Let There Be Light (In Your Heart)

2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Would you do service for Jesus your King?

There's power in the blood, power in the blood.

Would you live daily His praises to sing?

There's wonderful power in the blood.

We have this ministry

The ministry of the Holy Spirit

It is the ministry that gives life

It is the ministry of glory

It is unspeakably glorious

And it conforms us from one degree of glory to another

The ministry of gospel proclamation

“Open statement of the truth”

“We proclaim, not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord”

The ministry of gospel service

Their message was not one of self-promotion

It was one of self-denial and Christ-exaltation

We must steward this ministry faithfully

We do not lose heart

Discouragement is a serious danger

There are many reasons for severe discouragement

Rejection

Persecution

Suffering

Fellow Christians failing you

Cultural and language barriers

Geographical challenges

Seeming lack of ministry fruit

Yet, we do not lose heart

We press on, trusting God

We renounce disgraceful, underhanded ways

When discouragement in ministry comes, the temptation quickly becomes to resort to any means necessary to get the results we desire

Paul points out two particular temptations

We refuse to practice cunning

If the clear message of the Gospel doesn’t seem to work, then just dress it up or distract from its central message

We refuse to tamper with God’s Word

If the message of God’s Word doesn’t get you what you want, then change the message

Paul has renounced such deception as unherhanded and wicked

Utilitarianism and bare-knuckled pragmatism have no place in the church

Paul has renounced such pragmatism

It undermines the sufficiency of God’s gospel power

Romans 1:16- For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

It disregards the wisdom of God’s design

Matthew 24:9-14- “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

It disbelieves the promises of God

Matthew 16:18- And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

We act in integrity

We speak what is true

We act in accord with that truth

“We commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God”

Do you and I act and speak with such care, knowing that the witness of the Gospel of Jesus is at stake?

The mercy of God

Remember the mercy of God

We are products of God’s mercy alone

1 Timothy 1:12-14- I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Remember who are veiled

John 3:16-21- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the w orld might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 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.”

Matthew 11:27- All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Romans 11:7-8- What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”

Romans 9:10b-23- Bible

Ephesians 1:3-18- Bible (read vv. 3-5, 11, 16-18)

Remember who is Lord

“We proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord”

It is His gospel

It is His plan

We are His happy, humble servants

Remember that God makes light shine out of darkness

He who created the universe by the word of His power is the one who creates life in us by the word of His power

Genesis 1:3

John 1:1-5- Bible

If this is not so, then no one would be saved

But it is gloriously true, and we can trust Him

Romans 9:29- And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”

Romans 11:33-36- Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.