12-22-2019 - Hope - Week One
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2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.
An artist once made a sketch of a wintry twilight. The trees were laden with snow; and a dreary-looking house, lonely and desolate, stood in the midst of the drifted field. It was a bleak and depressing picture. Then the artist took some yellow chalk and with a few quick strokes put a light in one window of that home. The effect was almost magical. The entire scene was transformed into a vision of comfort and cheer.
Likewise, the birth of Christ brought the luster of hope to this dark world. You'd think people would have rejoiced and eagerly received the Saviour. Instead, they lived on in their own dismal depravity, and with wicked hands they crucified the Prince of Life. The second person of the Trinity had come to illuminate them spiritually, but they "loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).
On this Christmas Day let us rejoice that Jesus the true Light visited this sin-smitten planet 2,000 years ago to cast the joyous rays of His salvation upon our pathway.
Three Plagues We All May Suffer
Three Plagues We All May Suffer
A. The Plague of the Darkness of the Former (Our Past)
A. The Plague of the Darkness of the Former (Our Past)
Ungodly Decisions
Unwise Actions
Unchangeable Deeds
B. The Plague of the Darkness of the Immediate (Our Present)
B. The Plague of the Darkness of the Immediate (Our Present)
A Family in Crisis
A Neighborhood Out of Control
A Nation Heading Toward Chaos
C. The Plague of the Darkness of the Impending (Uncertain Fut.)
C. The Plague of the Darkness of the Impending (Uncertain Fut.)
The Uncertainty of Where (I will go, be or will die)
The Uncertainty of When (I will become sick, need help or die)
The Uncertainty of How (I will live, Take Care, or die)
The Challenge Then, Is How to Become Inoculated Against:
The Challenge Then, Is How to Become Inoculated Against:
The Plague of Depression over What I have done,
My Unhealthy Anger over The way Things Are and
The Anxiety about Where When and How Something may happen to me…
The Plan to Beat the Plague
The Plan to Beat the Plague
During the French Revolution political prisoners were herded into dungeons. In one place a prisoner possessed a Bible. His cell was crammed with men who wanted to hear the Word of God. Once each day for only a few moments, a small shaft of light would come through a tiny window near the ceiling. The prisoners devised a plan whereby they would lift the owner of the Bible onto their shoulders and into the sunlight. There, in that position, he would study the Scriptures. Then they would bring him down and say, "Tell us now, friend, what did you read while you were in the light?" That remains the sacred, sweaty task of the preacher: to share with his people what he has learned in the light.
The First Step in Beating Depression, Anger, Anxiety and Any Sin that Plagues Me is Agreement With God of Where I Have Been
The First Step in Beating Depression, Anger, Anxiety and Any Sin that Plagues Me is Agreement With God of Where I Have Been
8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!
2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.
An old story tells of a desert nomad who awakened in the middle of the night. He lit a candle and began eating dates from a bowl beside his bed. He took a bite from one and saw a worm in it; so he threw it out of the tent. He picked up a second date, took a bite out of it and found another worm. He threw that date out of the tent too. Then he picked up a third date, took a bite out of it and found another worm. He threw that one away also. He was very hungry, and reasoning that he wouldn't have any dates left to eat if he continued, he blew out the candle and very quickly ate the rest of the dates. Many of us are like that. We prefer darkness and denial to the light of reality.
10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.
11 But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment.
The Second Step in Beating Depression, Anger, Anxiety and Any Sin that Plagues Me is Acceptance of Where I Am Now
The Second Step in Beating Depression, Anger, Anxiety and Any Sin that Plagues Me is Acceptance of Where I Am Now
8 Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.
8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!
Illustration: Boy with light
A dairy farmer told his son to go out to the barn and get a tool he left there. It was night and the little boy was afraid. The father lit the lantern which cast a circle of light on the ground. He gave the lantern to his son and said, "Walk to the edge of the light." Soon the boy was walking past the old stump, past the fence, past the pond -- and at last he reached the barn. He could not see the barn from the house where he started, but by walking to the edge of his light he made it safely to the barn and back to the house in the surrounding darkness. Jesus said of himself, "I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness." John 8:12
The Third Step in Beating Depression, Anger, Anxiety and Any Sin the Plagues Me is Anticipation of Where I am Going
The Third Step in Beating Depression, Anger, Anxiety and Any Sin the Plagues Me is Anticipation of Where I am Going
18 Violence will disappear from your land; the desolation and destruction of war will end. Salvation will surround you like city walls, and praise will be on the lips of all who enter there.
19 “No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the Lord your God will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the Lord will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.
24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory.
25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there.
26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.
27 Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
I know not what the long years hold Of winter days and summer clime;
But this I know: when life grows old It shall be light -- at evening time.
I cannot tell what boon awaits To greet me with the falling night;
But this I know: beyond the gates, At evening time, it shall be light.
- Thomas Curtis Clark