All right, thank you, Brother Ron, and thank you, church family, for your faithfulness to be in God's house here this morning, and certainly grateful for the beautiful weather God's given us this weekend, and the opportunity that we have, again, to gather, and without any hindrances. Sometimes, you know, the snow looks pretty, but sometimes it can keep folks from getting to church, and folks got to be careful about that sort of thing, and so we're thankful for a beautiful weekend the Lord's given us. If you take your Bibles and go into Philippians chapter number two, Philippians chapter number two is where we'll find our text. And before we get into the message this morning, you'll find, of course, in your bulletin, the message outline. We'd encourage you to follow along there as we move throughout the outline as, again, we preach the message here this morning. But, you know, the local church is such a wonderful thing. And the local church really is a family. I think most of the times we understand that, we're aware of that, but it really is. It's a family, and I'm thankful for the family that God has given me at the Cleveland Baptist Church. One thing that I love about this family is that it is very diverse. You know, there's a lot of churches that you could go to in which it would just be older folks, and that is it. There's hardly any young life, any new young people that are there, young families, little children. And then there's some churches you could go to in which that's all they have is just young people. And I don't think God designed the church to be that way. I think God designed the church to sort of be a microcosm of life. The church is to reach all people, and I just want to recognize someone very, very special today. Brother Jonah Moore is here, and today is his 90th birthday. Brother Jonah, would you stand for just a moment? We want to recognize you, and what a blessing this man is. And he brought several friends and family members. I'm looking forward to meeting them after the service, and we're looking forward to that. Thank you, Brother Jonah. I appreciate it. He's a patriot, served our country in the military, and God blessed us by bringing him to our church several years ago, and we welcome him. That's the older side, 90 years, and today is my daughter's birthday. My oldest daughter's 18 years old today. Can you believe that? That, to me, It's hard to fathom. And so I suppose as the pastor, I can recognize her this morning, and we want her to know we love her very much. We're very proud of her, and we're grateful for the family God's given us, the children that God's given us, and certainly grateful for these things. You're in Philippians chapter number two. I wanna begin reading in verse number 14, and we're gonna read down through verse number 18 together. Philippians chapter number two. Of course, we're reading through this, or studying, I should say, this book together, preaching through it on Sunday mornings. And so if you'll look with me, if you would, Philippians chapter number two and verse number 14, the Bible says do all things without murmurings and disputings. If you were to study the actual words there, you'd find that what he's really saying there is he's saying be isolated from these things. In other words, build a wall around your life so that these things do not come into your life and these things do not define or identify you in the way that you live. Verse number 15, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. If you're in the habit of marking your Bible, you may want to just circle one little word that's found in verse number 15. And it's from this word that I believe the context is really focusing on, and that word is the word shine. The title of the message this morning is shine. A Christian believer, Cleveland Baptist Church members, guests, and visitors, wherever you may be, I believe that the goal of the Christian life, what God would have us to do as believers here in this world, in the midst of a very corrupt, a very perverse, and even crooked day and age, a very dark world, God would have us to shine as bright lights. And that will be the emphasis of our message here today as we find it in our text. Father, thank you for this good day that you've blessed us with. Help us, Lord, as we spend the next few moments studying your word together. Lord, I pray that the church family would have open hearts. I pray for our guests and our visitors that are with us today, so many people as we look around the sanctuary. Lord, we're grateful that they're here, and we pray, Lord, that their time at the Cleveland Baptist Church would be beneficial. Lord, that it would help them wherever they may be in their spiritual journey. It may be that there's someone that's visiting with us today that needs to be saved. They don't know Christ as their personal Savior. We pray that they would be. Lord, it may be that there's folks that are here that they're saved, but they need to take some steps in the areas that will be identified in our text, and we pray that they would be filled with faith and desire to follow you and your leading in these areas. Now, Lord, meet with us here today, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, of course, we've already shared with you, as we've preached to this book, that this letter to the church at Philippi was written really from a heart of longing for unity and oneness within the church body, understanding that there was some division. We see that in Philippians chapter four and verse number two, that at the very least, there were two ladies that were having some form of contention with one another. They were involved in a dispute. And so Paul writes and he weaves throughout this text several hints and illusions and really straight up commands and warnings that they avoid being divided and that they be filled with unity. We see in chapter two, in verse number two, he says, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like That's the idea of thinking the same things. He says that you be having the same love, loving the same things, being of one accord and of one mind. And so there's allusions throughout this particular text to unity and oneness. And here's what Paul understood, and here's really what the Bible understood, is this, that unity would bring light in an ever increasingly dark world. In other words, when a group of people are unified, it sort of stands out, it's sort of attractive, isn't it? Regardless of what the cause may be, you may agree with the cause, you may not agree with the cause, but when you see a group of people all standing up and all moving in the same direction, it sort of causes you to take note and to sort of stop in your tracks and to try to figure out, you know, what is it that these people are so unified about? What is it that these people are so passionate about? Perhaps maybe in your daily life, you can think of times in which you were driving and you turned a corner and you happened upon a group of people and they were standing there marching, protesting, standing up for something that they believed in. And maybe it's only 15 or 20 people, but as you pull around the corner, they stand out, don't they? Those people aren't normally there. What are all of those people doing on the sidewalk in that one spot? Why are they all holding the same signs? Why are they all wearing the same shirt or dressed in the same way? Unity, a passion for a cause and for a goal, it stands out in the day and age in which we're living. Now, if that's true of 15 or 20 people who gather on a sidewalk somewhere to protest or to march for something that they believe in or to raise awareness about a specific matter, a specific issue, don't you suppose that hundreds of people that form a local independent Baptist church, if we could get on the same page, don't you suppose that we could make quite a stir in this community as well? There's no doubt about it. God understood that. The Apostle Paul understood that. And may we, as God's people, understand that as well. The Word of God, of course, presumes that those who have been touched by the gospel should shine their light, the gospel light, brightly in the world in which they're living. We find several instances of that in scripture. In Matthew 5, in verse number 14, Jesus is speaking in a sermon on the mountain. He said, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. He said in verse number 16, therefore, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Ephesians chapter five and verse number eight, the apostle Paul is writing, he said, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the world. Walk as children of light. You know, the indication is, is that when you got saved, if you're saved today, when you got saved, God gave you some light. some light of the Gospels, some light, and he intends that you shine that light brightly, but he also understands, he also understands that the fleshly nature might resist shining in a way because of maybe shame or because of embarrassment or because no one else is doing it. We find he says in Matthew 5 and verse number 15 says, 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. God has given you light, not that you might cover it up and conceal it and hide it, but rather that you might shine it brightly for everyone that lives around you, those that are in your house, so to speak. Your house might be your neighborhood, your community, your workplace, your school, wherever you may go, the things that you may do and the people that you may fellowship with. God intended, listen, God intended that you not hide that light under a bushel. God intended that you not dispose of that light, but God says, let your light so shine, let it happen. His instruction to his followers is that they do let their light shine. That he has to tell us that would indicate that there would be some, no doubt many of us, perhaps all of us from time to time, who would find ourselves in a position where we might feel a little peculiar, a little ashamed to shine our light. Jesus said, don't live like that. Push through those things. Let your light so shine before men. Paul's goal, of course, was for the church in Philippi to shine their light as brightly as possible in their lives for the benefit of their community. I say that though 2,000 years have transpired, 2,000 years have come and gone, the goal among God's people has not changed. According to this text and other places in Scripture, we are still to shine as light in the world. So here's the question this morning. Are you shining in your community where you live? And then here's a broader question. Not you as an individual, you and your family, but here's a broader question. What about the Cleveland Baptist Church? Are we collectively, as a group of people, as a unit, are we unified for the purpose of shining brightly in this dark world in which we're living? Can I say that in order to shine as the Lord intended, I believe Paul reveals some very practical and very helpful things in our text, and I wanna highlight them for you. There's really two primary things that we're going to see, and then a couple of thoughts underneath each one. Number one, he identifies hindrances to believers shining as they ought to. Hindrances to keep believers from shining as they ought to. Those are found in verse number 14. And as I was thinking about this particular concept, I was reminded of, in my home, we have one particular room, and your home may have many of these types of rooms, in which, of course, we live in a day and age in which we're blessed with modern electricity, and we walk into a room and we just flip a switch. Some of you, you may just touch a button and the light comes on. Nowadays, we live in a, some of us have these, Terms are called smart homes in which you operate your home with an app on your cell phone or whatever the case might be. But some of you, you may have in your home a light switch that has sort of a sliding gauge on it in which the further you lift it up, it makes the light brighter and the more that you push it down, it makes the light dimmer. And we call it that. We call that a dimmer switch or a dimming switch. And as I was thinking about this particular concept, Paul is clear, listen, if you've been saved, you have light within you. There's no doubt about that. But here's what he shares with us. He says, there are some hindrances that you and I can involve ourselves in that would keep us from shining as we ought to. In other words, sometimes we purposely, by involving ourselves in the things that he highlights in verse number 14, or maybe even things that he's not covered in verse number 14, it's almost like we purposely, we put our hand on that switch and we begin to dim the light that God has given us. Before long, if we're not careful, there can be hardly any light because we've dimmed it to a point where there's just hardly anything that is showing up there. There's hardly any light that's being given out. I believe that verse number 14 reveals some hindrances, some dimmers, we might say, that would keep the light that we have from shining brightly, that really would dim the light that we have. Notice the first one is discovered in our text, and that is this complaining or murmuring hinders us from shining. Complaining hinders us from shining. You know, I think to myself of the great example, really, of this in the Bible is the Israelites. If you'll study your Old Testament, you'll find that they were guilty of this idea of murmuring or complaining over and over again in the Old Testament. In fact, if you'll study, the books of Exodus and the books of Numbers, you will find 11 separate instances where the nation as a whole is griping and murmuring and complaining against Moses and against his leadership and they're complaining about the circumstances that they find themselves in. And we're talking nationwide grumbling and complaining, nationwide discontentment over where they find themselves to be. For instance, they began their murmuring almost immediately after God miraculously led them out of the nation of Egypt. I mean, they had seen some of the most incredible things transpire during their time there. In fact, as they were leaving, the Bible says that they were able to spoil the Egyptians. They were able to walk out of Egypt with gold and with silver and with precious things that were not their own. And yet, shortly thereafter, they arrived at a place called the Red Sea. In Exodus chapter number 14, after having seen amazing demonstrations of God's power, they begin to gripe and to murmur and complain against Moses and say, Moses, what did you, did you lead us out of Egypt to bring us to this place so that we would die in the wilderness? As they stood on the Red Sea on one end and they looked behind them and they saw the Egyptian army coming. Well, you know what God did there. God caused a strong wind to blow all night. God separated his people from the Egyptian army. The next morning when they woke up, if they slept at all that night because of fear, they looked out and behold, there was a highway through the midst of the Red Sea for them to cross on dry ground. You would think, you would think they'd have learned their lesson, wouldn't you? Oh my word, look what God did. We did all this complaining and God had a plan all along. That's Exodus chapter 14. They didn't learn their lesson. In fact, we come to Exodus chapter number 15 and we find them there. They've come to a place called Marah. and Mara is called that because it was there that they went to drink some water, and that water was bitter, it was not pleasant to the taste, probably wasn't even worth drinking at all, and what did they do when they came to Mara? Instead of thinking, well, God created a highway through the Red Sea, God led us out of Egypt, surely God's gonna take care of us here. No, that wasn't their spirit. Their spirit was they began to murmur, and they began to complain. In Exodus chapter 15, Of course, God turned the water there and made it pure water for them to drink, something that would be satisfactory to them. And you think, okay, well, two instances, they're good. Then we come to Exodus 16. I'm talking about chapter 14, chapter 15, and chapter 16. In Exodus 16, in verses one to three, we discover that they are hungry. They don't have anything to eat. And instead of thinking, well, God turned bitter waters and made them sweet at Marah, and God created a highway through the Red Sea, and God led us out of a bondage in Egypt, surely, surely God is gonna take care of us. He's not gonna do all of these things, and then he's gonna leave us hanging here. And yet what did they do in Exodus 16? They began to murmur and complain once again. You say, well, how did that hinder their light? They're out in the middle of a wilderness all by themselves. I don't share that with you just to say that they were hindering their light in that instance, but I do share that with you to tell you that God grew frustrated with his people. God was weary with their complaining. God became angry and we find instances in which God sent major plagues. People literally died because of a complaining, a murmuring spirit. They murmured when they were hungry. They murmured when Moses stayed for too long in the mount meeting with God in Exodus 13, 32 I should say. They murmured that the food God provided for them was no longer satisfactory to their taste buds. We've had this too many days in a row. We don't want this anymore. They murmured about that in Numbers 11. They murmured when they heard the report of the spies that had come back. land was full of giants that God had promised them and that there were walled cities and they murmured and they complained that night as well and in Numbers chapter number 14 they murmured when God dealt severely with Korah and with Dathan and with Abiram when the earth swallowed up and or opened up and swallowed these families because of their rejecting of God's leadership in Numbers chapter number 16. They murmured so much that Moses eventually lost his temper and smote the rock instead of speaking to it as God had instructed him to do in Numbers chapter number 20. I mean, we find a clear pattern of murmuring and of complaining, and we find that literally people died as a result of a complaining and a bitter spirit. We find that it literally got so much into Moses' head that he ended up doing something that God told him not to do. He ended up going beyond what God had instructed him to do, and as a result, Moses was forbidden from ever visiting the promised land. He would be able to look at it, but he would never step foot into the land that God had promised that he had longed for for so long. I want you to know that the book of Numbers teaches a very incredible principle about this concept of murmuring and complaining. It teaches this, that when we murmur and we complain, we often assume that I'm just complaining against the person that I'm frustrated with. Or I'm just complaining about the circumstances that I find myself in. And we sort of pacify any convicting presence of the Holy Spirit by saying, well, it's really not that big of a deal because this person is really frustrating, not just to me, but to a lot of people. I've heard other people complain about him. We sort of pacify ourselves. Well, it's okay that I complain about this because, man, the whole country's complaining about this. I want you to see something. Hold your place in Philippians chapter number two and go with me, if you would, to Numbers chapter number 21, would you? In Numbers chapter 21, I want you to notice what God has to say about a complaining and a murmuring spirit. That if we're not careful, all of us, all of us can entertain. All of us can have evidence of it in our lives. The Bible says in Numbers 21, in verse number five, and the people spake against God. and against Moses. Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread. Let me ask you this question, who are they speaking to physically there? No doubt they were directing their complaint to Moses. He was the physical leader of the nation of Israel as they're emerging out of the promised land and waiting to go, excuse me, emerging out of Egypt and waiting to go into the promised land. And yet God said this, God said, when they spake against Moses, they were also speaking against him. Here's what we need to understand. The person that you're so frustrated with, the person that you like to complain about, the person that you like to speak negatively about and that you're so bitter towards and you're full of your murmuring towards, understand this, listen, God in his sovereignty providentially has allowed that person to be a part of your life. Therefore, when I complain about that individual, whether it's a fellow church member, whether it's the spouse that God has given me, whether it's the children God has given me, or maybe a co-worker of mine, here's what I'm saying. I'm basically speaking against God who has allowed that person influence in my life and has allowed that person to rub shoulders with me and to interact with me. You see, speaking against people or speaking against circumstances, God says, listen, you're not just talking about those things, but because I am sovereign, because I am divine, because of my providence, I have dictated, I have determined that these people, that these circumstances be a part of your life, so that when you begin to complain about those things, when you begin to murmur about those things, not only are you speaking against that person, speaking against that individual, but you're also speaking against me and what I have divinely allowed and decreed into your life. May God help us to be very, very careful about a complaining, a murmuring spirit. It's a hindrance that can keep us from shining. It's a dimmer that begins to dim the light, the light of the gospel that is in our lives. I must tell you that I'm no one special, but I would just say this, be careful about complaining about a pastor. Be careful about complaining about someone who stands and preaches and teaches God's word to you. Be careful about complaining about your spouse that God has given you. Be careful about complaining about the children that God has given you or the grandchildren or children. Be careful about complaining about the parents that God has given to you. You may not understand everything that they're doing and maybe even some of the things that they're doing aren't right and they're not good, but for whatever reason, God has allowed them to function in that role in your life and may God help us, may God help us to do all things without murmurings, to be isolated from that type of behavior, to not allow that type of behavior to identify us or to define us. Number two, we see not only complaining hinders us from shining, but we see number two, conflict hinders us from shining as well. He says, do all things without murmurings and disputings. The word disputing carries with it the idea of debating, arguing, or doubting. Paul was urging the Philippian believers to avoid the endless debates and arguments that we sometimes tolerate in our lives and in our churches. Sometimes it's political. Sometimes it's theological. Sometimes it's, you know, it's just personal. I like this, therefore, because it's me that likes it, I'm always right, and if anybody sees it differently than me, well, you know, they're no good, they're whatever the case might be. And we can tolerate that in our lives sometimes, can't we? I'm not saying that there aren't times in which we need to engage ourselves in conflict. where we need to stand up for truth and we need a war for the cause of righteousness and holiness. I'm not saying that at all. In fact, the Bible tells us in the book of Ephesians that we are to wear the armor of God each and every day. So there is some conflict that God has permitted, that God has divinely decreed, but there is some conflict, there are some debates, there are some arguments that just are not worth having. We live in a day and age in which with social media and with technology, you know what I find? I find people would say things sitting behind a keyboard and typing some things that they would never say if that person was standing there in front of them. and it's led to heartache, and it's led to hurt feelings, and it's led to divided churches, and it maybe has even divided homes and families and marriages, and why? Why, because of the fact that we've not heeded the warning that says here, do all things without disputings. You understand, because Paul has written in other places to stand for the truth. He's not talking about that. He's talking about fighting over silly things. Things that really don't matter all that much. Surely you know by now, surely you know by now that someone is going to offend you probably fairly regularly. Just about every day as you emerge from your home, sometimes even as we retreat to our homes, we find that there's even some offenses in that place as well. Why do we feel the need? Why do we feel the need to respond negatively to every single one of those instances? Well I know why we feel that need, because of the flesh. Because the flesh always wants to retaliate. The flesh always wants to get back. And yet I would say that sometimes, listen, sometimes it is best to simply let an offense go and just move on. Just say, you know what, I'm not gonna allow that to bother me. I think to myself, sometimes, you know, I was at a gas station the other day and every single pump was full. And so I'm getting in line here, you know, and I'm trying to plot my next move and, you know, where am I, you know, which one's, which guy looks like he's just about done that, you know, I don't want to sit here very long. And lo and behold, some loser cuts me off and gets right in front of me. Man, that burned me up. I was infuriated. And then I'm thinking to myself, that's really not that big of a deal. Just went and found another one. Pumped my gas there. He kept me from spending a couple hundred dollars, I think, you know, filling my car up with gas, at least in that moment. And I'm thinking to myself, why do we get so angry about those things? But we do, don't we? I mean, the rage burns within us, and in our mind, if I could get my hands on that guy, I would do this or I would do that. And you know what Paul is writing? Paul says, listen, if that's your attitude and that's your spirit, don't expect for your light to shine very bright. Don't expect for your light to shine. That's a dimmer that dims the light. You and I just have to come to a point where we understand, listen, people are gonna offend us. People are gonna hurt us. People are gonna speak about us things that aren't true. People are gonna say things that they ought not to say. which reminds us of the scripture that was read at the beginning of the service this morning, Ephesians 4, 31 and 32, where he says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Can I say this? A church, a church at war with anything or anyone but the devil is a body that will never shine as God intended. I'm saying, listen, unless we take our weapons and our warfare off of one another, or off of even lost people that irritate us and bother us, unless we get our mindset away from that and say, listen, I'm not here fighting against a brother and sister in Christ. I'm not even here fighting against an unbeliever. I'm here to wage war with the devil. And may God help us to understand to do all things without murmurings and disputings. My fight, listen, my fight isn't with you. My fight isn't with my neighbor that lives next door. My fight is against myself more often than not, the flesh. My fight is against the devil who seeks at every turn to devour me and to destroy me. May God help us to heed these warnings that are given by Paul to the Philippian believers. But notice secondly, we see not only hindrances that keep us as believers from shining, Secondly, we see helps for believers who wish to shine brightly in this dark world. We see these in verses 15 to 18. Recently, my wife was given a gift from a special friend, and it was a pre-lit miniature tree that was given to her to decorate our home. And this tree is battery-operated. So in other words, you put the battery in, and you flip the switch, and the tree lights up the living room specifically at night. But when this tree begins to have the batteries begin to sort of dim and the batteries begin to wear out and they get old, they need to be replaced, they need to be recharged, in that moment, as that happens, the light from that tree that was shining so brightly at one time is barely discernible. I get up very early in the morning. This time of year when I get up, everything is still dark outside. And I grew to kind of appreciate that tree during these winter months when I would get up and I'd walk out in the living room. Inevitably with four children in the home as one just eight years old, periodically things are left in the middle of the house that could be stepped on or could cause problems and issues and that tree would light the path. That was a very helpful thing for me. here recently because I haven't changed the batteries on it. I woke up this morning, I walked out, and that tree was not hardly shining at all. I mean, if there was any light coming from it, it was barely happening. You know what that tree needs? That tree doesn't need a good talking to. That tree doesn't need me to hit it a couple times like we used to with the old TV that would come out of focus. No, that tree needs new batteries. That tree needs its batteries to be recharged. It needs me to go and open up the compartment and take the old batteries out and put the new batteries in. And I'm just here to tell you some of you, maybe some of us in this room this morning, maybe it's been a while since we shined as brightly as God would have us to shine. What is the answer? What is the answer? The answer is that God would put a burden for us to have some of the things that he references here in this text into our lives so that once again we could begin to shine brightly as he intended. Let me share them with you. There's four of them and we'll touch on them briefly and we'll be done. Number one, purity. Purity helps me to shine brightly. Why would he say this? He says in verse 15 that you may be blameless and harmless. Then he says without rebuke. And then he says in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world. So here's the world in which we're living in. It's a crooked and a perverse world, isn't it? Crooked means warped. Perverse means corrupt. This is the world that we're living in. And God intends for believers to stand out from that, to be different from that. God expects for us to be blameless and harmless and without rebuke. More than likely, as you think about a coworker or a neighbor or maybe a friend that you grew up with, you can probably find a lot of the things in their life that are out of sorts. Maybe you can think about their marriage and how they treat their spouse. Maybe you can think about their finances and how they're maybe a little bit deceptive with their taxes and they do things that they ought not to do. Perhaps maybe you can think about the fact that their relationship with substances isn't good. and they're an alcoholic or a drug addict, whatever the case might be, and you and I, we might find lots of things about them that is unsavory or is not so. What God intended, God intended for us to say, listen, that's not the way we're gonna live. God says, I want you to be blameless. I want you to be harmless. I want you to be irreproachable. I want you to be without fault. I don't want anybody to be able to grab hold of some area of your life and pull down. When your coworker sees you, he ought to say, man, that's a hard worker right there. That's a good man. That's someone who respects the boss. That's someone who doesn't talk behind everybody's back. That's someone who comes to work and he works all day and he doesn't get lazy on the job. That's someone who has a good marriage and that's someone who doesn't speak in a profane way. Your coworkers ought to think about those sorts of things. Why? Because vast majority of them are probably caught up in that type of behavior. But as God's people, God says, if you're gonna shine, you're gonna have to be different. The world is dark. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5, he said that we're to abstain from even the appearance of evil. Not just to avoid evil, but even the appearance of evil. Here's the question, how pure are you? How pure are we as a church body? Our purity will stand out in a world that is not only not pure, but a world that is crooked and perverse. You can understand why a group of believers who determined to be blameless and harmless and without rebuke, why they would stand out so considerably in a world full of people who are the exact opposite. Notice, if we're gonna shine as God intended, not only must we be pure, but notice secondly, we must acknowledge whose child we are. Look what it says in verse number 15, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God. When you think about whose child you are, you understand, listen, I'm not just the child of my physical parents, but by the new birth, by being born again, I'm a child of God. I'm a child of God. As I resemble my physical parents in some ways, As there are things that connect us, you look like them, you maybe talk like them, you sound like them, you think like they think, you share some of their values, so we ought to resemble our Heavenly Father, God our Father, that we might be the sons of God. As you consider what Jesus looked like during His earthly ministry, The Bible doesn't tell us what hairstyle he had. It doesn't tell us what color his eyes were. It doesn't tell us how tall he was or how much he weighed. It certainly could have told us those things. About Goliath, the Bible gives some of those dimensions, some of those features. The Bible talks about David and his appearance, that he was ruddy. I mean, there's just different things that the Bible talks about, but it doesn't tell us anything about what Jesus looked like physically. But here's what it tells us. It tells us during his earthly ministry in John chapter number one, if you were to behold him, you were to behold someone who was full of grace and truth. It's not so much about me making sure that I have the same hairstyle Jesus had or that I dress just the way that he dressed or that my beard be just like his beard was like. No, no, that's not really what's all that important. Here's what really matters, that I be like Jesus in that appearance, that I be full of grace and full of truth, that I be a son of God. Listen, fullness of grace and fullness of truth in an individual and certainly in a church body is going to shine brightly in this dark world. And thirdly, we see that clinging, another help, clinging to God's word helps me to shine brightly. In verse number 16, he writes, holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. Throughout the Bible, you'll find that it refers to itself as light. Psalm 119, 105, the Bible says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 2 Peter 119, the Bible says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. You know what Peter's saying there? He's saying right now, outside, it is dark. And you say, that's not true. I'm looking out these windows. It's obvious that it's bright. Obviously, we're not talking about a physical darkness. We're talking about a spiritual darkness. The day is coming, the Bible says, that the day is going to dawn. I believe that's a reference to Christ's second coming. I believe that's a reference to his millennial reign. I believe that's a reference to eternity with his believers in heaven. I believe all of that is being spoken of there. In fact, at that point, when that day dawns, there will never be any more night. And that day, the day star is going to arise, the Bible says, but until that point, this right here is the only light that we have. I mean, this Bible, this book is the light. The world is dark. Contrary to what it looks like outside, it is a very dark place to be. And this book, the Bible, is the light. God's given it to us until the day finally dawns and the day star arises in our hearts. Notice fourthly and finally, valuing the world to come more than this world here helps me to shine brightly. In verses 17 and 18, Paul wrote, Paul is looking at a very uncertain future as he writes this particular letter. This is known as one of his prison epistles. It was a letter that he wrote while he was in prison. He had no guarantee that he had much of a future. He said this, he said, listen, if I die, because of the ministry that I've had among you and among others. I don't do so full of regret. I don't do so bemoaning and complaining and trying to get other people to feel sorry for me and seeking their pity. He said, if I am offered as a sacrifice, I joy and rejoice with you all. You know what he's saying? He was saying, listen, I'm not living for this life. I'm living for the life that's to come. He wasn't worried about, he wasn't living in absolute fear about dying and how he might die and what it's gonna feel like and how that's all, he said, that's not important to me. He said, if I'm offered as a sacrifice, I am going to joy and rejoice. He said as much in Philippians chapter number one and verse number 21 where he said, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. A little bit later in that passage he said, depart and be of Christ is far better. I don't know about you, but we're living in a world that is enamored, enamored with possessions, enamored with things that are temporary. That's the world we're living in. This week, I think, not far from here is the car show. Some of you, I like to go to that. But I'm telling you, some of those things, we can get so caught up in those things, I can't be happy unless I have a new Corvette. I can't be happy unless I live in a house that has this many bedrooms. I can't be happy unless I'm shopping at this store and I'm eating at this restaurant and I'm traveling to this place. And I'm just simply here to tell you, listen, the people who value those things above the world to come, those people aren't gonna shine very brightly. But if we can get to a point where we say, you know, those things are nice. If the Lord ever allows me to have those things, I'll enjoy them, but I'm not living for those things. That's not my chief aim and goal in life. My chief aim and goal in life is to live for God and to please Him. If we can get a group of hundreds of believers like are seated in this room this morning to start living like this. to start buying into these things and to determine I'm gonna do all things without complaining and without warring and arguing over things that don't matter. And I'm gonna let my light shine brightly by living for the world to come more than this world and by clinging to God's word and acknowledging whose child I am and being as pure as I possibly can be. Oh, we can make a difference in this world. We can make a difference in this community. And isn't that what we've been called to do? Look with me again as we conclude verse 15, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed for just a moment.