Be The Light

Oh, will you just lift your hands with me right now? God, I thank you. God, I praise you. God, I worship you. God, I magnify you. God, I love you. God, I praise you. God, I love you more than anything in this world. God, I love you more than life itself. God, I I I love you more than the breath in my lungs. God, I love you more than than than my family, my friends. I love you, Lord, than my own life.

Paul said, "To live is Christ, but to die is gain." God, I love you more than anything. I love you more than anything. What a beautiful what a beautiful realization it is to know that God loves me first. I love him, but he loved me first. It's not conditional. He already paid the price. Now, I've got to figure out how to set my life in order so that when he speaks, I can hear. I I I feel like that's the that's the continual problem of man. It's the natural problem of man.

God, when you speak, I want to hear. Thank you, musicians. Thank you, tech guys. If you were in here right before service started, we we had a disco going. We had sound, we had music, we had mics, guys. That's that's just part of the process. And I'm so thankful for people that love the process because it's not easy. Thank you, greeters. Thank you um teachers for teaching the word. Thank you security for making us safe.

for first responders for for helping make sure that we're we're in order. Yeah. Thank you. Any given week it takes 60 to 70 people to make a service happen. Any given week. That's a lot. It's a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort. If you would like to be one that helps do that, I promise you there's some department leaders around here that are begging for you to say, "Hey, I want to help make that happen." Cuz here's the thing.

You may have just shown up today, and that's fine. That's good. Well, I'm glad you're here. But at some point in time, someone turned something on for you so that you could just show up. And at some point in time, it's going to be on you. We we uh this week we we had I had had the privilege of taking these kids, heathens, they were good. Taking them to NYC. We went up to Indianapolis, Indiana, and uh had the privilege of of just hanging out with them.

and and and in that I you know when anytime you spend some time with teenagers, you remember when you were a teenager and thank God that you're not still a teenager and and you you go and and you think and and I think about it from because I'm I'm doing ministry and in part of part of my responsibilities and I think about those that carried me or didn't carry me and the opportunities made are opportunities missed because that's that's true.

As many things as I got to go to, sometimes there wasn't someone to carry a group. Sometimes there wasn't someone that that could do that. Uh someone that wouldn't sit down and plan or couldn't sit down and plan. That matters. That truly matters because that's what makes a body function. It does. It doesn't happen by accident. One of these days, there's some weight going to hit some of these guys. It's going to it's going to get all over them.

And I don't know whether to just throw them in the fire or to ease them into it. I hadn't figured that one out yet. Throw them in the fire. Sister say, you boys get it first. Then Nana said, "Throw you in the fire." Tried by fire. It is such a It is such a pleasure to be in the house of the Lord with you. Uh, I am so thankful. As you're being seated today, would you hug two or three people? Just hug them. Say, "I'm so glad to see you." Thank you, Herb. I'm so glad to see you.

Uh, Pastor Pastor and Sister Sloan, they're in they're in Louisville preaching today at uh at our founding pastor's church, Brother Alustin. Uh, they're they're p they're they're preaching there today. So we we brother Rob prayed for them. So thank you so much. And I I know our hearts are with them. This month I've had the opportunity to minister to you some of the maybe the weightiest messages I've ever preached in my life. Um I don't think today is that in that same vein.

Okay. Everybody just Thank God. Like you and me both. I'm telling you last week about messed me up y'all. I'm telling I couldn't I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't get it out. And I think where I came up short, God made the difference because I do believe that there were some healings happened in here. I do believe that. I've been praying for it and I believe that happened.

Uh over this month, my my my charge has been to teach and to preach uh about the golden candlestick. It has uh and and I give thanks to Pastor Gibson, Pastor Sloan. They've covered a couple Wednesdays for me. Uh thank God I couldn't be in two places at once and they were so kind. Uh and on Sundays my charge has been to preach about the church's delight. But I'll just be honest with you, I could not figure out I I I was no I was nowhere in the park.

I was like if you were to shoot, you know, a target, I was just shooting the opposite direction. Uh it wasn't until last week or the week before last in in preparation that I realized what I felt like the the the spirit was was guiding me. I didn't see a correlation. Didn't see even even I didn't even I didn't think about it in that terms just praying and God leading guiding guiding and directing.

I felt like God was was has been dealing with us that we are the light but there's some things that we have to get in order in order to be the light. Is that fair? I preached I preached on and please don't I'm not going to ask this is not a pop quiz. It's hard enough. I had to go back and look and make sure I had it right. Right. I preached on the spirit of inferior inferiority. Uh and and we are we are enough.

The the the battling of the spirit of the less than of feeling less than what we are. I preached on broken but blessed and and and about letting some things go that maybe we're trying to control and hold on to. And then I preached on the unreasonleness of the mother talking about the church in particular. And this week I am not I'm not going into we're we're the I'll just say the spirit of intercession is not upon me today.

Thank God because I'll just tell you guys that just takes it out of you. I'm telling you like I don't know if I've ever been as tired as I was last week. Is that fair? I mean, like, I don't know if there was a moment in time. I I drove all night Friday night. I we left at 2:30 in the morning and I still wasn't as tired. Okay, I was tired, but the in in the driving, we're driving through the night, come upon, you know, you're driving, there's nothing else to do.

It's 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., 4:30 a.m., 5:30. Some of y'all are waking up at like 5 and y'all like, "This is great. It's like still dark outside. Like there ain't a lot in the world and you're driving and you're just waiting hoping and praying that the sun comes up today because I mean guys, woo, eyelids are heavy. I think I drunk 600 milligrams of caffeine yesterday morning before 6:00 a.m. I It was bad. Uh it was it was a lot.

Um but the kids got home safe, so that's what matters. Amen. They were asleep. They wouldn't have known anything. Uh and so as you're driving, the natural state of being, the natural state of the world is darkness, right? The absence of light is dark. That's just it's just a natural state. Uh in the in Genesis 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens, the earth. The earth was without form and void. And darkness was over the face of the deep.

And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of waters. It was darkness was over the face of the deep. It was void. It was nothing. It was just dark. Nothingness. Imeasurable darkness. We don't We don't really live in a world of darkness anymore. We have electricity. Thank God. Honestly, none of us in this room remember a time that electricity wasn't available. Now, you may have you may have lived on the back woods of nowhere. Okay, never mind. I take it back.

I forgot we got missionaries from Africa over here. I am sorry. I forgot most of us in this room. I was looking around. I was like, there's no one over a hundred in here. So, we're good. Forgot about Africa. All right. the the darkness uh most of the time we're never away a moment away from the flip of a switch for light. We are just and and and if and if it is dark we look for a way to not make it dark. It's just the way it is.

Uh that has changed, if I may, that's changed our perception on life. The availability of light has changed the way we do. Do you know people can now live in the south? Because if we didn't have AC, ain't none of us would be living here by choice. Now, the winter is fine, but the summer, I mean, we would not be living here by choice. It's terrible. It was awful.

When I was when I was a kid or a teenager, I I distinctly remember riding in this one particular Do y'all know what a pine thicket is? A pine thicket. All right, these are pine trees that have been planted to be harvested at a later date, but they're tall enough that they just they're just there and you can barely get your way through them. So, I'm riding a four-wheeler through them out riding like an overcast dark night.

And so, you stop and you turn the four-wheeler off and those pine trees are right there and you're like, there's nobody around for miles. But sure enough in your mind there's somebody right there. I mean and they can just reach out and touch you and you would never see them coming. The uh miles and miles from anywhere and the lights are off. Oh, the lights are off. Oh, we had one light. We had a beacon of hope. And Don, he took it out. A beacon of hope. No light anywhere.

We can't see. And all of a sudden, you turn on your little You're like, "Hello. Hello. Is anyone there?" No, turn yours off. You can't have yours on. Hello. Is anyone there? And then all of a sudden our mind starts finding people, hearing things and hearing voices. Uh we start we start imagining things growing uh and reaching out and grabbing us. We start we start feeling the darkness. It closes in. And we realize that the natural state of the world is dark.

All right, we can turn those back lights back on before I start getting kids crying in here. Probably the darkness it settles in and then and and you notice there was one light that you couldn't see now. That don't really do the same thing, does it? That light just a few minutes ago was a lot. It was a whole lot of light there. we we start to realize that there was there was a man by the by the name of uh Socrates uh 400 BC. I mean like long time ago like 350 to 400 BC.

The guy was he was incredible. Uh pl uh Plato recorded recorded him. He was a student of his. Socrates had a very interesting way of thinking. Uh, how many's ever sat down and asked pastor a question and then he asked you a question and then you gave an answer and then asked he asked another question. I thought I was asking the questions. That's it's Socratic questioning. That's how Socrates honestly it gets it gets his name because that was his way of reasoning.

Somebody would come to him and be like, "The earth is round or the sky is blue." And he would just ask questions and tie them in a knot. If you've ever read anything about Socrates, like the dude was next level mind. He was a genius of geniuses. Uh he had he had somebody came to him and he had something that was called the allegory of the cave. He made up the scenario for this specific conversation to Plato's brother.

And in this allegory, there were prisoners chained inside a dark cave. All right? He made this up. This is this is a this is a thought experiment from him. And they were only able to see shadows projected on the wall by objects behind them. So think like if you do the like the little shadow puppets, you know, it's like that's a dinosaur, that's a butterfly, you know, but like they were only seeing this. This was all of their life.

and his and and and and there was a fire on the other side. These shadows these shadows represented their entire reality. This was all they knew. One prisoner is freed and as you can imagine, he's because he's been chained up in this, he he goes very in depth into this process or into the descriptions. But after a painful adjustment, he comes outside the cave and he starts to see the things around him. He he starts to you rub your eyes and your eyes have to adjust.

So maybe he sees a tree but he doesn't because the sun's blinding him. After a little bit his eyes start to adjust and he starts to understand that there is real there are real objects. The sun's there and true reality. So if I made a shadow and this looked like a dinosaur, in reality it's just my hand or look like a butterfly, in reality it's just my hand. We see we do that. We we we we will come up with our imagination.

If I were to leave the lights off after a little bit, someone would get scared. Uh or if you're sitting out in that pine thicket, buddy, your mind can run away with you real quick. Hey, easy example, gentlemen. On your way home today, on your way home today, just lean over to your wife and say, "Hey babe, I wish you'd" and then just trail off in the distance. She wish what? Nothing. Never mind. All in like five minutes, guys, you're getting kicked out of the car.

Like, I mean, that's five minutes is all it takes. And our minds run away with us. Our imaginations will grab a hold of anything and everything. And all of a sudden, she was like, "But you were you were already mad at me today, weren't you? What are you talking about? What are you making up?" Sorry, now I'm in trouble. We see that that the the darkness, the natural state is dark. It it just is.

We we've been studying through uh and we know because of the writing of Hebrews that that mankind dwells in darkness. We we know this. We at different times we discover the darkness within others and sometimes even the darkness within ourselves. If you don't believe me, just read a little bit of history. Uh Germany is a prime example of that.

And the reason that the Nazis like they if you if you study that through history, the reason that it it it flabbergasted I guess and and and and it made everyone else want Germany was the most educated country. They were the most uh developed country in the world and somehow or another they devolved into a terrible terrible terrible darkness of murder and hatred and and ugliness. But they they up until that point it was assumed that education is the light.

But I'm I come to tell you education is not the light. When we find that in in our examples that we've studied through this month, we find that God took Moses unto the mount and he showed him the plan for the tabernacle. And we and we read in Hebrews that this was a this was a form of the heavenlies. He showed him something. And he showed it to Zechariah and Zechariah writes about it. We in Zechariah 4, we show he showed it to John and John the Revelator writes about it.

But we see that here we have we have Exodus 27 verse 20. Thou shalt command the children of Israel that they bring thee pure olive oil beaten for the light to cause the lamp to burn always. He showed this was the culmination. And in another place he says, "And make sure you build this according to what I have shown you." Because this was he has taken the the spiritual and translating it to something to the natural.

And so as he is going, we must we learn that we are to be the light. We if we follow through Christianity, we see that Matthew 5 that that you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people would light a lamp and put it under a basket or put it on a they but put it on a stand and it gives light to all the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. You see, if we are to be the light, there's got to be some oil. We must continually be connected to God. He is our source for everything day in and day out. God, I've got to know that I've got a pure oil before you. I've got to be connected to the source that gives me energy because as soon as I get I lose connecting.

I'm going to run out of steam. I'm going to run out of inspiration. My light will no longer shine. If I'm not connected to God, if if if if what I am not plugged if what I'm plugged into is not of God, then there's going to be some things that get in the oil. It's not going to be a pure oil anymore. It must be pure. It's precious. It must be continuous. We if we do not stay connected to the source, we will run out of our light. Then there's the wick.

If you're lighting something, there's a wick and you know that that the wick itself is the source of the flame and then the and then there's a fuel. But the wick as it is burning, it is consumed. Paul put it like this. I am willing not only to spend but to be spent for the gospel's sake. I must I must this is why I open like this. I must be willing to love God more than anything in this world.

I must be willing to love him more than my life, my wife, my family, my job, my desires. I must love God above all else. I must love him more than those that hate me. And and in fact, in Matthew, it said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. If I am persecuted for the sake of Christ, oh my Lord, that's just a good free pass into heaven, right? If I am persecuted because I'm being the light unto the world.

You see, there's a darkness. I must be seen. I must be set on a hill and I must not be hid. There are some things that that if we if we are if we are followers of Christ, if we receive the revelation of Jesus Christ and him crucified, we now have the responsibility to tell others. We now are no longer our own, but we have been purchased with a price. We are now bought, sanctified, g with him. We are a part of the body. We can no longer be okay just to go about our way.

You see, there was in that in that allegory of the man in the cave, he wasn't Socrates wasn't a Christian. This was before Christ. He wasn't even a Jew. He he was a Greek. He but he had an understanding because there's a foundational truth. There is the truth. And it's okay. Doesn't matter the religion or or philosophy. They they find their way back to the truth and understanding that the world is darkness and that if there's going to be a light, there has to be a source.

There has to be something good. And here's the thing. When that man went back from that cave and he went down to his friends, he returned to tell him and they rejected him. They resisted the truth, preferring the familiarity of the shadows. Very very Some of you may or may not have ever experienced that. But you you've come I I've seen this I've seen this time and time again. There was there was a man I was given a a Bible study to.

It had been weeks and weeks and weeks of Bible study with him. And man, he saw the light. He was living a terrible life. He was living some he was living in death in in in the worst of lives. And as God was shining his light upon him, he was like, "I've got to tell my friends. I've got to go get them because they need to understand that this is the light. There's a better way than where we've been." He'd been trapped in drugs and in a terrible lifestyle.

And he's I'm going to go pull them out. I was like, "Buddy, you got you got to understand they're not going to hear it the same way." He's like, "No, but they don't understand. But you you see, they just need this. I've got to tell them." I was like, "Hang on, buddy. You need to understand some things first. You need to hear this." And and and he's like, "No, I'm I got to go to tell them." And he goes and tells him. And it was not received. It was rejected.

And that that dealt a hard blow to him. It dealt a very hard blow to him because what he saw was not what they were seeing. You see, the natural state of the world is darkness. And anytime there is darkness and then we shine a light upon it, there's things that are going to be shaken up and things are going to be moved. There was darkness and it was void. But the the answer to the voidness was light. The answer to the oppression was light.

In Romans 2 verse 19, Paul is teaching on this and he's he's he's he's speaking to the Jewish uh element here in Romans. He says, "And if you are sure that you yourselves are a guide to the blind, a light th to those who are in darkness and an instructor to the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth. You then who teaches others, do you not teach yourselves?" All right, Paul, what are you being all mean for?

While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhore idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law. For is it written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." You see, we no longer have the luxury, if I may, of being casual Christians.

We no longer have the luxury of just saying, "I go to church." We no longer have the the the luxury of just being just just being lazy affair with our attitudes and our words and our and our actions towards others because we are a light. They will never receive the word if our testimony does not line up with it.

More damage has been done to Christianity with casual Christians with costic and terrible character because their life does not measure up to what the word says, good or bad. The world doesn't care if God is one if I'm stealing from them. Is that fair? The world doesn't care if God is one if I don't love them. If I don't feed them. If I don't help them. If I'm not there for them. The world doesn't care if God is one if I'm an unreliable worker. All right, I'm sorry.

I'm just now I'm just meddling, aren't I? The world doesn't care about Christ if my life doesn't show it. Amen. As much and as much as we love God, as much as we follow after God, as much as we worship and much as we pray, our life day today has to be built with Christ in mind. We can no longer go casually about our way. We can no longer just say, "I'm a Christian," and everyone understands what it is. No, we've got to show it. I love you.

If I'm the boss, I've got to be the best boss. If I'm the worker, I've got to be the best worker. If I'm doing the business deal, I better be the most honest businessman in town. Oh, no longer can we get by by just everyone does this or everyone does this. No, no, no. We are held to a higher standard. We are held to the standard of the light. We are We are called. We are bought. Come on. We are not just born again in our walk with in church.

We're not just born again in our in our good dressup shirts and clothes. We're not just born again to warm us warm a few. We were born again to be old to be to be off with the old and and on with the new nature. You see, they'll know you by your love one to another. They'll know you by how you treat others. They'll know you by how by how hard you work. They'll know you by by your family. They'll know you by how you treat those that have hurt you.

They'll know you by by how you take correction. They'll know you by how you give correction. They'll know you by how you show respect to the janitor. They'll know you by how you show respect to the CEO. They'll know you by how you show respect to your teacher. They'll know you by how you show respect to the waiter. They'll know you by how you show respect. Listen, I I I know we're not we're not in Pod Dunkville, Tennessee. We're in We're in We're in uh We're in Chattanooga.

We got the choo choo. We don't even have any trains anymore. Where's the trains in Chattanooga at, guys? I know. I know. We're not. But guess what? It still matters. It still matters how we do business. Big Tim, if you didn't have a good business name, you couldn't show your face in Murphersboro, could you? It matters how we treat people. It matters. You see, our light will never be seen if we're hit under the bushel of our character. It will either magnify it or hide it.

Our character matters. It's what will lead others to Christ. Your testimony is more than just what God delivered you from. It's what walked your walking day in and day out. God, I live this way because you have saved me. I don't live by the standard of the world. I live by your standard. I am blessed. I am bought. I am sanctified. And I'm going to act like it. Oh, come on, somebody. Chattanooga needs a church that is a one God pillar.

When Chattanooga needs a church that's got multiple churches. Our character will lead us. Our character will be our testimony. Our character will be our God. No longer can we just be casual about this. It's got to be intentional. Every handshake and every name I learn, it's got to be on purpose. I'm meddling, aren't I?

I I I just find it hard to I just find it hard to think that we would invite someone to church, but but then we we would have trouble recommending them for a job. I I find it hard to think that we would profess to be a Christian, but but maybe someone would be scared to trust us with their wallet. All right, that's fine. This is what it is. told you today is not the same because we're called to be a light.

We're called to be a light because the brightness is determined by what we put under it. The time the the lighthouse in Alexandria that was destroyed several several thousand years ago. It was a great wonder of the world. They said it would you could see it forever and ever and ever. But there's something in a lighthouse. It's not just a flame. There's a magnifying glass. It's not just a boys. You ever took a magnifying glass out in the sun and burnt ants?

You ain't never done that. Don't do it. You ever started a fire with a magnifying glass? because it focused it. It focused it. It focused it. My character is the focus. I don't have to go around and tell everyone that I'm a Christian. My character is my focus. Now, yeah, you you may be called to be a street preacher. I'm not I'm not against that. I'm just saying that's not what God called me to at least right now. But he did call me to be a Christian.

Called me to be Christlike. You see, in a world that that the natural state is darkness, the supernatural state is light. The world is full of the darkness all around us and and and and it's cloaked and it's smothering and it doesn't realize it and sometimes they reject us and sometimes they they they it feels like they don't want to be free of it. But I can tell you this. When you walk around in freedom and peace, you don't have to tell them. It shows.

A good ice cream place doesn't have to have advertising. You see people walking down the street going, "That's some good ice cream. That's some good ice cream." Where I don't I don't even want to tell people where the best ice cream place is because I don't want the line to get too long. You see, we are called to be the light. We are called to be the light. If my family is and I I I say those that you have um that you have influence in. Okay, understand me here.

If my family is my reflection of who I am, what am I what are others seeing? You see, in in in once again, this is just human nature, okay? But but in a in a small community, people don't accept a preacher in a small community until his kids have been grown. Now that that may be just a little country hobok in there, but that's the truth because they're the reflection of what he's doing.

Now, they're also gracious, maybe the most gracious people you ever find, but it's but the effectiveness, okay, because it's measured a little different. And it's a it's a n it's almost I don't know if y'all ever lived in a country place but it's about like a vacuum, right? It's just no one moves in, no one moves out. And so what you do has lifelong implications. I know because I have to live down some of those.

If my family is going to know Jesus, it's going to be because of the light and the source that I'm connected to. My spouse, Paul talks about this for spouses that are not that are not saved, that are not in the church, that are not baptized in B. Paul talks about this. He gives very he said you you be the light if my co-workers are going to know Jesus going to be because of me my neighbors my city of my world.

See I think I think that we all get to a point and and this is this is like old man conversation right? Old men sit around. Wow. If they just do that up in Washington. That's what That's what old men do. I This is what old men have done. I don't know if I don't know what they would do if Washington didn't exist. Oh my lord. They have to talk about they just do this. And I say this, if they if they just do this, okay, what if you did that?

If I may, whatever came to mind there, what if you did it? If the whole world acted the way you acted, would it be a good world? Would it be a bad world? If the whole world live the way you live, could anyone else live in it? If you'd stand with me today, if you'd stand with me, I believe that God has us here on purpose. I believe that God has us uh has a purpose for us.

I believe that God has a a plan for Chattanooga, but that will only go as far as our character will take us. We can only be a lightest to the end of our testimony. I love this screen. The last the last right here it says burn always. Burn always. A continual fire. Continual fire means even on my bad days and they can get bad, even in my good days. Even in my just Tuesdays, because I mean what is a Tuesday, right? Even in my Tuesdays, I've got to be alive.

So I ask you today, who is God calling you to reach? Some of you might may or may not know this old Henson song. The Henson's now. See? No. There was like four people knew who the Henson's were. That's right. That's Hoboken, Tennessee right there. He said, "There is a lighthouse on a hillside that overlooks life seeds." There was a lot of truth in that song cuz we're a lighthouse to those around us. So, if we are the light, who are we reaching?

Because I don't know where you work. I don't know where you go to school at. I don't know what you're doing. I I I don't know who you interact with on a weekly basis. I don't interact with them. You do. And so, God has somebody in your life that only you can reach right now. someone that only you can affect, someone that only you can shine the light on. And your testimony may be God delivered me from this, but your testimony might also be biting your tongue.

Your testimony might also be just living a good life. You ever You ever heard somebody say, "I'm just good people." Boy, I hope they look at us and say, "Man, they're just good people." They're just good people. I know good people is a weird thing to end on. But I wonder if you if if if you can find a place to pray, if you can gather around the altar, God's got somebody in mind for you to reach. God's got somebody that you can save. Now, you're a guide.

It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be it's not always straightforward. Sometimes you have to be gentle with it, but you're a guide. God, help me. God, give me the wisdom. God, give me the understanding, God. I pray this week that you would you would put them in my path, God. And that I would have the words to say, that I would have the words to say, God. That that you would you would help me, God. Give me wisdom.

let the Holy Ghost to to quicken and give me the words to say, God, because I I've been praying for them. I've been searching for them and I know they need they need you. I know they need your direction. I know they need your guidance, God. And and and I don't know how to bring it up, but God, I pray, God, to let them bring it up. But God, I pray God to give me an opportunity to shine my light because the natural state of this world is darkness and I need to be the light.

Would you pray for just a moment? Would you just pray? God direct me. God guide me. God show me. God help me. Jesus. Jesus. This week I received a text I've never received before. [name redacted] text me and she said, "Hey, brother Sam. I'm starting a P7 club. I've already gotten permission from my principal. I've already got the fire lit. I'm going to figure out how to focus it." I was so pumped. I was so pumped because she's going to be a light.

There's going to be a lot of things that come and a lot of things that that that come against her. She's going to be a light. She's going to change her school. She's going to change this church. I uh couldn't help but think of casual Christianity may have been the worst.

We we've endured that and I'll say that and the US is in such a place that such revivals ins kind of it's it's been a Christian nation but it's allowed for a lot lot of cas casualness and I'm not talking about in dress I'm talking about in character that matters matters. It matters. And I want uh together if we can pray a special prayer over [name redacted]. She's not here today. If we can pray. She She's working. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

If If you guys can send [name redacted] out here, I we'll pray for [name redacted]. We'll pray for her multiple times because this is going to be a challenge for her. I didn't ask her about this. She going to freak out. Uh she didn't know. So, I I just didn't see her. I was like, "Oh, no. Where's she at?" Here she comes. Look at that. She's starting a P7 club, guys. I just happened out of the out of the 30 40,000 people that were there. I was coming down the steps was the state P7 director.

I said, "Hey, buddy." I was like, "Dude, have I got someone for you? If you ladies don't mind, just gather around her because she is going to have a a weight on her shoulders that she does not know how to carry. She's going to be a light and she does she she won't understand it, but she's going to need a church that will support her. Jesus, we love you. God, we thank you so much for your kindness, for your goodness, and your mercy. God, we thank you, Lord, for [name redacted].

God, I pray Lord as she has set her sights, if you've spoken, you have called, you have prompted her, you've given her direction, God, you've given her favor, God. But Lord, I pray, Lord, that more than favor, you would give her dominion. God, I we want we want we revival to break out in her school, God, in her life, God. Lord, let her light shine bright, God. Let her light shine bright. Let it shine through the darkness of this world.

The ridicule, the hate, the the the snide remarks and the comments and the uh the failure and the the the the wins and the losses and the ups and the downs. God, I pray, Lord, that you would be with her. You would protect her, God. Put a hedge around about her, God. Touch her, Lord. Let your hand of mercy and grace be upon her, God. We'll be careful, God. as the church to support her, to pray for her, to intercede for her, to equip her. God Jesus, we thank you.

God, we thank you, can we give the Lord a hand clap of praise right now? God, I thank you for the revival in Chattanooga. God, I thank you, Jesus. I thank you. You know, we may not have a catchy name for a P7. P7 is a it's a it's a school group like FCA or something like may not have a cool name for that in your in your life in your job but you can be your own light in your own way. It matters. Church, I want to thank you for your attention to the word today.

I want to thank you for for trusting me to deliver the word to you because I do believe that we are the light and if there's going to be a church in Chattanooga, it's going to be on us. It's nothing new. It's just our turn. It's it's the the movings of God. Where the spirit moves, it goes where it wants to and it's and it moves how it wants to. Our job is to lift up our hands and grab a hold. We don't control. We just say, "God, take us where you want us.

We'll be the light." I want to thank you so much for uh your attentiveness today and all the things that that you have you've contributed, all the all those that have worked today. It's uh it's important. It matters. If you if you're and and as before I do our ending prayer, if if you're new not just to CAC, but if you're new to a relationship and a walk with God, I I I want to encourage you. Midweek University and the journey at 11:00 a.m.

on Sundays, those are times that we dig into the word together. Here's the cool thing about the word. The more you study it, the more you see. God revealed what seems like the same thing to Moses, to Zachchariah, to John the Revelator, Paul even. And they all wrote about it a little different because they had a different perspective. They had a different style. It's the same thing.

It's important for us to study, to learn, to understand, to hear, to be taught different styles. I don't preach the same as brother Dan. I don't pastor doesn't, you know, we we preach different. We have different teaching styles. We have different preaching styles. There's a reason because we're different. We're all different. Even Seth.

And in that, I I want to say that studying the word, once you get in a vein of the word, you'll fall in love with God like you've never fallen in love because he reveals his nature to you. Start to understand him differently. Now, I was picking on Seth because if you look around, look at the walls over here, you'll see that he's been messing up our pretty painted walls, been putting up sound panels. Yeah. Yeah. Look, him leaving like that. Uh, we need those.

There's still a bit of an echo, but it makes a hu difference. Huge difference. U, one last thing before we pray. One last thing. If you ever, those of you that read through the Bible late at night, like two and three and four and five in the morning, y'all came in here and read. Oh my gosh, you were so brave. Churches are so creepy at night. The darkness. Look, Josh and I were we were closing up one night about 2:00 a.m.

because we'd been working painting and I'm going to tell y'all this about the creepiest creep out I've ever been. I used to work in a funeral home. I was like, you know what? No, that's church. Old buildings are old buildings, right? All right, save me, guys. Let's put up the blessing. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.

And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them. Be blessed in the name of the Lord.