“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” -1 Peter 2:12
Live in such a way that those who know you but don’t know God will come to know God because they know you. -Anonymous
“For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.” -Ezra 8:22
“There should be a stark contrast between you and the unbeliever. Is your light shining to glorify your Father in Heaven?” -Pastor Steve Wainright (excerpt from Sunday Evening Sermon “Experiencing the Hand of God – Part 2” from Ezra 8)
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” -Isaiah 9:2
O come all ye faithless, joyless and defeated.
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Christmas is for the weary, for the messed-up, and for the broken. If your life isn’t Instagrammable, Christmas is for you.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”
-S. Allberry via Twitter
“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness.” -John 12:46
This world is dark as midnight; Jesus has come that by faith we may have light and may no longer sit in the gloom which covers all the rest of mankind.
Whosoever is a very wide term: it means you and me. If we trust in Jesus we shall no more sit in the dark shadow of death but shall enter into the warm light of a day which shall never end. Why do we not come out into the light at once?
A cloud may sometimes hover over us, but we shall not abide in darkness if we believe in Jesus. He has come to give us broad daylight. Shall He come in vain.’ If we have faith we have the privilege of sunlight: let us enjoy it. From the night of natural depravity, of ignorance, of doubt, of despair, of sin, of dread, Jesus has come to set us free; and all believers shall know that He no more comes in vain than the sun rises and fails to scatter his heat and light.
Shake off thy depression, dear brother. Abide not in the dark, but abide in the light. In Jesus is thy hope, thy joy, thy heaven, Look to Him, to Him only, and thou shalt rejoice as the birds rejoice at sunrise and as the angels rejoice before the throne.
[from Morning & Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon]
“Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” -Psalm 97:11
Righteousness is often costly to the man who keeps to it at all hazards, but in the end it will bear its own expenses and return an infinite profit. A holy life is like sowing seed: much is going out, and apparently it is buried in the soil, never to be gathered up again. We are mistaken when we look for an immediate harvest; but the error is very natural, for it seems impossible to bury light. Yet light is “sown,” says the text. It lies latent: none can see it; it is sown. We are quite sure that it must one day manifest itself.
Full sure are we that the Lord has set a harvest for the sower of light, and they shall reap it, each man for himself. Then shall come their gladness. Sheaves of joy for seeds of light. Their heart was upright before the Lord, though men gave them no credit for it, but even censured them: they were righteous, though those about them denounced them as censorious. They had to wait, as husbandmen wait for the precious fruits of the earth: but the light was sown for them, and gladness was being prepared on their behalf by the Lord of the harvest.
Courage, brothers! We need not be in a hurry. Let us in patience possess our souls, for soon shall our souls possess light and gladness.
[from Faith’s Checkbook by Charles H. Spurgeon]
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” -John 8:12
Jesus is the light of the world. His life that lives in you should be shining through you into this dark world. –excerpts from Steve Wainright’s Sunday Evening Sermon
“For Thou wilt light my candle.” -Psalm 18:28
It may be that my soul sits in darkness; and if this be of a spiritual kind, no human power can bring me light. Blessed be God! He can enlighten my darkness and at once light my candle. Even though I may be surrounded by a “darkness which might be felt,” yet He can break the gloom and immediately make it bright around me.
The mercy is that if He lights the candle none can blow it out, neither will it go out for lack of substance, nor burn out of itself through the lapse of hours. The lights which the Lord kindled in the beginning are shining still. The Lord’s lamps may need trimming, but He does not put them out.
Let me, then, like the nightingale sing in the dark. Expectation shall furnish me with music, and hope shall pitch the tune. Soon I shall rejoice in a candle of God’s lighting. I am dull and dreary just now. Perhaps it is the weather, or bodily weakness, or the surprise of a sudden trouble; but whatever has made the darkness, it is God alone who will bring the light. My eyes are unto Him alone. I shall soon have the candles of the Lord shining about me; and, further on in His own good time, I shall be where they need no candle, neither light of the sun. Hallelujah!
[from Faith’s Checkbook by Charles H. Spurgeon]
Sunday Evening Sermon: Why Some Hate the Light | John 3:19-21 | Anthony Vance
“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” -John 3:19-21
A man’s unwillingness to believe is not a matter of intellect, influence, or impression. It’s a matter of his sinful nature. Man has no natural appetite for the Gospel.
-excerpts from Anthony Vance’s Evening Sermon
——-Audio——-
Sunday Morning Sermon: But Now | Romans 3:21 | Steve Wainright [Sermon Audio Failed to Record]
Sunday Evening Sermon: Why Some Hate the Light | John 3:19-21 | Anthony Vance
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” John 1:6-9
John the Baptist was a pale light in comparison to the Light he was reflecting. The purpose of His life was to point to another. As great as John was, he knew his role and knew Who was greater. – J. Anthony Vance, from 11/22/2015 Evening Sermon on John 1:6-9
Listen: The Word & His Witness | John 1:6-9
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