And the light continues to shine in the darkness. The darkness could not take it over. We didn't realize how dependent we are on electricity until it's taken from us.

When we were in Mexico we used to often have power failures. Strong wind would blow, it would rain, and before you know it the power's out. And then you sometimes have to wait hours for the power to come back on.

Now we come to South Africa we have a new thing called load shedding. Where they say everybody's using too much power so they just switch you off for a couple of hours to try and recoup. Same kind of thing.

Everything is going great until the power's gone and suddenly you are helpless. It's just nothing you can do. You get bored for a couple of hours not knowing what to do with yourself.

Now the worst is when it's dark because without electricity you can't see your way. You need to find your own supply of electricity to keep the lights burning. And so you may have a generator when the power goes off.

Or you may do like a lot of people are doing. This is a big thing here these days. It's a little jar with the light in it.

Works in solar power you just leave it in the sun during the day and then you can run it for a good few hours at night and provide your light. Without light we're helpless. It's like we are without electricity that produces the light.

Now light is not only essential in the natural but when we come to the spiritual we find that light is very significant. You see light holds a power that can cause us to do amazing things. We can tap into a source of spiritual power and we can tap into a light that begins to shine and while that light is shining brightly God can do amazing things and we can do amazing things in our lives.

But how do we get this light and how do we maintain it and how do we keep it shining brightly? That's what I'd like to speak on tonight. I'd like to start just by looking at the power of light and why light is so significant. Now you go back in the Bible to the beginning to the book of Genesis you will find that the very first thing that God created was light.

Before he even created the world or anything scripture says and God said let there be light. We find afterwards he created the sun and the moon and the stars. So that seems a bit confusing doesn't it? Why did he say he created light and then he has to go and create the sun and the moon and stars on top of that.

I mean light was already there wasn't it? Why did he have to create these things in the heavens to give us light? Well you know I don't want to get too scientific but years ago when I was in school, many years ago, we began to study atomic theory and matter and they had this theory known as the Bohr-Rutherford theory of matter and the atom where they taught you that there was this little atom which had a little thing sitting in the middle called a nucleus and it had a lot of particles in it and you had these electrons flying around the outside. Ever learn the atomic theory in school? And a whole lot of these atoms were joined together to make molecules and the molecules were joined together to make matter and it seemed so interesting, so fascinating. And then as I progressed a little higher in my education, our science teacher said now remember all that stuff you learned about matter and the atomic theory, forget you ever learned it.

Because the latest stuff lies in quantum mechanics where we will show you that matter actually consists of light. Matter is made up of electromagnetic energy which is light. Light is only one of the forms of electromagnetic energy.

Waves. Matter doesn't consist of pieces, it consists of waves. Well that was a bit confusing for me, kind of blew my mind a little bit.

And in time as I learned more about spiritual matters I realized that actually matter consists of something even deeper than that. It consists of spirit. Because God created it by his spirit.

Scripture says he made the world out of nothing. But you see if you break matter right down to its lowest form, it's energy. They've tried to take science and make it interesting and entertainment.

In the early days of Star Trek we saw this idea where you could take a body, a person, convert them into energy, transmit that energy down to the planet and then reform the energy back into matter. It's actually feasible. Theoretically.

Because if you can convert matter into the energy that it's made up of and then remake that energy back into matter, you should be able to do that. Man will never succeed in doing that because only God is capable of doing that. But you see it does prove that we are actually made up of light.

That's why when God said let there be light, what he did in effect was to say let's create some substance from which we can create the world and everything in it. God took that light and he fashioned it into everything that was created. So if you look at matter, matter is really just another form of light.

And if we can manipulate light, we can manipulate matter. If we have the power of controlling light, we actually would have the power of controlling everything that exists in this world. That just sounds like a scientific theory.

But you know it's possible to transmute something from one form into another and there's only one way it can be done. By the power of spirit. Because God is a spirit and God is a creator.

But when God made us, he breathed his spirit of life into us as human beings. Man has in his spirit the ability to take that light and rearrange it. If only we could learn how to do that, we could have power to make things happen in this world.

We could have the power to change things in this world. And you know what? God intends us to do just that. He placed Adam in the world and he said now Adam you run the world.

Whatever happens in it is under your control. God has given to us human beings the ability to do amazing things. If we know how to do it.

If we know how to tap into the power of spirit. If we know how to shine the glory of God's light upon circumstances and upon things in this world, we can bring change. Now light also speaks about revelation.

Speaks about uncovering a hidden truth. We throw light on the matter. If you were to walk into a dark room and not see what's in it, you would fall over something, you would stumble and fall.

But the moment light comes into the room, you see things that you never saw before. Things that weren't visible now become apparent. So light gives us the ability to see things that we don't see with our normal eyes.

And I'm speaking about spiritual light. If we can walk in this light we will get revelation and see things by the spirit we wouldn't normally see. Now what comes with the light is transparency and there are no secrets.

Now that's a difficult part. Scripture says if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we will have fellowship with one another. You know what stops our fellowship with one another? I've got some secrets that I want you to know.

There's some sin in my life I don't want you to know about. So I'm not opening my heart to you completely. I'm not walking in transparency and light.

And that very choice that I make stops the light from shining. So here's one of the first keys. You want to walk in this light.

Deal with the sin so that you've got nothing to hide. Get rid of everything inside that you don't want anybody to see and suddenly you will find that the light begins to shine. Now light can be very powerful if it's amplified.

Some years ago the scientists discovered that they could amplify light and they created light amplification by simulated emission of radiation known as laser. A laser beam has the power to burn up and destroy what it hits. It also has the power to heal and repair.

Laser is used so powerfully these days that they can put a laser beam in your eye and fix your eyesight. They can do amazing things in the medical industry using lasers. Light is a powerful force if it's harnessed and used correctly.

So I want this light. That's wonderful. I'm going to try and show you tonight how to get it. But once you've got it, what use is it? The Scripture says that if you take a light and hide it under a bushel, it is no use.

You need to take the light of God's glory and bring it to the sick to bring healing to them. You need to bring the light to those who are in bondage and set the captives free. That's the whole purpose of the light, isn't it? Now in scripture there are three words which are all linked together and sometimes used almost interchangeably.

They are light and the second one is life. Beginning there we look at the scripture and it says in him was life and the life was the light of men. So the key to the light is the life.

In a similar way that perhaps if we could get the electricity we could use it to produce the light. Because the power is contained there. Now when God first made man he had God's life.

God breathed into Adam the breath of life the scripture says and he became a living being. Now Adam carried that life. Adam when he walked in this world before he sinned he radiated that light.

Now how do we know what Adam looked like? Scripture doesn't tell us terribly much. How did Adam operate? God gave us the most graphic picture we could ever see of what Adam looked like. He sent a second Adam.

He sent somebody to be born the same way, the same condition that Adam was in, without sin, born in a manger on the first Christmas morning. And we like to say well Jesus was the son of God therefore he had all this power. No, Jesus gave up his authority, he gave up his divinity.

The scripture says that he left heaven, he left his deity behind and took upon himself the form of a man. If you want to see what Adam was like look at Jesus as he walked this earth. Jesus now is different.

Jesus as he walked this earth came to show us not just what God's like, he came to show us what man was supposed to be like. What did Jesus do? He walked in the light. He radiated the light.

When he came in the presence of demons the darkness got stirred up. When he came in the presence of sickness and disease it had to flee. That's what Adam had.

That's what we were meant to have. That's the way we were meant to live in this world. We lost it, didn't we? Adam went and messed it up for us.

Went and disobeyed God, committed the first sin and plunged entire humanity into darkness. That original sin left a scar and a mark which was then passed down to their descendants coming right down to us. We are now born in that condition where the light got snuffed out because the life within died.

So the scripture says that outside of Christ we are spiritually dead. Our spirits exist but they've lost their power. The light got switched off.

That's the condition we're in. We grow up following sin. Jesus came to restore it.

How did he come to restore it? And herein lies the key, the first key to getting the light, to walking in the light, to radiating the light. That life which was placed in Jesus was sacrificed on the cross. Jesus gave up his life, gave up his life.

Then he rose again in power, took back that life. And now from the throne room of heaven he offers us that life back again which we lost in Adam. Which we lost through sin, which we lost through the flesh.

He offers it back again. How do we get that life? That life is the key to the light because in him was life and that life was the light of mankind. For us to get that light back again we've got to have become a partaker of his life.

Oh we receive it firstly when we're born again. When we only go into the spirit of God something new gets planted inside of us. The very life of the Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit gets planted into us.

And we have now a new life within us. Now what's the first thing that happens? That new life begins to compete with the old life. It's a ruckus.

Begins to take place within us. From the moment we're born again there comes this conflict. And Paul describes it quite well in many places.

He said the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. We can't do what we want to do. There's a conflict set up within us but we have received the life.

And in that life is the key to walk in the light. But that life is going to have to rise up and dominate before the light can begin to show. We've got to let it out.

How do we do it? Let's follow the example of the one who went before us. Our last Adam. The only way that we are going to fully experience his life is to experience death.

Not to that life. We're not going to die to that life. We're going to die to this old life that's competing with that life.

That's what we're going to die to. I don't have to die to the new thing God's put in me. It's living.

It's powerful. But it's being interfered with. It's being blocked by my natural life that I've lived in.

It has to come a time when I choose to make an exchange. My life for his. It's really quite an unequal swap.

He gets the raw end of the deal. He gets our miserable old life. We get his full, perfect life.

But until you're prepared to make that switch. And it is a switch. It's the switch that puts on the lights.

Letting go of the old life. Giving it over to him. Allowing him now to live in you.

Now you have God's life in you. And now you have the ability to tap into the light that comes from his life. And to magnify and amplify that.

You need to reach out with that new life. And touch the ultimate life of God himself. Now God is so bright in the regions of his glory.

That God in his essence is the father. It's never been seen by man. Scripture says no man can look upon him and live.

So when God in his fullness appears to man. You'll often see him appearing as a cloud. Do other people speak about the glory cloud? Oh I can touch the glory cloud.

There's no power in the cloud. The cloud actually hides it. Remember when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And he began to glow. The disciples woke up at the wrong time and saw him in his glory. Scripture says a cloud came over him.

Covered him. The Bible says God dwells in thick darkness. Oh this is a contradiction.

No he dwells in a thick cloud of darkness. That will hide the glory of his light from us. So how do we get to tap into that? There's a veil that you'll have to go through.

You're going to have to walk into that cloud. Go beyond the cloud. Moses did it many years ago.

Climbed up the mountain. Stood in the presence of God for 40 days. And when he came down he was glowing like a light bulb.

Everybody got frightened of him. He had to put a veil over his face. So they wouldn't get scared to death with the sight of him.

Well that's all Jesus was doing in the Mount of Transfiguration. He just got into the cloud and began to glow. So you've got the light.

You've got the life within you already. How do we get that light to get brighter and stronger? You're going to have to go through that veil into the cloud. Into the very holy presence of God himself.

Spend a bit of time bathing in the light. See then you'll be a bit like this light bulb you see. After it's stood in the sun for a few hours.

It can come out of the sun. Stand in the dark. And now it has light built into it.

You want to be one of these. I'm afraid there's no batteries for this one. There's no shortcut.

I was going to buy a few batteries and shove them in. No, no. No, no.

No, no. You've got to put it in the sun. In the hot sun for about six hours at a time.

Before it'll charge up. Now that takes a bit of an effort. And it kind of hurts a bit.

Yeah, I could get burned in the process. I could melt. It's a risk you're going to have to take.

See, we're going to have to enter into the secret place. The most high God. We're going to walk in this light.

Jesus said, I'm the light of this world. The one who continues to be my disciple will not walk in darkness. He'll have the light of Zoe life.

See, it demands a relationship. It demands continuing to be his disciple. Continuing to receive from him.

And when we do that, the life naturally begins to express itself in the radiance of glory. You want the light? That's what it's going to cost you. It's going to cost you death to your own desires.

Death to self. Death to your own abilities. Death to everything you are.

Through death we enter into life. And through life we tap into the radiance of the light of his glory. So here we have it.

Our light. We're radiating with light. What for? What for? Look at me.

Don't I shine nice? Don't I look good? I'm radiating with glory. Oh, just look at that brother. Look at that sister.

They are so full of the glory of God. What use is it if we don't take it out into this dark world? Can't keep it to ourselves. We've got to let it out.

We've got to take the light and we've got to attack the darkness that's around about us. Scripture says we need to be as lights in this dark world. See, the light isn't for us.

It's for others. That's what it's for. Jesus came to bring the life and the light of God to this dark world.

To show the world what God looked like. To show the world that God loves them. That he cares for them.

To heal their sick. To set the captives free. To change their lives.

That's what he came to do. And before he ascended, he said, as the Father sent me, now I'm sending you to do the same thing. You take the light.

You take the light. And you go into this dark world. Do the same things you saw me do.

And he said, add a little peace on there. He said, you're going to do even greater things than what I did. But we're not doing it, are we? No, we're not.

You see, the first thing is you can't afford to be selfish. If you're going to walk in this light. It's not for you to hug yourself.

Make you look good. To meet all your needs. You're going to have to care enough to pour it out to others.

That's going to take an effort. It's going to cost you something. Well, you know, we need a bit of motivation to do that.

And that's the third word. Life. Light.

And the other L, which is love. Not any love. Agape love.

Sacrificial love. Love that gives without reason. And if you can't love other human beings with that love of Jesus, your light will just very quickly dim out and disappear.

Apostle John said, he that loves his brother continually remains in the light. And there's nothing in him that can cause him to trip or fall. Nothing.

Nothing. So we get a benefit out of this ourselves. He that hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and does not know where he's going because that darkness has blinded his eyes.

None of this comes naturally. You want to be used by God. You want to see his power manifest in your life.

You want your ministry to succeed and function in this world. It's going to take the life of God to do that. It's going to take the light of God to do that.

It's going to take the love of God to do that. Why is he not going to be able to do it? We are to be the light of this world. We do take the power of God to those around us.

But there's a price to pay for this life. You must be ready to exchange your life for his. Then you must be ready to love the same way he loved.

Unconditionally, sacrificially giving our all. If you can fulfill these conditions, if you can walk in fellowship with him and walk in his light, you will find that suddenly your relationships with people begin to change. Your ministry begins to change.

The power of God upon you begins to be highly magnified and increased. You'll end up living the kind of life that Jesus did. Which was the life he intended for us originally when he created us.

But we've got more than that. And that's why Jesus said the things that I did, you'll do those. But you're going to do greater things than that because I'm offering you more than what I gave to Adam.

I'm offering you something greater because I'm going to the Father. And once I've gone to the Father, I'm going to send the promise of the Holy Spirit. And I'm going to give you more than what Adam had.

Well, have we reached the first one yet? Have we come to the place where we can walk as Jesus walked? Where we can walk down the street and heal the sick? And cast out the demons? And change people's lives? I believe it's available to us if we pay the price. And if we pay that price, our life will begin to fade into the background. And as the light of the radiance of his glory begins to rise upon us and in us, the darkness will begin to flee.

And as we walk into a room, the darkness, as we come to minister to people, the darkness that is in them will have to flee. When we lay our hands on the sick, the sickness, which is darkness, will have to bow. The demons, which are darkness, will have to flee.

It should be the natural experience of every true child of God. The question is, have you come to that place yet? And if not, are you prepared to pay the price? If you are, this is available to every single believer. Well, I don't know about you, but I'd like to radiate God's power.

And I don't care what the price is. I'm prepared to pay it. May the Lord challenge you, inspire you, fill you with his life and his light, fill you with his love, that you'll begin to pour out this light to this world around about us.

We'll see change. We'll see change in our community. We'll see change in our city.

We'll see change in our country. We'll see change in the world. Because the darkness will flee in the presence of the light of the radiance of his glory that's shining from us.

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