Light Up My Life

Greeting

Good morning Lighthouse Church.

Before I begin I want to take a moment to share with you all that passing of our sister in Christ, Angel Jacobo. Many of you may not have known her, but I for sure know that you have been impacted by her. Angel was a part of our team here at Lighthouse working to design and develop our website, many of the printed materials throughout our church, some of the graphic designs, and even down to some of the smaller things like the Tap Stickers on the seat backs. Angel’s hand was in a lot of things at Lighthouse Church, both here and at our Chula Vista Campus.

Thank you to the members of this church who prayed for her and visited with her. Some of you were at her side as she transitioned from our temporary world, to the eternal Kingdom of Heaven. I have no doubt that she is now resting in the presence of the Lord, free of cancer, reunited with loved ones, and looking forward to the day that we are all gathered together again.

I’d like to lead us in a prayer at this time for her family, for our members, and for everyone else grieving. There have been several deaths in the last six weeks of loved ones who are close to us, and so let’s once more pray that the comforter would come, and be a comfort to everyone who is mourning.

Introduction

Today we begin a new series that we are calling The World of the Generous.

Many of you were here last night for Heart & Soul and so you know that as a church we are stepping into a two year campaign that we are calling Lighthouse Up The City.

If I can, I’d like to give us once more a background of how we got here.

In 2021, God led Lighthouse Church from San Marcos to the City of Vista when we purchased this building. I am always careful to give God full credit, because truthfully, it wasn’t on my agenda for the church. But please know this, and I hope that this move demonstrates this to you - this is not my church, this is God’s church. And even though it wasn’t in my plans, it was in His plans.

From 2021 to 2023, things were moving along for our church. Our construction efforts weren’t moving fast at all, but the church was growing, and more importantly, lives were being changed.

Last year was a year… we continued to do what we do, but it felt like we hit a wall as a church. There was no drama and as a church we weren’t moving backwards, but it didn’t feel like we were moving forward.

Now, typically as a Pastor, you want to tweak things, shift things, or maybe even bring out a bazooka and blow things up. But I felt like God was telling me to stay steady. Keep doing what we do and trust God through it.

Now in 2025, we felt a shift. We’ve seen God start to accelerate some things, we’re continuing to see people make decisions to follow Jesus, get baptized and join the church. What has also recently happened is there have been some families that I believe God has brought to this church for the next season of our church.

So that brings to to Light Up The City.

When God starts to move, as He has at Lighthouse in the last year, it is important that you make moves to join in what He is doing.

Here is what I know about church. God will start to open up supernatural doors for the church, and the church must respond to what He is doing in order to maximize the impact of what He wants to do. Does God need us? No He doesn’t need us. But He does invite us into what He is doing so that we can share in it.

So with everything going on, we have two goals through this multi-year effort.

He is the first goal, that every single member of this church would fully engage with the church. What does that mean Pastor Josh? Well I’m going to fully unpack this today, but let me say that it means that you will not be a casual Christian, but a fully engaged follower of Jesus. We want for God to do something in you.

The second goal through this effort is that because you have moved from being a fan of Jesus, and you’re becoming a follower of Jesus, that you would allow for God to do something through you. More specifically, that you would grow in your generosity so that God’s plans and purposes for this church would be fully realized.

We want for God to do something in you, so that he can do something through you.

We gave out these cards last night, and we are going to give them out once again right now. These are commitment cards. For now, I am not asking you to do anything with these, other than to place them some place where you can see them, and you would begin to pray this simple prayer - God do something in me, so that you would do something through me.

Read

I want to begin by once more reading this verse that is the banner verse for our Light Up The City campaign.

Isaiah 60:1 NIV

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

and the title of my thought this morning is simply this, Light Up My Life.

Text

This text from Isaiah really spoke to me as I begin to pray over the future of our church.

I think if you take this verse, and place this over the story of our church that I just finished talking to you about, you’ll see that it is speaking over the future of our church.

But I want you to notice these two words; Arise & Shine.

In the context this verse is talking to the nation of Israel and it spoke prophetically into their future while they were a nation in captivity.

God is speaking through his prophet and telling him to tell the people to “arise”. That word arise sounds really nice and formal, but it simply means “to wake up”. When I talk to my kids in the morning I don’t say to them arise, I use something far less formal, but that’s what the word means. To wake up.

Application

Now this might sound like an interesting starting point for where we are going, but the truth is if we are going to arise some of us need to acknowledge that we may be sleeping.

[Pause]

We’ve all suddenly fallen asleep before when we didn’t intend to fall asleep, haven’t we?

When I worked in corporate I would have to travel on my bosses schedule, and he liked to be the first flight out of town every single time. So if we were flying home from Pittsburgh or New York, we were on that 5:30 AM flight, and you can calculate the time that meant for us to wake up, pack up, drive to the airport and get through the gates. Needless to say, I would sleep walk through that whole experience, and I remember every time. Sitting down on my chair and not remembering when I fell asleep, but waking up at some point mid flight. It happened every single time.

That happens to people spiritually as well. They don’t remember the moment that they fell asleep, but at some point, this person who was fully alive and awake to what God is doing slowly dozes off into a slumber.

The danger of being spiritually asleep is that you are not aware to the danger that is all around.

What danger you ask?

Well, each of us is all one bad decision away from bringing unnecessary pain and hurt into our lives.

For example, if you are spiritually asleep, how much easier is it for you to engage in an in appropriate relationship with someone?

If you are spiritually asleep, how much easier is it for you to have another drink, and another drink, and another, until you are too intoxicated to drive and yet you still somehow found yourself behind the wheel.

If we are spiritually asleep, how much easier is it to buy things that we don’t need without sharing with our spouse, and we invite mistrust, frustration, and maybe even deeper harm into our family.

These are just examples, but I think you get the point.

There is great danger when we are simply going through the motions of what it means to follow Jesus, and we can have all of the external indicators that we’re awake, but we know if we really are or not.

You see its possible to come to church every weekend, be a part of a team, you might even have joined a group because your spouse dragged you there. And those things give the appearance of being awake, but are we really?

Life In The Full

Now, let’s contrast that with what God really wants for us.

When we read about God’s plan for you, we read it in John 10:10

John 10:10 NIV

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Other Bible translations use the phrase “The Abundant Life”.

That’s the kind of life that God wants for you. He doesn’t want you sleep walking through your faith, but he wants you awake and fully alive to what He is doing.

And side note, God is always up to something!

One thing I know about God is that even if he is not moving in your life, does not mean that he is not moving in someone’s life.

He is a God who is on the move.

You see when you are spiritually asleep you don’t sense the urgency of the moment.

Growing up in Chula Vista we lived off a major street, H Street. And H Street was a long street that went from the Bay of San Diego all the way to the brand new Olympic Training Center.

Now, we hosted the Olympics in 2016 in Atlanta, and so part of that fanfare in the build up to the Olympics is the lighting of the Olympic torches. One summer night in the build up, there was going to be a runner that was going to carry the torch up H Street, where I lived, all the way to the Olympic Training Center to light up the torch on that campus. Well, when the runner was coming by, I fell asleep! I remember my Dad trying to wake me up because out of the windows of our home we’d see the runner coming up the street, and he’s in my room telling me, “Josh, wake up! The runner is coming!” But I never woke up.

That may not seem like too big of a deal, but it is not everyday that your country hosts the Olympics and it is not everyday that the street on your backyard is used for the run to light up the torches. And I missed it because I was asleep.

We are in a critical moment in right now where our nation is spiritually more curious than it has been in about 50 years.

We are seeing the signs of awakenings all throughout our country.

I think that what is happening is that people are waking up to the world’s counterfeit religions and seeing that they are failing. Secular progressive ideologies are failing. The sexual revolution is failing. The worship of political parties is failing.

And, the one who does not fail is on the move.

We are seeing God move on college campuses.

We are seeing record attendance in our churches.

We are seeing the sale of Bibles hit all time highs.

Streaming downloads of Christian music is reaching all time highs.

Influencers who once shrugged off Christ are now leaning in.

God is at work right now, and if you are asleep, you not only miss the urgency of the moment, but you will miss out on what God is doing.

You Are Needed (Conclusion)

My invitation to you today is to consider recommitting your life to Christ.

Or perhaps, my invitation to others is to commit more of your life to Christ.

I want us to think of our lives in this way…

This circle is you… and within this circle you have your faith, your family, your interests, career, school, friends, hobbies, and the list goes on…

Often times our life seems so full and so big… and that’s great. I want for it to feel that way.

Now, when we think about our life, compared to eternity, it starts to feel very small.

Can you see it?

I’ve actually made it bigger than I should have in order for you to see it, but I think you get the point.

Here’s what I’m driving at. You steward your time and your talent and your treasure, not just for the dot, but for the line. And you recognize, “I’m going to live in light of eternity.”

Live not just for now, but live for eternity.

[Ending Story]

As a nation we are on the back side of our recovery from the global pandemic of 2020.

When I talk about the age of our church I still say this, “We’re six years old, but we feel more like 4…” You can tell I’m a recovering Pastor who Pastored through the pandemic. One day I may drop that language…

But I remember what kept me going during those times when I wanted to quit in 2020. I remember thinking to myself when it felt so weird to be a Pastor of a church that doesn’t meet that none of this surprised God!

I wanted to be a Pastor in my 20’s, and that didn’t happen.

I wanted to be a Pastor in my early 30’s, but that didn’t happen.

But I came to grips that God needed me now. And perhaps, there were people who needed me now.

And in the same way, here is what I believe about Lighthouse.

God has positioned and prepared us for this moment in time.

We are going to Light Up The City and believe that the glory of the Lord is going rise in every street, in every community, in every school, and if God says to expand into other cities, then we are going to see the glory of the Lord light up those cities as well.

But it must begin with God moving in you. L

Before God can do something through you, he needs to do a work in you.

Call

I’d like to close by leading us in a prayer to commit our lives to Christ, or for others, you are going to recommit your life to Christ.

When I am done with this prayer, if you are committing your life to Christ I’d love for you to let us know that you did that. That is something we want to celebrate and rally behind here at Lighthouse. We also have a gift for you, so if you today are surrendering your life to Christ please let us know.