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And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:5 KJV)  We have seen in our previous discourse that Jesus had in him what the Bible called Life. We have also been able to establish that man has a life that is very much different from that which is in Christ. In fact, the man's life was described as darkness. Whereas in Christ is the Life that is the light of all men.  What is light? Science defines light as the visible electromagnetic radiation. It is a source of illumination.  There are a few things in this world that have the power of luminosity . The sun and the stars are natural examples of God's creation with the power of luminosity. It is now common knowledge that the moon has no such power. Many objects that do not have this power may seem to be in the presence of the slightest flicker of light. Diamonds have no radiance in the absence of light. There is that inherent power needed for an object to be luminous or have the ...

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.   (John 3:19) This is one of the most astounding portions in the scriptures which I would want us to carefully consider today. I believe most of us would rather there was the word "some" before this generalization that men loved darkness.  ...that light is come into the world, but "some" men loved darkness rather than light… I don't like darkness and I am sure most of us don't save those "some" that loved darkness. This may just be the general position for most of us whenever we come across this passage.  Please allow me to turn us again to a scripture we touched in the last message, which we took from the Gospel according to John chapter 1 verse 4. In Him was Life... The question that comes to my mind reading this is , what then is in me? If in Jesus is life, is death then in me? Or if in Jesus is ...

The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. (Matthew 4:16 KJV) In him was life; and the life was the light of men . (John 1:4 KJV) How do you feel being in gross darkness?  Can you imagine you being wide awake in the dead of the night without any source of light and just staring into darkness. Now imagine this in an unending night. This scripture talks about the people which sat in darkness. It did not say people who slept in darkness. You have no concerns for the darkness while sleeping. Sitting is a restful position. This indicates a settlement in their condition. They have no light and have gotten so used to the darkness around them groping their way through life. One can grope from one place to another and become so familiar with that path or route that one becomes very confident and quicker with movement through that path. This scripture, quoted from Isaiah (9:2) actually read "walked ...

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27 KJV) What does it mean to follow Jesus? Luke 9:23 in the Amplified version paraphrased it thus: “cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also” Dictionary defines “follow” as to go after, to pursue or move behind in the same path or direction. It means to keep watch or track of, to walk in a course, to attend closely. From the Scripture verse above, we will note that bearing our crosses should ultimately lead to following​ Jesus for us to be fully qualified as disciples. To be a follower of Jesus is to relinquish the driver's seat of our lives to Him. To be His follower means to be led by Him (Romans 8:14). When one is yoked to Jesus, you will ultimately go wherever He goes and stop wherever He stops. This is contrary to our nature and most difficult (humanly speaking), to do. One major reason why man (unregenerated) finds this most...

Now let us take a look at the second condition  which is “... taking up your cross daily…”. What is the cross here? The cross in time past has been a sign of suffering, condemnation and death. If you were to see someone bearing  a cross along the street being followed by soldiers in those days, it is known to all that​ such a person will not be returning from the journey. If that man were to be owing you, that will be a bad debt. And if you were the one that owed the man, it will definitely be of little or no concern to him again. What is this cross the Lord is calling us to take up daily? Let us take a look at what His own Cross meant.. What is the Cross of Christ? Hebrews 12:2 sheds good light on what the cross is. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The Cross was an experience Jesus Christ encountered on the path ...

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23 NIV) Now, let us take a look at the conditions to be a disciple. From the passage above, we see Jesus state, in clear terms, the conditions for being a follower/learner of his. “Whoever wants…” tells me the call is open to all (believers) and that each person is individually responsible for deciding whether he or she wants to be Jesus’ disciple. To be a disciple, Jesus said, one must, as conditions to be fulfilled deny himself take up his cross follow him. The Amplified version of the verse sheds more light as to what two of the conditions mean: “And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and,...