The Day Darkness Died

I'm going to get right to the point. The title is, The Day Darkness Died. The Day Darkness Died.

Very interesting thing happened last night. Abram was preaching, and I X'd today's sermon, and I began working on this one at 5 in the morning until about 11 this afternoon. Thank you, media team, for getting the slides up.

But I just felt I needed to shift gears. And what I have prepared, I'm going to do that on Sunday, so make sure, obviously, you're here for that. We're just going to keep this revival fire going as long as God allows it.

The Day Darkness Died. Always remember, the darkness is never greater than the light. It's only when the light fades that darkness dominates.

And I just want to share a few Scriptures, a few things that I think will really help a lot of people. But always remember that the darkness is never greater than the light. Never.

Turn on the light. Watch the darkness flee. What happens though, is the light begins to fade in our own hearts as well.

And to talk about the day darkness died, we need to first talk about the day darkness was born. When God created everything, He said it was very good. But it appears that He gave us and the angels the potential to sin.

God did not create any sinful being. Darkness was born when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Disobedience opens the door to darkness and rebellion repels the light.

And I love this verse, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In case you're wondering who Jesus is, it is telling us right here. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. And Jesus was life. And the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. That word could mean welcome. The darkness did not welcome the light.

The darkness is repulsed by the light. And it's clear here that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is God.

And that's why none of the cults have power. None of the cults have power because they deny the Deity of Jesus Christ. They have followers.

They have lots of money, but they can never say like Peter, silver and gold have I none. But what I do give you, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ, let's get up and be healed. The power of the Holy Spirit.

Cults never have that. You'll never see a powerful, life-changing sermon preached from a cult. They deny the power.

They deny that Jesus is God. And then from John 3, this is the verdict. I love how it starts out like this.

This is the verdict. You know when a judge gives a final decree, there's no guesswork. This is the verdict.

Light has come into the world, but the people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. And let's just look briefly at the difference. Darkness.

Darkness will dampen your spiritual life. But light warms up our spiritual life. Darkness deceives us.

Those who live in deception embrace darkness. But those who live in the light, the light reveals what is true. That's why this huge divide in our nation will never repair itself.

Can't we all just get along? No. I wish we could, but the light and darkness cannot get along. The darkness deceives and the light exposes.

And that's why they're trying to get rid of a lot of platforms that expose the darkness. Why did we have to open up Rumble? Why are we trying to push people to Rumble? Why do I get notifications from YouTube? We're removing this. We're removing this.

It's all these ones exposing the darkness. Exposing the deceit. And darkness also depresses.

Anybody ever felt depressed? The weight of darkness, the weight of gloom and deceit, it's like you're carrying a weight. But the light, what does it do? It uplifts. You ever see the sunlight coming in? And I didn't believe that about Seattle until I spoke there.

And every day I was there for like three days at a pregnancy resource center speaking to their large group of people. It was depressing. The clouds and the little rain all day long.

And the next day and the next day. I'm like, get me on a plane back to Southern California. And that's what the light does.

It uplifts you. But also, darkness will send you on a detour. Some of you this evening might be on a detour to your destiny because of darkness.

It will sidetrack you away from God's will. It will send you on a detour. But what does light do? It fixes that problem quickly.

It gets you back on the right path. Isn't it interesting that Jesus said I am the only way? The only right path? Broad is the way to destruction. And narrow is the path that leads to light and life.

Darkness will delay us from receiving all that God wants in our lives. How many of us are praying for people that are caught in darkness? It delays. It delays.

But thank God the light fixes. The light accelerates as well. So if you are distant from God and you're tired of these delays, and God feels distant, and you feel like you're wasting your life, turn on the light and watch what God does.

Accelerates things. It doesn't mean we don't wait on the Lord. It doesn't mean that things happen quickly all the time.

But now there's a renewed passion because the light has been embraced. Also, darkness diminishes. It diminishes where the light illuminates.

And the darkness does damn unbelievers. But the light saves and sanctifies. And I know there's many here tonight who are listening.

They still live with the darkness of abuse and the pain of trauma, as well as the damaging effects of anger and even demonic oppression. And that's why tonight I believe it is time for darkness to die. But we often have to own it and expose it and tell the Lord to help us.

Help me in this area. And we hear this term dysfunctional family a lot. And if you have a functional family, I'd love to meet you afterwards.

Because of sin, we're all a little dysfunctional. And that trauma, many people, we pray hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people over the years. Trauma, especially as little boys and girls.

Doesn't it, you carry that in to your Christianity. You carry that into your walk with the Lord and it's difficult. And I won't get into a lot of details because many of you, you've heard my story.

And now with both my parents gone, I mean, I loved my dad, but being an unbeliever and from the farms of Oklahoma and that toughness and a lot of anger, a lot of what would be considered child abuse today, for sure, traumatized. My brother went the opposite and he's out quitting school, rebellion. I'm just the go sit in my room for hours, right? The traumatized, the child that's not outgoing and just sometimes the walls you build to protect you imprison you.

And that's how I dealt with things. I was the, let me just go away from the problem. And of course we carry that now and a lot of people didn't know me and Shane's distant, he's arrogant, he's unapproachable.

No, I'm just a wounded child and that's how I've always reacted. I don't like conflict necessarily. I don't like anger.

I don't, like the dog that's been kicked a lot, right? And so I would resort to that time of just away and getting away from conflict. And of course, that's where alcohol came into the picture and I'm 10 foot tall, I'm roll up proof. This is right, this is who, I'm finally being who I am.

No, of course not. And that's why people are vulnerable and they're open when that darkness and when we stay in that trauma, we don't shine the light on it. Praise God for the light.

And although I'm talking to unbelievers tonight as well, this is a very relevant message to believers. As believers, we are commanded and I had lots of scriptures, but I don't wanna keep us here for an hour, just listen, I just wanna worship. I don't know about you, but I wanna just give us a little bit of encouragement though tonight, we are commanded to run to the light, even as a believer.

We're commanded to embrace the truth and we're encouraged and commanded to choose the right path. And I put up there in big bold letters, but I don't feel like it. Let me tell you the secret to the Christian faith.

Do it when you don't feel like it. Do it when you don't feel like it. Because I don't know how demonic oppression works 100%, nor does anyone else.

You know, it's just, it's weird how things can come, there's an oppression and things. And I told Pastor Abraham, I texted him, and I told my wife, the first four days of Wren were hard for me. I didn't wanna be here.

And I'm preaching, that's pretty bad, right? But there's something that just, you know, issues and conflict and the enemy brings in bitter people and bitter words and situations and difficulties. And I wanted to fast, but I didn't, chocolate got in the way and you kind of just get, you get a beat yourself up a little bit too much and I just didn't feel it. But I said, I don't care how I feel.

And the blessings followed that. I mean, to come every night is amazing. And to sit right there with my wife, it's amazing.

The feelings came later and I couldn't wait. I would keep going, but I don't know if we can get anybody back tomorrow night. So, and again, I'm not just talking to unbelievers, this quote will really help you.

God doesn't always give you overcoming life, He gives you life as you overcome. Let's unpack that for a minute, because it's true. I saw it in a devotional.

Actually, a lady sent it to me in the mail last week. They actually, the devotional says this, God doesn't give us overcoming life. And I said, hmm, He does sometimes.

But this is very true. God doesn't always give us overcoming life, He gives us life as we overcome. So I'm like, Lord, where is this overcoming life to go to church? Where is this overcoming life to feel like I'm full of the Spirit all day long? Where is this overcoming? I don't feel it.

I don't feel it. But He'll give me life as I begin to overcome. That's scriptural.

Take every thought captive. That tells me I'm gonna have some difficult thoughts. Put on the whole armor of God.

Get ready for warfare. That tells me I'm going into battle. Make no provision for the flesh.

Don't plan ahead to sin. That tells me I'm going to want to plan ahead to sin. And so I think we forget, because especially wanting the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit, it doesn't mean that we walk around on clouds all day and everything's going great.

I can't even tell you what happened today in itself after three o'clock. It just never stops. God doesn't always give us overcoming life, He gives us life as we overcome.

When I shared that verse weeks ago, it's so important. It says about Jesus, it says, He set His face like a flint, and you can too. And I want to put His image up there if we were able to save it.

Think about that scripture in Isaiah. It says, He set His face like a flint to the cross. Do you think He felt like going to the cross? It actually, we know in the garden of Gethsemane, when you're that much intense internal struggle, and they have a medical term for it, when you'll actually sweat, the corpuscles, I believe, burst, and you're sweating blood.

Look it up. The Bible says that. But it says, He set His face like a flint, regardless of how He felt.

So don't tell me you don't feel like it. I didn't feel worship tonight. Well, good, it wasn't about you.

Feelings, feelings. He set His face like a flint. He went to that Calvary.

Father, Father, take this cup. I mean, there's lots of things I would love to see in the Bible, but can you imagine just standing back in the garden at night and watching Jesus, Father, take this from me. Take this from me.

So that we do have the power to overcome. We do have the power to set things in order. Darkness turns men into monsters, but Christ turns monsters into men.

And since we have, I think I mentioned this a few nights ago, but we have a large following now in the prison ministries. We'll probably hit a quarter million views within a year of those in the prisons watching the messages. And I just wanted to encourage them and we'll encourage you as well.

You're in the best seminary ever known to mankind if you are locked up. Be still and know that I am the Lord. Wait, wait, wait on God.

We kind of joke about this sometimes, me and my wife, but if we could ever go back and get those single years back. Of course, we're kidding, but there's time where you'll never get that time alone with God back again. And if those who are incarcerated, this is the best seminary ever known to mankind.

It's called the School of Hard Knocks. Seek God like never before. And when you're at the rock bottom, make sure you stand on the rock at the bottom.

Jesus Christ, God. And thank God, God does His deepest work in the deepest prisons. Have you ever noticed that? The lower you go, the more God might elevate.

Often, God will bring us to a point of desperation and despair in order to clean all those things out of our heart. Get us to that point of complete brokenness and surrender and utter humility. Have you ever been utterly humiliated? People knew your business, your failings, and you get to that spot.

Those who have experienced the depths of darkness have the joy of experiencing the brightness of the sun. S-O-N. The depths of darkness bring out the brightness of the sun.

And I know I've even had letters written, I know people think this, but I have a life sentence with no possibility of parole. No, you don't. You have a temporary sentence here on earth with the assurance of an early release of your sin.

As if when you embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I'd rather be locked up for life than chained for eternity. And the day darkness finally died, we find briefly here in Matthew 27, this is Jesus on the cross. Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness all over the land.

And Jesus cried out with this loud voice, Eli Lama Zabatchini, that is my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and He actually gave up His spirit. Then behold, the veil in the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split and the graves were opened.

So when the centurion soldiers saw this, the earth quaking and everything happening, they feared greatly and they said, surely this is the Son of God. But remember at first, there was intense darkness. The Savior was crushed and their hope was gone.

I mean, you think you get depressed, think about this. You're following this guy called Jesus. You're seeing all these miracles.

You know He's gonna come back and conquer and it's just a matter of time that you're gonna rule and reign with Him. The Messiah is here and all those dreams are shattered. The darkness comes upon the land.

Intense darkness, the darkness of the human heart, the darkness of the soul, the darkness of depression. I can't even imagine, Mary. But the Bible says the enemy of our soul did not know that Jesus was being wounded for our transgressions.

He was being bruised for our iniquity and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and by His stripes, we were healed. For me, one of the most amazing Scriptures in the Bible is, and I didn't include it because I just thought of it actually recently after it was too late to add it, but when it says that if the devil knew what was gonna happen, they would have never crucified the Son of Glory. That's amazing.

He's like, oh, we got Him, we got Him. Uh-oh. The day darkness died because it says He conquered hell, death, sin and the grave all in one fell swoop.

The day darkness died. And I know it's hard because I'm just like you. Fear comes into my heart, but there's actually nothing to fear with darkness and death.

The death of darkness, or I should say our death, it's not dark. What's the worst thing that could happen? We're with Jesus. The body's deteriorating.

We get three-month notice from the doctor. Who martyred nowadays? What's the worst? We're with Jesus. So death has no power.

There's absolutely no power over a believer. There shouldn't be. But fear comes in when we're not filled with the Spirit and we're filled with the world.

The light has come into our hearts. But remember this tonight, the greatest enemy of the light is the darkness within. The darkness within, especially if you're an unbeliever.

The difference is an unbeliever is actually living in darkness. They're caught in darkness. They belong to the father of lies.

They're on a highway to hell unless they repent and believe and the light comes and shines in their heart. But as a believer, we've been set free. But I don't know about you, sometimes that darkness likes to rain on my parade.

It likes to come back into my heart and into my life and that's why it's so important to make that change because that darkness is competing with the light. Walk in the Spirit, the light, and you will not fulfill the darkness of the flesh. It's that constant struggle.

And I shared this with you months ago, two natures beat within my breast. The one is foul, the one is blessed. The one I love, the one I hate, but the one I feed will dominate.

And I truly believe this, to truly defeat the darkness, you have to make a choice. You have to make a choice to worship God even when you don't feel like it. As a believer, we cannot say the devil made me do it.

Sometimes I hear on Halloween churches, witches are hexing churches and I've never worried about that once because their master works for my master. So it doesn't matter. But the thought life is so important.

Take your thoughts, either the Scripture's wrong or it's right. The devil can't bind me so much that I am un... I don't have the ability to obey God. He doesn't have that much power and authority because the Scripture gives us the power and authority to resist and to keep fighting.

Now, the oppression could be there. I'm not minimizing demonic oppression. Anybody ever felt that, been exposed to that? If you haven't, just get involved in ministry.

But there's commands in Scripture that tell me, walk in the Spirit, obey the Spirit, take those thoughts captive, put on the whole armor of God. Never once does it say, when you feel like it, when you feel like it. There is no victory without warfare.

Who else? I love this song. I don't know if we're doing this song or if we did. I was so, just the worship was amazing.

Who else commands all the hosts of heaven? Who else could make every king bow down? Who else could whisper and darkness tremble? Only a holy God. What other glory consumes like fire? What other power can raise the dead? And what other name remains undefeated? Only a holy God. And I love when Blessing or Madeline goes into that, come and behold Him.

Come and behold Him, King of glory. And we begin to worship. Listen guys, tonight I'll leave you with this thought.

Darkness must be crushed in your heart and in your life, not coddled. It must be hammered, not welcomed. And it must be eliminated, not entertained.

When you allow darkness in your house to entertain you, it will begin to influence you. And I know I shared this a year or two ago, but I liked the illustration, so I'm gonna do it again. Sometimes I use this.

It works okay for little projects, right? But sometimes, Ray, you know what I'm getting? But sometimes, oh yeah, this will work. This is the only thing that's gonna work. See, many times we're just trying to get the devil.

Nothing's happening, but sometimes you gotta bring out the big guns, and you gotta get down on your face before God with prayer and fasting and seeking God with all of your heart. Lord, this enemy will not have my child. I'm gonna just, I'm gonna pound his head.

I'm gonna palm at him. I'm gonna worship you until daybreak. I'm bringing out the big guns tonight.

And when the enemy comes in like a flood, I'm gonna just knock him on the head. Praise God, praise God. We need to get this back in our homes again, folks.

Back in our homes again. Thank you, Jesus. Jesus, Jesus.

Oh, I can tell I'm getting older. This used to be lighter. But don't you, sometimes you gotta bring out the big guns.

You gotta get serious and say, and computer, I'm turning you off for the day. Phone, I'm turning you off for the day. Food, I'm turning you off for the day.

King's stomach, you can shut your mouth. I'm getting on my face before God, and I'm gonna worship Him. I'm gonna call on Him.

I'm gonna pray for my children, even when I don't feel like it. As a matter of fact, devil, I'm putting you on notice right now. The more I don't feel like it, the more I'm gonna do it.

Praise God. Again, always remember, the darkness is never greater than the light. It's only when the light fades and the darkness dominates.

Good reminder for worship. But I wanna make a special announcement. We are living in very difficult times.

So even if you don't feel like it, I wanna encourage you to come to the altar. And the special announcement is, even if you're volunteering, I want to encourage you to come forward if God has that on your heart. The soundboard can wait.

Ushering can wait. Cameras can wait. We cannot be workers and not worshipers.

I'm not talking about salvation. I'm talking about surrender. I'm not talking about going to heaven.

I'm talking about going to the altar and saying, Lord, I need help with this darkness. The best way known to mankind, I think it's the final screen, if I got it to them on time, the best way to overcome darkness is to run to the light. The best way to overcome darkness is to run to the light.

Guys, I could preach my heart out right now on this topic because I talk to so many people caught in darkness. They don't run to the light. Well, golly gee whiz, it's difficult, it's challenging, and I don't know, the church is too far.

The church is too far. I'm not gonna say much, but there's somebody who drove from Canada and Tennessee here tonight. So, I did not wanna pull that one out, but I hear that, it's just, we get in this victim mentality, woe is me.

The Bible says, run to the light. Embrace the light. Welcome the light.

It expels the darkness. No darkness can stand when the light switch is on, when the sun is on. Glorify the sun in your heart, and I will tell you, the greater the challenge, the greater the blessing.

When you break free of that, oh, when you break free of that, like John, who the sun sets free, is free indeed. Remember guys, do whatever it takes. Sometimes you gotta bring out the big guns to get the job done.

You gotta hammer, you gotta hammer down. The darkness sometimes doesn't flee easily, does it? Sometimes you've gotta, the old saints would call it travailing in prayer. I'd read that term all the time in books, old books.

We travailed in prayer all night long. We travailed in prayer before the revival. Abram talked about it with Duncan Campbell.

We travailed in prayer all night. Evan Roberts, we travailed. What are they doing? They're battling.

They're going to warfare for their families and for their nation and for their city. God, we've become too comfortable. We've gotta get back to the old paths of holiness and righteousness and truly seeking God.

It can be a recommitment. You're saying, you know what? I've been playing games too long. Anybody been there? I got baptized at 12 and I ran like hell for many years and then God finally got me back at 30 and I could just tell there was just that newness of life.

Down with the old, up with the new.