Walk Daily in the Light

Well, here in the Pacific Northwest, we can see it. We can probably even feel it. The dramatic seasonal change is upon us. You know, one of the first things I noticed when I came home from West Africa was the fact that I looked out that first evening and it was dark so early. And I was a little shocked, frankly, just how early it was getting dark. I'd been down hanging out by the equator, you know, where the sun is hanging out, I guess. But now that I'm home, I'm thinking, wow, it is getting dark so early. In fact, we're currently losing approximately 22 minutes of daylight per week. I looked it up this morning. Today, from sunrise to sunset, at least up in Spokane, it's 10 hours and 20 minutes between sunrise and sunset. You know, that just goes so quickly, which means almost 14 hours, a better portion of the day, without the sun.

The mornings are darker and by afternoon, the shadows are stretching long because of the low level of the sun in the sky. Again, in the summertime, when it's at its most intense, where we live, I look out and the sun literally rises here, goes way up overhead and sets down over there. But now, this time of the year, it's more like it rises over here and goes bloop and drops right back down over there, just very low in the sky. And you see the shadows that are stretching out in different angles even throughout the day. And so we can feel it, that familiar slide towards the dimness of fall in the gray of winter. And for many people, this season can actually be a little bit of a difficult time. The lack of daylight affects more than just our environment. It often can affect our sleep patterns.

It can affect our energy levels. And it can affect our mood and our attitudes. And, you know, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not completely immune from the impacts of this time of the year. Again, it's darker, it's shorter. There's days I get up and I go grab my coffee and go to work in my office. And the sun's just kind of coming up, but it's basically dark out there. And it seems like I'm busy and the day passes and I get out and it's dark. You know, some of you in the wintertime probably go to work and you walk into work in the dark. And you walk out of work in the dark and you spent the whole day indoors and you've missed the sun. It truly has an impact. There's a real condition known as seasonal affective disorder, or it's called SAD for short, seasonal affective disorder, S-A-D. And it's a type of depression that typically appears during the fall and the winter months when daylight hours decrease. People who struggle with it, again, often will feel tired and maybe mentally drained and even perhaps a bit unmotivated and depressed. Not because something is broken with them, but because they simply aren't getting enough light. It's having an impact on their body. Neurotransmitters are impacted and serotonin is affected. Melatonin actually increases. Why do you get tired and sleepy after a Thanksgiving dinner? There are certain things chemically that happen through SAD. One of the main treatments for this condition is pretty simple, really. It's light therapy.

We drove down today. It was beautiful, kind of cloudy, but as Mr. Oliver mentioned, we roll into the Tri-Cities. And here's this dark cloud over the Tri-Cities and pulled out here into the parking lot. And the rain is just pouring. And we're sitting there in the parking lot for a few minutes. Maybe this will let up. And pretty quick, I felt something on my knee. And I felt it again. And I looked and it was like, drip, drip.

I was just reading last week on a forum about my car. They said, you know, one of the defects of this car is the sunroofs tend to leak. And I just thought, well, I'm glad mine is good. So, it's dripping on my leg under this dark cloud and I admit I was SAD.

You know, it's that time of the year. But light therapy is one of the treatments. It's deliberately sitting in front of a bright light each day to replenish what the body is missing. And that light, when it is absorbed regularly, can restore energy. It can restore balance. It can restore mood. It can help with those neurotransmitters that are perhaps getting a bit out of balance due to the season. And I'm introducing the sermon with this today because it's an incredibly accurate representation of what can happen to us spiritually. During this time of the year. I want you to consider the spiritual parallel. We've just come from the brightest, you know, maybe most spiritually illuminated time of the year. Certainly one of the most spiritually joyful seasons. The Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day. Right? We spent eight days together with the people of God each day. You know, fellowshiping together, sharing meals together.

Time spent day by day together at the Feast of Tabernacles. And truly it was a joy. We were basking literally in the light. God's Word was opened every day and presented to us. We studied our Bibles each day. Hopefully we were immersed in prayer each day. And we were basking in the light of God, in the light of His truth.

But now we leave that festival glow behind and we move into the darker months of the year. And it's easy for our spiritual light exposure to diminish, too. Because we've had the Holy Days. Right? Started with the Passover in the spring, but even in most recent times, we've had the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles and the Eighth Day. But we've had this pattern that sort of walked us down the trail.

Down the trail of God's plan of salvation, but it's kept us focused and kept us driven as we've looked to the next Holy Day and studied towards that. But now we're entering a time of year again where that's absent. Five months before the Passover and the spring Holy Days roll around again. That's an extended period of time. And if we're not careful, a period of time that could become a season of spiritual darkness.

It's just my hope today to encourage us not to let the light that we've experienced at the Feast diminish. If we're not careful, our focused prayer can begin to fade during these months. Our Bible study can become less and less frequent. We stopped drawing near to God in the same way that we did. Again, the Feast was day after day, and we were brought continually back to that focus. But we get back into life, back into the job, and things get busy. And the world starts to distract us. And if we're not careful, these things can begin to slide. The danger for all of us is that we begin to suffer from what we might call spiritual seasonal affective disorder. A period of long dark months without basking in the light of God. But there is a cure. There's a cure. Just as light therapy restores the body, spiritual light therapy restores the spirit. And so my prescription for us today is the same as my title, actually. And that is walk daily in the light. Walk daily in the light. If we're going to combat spiritual seasonal affective disorder these months between the Holy Days, these five months, you need to walk daily in the light. It's the cure for this disorder that can happen so easily if we're not careful and deliberate. So where does the light come from? Where do we find it? The true source of light that we all need? The Bible shows us clearly where that source is and where we must go for the light therapy we all need. Let's begin in James, chapter 1 today.

James, chapter 1 and verse 17.

Here James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ.

Chapter 1 and verse 17, very familiar passage.

This is, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights. The Father of lights.

With whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

So God the Father is the source of all light. He is the Father of lights. Everything that we can see physically that generates light was created by Him. But all spiritual light emanates from Him as well. He is the Father of lights.

Which means that all true illumination, all wisdom, all truth, all goodness radiates from God.

You know, God's not like the sun that rises and sets in a day.

You know, we've got ten hours of daylight today because the sun is here just for a moment and then it's gone. And then the darkness prevails. God's not like that. The light of God is continual. It never diminishes. There are no long shadows in God's character, no dimming of His faithfulness. There is only pure light, steady and unchanging. And it comes from the Father of lights.

No variation or shadow of turning.

And brethren, that's where our spiritual strength and rejuvenation comes from. Not by trying to generate our own light, okay, in the season of darkness, but by turning fully to the one who is light itself.

God doesn't just generate light. God is light.

The Apostle John reinforces a similar concept. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 5.

1 John chapter 1 and verse 5 says, This is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Again, this is who our Father is. He is eternal. He is unchanging. He is the eternal source of light.

Verse 6, it says, If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. So walking in the light isn't just something that is a one-time experience.

Walking, by definition, is actually continual. Walking isn't just taking one step. It's putting your foot in front of the other, one in front of the other. Continual motion. So this is what it's describing in terms of walking in the light. It's not just a snapshot of light where we say, well, I've soaked it in for a week and now I don't need it again for a year. No, this is a matter of a cycle of continually, one foot in front of the other, walking in the light, walking in the presence of God.

If we say we have fellowship with God, but we allow ourselves to slip back into darkness or to walk in darkness, then we really aren't His. That's what this is saying. And if we say, verse 6, we have fellowship with Him. You know, God, we are in relationship. If we say that, then we must walk in the light, indeed, as He is light.

Understand, brethren, light builds unity, but darkness isolates.

Fellowship with God and one another is all about walking in that light. And the beautiful truth of the Bible is that this light of God does just not stay contained to the Father only. Okay? This is something that is radiated out from Him. And it means that it has impact on others who are exposed to His glory. So, if you're walking in the light and you're exposed to His glory, and you're in the presence of God who is light, then that light is actually extending out from Him, and it's going to impact you as well. Notice how Jesus Christ is described in this regard. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1.

Hebrews 1 verse 1, again, the light of God.

How is Jesus described? Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1.

So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is described as the radiant expression of God's light.

Again, verse 3 says, He is the brightness of His glory. Jesus Christ is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person. Which means that the light of the Father shines through the Son. And when Jesus Christ walked the earth and He walked in the flesh, He was the light of God in physical form, manifested among men, so that when people looked at Him, they saw the light, the spiritual light of the truth and the hope and the purity of God manifested in Jesus Christ. Notice Matthew chapter 4 and verse 13.

I'm taking us through this because we need to understand the source of the light that you and I must expose ourselves to each and every day. Matthew chapter 4 and verse 13 says, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. It's a prophecy that was given in the Old Testament that is fulfilled through the life of Jesus Christ. Verse 16 says, The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and the shadow of death, light has dawned. Light has dawned. And dawned in the world, in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, the Bible equates this spiritual light with truth, with the Word of God, with life, and with Jesus Christ Himself. These are all expressions of, I would say, tangible expressions of the light of God. In fact, it's the primary reason why Jesus was sent to bring light into the world so that men no longer walked in darkness, but could see the truth, could be illuminated by the light of God, and through Christ's sacrifice have that relationship that God so desperately desires. John 8 and verse 12.

John 8 and verse 12. Again, speaking of Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. So Jesus is not merely a light in the world. It says He is the light of the world. He has lived His physical life as the visible revelation of God's truth and love in human form. And He was that light which shone forth in the darkness, that illuminated and showed people the way to truth and life. He's the light that brings life to all those who would embrace it. And so part of our spiritual light therapy, brethren, each and every day, means that we must walk in the light. We must walk as He walked. He was light. He was the light of God in human form, and He lived in a certain way to radiate that light in the world. We must walk as He walked. We must love as He loved. Forgive as He forgave. Observe the days He observed, the Sabbath and the Holy Days, because those draws to God and closer to that light. And we must live a life of service to others, just as Jesus Christ did. And that's what He's inviting you and I to do. When He says, follow Me, follow Me, He's saying, you walk in the light. You express this light in the way that you live your life. You stay close to this source of illumination, which ultimately comes from God. Again, He said, I'm the light of the world. He who follows Me, He who takes up what it is that He did as He lived, shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. So it's a very beautiful concept to consider. And when we live and dedicate our steps to walking as Jesus Christ walked, we are exposing ourselves to the light. Not simply His light. I don't mean simply in any diminishing sense, but in the same way His light came from the Father through Him as He walked this earth in that physical form. And He showed us how this works. And He said, you follow Me. If we ever step away from that example of Jesus Christ, then we step back into the shadows. And we allow the darkness of the world to swallow us up once again.

The funny thing about the diminishing daylight here in the Pacific Northwest is, at least in my perception, it's very subtle. You know, you lose maybe three or four minutes of daylight at the end of the day and three or four minutes at the beginning of the day. But I can't think of any day where I just get up and say, wow, you know, it's getting light three minutes later than it did yesterday.

Neither am I out working going, boy, sure, it's getting dark four minutes earlier than it did yesterday. For me, it's cumulative. And it kind of hits me all at once. And one day I'll just look around and say, wow, where did the daylight go? Suddenly it's dark.

It's, you know, 515, 530. Pretty soon it'll be, what, 358? Whatever time sunset ends up being at its earliest point. But again, for me, it's rarely day by day noticing. But one day it just kind of hits me, like, where did the daylight go? In a similar manner, spiritual loss of light doesn't come upon a person all at once either. It's typically gradual. You know, life's busy. We have distractions. We have things going on. So it's a missed day of prayer.

Maybe two or three or four missed days of prayer. It's a missed week or two or three of Bible study. Because again, life's busy, right? We've been gone for eight days, two weeks, however long our trip was and its totality, and now we're back and there's things to do. People to see. Obligations to catch up on. And if we're not careful, these things can start suddenly slipping away from us. But it's cumulative. And so we suddenly look around one day and realize that the spiritual illumination in our lives is quickly fading.

I'm not as close to God as I should be. And the light is slipping. And you'll feel it. Just as you feel the loss of the daylight physically, you'll feel the loss of light spiritually if we allow it to slip away from us.

But again, there is the remedy. And that's why we must be deliberate and intentional. Walking daily in the light of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Just as people with seasonal affective disorder sit in front of a bright light for therapy to counter the darkness, we need to expose ourselves to the light of God daily. And it happens through dedication to our prayer and our study. And our meditating on the words of God. It really doesn't mean a lot unless we internalize it and we actually live it.

It doesn't impact us, but the light actually will impact us if we internalize these things. And I would say as well fellowship. Fellowship with others who are in the light, who are walking in the light, who are living these same things that you are. Maybe we have to be creative to avoid falling in a rut.

Sometimes it can be hard to say, I've got to stop everything, sit down, open the Bible and read. If you're running out the door to work, there's a lot going on. The kids have activities in the evenings. But sometimes maybe just be creative. Whatever it is that will get you into God's Word. Maybe it's plugging in the audio Bible on your commute to work and back. It might only be 15 minutes that way and 15 minutes this way, but it's amazing what impact it can make.

I was sitting in the restaurant one morning in Ghana at the feast, and I literally thought, you know what? I haven't really done much of any Bible study this entire feast. You know, that might seem kind of odd because I gave the sermon each and every day at the feast. I gave seven sermons in a Bible study. Every day I was there, they had me speak.

So, you know, I'm front-loaded in Nigeria for the first half of the feast, and I fly to Ghana and the rest of their local speakers finish, and then I get to Ghana and I speak every day. But you know what? I had to even catch myself. Yes, I'm looking over my notes. I'm preparing to speak the message that I've already prepared for the day, but in terms of individual and set-aside Bible study, I thought, you know, that's kind of slipping, even at the feast.

And I thought, you know, that really should not be. I opened up my Bible while I'm sitting for the food to come at the restaurant, because I was by myself on this occasion. And I read for about ten minutes through a couple of the epistles of Paul, and it was amazing. For three days, things were popping into my head what I read from those ten minutes in the words of Paul.

And again, it impacts you. It sticks with you if you allow it, but you have to get into the Word. King David understood the value of this point, of finding light in the Word of God.

Psalm 119, verse 105, David says, David says, Right? In other words, it illuminates the way before me, David said. Have you ever gone down in one of those cave tours, where they take you underground, and they turn out the lights, and it is just like pitch black? Literally, that's what it is to live in this world apart from God.

You stagger around, you grope, people trip and stumble, but the light illuminates. And it shows you where and how to place your feet. That's God's Word. It enlightens our minds, and it guides our steps. It reveals what is true and right, so that we can walk in fellowship with Him. And when we study our Bible daily, brethren, we are walking in the light of that lamp.

David said, your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. It's the very nature and character of God that's being expressed in these words. And as a result, the words themselves are light. It's not just God is light, but everything He touches, everything He does, the light shines forth. So these are His words. These words themselves are light.

Suppose yourself to the light. Psalm 27, verse 1, David said, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? You know, he had time. He's on the run. He was on the run from Saul for a period, but he says, my enemies surround me. But when God is my light, when the Lord is my light, and He is my salvation, then whom am I going to fear? He recognized that His strength didn't come from His own courage alone. It came from exposure to God's light. And He was strengthened daily because He ran to the source of that light. And He knew where the source of His strength came from. I do want to turn to Psalm 36.

Here's another Psalm of David. Psalm chapter 36, verse 9.

I'm just going to look at this one verse, but it brings out a principle I think is important.

Psalm chapter 36 and verse 9. David says, For with you, okay, speaking of God, for with you is the fountain of life. And in your light we see light. In your light we see light. Again, without God's light, we can't even hope to see or understand what is right, what is real, what is true. In fact, our ability to see light at all is dependent upon dwelling continually in His light. Otherwise, again, you're simply going to walk in darkness because the absence of light is nothing other than darkness.

So this verse is important. Again, Psalm 36, verse 9, because it actually connects together two very important elements that I don't want us to miss. Life and light. Life and light. Again, David says, For with you is the fountain of life. In your light we see light. We've actually seen this highlighted a couple times already in the verses that we've read. Light and life. And God is a source of both.

You know, speaking physically, every green leaf is a witness. You know, during the summertime, and I look out the back window here, I can still see a few green leaves. Most have turned golden out there. But every green leaf of the tree is a witness to the power of light. Through the process of photosynthesis, which is a word you probably, probably the biggest word you learned in kindergarten or first grade. You know, it was like right back to the beginning. Photosynthesis. Through that process, these leaves take in sunlight, and they transform that light into life. Literally, converting light into food. Into food energy for the tree. The leaf cannot feed itself without the light. The tree cannot grow without the light. Indeed, it cannot produce fruit without the light either. In a very real way, much of the creation around us is built by light. And you know what? That's the exact definition of photosynthesis. If you look up, what is photosynthesis? That's what it says. It means being put together by light, or built by light. Literally, light building. That's what photosynthesis is. And, brethren, that's exactly how God has designed us to be as well. Not just physically, but spiritually. We're literally created to live by spiritual photosynthesis. To absorb the light of God. To absorb His truth, and let it produce within us life. Not just physical life. We're talking, ultimately, spiritual life. That's what grows in us as we expose ourselves to the light of God. When we pray daily, and we study His word, and we meditate on it, we allow that light to fill us. As we're in relationship with God, and His Spirit fills us, that Spirit and that life and that light develop in us. What it is that we need to grow into the likeness of God. Brethren, you and I are being built with light.

We're literally being put together with light until, ultimately, we're in His image. God who is the Father of lights, God who is light, we're coming to be as He is. It starts with our character, but it starts with being built by light. Through continual exposure to God's light, transformation from the inside out happens. It becomes the source of our strength and our spiritual growth as well. David said, I know where my strength and confidence comes from. And it's from God who is my light. It comes from His word that illuminates the path before me. And brethren, for you and I, it is exactly the same, but we have to walk in the light.

We have to walk in the light. John 6, verse 63.

In the words of Jesus Christ, John 6, verse 63, Jesus says, It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing, the words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. The words were what? They were the words of God. Jesus says, I speak the words my Father gave me to speak. And He says, the words I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.

And so when we're filled with God's Spirit and we internalize these words, they work just like sunlight entering the leaf. And the process of spiritual photosynthesis then is happening in us, sparking growth, producing fruit, and keeping us spiritually alive in Him. Again, linking light and life.

Light and life, Jesus says. The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life. And as we read as well earlier in John 8 verse 12, Jesus said, I am the light of the world, he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. The light of life. It's the light of the Father in and through the sun, shining upon you and I today. That gives us life. So clearly, light and life are inextricably linked together.

Light makes living things grow physically, and the light of God makes these things in you and I grow spiritually. So another thing we've probably noticed as we're coming into this fall season, not only are the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler, but you've probably noticed the changing leaves, right, that are all around us.

Daylight is faded, and the green leaves of summer are giving way to brilliant reds and oranges and golds. Darla and I this morning were having coffee and looking out the favorite window that looks across part of our pasture and to the neighbors. And there's a hillside that goes up to the cliff. Actually, Arbor Crest is sitting at the top of that cliff, but there's trees starting up that hill that are just turning brilliant in colors. And we have a neighbor with a barn right at the foot of that hill, and it's surrounded by these towering trees right now that are brilliant yellow and red and gold. And it's one of our favorite views in the fall time just to sit and look at that. And it's beautiful. But what's really happening? Why? Why the colors? What is it that's happening during this season? Well, the leaf is losing its chlorophyll. The chlorophyll is the green pigment in the leaf that is soaking in the energy of the sun. And as the daylight is diminishing, there's not enough sunlight now to literally feed the tree. And so the chlorophyll retreats out of the leaves, and you have the brilliant red and orange and golds that are showing through. They're colors that are always in the leaf, but you don't see them because of the chlorophyll that's present.

But as that starts to pull back, then the lights come through. Pretty soon what's going to happen is these brilliant colors are going to begin to dry up, right? The leaves, they're beautiful for a moment, but when they hit the ground and they sit out there for a little bit, they're crunchy. If you've ever kind of raked those up in the fall, they fall, they become crunchy, they dry up, and the tree enters a state of dormancy for the winter.

And that's a clear illustration, actually, of what must not happen to you and I as we come into this season. Again, the creation is going through this transformation to dormancy, in a sense, because of the season of darkness, because of the absence of the light. But for you and I who have come back from the feast, and we have five months until the Passover, we have to find a way daily to walk in the light.

So that that life-giving energy is never withheld from us, so that we're never absent from basking in its glow, and so that the life energy that we have in this relationship with God, that does not diminish. And we do not go dormant as some of this creation around us.

Again, it's a vivid picture of these leaves of what must not happen in us.

God desires us to be as green trees of righteousness, fruitful and productive in all seasons. Psalm chapter 1, I believe, illustrates this point.

Psalm chapter 1, in verse 1, It says, Okay, it's describing quite a number of the dark places that mankind tends to walk, even naturally. But verse 2, it says, Again, that's where the light is.

It's in the Word of God.

Verse 3 says, It's actually symbolic of God's Holy Spirit. Think of a tree on the bank, and its roots go down, and the river that flows by, and it always has access to draw on those living waters.

And whatever he does shall prosper.

This is the promise of God's light and salvation at work in our lives. It's a result of basking in the light of his promises and his glory. There'll never be a time of spiritual drought if we are putting our roots down deep, and God's waters are feeding us.

There's never a time of withering of leaf. There's never a time of dormancy. Never a season of that among the people of God. Only spiritual growth and righteousness.

But we must walk in the light.

We must be a people who are built by light, put together by light.

So let's practice this, spiritual photosynthesis.

As the trees, it stopped raining out there, and the sun is shining through. It was very dark when we showed up, and there's still a little green on that tree back there, and it's almost like it's reaching and soaking in the light while it's there.

While it's there.

But you and I need to be that way.

Put together by light, recognizing that there's never a season where the light of God is not available to us if we are willing to yield ourselves to it.

Each and every day of our life must be spent absorbing the light and the life from God. And then, not only will we be spiritually energized, but we'll be in a position to actually shine forth that light in the world around us today.

We're not just to be absorbers, we're to be reflectors of the light of God.

Matthew 5, verse 14.

In the words of Jesus Christ, to his disciples.

Matthew 5, verse 14.

Jesus says, you are the light of the world.

Just a short time ago, it said Jesus Christ is the light of the world. And he was, and he is.

But he says now to his disciples, those who follow him, you are the light of the world.

Speaking to you and I as well.

A city that is set on the hill cannot be hidden.

So for diligent to absorb the light of God daily, we become the light of the world in our day and age as well.

And we have the opportunity to shine as a beacon of hope, and to shine the light of truth in this world around us.

Because it is an ever-darkening age, but we can be the light of God shown forth for others to see.

Verse 15, he says, Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.

So that they may glorify who? Not you, not me, but the source of the light altogether, your Father in heaven.

God has called us, brethren, He sent His Son as the light of the world. He has given that light to us, not that we generate it, but we receive it through them.

And we're called then to reflect this light to the world as a way of God's truth, as a way that they can see God's way in action.

That they can see, okay, these follow Him.

When we spend time in God's light, when we pray, when we study and meditate on the words that we've studied, when we walk with God in fellowship, that light naturally begins to reflect through us.

It reflects through our love, our joy, our peace. All those fruits of the Holy Spirit that you can find listed in God's Word, it is an example. It is a fruit of the light.

Fruit can't be produced apart from the light, but it does shine through us and from us.

And just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, we reflect the light of the Father and His Son. We're not the source, but we are the reflection.

So let's, as we begin to wrap up, let's acknowledge the wonderful transformation that has taken place in you and me because of the light.

Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 8.

Ephesians 5 verse 8. The word is the Apostle Paul.

Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 8. Paul says, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

You know, he doesn't say, You once walked in the darkness, although we did. No, he says, You were once, You were darkness.

But now you're light.

And because we are, we must walk as children of light.

Verse 9. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

He says, And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

How do you expose darkness while you shine the light of truth on it?

For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Verse 14. Therefore, he says, Awake you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

Christ will give you light.

That's where you and I find ourselves today, I pray.

Awakened by light and walking as children of light.

And as such, let us commit ourselves to never sliding back into the darkness again.

God said, I brought you out of that place. You were darkness, but now you're light.

Never allow yourself to retreat into the shadows again.

Even though the physical sunlight around us is diminishing because of the season we're heading into, we can rest assured that the spiritual light of God our Father and His Son will never fade away. In fact, the light of God, who is eternal and is light, will endure forever. Let's conclude in Revelation 21.

Revelation chapter 21.

Give me a second to find the verse. It's going to pop in my head this morning, and I was thinking about the light that is of God that never, never diminishes. Revelation 21.

Let's start in verse 21.

Revelation 21, 21, it says, the gates. We're talking about the New Jerusalem, which comes down, you know, out of heaven from God.

This is when God now comes to dwell among men. And it says, the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each individual gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. Verse 22, but I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Okay, a temple used to be a dwelling place for God's presence to dwell among His people, but the point is, God here is literally living among His people here in this place. Okay, so Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Verse 23, the city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and their honor into it. Okay, God is light. His Son is light. And in that day when God dwells with man, in this place it says there is no need for the sun or the moon, because the light and the glory of God illuminates it. What an incredible, incredible day that will be. So, brethren, for you and I, don't be impacted by what we might call the post-feast blues.

Draw near to God, draw near to Jesus Christ, expose yourself in relationship to them every day, absorb the spiritual light. Pray, study, draw near to them, fellowship with them in this relationship they've called us into, and then take and bring that light into the world, because God has put that light in your life.

Jesus said in John 12, verse 46, I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness. This is our spiritual light therapy during this season between the holy days. Brethren, embrace the remedy. Brace the remedy. Don't go into the darkness. Don't let your mood falter in the five months between the feasts and the Passover. Embrace the remedy. Walk daily in the light.