(This transcript was generated by AI. Apologies for any inacuracies)

Today I want to talk in the vein of what it means to be the light in the world as a church, as a people who have been called out of darkness into the wonderful light.

We are a set-apart people is what the Bible says.

We're set apart for a purpose.

And it's truly to leverage the faith that we have in Jesus and help others step away from darkness and step into the light and begin to walk in the fullness of who God says that they are.

Jesus said it this way in the Sermon on the Mount, a sermon that he gave in Matthew chapter five to his followers.

He says in Matthew five verses 14 and 15, he says, you are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp, he says, and then puts it under a basket.

No one has a purpose.

He says instead, everybody say instead.

Don't hide the light instead.

A lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house.

Whenever we put our faith in God's good gift of grace, unmerited favor, his name is Jesus.

Whenever we see the light of Christ and he becomes alive in our hearts, his death, burial, and resurrection, then we are charged with being the light with the gifts that God gives us in the world around us together as a church, as a group of people.

We're to be like a city on a hill and we're to shine bright in the world and help other people, inspire other people to step away from darkness and step into the wonderful light.

It's an incredible assignment.

It's a great assignment.

It's a privileged assignment to help other people step away from darkness and step towards the light.

And how we do that is we put our faith in Jesus to work.

We put our faith in Jesus to work.

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus did a work one time on a cross to rescue humanity from their sin.

And those of us who put our faith in the work that he has done are salvaged.

And because we are salvaged, now he pours out his spirit and pours out his gifts on the church.

He gives us the advocate so we can help other people step towards the light.

The Bible tells us this in James chapter two, as James speaks to people about their faith, he says it this way in James two verse one.

He says, my dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others and other work your faith no matter who the other person is.

It's not about showing favoritism.

It's about saying, you know what?

It's good grace of God.

The salvation that comes through Christ Jesus is good for all people.

It don't matter what their background is.

It don't matter where they come from.

It don't matter how long they've been living in the darkness.

He says, don't show favoritism.

Work your faith.

Say work your faith with me.

Work your faith.

James chapter two, verse 14.

He continues on.

He says, what good is it dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith, but you don't show it by your actions, can this kind of faith save anyone?

Work your faith.

Let's say that together.

Work your faith.

He says in James chapter two, verse 20, he goes on to say, how foolish can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless.

He says, work your faith.

Let's say that together.

Work your faith.

It's not working for our salvation.

Jesus did that work on the cross, but God has given us faith and he's given us gifts.

If we put our faith in Jesus Christ for this rescue from sin and those gifts are given to us for us to begin to leverage them, grow in our faith and work our faith in the world around us.

Let's be a city on a hill, a light into the world.

Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine remind us that for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

So there the scripture makes it clear through the book of Ephesians that Jesus has done a work in our life so we can do a work in the world with our faith.

And again, that passage continues on in Ephesians chapter two and it goes to verse 10 and it says he goes on to say, we are God's masterpiece and we're created anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he created for us to do before the foundations of the world.

In other words, the writer here is saying, look, work your faith.

I've given you salvation.

Now you're a part of a masterpiece and you got good works to do in this world to help other people step out of darkness into the wonderful light.

It's easy for us to be blinded by the enemy.

It's easy for us to begin to go back in to darkness and not really have faith that what God has done on a cross is good enough to salvage us, much less to use us in a dark world.

And sometimes as, as darkness is around us, what happens is we don't have the faith that God has given us in him and what he wants to do in and through us will begin to be challenged in our, our light begins to grow dim.

And God didn't call us to be people for our light to grow dim.

He called us to be people, to be a city on a hill, a light into the world so all people can see who our heavenly father is and give him praise and give him a glory and they can make him their heavenly father too.

So today we're going to learn how to work our faith from an encounter that Jesus had with a group of people and he was teaching his early followers what it really means to work your faith.

And that whole story is found in Luke chapter 17.

So if you've got your Bibles with you, I invite you to flip over to the gospels of the gospel of Luke and as Luke shared the good news of who Jesus was, he wrote down these words about Jesus teaching about how to increase your faith.

I want to set the context for the passage for you.

This is when Jesus and his followers were preparing to go to a Passover feast and at that Passover feast, Jesus was going to be nailed to a cross and three days later he was going to resurrect from the grave.

And in Luke chapter 15, some religious leaders came at Jesus and began to be upset with Jesus because of some of the people Jesus was hanging out with.

And Jesus tells a few stories to talk about why he was hanging out with what they referred to as notorious sinners, people who were living in the dark.

And Jesus basically tells three stories about three lost things and why he was hanging out with what they referred to as notorious sinners.

And then in Luke chapter 16, as Jesus continues on and he's teaching his disciples because they had just encountered this thing with those Pharisees who were questioning him about why he hung out with who he hung out with, he begins to teach his disciples how to be responsible with their faith, how to be good stewards with their faith.

Because the Pharisees, though they had had faith in God, they weren't leveraging their faith to really be a light into the world to draw people to God.

What they were doing with their faith is they were trying to intimidate people.

And Jesus came along and he was trying to inspire people.

And he begins to teach the difference of inspiring people with your faith and intimidating people with your faith.

I want you to know that you're not called out of darkness into the wonderful light to be intimidating to people around you.

You're going to be a light.

You're to draw people.

You're to draw people towards God.

That's who the church is.

It's a drawing mechanism.

Now that doesn't mean you don't sometimes make some people mad.

But what that does mean is, you know what, you don't stand and try to intimidate people with the faith that you have in God.

You begin to illuminate to people what it really means to have faith in God, be the people of God.

So Jesus begins to talk to them about how to steward your faith.

And he says this in Luke chapter 16, verses 10 and 11.

He says, if you're faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in the large ones.

But if you're dishonest in the little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven.

And so Jesus is reminding them, let's be people who inspire people with our faith and not be people who try to intimidate people with our faith.

This is where we begin to pick up this whole encounter with Jesus and his disciples in Luke chapter 17, verses one through four.

The Bible says Jesus continues on.

And one day Jesus says to his disciples, who were following him, he says, there will always be temptations to sin.

But what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting.

He says, it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a milestone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.

He says, so watch yourselves.

In other words, if you're a person of faith, you have trusted Jesus.

He says, don't try to intimidate people with your faith.

He says, no, no, no.

You try to inspire people with your faith.

He says, if another believer sins, he says, rebuke that person.

Then if there is repentance, forgive.

He goes on to say, if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks for forgiveness, you must forgive.

And so what Jesus is teaching us in this passage is a faith that works really is a faith that is humble and it helps others.

It's not a faith that is, look at me and how awesome I am in God's eyes.

And you know, it never reaches out and tries to help someone else step away from sin or step away from darkness.

No, no, no.

See, that's not what our faith is for.

And if you really want to change the world, you don't stand with a pointed finger.

But Jesus does say, if a believer, if a believer falls into sin, falls into darkness, go and talk to them.

He literally says, rebuke them because you know what?

They're not going to move forward in their journey and they're not going to be a good testimony with you as the church in the world.

He says, go talk to them.

And if they turn from their sin, he says, if they repent of their sin, he says, then forgive them.

He says, forgive them and keep on doing this over and over.

What Jesus is really saying is, you know what?

You have faith in God to help inspire people to walk towards the light.

And you're not here to try to intimidate people and say, hey, just look at me and how good I am and how bad they are.

He says, really, this faith you have in Jesus is given to you so you can help each other do this journey.

And you can all live in the right lane, go in the right direction.

And so if we're really going to put our faith to work, we got to remember to be humble with our faith.

Get around people who believe in God's plan and mission and believe God is going to do something through us.

My friend, we are here to encourage each other on the journey.

We are here to build each other up.

And my Bible says, if you have put faith in Jesus Christ, God's gift of grace, then you are salvaged.

You are in right standing with God because of what Jesus has done.

It is a gift.

I can't boast about it.

You can't boast about it.

Nobody can boast about it.

But when you believe in this Jesus, my Bible also says that God pours out his gifts on his church and you got to have the audacity and the faith to stand with his church using your gift and do something with it in this world to make a difference.

Don't miss this.

God says, participate, get involved, do something with your gift and I'll begin to do great and mighty things.

Here Jesus is teaching about faith.

And the truth of it is, his disciples are kind of catching on here in Luke chapter 17 verses 1 through 4.

And then they ask a question in Luke 17 verse 5.

The Bible says the apostles said to the Lord, well, show us how to increase our faith.

You just taught us how to inspire people with our faith instead of intimidate people with our faith.

Now Jesus, teach us how to increase our faith.

Teach us how to grow our faith.

See I think every believer in here should want to grow their faith.

Should want to do greater things with their faith.

Should begin to understand we're here to inspire the world to step away from darkness into the wonderful light.

And your mission should be the same mission that God gave the church.

I set you apart in the world so that you could reveal my goodness to you and use your gift and put it together with the other gifts and get over your differences and rally around the cross of Christ, the resurrection of Jesus.

And then begin to be a light into the world and help other people step out of darkness into the wonderful light.

So simple, isn't it?

But the reality of it is, is it becomes difficult to live out your faith.

It becomes, it becomes hard.

And the disciples say, Jesus, show us how to increase our faith, make it stronger, grow it, make it more effective.

I mean if you want to increase your muscle mass, make it more effective, you got to work it out.

It's no different with your faith.

So Jesus begins to reveal how to increase your faith.

So today if you want to increase your faith to be a difference maker in the world, to be a city on a hill, a light into the world, Jesus begins to tell us how to do that.

And he answers your question in Luke 17 verse 6 is where he starts.

And the Lord answered, well, if you have faith, even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, I guess there was one standing there, you can say to it, may you be uprooted and be planted in the sea and it would obey you.

So Jesus show us how to increase our faith and Jesus comes back with this crazy story about how to increase your faith.

So what was Jesus saying in this story?

He was basically saying, look, if you have little faith or big faith, that's really not what the problem is in increasing your faith.

He's saying, but whether it's little or big, you got to get it in the right object.

So I thought I would illustrate today by using some hammers and nails and boards so we could catch on to what Jesus is saying.

He's saying like this hammer is like little faith.

This hammer is like big faith.

And the reality of it is it doesn't matter.

You know what, whether you have little faith or big faith, if you want the faith to work, you got to get it in the right object.

And let's say this, this nail is the object, but he says, you got to align your faith with the right object and you keep beating on that object.

Eventually that little faith, it's going to work.

However, with a bigger faith and an increased faith, same object, it can just work faster and be more effective.

So the object of our faith as believers is what?

It's not a nail.

It's Jesus.

What Jesus is saying is keep your faith, whether it's little or big and who I am.

I'm the one that comes and saves people from their sin.

I'm the one that sends the advocate, the Holy Spirit to live in people.

I'm the one that chooses what gifts to give what person in the world to become a part of my church.

My name is Jesus.

I'm the rescuer.

I'm the savior of the world and I'm pouring out my spirit on men and women alike so that they can be, be a light into this world.

That's faith in God and what God does.

But see, we can take our faith and not get it in the right object.

And it really don't matter how big or little it is.

Big faith, wrong object.

That don't build anything.

That just makes a mess.

That just destroys things.

And see, what Jesus is fighting against is these teachers of the law, they had big faith, but they had redirected that faith to intimidate people instead of inspire people towards God.

And Jesus says they're using their faith that they have in God in the wrong way and it destroys things.

It breaks things down.

And the truth of the matter is, I just want you to be a person to have a little faith.

And you know what?

When you speak to the mulberry tree in my name, even with a little bit of faith in who I am, it will move from being planted there into a sea if you say so by faith and you believe in what I've done in your heart and life.

Just be a people who get our faith in the right object.

Remember, they asked Jesus, how do you increase your faith?

And Jesus tells a story about getting a little bit of faith in the right object.

Then he continues and Jesus tells them another story.

Jesus, how do we increase our faith to do great things in the world?

Don't you want to know how to do that?

Jesus says, well, here's how.

He says it this way in Luke chapter 17, verses 7 through 10.

He says when a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does this master say come in and eat with me?

He asked a question.

The Bible goes on to say, no, he says, prepare a meal, put on an apron and serve me.

Why?

Look at your neighbor and say, put on your apron.

Go ahead and tell him to put on your apron.

Jesus is odd how he answers questions, isn't he?

How do you increase?

How do we increase our faith, Jesus?

Put on your apron.

But what else he says?

He says, then you can eat later.

And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do?

Of course not.

See what Jesus is saying is some of you want a, you know, way to go.

You're doing good.

You're doing awesome for doing what God designed you to do anyway, which is to serve.

He goes on to say, of course not.

He says in the same way when you obey me, you should say we are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.

Now, this is an odd way to answer a question about how to increase my faith.

But really what I get from the Holy Spirit of God of what Jesus is saying to them is listen, I'm the master and you're the servant.

And if you really want to increase your faith, then begin to work your faith in the gift I've given you.

I'm sitting, the Bible says Jesus is sitting right now.

He's sitting at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.

He's already done the work on the earth and poured out his gifts to the church.

I'm sitting in the heavens, putting every enemy under my feet like a footstool while my servants, the church, are leveraged to their gift, becoming a light into the world.

And they're shining that light through their gifts in the world.

You know what?

I'm sitting so that they can stand with their faith and serve.

What is Jesus saying?

He's saying you become stronger when you get involved and you begin to serve.

Your faith begins to increase.

If you get on with what God's mission in the world is through the local church and God's mission in the world is for the various gifts to come together.

God has given you a gift.

Put your faith in the gift he has given you.

Begin to put that gift to work with the other believers in the house.

The master has poured it out to us and we're to serve in this world, be involved.

And when we stand with our faith as he sits in the heavenlies and we keep on serving, the Bible says he's going to return one day at just the right time.

And he's going to make all wrongs right.

And he's going to put the enemy in the abyss and he's going to be who he says he's going to be.

Man, begin to serve and understand that you are put here for a purpose.

So many of us don't understand that the church is here to build up our faith by using our gifts.

We're here to reach people, bring them out of darkness into the wonderful light.

Begin to establish them in their faith.

Listen to this, begin to equip them for the work of the ministry by helping them understand you've got a gift, you've got a gift.

Let's work that gift.

And as we work that gift together, we can continue to extend the light of Christ into the world.

It's what we call the ministry multiplication cycle.

Bring them in, build them up, train them, send them out.

It's what Jesus did when he came from the heaven to the earth.

He attracted those first disciples to himself.

That's what we refer to in the church world as evangelism.

He brought them to himself.

He began to build them up in their faith through baptism and teaching.

And then he equipped them for ministry.

He sent them out two by two.

And then Jesus charged them with becoming the church and extending his church into all the world.

He says, you'll be my witnesses in all the earth.

Guess what Jesus did?

He left.

He ascended and he extended them into the world.

And that same cycle has been going on since Jesus left.

It started in Jerusalem and it was a go from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

That's what we're trying to do here.

It's keep extending the light.

But you got to work your gift in order to begin to increase your faith.

Jesus says, I have put you here for a purpose.

Work your gift.

Don't sit, stand and serve.

And then Jesus, he finishes up this teaching on how to really have a strong faith.

By an example, he gave that these same followers as they continue to travel, picks up the story there in Luke chapter 17, verses 11 through 19.

And I wrote it down this way.

If we're really going to increase our faith, we have to continually praise God, praise God often and give him glory.

Because that's what Jesus taught.

Watch this.

Jesus says it this way in Luke 17, verse 11.

Bible says as Jesus continued towards Jerusalem, remember they said, how do we increase our faith?

He reached the border between Galilee and Samaria.

As he entered a village, there were 10 men with leprosy.

They stood at a distance, crying out, Jesus master, have mercy on us.

Have mercy on us.

Jesus master, have mercy on us. 10 of them.

He looked at them and said, go show yourselves to the priest.

And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.

Wow.

It's amazing, isn't it?

The Bible goes on to say one of them, when he saw that he was healed, one of them, not all 10 of them, one of them.

The Bible says, came back to Jesus shouting, praise God.

In other words, I cried out for you to have mercy on me.

You sent me to the priest.

I realized the priest didn't do it, but Jesus, you did.

And I'm praising God because you healed me of the leprosy.

And I got faith in you for everything.

I'm praising you, this one said for the leprosy.

He goes on to say this, he says, he fell to the ground at Jesus's feet, thanking him for what he had done.

Thanking him for what he had done.

This man was a Samaritan.

He wasn't even Jewish.

He was, he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus asked, look at this.

Jesus asked, didn't I heal 10 people?

Didn't I heal 10 of them?

And only one of them comes back with faith and recognizes who I am.

He says, where are the other nine?

Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?

And Jesus said to the man, stand up and go, your faith has healed you.

See oftentimes, we continue to live under the oppression of the enemy in our life because we don't continually thank God and praise God for the mercy He has shown us.

You understand that you don't deserve God's mercy, but you can cry out for it and God in His loving kindness will have mercy on you right where you sit.

And oftentimes, what we'll begin to do is think we deserve the mercy instead of resting and praising God for the mercy over and over again.

And the enemy oppresses our faith.

The reality of it is it's praising God.

It's why we come in here and sing these songs.

It's why we gather together.

Because we praise a great God that has had mercy on our soul and sent His unmerited favor, Jesus, to salvage us and pour out a gift on us.

And we want to use that gift to the fullest, fullest of its potential.

We want to be grateful.

We want to have a heart of gratitude, a heart of praise, because this is who God is.

And when we praise Him, our faith, our faith increases.

The whole challenge with the Israelite people as they come out of bondage out of Egypt, God was carrying them to the promised land.

As they began to think of themselves more than the one who rescued them and was taking them into the promise.

The Bible says they did circles for 40 years and none of them ever entered into the promise.

I'm here to make a promise to you today on behalf of God.

He is who He says He is.

He deserves all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise.

And He has mercy on humanity when we repent of darkness, of our sin, of missing the mark of His glorious standard and we step towards Him.

And He'll continue to pour out His good grace, His unmerited favor on you over and over again if you'll keep on the focus of who He is.

God's a good God.

And really that's what being a valorous church is all about.

It's being brave with the goodness of God, being a light, a city on a hill to a world that desperately needs to step away from darkness, and being courageous and brave with the goodness of God, and standing with our gifts together.

And you know, it's not about us being perfect and trying to prove something to ourselves or prove something to God.

No, it's saying that God has already proved Himself for giving His life on a cross.

He resurrected from a grave and we're operating His amazing power in this earth.

Look at our Heavenly Father.

Let's give Him glory.

Let's give Him praise.

Let's give Him honor.

What could God do if we would work our faith and be a light unto the world?

Let me pray for you today.

God, I thank You for the church.

I thank You for coming and rescuing us out of darkness and delivering us into the wonderful light.

God, I pray we continue to work our faith, grow our faith, mature our faith in who You are and what You've called us to do in this earth.

God, You've set us apart and You've called us to a holy calling.

And that calling is to use our gifts in its various forms, put them together, and God, work through our differences and rally around who Jesus is and bring Him honor and bring Him glory.

God, I pray we'd be Your church, planted firmly in this region.

We'd be a light to people.

We begin to teach people to trust Jesus, not themselves, not their good works, not what they do, but trust Jesus.

And God, I pray today that if there's a person here today that has never received the forgiveness of their sin by what Jesus has done on a cross, today would be the day that they put their faith in God's gift.

My friend, if that's you today, the Bible says just turn away from your sin, repent of your sin, turn your heart towards Jesus and receive Him by faith.

He did it for you, He loved you so much.

He didn't want you to live in darkness anymore, He wanted you to come to God, come through Him to God, so He gave His life on that cross so you could step into the light out of the darkness.

Tell God you want to receive that gift today and you want to begin to operate by His incredible power as He displayed it as He rose Jesus from the grave and you want to do it from this point forward.

Tell God thank you for the gift and tell God today you want to put your faith in Jesus and begin to walk fully in who He says you are.

God, I pray we'd be the church that operates in strong faith.

We keep it in the right object, we'd be involved and we always give you praise, honor and glory.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.