Live Free with Josh Howerton - It’s Time to Shine | Ep. 53 | Wednesday April 19, 2023

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

The job description of every Christian is to be light in a dark world. Today’s episode will challenge you to leave complaining behind and instead focus on brightening people’s day with Christ’s love. Challenge accepted? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the podcast. So grateful for you today. And thanks for joining us as we attempt to share a little hope, little truth, little wisdom for the journey. And it all comes from God's word, which is fresh and alive and just as relevant as a day it was written down. It transcends all time periods, people groups, personality types, and speaks to each one of us like it was personally penned for us. And it is such a great love story. You know, the brief synopsis overview of the Bible might read something like this. God long, for relationship with people like us. People like us broke that relationship.

So God moved throughout history to restore the broken relationship with people like us. And I love that because God moves. He takes the initiative to restore the fractured relationship and he does it through Jesus Christ. Now you can read all about Jesus

in the first four books of the New Testament called the Gospels, which just means the good news, that God is love and God has come, that He has made the move to restore this broken relationship with him. Now, Jesus' earliest followers, they didn't have a New Testament like us to read. So God inspired different people to put down his word.

Sometimes it flows like a biography, like the Gospels, or this incredible adventure story like the Book of Acts. But most of the New Testament are letters written by those people that were chosen by God and sent to different churches to encourage, to inspire, to comfort, to instruct these brand-new Jesus followers. And one of the letters is the one we've been walking through. called Philippians. And if you missed any of the episodes, you can go back and check them out. But we are toward the end of chapter two. And here's just a simple, great word for today.

Verse 14, do everything without complaining and arguing. Got it. All right. Well, have a great day. I'm just kidding. But what if we just did focus on that today? What if we put that verse in our hearts today? And then listen to the Holy Spirit remind us about the day, come on, do everything without our day. And we do everything without. complaining and arguing. Do everything without complaining and arguing. Do everything without complaining and arguing. Now this goes back to that central theme that Paul addressed.

Don't be selfish, but live humbly. Honor each other above yourselves. Embrace the humble mindset of Jesus. Do everything without complaining and arguing. And here's the so that, verse 15. So that no one can criticize you. They might, some will. But they'll have no real basis for it.

clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights. Now, other versions translate this verse as shine like stars in the universe in a world full of crooked and perverse people. So here's our simple thought for the day. Stop complaining and go shine. Stop complaining and go shine. Let me ask you, what do you have a tendency to complain about? Be honest about it.

I mean, you got something in your mind right now? Is the workplace, school, a coach, the government, your parents, the weather, traffic? Ask yourself, what do I find myself complaining about? And then reverse course and spend some intentional time practicing gratitude. I told you before with the practice of gratitude has done more to stop my griping and whining than just about anything else. So the directive is, stop complaining, and then go shine. When I think of the properties of light in the context of what God is asking us to do, I think about how light brightens.

When we live full of light, we brighten lives. I know lots of people who do that. They're like the sun coming out on a cloudy day at the beach. You know, the sun picks into the... Some people are like that, man. They just say the right thing. They crack the right joke. They show up at the right time.

It's like light just walks into the room. Light also guides. I mean, how many lost campers in the woods were able to find their way out with a flashlight. They saw the lights of a house in the distance or ships at, sea looking for a safe port. Light guides. It brightens. And I love the way light warms. I don't know about you, but I love the glow of a fire pit, a campfire, a fireplace. Everything just feels better around that warm glow. And light is also indiscriminate. Light spreads out its beams.

It's inclusive. It fills an entire room. Even though you can direct the light toward a particular object, a little piece of it still shines on everybody. But the best part about light is this, light chases out the darkness. Anybody when they were a kid was afraid of the dark, I remember I watched this old movie called The Wizard of Oz, and I slept with the light on for a long time because of those flying monkeys. He remember watching a scary movie? You go, just turn on the light, buddy, the darkness and all this creepy music will go away,

because darkness cannot stand the effect of light. I love what John wrote about Jesus, and in him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it, and it never will. Jesus then told you and me that we are the light of the world. That's our job description to shine. Wherever you are, whatever workplace, whatever club, whatever team, whatever neighborhood, whatever family you're in, the job description is the same.

Go shine. You say, yeah, I hear you, bro, but you don't know how dark my workplace is. You know how dark my neighborhood is. You know how dark my school is. that this time they were going through is very, very dark. That may be true, but it always helps me to remember the darker it is, the brighter the light shines. You know, occasionally a little spoken word kind of flows out of me.

I wrote this down at 3 o'clock one morning, after another tragedy in our world. I've always loved how the Bible begins, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light. So I wrote this down. This world has grown dark, surrounded by night, and Jesus cries out, let there be light. When kids are abused and women are used, let there be light. When men are judged by their color or the race of their mother, let there be light.

When hearts are broken and cruel words are spoken, oh, let there be light. When markets crash and hopes are dashed, when dreams are squelched and a friend cries for help, let there be light. When addictions wreak havoc and self-destruction becomes habit, when prodigals are lost and look for a way when depression comes and cloud. the day, oh, let there be light. When children go hungry and corruption robs their dreams because nations oppress and politicians scheme,

let there be light. When Satan spends lies and identities are stolen, when you're made it feel useless and shame becomes normal, let there be light. When minds are foggy and confusion takes over when the truth becomes blurred and love becomes colder. Oh, let there be light. You are the light of the world.

shine, guide, warm someone's soul, a reflection of love from the giver of hope with kindness and compassion, move through your day so others might see that there is a way, a way that brings life and freedom and glory to the only true God who was writing this story, the epic story of love so relentless and fierce that had led to a cross where his hands would be pierced, so all could live forgiven and free from the night, that all may know the source of all light, and this light will never be contained. It cannot be put out, snuffed out, restrained, though many have tried, his light still

remains. May his compassion be caught through us. May his love be brought by us, that this world may spot in us, Jesus, the light of the world. This is our calling, our destiny, our life, to walk through our world saying, let there be

light. So what do you say? Well, you say we stop complaining and just go shy, today. Thanks for letting me ramble a little longer today. I'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries,

of Lake Point. Visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe. Church slash daily drive.