin, that you and I might become the righteousness of God. Turn to somebody and say, I'm just as righteous as God. Now this is hard for us to swallow, but that's what He said in 2 Corinthians 5.21. And the word righteous means the ability to stand in the presence of the Father without any condemnation, guilt, or inferiority. Now Romans 8.1 said, therefore there's now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. And Jesus said in John 3.17, I didn't come into the world to condemn the world, but through me the world might be saved. That word is sozo, it means soteria, it means you'll have the completeness and wholeness of everything God is inside of me and you. The actual God that resurrected out of the tomb, the spirit of Him, is what's living on the inside of me and you. You and I are operating in the same spirit that got Jesus up out of the tomb. Matter of fact, Romans 4.25 says, because of our righteousness, He was resurrected. So there's not, listen to me, you need to change your mindset. If John said, Behold the Lamb of God, that's going to take away the what? Sin. Sin of the what? Word. So He took away the sin, if He took it, you can't have it. Now think about that just a minute. A man told me one time, he said, I was a young man, he was a very intelligent man. He said, buddy, if you'll think twice, you'll be the smartest one in your family. He was probably right about that. So think about it just a minute. If Jesus died so that you and I could walk in the Holy Spirit, that's why Jesus said it's beneficial that I go away, because if I go away, I'm going to put my Holy Spirit inside of you. Now go with me to Colossians 1, verse 13. And when we understand these texts, we'll read these scriptures differently. He has, past tense, you see that? He has, that means that's past tense. He has delivered us from the powers of what? What's the word darkness mean?

Ignorance. And conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. In other words, He's taken us out of the kingdom of darkness. See, you're not responsible for what you didn't do before, because you didn't know. So what did God do? He put His light inside of you, and somebody triggered that light with a word, a point, a hug, or whatever. See, God doesn't do it always with preaching. Preaching probably turns more people away than it turns people on. What turns people on is knowing that they're loved. I believe every opportunity you have to talk to somebody, God will open that door right up. It'll be a personal time. It'll be a great opportunity. And there'll be a divine appointment. Every morning of my life, I get up and I say this. I say, Lord, let me have divine appointments. I just want to be available. I might need to be down at the grocery store. I might need to be over here at the hardware store. I might even have to be at the dealership or whatever. We need to be available for the light to shine. Those may see His good works and glorify the Father, right? Now, go to 2 Corinthians 4 and 6. And we're talking about the sun is shining. For it is God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. So what he's saying here, for it is God who commanded the light. Now the word light in the actual Greek is a powerful word. It means knowledge. So the knowledge to shine out of the darkness.

In other words, God is not going to let anybody leave this earth without an opportunity. You say, well, Pastor, what about those people that never heard it? They're going to hear it. And it ain't about them hearing it. It's about Him speaking to you. How many of you have seen all these things that are happening with the Muslim? All over the world. It's like Jesus is appearing to them out of nowhere or sending people there to appear out of nowhere to tell them in their days, their day, where are you going to be at when you decide to believe and who you're going to decide to believe. See, there's too many people walking around miserable in the church every Sunday that love Jesus. They're miserable all the time because they don't have a personal relationship. Every time you think you're doing good, you fall off the boat. And every time you think you've got something conquered, you fall back into that same trap. And then you sit around and you question yourself about if I was really saved, then this would be happening. That would be works, guys. It's not about what you do, it's about what He did. Now watch this. For it is God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness and He has shone in our hearts to give the light, the knowledge of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ. So He has shined in you, in your heart, to give you the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. See, you can't get it without Him.

People can preach to you all they want, but until you acknowledge and He shines the light on you that He put in every man before you ever got here. I'm going to show you. Go with me to 1 John 4 and 5. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. In other words, in Him was the life. That's agape. The actual Greek word there is agape. And the life, the agape, was the light or the knowledge of men. In other words, what did he do? He gave his life and he put his life in us. That's a light to everybody to see. See, he put that light in me and you before we got here. Now look at verse 5. And the light shines in the darkness. In other words, the knowledge shines in the ignorance and the ignorance did not comprehend it. In other words, it could not contain his presence. You know, I look at people and here's what I hear all the time. Well, the world's really dark, Pastor. No, it's not. No, it's not. It's the world you're seeing. What I'm living in is pretty cool. That's why Paul said I'm not from here. Are you listening to me? See, I'm gonna blow you out of the water right now. You ready? What you do in your life affects your children that come after you and the generation that comes after you and the grandchildren that comes after you. Because the blessing of the Lord will be passed down to a thousand generations. But thank God that Jesus broke us and destroyed and redeemed us from the curse of the law. The curse went down to the 34th generation. But you and I have been redeemed from the curse of the law by the blood of Jesus Christ and because of that you and I are free. Well, Pastor, you don't understand. I didn't come from the right side of the track.

There's not a right or wrong track. You picked the track. Jesus called you to a good track. Well, I was raised in a bad environment. Who wasn't? But thank goodness that Jesus is alive and well forevermore and he's made us a new creature and old things have passed away and now behold old things have become new to us and now we're what? Some kind of something. Turn to somebody and say I'm some kind of something because of the finished work of Christ. So what happened? The knowledge shined in the middle of your darkness and your darkness couldn't be contained no more because the light was the light of men in you and me. Jesus said in John 14 and six, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. There's no way to the Father except through me. John 17 and 17 says the Word of God is truth. You and I are the fulfillment of God's Word. If you want to know if God's real, look at my life. Think about it a minute. Look at your life. Are you thankful every day? See, the enemy wants you to focus on the one or two things that ain't good. But look at the 99 things that are good. Come on somebody. Just for a moment, think about the 99 things that are good in your life. Take the opportunities that you're going through in your life right now to find out who you are because if you'll find out who you are, where you're at, you won't remain there. God always promotes when you outgrow a place. He don't promote you because you deserve a place. He promotes you because you outgrow a place. If you outgrow a place, you'll go to the next place. Most people don't ever blossom where they're planted so they don't ever go to the next place. What you're going through is ain't about you, it's about somebody else and it's a good thing because if it hadn't been a good thing, you wouldn't be going through it. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10 and 13,

I will not allow anything to come your way and if everything comes your way, I'm going to find you a way of escape. See, God's doing some good stuff in you, but you can't do nothing but look at the problem instead of look at the solution. You're the solution to the problem. God's not going to take it away sometimes. You're just going to get bigger in it and not see it anymore. Amen? Tell somebody, I'm growing by leaps and bounds. Now, darkness did not comprehend. It couldn't override ignorance. My people destroyed. We go to Hosea 4 and 6. You ain't going to turn what they always say. My people destroyed for a lack of knowledge. You've rejected knowledge and therefore I must reject you. See, the reality to why you and I are where we are is because we choose to live there. Nobody can hold you in bondage except you. You can rise above every situation because God said, I've made you a new, 2 Corinthians, God made you a new creation. Old things have passed away and now everything has become everything has become new. Now listen to me just a moment. How many of you know that once you ask Jesus to forgive you, He forgave you of everything you've ever done and everything you're ever going to do? Matter of fact, you don't even have a past anymore. Because the Bible said in Colossians 3 and 3, if you be dead, then your life is hidden with Christ in God. It doesn't mean dead physically. It means dead spiritually. And once you were dead and resurrected, you were, see, you were born into this world spiritually dead. Right? Because of the fall of Adam. But because of the resurrection of Christ, then you were quickened and made alive. He said, yet when you were in your trespasses and sin, He made us alive. Turn to somebody and say, I'm fully alive. Why? Because that's all the glory of the Lord is anyway. People are fully alive.

Amen? That's all it's about. People being fully alive in Christ. See, there's more than just dying and going to heaven. My goodness, that's an easy thing. It's an easy thing to die and go to heaven. I don't want to go to heaven. I want to bring heaven down to earth. I want to walk in victory down here. I want to overcome over here. I saw a lady this morning. It was like 20 minutes after 4. I was watching this lady on TV and she was 111. And they asked her, they said, what's your secret to success? She said, darling, baby, it's just trusting the Lord. It's just trusting the Lord. Trusting the Lord. Bible says in Isaiah chapter 26 verse 3, he said this, if you'll keep your mind fixed upon the Lord you'll walk in perfect, perfect peace. Why? Because you trust Him. Whatever you're worried about is what you trust in. And nobody can tell me anything about worrying because I worried my whole life. I grew up in a worrying household. We were taught to worry. And if you didn't have something to worry about, worry about because you didn't have anything to worry about. Amen? But you can't tell me you can't rise above this, man. Because greater is He that's in us than he that's in the world. And no weapon formed against us can prosper. And everything that rises up against us has got to come down. Why? Because of what's on the inside of us. He said I'll do exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or think. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20, I'll do exceedingly above all you can ask or think according to the power that's working in you. Turn to somebody and say, I'm dynamite on the inside. Really, we're dynamite on the inside. We're some kind of something. Go with me to John chapter 1 verse 6. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. How many of you know what John means? Grace. Look at verse 7. The man came for a witness to bear witness of the light.

In other words, he came to bear witness of the knowledge that all through him might believe. Now how many of you know John baptized people and did all kinds of wonderful things? How many of you know John's head was cut off? Do you know why John's head was cut off? John's head was cut off because that was the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the new. Because John was born to a high priest, but he wasn't a high priest. How many of you know when John come out, what happened? He was different, right? Now let's go, let's go to verse 8. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. He wasn't the knowledge, but he was sent to bear witness of the light. Now all this makes sense. Because you're thinking of a light, light bulb. He was the light. There's no light on top of my head. There's a light inside of me. There's a light inside of you. Now look at verse 9. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. Coming into the world. Now I begin to pray about this scripture. I said, Lord, show me what this means. There was a true light which gives light to every, every, every, every, every, every. How many of these every? It's every single man, woman on this planet earth. The true light gives light to every man coming into this world. So when did he give you light? When you started coming into this world. Now how many of you know into is a preposition also? The is an article determiner. And so we see here, what he's saying here is that pre-existing everything before the foundation of the world, he predestined to light to be inside of you when you came into the world. So you came into the world lost, but he put a light that was going to shine. That somebody was going to cut on that switch somewhere in your life, somewhere along the way,

and transform you and change you and let you realize that Jesus is alive on this earth. See, listen to me. Listen to me very carefully. We've been told in the church, come up to the altar, accept Jesus and believe in him, and confess him as Lord and Savior, and you'll be born again. Show me where Jesus ever did that. He never had an altar call. But he told the woman at the well that was called in the door, she was living with a man, she act up, we call it she act up, we used to call it she act up. Now they're partners. Dress it up, however you want to do it, we used to call it she act up. But if you notice, she came to the well, and Jesus met her at the well. When was he supposed to be talking to a Samaritan? He went to the well, he told her, he said, if you're drinking water, I'll give you one every Thursday. And then he began to prophesy to her about it. He said, you know what, I know the man you're with you're not married to, and you've been married five times before. But she was coming to the well in the middle of the day, which was very unusual, because she wouldn't come in the middle of the day, because she didn't want to meet anybody at the well, any other women. But she was looking at her husband. Because what she had, she wasn't happy with. But if you notice, Jesus didn't tell her, go home and leave that man you're shacked up with. And she went off prophesying and telling everybody she had met the Messiah. She had become an evangelist just from the encounter at the well. Still shacked up with the man. Now the church would have said, you can't join the church, he gets out of your life, honey. You got to cut him loose, you can't be shacked up in here and represent us. Oh, somebody ain't listening to me. But Jesus had grace for people. Remember the woman called in adultery?

They brought her to Jesus. And they said, we just caught this woman. Scribes and religious folk, deacons and elders, brought this woman to Jesus and said, we just caught this woman in adultery. If you notice, they didn't bring the man. They let him go, because he could have four or five women. They brought the woman and called in adultery. And Jesus said, you without sin cast the first thorn. And she turned and he bowed down and everybody walked away. And he looked at her and he said, where's your condemners? Where's your condemners? And she said, Lord, I don't have any condemners. Once she recognized him as Lord, she was recreated. It wasn't about a church service, coming up and letting everybody see you. It was about a transformation in your heart by recognizing who he is. So this is the new faith. message of the day is that Jesus wants you to just recognize what he's made you to be. And once you recognize what he's made you to be, you are. He already saw you as an R, but you ain't seen yourself as an R because you base it on what. Where did you go to find out that you were a sinner anyway? You went to church. And they told you how bad you were. And if you didn't get saved, you were going to hell, bus hell wide open, and you were going to hell aflash. You're one step away from hell. And when that church I went to,

they could preach it so strong you'd feel the fire under your feet while you're sitting in the church. But think about it a minute. The sun wants to shine out of you. Go to Isaiah 9 and 2. Isaiah was a prophet that prophesied Jesus was coming. 700 years before Jesus came, Isaiah prophesied. But look at what else Isaiah prophesied. The people who walked in ignorance have seen a great light. Those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. So what was Isaiah saying? He was prophesying all the people in the earth that are lost, there's a light coming, and his name is Jesus. And he's going to come, and he's going to shine on every one of you, because he's put his light inside of you, and he's going to be a reflection of himself inside of you. So you've got to understand that God sees you just like him now. You're the eye in God. We've got to understand that. God's not sitting up on the throne waiting to answer your prayers. God's sitting up on the throne. He's answered all already. All he wants you to do is believe who he is. And once you believe who he is, everything that's in him will be yours. He said, I come. He said, I come. Remember John 10, the second half of John 10? I come that you might have life and have life more abundantly. He didn't come that you'd see death. He didn't come that you'd be painful. He didn't come that you'd be sick. He didn't come that you'd be in destruction. He didn't come that you'd be broke. He said, my beloved brethren, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health as your soul prospers, your psyche, your mind. You're a spirit. You possess a soul and you live in a body. Your mind's made up of your mind, your will, and your emotions. That's the part of you that gives you a fit. That's why the book of Revelation says your mind is the seat of Satan, where he sits to control you and destroy you. Your mind's a powerful thing. That's why the Bible says Romans 12 and 2, be ye not conformed to this world, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. In other words, you and I ought to think like he thinks. Because 1 Corinthians 2 and 16 says that you and I have the mind of Christ. Look at somebody and say, I'm some kind of something. And once I can ever discover who I am, I can walk in my place of victory.

Think about it a minute. I went to a baseball clinic several months ago. And so I walked in and I was a speaker for that night. And the young man is the dean of students there. He's a good Christian friend of mine. And as a matter of fact, his daddy was one of my baseball coaches many, many years, 45 years ago. And so I went and I went in and all these guys are sitting there, you know, and they're looking at you and they don't want to talk about Jesus, but they want to talk about baseball. But anyway, I said, I can I can roll with that one. So I get in there and I said, which one of you is the best player in here? And nobody raised their hand. I said, y'all are heading somewhere. If I'd have been in a room like that, I'd have shot mine right up. Why? Because if you don't think you're the best, you're never going to walk in it. And I'm not talking about being arrogant. I'm not talking about being self-centered. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm telling you is the church don't know who they are. So when we hear you're the righteousness of God, well, I know I am, but that's prideful. And I'm not going to ask like that. When they turned to Jesus and said, they asked him, who do you say that I am? You're the Christ. He didn't say, no, I'm not. I'm not the Christ, Peter. That's not a good thing. He said, Peter, flesh and blood haven't revealed that to you, buddy. You got that by the Holy Spirit because I've been sent to change the world and I've been sent to be the king on earth. I'm the king of king and lord of lords. He never denied who he was. He always, listen, he couldn't deny who he was. You're denying who you are. You're some kind of something in Christ. And that's what's wrong with the body of Christ. That's why the world don't want what we got because we ain't no different in the world. We got as many problems. We don't look any different. We don't look happy. We ought to be happy. You ought to get up every day and say, this is the day the Lord's made, and I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it. Listen, that doesn't mean bad things are not going to happen to us, but you just got to get over it, baby. You got to shake the dust off and get up and say, you know what, today's another day and I'm moving forward because greater is He's in. Today's a change in my life. Every day is a greater day. Look at somebody and say, this is a great day. Go to Matthew 6 and 22. The lamp of the body is in the eye. If you therefore your eye is good, then your whole body is full of what? Light. How important is it what you see and hear? Now listen to me a minute. Listen to me a minute. Your eyes do not see. You see with your mind.

Your eyes reflect what your mind says it is. So your perception in your mind is going to determine what you see through your eyes. That's why he said, you ever heard this? If you look in somebody's eyes, you can see the window to the soul. You ever heard that? How many of you know that's true? Now look at what he says here. Then your whole body is full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of what? Ignorance. If therefore the knowledge that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? See, it doesn't matter what God has done in your life if you don't believe it. It doesn't matter if you don't go through your whole life and you're this. Maybe that's what he was talking about in the book of Revelation when he said you're going to stand before the Lord, not to be judged, but to be given rewards. And he said, I'm going to wipe the tears from your eyes. Is it possible? He's going to show you what you could have had and what he really died for you to have that you never walked into because you didn't believe you deserve it. You don't get things because you deserve it. You get them because of his undeserved favor. See, mercy, listen, mercy is when you don't get what you deserve. And grace is what he gives you that you don't deserve. You and I deserve darkness, but he shined in our hearts and in our lives. I can remember as a little eight-year-old boy when my mother started going to the church. I never went to church in my life until I was seven years old, six or seven, somewhere in there. And I remember I never cared about what the preacher said, but I cared about what he kind of turned into when he got up there. It's kind of like it just rolled out of him, you know, like the anointing that was on his life and it just kind of rolled out. And I was infatuated with that. And I thought, man, look at this dude. It's just rolling out. He can't even think that fast. And I remember I fixed me a little altar and a podium, and I took some wood and I put a two-by-six on it, and I made me a platform and I was going to preach.

And I got me a little New Testament. Couldn't read much at seven or eight, you know, like we are today, kids are today. And so I opened that thing and all of a sudden, you ever seen those whirlwinds that come and like you can see them in a field? They come and sit right down in between me and that little pulpit area. And I heard this voice for the first time in my life. And he said, not now, son, but this will be later. And I never picked up a Bible again. I kicked the podium over. I kicked everything over. Scared the life out of me. Scared the life out of me. I didn't say to death. Scared the life out of me. Never read a Bible again. But I didn't have a Bible when I got saved. I was going through turmoil in my life and struggling with suicide, drug addiction, and all kinds of struggles. And I remember going in the bathroom. I had just married Anita. And I was the executive wearing my suit and tie at this textile plant. And I remember going in the bathroom at 20 after three in the morning. I said, Lord, and I fell on the floor in that bathroom. And I said, Lord, if you're for real, I don't know anything about you, but if you're for real, like my wife says you are, then come into my life. Thirty-seven days from that day, I was pastor of a church. You can't tell me. I didn't talk much before that, guys. But God had a plan all the time. He's got a plan for your life. Thank you for joining us today at Power in the Word. All of us here at Harvest Fellowship Church want you to know that God is not mad with you, but He loves you so very much. And He has a plan for your life. Please feel free to contact us here at Harvest Fellowship Church at our website, HarvestFellowshipChurch.net.

So until next week, please remember, there's power in the word.