Daily Bread Archives

August 7, 2023August 6, 2023

Be A Light Carrier

¹²… I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. ~ John 8:12b

We have the light of life because we have Jesus. And if we have the light of life, then we must share that light. Let your light so shine … Jesus prompted us.

Remember, the night will come when we hide the light of Jesus that is within us under a basket or under a bushel instead of sharing it with the world. When the night comes, then no man will be able to work the good works of Him who has called us to be the light to the world.

Are you a light carrier? Or are you a bystander? Have you received the light of Jesus that brings life? If you would like to receive Jesus as LORD and Savior and thus receive life, it’s free. It will cost you nothing. Jesus paid the full price for you and for me so that we might not have an excuse. It is not His will that anyone should perish; therefore, He gave His own life that you might live.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be A Light Carrier.

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Shine The Light

¹ As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. ²And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴We must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ~ John 9:1-5

Night is the absence of the sun in the sky above. In other words, night is the absence of the dominant light. There is still the moon and the stars that shine their light upon the earth, but the darkness is the dominating force that prevails.

The night will come when we Christians begin to take the light that is within us and hide it under a bushel instead of placing it on the lampstand so that it might light the whole room.

Therefore, when the oppressing darkness of night comes, the Christians, the light of the world, will hide their light instead of sharing it with the world. We see it happening today. We can’t tell some Christians from non-Christians. They look alike. They talk alike. They act alike. And neither emit any light.

Oh, but Brother Kenny, Jesus said that He was the light of the world. True, but only as long as He was in the world, then we, as His representatives, would carry His light to the world.

Once Jesus was taken up into heaven, we became the light to the world. Now we are to reflect Jesus’ light, to guide the unbeliever out of darkness and into the light, not join the darkness or try to look like the darkness.

How can darkness reflect light?

Christians want to be all tatted up, looking like the world in order to win the world. They dress any old how, again looking like the world, to go to worship so that the world will feel comfortable. It’s not about feeling comfortable; it’s about shining your light in order for the unbeliever to see your good works and let Godly conviction consume the nonbeliever bringing a sense of the need for repentance.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Shine The Light.

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Be Not A Part of The World

¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ~ John 15:19

We live in the world, but we’re not a part of the world. In other words, do not participate in the things of this world; they are passing away. Yes, we live in this world. Therefore, there are things that we have no choice but to participate in, such as voting, but only according to Scripture. We don’t vote for things that are blatantly against God. We need to get back to the basics where righteousness is the rule of thumb, and holiness is the way of life. We need to get back to where our main objective is to follow the teachings of Jesus and to be our brother’s keeper.

Without this, we are saltless salt. But the thing about saltless salt is when we become saltless salt, we are of no use to Jesus in His kingdom. Without action, our faith is dead. We are to work out our salvation with much fear and trembling.

But what does that look like? Well, for one, we are always self-disinfecting. We are disinfecting others. And we are always spreading the light of God with others. But before we can start correcting our brothers and sisters, we must do self-correction. We must evaluate our own lives to make sure they line up with the LORD and not with the world. Jesus should be our goal, not to be like a celebrity in the world but like the one who overcame the whole world.

We are called for greater things than the world can offer us. Therefore, we are to live in the world but not be a part of the world because we have been called out of the world. We’re not to seek approval or acceptance from the world. We aren’t of the world. Therefore, if the world hates you because you follow Jesus, cling to the Truth of what that really means. If the world hates you, it’s because you’ve left it behind and have clung to the Light of the World. You’ve clung to the cross, and you are running this race set before you with all that is in you. Be encouraged and finish your race strong and filled with hope, and the LORD will reward you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Not A Part of The World.

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Judge With Mercy and Grace

¹ Judge not, that you be not judged. ²For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. ³Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. ~ Matthew 7:1-5

When Cain was confronted by God after he killed his own brother, he asked God if he was his brother’s keeper. The answer is yes, Cain, you are. And so are we. We are our brother’s keeper, but here’s the catch though, we must also keep watch over our own souls. If I’m honest, this is one of my least favorite verses, but only because of how people have taken it out of context in order to make an excuse for their own sin that they want to live in. The older I get, the more in contact I come with people who are quick to judge and pronounce judgment on anyone who refuses to accept their beliefs. And as time goes on, I understand why Jesus made a point to say this.

It’s easy to judge someone else and think ourselves better than them. We don’t sin like them. We don’t make mistakes like they do. When we act like this, and we make a true self-evaluation, we should easily see that we have become Frollo (the villain of Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame). Throughout the movie, he’s wicked, evil, and unjust, yet he sees himself as better than the common person. As better than the hunchback because the hunchback is deformed and Frollo is not. He then sings this verse:

Beata Maria…
You know I am a righteous man.
And of my virtue, I am justly proud.

Beata Maria…
You know I’m so much purer than
the common, vulgar,
weak, licentious crowd…

Throughout the song, he defends himself. It’s never his fault. He’s never to blame. It’s Esmerelda’s (the Gypsy Girl) fault. She set a flame in him, causing him to sin. He then even blames God.

It’s not my fault!
If in God’s plan,
He made the devil so much
stronger than a man!

Never do you see him look in the mirror and say, it’s my fault. I’ve messed up. I’ve made the mistake. Instead, he becomes more and more evil and wicked without even realizing it. His own pride blocked him from seeing that the judgment he set for others was the very judgment by which he would perish. He set all of Paris on fire and wanted to cast those he deemed as sinners into that fire, but instead, it was he that fell into the fire.

When we are quick to pronounce judgment on others and never show mercy or grace, that same judgment will be how the LORD judges us. So, we are to judge with mercy and grace. We’re not to judge with hatred, but we’re to judge the fruit. We’re to look at people’s actions and judge whether they are good or evil. Whether they need to be corrected or praised. This is our duty as Christians. We are not to want punishment for the wicked, but we are to pray for them that the LORD might show them mercy and open their blind eyes to see the Truth of who He is.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Judge With Mercy and Grace.

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Remove Anything To Follow Him

⁴³And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. ⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell. ~ Mark 9:43-47

These are some very strong words. A very hard teaching that we just brush over. Listen to what Jesus is saying; you have to examine yourself and remove anything from you that isn’t of God. You have to remove anything within you that contradicts the Word of God. You can’t walk in the Light and walk in the Darkness. You have to choose one. You have to make an active decision to pick up your cross and follow Jesus.

Oftentimes, we get so caught up in other people and what they’re doing wrong and how they’re making mistakes and we completely miss our own shortcomings. Jesus is warning us that we have to be self-disinfecting. Being salt is not just for others but for yourself as well. You must take a self-inventory and evaluate yourself. You can’t take for granted that you have accepted Jesus as LORD and Savior, and there is nothing else to do.

This admonishment or warning is directed toward Christians, not the world. It is us Jesus is talking to. If you, my servants, find that your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. Even if it is your eye that causes you to sin, pluck it out. Do not let any of them cause you to be thrown into the unquenchable fires of hell. It would be better for you to enter eternal life maimed or crippled or even with one eye or even blind than the alternative.

The treasures, toys, and fruit of this earth will one day pass away. You can’t even take it with you into Eternity. It doesn’t last forever. Eternal things last forever. Each of us is building up eternal property and treasure. The only thing is our property, and our treasure aren’t always in good real estate. Some of us are building up property and treasure where the moths and locusts can’t get into harm. A place of peace, love, and God’s Holy presence. Whereas others are building up property and treasure in a lake of fire. In a place of eternal torment and destruction. In a place where you have to pay for each and every sin that you’ve committed because you refused to accept the free gift of life purchased for you while you were on this earth.

As long as your heart is still beating, there is a chance of redemption. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. He’s calling for you to remove that sin from your life. To put away the greed, sexual immorality, anger, unforgiveness, rejection, and everything else that is keeping you from wholeheartedly following Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remove Anything To Follow Him.

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Stand Confidently On Scripture

¹⁶All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Paul wasn’t just telling Timothy to judge others by these standards, but himself. This is not speaking just about others, but to one’s own self as well.

First, he says all Scripture is breathed out by God. Meaning Scripture is beyond dispute. It is without error, and it is 100% trustworthy because it is God-breathed. So, we are not indecisive about using Scripture. Neither are we unsure as to its accuracy.

Therefore, we are confident in using it to teach, reproof, correct, and train in righteousness. Now watch this; Paul tells us why. He says that we have Scripture so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.

It is the Scripture that we use to do all of this, not some other wannabe Scripture, but Scripture and Scripture alone. Everything we do, every offering we make, must be seasoned with salt. It must be influenced and founded on Scripture.

Too often, we get caught up in our own beliefs and opinions, and in doing so, we overlook the Word of God and twist Scripture to match what we want it to. This isn’t God’s desire for our lives. This isn’t how God intended us to use Scripture. It’s not to be twisted and taken out of context. It’s not to be changed and misquoted. Scripture is the Word of God that is a firm foundation for our lives.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stand Confidently On Scripture.

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Have Compassion

³⁶When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ~ Matthew 9:36

When Jesus saw the people, He had compassion for them. Why? Because they were harassed and helpless. And He still has compassion for the crowds today. He described them as being like sheep without a shepherd. In other words, they were stray sheep. No protection from wolves. No covering. Without hope or direction. Just wondering vagabonds upon the earth. That’s not what God wants for us. God wants more than that for us. He wants good for us. He wants to Restore us. Therefore, if God wanted that for the people of His day, we should desire the same for the people of our day.

While Jesus was in the world, He was the Light of the World; now that is our call. We, the body of Christ, are to be the light in this dark world. Why? Because we are the only ones with the Light dwelling in us, with us, and through us. We are to share the good news of hope with anyone who will listen. We are to show the love of God to the world. That doesn’t mean we just accept every sin and say, “Don’t worry; God loves you.” No, that means we show them the way of the LORD, for love doesn’t rejoice in evil. It only rejoices in Truth.

Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him three times. And each time Peter responded, Jesus told him to do something. Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep. If we love Jesus, we’ll love the way He loved. We’ll have compassion the way He had compassion. We’ll feed the lambs and the sheep and tend to them. We’ll take care of the sheep without a shepherd and guide them to the LORD. That’s our call. Evangelism and Discipleship. We are to lead stray sheep to Christ and teach and encourage the sheep already there.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Have Compassion.

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Push Back The Darkness

¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:14-16

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.” He was speaking to the people of His day and age and to us here and now. This now begs the question, what is light? According to the Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains:

light, i.e., that which is contrasted to darkness (Genesis 1:3), note: in some contexts with the associative meaning of guidance, health, life, prosperity, enlightened judgment, and other positive things.

So, first of all, light is that which is contrasted with darkness. Which begs the question, what is darkness? According to wikipedia.org:

Darkness, the polar opposite of brightness, is understood as a lack of illumination or an absence of visible light.

If darkness is the opposite of brightness, or rather it is the absence of light, then we had better start spreading the light. Why? Because according to the definition above, light represents all that is good and useful for life.

Guidance
Health
Life
Prosperity
Enlightened judgment
And other positive things

And darkness represents the lack of all of the above.

Without light, there is no life, and we are the light. In other words, we carry the words of life taught to us by Jesus. What does that mean for us? We are to show God’s good work so that He might be glorified. But we must show God’s light now while we still can. A time is coming when darkness will overtake the whole world and forbid the working of light. We have to work while it is still day because night is soon coming when no one can work. Tribulation is coming for the full body of Christ, making it illegal to even say the name of Jesus. Unless we want that in our time, we have to spread the light now. We have to spread the Gospel throughout all the earth and push back the darkness that is closing in on us so rampantly.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Push Back The Darkness.

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Harvest Before It’s Too Late

³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” ~ John 4:35-38

Jesus is drawing an analogy here. He said, “You are saying that there are still 4 more months left before I have to prepare for the harvest. So, I can do other things while I wait, and why not? I don’t have to worry about preparing for the harvest for another 4 months.”

Then He hits them with the reality that the fields are white for harvest. In other words, some of you are worrying about your earthly treasures or your physical harvest; what can I get out of life? You are busy climbing the corporate ladder, but you are ignoring the true harvest. The most important harvest is the spiritual harvest. The harvest of souls. There is no greater harvest, and the harvest is ready now. The fields are white for harvest now.

I looked up why the wheat field would be white unto harvest. Then I texted a farmer friend of mine who confirmed it. Apparently, there are several reasons. Fugus, disease, etc. The disease is usually caused by a lack of proper watering, insect infestation, or not harvesting the grain on time. In every instance of the grain fields being white, it leads to the death of the grain.

I thought about this, and every account can be related back to the harvest field. The lack of proper watering can be related to a lack of evangelism. Insect infestation due to lack of discipleship. Lack of harvesting due to, again, lack of evangelism due to not enough workers.

What am I on about? The fields are white onto harvest in your world. People are dying without being reaped for the LORD. In other words, they are not being evangelized. They are not being told of the goodness of Jesus. They are not being saved! We are called not to keep our light hidden within us but display it to the whole world. We are called not to be silent but to go out and spread the Word of God to anyone willing to listen. We are to harvest the crop before it’s too late and they die. This is our call. This should be our main focus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Harvest Before It’s Too Late.

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Lean If Needed

¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ~ 1 John 4:18

⁸Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. ~ Leviticus 26:8

I remember several years back, we were visiting someone in their home, and the owner of the house was seeing 3 black forms with long straggly black hair. My wife also saw the apparitions. Not long after our visit, the owner actually died in the house.

I went back to the house and was praying and worshipping in the house all day until evening. When the night started to come on, I heard a voice, not audibly, but I heard it in my head, and to me, it was very clear. It said, “The night is coming. Soon it will be dark, and he is coming. If he finds you here, they will have to carry you out also.”

I’m not gonna lie to you; it shook me up a little. Okay, it shook me a lot. But in defiance of that voice, I still stayed right where I was for about another 30 or 40 seconds, maybe less, but about another, at the very least, 20 seconds, and then I got out there.

The hair on the back of my neck started to stand up. I felt like my only exit out of there was being blocked, and I would have no way out. In that moment, without even thinking about it, I second-guessed God coming to my defense.

You see, you cannot cast out or drive out what you fear! Fear is a form of weakness that leads to distrust. We have to trust God because He will never leave us, nor will He forsake us. If we don’t fully trust God, we can’t operate in power. Why? We can’t operate in power when we walk in fear. Likewise, we cannot operate in fear if we walk in love.

My family and I went back to the house after that, and we began praying and casting out any evil that was in that home. We went from room to room in the confidence of the love of God. And to make sure fear didn’t have a foothold in our hearts as we prayed, we went at night and left all of the lights in the house off. You cannot cast out what you fear. And if you aren’t filled and surrounded with enough love to face fear alone, take someone (or someones) with you that will believe and stand in faith and love with you. A three-strand cord is not easily broken. One can put a thousand to flight, but two can put ten thousand to flight. Therefore, lean on your brother(s) or sister(s) in Christ when you aren’t strong enough to stand alone.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Lean If Needed.

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