Armor of light

During the Advent season, we look forward to the light that brings hope that brightens the lives of people who are in darkness. "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death [ land of darkness ] a light has dawned." (Matthew 4:16, Isaiah 9:2). The season of advent starts four Sundays before Christmas day and ends with the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas day. This also marks the beginning of the Christian year. The word Advent originated from Latin and means, “coming” or “arrival.” It is a countdown with anticipation to the coming of the savior. Jesus was born into this world as a small child in a manger as the savior. We are also in a countdown to His second coming as the King who will establish God’s kingdom in this world.

Jesus said, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (John 12:46). Jesus came to this world "to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness” (Isaiah 42:7). When Christ comes into a life or a situation, He will brighten the days ahead with possiblities that we were never seen before. The blind will see the beauty, the prisoner will experience freedom and those who are waiting in sadness and disappointments will see the light of vicotry and success.

The moon does not produce light in itself, but reflects the light of the sun. Similarly, as we walk with God, we reflect God's light around us. Paul says, “The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:12). Just like a soldier wearing an armor, we wear an armor of light that invades the darkness of evil by way of our thoughts, words and deeds.

Our life is full of countdowns from the moment we are born. We count down to the various stages like sitting up, standing up, taking the first baby steps, school, college, marriage, children, family and career to old age,retirement and death. Moses prayed, "Teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). Just like the prophet Isaiah and the people were waiting with a count down to the coming of the messiah, we also are in a countdown towards His second coming that gives the hope of a brighter tomorrow.

In the world today, darkness seems to hide people from seeing each other. Hatred and animosity are increasing between people and nations. We are not patient to slow down to listen and to see different perspectives. We are becoming more and more judmental without understanding the clear picture. Our evil deeds hide the light of goodness. Jesus said, "If your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness." (Matthew 6:23). Jesus is the light that no darkness can conquer. His light beams bright today through the lives of His followers. "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14).

Blessings

Click the link below to hear more

Fulll sermon audio: Mathew Philip

YouTube: Mathew Philip

Comments

Puzzle pieces or work of art?

Is life a puzzle or work of art? Life can look like a puzzle. Some get the prizes they expected, and some get suprised at what they get. What is the most exciting time in the process of solving a puzzle? the beginning? or as we get each piece? or is it at the end when all pieces are complete? Regardless of what excites you, the potential beauty that it can become is rewarding. When we first open the box, the puzzle looks nothing like the picture on the outside; it is simply jumbled pieces in a bag. If life is compared to a puzzle, it may be a simple puzzle with a hundred different pieces, or it may be a more complicated thousand-piece puzzle with a picture that’s rather tricky to put together. There may be unpleasant and uncomfortable pieces in life that you feel like not fitting in well. You have been able to put together everything well for years, and all of a sudden find yourself confused as to how to fit in the next event. But whatever the size of the challenge, those events can...

In Defense of a Disreputable Woman

Buy my book " Joy in the Journey " on Amazon now 20% goes to missions Experiencing sound quality issues? Please Click here In Defense of a Disreputable Woman A woman in the Bible who has no name but being portrayed as deplorable and has been a victim of bad reputation. She has seen her life collapse - she has lost ten children, seen the family fortune disappear, and her husband has a rather disgusting disease with bad smells and slimy sores all over his body. There are only three verses in the Book of Job in reference to Job's wife; they are Job 2:9 (curse God and die), Job 19:17 (My breath is offensive to my wife} and Job 31:10 (may my wife grind another man's grain). She is not looked upon as a good person. I've heard many preachers and theologians who use Job's wife as an example of a lousy wife. She is the one who told Job to deny God and die. Many Bible...

The Ugly child Economics

The Bible is a book that is brutally honest and unsentimentally realistic. We can read about the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the characters. We read about Abraham's strong faith, but also his weakness when lies about Sarah being his sister. We read about David's successes, but we cannot ignore the sins he committed including murder. We read about Jacob who seemed to delight in trickery and deceit to achieve success until he meets Laban. The one who cheated his own father now gets cheated by his father-in-law; not once, not twice, but ten times!!! (Gen 31:7). Jacob and Laban are portrayed as two shrewd business men in the story. Jacob negotiated seven years for Rachel, but ended up working for Laban fourteen years and ended up with two wives which was nowhere in in his business plan. Laban used the 'ugly child hostage' economics here. He thought that chances of Leah getting married was slim, may due to her 'cross or weak' eyes. So he used the princ...

Fathers Day

A father was hiking a mountain with his 3 year old son on his shoulders. After some time the dad said he was tired and asked the son to get down, to which the boy replied, “You can’t be tired. You’re my daddy!” We all have stories to tell about our fathers, or about being fathers. Mark Twain said, "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in 7 years." Our famiies are facing a great crisis today. More and more fathers are disappearing from the scenes. It is now common to meet young people in our big city schools, foster homes and juvenile centers who do not know their dads. Most of those children have come face-to-face with their father at some point; but most have little regular contact with the man, or have any faith that he loves or cares about them. Statistics show 1 in 4 children live without a father figure in the household in t...

God of Jacob

Buy my book " Joy in the Journey " on Amazon now 20% goes to missions There are several Psalms in the Bible that are attributed to the 'Sons of Korah' as the author. We dont know the writer of specific chapters because there were more than one sons to Korah. The Korahites in the Bible were that portion of the Kohathites that descended from the Sons of Korah. They were an important branch of the singers of the Kohathite division (2 Chronicles 20:19). The Sons of Korah were the sons of Moses' cousin Korah. The story of Korah is found in Numbers 16. Korah led a revolt against Moses; he died, along with all his co-conspirators, when God caused "the earth to open her mouth and swallow him and all that appertained to them" (Numbers 16:31-33). However, "the children of Korah did not die" (Numbers 26:11). Several psalms are described in their opening verses as being by the Sons of Korah: numbers 42, 44–49, 84, 85, 87 and 88. It i...

Baptism

Mile markers are stones buried on the sides of highways that help us to determine direction and distance when we travel. In the USA, they generally increase from the South to the North,and from the West towards East. The exit numbers are generally lined up with mile markers so that you can calculate how long you have travelled and how much distance is left to the destination. Without them, we become lost and vulnerable. If you call for emergency help, they will ask your location about your mile marker or exit number to get to you quickly. These exit numbers give us a sense of comfort and peace in knowing where we are and what direction we are heading. The prophet Samuel set up a stone to commemorate the victory over the Philistines at Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:12). He called it Ebenezer which means 'thus far the Lord has helped us.' It is a mile marker in his life and the peoples' lives. We all have mile markers like birthday, firstday of school, sweet 16, graduation, marr...

A touch of faith

A man went to see a psychiatrist because he was extremely depressed. The psychiatrist just could not get him to snap out of it. So he said to the man, “Tonight I want you to go to the circus in town because they have a clown named the Great Rinaldi, he is the funniest clown I have ever seen. Whenever I go to see the Great Rinaldi it always lifts my spirits.” The man responded. “You don’t understand doctor, I am the Great Rinaldi.” Life is made of joys and sorrows. The saying is that misery loves company and, if that’s true, there’s plenty of company. But the Bible teaches that you don’t have to be a victim. God wants you to have victory over them. We read in all the synoptic gospels about Jesus healing a woman with the issue of bleeding (Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34, Luke 8:43–48). She had been in pain for a long 12 years, physially, emotionally and spiritually. She must have been under a lot of physical pain with the loss of blood feeling pale and tired. She definitely had a lo...

Where is God when it hurts?

A man looked agitated during Sunday School. When he got out and and started pacing up and down the hallway, a friend asked him, “What’s the trouble?”. He replied, “The trouble is, I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t.” It is not uncommon to feel like God is taking a long time or not even paying attention. Silence of God can be scary and frustrating for a believer. David wrote a number of Psalms including Psalm 13 when 'God seemed to be distant in his life. We can see Asaph in Psalm 79 and Elihu in the book of Job asking similar questions. Most of us believe that where God is, there is no misery. We think that all is well when we have faith. But Jesus came to this world to turn that around when He said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst and mourn". As believers in Christ, we can rest assured that ‘Where there is misery, there is God’. Jesus voluntarily embraced misery in order to share ours. A great author puts it like this, "Where misery is, there is the Messi...

Raging Waters

"Faith rests on a firmer basis, and is not to be moved by swelling seas" (Charles Spurgeon). In Psalm 124 David sings “if the Lord had not been on our side the flood would have engulfed us,the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.” A mother got paid to nurse and care for her own son. Jochebed, the mother of Moses was the lucky woman to make history (Exodus 2). Her story is a message of a heartbroken woman who turned over her dreams to God. You may have desired a happy marriage, a successful career, developing their talent, or some other worthwhile goal, yet circumstances prevented it. We can only get through that kind of disappointment by turning it over to God. Whenever I passed through raging waters my Redeemer had been with me, sheltering me against the rising tide (Isa. 43:2, Psal 124). When I came out on the other side, which I always did, I was able to say with joy and confidence, “He is a faithful God!” Are you in the middle...

Song in the night

"It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but the skillful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by" Charles Spurgeon. We all go through difficulties and hardships: illness, broken relationships, loss of loved ones, conflicts, stress, and many other challenges. Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed and discouraged. But as Christians, we can go through these dark times like the saints of old, who sang in the darkness of their lives. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we can live with the assurance that the best is yet to come. We can look forward to an eternal life of joy and peace with our Lord and Savior. Asaph, the song writer sings in Psalm 77, "in the time of trouble, I remembered my song in the night". To brood on sorrow is to be broken and disheartened. We can see the light of God's hope in the songs we sing in the dark. Full sermon: Mathew Philip Blessings Mathew Philip

Spring of Hope

Search This Blog