When every headline seems to confirm that the world is bending farther from truth, outrage and hopelessness can feel more natural than faithful witness. Philippians 2:12–16 places Christians in the midst of a crooked generation and calls them to shine without murmuring or retreating. How can a believer hold forth the word of life when darkness seems to dominate?
The following study questions and transcript are AI generated and may contain errors.
The preacher emphasizes that obedience to God should happen “in your absence” rather than just when someone is watching. What does this mean practically in your daily life, and how can you cultivate obedience to God’s Word when no one else is around?
The sermon describes our culture as both “crooked” (skolios—bent or deviated from a straight line) and “perverse” (diastropho—actively distorted and warped). How do you see these characteristics manifesting today, and what is the difference between recognizing this reality and becoming cynical or hopeless about it?
The preacher states: “If our beliefs do not change our behavior, then our behavior will never change others’ beliefs.” How does this principle challenge the way you live out your faith, and can you think of examples where you’ve seen it work—either positively or negatively?
According to the sermon, Christians are called to “shine as lights” in a dark world, not to “correct” or “change” the generation. What is the difference between these approaches, and how should this distinction shape the way we engage with cultural and social issues?
How does abiding in Christ (John 15) and understanding that “obedience is a reflection of our faith, not the perfecting of our faith” change your perspective on Christian living, growth, and your specific calling in this world?
This transcript has been automatically generated and may contain errors.
Amen. That’s good. I appreciate her playing that. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. Of course, I messed it up. That’s why I’m not the song leader, among other reasons. I appreciate all those that are singing and putting in the time to get all that together, and I appreciate that. But when she was playing that, it’s like, that’s it. I hope we can get there. I know. I gotta switch over. James is looking at me like, stop talking. Get together. Get with the program, preacher. Come on, let’s go. I’ll try. If anything ever is messed up, you always have to blame the leader. So, usually it’s right to blame him. Philippians chapter 2, because we’re talking about this. Now, again, I went through the book of Philippians not too long ago and enjoyed preaching that through verse by verse. Yet we’re talking about and dealing with this idea still of reaching the world.
And, of course, in the book of Mark and other places in the Bible, what we call or refer to as the Great Commission is given in different places, especially in the Gospels. And Mark 16:15 says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” And then, if we know John 3:16, we know that “For God so loved the world.” And so, when we speak of that world, that word there, the word is cosmos or what we would refer to as the world system. Or as the main even extension of that thought is the kind of the arrangement or order of the world. And I think we grasp that and understand the concept of, you know, we live in this cosmos, in this system or arranged order that we call the world.
You know, somebody looks at a globe and says, that’s the world. And, geographically speaking, you’d be correct. But, when the Bible, even in 1 John chapter 2, he says, “Love not the world,” he’s speaking of that same system, that system of order. I think it’s good that we understand that. That God so loved the world. He loved everybody in this entire system or systematic way of living. In fact, He loved them so much knowing that living in that world or that system or order, even at its very best to offer. If we took of this world its very best offering and we said, that’s the type of world I’ll choose to live in this world, even at its very best, lived at its very best, to the closest possible way of perfection, we live a life in this big old world.
In our little dash that ends up on our tombstone, however, we live that little dash in this big old world as the Bible says, it’s but a vapor. Comes and vanishes away. That even if we lived at our very best, as all the motivational speakers and all the TikTokers and everybody has an influence in this world would say, “Get the most out of life,” all it would ever do is give us the best entrance that we could possibly get into an eternity without God. And an eternity without God is an eternity lost, separated from heaven forever to pay for our sins in a place called hell, where we are completely judged for all of our sins because we did not go to the One who did get judged for all of our sin.
And on the flip side, if you will, if in this big gigantic world we lived our little dash and we, in our minds, maybe in comparison to others, however we view that or compare ourselves to others, we just live the most meaningless of life or the meekest of life or the poorest of life or whatever you want to describe the most ordinary, basic, non-interesting, non-influential life. But one day in our life we decided there’s got to be more to this world. Something in your heart said, I’m empty and I’m lost and everything in this world means nothing to me. And yet you found a time in your life where you said, I need to know the truth. And whether someone came to you or you sought some navigational way to the gospel, you received the very fact that Jesus did love this world so much that He sent His only Son. And when He sent His only Son, He sent Him for a purpose. And that was to die in our place for our sins.
And all of a sudden, when you trusted the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, meaning you recognized your sinful nature, not just, “Oh, I do some bad things, but I do some good things.” No, you recognize that your sin is what’s going to condemn you to a place called hell, separated from heaven forever, separated from the Lord Jesus Christ forever. And with that, you said I’ll receive the gift of salvation. I’ll receive the gift that Jesus has provided by paying the price for my sin. And then you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You accept the gift of salvation. And no matter how insignificant you felt in this big old world, your world changes forever. And now you have a greater purpose in this world.
And so too, the person who’s been living for everything and obtaining everything but still felt empty, like Solomon when he wrote Ecclesiastes, he said, “All of it is vanity of vanities. It’s empty of emptiness without God.” Then, though you’ve obtained every riches of this world, and you receive the greatest riches of all, the riches of the payment of your sin paid in full, the greatest gift ever, you say, “Oh, now the world has meaning. Because now my life has meaning in this world.”
And when we’re in Philippians chapter 2, we read of that very part. We’re gonna start in verse 12 here for the message, but before that is this description of the Lord Jesus Christ who left everything that was in heaven to come to this cosmos, this world. And it says it made Himself of no reputation, meaning He did not care to come and become as a man, though He was as God in heaven enjoying all that was to offer there. He left all of that to become fashioned as man, the Bible says, and to be obedient unto the death, even the death of the cross. And He did that for you, and He did that for me.
Because He loved us so much, He became like a man so that He would die for all mankind. And in dying, He would pay the price so that where He left to come to, others could leave to go to, to be in the presence in heaven forever. And so with that, knowing the end that’s given to us, that no matter who and how people reject the Lord Jesus here on this earth, one day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that He is Lord. But we know that’s not gonna happen here on this earth, and that’s not the promise. The promise is that it will happen, though. It will happen when it’s recognized that, “Oh, He is the Lord of Lords, King of Kings. He’s worthy of my worship.”
And for those who have responded to the Lord Jesus Christ and His gift of salvation, and those who know the Lord Jesus has given them a purpose in life that Paul talked about in Ephesians, about being His workmanship, ordained or prepared unto good works, based on the fact that we have trusted the Lord Jesus, that we’ve been given a purpose, ordained to us, given to us, prepared for us to do good works in this world. Paul continues his writing after explaining what Jesus did for us, and of course mentioning in that description saying, “Let this mind be in you, that was also in Christ Jesus.” But he gets to verse 12 and he says,
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”
Meaning that your salvation is completely secured in the work of Jesus Christ. It’s nothing we work for, but it is something we work out. It’s all been paid for, it’s all been worked for. Jesus did all the work on the cross, but once we receive the gift of salvation that’s been paid in full, the work is finished, it was finished on the cross. Once all of that is now in us, we are now given the great purpose in this big old world to work it out, to live it out. And to live it out, as He said, in obedience. And that’s the first thing that we must understand: that yes, we’re to live a life of obedience. But look what Paul says there, “My beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only.”
There may be some disagreement here, but—and even my wife and I would probably disagree with this—but we would hope our kids would obey in our presence. You’re like, you don’t know mine, right? You know, some of you are like, “They do better for others than me,” and we had that, we understand. But the hope is when the direct instruction is given and the consequences are to follow, right, that we would hope it would produce some obedience. And yet, the greater gift—or the greater joy, I should say—is when you instill things into your children, or if you’re a teacher, you instill things into your students, or you instill some influence through discipleship, or just through basic relationship of trying to encourage and influence somebody and help them and try to speak some, you know, just some direction into their life, that you don’t have to walk with them every step of the way and say, “Now do this, now do that, now do this. Breathe in, breathe out,” you know, whatever, right? Your hope is always that yes, they’ll obey in your presence. But greater than that, they’ll obey in your absence, and they’ll live it out by their own choosing.
He says, “But now much more in my absence.” Paul’s writing these letters, of course, and people are reading these letters that he’s written, and he’s encouraging them. Not “in my absence,” what I’d like for you to do or encourage you to do is work out or live out your own salvation. He says, “For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Again, we’re not to follow anyone else’s call on their life. Now, there’s a general call on our life. We’re to be obedient as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ. We’re to have some kind of Christian conduct that leads to, I pray, Christian character in this world. We’ll get to that here in a second.
So that, as a believer, if someone says, “I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I’m grateful, and with all the gratitude of Him saving my soul, and paying for my sin, and out of a love for the Lord Jesus Christ, I’m willing to choose to follow Him and His word,” whatever that means, and to take some time to grow into that and learn that there are different things that please the Lord more than others, and there’s definitely some things He would have us to reject, and there’s other things He’d have us accept and add to our life. But then there’s a specific call on our life, that for us to do and follow that call would be doing it as God worketh in us for His good pleasure. And what it is, it’s a transition of desire, that I now desire to do what brings God the most pleasure with my life.
And so, as we’re hoping to do that, again, we’re not here to earn our salvation, we’re just simply here to exercise our salvation, to work it out, to put it to use. You know, that’s what the word, in its certain phrasing, exercises to me. Like you say, “I exercise my rights too,” right? Well, I exercise my salvation too, to do what? Well, the Bible tells us. Verse 14, first it gives us some instruction we’ll refer to here in just a moment, but “Do all things without murmurings and disputings.” Here it is, “That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, and here’s the words, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. And then the other word, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”
I want you to focus on those two things: “in the midst of” and “among whom.” If there was a title, you need a title for the sermon, “In the Midst of and Among Whom.” Because there’s a thing, even as Paul says, “Hey, I want you to be obedient, in my presence, yes, but certainly in my absence.” Now, in my presence would kind of be a fair—I would say a fair description of right now. I hope you don’t rebel against me right now, it’s just me up here, right? Y’all can take me, I know that, probably it’s one of you, right? You know, if you wanted to rush the platform here and say, “We’re not listening to this guy,” or you can all just walk out and go to restaurants and get an early start. You can do whatever you want, I can’t keep you, I can’t stop you.
You know, I hope my wife would stay, but if at least one—maybe my mom, my mom’s here, she cares about me, so she’ll stay. “I’m listening to this nonsense, I’m out of here,” right? No. If you truly have the Holy Spirit in your heart, and you just wanted to defy me teaching the Bible, if you had the Lord Jesus walk out with you, guess what? You’re gonna carry out the Word of God with you, because He’s gonna speak to you, “You should probably go back, that guy’s gonna cry, you better go back,” you know? Not really, at least not visibly, all right? That’s why I have an office, and I can lock the door, right? All right, enough interrupting myself, okay?
But more than that, the longing of that is to obey in the absence, meaning as you enter into—not this beautiful, wonderful, perfect world that’s gonna welcome you and applaud you for announcing your Christianity, you know? “Hey, guess what? I’m now gonna follow the Word of God, the Bible, and I’m going to live in a way that the world has no appreciation for whatsoever.” Because now we’re not just living and entering into, as Paul writes, we’re not entering into this world system, which is so big that we can kind of navigate to a corner, and then meet here in our little corner on Sunday morning and all huddle together and talk about how wonderful it is to be a Christian.
He wants us to live in absence, into, and in the midst of, and among a crooked and perverse generation, is the wording actually. And these words here have really solid meaning in the Greek, where the first word, crooked, is skolios. Does that sound like another word you’ve heard? What does that mean? Bent, twisted, and here’s the phrasing I like: deviated from a straight line. I was talking to the teenagers downstairs, and I said, this is when you hear things like, “I remember when the world was like this.” What are they saying? It was closer to a straight line, and now it’s so bent and twisted, it’s crooked, as Paul writes. It’s twisted and bent away from the straight line, or the alignment that it was supposed to have.
And we remember this, and as I told them, it was because at one point in our society, even in our American society, and other places around the world, there was at least a biblical foundation that created a moral society. And whether the world as a whole would ever admit it or not, those morals came from biblical teaching. Not just biblical teaching in a church, but in the home, and then in the school. And we can all say, “I remember when they took prayer and Bibles out of school.” There was just a concept, and maybe you all can say, “I remember when it kind of changed in our society, when it changed over.” But however we got here, because the next part is even worse: crooked and perverse. And it’s interesting, the word perverse here is diastropho. Don’t worry about that, I mispronounced it and butchered it badly, but it means to distort.
This is active. One means that society’s been bent, it’s crooked, it’s deviated from a straight line, it’s not the way it used to be. Here’s the line: it’s going this way, or it’s going that way, or it’s moved away from the line. But the word perverse actually means to distort, to turn aside, to warp. It describes a mindset or a behavior that goes contrary to what is right, honest, and God-honoring. It’s the active pursuit of everything that’s anti-God and God’s truth that is pure and perfect and righteous. This generation, if you will—and I’m not talking about the age group, I’m talking about as a whole, we’re not talking about the big world anymore—now we’re talking about the generation, the actual people. The word there actually refers to the group of people living in a particular time who share a common character, mindset, or moral orientation. It says meaning, culture, or as groups of people sharing something in common becomes.
It means that we now live in a society that has a mindset that no longer lines up with the Word of God. And you could probably help explain to the younger generation like me, okay, or the real younger generation actually, where it all started to change, and you could tell those stories. And we could sit here, and I could meet every week, and we could just sit around and just think about how it used to be, you know, back in the 80s. Okay, that’s how far back I go. I don’t remember the 70s much. I was here for the first four years of the 70s, but I don’t remember much. But I remember the 80s, the best decade ever. That’s right, yeah. Yeah, I know, you talk about the best music ever and all that stuff. Anyway, no. But no matter how much we could sit and enjoy talking about those things, what matters is what Paul’s actually saying to all of us.
We are to live in the midst of and among whom we’re to shine as lights. We’re to shine as lights. We’re gonna go through some verses here, so hang on. But I want to get to these, and I’ll still get you out of here on time, I promise. You’ll doubt me halfway through, I promise. But John chapter 15. All of these are very important. When we speak of obedience, here’s what we’re talking about. Say, me and I gotta follow all the rules. I don’t like rules. I don’t want to follow rules. No, you simply got to live out the relationship you have with the Lord Jesus. Get a hold of His heart. Because we can’t follow all the rules, by the way. But here’s what He says in John 15. He speaks, Jesus speaks here in verse 4.
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing.”
He goes on to say, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples, my followers. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
Again, if we’re going to work out or exercise our salvation out, we must be abiding in Him, so that His words abide in us. Otherwise, we’re going to try to do this on our own. And if we do that on our own, we start using our own words, and we do not share the love of the Father, we simply share how much we loathe this world. And we start talking about how much we hate this, and we’re not—”Oh, did you hear this?”—and we just keep going back and forth. Again, it’s good to be informed. I’m so thankful that we have so much access to information, that we can be so informed. We got to be careful with the information we get, make sure it’s right, especially in a day of AI and all those things, correct?
But what we do know, if we follow His word, and when His word is in us, and we keep His commandments, we’re going to abide in His love, so we’re going to view this crooked and perverse nation that hates God through the eyes of the love of God. That’s not so we can tolerate and pat everyone on the head and say, “It’s okay, you just sin as much as you want to, and your truth is your truth, and my truth is my truth.” No, no, no, no. It’s a crooked and perverse nation. But here’s the thing: we’re not going to correct the world. We’re not going to correct this generation. We’re not going to correct the next generation. But what we’re desiring to do is to live in obedience that we may, in correcting our ways, have an impact on this generation.
James chapter 2 tells us this. Again, it’s good to have faith. That’s where it all begins, and I hope you do. And if you’re without faith, then it’s impossible to please Him. But James chapter 2 tells us this in verse 14: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, ‘Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled,’ notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?”
And he says, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” Meaning, you’ll be saved by your faith, and you are separated from the lost, if you will, those without faith. That’s a sure thing. That’s not what James is disputing here. What he’s disputing is, if your faith is just allowing you to stand alone in your faith, then all you have is your faith that saved you, and your faith can influence no one to be saved themself.
And again, it’s not about becoming perfect. In fact, once you hear this, our obedience is a reflection of our faith, not the perfecting of our faith. We’re not trying to fulfill all the other requirements to then enjoy heaven because we kept our faith. Our faith was perfected in the perfect Son of God. Jesus is the perfect One who became the perfect sacrifice so that we may have perfect faith. Our faith is simply reflecting who He is, and so our obedience is the reflection of our faith in the perfect One. And with that, we now have an opportunity, because it’s not on us. It’s not on us to be perfect. Yes, we should be making progress, and that’s the beauty of life. Where there’s life, there’s hope, and where there’s hope, there’s growth. And when you’re making progress, it gives you hope, does it not?
No matter what area of whatever you’re trying to grow in or learn in, when you kind of accomplish something, or you learn something new, and you’re able to apply it and do it on your own without somebody instructing you, you feel a sense of growth in your life. It’s the same way with following the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a matter of growth in our life, making progress, not perfection. We’re not guaranteed perfection until we get to heaven, where there’s no sin. But until then, we battle our own sin.
But here’s the thing. As we see our opportunity, which is simply to shine as lights in and among this crooked and perverse nation, or as we would say, darkness, or a dark generation, the interesting thing about that word there, as far as shine as lights, “You shine as lights in the world,” it’s not really just about brightening up a room or anything like that. It’s really, truly speaking of like these heavenly bodies, these luminaries in the clouds, that we see in the sky, that we see and that are fixated stars in the sky. These heavenly illuminations of who God is, revealing the glory of God, were to be just like that.
I like the phrasing in Genesis 1, where he’s talking about the creation of the whole world, and kind of just a footnote, “Oh, and He made the stars also.” Like He just threw that in, you know? Well, that’s who God is, and He made the stars also. And it actually talks about how He fixed them into place. I hate changing these light bulbs. I’m so thankful I don’t do that. Erin, do you do that? I know it ain’t April getting up on that ladder, I know that. She’s smarter than all of us. I’m telling you, you got to reach up, you’re on the almost the top step, you’re trying to change the light bulbs, then you got to kind of bend the thing. Yeah, Erin’s like, yeah, I know. She ain’t catching me when I fall either. You got to fix them into place. Well, how about every star in the sky? God just simply fixed it into place.
And we represent that as we shine as lights among this crooked and perverse generation to do His work on this earth. Here’s the thing. I want you to get this. As a Christian, if our beliefs do not change our behavior, then our behavior will never change others’ beliefs. I’ll say it again. If our beliefs do not change our behavior, then our behavior will never change others’ beliefs. Say, “I can’t believe this world. It’s warped, it’s distorted.” Yes it is. It’s perverse, it’s crooked. Yes it is. They’re all crooks up there. You know where there is, right? It rhymes with DC. And we can say that. We can just wallow in all of that.
That yes, we live in this crooked and perverse nation. Yes, we do. But we’re not called to correct it. And honestly, we’re not called to change it. But we are called to be lights in it. And it’s interesting that our opportunity is given to us. And it starts with, do all things, verse 14 says, “Without murmurings and disputings.” And again, just to be always clear, this is not, “Well, we just don’t say anything negative. Judge not lest ye be judged.” Okay? You know, it’s not that. It’s that when we get to a spirit of disputing, murmuring, complaining, when we allow that spirit to start to override the light that we should be shining.
Because it says in verse 15 that “You may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,” meaning blameless, innocent. Then, “without rebuke,” that means living in a way of above reproach, where no one can call you out for your behavior. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul’s writing to this particular group as well, and it’s interesting the reference he makes. In 1 Corinthians 10, he says, moreover, in verse 1, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea,” meaning this is how they followed the Lord, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed, and fell in one day twenty-three thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for examples. Again, I know some of them. I can be like some of them at certain times. Now the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t change. He’s the same yesterday, today, forever. But how I respond to Him on a daily basis, if you will, sometimes, if not a lot of times, doesn’t always reflect who He is. It simply reveals who I am. It doesn’t have to be that way. But with this old nature that Paul talks about in Romans, so often, or more often unfortunately, I’m revealing who I am more than reflecting who He is. And that comes down to our accountability.
You know, Matthew 5 talks about being the light in this world. It talks about doing works that bring Him glory. It talks about all those things. As we go back to Philippians 2 to finish this up, as we are living in this crooked and perverse nation, we are not to run from it. We are to be absolutely influential in it. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re called to a different kind of life. The Christian life is not a little better, it’s completely different. And there’s a reason for that, because in this world, in this crooked and perverse, twisted, bent, warped generation, God has given mercy by allowing us as lights to shine as heaven shining down on this world, this system, this order that’s disorder now, not to better the cosmos, but to reach the people, to reach the ones living in this crooked and perverse nation.
As Paul says in other parts, “As such were some of you, as such were some of us.” Because this world is in its condition, it doesn’t give us permission. It gives us a calling. It doesn’t give us permission to just say, “Hey, let’s hide in the corner until Jesus comes.” It’s actually giving us that calling to work out our salvation. And our accountability is simply this, in verse 16, “Holding fast or 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 in you all.”
How do we do it? What light are we supposed to shine? The light of His word. We’re to live by it, we’re to walk in it, and we’re to tell others about it. And if we’re gonna be a light in this world, yes, I know, we are bombarded with how crooked, and wicked, and perverse, and ugly, and distorted, and warped. And you even, you hear things that you’re like, “How do human beings even think to do something vile and then act on it?” I get it. I understand it. I really do. But instead of creating some angst, and anger, and frustration in our life, and that leads to hopelessness, by the way, that we can’t even do anything in this world anymore, instead, let it be that which motivates us to fulfill our calling, to work out our salvation, and live a life that is in the midst of, and shine among the darkness so that there is hope of light. So that there’s hope for someone who’s in this crooked and perverse generation, who’s in the wickedness, who may have been distorted, whose life may have been warped even by others who are more warped and distorted than they are. And they’ve been broken, and they’ve been hurt.
What do they need? They need someone to shine as a light into their life, and say, “I’m willing to reflect the God of heaven in a world that hates Him, so that maybe just one might come to know Him as their Savior and be willing to receive the same gift I have of salvation from the One who’s claimed as the light of the world.” I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world could ever offer, and I hope you do too.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank You for this morning. Lord, if we all had time and would stand up and testify of how we even got here, I could be wrong, but I truly believe it could be because someone shined light into their dark world, or at some point they realized how dark their heart was while sitting amongst lights in a church, a Christian family. Lord, I thank You for those who were willing to not avoid this crooked and perverse generation, but to work out their salvation in the midst of it. Who didn’t run and hide with other lights, but were willing to shine among the dark.
Lord, I don’t know where anybody’s heart is this morning. I pray for the one who’s living in the darkness, and doesn’t know You as their Savior, that they would recognize that this is the light shining in their life today, and it’s the light of Jesus shining on their heart, inviting them to come and receive Your gift of salvation, giving them hope and purpose in this big old world. I pray that You would lay that on them today, so that You would draw them. Lord, maybe there’s others. Maybe they have. They’ve looked around, as all of us do at one point, and say, “It’s hopeless. How can we do anything in this world? It’s so bad.” Lord, it’s been bad. It’s always been bad.
Lord, though we are over-informed, I pray that in that information, it leads us to be willing to be an influence. Would You help us with our burdens and our cares for this world, that we cast them to You? And Lord, maybe there’s someone who’s dealing individually with somebody else, and their heart is burdened for one person right now in their life, that they are longing to see come to Christ or come back to Christ. I pray You give them the courage and the strength and the hope that You’re willing to work through them and in them to make a difference in that person’s life. I pray they don’t give up. Help them, please.
Lord, use us. Use this church. Be that light that You’ve called us to be, no matter how wicked, how crooked, and perverse this nation gets. We’ll ask You to help us through this. Amen.
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