Beacons of Light: Glorifying God in Our Lives

We are gathered to get today for one purpose and one purpose only and that's the glorification of god there's no other reason why we meet here other than to glorify god and jesus christ our savior and lord i hope your week went really well this week i hope you can leave here today encouraged wanting to go out from here doing god's good work in this community. [00:00:03] (24 seconds)


Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for your scripture for telling us that we are to be the light of the world, that we are to make a difference in this world, or that we are to warn people, that we are to guide people, that we are to correct and show them the way. [00:07:35] (30 seconds)


You see, light has an incredible property. If you ever find yourself in a room of complete darkness, it can be disorienting. It can be confusing. It can be scary. even at times. Darkness may seem overwhelming, but it takes just a little bit of light to overcome it. If you're in a dark room and you light one solitary match, it lights up your entire surroundings. [00:09:14] (24 seconds)


One major problem with Christians today is that our light doesn't look any different from the world's. We're content to go about our business not caring that it's hard to tell us apart from the rest of the world. I want to give you a couple of practical tips on how to make your light different from the world's light so that you may shine brightly. [00:11:45] (27 seconds)


The first step to distinguish our light from the world is to throw off pride. Throw off pride. You see, the world embraces pride. As a matter of fact, every June we have an entire month dedicated to pride. Christ, however, teaches humility. Billy Graham once said, the greatest problem in the world today is pride. [00:12:11] (25 seconds)


Eradicate pride by doing things for others. Philippians 2, 3 through 4 says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but for the interest of others. It doesn't take much. [00:14:37] (19 seconds)


When Christ was standing before the high priest Caiaphas, being condemned to die on the cross, Peter was found out in the courtyard. He had already denied Christ twice. When we get to Matthew chapter 26, verse 73, let's pick it up from there. After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, surely you're one of them. Your accent gives you away. [00:15:40] (25 seconds)


To distinguish ourself from the world, we need to take a stand for Christ and against worldly desires. The best way to take a stand is to mitigate sin. Mitigate sin. Now, don't misunderstand me here. You and I will never be sinless as long as we're walking on this world. It's impossible. We live in a sin -stained world. [00:18:43] (24 seconds)


If you're not constantly repenting, if you're not constantly mitigating sin in your life, you're going to be moving backwards. There's no stopping. There's no middle ground. You're either going forward or you're going backwards. That's what repentance is. Don't think that just because you were saved, the work of repentance can stop. [00:24:22] (19 seconds)


Our primary purpose on this earth is not to win people to the Lord. Salvation is not the number one goal of Christianity, and let's see what Christ says about this. Matthew 5 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. [00:26:46] (26 seconds)


John Piper said, if you don't feel a strong desire for the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. The primary aim of all of our lives should be the glorification of God. [00:28:20] (20 seconds)


Life is hard on our own, and to thrive, we need a coach. I ran track from seventh grade through college, and I ran the hurdles in particular. I had a coach in high school. His name was Al Rowan. We called him Big Al, which was ironic because he was about as skinny as a beanpole. [00:31:46] (20 seconds)