Repent and Rebuild Part 1

What do we think about when we think of darkness?

John 1:1–5 HCSB

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

Truthfully, when I start thinking of the word or the idea of darkness the song Sound of Silence by Distrubed usually pops in my head. “hello darkness my old friend.....silence like cancer grows.” Darkness is known to all of us and Hollywood always portrays darkness as a dark identity that creeps along and slowly swallows it’s prey. It is subtle and inches closely until we realize that doom is close. It is silent and uses the shadows to move. Hollywood usually uses it to portray evil, fear, or destruction.

This is how Satan works in this world. He slowly creeps with sin, ever so slightly and before we know it we are being swallowed by the darkness. We don’t realize we are neck deep in sin until it’s too late. I believe that it’s a perfect illustration that the Bible teaches us that Satan is a serpent or snake. Snakes sliver through the grass inching closer to it’s prey. It sits and waits until the prey is unexpecting and it attacks.

I wanted everyone to be aware of the darkness or of the sins that we face everyday. The enemy is constantly working against us and this is why I want to spend the next four weeks talking about repentance and rebuilding. Since we are not at home anymore the darkness can easily creep into our lives, but we are not meant to be living in the darkness. Since we are children of God and that we have God in our hearts, then he is to be a candle of light in our lives. Look back at the scripture.

Starting at verse 4, “Life was in in Him.” God gave life to all of us. Here in the scripture it is talking about God breathing life into Jesus and Jesus was to be the beacon of light that was to shine into this world. Continuing “and that life was the light of men.” You see Jesus came into the darkness shining God’s light! When mediating on this it reminds me of a scene in an old movie called Lord of the Rings. The scene at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring when Gandaulf stands in the dark cave and shouts “You shall not pass.” I imagine Jesus standing just outside out hearts shouting to the darkness the same thing and then slamming his hands casting a bright light that destroys all darkness around. This is what God want. Jesus came down and began shining the light to all mankind. Verse 5, “ That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.”

No matter what Satan did on this earth, he could not overcome the light. This is perfect for us, because we still live in this dark world. We live in dark times and we are going to be faced with dark situations. However, nothing can overcome God. His light is too bright and it will cast out the shadows in the darkest corners. All we have to do open the door an invite the light into our deepest parts of our hearts.

Turn to Ephesian Chapter 5. Ephesians 5: 8-14

The Holman Christian Standard Bible Chapter 5

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light — 9 for the fruit of the light results in all goodness, righteousness, and truth — 10 discerning what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. 13 Everything exposed by the light is made clear, 14 for what makes everything clear is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,

and the Messiah will shine on you. r

You see God has called upon you, but it is time for us to wake up, rise up, and fight against the darkness. The time is now to take up arms against the enemy and to start war against the darkness. I have lived in sin and I have grown to be satisfied with the sewage that I surround my life. Back to the Disturbed song, “Hello darkness my old friend.” I have become accustomed to it.

It wasn’t until I tasted the sweet and wonderful Word of God that I realized that I was depriving myself from greatness. It is like eating fast food and junk food for so long and then you start eating healthy. Scientist have shown that people who eat junk for years of their lives can reverse this effect by eating clean healthy food. Studies have shown that it has an anti-aging effect on our whole bodies, including our minds. So so you want to keep eating and living in sin, which causes your body, heart, and mind to decay or stand up out of the sewage and take in the pure Word of God.

This is why I wanted to start this series “Repent and Rebuild.” Since this past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, which represent repentance. This is the beginning of repentance and fasting that leads up to Easter. This is the time to mediate on God’s light. To concentrate on his mercy to forgive us for our sins and to stand a stand against the darkness. We need to repent daily for our shortcomings and to start rebuilding our lives for God. We have to expose the darkness and our sins to allow light in. We have to infect the darkness so that the light will cast out all darkness that is within. Allowing Him to shine the light into our lives.

So I begin this series with share with all of you that it’s not too late to live a life full of darkness. To show you God didn’t intend for us to live like this and for us to turn our ways.

In 1867 a man named Alfred Nobel a Swedish chemist discovered a chemical compound that exploded. You may be familiar with this compound called “dynamite.” Alfred thought this discovery would be evolutionary, but later news agencies blamed Alfred for the wars more devastating and wide ranging than ever before. He was devastated because he didn’t want his discovery to hurt anyone. One morning Alfred woke and found himself reading his own obituary in the newspaper. It read:

“Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in a war than ever before. He died a very rich man.”

What the newspaper didn’t realize was in fact it was Alfred’s older brother had died and they confused the two. Alfred realized he didn’t want to be known primarily as the person who developed the most effective killing machine of his generation and amassed a fortune doing it.

So with his riches he developed an organization that presented an award that fosters peace. That award is still around today and he named it the Nobel Prize.

Alfred was given a second chance and he chose to rebuild his reputation for good. For righteous acts and humanity. He repented and rebuild.

We all have fallen short from the glory of God. However, if we want to turn our ways Jesus said “Come to me all who are weary and troubled” If you want to get out of the depths of darkness you need light. The first step is to repent and reach for the darkness. You see we all have second chances and we have been given the answers to turn our lives around. Maybe you have tried to turn your life around and found yourself back in the mud. Jesus’ sacrifice is limitless as long as you repent. Sometimes we take wrong turns and end up in ditches. Jesus is like State Farm. Like a good neighbor, Jesus is there.

My brothers and Sisters, I don’t want to live a life full of darkness. I don’t want my darkness spreading like cancer to others. Instead, I want to leave a footprint in this world with goodness. I want to infect this world with light and as I was told from a mentor of mine I want to love the hell out of you. I literally want to show God’s light and love so that it will literally cast the hell and darkness out of you.

During this transition into our deployment expose the darkness in your lives. I know there are going to be challenges in the future, but we need to use this time now to start rebuilding ourselves. Stop living in the filth and taste the good word. Repent for the sins that has prevented you from becoming something great. Reach out to God’s hand so he can pull you out of the swamp. Allow him to into your heart and allow his strength to rebuild your lives for the something holy.

Let us pray.