Good morning, everyone. Welcome here again to our morning service at Calvary Baptist Church at Trehearne. And also, welcome who is faithfully in tune with us via internet, our live streaming all over the world. It's recorded more than 101 countries already. Thanks, God, for that. Please open the hymnals to number 132. One, three, two. He lives. Number 132. It's not, it's not, sorry. It's not on again. Internet, I don't know. There we go. Number 132. I serve a risen Savior who's in the world today I know that He is living whatever men may say I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer And at that time I need Him, He's always near Christ Jesus lives today He walks with me and talks with me Along life's narrow way He lives, He lives Salvation to impart You ask me how I know He lives He lives within my heart In all the worlds around me, I see His loving care And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair I know that He is leading through all the stormy blasts The day of disappearing will come at last Christ Jesus lives today He walks with me and talks with me Along life's narrow way He lives, He lives Salvation to impart You ask me how I know He lives, He lives Rejoice, rejoice, O Christians, lift up your voice and sing Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ, the King The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find None other is so loving, so good and kind Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow ♪ Salvation to impart ♪ You ask me how I know He lives ♪ He lives within my heart Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful that we can sing this song with conviction. We can know that the Lord Jesus Christ is alive and we can also know that he lives in our hearts individually. We're thankful for the fact that we have a risen Savior that we can serve. We're thankful that we have a risen Savior who loves us and wants to guide us in the right way so that we can know thy peace and blessing in our hearts. We do pray for, again, for our country. We pray for the salvation of many. We're thankful that we can be here in this area. We can be a light in this community. Thankful also that we can broadcast across the world through the internet. And we are thankful that at this time still, our governments cannot silence thy word. And we just pray that we would be faithful. We pray for boldness to make thy name known, and to help people to understand the blessing that there is in knowing the true God. Thankful for each one that has come out today, and we just pray that thy will be accomplished in each person's life, and that we would just allow thee to direct our thoughts in this coming hour. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. And over to 459. 459. He lefted me. Number 459. In loving kindness Jesus came My soul in mercy to reclaim And from the depths of sin and shame Through grace He lifted me From sinking sand He lifted me With tender hand He lifted me Shades of light, to plants of light, O praise His name, He lifted me. He called me long before I heard, Before my sinful heart was treared, But when I took Him at His word, Forgive, He lifted me. From sinking sand He lifted me With tender hand He lifted me From sands of night To plains of light O praise His name He lifted me His brow was pursed, which made no turn, His hands, by cruel will, this were turned. When from my guile I prayed for Lord, In love He lifted me. From sinking sand He lifted me, When tender hand He lifted me, From sticks of light to plants of light O Prince's name He lifted me Now on a higher plane I dwell With my soul I notice well The tower wide I cannot tell He should have lifted From the sinking sun, He lifted me With tender hand, He lifted me From the sinks of night, to plain of light O praise His name, He lifted me And over to 472. 472, Heavenly Sunlight. Number 472. Walking in sunlight, love of my journey, over the mountains, through the deep vale. Jesus has said I'll never forsake The promise divine that never can fail Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight Flooding my soul with glory divine Alleluia, I am rejoicing, singing His praises, Jesus is mine. Shadows around me, shadows above me, never conceal my Savior and Guide. He is the light, in Him is no darkness Ever I'm walking close to His side Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight Flooding my soul with glory divine Hallelujah, I am rejoicing Singing His praises, Jesus is mine In the bright sunlight, ever rejoicing Bracing my way to mansions above Singing His praises, gladly I'm walking Walking in sunlight, sunlight of love Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight Lighting my soul with glory divine Take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel account of the Lord Jesus Christ, chapter 11. I'm gonna be reading there from verses 33 to 36. We'll stand, please, for reading of God's word, Luke chapter 11, beginning there at verse 33. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light. But when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light. as when the bright shining of a candle doth give the light. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful again this morning that we have thy word, thankful again for the truthfulness of thy word, thankful that we can know thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the light of our lives. He is the light of the world. That we can have him to give us light and give us direction. after we are saved. We're thankful for the Holy Spirit who is working in the hearts of every individual today, seeking to bring the lost to the place of salvation, seeking to help the saved to understand the truth in thy word. May thy will be accomplished as we look into these verses, and may we allow thee to direct us that we would set aside those things that would hinder us, that we'd not daydream, but want to pay attention to what thy word says and know thy peace and blessing. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Title of the message this morning is Embracing the True Light. Embracing the True Light. As I've mentioned many times, our country of Canada is a nation that is waiting to be crushed. We have leaders in our country, federally, provincially, and even municipally, who hate God, they don't know him, they don't want to know him, and they are full of pride. They refuse to be taught, they're not willing to learn, but they have an agenda. And of course, we know that Behind that agenda is the devil. But we're thankful also that even though we lived in a very corrupt country, as we were talking before the service, it's not as bad as Russia was in the past yet, not as bad as China is or Venezuela or North Korea. And we can be thankful that we still have the opportunity to gather together openly. We don't have to lock our doors here in the building while we're meeting. We don't have to meet in secret. We can meet openly and we can proclaim the word of God here as well as in the streets. So we're thankful for that. God has been very gracious to us and giving us that opportunity to make his name known in this country. And so we need to be faithful in doing that, in reaching out and encouraging people to know the truth and living for the Lord if we are saved so that we can show people the benefit, the blessing of knowing the true God. The first thing we want to look at in this passage is the importance of light. The importance of light. It says in verse 33, no man, when he hath lighted a candle, put it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick. that they which come in may see the light. When you walk into a dark building, or a dark room in your house and you flip on that light switch, you appreciate that light. Now, if you are living in your own house and you would pretty well know how to get around anywhere in that house, even if the lights are not on, because you live in that house, you're familiar with that house. But if you are living in a house where there are young children and the children have not learned yet to clean up their toys, you might trip over a toy that they have left laying somewhere where it doesn't belong. And that will give you some instant pain if you fall. But the light is important. Of course, in Bible times, they didn't have electricity. They didn't have lights like we do today. They had candles and they would light that candle and have that candle lighting the way for them. But Jesus tells us here some very practical teachings again that he gives. When a person lights a candle, they don't put it in a secret place. They don't put it in a little closet and close the door and leave it burn in that secret place. It wouldn't help anything. There's no point to that. And in Bible times, again, they had to use olive oil for some of their lights. And so you wouldn't want to be wasting that oil and then run out of it when you need it. You want to have that light shining and you want to have it shining properly where you need it. So you don't hide that light, but you put it on a candlestick. And the candlestick is high so that it can, so that the light can spread out quite a ways and that it can help you. to see what it is that you're looking at, if you're reading or knitting or whatever a person would be doing, that they would have that light there to help them to see what they were doing. So it says there that they which come in may see the light. We want people to be able to see the light, to benefit by the light, so that they can function as they need to with that light. So the light is important. Of course, as we look at this passage, we know that Jesus is using this illustration of a candle to speak of a much greater light, a much greater need that man has, and that is to know the truth. And as I've mentioned before, The local church is to be a place that is a light to the world. Matthew 5, verses 14 to 16, it says, ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 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. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." So that's important for us, those that are saved, we are a light. And it is important for us to shine brightly. Now as that light, we are not the origin of the light, Jesus Christ is the light of the world. But we are to reflect his light. We are to be a testimony of that light in Acts chapter 1. In verse eight, a passage that most are familiar with, but in Acts chapter one in verse eight, it tells us there, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Witnesses, that's a light. We are to be pointing people to Christ. That's our purpose once we are saved. And so again, as Christians, we can't hide that light. It's impractical. It's not what we are designed to be. So there is no such a thing in God's economy as a secret Christian. Now, we have talked before that there are countries today where the Christians cannot meet openly. We know that in the past. that there has been severe persecution in different areas. And if you've ever read the book, The Trail of Blood, you know that the history of the Baptists, for instance, is a history of persecution in many different countries. They were not always called Baptists, but they had the same beliefs. And they were severely persecuted in different countries because of their beliefs, but they were not afraid to be identified as true Christians. We see that in the book of Acts as well. Peter and John were told not to speak in Jesus' name, but they refused to be silent because they had the truth. And the love of God working in the child of God wants the child of God to tell others the truth as well. So we don't hide ourselves. The point here being we need to be a light in the world in which we live. The second point we have here is the importance of the eye gate. Verse 34, it says, the light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light. But when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. So a blind person, I can't speak from experience, but my understanding would be that to a blind person, everything is dark as far as what they see. They don't see anything. There's nothing there for them to see. So it's a unique situation that they are in. And I remember as a young person in the church that we attended, we had a boy, I think he was a little younger than I was, but he was born blind. And so his parents would lead him around when he was of that age of walking and so on. They would lead him around and he would just follow them wherever they went, but he never saw anything. There are people that have partial blindness, but that boy never saw anything. It's a unique situation. But the Bible says that the eye, is very important. The light of the body is the eye. We see things with our eyes. We come to look at things and we come to imagine things based on what we see with our eyes. And of course, people tell us things and then we use that as part of our imagination too, if you have a vivid imagination. But with our eyes, we see many things. And the sad thing is that much of what we see in the world today is not good for our eyes. That's why the Bible talks about the importance of putting a watch before our eyes, that we are careful what we allow into our minds. Our minds are like a sponge in a sense. But unlike a sponge, once we put something into our minds, it's very hard for us to get rid of that which we have put in. And the devil, of course, is always there. After a person is saved, he's always there to try to bring back to remembrance things that we want to forget. So that's why it's important, again, in a household that the parents of that household are careful in what they expose their children to. That's why for me, in our house, we, years ago, got rid of the TV because there was nothing worthwhile anymore on it. I was someone who still am, always like to keep up with the news. And for me, the TV was a good place, source of news. But for me, it was the commercials. I didn't like them. Not for myself, I didn't like them for my family. So then what we did is we got a newer TV which had a mute button. I thought, well, that'll fix that. We'll cut the sound out and it won't draw attention. But my family was still watching the pictures, even though there was no sound. So I figured out this isn't working, and so I said, we're going to go one month without the TV, see how we make out. So that meant I didn't get my news there either. But I found other ways to do that. And after the month was done, I said, well, this worked out pretty good. Let's get rid of the TV. And we did. Haven't had one since. Now, of course, the Internet is also a tool that you can get all kinds of information on. But you can control things a little more on there. At least I find I can. And so that's where I get most of my news from now. But the eye is very important. course, in the internet too, and we've read, at least I have read, of pastors who get involved in pornography because of the internet. It's easy to find that, I guess, if you're looking for it, but you don't have to go there. And of course, with the internet, you can be secretive in what you're doing, but there's the danger, and there's also For the Christian, the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian. And so the true Christian, even if he gets tempted to go into places he shouldn't, the Holy Spirit is going to be there to show him this is not where you need to be. And if it's a true child of God, he's going to listen and not get caught up in that garbage. So the light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when an I is single, and that's the thing, once we're saved, we have to learn to become single-minded in our thinking, in our desires, and so on. So there are many things in my life, many things from the past that I have to realize they are not good for me. And so I have to get away from that. And of course, again, when I say I have to, that's not begrudgingly, but I have to. Every Christian, we have to discipline ourselves to make wise choices and to realize that there were things that we did as unsaved people that are detrimental to the Christian life. They may not even be sin, but they're just things that take away from the place that our minds need to be growing in. And so we need to rethink the things that we are involved in and make sure that we are following the things that are good and right. If you go to Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12. And in verse one, it says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So it's not unreasonable, in verse 1, it's not unreasonable for a Christian to give his body as a living sacrifice to God. It's not unreasonable at all for God to set the standard of what we should be doing. It's not unreasonable for us to yield to that standard. The ungodly are going to be fighting against the truth, but not the Christian. The Christian cannot continue on that way. He may resist for a time, but if he's truly saved, he's got the Spirit of God indwelling him. and working in him to bring him into compliance with what God's will is. Verse two there, be not conformed to this world. So again, there are many things that we can get involved in that are designed to conform us to the thinking of the world. Dress standards, music standards, language even. Many things that the world wants us to conform to. But the Bible says we need to be transformed and we do that by the renewing of our minds. So again, as we look at our passage, our text, the eye is the place where the light enters the body. And so we need to be careful what we are looking at, what we are reading, as we go through our days, in order to be careful not to corrupt that mind that God wants to be pure, so that when we're speaking to others, we don't reveal the old man, but we reveal the new man. And so it's very important for us to have our minds renewed. And as we do that, we will prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So as we spend time in God's word, as we allow God to direct us in our thinking and in our actions, we will prove that he is good. We will see that for ourselves. We know from the word of God that God is good, but as we live for him, we prove that to be the fact. So it's important for us to be careful with that eye gate. The light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine eye is single, thy whole body is full of light. And that's something that you notice when you talk to people. You can soon get a sense of where that person is at in their life, where their spiritual life is at. And for the lost, you're going to find that there's going to be, as you're talking with them, you're going to find that there's going to be foul language that comes out of their mouth. And if they know you're a Christian and if they have any respect for Christianity, they may even apologize as that foul language comes out. But they still do it. They know they shouldn't, but they do it because that's what their mind is full of. That's what they spend their time with. And so it's very difficult for them to cut that out when they're in the presence of someone who does not believe in that lifestyle. And so as Christians, again, we have the responsibility to help people to see the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. We look at our world today, again, the internet, Very accessible. And if you take the internet as your authority, you don't know what a true Christian is. Because the internet is full of false Christianity. Full of it. Lots of it there. So you're not going to get it by going to the internet. You're not going to get the truth there. But if you take your Bible, as you should be, every day, read it every day, and meditate upon the word of God as you go through the day, that's going to help you if you're saved, that's going to help you to make sure that your eye is single, that you can focus on the things that are important, the things that are good, the things that are right, and that you can build your life upon that which is true and good, and that way then you can be a blessing to those around you that need to know the truth. That's very important that we understand our place as Christians. Now in our text, of course, Jesus is speaking to The lost, he's speaking to people and says in verse 29 that it's an evil generation he was speaking to. They're looking after a sign. And he tells them the only sign they're gonna get is a sign of Jonah. And so based on the context here, Jesus is dealing with people who are not recognizing the true light. And that's the bottom line that Jesus is giving to us in this passage. When thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. The Pharisees, their eyes were evil. They saw the same Jesus that Mary and Martha saw. They saw the same Jesus that Lazarus saw. They saw the same Jesus the disciples saw, but they looked at him in a completely different way than the disciples did. When they looked at Jesus, they saw someone that was evil. They accused him of working under the power of Beelzebub. They did not see him as the eternal son of God. And so the problem was not that they were blind physically, but spiritually they had chosen to remain in darkness. They had chosen to reject the truth and did not want to know the true God. Same thing in our country. Our country is openly defiant against God. having chosen this week to suggest that they will support a Palestinian state come September at the UN. Of course, there is no Palestinian today. Israel was at times, in times past, called the land of Palestine. Since 1948, it's the land of Israel. And that name was given to them by the enemies of God. But there are no Palestinians today. But there are people who want to take that name in order to draw attention to themselves and to make Israel the enemy. And of course, the main enemy to them is God. It's a fight against God. And they see darkness rather than light. So the third thing that we see is discerning true light. In verse 35, we see that there's a responsibility that we have. Take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. Every individual has to make that choice. Again, in a household, when the children are young, it's up to the parents to set the standard, to help the children to see where true light is. That's why Video games, I think, ought to be a non-issue for a Christian home. Children ought not to be playing on their parents' phones, not a telephone anymore, you don't call it that anymore, but shouldn't be playing on them, playing the games that are on there. I remember when I first got my first computer, And I don't even know if this present computer I have, I don't think it has any on it. But back in the day when I first got my computer, there was always games on them. And so I tried to find a way to eliminate those games because I figured, well, if my children are going to be using that computer to learn things, which is OK, but I don't want them to be able to sneak into the games and start playing games. And in those early computers, At least I didn't know how to cancel out the games completely. I didn't go there myself. But I just had to make sure that my children didn't go there either. Because that's a waste of time. And most of the games have nothing good to teach anyway. So we have to take heed. And we have to help our children to see the importance of making wise choices. So if we're sneaking around, with our electronic gadgets and if we're involved in things there that are not good, don't think that we're going to be able to hide that from our children. They're not dumb. So we need to be careful, take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. So how can we do that? How can we discern Whether the light that we have and that we are calling light, how can we know whether that is actually light or whether it's darkness? Well, again, who is the true light? Jesus Christ declared himself to be the light of the world. So then if we're going to be spending time studying the scriptures, then we are going to be able to identify what is light and what is darkness. If we don't use the scriptures and we use our own selves, our own ideas as the source of light and truth, we're not going to come to see true light. That's the problem that our world faces. That's the problem that every one of us has faced in the past as well, because we're all born as lost sinners. So then our standard of light is not what the Bible says it ought to be. And so, again, we need to take heed. That means we need to examine everything. If you go in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. And in verse four, verse three, it says, therefore, though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. Now the flesh here is the word being used, but we could also talk about the light. And it says, therefore, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So again, how do we know what these strongholds are? Verse five, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." So again, we learn there in that passage, verse five, casting down imaginations. And we've talked about, as we see things, we develop an idea of how certain things function. And so it tells us to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. So where do we get our idea of who God is? Again, if we look at the charismatic movement, their God is a much different God than the God of the Bible. We look at the Catholic religion and their God is a very different God than the God of the Bible. We look at my background as a Mennonite. Most Mennonites, their God is a very different God than the God of the Bible. So where do we get our idea of God? Well, we need to get it from the Bible. So we need to take heed, therefore, that the light which is in thee be not darkness. When we look at the Bible, We understand that in the English language, there are over 100 different translations of the Bible. I call them perversions. There's only one true translation in the English language, and that's the King James. If you take another one and you read that thing, you're gonna find that you're not getting the light. You're getting corruption in with the light. And so for the child of God, we don't have to let pride take hold of us and think, well, I'm going to read this perversion today and I'm going to examine it and I'm going to take what I can from it and tomorrow I'll read a different one and so on. We don't need them. We need to know the truth. We need to take heed to the light that is in us. What is that light? Where did we get that light from? and we need to be discerning the light. In the Old Testament, we see that the devil came to Eve, and he convinced her that wrong was right. He convinced her that God was an unjust God, and she was deceived, the Bible tells us, and accepted his lies. Then she came to Adam, and Adam, the Bible doesn't tell us that Adam was deceived. He knew better than what he was being presented with, but he chose to accept the lie over the truth. And the result was that Adam sinned and plunged the world into sin because he was not discerning of the light. And we find that throughout the Bible that there were people who did not discern the Pharisees again in our text, did not discern what the light was. They had developed over the years, they had developed their false religious system. They had taken parts of the Old Testament law, and they had corrupted that into a place where the law became a burdensome thing which they could not even keep, and that's why Jesus called them hypocrites. But the light that they were following was not the true light. And so Jesus says, take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. So we need to understand that we might call something light but is it actually light? Is it truth? Is it what we need to hear? Is it what we need to follow? So in verse 36, if thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light. And when the bright shining of, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. So, here's the question. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, of course, no Christian can say my body is full of light, but it needs to work towards that end. We need to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the fact is, if thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light. So that's the goal. I know in my life, I can't go back. I can't change history. But in my life, I wish that I had listened to the truth much sooner than I did. I grew up in a religious home. I had access to the Bible. I remember the first Bible that I got was a King James. And I remember that in that Bible, I got it from my grandmother, and there was a section in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel that was missing. It was when they had put that particular Bible together, they had left out some pages. And I remember that to this day. But I had access, I could read English, and I had access to the Word of God, and I read the Bible, but it didn't have the right impact on me until I was 20. And some of that was excuses that I used to reject the word of God. None of them were valid. If I would have died in those days, I'd have gone straight to hell. But the light was there, but I didn't appreciate it. And then after I was saved, then there were many things because of having those years of wickedness. many things that I had to work on getting rid of, confess them as sin, and put in truth to take the place of the darkness that I had accepted into my life. So it says here, again, the comparison of the candle, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give the light. The closer that you are to that candle, the brighter things are. The further you get away from that candle, the less light you're going to get. So again, the important factor is that you, as an individual, need to be in the Word of God daily. You can't just take it because somebody tells you, you also need to read it for yourself. You need to see it there, and of course, you need to be saved in order to benefit fully from what the Word of God says. Lost people can hear the Word of God. I heard it for 20 years, but it wasn't until I was 20 that I got saved. I heard it, but I didn't appreciate it. So we need to accept the truth and welcome it into our lives. We need to turn to God in repentance, understanding that He is right and I am wrong, and we need to be saved, first of all. And then once we are saved, we need to avail ourselves of the light. That's why the local church is so important, a good local church, not just any church. We need a good local church where we can come together and fellowship around the word of God. And then we need throughout the week, we need to spend time in God's word on a daily basis to allow God to affect our thinking, and to transform us into what he wants us to be. And that comes as we expose ourselves to the light. The more you are exposed to light after you are saved, the more you are going to be changed to become more Christ-like. There's a saying that I used to hear from time to time is that that person is so heavenly minded that they're of no earthly good. That's actually a false saying. But it was a saying that was invented by people who took offense to the truth. You can never be too heavenly minded, that you're of no earthly good. But if a person is earthly minded, they don't want to hear a Christian talking to them. They can talk about the weather, but they don't want to hear the things that are really important. They're not interested. and it interferes. I remember we had a friend in, a neighbor I guess, I don't know if we would really call him a friend in the biblical sense of the term, but a neighbor in Alberta when I was pastoring there and he liked to come over. His wife was dying of cancer and they were not godly people, but He liked to come over to our house. And we had no problem with that. We were trying to reach him for the Lord. And as his wife was becoming weaker, she was dying of cancer, then he would ask my wife to come and sit with her sometimes while he had to go away. And so my wife had opportunities with that woman to witness to her before she died. We don't know if she got saved or not, but she had that opportunity. And after she died, then he liked to come over because he was lonely. And that was not a problem for us again. But just about every time he would come over, he would bring up something that would allow us to bring the gospel into the conversation. And he would say to us, why can't we just get together and visit? Why do you always have to bring God into it? Well, because God is important. And he was important to us. And we wanted him to know God. Now, again, I don't know if that man ever got saved. Don't even know if he's alive anymore. But God gave us opportunities with that man, even though he didn't want them, but he kept coming. He kept coming. He didn't like what some of the things he heard, but he kept coming. And we were thankful for the opportunity that we had to continue to reach out to him with the word of God. But again, it's a matter of choices. And the closer that you are to the light, again, the more benefit you're gonna get from it. and God wants us to know him in his fullness. And so the way that we're going to do that is first of all, by being saved, and then secondly, by spending time in God's word. That's why God designed in our dispensation, the local church, as the place to meet together. And our purpose in meeting at church should be, the main purpose should be for the word of God. It shouldn't be a social club. There's a lot of things that go on in churches today that really has nothing to do with a true local church. A lot of things that go on that spoil people into thinking, I have to have this or it's not a real church. We've gotten away from where church used to be. If you go in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10, And you notice there in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promise. So there's the importance of that light again, without wavering, don't let any shadow there. Verse 24, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. That's what the local church is for, to encourage one another to love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. So we see again the importance of the local church and we see the importance of becoming a member of a true local church. That's very important because that's how we help one another. When we get to know one another, we can get to see where the weakness is in that other brother or sister. And we're not doing that because we're sitting on a pedestal and suggesting I'm better than you are, but we're doing that because we want to provoke one another to love and to good works. We love one another. We care about that other Christian. We want to see that other Christian being everything God wants them to be. And if they're drawing back from the local church, they're not being what God wants them to be. We have people that, I don't know if they're still listening to us or not, but they don't live in this area, but they found us on the net and they appreciated what we were doing here. But I encouraged him. I said, you know, you need to find a local church. You can't take the internet as your substitute for a true local church. It can be an asset, can be a help, but you need a local church. You need that fellowship for yourself and for your family. And I still say that. Our internet broadcasting that we do is not designed to take people away from a true local church. We understand that there are areas in the world where they don't have good churches. There are too many areas in Canada where there are not good churches. Seems to me that even though we're not Israel, but Jeremiah wrote that truth is fallen in the streets. And it seems to me that Canada is coming to that place. where truth is not very readily accessible anymore in many places. And I believe it's a judgment from God that this country is coming to the end and there's less and less interest in truth in this country. That's a sad thing. That's not a good thing for this country. It's not a good thing that churches are closing. Sermon Audio, where we broadcast our sermons on, I think they, if I remember right, they just sent out a notice this week, and I think they said in that notice that there's about 20 churches a month that leave them. That means they have an awful lot of churches that are signed up with them. But they're talking about how that there's churches that are leaving. And I don't know if they're closing down or just leaving some of them. They're talking about the cost of broadcasting there is too much for them, so they're shutting it down. But it's not a good thing when the Word of God is being diminished. There's a great need for the Word of God to be proclaimed. And there's a great need for true Christians to get together and to be encouraged through the word of God. As a young boy, I remember my parents, they had a family that were their friends. We would go visiting there sometimes. They had two children, but that family was different. My parents were not very socially minded. We didn't have a lot of family friends that we would go visit with, but I remember going to this household sometimes, and they were different. They didn't have a TV, we did, my parents had a TV. And when we would come there, oftentimes, the family would be reading the Bible. And then of course, when we came there, they would put the Bible away and we would go play with the children outside. And the parents, I don't know what they visited in the house, but they visited together in the house. But that family, that stuck in my mind, that family was different. And they behaved themselves different. They were not a modern thinking family like most of the people in our church were. They were different. And I believe that the difference in that family was the fact that they spent time in the Word of God. It was unique. And that needs to be the nature of the Christian home. that we spend time in the things of God so that we are becoming a brighter light to one another, as well as to our neighbors and to others that we meet. In Isaiah chapter nine in verse two, it says, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Speaking there of the nation of Israel, The light that it's speaking of there, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. Now, the nation of Israel had opportunity to see the light many times in the Old Testament. God sent them prophets. He gave them the law. They had much opportunity to know the truth. But they rejected it. But God didn't reject them. And he gave them the privilege of having the Messiah born in the land of Israel. Now, Jesus Christ is the light of the world, but he came to be that light to the nation of Israel so that the nation of Israel could be a light to the world. Israel has not done that. That's why Israel has been cut off at the root presently. And Jesus Christ said, upon this rock, I will build my church, the rock being himself. So in our age, it's the local church that is to be the light in our part of the world and across the world. So it's important for us to be careful what we are classifying as light. It's important that we're careful that we don't become worldly in our thinking but that we become more Christ-like so that we can help others around us to see the benefit of knowing the true God as well. And there are great benefits to knowing the true God. The blessings of God are not necessarily material blessings, but they are spiritual blessings, which are more important than material blessings. So for those of us that are saved, let's be careful that the light that we are following is actually the light of God's word. Let's ask God to examine our hearts and to be careful if there is an area where we have adopted a light which is not biblical light, let's be careful that we're willing to let God correct us in that, that we can be that light that we need to be. to those that God puts in our path. If you're listening today and you're not saved, you need to come to see the Lord Jesus Christ as the light that you need in your life. He is the light of the world. And he will expose you for who you really are. He is doing that already. But it's up to you to listen to that and to understand that you can try to run away from God all you want, but in the end, you're still gonna meet him. And so it'd be much wiser for you to listen to what the Word of God has to say today and turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ now and begin to enjoy the blessings of walking in the light instead of fighting something that you can't erase anyway. You're going to answer to him. Better to know him now and enjoy his blessings. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful that we have thy word. We're thankful for the light of the world, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Thankful that we are given minds. We are given the ability to discern. We're given the ability to think. And we can understand if we want to. We can understand good from bad. Thankful that we are given a conscience. I pray that thou wouldst help each one of us, that we would want to be careful what it is that we have determined to be light, and that we would want to choose the light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the light of our lives, that we would want to know thy peace and blessing and follow thee and grow in thee, that we'd not grow weary in well-doing for those that are saved, but that we would want to draw closer to Thee and become more faithful to Thee so that we can be a blessing to others as well. We're thankful for this time together. May Thy will be accomplished in each person that's listening, that we would want Thy truth in our hearts and be a help to others. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.