Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Well, if you've got your Bibles with you this morning, we're going to open them to Matthew, chapter 5, verses 14 through to 16. If you don't have a Bible or you've got one of those digital ones, that's fine as well. Otherwise, it's up on the screen behind me. It doesn't matter how the word gets in, you just make sure you're eating it every day. It's called your daily bread. I don't know about you, I like to eat more than once a week. So if you come in here thinking this is your daily bread, it's not going to be enough. Make sure you're opening it every day if you can, I reckon. All right. Matthew 5, 14, 16. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Would you pray with me this morning? Father, we thank you, thank you for this incredible statement from Jesus who said to us that we are the light of the world. God, I pray that today we would understand what it means to be light carriers, that we would carry the light of Jesus everywhere we go. Lord, thank you for all that you've done already this morning. Lord, I pray we would lean in and hear your heart for us today. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:01:24] Do we have any sports fans in the house? Anyone like a bit of sport? Anyone looking forward to maybe a game this afternoon that could win us the title?
[00:01:35] Thankfully, I've got friends who support spurs and they've already said that they'll give us the win so that we can win a title. But I love sport. I love any sport. In fact, I could watch peeling a banana if it was a sport. If you could do it faster than somebody else and get a medal for it, I'm in, right? I mean the hot dog eating competitions. I don't know if it's sport or not, but I'm in there, right? I love a good game of sport, rugby, football, cricket, you name it, love it, love sports.
[00:02:08] I coach football for a season, for a couple of years, coming out of my Sport and leisure diploma. When I say sport and leisure, I focused on the leisure aspect of it. We studied, did a few hours, but then golf in the afternoons was kind of how I increased my knowledge of leisure and so played sport and I coached Football. And there was a season where New Zealand football had this campaign called Play Hard, Play Fair. Basically what they did is they took away all the points. They said children are just going to play for participation. They give them a certificate to say, well done, you turned up, you played the game.
[00:02:49] I understand what they were trying to do, trying to create the sense of, I don't know, participation and not be focused on the results. But I don't know about you, sport is a great life teacher.
[00:03:04] We lose, we lose horribly, we play badly, we play really well and still lose. We get knocked down, we got to get up and go again.
[00:03:14] I've by default found myself coaching football again. As I shared a few weeks ago, it just kind of found me. And so I'm coaching Josiah's football team and we've had an absolute rubbish season, like horrible. So first couple of games we had a loss, a draw, a win, and then eight straight losses. So we're talking 13, 12, 13 year old boys having to cope with a 5, 3 loss, a 73 loss, a 97 loss, like kind of close games and then one absolute clattering of 17 1.
[00:03:50] Let's just say the lessons are a bit hard to learn at the moment, but that is life, that is reality. How many people would say you're winning at the moment? Maybe you are. How many people are saying you feel like you're losing? About 17:1 at the moment. Maybe that's your experience in your life right now. But even Paul, in the Bible, he says we're all running a race, but run it in such a way that you wouldn't be, you wouldn't forfeit the prize.
[00:04:18] Now when we think about the running or the races, we think immediately to this amazing tradition of the Olympic Games. How many people love the Olympics, watching the Olympics, how many people have attended an Olympic Games, an opening ceremony? There's an amazing moment where the flame is lit and they find all these creative ways to light these flames from arrows that are fired from a great distance to, I don't know, jet packs and who knows what comes next? Maybe an AI bot will light it next one, I don't know. But what I found is that when we are competing, when we are in this race, we have these ups and these downs, we have these highs and these lows.
[00:05:03] But there's a flame that is lit back in Olympia that is carried from every continent. It goes from continent to continent and they carry this flame all the way to the place where the Olympic Games are being held. That flame comes from an original Source from Olympia, where the Olympic Games were started. And it's carried by multiple people passed on. The flame is passed on from one person to another. They don't light the flame. It starts at the source. Their job is to carry it, protect it, and pass it on.
[00:05:41] And then the cauldron is lit and the lights go and all of a sudden the Olympics are on.
[00:05:48] Now the athletes, they compete for glory. They also compete for gold and silver and bronze. And while that's an incredible achievement to out compete millions of others that would want to try and be in that place, we compete for gold medals. And that's amazing and that's incredible. But when you think of it in the light of eternity, you realize gold medals are paving stones in heaven.
[00:06:15] The streets are paved with gold.
[00:06:17] So everything we're attempting to win and achieve in the natural is just paving stones in heaven. See, we're living for a greater significance and purpose, and that's carrying a spiritual flame. We're called to carry a flame that goes beyond our own lifetime and into the next generation and the generation beyond. And here's my take home today. If you could go away with one thought from today, if this could resonate within our hearts as we take on this week, it's that we carry the flame so the world can see Jesus. We carry the flame so the world can see Jesus. Let's have a look at what this means to us in these few moments we've got together. The first thought this morning is, jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is the light of the world. John 8:12 I am the light of the world. Jesus says, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Come on. How many people were living in darkness? And then the light of Jesus came into your life. And all of a sudden you could see where you couldn't before. I once was blind, but now I can see. I was lost, but now I've been found. That is the reality of what Jesus does in our lives.
[00:07:36] Jesus doesn't say he's a light. He is light. John, one of Jesus disciples, He says in 1 John 1:5, this is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, God is light. In him there is no darkness at all.
[00:07:52] When Jesus is in a situation, darkness flees.
[00:07:58] He is the light of the world.
[00:08:01] God is light. He pierces the darkest places of the human heart. He exposes what is hidden. He comforts what is hurting. He guides that which was lost.
[00:08:13] John 1:9, it says, the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. And from the moment Jesus stepped into humanity in the flesh, lives started to change light into the darkness. He healed the blind, he raised the dead, he confronted the broken, or he comforted the broken, challenged the corrupt, and ultimately he overcame death itself. Jesus is the light. And like the Olympic flame, Jesus is the source of the light that we are to carry. He is the the light. Jesus is the light of the world. My question for us today, around this thought is, have you encountered that light?
[00:09:00] Have you maybe seen it at a distance? Maybe in your fragile state, maybe in the position you find yourself, you want to shield yourself from the light because it's too bright, because you're worried if you are fully exposed to the light, it might expose the things that are grabbing at your heart and destroying you and upsetting you.
[00:09:22] My recommendation is fully expose yourself to the light. Allow the light of Jesus to fully submerge you and surround you and cover you. Because it's in the light that all of that darkness gets exposed and healing comes about. So I want to encourage you, if you've never experienced that, the true light of Jesus, would you open your heart to him today? The second thing this morning is we are called to reflect and radiate his light.
[00:09:54] So Jesus is the light of the world, but we are called to reflect and radiate it. Jesus says something remarkable. He says the same thing about himself to us. He says, you are the light of the world. Rediscover church. You are the light of the world.
[00:10:09] A city on a hill cannot be hidden. You, you're the light of the world. But hold on, Jesus, you said you were the light of the world. That's a little confusing, right?
[00:10:19] He is the light, but we are called to reflect and radiate that light.
[00:10:25] He's saying we are the ones that will reflect him. Just like the moon reflects the light from the sun, we reflect the light from the sun.
[00:10:39] Ephesians 5:8. For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.
[00:10:48] There is a change that happens when we follow Jesus. We go from darkness to light. Not just people in the light, but people of the light. And nature is transformed when we encounter the living Christ.
[00:11:03] I love the story of Saul in the Bible who became Paul. He had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Here he was thinking that he was doing all of God's work and God's will and God's plan. He was crucifying, persecuting, and he was destroying Christians all over the place and God captured him. God struck him from his horse. He was blind for three days, could not see. As he encountered the living Christ and as he encountered Jesus, his life changed. It was a moment where the scales came off his eyes physically. So there were scales that came upon his eyes where he couldn't see. Those physical scales came off. But it wasn't just the physical. There was a spiritual change that took place. Now he saw Jesus for who he was and he began living a life that others said, you're the one that was persecuting all the Christians. Something's changed. Maybe some of us here today have a testimony of living a life a particular way. And when you came to the light and the light changed you, when Jesus changed you, all of a sudden people say you're acting different to the way you used to act. You're not swearing like you used to. You're not laughing at those dirty jokes. You're not as crude as you were before. You're living with a new sense of purpose on your life.
[00:12:26] That's what happens when we are exposed to the light and then we begin to radiate the light. But here's the challenge we established last week. We had a great time with the kids in the service, and we asked the children whether any of their parents had ever sinned. And they got to ask you questions. Have you ever got angry and a few hands went up? Have you ever told a lie? A few people probably told a lie by keeping their hands down.
[00:12:49] But we realized that we're all capable of great things, but also we're all very capable of great sin.
[00:12:56] And there is a work of cleansing that God does. When we are exposed to the light, the darkness keeps getting exposed. But I don't know, I wake up some mornings and there's still a little bit of darkness in Mike.
[00:13:08] And so I have to say, jesus, please shine your light on me today. As David prayed, expose anything in my heart that doesn't please you, that doesn't honour you. If we can be daily before the light, would God show us what we need to do?
[00:13:26] I don't know if you ate chocolate late at night and you did it with the lights out and you went to bed and you wake up in the morning and you have no idea that you got chocolate smeared on the side of your face. Now, I know this could be a testimony for some people, but you get into the bathroom in the morning and you've had a great sleep and you have no idea when you flick on the light that you've got this big smear of chocolate across your face and without the light exposing it, you wouldn't know that you need to wipe it off your face before you go to work and have that awkward conversation with your workmates. Right.
[00:13:57] See, we need to just say, jesus, turn the light on in my life.
[00:14:01] Tomorrow when I wake up in the morning and I'm struggling with all this stuff, just turn your light on in my life, expose the things and say, jesus, please forgive me, Jesus, take those things away.
[00:14:15] Jesus knew that. That's why he said, a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Don't put a lamp under a bowl, he's saying. Don't hide it. Don't shrink back. Let it shine. But what does that look like practically? Well, we've been talking about the APIs gifts in Ephesians 4. It talks about the fact that we are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. And God gives us five graces that are upon our lives. And we've been studying that as a church and as an ELAM movement. We're going to be diving deeper into what it means to operate in the graces. APIs standing for apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, teacher. Now, each of us and you could do a test, if you haven't already. But most of the people here in church have done that test. They've discovered that primarily they operate in one of those graces.
[00:15:06] So what does it mean to be a light carrier in those five areas? Well, I'm going to throw out a challenge for all of us. If you can identify and you have identified the area that God has graced you in those areas, here's a challenge for you. Now, this is not extensive. I'm not saying I'm covering all bases, but what could carrying the light of Christ look like as an apostle? Well, often apostles will. Those with an apostolic grace will pioneer new kingdom expressions. So maybe God is calling you to start something in a spiritually dark area. Maybe identify a place that could be physical, it could be online, it could be digital, where Jesus is not yet known or clearly seen. You could gather a team to pray, to strategize, to come up with a plan to see the work of God come into that place. Being creative, spirit led, pray for structure and vision to plant something that might multiply. Maybe God is saying, hey, I want you to plant an expression of church in this next season. Over the next few weeks, we're going to be looking at the church plants and some of the highlights of what God has been doing within our Church within our. And so we're going to be looking at some of those expressions, many of them from an apostolic heart. The second thing we see is profit. What is the prophetic grace upon your life? Maybe it's to illuminate God's heart and a call to justice.
[00:16:38] So practically that could look like speaking truth to power, calling the church, the community, the culture to align with God's heart.
[00:16:47] So you could do that by spending time listening to God in prayer, studying his scripture, getting words that are clear and accurate. Those words that were brought out this morning, that would bring a shift and a change in our lives, that we would discern where God is calling people back to him, especially in areas of compromise. God is a holy God and those with the prophetic grace want to draw people back into the holiness of God, the righteousness of God. Maybe you need to share a word that's on your heart. Maybe there's something that's been burning within you and you just need to get in front of your friends and say, can I share what I feel like God's been speaking to me about and bring a word that would prophesy and bring change into somebody's life. Come on, how many people have got an evangelistic grace upon your life? You recognize that God has got that on your life.
[00:17:39] Your role is to share the light of Jesus with others. We're all called to do that. But maybe you're going to commit to sharing the gospel, the good news with somebody every single week, that you will go out of your way to go and find somebody and share the good news, build relationships, share your testimony, maybe on social media, drop a post or one on one coffee chats with people carrying gospel tracts or information, bibles that you could have a conversation with someone and say, hey, can I resource you with something that will help you understand what it means to follow Jesus? Maybe inviting someone to church or inviting them out for lunch and preaching the gospel to them.
[00:18:19] Well, what about our shepherds? Any shepherds in the house with a shepherd in grace? Come on, give us a wave. We've got a few shepherds out there. Amazing.
[00:18:28] You may want to choose to care for the wounded or the weary. Go and help those that are feeling lost and broken.
[00:18:36] Maybe you could make a decision that this week you're going to go find somebody, that you're going to pray that God's going to put somebody in your path today that you could walk alongside with somebody who's battling, struggling, going through a difficult season and you can say, you know what? I'M gonna be here for you this week. I'm gonna be in your world. I'm gonna send you a text, I'm gonna give you a call. I'm gonna let you know that I'm thinking of you and praying for you, that you would be a place, a safe place for healing, for hope, for restoration. And then we've got our teachers. This could be your mission. Illuminate God's word to others. That you would be able to bring the word of God in such a way that people would understand who God is and how much he loves them. Maybe you could lead a small Bible study, Maybe you could do an online teaching. You could gather a few people and say, hey, can I teach you something that God's showing me from God's word? Using stories and questions to facilitate conversation, putting action to the truth, giving real, practical ways to outwork the word of God, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
[00:19:44] So there's some challenges, there's some ways that we could reflect and radiate the light of Christ, other practical ways. We can be light carriers, a kind word. When someone's hurting, that's light. Integrity in your workplace, that's light. Forgiving someone who you don't want to forgive, that's light. Helping a struggling neighbour, helping, that's light. Making a meal for somebody, that's light. Helping speak truth with love, that's light.
[00:20:15] Discipling someone, that's light.
[00:20:18] And finally, as the team come this morning, first thought, Jesus is the light of the world. Secondly, we are called to reflect and radiate his light.
[00:20:28] And lastly, we are called to pass the flame.
[00:20:33] We're called to pass the flame, to carry the light, but we don't hold it for ourselves. We pass it, we don't let it go out.
[00:20:41] If you've watched the Olympic torch relay, it's not at a flat out pace. They go at a pace that's consistent. It's a long, long journey, starting months before the Olympics even begin.
[00:20:55] And as they go through that journey, they are being so careful that that flame doesn't go out.
[00:21:01] But you know what's interesting is they have supplementary flames that are also on the journey because at some stage the light does go out.
[00:21:11] You wouldn't want to be that torch carrier, right, running along and the flames gone. But the beautiful thing is there are other lights that have also been with the source, where the original light came from, that flame came from, and they can recharge, they can reset it.
[00:21:28] This is the journey that God is asking us to be on.
[00:21:32] I know some people say I don't need the church to be a Christian, to be saved, to be forgiven of our sins. I agree with that. That salvation is in Christ alone. But to live out a life that honors God and a life that is full of purpose and we need each other.
[00:21:54] I need you, you need me. I hope we need one another because there's people. Sometimes when I'm carrying the flame and sometimes the flame gets extinguished, sometimes peters out, sometimes it's not going like it should.
[00:22:15] And I need my friends to come alongside me. I need that person who's discipling me to come alongside me and say, come on, let's get in the light again.
[00:22:24] Come on. When you're set on fire for Jesus, do you know what happens?
[00:22:31] It kind of spills out.
[00:22:35] Simon, who shared a word earlier this morning, was woken up to a vision just last week of the sense of an open heaven, of what God is wanting to do in people's lives.
[00:22:49] And he saw the rainbows which speaks of the covenant of God. A seven color rainbow just for your knowledge. Seven colors, beautiful rainbow, an open heaven. And light was falling down like gold on people's laps. And as it was hitting their laps, like these sparks were going out and it was catching, it was catching fire on others.
[00:23:14] I believe God is wanting to do something in our lives in the season where we would not work harder for it, but we would simply just open our hands and say, jesus, whatever you have for me to do, I'll do it. That we would just have that open posture that says, I'm ready to receive God all you have, because I'm not going to spend it on me.
[00:23:38] Come on. We are blessed to be a blessing.
[00:23:42] If God has put peace in your life through the power of his Holy Spirit, he wants that peace to radiate out into somebody else's life.
[00:23:52] If there's joy that has come through the work of the Spirit in your life, guess what? That joy is not supposed to stay on you. In fact, you just go out into the middle of other people and they will go, wow, there's something on that person.
[00:24:06] This picture of God just dropping his glory, his holiness.
[00:24:13] But it's not just landing on a single person. As it kind of lands, it splatters right and out it goes and it touches another and it catches another alight. We know how flames work.
[00:24:25] Your drops and it catches something else. Something else that needs to be ignited, gets caught.
[00:24:33] Jesus is saying, we don't hold the flame for ourself.
[00:24:37] You know, one of the most tragic verses that I've shared before is Judges 2:10. It says, in Joshua's generation died and went to be with the Lord and another generation grew up that did not know the Lord or the mighty things he had done. I'm saying, not on my watch, not on our watch. We will not let the flame stay with us. We are only one generation away from people not knowing about Jesus. If we say nothing, if we do nothing, if we take her to the grave with us and we don't pass it on, the next generation, they won't hear it.
[00:25:15] But I'll tell you what, there are some exciting things happening in the uk.
[00:25:20] I want you to see this graph. Can we chuck that up on the screen, please?
[00:25:26] There's a study that's been done quite recently called the Quiet Revival. And you can look at the study through the Bible Society.
[00:25:36] Church attendance kind of once a month was the question that was asked. Do you attend church once a month? And this is the percentage of the response. The one on the left was from six years ago. So 2018. And this is a study in 2024, 2025, 2024. Have a look at what is happening.
[00:25:59] There is an average increase, a third increase there in the 18 to 24. There was a four times growth in the number of 18 to 24 year olds coming to church.
[00:26:17] So I'm not sure if anyone caught that.
[00:26:25] Like four times more people in that age group in 2024 compared to 2018 want God.
[00:26:34] They're sick of what the world is offering and they're saying, I want this, I desire this, I'm longing for this. Look at the next age group, 25 to 34, that's three times.
[00:26:48] Okay, three is not as bad as four, but come on, that's.
[00:26:55] We see an increase, we see an increase.
[00:26:57] But here's what's interesting.
[00:27:00] 45 to 54, 55 to 64, that's my age bracket. A couple of us in that age bracket, some of them, maybe I've quit on church. Maybe they've said, I don't need it anymore, I've done my thing.
[00:27:18] Now. If you do the maths on that, I'd say that those are the parents of a generation that is desiring God.
[00:27:34] What would happen if we got excited again about passing the flame?
[00:27:45] Because you know what? I love this last that I want to brag on our 65 Plus. Come on, if you're 65 years old or older, can you stand to your feet if you're able. Come on 65 or older. Stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up, stand up.
[00:27:59] Come on. You guys are chasing after Jesus stronger than you were before.
[00:28:09] And if you are under the age of 65, I want you to look at one of these people and say, I want what they are having, okay? Because there is something that they carry on their life. You need to go find that person and say, will you speak into my life? You may be seated. I won't embarrass you any further.
[00:28:29] Oh, you could, you could stay standing, Roger. That's fine.
[00:28:35] Philippians 2, 14, 15. I'm almost done. Do everything without grumbling or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.
[00:28:48] I love verse 16 of Matthew 5. In the same way, let your light shine before others. Why? That they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
[00:29:00] We live in a dark world, but there is a generation of 18 to 30 year olds that are saying, I want the truth.
[00:29:10] So my question is, who's carrying a light right now that could help light their torch? Yeah.
[00:29:20] I can tell you, you are never more alive in your faith with Jesus than when you are investing in somebody else's life.
[00:29:28] I was reflecting with a friend back in New Zealand. I said, tell me he's been in ministry for 30 plus years. I said, when have you been most alive?
[00:29:38] He says, when I had a group of guys around me, we were reading the Bible together, we were praying. We're doing life, we're wrestling with our stuff. But we were there together. We were in the trenches together. Friends, there is an invitation that we are putting out for the the next six months. I'm going to be inviting many of you to come and learn what it means to be a disciple that walks with Jesus, but then learns how to make disciples with others. You'll be hearing from me probably in the next week or two. An invitation to grow. It's like, come on. There are so many of us that have the capability to disciple the next generation coming through. But you've already disqualified yourself. You've said, I can't. I'm not capable of doing that. You are so capable because of what Christ has done. I think we just need a few torches lit again so that we can light some other torches. Come on. Would you stand to your feet this morning, please?
[00:30:39] We take a moment to ask some questions of ourselves. Just as a quiet moment to respond, to reflect.
[00:30:52] I want to ask four questions. I think they're up on the screen as well, first question is, have you received the light?
[00:31:02] Have you received the light of Christ? In a moment, I want to pray for anyone that hasn't yet received the light of Christ but would like to.
[00:31:12] Are you carrying the flame or have you lifted. Let it grow dim?
[00:31:17] Has it become dim? You're just going through the motions of church and even being here. You're clapping your hands, but you're not alive in Christ.
[00:31:28] Some of us are hiding the light. Are you hiding the light or are you shining it boldly? Is it just a step from. I'm a little bit nervous about talking to someone about Jesus. Is it just a step that says, you know what? Just going to go have a conversation anyway and boldly step into the light?
[00:31:48] And last question, who is God asking you to pass the light on to?
[00:31:55] Is it your own children or is it parents who are raising children?
[00:32:04] Just in this moment, would you take a moment just to close your eyes and say, God, just going to reflect on one of those questions.
[00:32:15] And maybe you're here and you've said, I've run from the light, but today I want to know Jesus, the light of the world, who would look at my sin, all of my faults and all of my failings, and would not judge me, but would set me free. But because of the work of the cross, if that's you and you need Jesus to come into your life and heal you and set you free and bring life and light to your life, I want to pray a prayer and would love you to pray that prayer with me. How do I know who I'm praying with? I'm just going to get you to do something for me. Just wave your hand so I can see it and I want to pray that prayer. Awesome. Down the front. Praise God. Anyone else? Amazing. Anyone else?
[00:33:01] You're saying? Yes. I need the light of the world, Jesus, in my life.
[00:33:07] Come on. Would you pray this prayer with me? Dear Jesus, thank you that you are the light of the world.
[00:33:15] I come to you today just as I am with all of my faults and all of my failures.
[00:33:24] I receive that invitation to come.
[00:33:27] I give you my life.
[00:33:29] I give you my heart.
[00:33:32] Would you heal me, forgive me, and make me new? I receive your gift of grace today in the name of Jesus.
[00:33:43] Amen.
[00:33:45] Amen. Come on. Will we celebrate those that made a decision to follow Jesus this morning? Amen. Amen.
