CHRIST, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: DR. MENSAH OTABIL – SUNDAY SERVICE MESSAGE, 6TH DECEMBER, 2020
ONLINE SUNDAY SERVICE MESSAGE BY DR. MENSAH OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) ACCRA, GHANA)
TOPIC: CHRIST, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
DATE: 6TH DECEMBER, 2020
TEXT: PHILIPPIANS 3:12
Amen! – Let us rise together wherever you are (or reading on the Label of DMC) as we make our DECLARATIONS OF EXCELLENCE, in this Year of Excellence.
… Are you READY?
SAY WITH ME:Out of Zion, the Perfection of Beauty, God shines forth. The Lord my God causes the righteous to shine forth as the Sun.
His Awesome Hands has formed me; His Creative Spirit inspires my mind. He skillfully guides my hands.
Therefore, I boldly declare: I am set apart for Excellence. The Ruler of the Universe has exalted my horn among the Nations. He sets my feet on high! In His Strength, I rise!
By Faith, I Press forward towards the Prize of my Highest Calling.
I believe in my heart, and confess with my mouth: that Jesus is Lord! He is the Vine, I am the Branch; in Him I abide, in Him I Blosom.
As it is written: God, who commanded Light out of darkness, has shone His Light in our hearts.
We have His Treasure in Earthen Vessels. That the Excellence of the Power may be of God, and not of us!
In this Year, I commit to EXCELLENCE, I commit to EXCEPTIONALISM, I commit to do the EXTRAORDINARY.
In Jesus Name – Amen! – Hallelujah!
… Please be seated!
Last week we focused on “CHRIST THE BREAD OF LIFE”.
DMC NOTES: We can access the Full Text of this Message on this Link:
https://discoverymediacrew.com/Christ-The-Bread-Of-Life-Mensah-Otabil
And this week we will be looking at: CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
And as we consider Christmas and we think of all the lights, that People turn on in their homes.
And I hope you have some lights in your home, around the streets and in your shop.
Now the reason why we have the light is because JESUS IS – THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, has come into our world.
Our main Text is from John’s Gospel Chapter 8 verse 12 (NKJV):
Then 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.”
These words of Jesus Christ were spoken during the Feast of Tabernacle.
Also listen to the audio: Christ, The Light of the world – Pastor Mensa Otabil
… That is what Bible Historians tell us.
And it was spoken in the Temple in Jerusalem, around a Place in the Temple called the TREASURY.
And it is in this Place that Jesus spoke these words.
Because if you look at John 18:20 it says: “Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in Synagogues and in the Temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing.”
And the reason why this is important is because that Place that is called The Treasury is where the offering is taking in the Temple.
That Place had two (2) massive Gold Stands or Lamp Stands.
The Lamp Stands had light on them. and during the Feast of Tabernacles, these two (2) big Lamps, we are lit after the evening sacrifice.
And it is said that when the light were lit (remember the Temples were on a Hill); it will literally brighten the whole of the City of Jerusalem.
And the reason why they lit those Lamps during the Feast of Tabernacle was to remember the Light that God Provided for Israel when they were in the wilderness.
Because the Feast of Tabernacles celebrates God leading Israel through the wilderness.
Remember at that time they were living in Tents and moving from Place to Place.
… And that is what the Feast of Tabernacles hearness.
And during that time, the Bible says there was a Pillar of Fire that led them.
So, in the Feast of Tabernacles they would lit up the Lamps the show the Light of God that led them.
It is against this background, Jesus Christ standing there with those light shining – Jesus says: “I Am the LIGHT of the world.”
In other words, it is Great that you had the Pillar of Fire in the wilderness, but the TRUE LIGHT has come to you. And I Am the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
So this statement of Jesus was very dramatically spoken and the right time in the right context.
- So let us do a little definition of what Light is:
- And then what it represents;
- And then we will look at what darkness is – What it represents;
… And then we will take it from there!
SO LET’S DEFINE LIGHT.
WHAT IS LIGHT?
Generally speaking light is illumination; all brightness from an energy Force.
Light is always Produced from some form of energy – It could be fire or it could be a chemical reaction but there has to be some form of energy that Produces the light.
And whenever we see light, we always want to find out the source of the light.
If for example you are in your home and you see light somewhere – Some Place that is bright; you will always want to go and find out why is that area bright?
Because whenever there is light, there is a source that is Producing the light.
Light doesn’t Produce itself, it is Produced from a Source.
The Major Source of light on our Planet, as you know is the Sun.
And the sun shines and gives us light in the daytime.
In the Night we imitate the sun by turning on our bulbs, to light up our Place.
… So Light has a source.
In the Bible, light is used to represent several ideas, and I will just talk about three (3) of them:
- Light is used to represent GOODNESS.
When we talk about light we are talking about things that are Good – Good works, doing the works of God.
So life begins from God Himself as His ATTRIBUTES.
In the book of Genesis; that is the first thing you see – When God was introducing Himself, God said: “Let there be Light and there was LIGHT.”
… So Light has to do with God’s Work of GOODNESS.
- Light has to do with LIFE.
Being connected to God, having Vitality, being energized, bringing things to life.
Normally; when you read the Bible and you see references to light – It means something Good is being talked about. All LIFE is being talked about.
- Light has to do with KNOWLEDGE.
… The ability to rightly appreciate God’s work!
Knowledge is not just having information: It is the ABILITY to recognise God’s work. The ability to be able to tell the difference between things
When God created the light, He saw that the light was DIFFERENT from the darkness. And He separated them, and named them differently.
THAT IS KNOWLEDGE! – The ability to distinguish between things.
Knowledge helps us to create DISTINCTION.
When Jesus says I Am the Light of the World, these ideas would be implied in what He said:
I. That means everything Good in the world comes from Me.
II. If you want Life, I am the LIFE because light is life.
III. I Am the “True Source” of knowledge. If you want to know the truth I Am the TRUTH.
SO JESUS SAYS “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.”
By saying He is the Light of the World, Jesus also says: *”He who follows Me shall NOT WALK In darkness, but have the light of life.”
In other words; Jesus as Light is contrasted from darkness. He is DIFFERENT from darkness. He is not darkness – HE IS LIGHT!
SO WHAT IS DARKNESS?
- Darkness is the ABSENCE of illumination
… Darkness is basically the absence of Light.
Light has a Source but darkness has no Source.
Darkness only manifest when light is not there!
So, what that means is basically the absence of light!
When light comes; darkness has to FLEE. When light is taken away darkness occurs.
Where does darkness comes from? – IT HAS NO SOURCE.
… So darkness is the absence of illumination.
In the Bible; darkness refers to sinfulness – doing evil works!
Light affects to Godliness – Doing the works of God.
- Darkness also is used to refer to DEATH.
Lost of our Being and Vitality.
Disconnection from God create death.
- Darkness is also used for IGNORANCE.
… Unable to appreciate the work of God.
So, Jesus the LIGHT of the World says: “If you follow me, you will not walk In Darkness”.
Darkness is in the world and following Jesus helps us not to walk In Darkness.
And the reason Jesus says He is the Light of the world is because – And that we must follow Him is because; our whole world lies In Darkness.
… This whole world lies In Darkness – Just as the whole Earth was in darkness before God said: “Let there be Light!”
Darkness is the Natural state of the Earth.
If you leave the Earth to itself it will be dark. The only thing that makes them different is the Presence of God who brings Light.
Where we live our lives Naturally and do things as we want, it is In Darkness!
The only time there is a difference, is when God comes on the Scene – it brings Light to our world.
… So the whole world lies in Darkness!
Ephesians 4:17-18 says: “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;”
That description is a very, very unpalatable description, but it is describing the world as it is.
Our world thus seems so sophisticated – Lies In Darkness!
And there are four (4) Manifestations of that Darkness:
I. Alienation from God.
This is where darknest starts from – When Mankind is far away from God; chooses to disobey God and to deny him.
More and more seen in our world! – People WILLFULLY choosing to be alienated from God.
More and more we are seeing People who are Pushing God away!
Sadly, sometimes even in the Church, God is being PUSHED away! – People have come to believe in “Men of God” rather than in the “God of the Men”.
We believed in the word of our Pastor, rather than the Word of God.
… God is gradually being PUSHED AWAY, even from the Church.
Government are Pushing God away!
They only use His Name just for gaining some favour.
But truly there is a Alienation from God.
The Darkness of this world is alienation from God.
When you go to the so-called ‘DEVELOPED’ world, SOPHISTICATED Society – Who cannot deal with the virus by the way!
You go to Europe, you go to America, you go to all these Countries; God is being PUSHED AWAY!
The first (1st) form of Darkness is when you PUSH GOD AWAY – We are Alienated from Him.
II. That results in BLINDNESS of Heart.
When we turn away from God, we are unable to sense His Presence – So much so that is God stood in front of us, DRESSED IN BRIGHT RED, we wouldn’t see Him.
If God shows up in the Sky and says: Hey, I am God, we will still say hey it is a “Statelight”.
Blindness of heart doesn’t make you recognise things even when they are right in front of you because believe it is a choice!
And so when we have blindness of heart God’s hand will be at work, and we deny it.
We will give the Glory to something else – We give it to Science, we gave it to the Moon, we give it to somebody else.
Blindness of hearts doesn’t make us to recognise God.
III. DARKENED Understanding.
Darkened Understanding is when we Pervert knowledge.
Instead of using Knowledge to be closer to God, we are using Knowledge to run away from Him.
It is amazing the kind of knowledge our world is developing – The Technology, Artificial Intelligence.
But if you watch each one of them; it is designed to take us away from God.
The more knowledgeable the world is becoming, the more it is declaring independence from God.
And that is why Jesus said: “The whole world is in Darkness, and He is the Light.”
IV. FUTILITY of Mind.
Futility of mind is when you think you are so smart but you are not. When you think you know everything, but you don’t.
The other time in our home, we had some ants invade a Part of our home, as it happens – as we go to the dry season, ants looking for water, and unfortunately we don’t like them coming to our home looking for water.
So, my wife called me and drew my attention to the ants and said I should get rid of them – As wives always command their husbands to do!
So, I decided to obey!
I got a spray and I sprayed them.
And whilst I was spraying the ants, my wife kept making sad sound; I said you asked me to kill them.
The ants had no idea there is a difference between their world and ours. I mean they have their own lives which I don’t understand. They are living their lives looking for water.
I just sprayed them, took tissue and cleaned them out!
And as I was doing that, a the thought struck me and I ask myself: What if there is a Being somewhere Who is like me and we are like ‘Ants’ to Him – And He can also SPRAY US?(laughing)
All of a sudden I kept thinking, Looking at the size of our Planet Earth, in relation to our Solar System, in relation to our Galaxy – The Milky Way Galaxy.
The Earth is like a speck of sand and the Milky Way Galaxy is supposed to be one in billions of Galaxies.
So, in the large scheme of the Universe we are not even ants.
So, can you imagined if there is Somebody Who created the Whole Universe, and we stay on this Planet Earth, we try to figure Him out. And because we say, we can’t see Him, we don’t believe in Him.
Those ants couldn’t see me, but sure when I sprayed them they believed in me (laughing)!
Can you imagine People going to a laboratory to fix God? Using artificial intelligence to analyse God, Using Telescope? – It’s almost like those ants looking for a Telescope; we want to see this Big Being in our room.
They actually think the room is theirs!
They Probably think I am intruding in their room; but they are intruding in mine!
The futility of the mind of the ant is the futility of our mind – When we look at everything and we say: THERE IS NO GOD, I don’t believe in God, I don’t think He exists.
Oh yeah He does! He does – One day HE WILL SPRAY (laughing)! Because He has appointed a time to judge the whole world.
The futility of our mind is when we think we are so smart we can figure out God; but we have no idea what we are talking about.
Even in our most sophisticated mindset we are like those ants in my house and human beings we are like that in God’s House, in this Universe.
We are so Proud, we are very arrogant in the futility of our minds – We don’t need anybody we can live our own life.. And then a tiny virus comes to tell us you can’t live your own life!
… It’s not even a big virus. I mean what if the virus was BIG?
This tiny thing, with all our Science and Microscope, all our Development and all the PhD, all the Research Institutions, can’t figure it out!
And now we are half clothed with mask – Still it doesn’t strike us that there is some BIG GUY somewhere that we have to be HUMBLE BEFORE and OBEY.
Jesus says: He is THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD; and He is not just the Light of the world. John 1:6-9 says:
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a Witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the “True Light” which gives Light to every man coming into the world.”
Jesus is the “True Light”:
I. He is BRIGHTER than the Pillar of Fire that led Israel through the wilderness.
II. He is BRIGHTER than the light that were lit during the Feast of Tabernacles.
III. And He is BRIGHTER than the Noon day Sun – As the Apostle Paul discovered.
Jesus is the True Light! Outside of Him our knowledge is like that of an ant.
AS TRUE LIGHT, WHAT DOES JESUS DO!
… Four (4) things and then I am out of here;
- It DISPELS the Power of Darkness
John 1:5 says: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
The word ‘COMPREHEND’ means resist or stop it!
When the Power of the Light of God is manifested, Darkness cannot stand it.
Have you ever turned on light, and the darkness says I am not going? Has it ever happened? You enter your room and there is Darkness; you turn on your light and the darkness says ‘No I can’t go?’
The moment the Light comes, Darkness has no other thing to do than to DISAPPEAR.
“And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Every Darkness in this world, every demon, every devil, every Power, every Satanic Manifestation: when the LIGHT of Christ comes in; it has no other option but to DISAPPEAR.
The Light is shining in your darkness!
And I don’t know what Darkness is around you; Darkness in your family, the darkness in your home, the Darkness in your body; but turn on the Light and He will DISPEL the darkness;
JESUS is the LIGHT of this World! Not only does he despel the darkness;
- He DELIVERS from the Power of Darkness.
Colossians 1:13 says: “He has delivered us from the Power of darkness and conveyed us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love,”
… He comes and He sets you free!
It may be a bad habit – It is so Strong: It held your father, it had your uncles, it held everybody in your family.
But Jesus is the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, and when He comes in DARKNESS LOSES ITS CONTROL!
Pastor mensa otabil
… He DELIEVERS from the Power of Darkness!
You know, we Africans, we have a Specialty in the fear of the Power of Darkness. We have a collective African PhD in the FEAR of the Power of Darkness!
But there is a Power greater than ALL POWERS – His Name is JESUS. He is the LIGHT of this World!
You switch Him on; Darkness has to release its Captive. He Delivers from the Power of Darkness!
I Proclaim Deliverance to be free from every Power of Darkness; from every Assignment of Satan in the Name of Jesus – Amen!
- He DISSEMINATES the Knowledge of God.
He SPREADS out the Knowledge of God, DISTRIBUTES the knowledge of God.
2 Corinthians 4:6 says:
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
When you are a “True Believer” in Christ, there is a knowledge of God and a certainty you have, that no Unbeliever has.
Do you remember when you got Born Again and you were wondering: “So all these were there and I didn’t know?”
It is the LIGHT of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
There is a knowledge in this world that is SUPERIOR to every knowledge in every Scientific Journal; it is SUPERIOR to every knowledge in every Research Centre; It is SUPERIOR to every PhD Thesis.
It is the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ.
… Because that knowledge is the “True Knowledge”:
It is not “Futility of Mind” – It is the knowledge of God! The knowledge of the Awesome One, the Creator of the Universe.
He is MAGNIFICENT ENTITY that we can’t even figure out because you are just like ants!
But when His Light comes, we get glimpses of Him; we get to have an awareness of Him.
And not only, that we are able to use His KNOWLEDGE; and then we see His Power at work in us; and we who are nothing become something; we who have no Power become Powerful; we who were down are lifted up; we who are not Noble are used for Nobelty!
Because of the Dissemination of the Knowledge of God.
May you receive the LIGHT of the Knowledge of God – Amen!
… And not only that! Finally,
- He DESIGNATES us as LIGHTS of the world.
… He calls us the Light of the world!
He now says: “Because you are Mine, you join me in being the lights Matthew 5:14 says: “You are the light of the world. A City that is set on a Hill cannot be hidden.”
You will not be hidden because you are a City that is set on a Hill – Amen.
… JESUS the Light of this world!
So, this Christmas when you see those Christmas lights, they are not just for decorations; they are telling us and reminding you – Two thousand (2,000) Years ago: God turned on the LIGHTS for our world!
By stepping into our world in the form of a baby two thousand (2,000) Years ago; because two thousand (2,000) Years ago; the LIGHT SWITCH-ON and darkness was DEFEATED, Satan was destroyed.
And we can walk in the Light of the knowledge of God in the FACE OF JESUS CHRIST.
I don’t know whatever Darkness is trying to hold you; today, the LIGHT of God will set you free – Amen!
JUST LIFT UP YOUR HANDS TO GOD and just say Lord fill me with Your LIGHT.
Ask Him to fill you with HIS LIGHT, fill your MIND with His Light, your HOME with His Light, your MARRIAGE with His Light, your BUSINESS with His Light.
Let Your Light Oh God SHINE into my life; let Your Light oh God DISPEL the darkness in my Mind; the darkness in Body, the darkness in my Relationship.
Despel it oh God! JESUS LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
Just talk to Him: Ask Him to dispel every Darkness! And ask Him to fill you with the Light of the knowledge of God; not just Scientific Knowledge not just Textbook knowledge.
But the “True Knowledge” of the KING of the Universe – The LIGHT of the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, in the face of Jesus Christ.
CLOSING PRAYER
Lord Jesus, LIGHT of the world.
Thank You for coming to our world. Thank you for turning on the LIGHT. Thank You for stepping into our lives.
And for everyone who has asked you today Lord: DISPEL the darkness, DELIVER from Darkness, DISSEMINATES the Light of the Knowledge of God.
And Thank You for making us the Lights of the world.
In Jesus’ Name – AMEN and AMEN!
Well, let’s celebrate Jesus! If you truly believe you are the Light of the world;
Wherever you go this week LIGHT will be there – Amen!
And no demon can stand before you because you are a representative of the GREATEST LIGHT in the Universe – AMEN
Thank you so much for staying all through to read.
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