Prayer for my Preferred Future – Nehemiah 1

Posted on January 8, 2022 by dkoop

Do you want to see change in your life, church, family or ministry?   Nehemiah teaches us a vital principle, BEFORE you go out to accomplish a major building project or a huge life change.  You need to spend time in thought, in prayer, in fasting, in planning exactly what it is God is calling you to do.  I have some bad new for the go-getters; the rest of this chapter is a prayer!  Three verses about some bad news then all prayer. This is a hard pill to swallow for those who like to roll up your sleeves and start working. Prayer, planning and fasting, what fun!

What moves me to prayer and fasting? 

Look at verse 4. What was Nehemiah’s response to the bad news he received about the remnant living in Jerusalem? When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” He mourned, he wept, he fasted, and he prayed.

What is fasting? In the Bible it is going without food for some period of time to focus your mind on prayer.  It shows you and God that you are serious about what you are praying for. You show God that the spiritual work you are involved in is more important for the time being than your physical needs. It is one of the keys to spiritual breakthroughs, especially when it comes to these large life changing decisions and projects.

How long does this go on? Well we started the story in the month of Kislev – or December. Chapter 2:1 tells us when he finally has an open door with the king it is the month of Nisan – or April. Four months have passed.

Four months! Most of us have a hard time waiting 4 minutes for God to clarify his plans for us, or for God to break in miraculously and change our impossible situations. But Nehemiah prayed, and fasted, and waited, and prayed some more and fasted some more, and prayed some more, until finally the Lord opens the door for action on his part. In the next chapter we’ll learn what to do after we pray and fast and wait upon God.

But we’ve got some questions to ask ourselves.

• Are you willing to fast and pray for direction? Are you willing to wait for direction? Have you started planning?

When you have big desires  for change you need a big God, a powerful God.  For Nehemiah, to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem was not an easy task, after all for over 140 years no one else was able to get the job done. So what made Nehemiah think that he would be able to do it?
(And as we will find out later once Nehemiah got the project going in just 52 days it was finished!) The reason Nehemiah knew that he could do it was because Nehemiah had a powerful God.

Listen to how Nehemiah starts off his prayer in Nehemiah one.
“O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God.”
Our God is Great! And our God is Awesome!! He is the ultimate power source.
Nehemiah knew that if God was able to create this world. Since He brought it into being by simply speaking a word then nothing was too big for God. Do you believe that?

*Close your eyes and visualize a problem or obstacle that you feel will ruin your new beginning now visualize God. Who is bigger? You see God is not only powerful. He is all-powerful. And since Nehemiah had such a high View of God he knew that rebuilding some walls around a city would not be hard at all for Almighty God. God knew how to do it and he had the power to do it.
Do you have a high view of God? Are you willing to connect to his power?
Our God is the one true Almighty God He has always existed and will always exist. There is nothing that He cannot do. Nothing. Your God can handle bringing about the good desires in your life.

What moves me to confess? 

I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

Part one of Nehemiah’s prayer is to base his request on who God is.  “God, you’re a great God.  You’re awesome!  You keep your promises!”  Part two I admit who I am.  He says, “We’ve sinned.” Look at how many times he uses the word “I” and “we”.  He says, “I confess. Myself. My father’s house; we have acted wickedly. We have not obeyed.”  It wasn’t Nehemiah’s fault they went into captivity.  He wasn’t even born when this happened years earlier.  Yet, he is including himself in the national sins.  He says, “I’ve been a part of the problem”.

There is personal confession and there is corporate confession. This is something we don’t know anything about.  We don’t have a corporate sense in America today.  We are very individualistic. We’re taught to confess my sins.  When was the last time you confessed the sins of the nation?  or the sins of your family? or your church?  or your friends?  We don’t think that way. We’re very individualistic.  Our society has taught us the concept of you’re only responsible for you.  And that’s just not true!   Nehemiah says, “Not only do I have personal sin to confess but I have corporate sin.  I’ll accept the blame for others.

What moves me to remember God’s promises? 

Every one of us is aware of what a contract is. If you have a car, unless you paid cash you signed a contract to pay for it.  If you have a house or rent an apartment you signed a contract.  Did you know God has contracts?  He does and another word for them is promises.  Lets look at Nehemiah referring to God’s contractual agreement…

8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ 10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.

 .”  Notice it says “if . I will.”    Then again He says “if . I will”.  He has a warning and a promise.

Nehemiah is praying to the Lord and saying, “I want You to remember what You told your servant Moses.”  Can you imagine saying, “remember” to God?  He’s reminding God what He had said in the past.  God warned us through Moses that if we were unfaithful we would loose the land of Israel.  But You also promised that if we repent You’d give it back to us.  All through the Bible you find God’s people reminding God about what He said He wants to do.  David did it.  Abraham did it.  Moses did it.  All the prophets did it.  “God, I want to remind You of one of Your promises.” then they’d share it.

Question:  Does God have to be reminded?  No.  Does He forget what He’s promised?  No.  Then why do we do this?  Because it helps us remember what God has promised.  Nothing pleases God more that when you remind God of one of His promises.

Prayer transforms God’s promises into performance.  Prayer is taking God at His word.  It’s holding God to His promises.  It’s asking God to do what He’s already promised He wants to do. Nehemiah says, “God, first I’m basing my prayer on Who You are. Then I’m admitting who I am.  Then I’m reminding You of what You’ve said.”

There are over 7000 promises in the Bible waiting to be claimed.

Nehemiah could claim these promises because he knew them.  The promises he mentions in these verses are Leviticus 26:33 and Deuteronomy 30:4.  When was the last time you memorized a promise out of Leviticus or Deuteronomy?

The point is, the strength of my prayer life is determined by how well I know the promises of God.  The secret of successful praying is pleading the promises of God.  “God, you said it and because of what You said and who You are, I thank You that the answer is on its way.  I’m expecting You to meet my needs.”  We need to learn the promises of God.

11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” 

 I was cupbearer to the king.

 Nehemiah has the whole prayer just to have the little request at the end.  “When I go before the king to ask to be released to go build the wall, give me success when I make that request to the king.”  Nehemiah is willing to go to Jerusalem.  He was available.  He was willing to rebuild the project.  But he knew he’d have to get the king’s permission first who was definitely not a believer.  You don’t just let your right hand guy walk away.  The king has the power of death and life over anybody.  Nehemiah was asking a leave of absence for three years, to go back to his hometown and rebuild a wall the king had ordered not to be rebuilt.  This was the reason he was asking for success when he went to talk with the king.

He’s not hesitant to pray for success.  He’s very bold in his praying.  Have you ever prayed, “Lord, make me successful!”  What is the alternative, pray for failure?  There is nothing wrong with praying for success if what you’re doing is ultimately for the glory of God.  Pray boldly. Pray that God will make you successful in life for the glory of God.  That’s what Nehemiah did.  This is a valid prayer.  Give me success!

*If I can’t ask God to bless what I’m doing, then I’d better start doing something else.

Remember this is just a sample prayer of four months of praying. What did Nehemiah do during these four months?  Did he have this one prayer and he prayed it over several times a day?  No, I doubt it.  If Nehemiah was praying over a four-month period his prayer probably evolved into this.  Like our prayers do a lot of time.  You start praying for something and then it gets clarified.  That’s one of the reasons God will delay answering prayers many times, He wants us to clarify.

I can imagine Nehemiah began with something like, “God, you’ve got to do something about those people over there.  Please help them.”  He probably prayed that for a number of weeks.  Finally, God probably said, “Nehemiah, aren’t you being hypocritical?  If you’re so concerned, why don’t you get involved?”  Probably, sometime during that four-month period a little light went on in Nehemiah’s mind that said, “I could be the answer to that prayer. Maybe God could use me to go rebuild the wall.  I’ll do it!  I’m available!”  Over a period of time he probably got the concept. First he prayed, God help them over there,” then he said, “Maybe God could use me as an answer to that prayer.”  Now he’s finally praying, “Give me success.”

Next week we’re going to look at the next chapter and answer the question, “What do you do after you’ve seen your preferred future?” “How do I get the support from others?

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Posted in Rise & Build - Nehemiah | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seeing My Preferred Future – Nehemiah 1

Posted on January 8, 2022 by dkoop

As the New Year begins it serves as a time of evaluation. How’s is my life, my relationships, the ministry that God has called me to?  What changes should I make?  Our new series will center on the life (and Old Testament book) of Nehemiah.  Nehemiah was a regular person like you and me who caught a divine glimpse of what could be and then went after it with all his heart. Are you ready to Rise and Build?

As we study this great Old Testament book, we will find many applications, but I mention two major ones today:

  1. There is much to be learned from Nehemiah on an individual level. God is in the life-changing business! Jesus wants to rebuild your life. If your life is a mess and our lives are in some area. God wants to do a rebuilding project in us!
  2. There are also some parallels in the book of Nehemiah between the job he did building walls and the job God calls us to do of building the church. The church is the one thing Christ promised to build, and He uses us to do that building. Ironically, at the same time, we are that building! We can learn much from a wall-builder about church building.

Let’s look at this fascinating book.  Let me fill you in on the setting.

THE BACKGROUND OF NEHEMIAH’S STORY  

When: In 586 BC the Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem in Israel.  Jews were deported over to Babylon, which is now Iraq.  They were to be kept there for 70 years.  But in 538 the Persians defeated the Babylonians and in 537 the first group of Jews were allowed to return.  In 516 the Temple was rebuilt.  In 458 Ezra led the second group of Jews back to Jerusalem.  Then in 445 Nehemiah asked permission to return to Jerusalem with a third group to rebuild the city walls.

Where is it happening?  Susa & Jerusalem.

What: The Problem is that the city walls needed to be rebuilt.  Today we use other means to protect our cities like radar.  We don’t need walls.  But in those days if a city was walled and an enemy came against it, it might take 2 months to several years for the enemy to break in.  The walls were very important.  The Jews had been taken away in captivity into another country.  They finally were allowed to trickle back in.  Finally they were allowed to rebuild the Temple.  But the city and its walls were still in ruins, rubble.  It was just junk and they were living in a heap.

*Pictured: Rubble from the 586 BC destruction of Jerusalem.

And this broken-down Jerusalem is exactly like the lives of some of you. You look at your life and you see places where there is rubble and ashes, a broken wall. You’ve become vulnerable, effectively defenseless, to the attacks of temptation, peer pressure or Satan. You’ve fallen victim to sinful habits that have you in their relentless grip to the point where you wonder if you’ll ever find freedom. A root of bitterness or anger has sprung up in your life, and you just can’t seem to shake it. There is shame, or there is the feeling of betrayal, or there is any of a number of things that bring you shame in your heart. Maybe no one else is even aware of the ruin, the brokenness but you know it’s there.

Not only that, there are some Christians who seem to want to give up, who feel that there is no way out, no victory, and that throwing in the towel is the only viable option. They’ve become comfortable in the ashes, happy living among the heaps, relaxing in the rubble. They’ll just make the best of the mess they’re in. The people of Jerusalem had lived in the rubble for over one hundred forty years, and there is record of only one instance in which they attempted to do anything about it!

But just as it was not God’s will for the people of Jerusalem to live in the reproach of the rubble, so it is not His will for you either! Perhaps today is the day, by the grace of God, when you ask God to give you the wisdom and power to rebuild your broken walls!  How do I get started?
Let’s look at Nehemiah’s journal, diary or memoirs:

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:

 In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

 3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

Kislev is “The 9th month of the Jewish year, corresponding to December.”—International Standard Bible Encyclopedia So it’s December, of the 20th year of the reign of Artaxerxes, King of Peria and Susa was the winter capital of Persia.

Now things were going pretty good for Nehemiah on the outside, he had a good job, an influential position within the Persian Empire. It says Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king.  What was a cupbearer?  “As the cupbearer, his primary responsibility was to always taste the wine being served to the king in order to protect the king from an assassination attempt by means of poison (v.11). The cupbearer was a very prominent, honored, responsible, and influential position within the kingdom. Furthermore, the cupbearer had to be an honest and trusted man, a man in whom the king could put his complete confidence. A king placed his very life in the hands of his cupbearer. Because of this, the cupbearer sometimes became a trusted advisor to the king, which was apparently true with Nehemiah (2:1-8).” —Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary

So Nehemiah probably had a nice home in the palace, a 3 camel garage, a good retirement plan, a key to the executive washroom and a paid membership to the “Sweet Susa Country Club.” I mean Nehemiah was a mover & shaker within the most power empire in the world.

The same is true of so many of us we may have the look, the job, the house, the fluff and stuff but deep down inside we know things aren’t right in the world.

What Moves me to Sorrow?

One day his brother Hanani came to visit him along with some other men from Judah. And while they were visiting Nehemiah asked them, “hey guys how are things going back home in Jerusalem with God’s people.” Without the benefit of Fox News or CNN, the only way he could learn of his homeland was through word that came from fellow Israelites. Verse 2 records that his love for his homeland and his people caused him to care enough to inquire about their well-being. One question shaped a destiny; God had been working in the heart of Nehemiah, deep down to cause him to ask, and he was open to the leading of God when the answer came.

The answer Nehemiah received was not the one he wanted to hear. They told him, “Things are not going good Nehemiah, the people are having all kinds of trouble. And the whole city is in disgrace because the walls of Jerusalem are still torn down.”   This report devastated Nehemiah, the news of things back home rocked Nehemiah to his knees and he wept and mourned for several days his sorrow was so great that he didn’t even eat.

Why was Nehemiah so devastated?  What was there about this report that made him so upset that he wept and fasted for days? Nehemiah was upset because he knew that this was not how God’s people were meant to live. They were God’s chosen people, Jerusalem was God’s Holy City, they were meant to live in a land flowing with milk and honey, experiencing the blessings of God therefore it hurt Nehemiah to hear about how they were living. Imagine what the neighbors must have thought! “Those Jews, they claim to know the living God, yet they live in that broken-down rat trap of a town! If their God is so powerful, as some of them want to claim, then can’t He do something about the slums they live in? And if they cared for His glory, they wouldn’t stand for the situation to go on as it is!”

Nehemiah had a deep desire for something better for God’s people in Jerusalem. And it was this desire for something better mixed with the reality of how things actually were that drove Nehemiah to such great sorrow.

The first step that needs to be taken in order to be successful in your new beginning is for you to have a deep desire for something better. You need to be driven by this deep desire for something better driven by a dream of not only how things ought to be, but also how they can be.  And Understand, there is no substitute for desire because without this desire you won’t even get out of the starting gate. You’ll quit long before your hopes are fulfilled or your dreams are realized.
Haven’t you ever heard a sportscaster say, “these 2 teams are about the same we’ll just have to see who wants it more”

What’s your desire for your life? Where do you want it to be? What’s your desire for your relationship with God? What’s your desire for your marriage? What’s your desire for your children? What’s your desire your family? What’s your desire for your ministry at Upwards Church?  Where do you want those things to be? What are your goals, hopes, dreams and desires for 2022?

In the next post we’ll look at what Nehemiah did next and it’s exactly what we should do as well.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Posted in Rise & Build - Nehemiah | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rise & Build – Nehemiah – January 2022 Series

Posted on December 29, 2021 by dkoop

Series:  Rise & Build (Nehemiah)

Description:

Life can be described as a building project. We build upon our goals, dreams and calling. We build a career, a family, and a spiritual life.  The New Year serves as a time of evaluation. How’s my building? What changes should I make?  Join us at Upwards Church as we are building better lives.  Our study will center on the life (and Old Testament book) of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a regular person like you and me who caught a divine glimpse of what could be and then went after it with all his heart. Are you ready to rise and build?

Dates                      Titles                                          Scriptures              

Jan 2                       Seeing My Preferred Future         Nehemiah 1

Jan 9                      Getting Support                            Nehemiah 2

Jan 16                     Handling Opposition           Nehemiah 4

Jan 23                     Staying Focused                          Nehemiah 6

Jan 30                     Building God’s Way                      Nehemiah 7

Nehemiah Introduction

“What this church needs is…!” “I can’t believe our government officials. If I were there I would…!” “Our schools are really in bad shape. Someone ought to do something!”

Gripers, complainers, self-proclaimed prophets, and “armchair quarterbacks” abound. It is easy to analyze, scrutinize, and talk about all the problems in the world. But what we really need are people who will not just discuss a situation but who will do something about it! Nehemiah saw a problem and was distressed. Instead of complaining or wallowing in self-pity and grief, he took action. Nehemiah knew that God wanted him to motivate the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, so he left a responsible position in the Persian government to do what God wanted. Nehemiah knew God could use his talents to get the job done. From the moment he arrived in Jerusalem, everyone knew who was in charge. He organized, managed, supervised, encouraged, met opposition, confronted injustice, and kept going until the walls were built. Nehemiah was a man of action.

The story begins with Nehemiah talking with fellow Jews who reported that the walls and gates of Jerusalem were in disrepair. This was disturbing news, and rebuilding those walls became Nehemiah’s burden (chapter 1). At the appropriate time, Nehemiah asked King Artaxerxes for permission to go to Jerusalem to rebuild its fallen walls. The king approved (chapter 2).

Armed with royal letters, Nehemiah traveled to Jerusalem. He organized the people into groups and assigned them to specific sections of the wall (chapter 3). The construction project was not without opposition, however. Sanballat, Tobiah, and others tried to halt the work with insults, ridicule, threats, and sabotage. Some of the workers became fearful; others became weary. In each case, Nehemiah employed a strategy to frustrate the enemies—prayer, encouragement, guard duty, consolidation (chapter 4). But a different problem arose—an internal one. Rich Jews were profiteering off the plight of their working countrymen. Hearing of their oppression and greed, Nehemiah confronted the extortioners face to face (chapter 5). Then, with the walls almost complete, Sanballat, Tobiah, and company tried one last time to stop Nehemiah. But Nehemiah stood firm, and the wall was finished in just 52 days. What a tremendous monument to God’s love and faithfulness. Enemies and friends alike knew that God had helped (chapter 6).

After building the walls, Nehemiah continued to organize the people, taking a registration and appointing gatekeepers, Levites, and other officials (chapter 7). Ezra led the city in worship and Bible instruction (chapters 8-9). This led to a reaffirmation of faith and religious revival as the people promised to serve God faithfully (chapters 10-11).

Nehemiah closes with the listing of the clans and their leaders, the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem, and the purging of sin from the land (chapters 12-13). As you read this book, watch Nehemiah in action—and determine to be a person on whom God can depend to act for him in the world.

I hope that you can join us for our new series and I pray that God will help you Rise and Build in 2022.

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

 

 

 

Posted in Rise & Build - Nehemiah | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Light of the World – John 8:12

Posted on December 14, 2021 by dkoop

We live in a dark world. It seems be getting darker lately.  Into our sin-darkened world came Jesus Christ as “the Light [that] shines in the darkness” (1:5); “the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man” (v. 9).

We all have a great need. We are not always aware of it, but the need is still there.  We live in darkness and apart from Jesus:  We cannot see into the future nor into the next world. We cannot see God, who He is and what He is like.  We cannot see the real meaning, significance, and purpose in life.  We cannot save ourselves from our sin or gain eternal life.   We live in darkness morally and spiritually.

Our great need is to see “the Light of the world.”

12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12

Jesus was speaking in that part of the temple known as the treasury, where the offerings were collected (8:20) and huge torches or lamps burned to symbolize the pillar of fire that led the people of Israel through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21-22). In this context, Jesus called himself the Light of the World. The pillar of fire in the wilderness had represented God’s presence, protection, and guidance.

In this modern age of electricity, we tend to take light for granted. We don’t realize how important it is until we have to do without it. How many of us have groped through ourhomes during a power outage as we tried to find candles or lanterns? Without light, it’s very difficult to find your way around. The Lord Jesus said He is “the Light of the world”.  That is, He is our guide through this world, and helps us avoid pitfalls along the way. In Christ, God became light personified. Jesus brought God’s presence, protection, and guidance into the world in an approachable way.

Jesus said we would not walk in darkness if we followed Him.

What does it mean to follow the Lord? This word has three different, but closely related meanings.

  1. A soldier following his commander. Wherever the commander leads, the soldier follows him whether it is into battle, strange places, or on long marches. The believer is in the Lord’s army and is a soldier whose commander is the Lord Jesus Christ.
  2. A servant following his master. The servant was on call all the time to serve their master. Or today, people say, “I have to work late or overtime this week, the boss says.” Christ followers are servants to Christ, he is our boss. We are to be devoted to doing God’s will in our lives and following Him.
  3. A student following his Teacher’s instructions. The Christ follower is a person who follows the teaching of Jesus Christ after he has been saved. The believer receives His Word and puts it into practice in his life. He yields to the Lord in his body, soul, and spirit.

In claiming to be the light of the world, Jesus defined his unique position as the one true light for all people, not just the Jews. Isaiah wrote, “I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6 nkjv).

Death brings eternal darkness; but to follow Jesus means to never walk in darkness, but . . . have the light of life. When we follow Jesus—accepting him as Savior and Lord and following him—we are walking in his light. We no longer walk blindly in our sin, rather his light shows us our sin and our need of forgiveness, guides us along life’s pathway, and leads us into eternal life with him.

After Jesus said this, the Pharisees challenged him, John 8:13 “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.“NIV Jesus did not disagree with the Jewish law instead, he claimed that his testimony was true even if no one else bore witness: “for I know where I came from and where I am going.“NIV Jesus knew his origin and his destiny. In other words, Jesus knows God the Father, and the words that Jesus spoke were from the Father himself. Therefore when Jesus spoke, not only was he testifying for himself, but because he spoke the words of God, God was testifying for him as well. Countless believers have discovered that their consistent exposure and memorization of the words of Jesus have deepened their awareness of his divinity. His words ring true. Not knowing or obeying Christ’s words is our fault, not a reflection on their truthfulness.

People today are very willing to acknowledge the greatness of Jesus as a man but not to acknowledge him as God. By human standards, Jesus was the greatest man who ever lived. Yet human standards are not enough to portray all of Jesus’ true identity. Calling Jesus “great” is faint praise in light of his identity as God. Mere admiration of Jesus as a great leader or teacher falls short. Our response should be to acknowledge the darkness of our sin, accept Christ into our life that we may see the light.

A woman named Mrs. Crawford had been blind for fifty years. “I just can’t believe it!” she gasped as the doctor lifted the bandages from her eyes after her recovery from delicate surgery in an Ontario hospital. She wept for joy when for the first time in her life a dazzling and beautiful world of form and color greeted eyes that now were able to see.

The amazing thing about the story, however, is that twenty years of her blindness had been unnecessary. She didn’t know that surgical techniques had been developed, and that an operation could have restored her vision at the age of thirty. The doctor said, “She just figured there was nothing that could be done about her condition. Much of her life could have been different.” Why did she continue to assume that her situation was hopeless? Had no one told her about the wonderful advances in eye surgery? Is this not the plight of those who reject Christ? How many will go on living in moral blindness unless we tell them about the Savior? Many will never know anything but spiritual darkness because no one has shared with them the Light that has come into the world.

Have you accepted Christ, the Light of the world?

Darrell

www.Upwards.Church

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Sources:

John MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary – John 1-11, (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2006), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 332.
The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible – John, (Chattanooga: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 1991), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “B. Man’s Need: The Light of the World, 8:12-20”.
Bruce B. Barton et al., Life Application Bible Commentary – John, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1993), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 172.
Rod Mattoon, Mattoon’s Treasures – Treasures from John, Volume 1, (Springfield, IL: Lincoln Land Baptist Church, n.d.), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 241-242.

 

Posted in Light Has Come- John's Writings | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment