A Great Light: Following Jesus into Dark Places

``Jesus would say to us, you are the light of the world. That when we let Jesus come into our darkness and we accept him as king and then we begin to follow him try to listen for him, and then we step out in faith, saying the words we know that he would want us to say, giving, our resources in the way he'd want us to give, serving in the places where he's calling us to serve. And when we do that, we know that there's something supernatural that happens. It brings blessing. [00:29:26] (53 seconds)  #YouAreTheLight

and he begins to call out to us. Come and follow me. Follow me out of this dark place. Follow me and and allow your life to be lived in a way that will be light. Come and be like me. Be be a person of the light. Come and come from this this dark place, this this seashore of life where where all you're doing is basically you're throwing your nets, you're casting enough food for yourself, and but I I want I want your life to be about much more than that, than about yourself and your family. I I want you to come and follow me, and I'm gonna make your life about something so much more important. You can you can you can start to do what I'm doing. [00:21:57] (49 seconds)  #FollowIntoLight

and there's something in his appeal. There's something when he begins to meet someone in their dark place and he shines a light. You see, sometimes when the gospel is presented, it it can be heard best not during a wedding service, but during a funeral. Not during a time where everything's going well in your life, but when you've lost your job. Not like the gospel gets heard best in the dark places. In the difficult places. [00:22:51] (45 seconds)  #GospelInTheDark

He calls them up, and he begins to, one by one by one, offer them healing and hope. He says he he heals every single affliction. There wasn't anyone or any problem that he could not fix. In the land of the shadow of death, a great light has shone. Come and follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. [00:27:49] (43 seconds)  #HealingAndHope

And and there's something significant about that because that that same Jesus that started off there, he's the same today, yesterday, and forever. And in our lives, he meets us in our lost place. Darkness in the scripture is called heaviness. He he meets us in the places where our hearts are heavy, when we feel like we're attacked by enemies, where we feel confused in culture, where we're lost, where we're sad. What he did then is what he does today. [00:17:39] (42 seconds)  #JesusMeetsTheLost

we we find him in in a place called the place of darkness. And if you live in Canada, you know that we are now in a place of darkness. I mean, we are in a season where the sun is a rare event. You can wake up in the pitch black, you can go to work, do your work, and you come back in the pitch black. And you can hardly see any light. It's swallowed up by the time of season we're in. [00:14:50] (29 seconds)  #SeasonOfDarkness

He says he starts preaching in the synagogues, and he begins to heal every kind of disease. Jesus is is is stepping in and and and and Peter and James and John, they're they're they're standing beside him, and they're watching him as he begins to take the sorrows of the people. And concretely transform them. [00:25:18] (26 seconds)  #HealingMinistry

that that this sad, this dark season can be over, and there could be a new season of light. And so he's proclaiming this great message to the people that there is one who could come into the darkness and bring light. And Jesus, that's his ministry. And so he does that. He he calls people to change the way they're thinking and to trust that new light can come. [00:20:45] (29 seconds)  #NewSeasonOfLight