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One Sunday at El Shaddi Orphanage I preached a sermon entitled “Light of the World.” I am outlining the sermon here:

 

Our team is on The World Race which is a mission trip to 11 countries in 11 months. We are now in our 7th month here in Swaziland. At the beginning of the month, we flew into Johannesburg, South Africa. From there we took a van from Johannesburg here to El Shaddi. On the way we had a flat tire and a delay at the border which caused us to arrive at the orphanage around 11 pm. As we traveled on the rough, winding roads to El Shaddi, it was very dark, and we had no idea what the area looked like. We arrived and settled into our cabins in the darkness. We awoke the next morning to the beautiful mountains all around us which we had no idea were there when we arrived in the darkness.

On a few of the evenings while here at El Shaddi, the electricity went off in the middle of supper which left us in the dark, saying “ahahah oh man not again.” We would have to bring out the candles in order to finish supper.

In Genesis 1:1-5, we see that in the beginning, the earth was formless and in darkness. The 1st thing God created was light and he called the light good.

In 1 John 1:5, 7, we discover that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin. Rev 21:23 reveals the glory of God gives light.

In John 8:12, we see Jesus as the light of the world and whoever follows Him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Jesus is our light. When we accept Jesus and believe in Him, we have His light dwelling within us. People can see our light as our behavior changes, we love and serve one other, and we have a positive attitude.

Our main scripture today comes from Mathew 5:14-16. We see in verse 14 that each one of us is a light of the world. When we have a relationship with Jesus we are a light. I view El Shaddi as a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. El Shaddi is a light to Swaziland and needs to let its light shine. In verse 15, we see it is important not to hide our light. We are not to be ashamed to share the gospel of Jesus and to let our light shine brightly.

( I did a demonstration of lighting a candle and hiding it under a pot and explained how the light is hidden from others. When the pot is removed, the light shines brightly.) When we are in Christ, we need to make sure we are on the look out and avoid situations/circumstances that causes our light to go dim. (Our team performed a skit where they demonstrated situations where a person may have there heart broken and therefore their light goes dim. For example a breakup from a relationship. In those circumstances, we need to guard our light by staying grounded in the Word, prayer, and forgiving those who hurt us.)

 
In verse 16, Jesus commands us to let our lights shine before men so they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven. Each of us on our World Race Team made a choice to leave our homes, jobs, families, friends, churches, etc to go out into the world to share our lights around the world. We have seen many people this year who live in darkness because they do not have a relationship with Jesus. Jesus commands all of us to share our lights with others whether it is coworkers, friends, family, etc. It is up to us to shine!

 
(Our World Race Teams did a demonstration at the end of the message where we lit each others candle, demonstrating the sharing of our light with others. We found the more we share our light with others, the more the room lit up. Once all the candles were lit, we spread around the chapel and the congregation joined us in singing “This Little Light of Mine.”)