PREACHING COMPILATION

WE ARE LIGHTS!

BIBLE TEXT
Matthew 5:14-16
King James Version (KJV)
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

INTRODUCTION
LIGHT is a common metaphor (a figure of speech which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is literally not applicable) in the Bible for knowledge and ignorance and Light allows people to see.
Christians, as a Light, allow the world to understand how much God loves them and what Jesus has done to restore their relationship with him.

MAIN POINTS

I. JESUS AS LIGHT
Being the LIGHT of the world, we actually carry out the same purpose that Jesus had in coming to earth. The gospel of John says that when Jesus was born:

John 1:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

Jesus himself said,

John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

Jesus came to earth to show men that God loved them and to demonstrate what he was prepared to do to have a relationship with them.

II. WE AS LIGHT
Now that Jesus is back to heaven and will soon be coming He left us the same mission that He had:

Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world."

but LIGHT can also become ineffective. How? By being hidden. Light is meant to be seen and to allow people to see. Hiding it defeats the purpose of light. Jesus uses two examples to demonstrate that hidden light is ineffective:

1. City that is Set on the Hills (14)
2. Light under a bowl (15)

There will be a lot of times that we will be tempted to hide our relationship with Jesus but hiding it defeats our purpose of our stay here on earth or in the world rather as a christian.

III. WHAT WE'VE TRIED
Isolation - Christian Organization that tends to be exclusive for those who are christian or more accurately "religious".

Proclamation - We tend to use persuasive (persuading someone to do or believe through the use of temptation.) words but it lacks personal touch in the lives of the unbelievers.

WHAT WE SHOULD DO
Make Contact
- Rub shoulders to those people around you.
- God has a final prayer to His diciple: Protect them from the evil one and as You sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
- We are to remain unpolluted by the world though we are living in the world.
- Simple: REACH

Build Relationship
- Gospel is much shared through relationship, not just long term but alteast personal/relational
- We must care for unbelievers as people, not as potential converts. Our love should be demonstrated in our willingness to serve.
- Simple: TEACH

Be Available
- When goodness is seen in our lives, people will start asking where we get that kind of life and we must be ready to share and tell them what Christ has done for us.
- When your friend wanted to find a Christian, he/she knew where to find one, because you are not afraid to be a visible light in a dark place.
- Simple: MOBILIZE

Point To Jesus
- The final things is to make sure that it all leads to Jesus, not the church or the organization, but to Jesus alone.

Philippians 2:14-16 Do everything without complaining or arguing, [15] so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe [16] as you hold out the word of life.

- It is always important to live a good life as we point people to Jesus.

CONCLUSION:
WE ARE LIGHTS!. As you live out this goodness visibly in front of the people of the world, your life will point them to Jesus where they too can find life that is real life.
This is who we are, this is what we supposed to do, this what God expects from us too.
That is the task that Jesus has left you on the planet to accomplish. We can still worship him when we get to heaven. We can still serve him when we get to heaven. We can still fellowship with each other when we get to heaven. But one thing we cannot do in heaven is help other people discover how they can get there too.