Will You Stand Out Or Blend In?

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ This is the day that you have made Whatever comes I won't complain For all my hope is in your name And now your joy awaits my praise I give thanks for all you have done And I will sing of your mercy and your love When love is unfailing Lord, I am grateful ♪ When I was down, you brought me out You set my feet on higher ground So here I stand, you are my guide This faithfulness, my solid rock I give thanks for all you have done And I will sing of your mercy and your love When love is unfailing Lord, I am grateful I give thanks for all you have done I won't forget all the battles you have won When love is unfailing Lord, I am grateful ♪ And as we lift our heads up Heaven's open, heaven's open So let our lives declare the love Our God has spoken over us

And as we lift our heads up Heaven's open, heaven's open So let our lives declare the love Our God has spoken over us ♪ I give thanks for all you have done And I will sing of your mercy and your love When love is unfailing Lord, I am grateful I give thanks for all you have done I won't forget all the battles you have won When love is unfailing Lord, I am grateful ♪ ♪ Who breaks the power of sin and darkness Whose love is mighty and so much stronger The King of glory, the King above all kings Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder And leaves us breathless in awe and wonder The King of glory, the King above all kings This is amazing grace This is a family love That you would take my place That you would bear my cross You laid down your life That I would be set free Jesus, I sing for All that you've done for me Who brings our chaos

Back into order Who makes the orphan A son and daughter The King of glory The King of glory Who rules the nations With truth and justice Shines like the sun In all of His brilliance The King of glory The King above all kings This is amazing grace This is a family love That you would take my place That you would bear my cross You laid down your life That I would be set free Jesus, I sing for All that you've done for me Worthy is the Lamb who was slain Worthy is the King Who conquered the grave Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain Worthy is the King Who conquered the grave Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain Worthy is the King Who conquered the grave

Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain Worthy, worthy, worthy Yeah, this is amazing grace This is a family love That you would take my place That you would bear my cross You laid down your life That I would be set free Jesus, I sing for All that you've done for me Worthy of every song We could ever sing Worthy of all praise We could ever bring Worthy of every breath We could ever breathe We live for you We live for you Jesus, the name above Every other name Jesus, the only one Who could ever say Worthy of every breath We could ever breathe We live for you Oh, we live for you Holy, there is no one like you There is none beside you Open up my eyes in wonder

Show me who you are And fill me with your heart And lead me in your love To those around me ♪ Jesus, the name above every other name ♪ ♪ Jesus, the only one who could ever save ♪ ♪ Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you, oh we live for you ♪ ♪ You, holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you, open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and feet ♪ ♪ In your love, it knows around me ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken, I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ I will build my life upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a firm foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you alone ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken, holy, there is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is none beside you, open up my eyes in wonder ♪ ♪ Show me who you are and fill me with your heart and feet ♪ ♪ In your love, it knows around me ♪ ♪ You are here, moving in our ways ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are here, moving in our ways ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ Working in this place, I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are here, moving in our ways ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪

♪ You are here, working in this place ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are here, we make miracle work, promise keep ♪ ♪ Light in the darkness, my God, glad we see you are here ♪ ♪ My God, glad we see you are here ♪ Sing it again. ♪ You are here, we make miracle work, promise keep ♪ ♪ Light in the darkness, my God, glad we see you are here ♪ ♪ You are here, touching every heart ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are here, healing every lie ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you, you're here ♪ ♪ You are here, you're turning lives around ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you ♪ ♪ You are here, you're meaning every heart ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you, you're here ♪ ♪ I worship you, I worship you, you're here ♪ ♪ Oh you are, way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Oh you are, way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Oh you are, way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Oh you are, way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. That is who you are. You never stop, you never stop working. Even when I don't see it, you're working. Even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop, you never stop working. Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Oh you are, way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Oh you are, way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness, my God, that is who you are. Since the beginning of ocean travel, sailors have boarded their ships with a sense, a little bit of a sense of intrepidation.

Sailing the open seas can be dangerous, and it's due to the fact that the weather is unpredictable. You know, everything can be really smooth when you leave the harbor, and then not too long after, you can run into terrible weather. Storms, and winds, and rocks, and hidden hazards. Early on, man developed something that was very, very important to sailors, and that was the lighthouse. The lighthouse was a structure, a tall structure, that would be on a coastal area, on an island close to the coast, or right there on the rocks of the coast, and it would shine out for miles around to alert the sailors, hey, this is to help us navigate, this is to keep us safe. Now the oldest lighthouse in America is Boston Harbor Light. It was built in 1716, and then it had to be rebuilt because of some trouble. It's in Little Brewster Island in Boston, Massachusetts. We have a picture of this lighthouse. It's very historic. and it's 89 feet tall, and it stands there, the first one ever built in America, stands there to shine and to protect the sailors as they sail the seas. Well, in Matthew chapter five, Jesus said that his followers were the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And we are to be like that lighthouse, standing tall, a lighthouse, shining the light of love and truth and godliness to a dark and dangerous world. Now, Paul picks up the theme from Matthew five, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Ephesians chapter five, and he has to say this, "'Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things,' that's sins that he listed, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with them,

for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." Every true Christian knows, hey, I know what it's like to be lost, because I was lost, I was in darkness, but when I received Christ, when I saw that I was a sinner and received Christ, then I became light in the Lord. He delivered me from the domain of darkness, Colossians one says, and transferred me to the kingdom of his beloved son. "'So now you are children of light,' the scripture says, so walk it out, walk as children of light.'" The big question for today, are you doing that? Are you standing out as a believer in Jesus, shining the light of godliness and truth and love, or are you just blending into the background? You know, if a lighthouse just blends in to the rocks and doesn't shine, that lighthouse doesn't work and people will crash and burn and die. Are you walking in the light or walking in the darkness? The Bible says that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, guess what? We lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin.

I wanna talk today about the children of light. Hey, does it matter that you're shining? Does it matter that you're standing out? Does it matter that you say no to blending in and you want to stand out for the Lord? Yes, it matters. And it matters for every single person and the reason it matters is this. You, I, everyone, we have a date with deity. One day we're gonna have to stand before God and give an account of our lives. And he's telling us here in his word, you are a child of light if you've received me, so walk it out. The book of Ephesians is six chapters. Three tell us about our position in Christ, our identity in Christ, the first three chapters. And then chapters four through six tell us how to live it out. So one is positional truth, the first three chapters, and the next three chapters in Ephesians are practical truth. How do I live the Christian life? How do I walk as a child of light? So three characteristics we see from the children of light. Characteristic number one, children of light have a foundation of love, a foundation of love. Ephesians five, verse one.

Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. You know, the Christian life is a foundation of love. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Greater love, Jesus said, has no one than this, that one lays down his life for his friends. Romans five, eight says, God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, while we were in the darkness, Christ died for us. It's a foundation of love. You say, well, what is a Christian? A Christian is someone who recognizes the darkness, who recognizes, hey, I'm a sinner and I'm lost and I can't save myself. You're convicted. about your sin you say with Isaiah when he saw the Lord in Isaiah chapter 6 high and lifted up woe is me for I am undone for I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts you recognize you're a sinner and you're lost and you cry out to Jesus Jesus Son of David have mercy on me children of light are people who have received God's love in Jesus Christ have you ever done that have you received God's love God loves you my grandson Jack was asking the question my daughter called me and she said hey dad Jack has a question why did God choose the Israelites he's for he's asking a question why did God choose choose Israel and I said well it had nothing to do with Israel had to do with God's

choice God chose them and the Bible even says in Deuteronomy God didn't choose Israel because they were better than any of the other nations he just wanted to have a touchpoint into humanity to share his love and grace with humanity and he chose the Israelites he chose Abraham and he said through you and your descendants I'm gonna bless the world hey God loves you and the question is not does God love you but have you received his love now those who are children of light have done that they've received his love they've received his amazing grace and did you know that every single person who ends up in hell has the same testimony they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 10 is talking about the reign of the Antichrist and it says them with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved everyone who perishes rejected Jesus they rejected God's love they rejected God's grace they said no I'm gonna go my own way they're like Cain woe to them they have gone the way of Cain the way of Cain is the way of woe it's the way of human effort it's the way of pride it's the way that leads to destruction did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved it goes on to say but they took pleasure in wickedness children of light have a foundation of love therefore be imitators of God as beloved children the Chris Tomlin song that I like so much says I am loved by the king and it makes my heart want to sing you know when you really think about that that the king of the universe the God who spoke the world's into existence that God loves you it's mind-blowing that God would like I don't even like me some of the time but God would say I love you now he doesn't like certain things I do certain things you do but he loves you we're beloved children my three children Jill Amy and Sarah they're beloved children they can do things that drive me crazy they can do things that displease me but I never stopped loving them because they belong to me so a children a child of light has received God's love and then they express God's love through Jesus Christ so we're to be imitators literally mimics is the Greek word there of God as

beloved children and we're to walk in love just as God also loved you and gave himself up for us as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma so we receive God's love and then we share God's love you know it's it's vertical our relationship with God and then it's horizontal loving God is the most important commandment and then loving your neighbor as yourself that's the second most important commandment and we share the love of God with people and we speak the truth in love to people that is how you express God's love he God loves people unconditionally God loves people with with mercy and with grace and with compassion God is very forgiving the last verse in Ephesians 432 be kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you so we are to be like that lighthouse we stand tall we shine and we tell people the truth about themselves about their sinfulness about the fact that Jesus is the one and only Savior and he'll save anybody who will come to him to Him in repentance and faith. We don't lie to people. That's not expressing God's love by lying to people. You tell them the truth. You speak the truth in love. Now, you know, the sad reality is lots of us, we wear that lighthouse because Jesus said you're the light of the world, but we hide our light. We put our light under a bushel basket and not on the lampstand or in the lighthouse illustration. We board up the windows in the lighthouse. Well, the light can't get out because it's boarded up and people don't see and people don't really know. And it's horrible when somebody says, well, is so-and-so a Christian?

He's your good friend. She's your good friend. Are they a Christian? Ah, I don't really know. How do you not know? That's the most important thing about the person. You don't know. If you don't know, guess what? They're probably not. Because if somebody or at the bare minimum, they're not walking with God because somebody who's walking with God, guess what? You know it because we talk about the things that we love. And when you're walking with Jesus and you love him, you can't help but talk about him. I ran across a poem some years ago and it says this, it's entitled, My Friend. It's sometimes entitled, A Letter From Hell. My friend, I stand in judgment now and feel that you're to blame somehow. While on this earth, I walked with you day by day and never did you point the way. You knew the Lord in truth and glory, but never did you tell the story. My knowledge then was very dim. You could have led me safe to him. Though we live together here on earth, you never told me of your second birth. And now I stand this day condemned because you failed to mention him. You taught me many things that's true.

I called you friend and trusted you, but now I've learned, now it's too late. You could have kept me from this fate. We walked by day and talked by night and yet you showed me not the light. You let me live, love, and die. And all the while you knew I'd never live on high. Yes, I called you friend in life and trusted you in joy and strife. Yet in coming to this end, I see that you really weren't my friend. When you love people, you shine God's love, God's truth, God's righteousness to keep them away from the rocks so they won't destroy themselves. You tell them the truth. Second characteristic, children of light steer clear of the darkness. Verse 3 and following. He says, but immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among Saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the light consists

in all goodness and righteousness and truth trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret but all things become visible when they're exposed by the light for everything that becomes visible is light. We're not to blend in as Christians. We're to come out from among them and be separate. We're to stand tall. We're to shine. We don't participate or partake of the sinful activities that he talked about. We expose them as we shine the light. I was thinking this week about one of the most iconic villains and monsters in Greek mythology. It's the sirens. The sirens. The sirens were this kind of creature that was at sea and it was a female that was also connected to a bird, kind of like the precursor to a mermaid. Very beautiful. And the sirens had a voice and a song that would sing. And in Greek mythology, the sailors, as they would sail, they would hear this voice and they would see this beautiful creature and they'd be lured to go follow that voice. And the voice led them to the rocks and led them to shipwreck and led them to death. It's such a vivid picture of temptation. Because temptation calls, sexual temptation calls, greed calls, all these things call to us. Come, you'll just, it's going to be so fulfilling. You're going to love it.

And you do that and you follow that voice and you wreck and ruin your life on the rocks. Children of light steer clear of that. You know, the sirens were like the anti-lighthouses. The lighthouse shines the light to warn people, to help guide people. But the sirens, they invited people, yes, come closer, come closer, come closer so you can hit the rocks, crash, and die. Now we live in a world today that is so inundated with sin that we just become used to it. And the Apostle Paul, he was dealing in a world in his day where you had false teachers that had come into the church and they were the ones saying, hey, you know, listen, matter is evil. Your body is evil. Only the spirit is good. And so it really doesn't matter how you live. You can live any way you want. You can indulge in all kinds of sins. It doesn't matter because all that matters is the spirit anyway. And Paul says, well, that's just wrong. That's just, that's against what God is saying in his word. But we have people today say that, well, it doesn't really matter how you live. It matters big time how you live. We're to walk as children of light. And this idea that God doesn't really care how we live is baloney. So you mark it down as he talked about sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is a major issue with God. But immorality, which is the Greek word pornea, which covers a whole host of sexual sins. We got our English word pornography from that Greek word pornea. Immorality or any impurity, moral wickedness, or greed, which is covetousness, must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Don't even let it be named among you. Don't even give the appearance that you're messing around in that area.

You know, the people in Corinth, they had this idea that said there's a very pagan place in Corinth and the Apostle Paul shared the gospel and people got saved and they built a church there in Corinth. But to be in Corinth, Corinth was a sailor's town. It was a seafaring town and they had so many prostitutes in Corinth that to be a prostitute, they just called it to be a Corinthian girl. Because the place was just overrun with sexual immorality and prostitution. I've been to Corinth a couple of different times and the ruins there and a little bit of ways away from Corinth, you can see it, is the big Acrocorinthus. I have a picture of that. So that mountaintop is the Acrocorinthus. That's Corinth, that's the debris of Corinth and the relics of Corinth right there. And you can walk through the streets and see where things were. But on top of that mountain, that's where they had the Temple of Aphrodite. And the Temple of Aphrodite boasted of having a thousand temple prostitutes. And the way that you would worship in their sick cult is you would go and you'd go to the top of the mountain and you'd have sex with a prostitute and that was your way of worship. That's how you worshiped Aphrodite. And I just, you know, there's a pull to that. And so people didn't miss. And they said, oh, it's time for Aphrodite, let's go. And so that was right there. And here was their attitude. They said, well, food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 6.13. And so the body is just like that. You know, if your stomach is hungry, you eat. If your body is hungry, you eat. Wanting sex, you just have sex. It's just a bodily function.

He says food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Flee immorality. Every other sin a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and that you are not your own for you have been bought with a price? Therefore glorify God in your body. Hey, when it comes to sexual immorality, when it comes to impurity, it's not a minor thing. It's a major thing. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4. Let the marriage bed be undefiled for fornicators and adulterers. God will judge. If you have any fear of the Lord that should cause you to say, I can't be messing around with that stuff. Don't even let it be named among you. Don't see how close you can come to the edge. It's a major issue with God and he talks about it also in the form of greed. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among Saints. You say, how does greed fit into sexual immorality? Well, remember what it says in the 10th commandment, you shall not covet

your neighbor's house or your neighbor's spouse or anything that belongs to your neighbor. When you have sexual desire for something and someone, you're wanting that person. All of a sudden that becomes this driving force in your mind. It's like wanting money or cars or something like that. These idols that we get in there and it's a form of idolatry. David wanted Bathsheba so bad that she didn't care. He didn't care that she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his mighty men. He just had to have her. So sexual immorality, a major issue with God. Steer clear of that because that will wreck your ship. Filthy communication is also a major issue with God. He says in verse 4, there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting but rather giving of thanks. Hey, we're bombarded. With filthy communication, with profanity and vulgarity and people taking God's name in vain. And listen, I don't understand with coaches how they think that they have just a pass to use all kinds of horrible language. Hey, filthy communication is a major issue with God. He says in Ephesians 4 29, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word is as good for edification according to the need of the moment that it may give grace to those who hear. And you know those things, when we think about, okay, sexual immorality, that's a mark of the world.

That's how the world lives. I mean, it's just a given in Hollywood that, you know, if people meet up at a restaurant or something like that and they hit it off, they're going to immediately have sex. That's just, you know, of course, that's what everybody does. Well, that's not what a Christian does. To speak in keeping it in context, to cuss like a sailor, no offense to sailors, but they're known for their profanity. And that's just part of the world. And to be greedy and want what you want when you want it. That's a part of the world. And here's what the Lord is saying. Hey, children of light, steer clear of the darkness. God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. So living like a lost person is a major issue with God. That's why he says don't partake of that. Don't participate in that. For this you know with certainty, verse 5, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Those people are on the highway to hell. Your job is to shine to help them so that they don't go to hell. And if you're participating in their sins, guess what? You have absolutely no business talking to them about Jesus because they look at you as you're a hypocrite. I think about my friend Jimmy when I became a Christian and I told him I was a Christian.

He said, well, you don't you don't party anymore. You don't get drunk anymore. I mean, he was evaluating me really quick because he said if you're still partying, you're still drinking, then don't talk to me about Jesus because you're no different from me. He was right. That's the way a lot of people look at it. And that's not a wrong way to look at it. Hey, if you're you're saying. Jesus makes such a difference in your life, well, let me see it. Because if you're doing the same things I'm doing to cope with life, you have to have a drink to cope with life. If you have to do this, do that, do the other, just like I'm doing, well, then your Jesus doesn't seem to make much difference. God is saying, hey, living like a lost person, that's a major deal to me. That's a major issue. Second Corinthians chapter six, therefore, come out from among their midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean, and I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. Characteristic number three, children of light are spiritually alert and walking wisely. Look what he says. Verse 14, for this reason, it says, awake sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. We're to be awake. We're to be wise. You know that verse, that little couplet in verse 14, that comes from Isaiah chapter 60, verse 1, that says, arise, shine, for your light has come.

It was part of an early hymn in the church that they would sing as part of Easter, awake sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. I like what it says in Psalm 80, three times we read this, O God, restore us, and cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. O God of hosts, restore us, cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. O Lord God of hosts, restore us, cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. We need God's face to shine upon us, and we desperately need to wake up to the truth. Wake up, sleeper, and arise from the dead. And this speaks to lost people who are dead. This speaks to Christians who are asleep in the light. Hey, you got to wake up. You got to recognize the truth. You're the light of the world, and you need to stand tall like that lighthouse. You need to get the plywood off the glass so people can see the light going out. Everybody you meet, that I meet, that's in the darkness, is on the highway to hell. If you care about people, you'll tell them the truth, because I don't want to see people go to hell. Hopefully, you don't want to see people go to hell. I communicated with somebody just this morning about a post that was on Facebook that just made me cringe, and it was about a person that is so deluded. They're a biological male thinking they're a female, and this person was talking about how this girl is so wonderful. I was like, you're not helping that person. You're lying to that person. That is not a female. That is a male. That is XY chromosome male, and you are entering in and supporting them in their fantasy, in their delusion. You're patting that person on the back as they race off a cliff. That's not love.

You tell people the truth, because people need to know the truth. And that is happening right here in Texarkana. We need to stand up. We don't do it because we hate people. We do it because we love people. It's the person that lies to somebody that hates them. They're not telling them the truth, and they're deceived themselves, obviously. It's important that we wake up to the truth, because as the Scripture says in verse 6, let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, the sons who disbelieve and reject and do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. We need to wake up to the truth, and we desperately need to wise up to the times, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. But realize this, Paul told Timothy, in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1, in the last days difficult times will come. That word for difficult means perilous, dangerous, hard times. Difficult times will come. He says, difficult times are here. Men will be lovers of self and lovers of money and boastful and arrogant and revilers and haters of good. We live in a world like that. He goes on to say in verse, chapter four, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they're gonna accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. And they'll turn away their ears from the truth

and turn aside to myths. Hey, a myth doesn't save. We have what every person needs and that is the gospel. That is a personal relationship with Jesus. We're able to share with a person that's lost in darkness. Hey, I saw the light, I saw the light, no more darkness, no more night. I've come to know Jesus who saved me. He delivered me from the domain of darkness. He transferred me into the kingdom of his beloved son. And what he did for me, he'll do for you too, if you'll receive his love, if you'll repent and believe and receive his love. That's the message we have to share. And if we're not sharing it, who is? If we say, well, we're not gonna do it. Well, who's gonna do it? God doesn't have a plan B when it comes to evangelism. He says, you shall be my witnesses. And so the question, are we going to stand out, stand tall like that lighthouse? Are we gonna shine or are we gonna just blend in? We're gonna tone it down. Well, I don't wanna rock the boat. You know, I don't wanna say something that'll hurt some feelings. That'll get people mad at me. So what? People get mad at me all the time. I don't, okay.

I mean, I like people to like me, but it's like, you know, I told you before, I didn't write the book. I'm just telling you what it says. My job is to be faithful. My job is to be a herald for the King. And when the King says, thus says the King, my job as a herald to go out in the highways and byways and to stand up and says, thus says the King. And then I repeat what he said. It's not my place to say, well, thus says the King, but people aren't gonna like this. I need to edit this out. You don't get to edit out. You say, thus says the King, you let her rip and let the chips fall where they may. If people get upset, so be it. I didn't write the book. I teach, preach the book. Thank you. Children of light, spiritually alert and walking wisely, being careful with how you walk because the days are evil. Listen, if you know my testimony, you know that it was toward the end of my senior year in high school when I started dating this girl and through her bringing me to a Young Life meeting, I came to know Christ and Jesus came into my life. My life began to change. I was radically saved. Well, I didn't know anybody other than just her

and maybe a couple of her friends who were Christians. All my buddies were lost. We just, we hung out in the darkness together and we caroused and we drank and we chased girls. And that was just my life. We played basketball and made fun of people. We had course jesting and all that stuff. That was just my life. Now, all of a sudden I received Christ. I'm transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son. All my friends are over here. And so they're like the sirens in Greek mythology. Hey, come on back over here. We're gonna go out drinking. We're gonna go out chasing girls. We're gonna go out carousing. And there was a big pull that said, well, yeah, that was kind of my life. I'd like to do that. And the Lord said, no, you can't do that. You're a child of the light. You formerly were darkness, but now you're light and the Lord walk as a child of the light. And I had to separate myself from that. And I determined that I was not gonna be a compromiser and wash out. I wasn't gonna blend in. I wanted my life to count for Jesus Christ,

the one who died in agony and blood for me. I don't want to stand before him one day and say, well, Lord, I was afraid. I didn't do what you called me to do because I was afraid. I just, I didn't want to rock the boat. I just wanted everybody to like me. You and I live, are to live for an audience of one. We're to live for a well done. The one who counts. The Lord. And listen, your secret sins that you don't think anybody knows about, your secret sins are broadcast in heaven. They are well known. They're scandals in heaven. God sees and God knows. The eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good. And we have a Savior who will forgive us and cleanse us because I fall and fail. You fall and fail. Even though we're in the kingdom of His beloved Son, we still struggle with sexual immorality. We struggle with lust. We struggle with greed. We struggle with bio-communication. We struggle with those things. And they do pull us like the sirens of Greek mythology. But we have to come to the place where we say, I've died to that old way of life. I'm going to quit riding the fence. I'm going to start standing up and speaking up for Jesus. And when I go off to college, I'm not going to just blend in with everybody else. I'm going to find some Christians and I'm going to get in with a good church and I'm going to grow in the Lord.

That's what I did at the University of Texas. I found some Christians that I could grow with and I did. And that first semester was lonely because I didn't really know a whole lot of people in that first semester. And I had to, Friday night, I can still remember. Friday night, everybody's out doing stuff. I'm doing calculus homework in my dorm room. Total loser. I felt like a loser, right? Total nerd. I was like, but I knew, hey, if I go out with these guys, I'm going to get sucked back into that old life. I can't do that. And so, as my friend Sean said, when you're by yourself, you learn how to develop that relationship with Jesus, where Jesus truly becomes your best friend. And you're going to walk with him. You're not going to compromise. You're going to be the person that he wants you to be. Now we come to the most important question of all, have you turned from sin and selfishness and given your heart and life to Jesus? Listen, if not, today is the day for you. Just pray this simple prayer from your heart. Lord Jesus, I need you. I know that I'm a sinner and I can't save myself, but I believe Jesus that you are God in the flesh. I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead. And right now I ask you to forgive me and save me, come into my life, change me, make me the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you and I promise to follow you all the days I have left. Now, if you pray that kind of prayer and mean it, the Lord will come in and your life will

never be the same. Listen, I would love to hear from you. So please contact me and share with me what's going on so we can pray for you. And if you are ever in the Texarkana area, we would love for you to visit us live and in person at FBC Texarkana. Listen, you really are important to God and you're important to us and we're here for you.