# Don’t Run From the Light

May 11, 2026

Church, it’s a special day. Page 523, if you’re there, Victory in Jesus. Oh, the way you’ll get victories is through Jesus. Page 569, just a few pages over. Forgive me, I’m a little rushed.

Be seated. I enjoy that singing. If anybody out there is glad you’re redeemed by the blood of Jesus, would you say amen? Amen for that right there. Good to see you in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day, and happy Mother’s Day to all the moms. Praise the Lord for all the moms. Would you please stand and let’s give them a hand? Let’s just start all that way.

Praise the Lord for them. Ushers, I didn’t tell you, but underneath the table back there, Brother Kevin, on the right, there are two white boxes. You’ll find a book for all the mothers; I think we’ll have more than enough. The name of it is Fear and How It Manages Me.

It’s not just for mothers; it’s for all of us, I can tell you for sure. But it’s a good book, moms. I hope it’s a great, great blessing for you. It has 11 chapters. I thought this is interesting. How many of you remember Ann Landers? Remember Ann? All the folks with their hands up, we’re getting wiser. We’ll just say it that way. This is interesting. It says this:

From 1955 to 2002, she was asked for advice by mail when they used to use mail back in the day. She received thousands upon thousands—over 10,000 letters a year. Someone asked what the most common subject was, and she said, “Fear.” Fear.

This book really deals with that, and I hope it will be a blessing for you. All the moms, I think we’ll have more than enough, but I want you to get one of those. If we have extra, we’ll do other things with it. I think we may have extra. There should be two boxes. Brother Kevin should be good. We want to make sure we use all those up. Moms are just awesome. We want to get those passed out, and then we’ll say a word about it all.

We’re so honored to have all these moms in church with us today. Brother Richard, whenever you get a chance for somebody—we won’t get Miss Tammy one here. And Ms. Myra, did you get one? All right, she got one already. Good deal. Any other moms? We’ve got extra books. Let me just say this: if you would like to be a mom—now, men, you’re not allowed at this, all right? It’s a shame nowadays you have to clarify that, but just raise your hand if you say, “You know what, one day I’d like to be one.” Just raise your hand. Go ahead. Let’s get these things out. Good, good, good. We got two more here. We’re going to—

Have we taken care of them? Let’s save a couple of them for the nursery and probably Primary Church. Hold those back, but let’s give them out. If you say, “You know what, I’m not a mom, probably never be a mom, but I will read the book if you give it to me,” we have any of those like that? Raise your hand. Brother Richard, I don’t know about that. Brother Robert. Anybody else who said, “If I got the book, I’d read it”? If I got the book, I’d read it. Honestly, we’ve got some up here. Good, good, good. We want to get it to you. Yep, got one over here. If you’ll read the book, we’ll give it to you. It’s not going to do any good sitting on the shelf. Anybody else who says, “If I got the book, I would read it”? It’s not a long book; it’s probably 125 pages, something like that. Anybody else who wants that book? They’re not going to do good sitting back there on the table. We want you to have those. Good, good, good.

Let me just say a couple words about me personally. I am very, very blessed to have godly, great ladies in my life, years and years before I was even born. Of course, I’m 30 now, so that’s a ways back, but before I was even born.

In my family, really, for the most part, nobody was saved. Nobody went to church—maybe an aunt a little here, there, just a touch. But for the most part, nobody was saved, nobody going to church. Someone put out a tract rack, kind of like the rack on the wall there, in a hospital in Plant City, Florida, full of tracts. My grandmother got one of those tracts. She gave that to my mom. My mom and my dad were having just a tough time, and Mom was home alone. She went to the dresser, pulled that little booklet out, and she read that. God just began to draw her amazingly through that tract. Praise the Lord, my mom accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior.

My dad wasn’t saved, and he didn’t want anything to do with it. My dad, I’ve heard him say many times, “Boy, I put her through it.” For a while, he said, yes, but she changed. She got into a little bitty Birchwood Baptist Church. It’s one of those churches with center blocks. Do you remember those old pews, wooden slats, you know? And this is Florida—the funeral home fans. Miss Nancy’s got one, you know, and they would have those printed by the funeral homes. In one of those churches, Brother Mears, Mom got involved, and she just began to grow in the Lord. Dad said something changed in her. The Bible says, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new.” She began to grow. My dad said, “Boy, something changed.” He said, “We’d get in fights. She said she never went back down. But in the middle of the fight, she said, ‘All right, I’m sorry.’” Dad would be like, “What?” He said, “Something changed inside of her.” A revival was coming; the whole church was praying for him to get saved. Just a little church had revival, and Dad went to that—not the first service, but the second service, I believe it was. Dad would often say, “I cried like a baby,” and he walked the aisle and trusted Jesus Christ to be his Savior. They just grew and they took off, by the way. Praise the Lord for people who get saved and sell out for the Lord.

Mom and Dad just sold out for the Lord. Not a year or two after that, they moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to go to Tennessee Temple University. That’s where this boy came along. I’m in Tennessee, amen. Go Vols! Sure enough. I watched Mom and Dad over the years lead the vast majority of my aunts and uncles to the Lord and just be a light. It wasn’t always easy. Back in the day, you’d come to a family reunion or Christmas time, and you weren’t the ones who would curse or drink or chew and all the rest of that. We were the odd ones out, but Mom and Dad stood firm, and God used them greatly in our family. It all came from my mom, and God worked in and through her life in a great way. I’m so thankful for my mom and how God used her.

Then I thank God for the godly mother of my children. Tammy was not raised in the church, and she never wanted to be a pastor’s wife. But God has a sense of humor. She said, “Well, Paul, wherever God’s calling you, I’ll follow.” For all these 26 years, she just said, “All right, the Lord wants you there, I’ll do it.”

She doesn’t like it. She’s good at music; she’s talented and all that. She doesn’t mind playing, but she doesn’t like it when everybody’s looking at her like you are right now. But she didn’t tell our kids, “Oh, you’re the preacher’s kid, so you’ve got to be perfect.” She didn’t do that. She didn’t say, “Oh, you’re the preacher’s kid, so we’ve got to be there.” She said, “Man, it’s great. We get to be involved in everything at church. You get to see everything going on at church.” Praise the Lord, both my kids are in church today.

My son, I was teasing with him yesterday, he runs the PA booth, what not, at the church he goes to. I said, “John, you sleep during church? You just turn the microphone up and down a little bit.” He said, “Well, pretty much, Dad.” We were joking, but he’s in church. My daughter, of course, she’s not a mom, but she is a mom for about eight hours a day, mothering in school. She’s a teacher in her school. I’m blessed with great, great ladies in my life. I just want to say, praise God, for all the mothers. You’re just awesome. You really are. Praise the Lord for you.

Now we’ll just change gears for a minute here about Mother’s Day. If I read it right, there are some people for whom it’s a little bit of a hurting day. I think of someone whose mom’s in jail today. I think of someone whose mom, on her deathbed, you tried to hug her, and she wouldn’t hug you. I think of someone whose mom said so many hurtful things, and you still have wounds and scars. Can I just say a word to those people like that today? Can I say, first of all, God hurts with you? You’re not alone. He hurts with you.

I’d say this: I don’t know that Jesus had a perfect relationship. Now, He was perfect, but I don’t think He had a perfect relationship with His mother. You say, “Wait, what?” That’s a different day, a different sermon. But you know, a little bit later on, during Jesus’ public ministry, He was in that house or whatever it was, that building, and there were a lot of people there, but other people found their way in there. His mother and His half-brothers and half-sisters were outside. They went in there and told His mother, “Tell Him to come out here.” Jesus said, “No.” He said, “Those here that do the will of My Father—that’s My brother and My mother and My sister, My Father. That’s My family.” I think there were issues there. I say that to say Jesus understands. He understands. He is hurting with you. He understands.

For those who are hurting a little bit today, God is amazing at bringing good out of tragedy. Can I say, just keep loving Him, keep living for Him. He is amazing. He promised He will bring good out of it. Don’t get bitter. Just keep loving Him, keep serving Him. He will bring good out of it. He is amazing at that.

I’m going to move on here because we have a lot to cover today. But then there are those who would like to be a mom, and it just seems more and more in our day and time that you can’t have children. Can I say the Lord hurts with you there also? He understands; He cares. Can I encourage you on this? Just keep praying. Keep praying until either God answers or He changes your heart. Sometimes He comes like He did with Paul and says, “No, My grace is sufficient. I have a different plan for you.” When He does that, just accept it. But until then, just keep praying and trusting. He hurts with you, and He understands. There are more and more people in that category in our day and time.

Today is a special day for mothers. We want to do the best we can to make it a wonderful day for all our mothers. I’m blessed to have a great mother and a great wife and daughter. I’m spoiled rotten, as an honest truth, and God is very, very good. We want to make it a great day for our moms. Let’s give our mothers one more hand. Would you do that? Good deal.

A couple of other announcements. In the bulletin, you’ll see this. Ms. Elizabeth Cook is putting this together. It’s a Christian writing group. If you can read it all for a group of Christian writers or wannabe writers—that might be me right there. I just know that’s not me. But if that’s you, we need some good Christian writers in our day time. We really do, and good authors. It’s going to be a time where you get together and share tips and tricks for writing. We have more writers in this church than I realize we really do, and it’ll be a good time for you to get together and talk and discuss. The Lord has given Miss Cook just a vision in that. If you see her about Miss Cook—would you raise your hand, Miss Elizabeth Cook? If you have any questions on that, see her about it, and that would be a good thing for you to get involved in.

Our audio-visual ministry is so important in our day and time. Most people, before they ever come to church, have already watched it online and checked it out. If it’s poor quality, there’s a good chance they won’t visit. It’s just so important. By the way, when we get moved to the new building, there’s not going to be one camera; there will be, I think, four or five cameras.

That’s good because you get bored just looking at one view all the time. So many things. We need workers in that ministry. May 29th is a Friday at 6 p.m. If you are involved in that ministry or interested in being involved, please go to that meeting. Our existing software is about to change, so even if you think you have it down, it’s about to change. Go to that meeting; they will train you for that, specifically for the new building also. See Brother Patrick in the back there. He’s the one watching basketball games during church today—playoffs are on right now. That’s a very important ministry, and we need you involved in that.

A couple of other announcements. If you came in that front door, you saw that table with the baby bottles. That’s not for you to put milk in there and suck on during the service. That’s for Portico Pregnancy Crisis Center down in Murfreesboro. It’s a great ministry. You say, “Well, they’ve overturned Roe v. Wade, and Tennessee is a pro-life state.” Praise the Lord for those things, by the way. Yes, they overturned Roe v. Wade—that’s amazing. Tennessee is one of the most pro-life states we have. I’m thankful for that, amen. We can say amen about that; that’s huge. We are blessed in that respect. But the battle is still going on. Sometimes when a young lady finds out the child is not wanted at that time, they go to other states. But if they have a place to go to that will help them—we don’t want to just say, “No, no, no.” We want to help those people. Portico does a wonderful job of helping them, and they give the gospel out. It’s a great ministry. So take those baby bottles today, Mother’s Day, and put whatever you like in there as far as money—change, a check. Just give to that, and bring those bottles in. Have those in by Father’s Day, at least. We need to get those back. We’ve done this for years, and typically we’ll have a little over $1,000, I think, last year, and we want to do that. She’s going to pick those up by Father’s Day. Just make sure you get them back. You can bring them in and put them on the Lord’s Supper table at any time. We want to gather all those up and get them back to Portico to be a blessing to them. That would be a wonderful thing.

We have two more announcements. You’re thinking, “Come on, man, we don’t want to hear about…” Well, you do want to hear about it. Here are the things you want to hear: two special announcements.

One is our offering. We needed about $90,000 in order for us to pay off the steel building. By the way, how many have seen the progress on the new property this week? Isn’t that exciting just to see things happening out there? Someone mentioned it to me. I said, “That’s the most beautiful silt fence I’ve ever seen in all my life.” It’s just beautiful. I love it. We needed $90,000 to finish paying all that off so we will not have to draw from our loan. We have the loan available; we can draw from it any time. But once you start drawing from that loan, that monster called interest starts eating on things. I don’t like that monster.

Here is the thing: You did amazing. Some people gave large amounts, but it wasn’t just that; it was people across the board. I don’t know who gives what, and I don’t want to know. Brother Adams, our treasurer, said yes, just about everybody gave extra. Between what came in online and the $14,000 every month we put in, we have right around $81,000 right now. Praise the Lord for that. Amen.

The builders, all the higher-ups, are believers, and they will work with us on that. They know we are just trying to hold off drawing from that loan. This will change matters a little bit also. As of Friday afternoon, we have an offer on this property—a cash offer for $2.3 million. Amen. No contingencies. Yes, you heard me right, cash $2.3 million. That is only God, friend. That is all the Lord right there. Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen, amen, amen. That is a standing ovation for the Lord right there. He is the one that did that. Let me say this: all your prayers. When you start praying, man, I believe in your prayers. Some of you had it on your alarm at 7 o’clock every night, just when God’s people start praying.

Let me say this: I debated whether to tell you that because we haven’t closed yet. This week we are going to discuss details. They seem very favorable as far as us sharing together. This week we will be meeting about trying to get all that lined up—who’s going to pay utilities in the meantime, what if the air conditioning breaks down—all the details. So you pray. Their church is right on the gospel, and that’s the big thing. We kind of say, if they’re not around the gospel, we don’t want to do it. They are right on the gospel. They are after the same thing we are after: people getting saved. It is, for the most part, a congregation of good people, and they love Jesus. They are telling people about Jesus, so we are glad to work with them. But you pray this week as we discuss those details. The contract offer is to close on or before August 31st, but I would love to move that up if we can because we need to get that money to put on that building so we won’t have to draw from that loan. That’s what we have been praying for. So you pray about all those details. Wow, only God, friend, only God. Nobody else—it is just the Lord. $2.3 million cash. I know Troy Cooper has that kind of money, but besides Troy Cooper, who has that kind of money? That’s just the Lord, friend. I’m glad you gave. The Lord deserves it. The blood of Jesus purchased that for us on the cross. Amen. All the blessings He earned them for us. Just thank the Lord for His goodness to us, and keep praying. Keep praying. Let’s keep that up and pray this week that all the details will get worked out.

I’m excited about it. I have to quit because we have the rest of the service. Ushers, please come on. Friday afternoon, I needed to focus on my Sunday school lessons. I turned my phone and everything off. I got my office over here. School was out; everybody was leaving. I was here alone. I was going to focus. I wanted to go online and look up something—a map or something. I was going to look up a map on the Internet, and I saw that email from my real estate agent. I had to click on that, you know, even though I wasn’t supposed to be looking. Once I clicked on that, I couldn’t focus for the rest of the day. Forget it, man! Praise the Lord for what God did. God has been good, and it’s all the Lord. Just praise the Lord for His goodness to us. We are so very grateful.

By the way, praise the Lord for the workers involved. I praise the Lord for Brother Joshua and Miss Giselle, taking our teens. They are doing a great job there. Praise the Lord for them, a great family, and they have a heart for the Lord. Brother Joshua has just a heart for the Lord. I like that—a tender heart for God. Praise the Lord for a young family raising their kids for the Lord and influencing young people for the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless Brother Joshua. Would you lead some more prayer for the offering, please?

Turn your Bibles, if you would, to First John—not St. John, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, but First John. Kind of towards the back part of your Bible: First, Second, Third John, Jude, Revelation. First John, chapter number one. In chapel, Brother Adam has been leading us in singing this verse. Most of you know the verses, but I’ve never heard this one put to song until Brother Adam led us. I’ve enjoyed it. That’s a great way to memorize the verse. I’ve tried to make up songs to fit verses, but if you can’t tell, I’m not a musician per se. It’s the right way to do it. You may be able to do it better than I, but the Bible is awesome. First John, chapter number one, in God’s word. If you’re there, would you say amen? Amen. First John 1. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together? I plan on being brief this morning. I only have one page of notes, which is very rare for me. Molly says it ain’t going to happen. I can see her out there saying, “No way.” We’ll see. We’re going to try, though. Verse number six. We’ll start verse number six. First John, chapter number one, verse number six. He says, “If we say,”

“that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Here is the verse we want to focus on today: ‘But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sin.’”

Would you read verse number seven with me out loud, please? Here we go: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son…”

Would you pray with me that God would speak to our hearts about that verse right there? Would you pray with me at this time? Lord, we come. Father, it’s a great day, and we get to honor our mothers. It is a busy day. For this time, would You help us just to focus? I believe You have led us to this truth. Lord, make it real. At times we’ll get to certain points—I feel like more than ever we’ll need You just to apply it to everyone because it will be so different. Would You apply this truth to the individuals as they need it? We will thank You for it. I know it will be You, and I yield to You, Lord. These people need to hear from You today. Father, I pray the Word from Your Word, and we’ll thank You for it. Father, we’re asking for this in the name of Jesus. We’re praying, so we’re asking it in faith in Jesus. We pray. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

I want you to notice this word. He uses this word in verse number six and verse number seven. Notice verse number six: “If we say that we have…” what’s the next word? Fellowship. Now look down at verse number seven: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have what?” Fellowship.

Can I just mention for a minute that 1 John is really like if you got Dad in the living room, sitting down, picture perfect, by the fireplace, and the children and everybody are sitting in chairs and the couch. There are seven kids? No, that’s too many. However, there are kids, and Dad is talking to the family. That is the book of First John—Dad talking to his children. First John is not written per se to the lost world. He uses this Greek term teknania. If I didn’t pronounce it right, you’re probably right, but you don’t know any better anyway. Here is the thing: it is a very endearing term, like “my dear little child.” It is a very affectionate term. The book of 1 John is God talking to His family. It is very important to understand that.

That is why here in verse number six and verse number seven, he is not talking about relationship, because you are already His child. You get relationship when you are born again. In our day and time, there is this philosophy where we are all the children of God, and can I say that is not accurate? That is not true. We are all the creation of God, but not everybody is a child of God. That is why Jesus, over in John 3, said twice, “You must be born again.” That is when you are born into the family of God.

When someone gets saved, God has been drawing them, and He has been convicting them. Somewhere along the line, someone planted the seed of the gospel in there. They say the typical person who gets saved has heard the gospel at least six times. That seed gets planted, it is growing and developing, and God, the Holy Spirit, is doing a work inside their heart, drawing them to the cross. Then there comes a time, a point when that child is born. Moms, you can testify: why do those babies have to come at 2 a.m.? Why do they have to come in the middle of the night? But there is a time—that is when that child is born. When that person takes their belief, wherever it is at, and transfers that belief over onto Jesus, boom—that is the miracle of the moment. They are saved. They passed from death unto life. They are a new creature. They have the relationship. God is their Father; they are His son or daughter. Nothing can change. You cannot be unborn. They are born; they are saved; they are a child of God. They have the relationship, father and child.

But then there is this thing called fellowship. It is your closeness to your Heavenly Father. It is day by day; it is moment by moment. You can have sweet fellowship. You ever have a prayer time where you feel so close to God, and then an hour later, you fall flat on your face, and your fellowship is broken? Fellowship is moment by moment, day by day. It can be up and down because we are human. But that is fellowship—two different things.

Here is something good about this: My mindset for years was that I pretty much had to be perfect to have fellowship with the Lord. That is very defeating, because, friend, there are no super Christians. If you think so-and-so are, you just do not know them well enough. No Christian has an “S” on their chest. The only super Christian is Jesus Christ.

It was so refreshing for me when, several years back, verse number seven spoke to my heart, because I had that mindset: If I am going to be close to God, I have to pray just a certain amount every day. I have to read my Bible. I have to do everything just right, and I was so defeated. It was a good day when God showed me that verse number seven. Go back to verse number seven. What does he say? “But if we…” What do you have to do to have fellowship with Him? That is what God’s Word says: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” That was so encouraging. It was so liberating. All I have to do is walk in the light. That is what He said to you and to me. To have fellowship with Him, you just have to walk in the light.

For just a few minutes, can I take this? If you remember one thing today, if you are already saved, remember this: Don’t run from the light. That is the key. You say, “Of course I won’t do that.” Oh, you do. We all have done it, friend. Don’t run from the light. Let’s get real for a second here. All of us mess up.

Look at the next verse. We didn’t read it. Look at verse number eight. Our Father is saying, “Look, fella, look, girl, you are going to mess up.” Verse number eight: “If we say that we have no sin…” It is amazing how many people are deceived. They think they have it all together, and they haven’t a clue. “We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Look at verse number 10: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” In other words, you are going to mess up. Here is the key: When you mess up, don’t run from the light.

God is not up in heaven with a baseball bat, just waiting for you to mess up one time. The Lord is not waiting up in heaven with a bat. He is not waiting up there because you did not pray quite long enough or you slept in. I am not saying He likes all that, but He is not up in heaven waiting. You did witness to somebody; God is not like that.

Watch the middle verse between 8 and 10. It is our life’s verse. Verse number 9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Hey, don’t run from the light. That is what He is saying. If we walk in the light, that is the key. When you mess up—and you will mess up, all of us mess up—the temptation will be to run from the light. That is what the devil wants, because fellowship with Him is amazing. We all have a God-sized hole in our heart, and fellowship with Him is what will fill that hole. There is warmth there; there is joy there—“in Thy presence is the fullness of joy.”

That is the area where you rewrite your brain: where you have fellowship. You work at your fellowship with the Lord. Victory over sin, joy, peace, value to your life, self-worth—all that is found in fellowship with the Lord. The key to having fellowship with the Lord is not being perfect because nobody is perfect, but it is found in walking in the light. So when you mess up, Satan is going to do his best, and your own heart will condemn you. First John says later on in chapter 3. Say, “Nope, I’m not going to run from the light. I’m going to get honest. I’m going to confess.”

By the way, that word “confess,” if you study afterward, has to do with seeing it like God sees it. You will not see it like God sees it when you run from the light. When you stay in the light, sometimes I say, “Lord, I know my stuff up there, but I don’t think I really sing it like You see it.” I am trying not to run from it, and I will stay there: “Lord, I’m sorry, but would You help me see it like You do?” It is amazing; it is in the light when you truly can confess. When you run from the light, that is darkness, and you really cannot see yourself very well. The key is, don’t run from the light. Stay in there, friend.

Proverbs 28 and verse number 13 says, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” It makes me think of that verse. I have had men come into my office and say, “Pastor,” and they will start talking, and I will say, “You are battling pornography; you fell in pornography,” and their head will hang. Usually, the first verse I mention is that one: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” It is a promise from God—shall have mercy. Thank you for coming and being honest. I am not the Lord, but I want to try to help you if I can. Thank you for stopping covering it all up and trying to be open enough. God says you will have mercy. Same thing: stay in the light.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” Look at it this way. Let’s just say the light is over there. Let’s say that speaker right there is the light. Now, I know it is black, but let’s just pretend. You have a good imagination. That is the light.

When you get saved, you are part of the family of God. But if you are going to have fellowship with Him, you are walking toward the light. As you get closer to the light, you notice that no matter where you are, the sun comes up and begins to bring a little warmth. Even when it is cold wintertime, typically it is warmer in the daytime. You get warmth. The sun coming up chases away the fear. You get warmth; you get accepted by this light, this love of the Lord.

As you are getting closer, here is what is going to happen: As you get closer to the light, you know what happens? You get closer in light? Oh, man, I have a spot. How many men have spots on their shirts right along here? Be honest with it. If someone could find a detergent that takes spots out of men’s shirts right along the belly line, we could build that building quickly. But as you get in the light, you start seeing how dirty you are. That is going to be the telling moment. You are getting that warmth; everything you need is coming from that light from the Lord. Yet you will see your dirtiness. It is just part of it.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” He is righteous; He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. As you get closer to Him, it is going to reveal some things about you. That is the moment you will be tempted to run from the light. That equals failure, friends—defeat, discouragement, depression.

But keep walking in the light. “Lord, You are right. I have some sins. I have some flaws.” You are right, Lord. I am going to confess it. I want to see it like You see it, Lord. You are going to have fellowship not by being perfect because nobody is perfect; you are going to have fellowship by walking in the light. Stay in there. Don’t run from the light.

That is thought number one. Go back to verse number seven. Don’t run from the light. Then I want you to see this: What did he say in verse number seven? He says, “But if we what?” Walk. It is not just standing still; you are walking.

As you walk in the light, and it is bright, you can see things around you. Walking toward the light gives you direction. You can see when there is a fork in the road. You can see there is a root in the road; you can see there is a pit in the road. You follow that, and you have light. As you walk in the light, here is what happens: As you are walking in fellowship with God, you begin to learn so many things. Sometimes you see things about yourself. I am 56. I feel like I really did not learn myself until around 40 years old, maybe 45. It is part of this walk.

As you are walking in the light, God reveals things about you, and sometimes it is painful. You will have a choice: Are you going to continue in the light, or are you going to get out of the light? I ask the Holy Spirit to make it real to you how that applies to you. As you are walking in the light, it will reveal things. This will happen to all of us; it certainly happens to me. As you walk in the light, it is amazing how we have pride hidden down in our hearts and minds. As I walk in the light, God so often reveals pride that I never knew was there. As you walk in the light, He will reveal your spiritual gifts. If you are born again, you have spiritual gifts. Twenty years ago, a Wednesday night Bible study really helped me learn more about what my spiritual gifts are and what they are not. That was very helpful for me.

As you walk in the light, light reveals things—yes, your sins, but it reveals things. Sometimes it reveals God’s will for your life, your calling. God might call you, as you are walking toward the light, to witness to your neighbor. You will have a choice whether you stay in the light or get out of the light.

We had a neighbor down the corner of our street who passed away about two weeks ago; we did not know it. One of my other neighbors called me and said, “Hey, Paul, did you hear about Ronnie?” I said, “No.” He said, “I didn’t know either. So-and-so just told me.” I thought about when we bought our lawnmower, and that neighbor down the street had a trailer. He said, “Hey, would you help me get that lawnmower?” Me and him went down, picked it up, and brought it back. I witnessed to my neighbor at that time, and he told me he was saved. He said, “I’m back sitting out of church,” but he gave me a good testimony. Years later, I am glad I walked in the light in that instance, and I witnessed to my neighbor. I told my other neighbor who called me, “Hey, you know, I talked to Ronnie about the Lord.” He said he was saved.

As you walk, God might call you to have family devotions. There is typically fear involved when God shows you things to do as you are walking in the light. You are going to be a good testimony at school; there is going to be fear involved in that. Whatever it is, as you walk in the light, God is going to call you to maybe have a Bible study in your neighborhood or at work. You think, “I can never do that. I don’t know the things that…” But as you walk in the light, God speaks to you. He reveals things about yourself. He reveals things about His will for your life. Typically, when He is calling you to do something, there is fear involved.

Look over in 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. We have to hurry along here; we are almost done. You don’t believe me, I know, but we are getting there. But I do not want you to say you have heard this before. First Corinthians 1, look at verse number 26. First Corinthians 1, verse number 26. Notice what he says.

“For ye see your calling, brethren.” God calls His children to things. “For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” God says He typically does not call those people. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty. And the base things of the Lord, and things which are despised, hath God chosen; yea, things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are.

Verse number 29: Here is the purpose of it all—that no flesh should glory in His presence. I read this to say this: When God calls you—you are walking in the light and God calls you to do this or that—it is very typical that you feel inadequate. That is how God works, typically. You are like, “There is no way!” Hey, join the crowd. That is how the rest of us feel too. Those are the ones God calls, so that He gets the credit, He gets the glory. So as you walk in the light and He calls you to do some things, don’t run. Hang in there.

How do you have fellowship with God? Do you have fellowship with God by being perfect? None of us would have fellowship. You have fellowship with God by walking in the light.

Look over in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We read this in Sunday school this morning. Look over in 2 Corinthians 4, verse number 4: “In whom the god [lowercase ‘g’] of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” I was preaching mostly to Christians, but if you are not a born-again Christian, God’s light of the gospel is shining on you today. You have a choice: Am I going to walk in that light and realize I am a sinner, I need a Savior, and turn to Jesus? Or are you going to reject it and say, “Well, I’ll just go off and find another way to heaven”? Friend, the glorious light of the gospel is shining on you today. It would be a great day to get saved.

One last story, as an illustration. When I was a senior in high school, I debate about telling this. Brother Joshua is going to say, “Pastor, don’t tell those; that is a bad testimony for our young folk.” But I went to Christian school; it was a good school. After a ballgame or something, some classmates and I went by a teacher’s house. At one point, we had gone by his house, and it was the fad back then—I am not saying it is right—but it was the thing in our Christian school to go by and somehow the toilet paper out of the restrooms would end up in our cars. Brother Go Forth knows. Our principal told us, “I am not saying I like you or want you to do that, but I’d rather you do that without drinking.” So we were like, “Okay.” He gave us permission. He did chase us one time, anyway.

We were at a teacher’s house, and somehow some of that had ended up in our car. I will never forget, we were in this yard. I do not know if I am going to tell every part of this exactly correct, but the best I remember, a light and noise—and this lady is coming our way. It was dark, and this one guy sees this light and turns and takes off running. Matt—I won’t say his last name; my brother is here today, and he probably knows who I am talking about—Matt turns and is running as fast as he can away from the light. He ran smack dab into a fence post. I was in the car, literally watching, like in the cartoons, where someone slides down. He just slid down that post, and we were like, “Come on, she’s coming! Come on, man!” He could not stand up; he was dazed and crawling to the car on all fours, and we were like, “Grab him! Pull him in!” We took off.

I say that story to show what happens when we run from the light. Don’t run from the light. You are not going to be perfect, but “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.” Would you bow your heads and close your eyes?

I want you to do this, just between you and the Lord right there: Would you tell the Lord? Would you tell the Lord? “I want to walk in the light.” Maybe the Holy Spirit has spoken to you about something that hinders you from walking in the light. I want you to talk to the Lord about it. “Lord, I don’t want to leave the light. I don’t want to run from the light. If I need to confess it, yes, please convict me. I want to get it right. I want to see as You see it, God, but I don’t want to run.” Would you tell Him, if it is sincere in your heart, tell the Lord, “I want to walk in the light. I have to have fellowship with You. If I am going to win, if I am going to be what I ought to be, if I am going to have joy, I have to have fellowship with You. I need that warmth, that acceptance, that honor, that pleasure, that joy, that victory.” Tell Him.

Would you spend some time during this invitation? “Lord, I want to walk in the light.” Maybe here this morning, you have never accepted the glorious light of the gospel. You have never accepted Jesus as your only way to heaven. You are there, and you say, “You know what, I admit it. I am a sinner. I understand there is a penalty: death and hell. But Jesus, I believe You died on the cross for me, and I don’t want to run from You, Jesus. I want to ask You to save me. Would You come into my heart? Make me a part of Your family. Make me Your child.” If that is you, you say, “I know that He died and rose again for me, and I want to call on Jesus,” right there where you are sitting, would you call on Him right there? Right there, in your heart, something along this line—let the Lord lead you, but something along this line: “Dear Jesus, I admit it. I am a sinner. I understand there is a penalty on my sin: death and hell. But Jesus, I believe You died for me, and I don’t want to run from You in the light. Jesus, I want to accept You. Would You save me? Would You be the light of my life? Thank You, Jesus.”

Our heads are bowed, and our eyes are closed. You said, “Preacher, I never have, but I just called on Jesus to be my Savior. I just prayed that and meant that. I just asked Jesus to be my Savior.” If that is you this morning, would you just lift your hand up? Anybody like this? Just lift your hand up. Just ask Jesus to be my Savior. I am not going to call your name or come to you or anything like that. I will pray for you; I will rejoice. Anybody like this, “I just asked Jesus to be my Savior”? I do not see any hands.

Child of God, let’s tell Him, “I want to walk in the light.” Would you please stand? We are going to have a word of prayer. Spend time. I want to walk in the light. Let Him know that I don’t want to run as God calls you. Just be obedient to Him. Father, thank You for being so good. Thank You, Lord, You wrote Your Word, and You made it so we don’t have to be perfect. You know us, Lord. Thank You, at my worst time He loved me. Help us to stay in the light. It’s amazing Your life. Forgive me when I run. It’s a shame when I run from Your light. Help us, Lord, to make decisions to walk in the light. We thank You, Lord, for what You do. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Original File: 2026-05-11 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Don’t Run From the Light - Sunday AM 05⧸10⧸2026