VIEWPOINT with Chuck Crismier
LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE
"9.05." (dramatic music) - This is Viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is a one hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and hope. And now with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Chris Meyer. - You can hide from the light, but you can't outrun it. Light is light. It contains no darkness, and the speed of darkness is the same as the speed of light. So, if you don't let the light in, you necessarily lead and let darkness in. And with light, there is no place for darkness. And darkness cannot put it out. But if we don't let the light in and shine like the light, then we become false lighthouses. False lighthouses pretending to be the lighthouse, but actually are serving darkness. Now, today on Viewpoint, we're gonna take a look at this matter of light. We're gonna take a look at how you and I are called to be light because the Bible says that God is light. The Bible says that God is love. He is truth and he is light. And with him, there is not so much light, so such a complete light, that there is not even a shadow of turning. So why is it that amid all of the churches in America and the godly heritage that we have, that we have so much darkness? Why is it that darkness have come over the land of the free that's increasingly becoming only the home of the brave? Why is that? It's because the light is not shining in the darkness. And the darkness is encroaching upon the light. So today on Viewpoint, we're gonna begin taking a look at this matter of light in our lives. And I hope it will be encouraging to you that it will, maybe there'll be some areas will be challenging to you. But you see, we need the light. We need the light because darkness is upon the earth and gross darkness upon the people, just as the prophet Isaiah said that it was going to be. Just read there in Isaiah chapter 60. But it also says that we should arise and shine for our light is come. That was referring specifically to Israel at that point, but we're grafted in. So there should be a sense in which our light should be arising amid the gross darkness that's come upon the people. Why is that not happening? We want to explore that here today on Viewpoint and I'm glad that you've joined us. It's conversation with ever increasing conviction, talk that transforms. Everybody loves a lighthouse. Well, not everybody, but most everybody. Some people actually collect them. Lighthouses are becoming somewhat of a relic. If you didn't know, there used to be several hundred of them in our country and when we begin to talk more specifically about lighthouses in the near future, perhaps even yet this week, we also will see how many lighthouses there are around the world. What's happening to the lighthouse? Well, the light's going out all over the world. It really is. And a lighthouse is prophetic. It stands like a sentinel. It wooze, it warms, the unwary of danger. But if its light has gone out or if it emits only a faint flicker, then it not only fails to fulfill its purpose, but it lures others into dangerous souls, the unsuspecting souls who depend upon it, it's radiant to beam. And so it is with the church in America with pastors and people alike, with you and with me. A number of years ago, Dr. Henry Blackaby was rather celebrated as a Christian leader here in our country and he wrote a series, a much celebrated series called Experiencing God. You may have participated in that years ago back in the 1990s, 2000. And it made us painfully aware of God's viewpoint on America's dramatic decay. Here's what Henry Blackaby said. The problem of America is not the unbelieving world. The problem of America is the people of God. Then he was speaking at the Billy Graham Training Center back in 1999 and he said this, if things get darker in America, the problem is not with the darkness. It's acting like its nature. The problem is with the light. All the way through the Bible, he said, judgment comes on a nation when God's people would not return unto him. Is that's God's people, the lighthouse, and their leaders were totally unaware of the ways of God so that when God says return to me, they responded and said, well, how have we departed? So he says, Dr. Henry Blackaby said in 1999, if you didn't hear anything else that I said today, understand that it is God's people who hold the destiny of America, the future of America rests in our hands. Why? Because Christians represent the light of the world, the light of the nation. And so if we have hope that will arise again in our country, maybe hope will arise by the dawn's early light. And maybe that light will continue to shine if indeed our lives become a lighthouse, a real lighthouse. It blazes the light of God from sea to not so shining sea. And so that's kind of where we're starting here today on viewpoint. Remember you can hide from light, but you can't outrun it because light travels at the speed of light. The speed of light is 186,282 miles per second. Wow, that's fast. But the problem is that darkness also operates at the speed of light because where the light withdraws, the darkness comes in at the same speed. So unless we're continuing to shine the light of the Lord, the light of His word, darkness is going to overcome us. That unfortunately is what has happened. It's happened partly because of the church growth movement in the 1970s, the church, the seeker sensitive movement in the 1990s and then the emerging church movement in the 2000s. You see, all of those were efforts to reduce the intensity of the light in order to try to seduce darkness into our churches. Yes, that's exactly what it was, to seduce unbelievers into our churches to receive supposedly what the light was to give, but when they got there, they didn't get the light. They only got spiritual pabble them. They did not get a real light. They didn't get the light of Christ so much. What they got was a little bit of reduced battery-powered flashlight and so we see that their lives have not corresponded to the anticipated light of Christ. It would have changed our country and the world. So today on Viewpoint, we're going to take, inspect a little closer what that looks like. And by the way, have you ever heard of real-stat religion? You haven't heard of it? Well, you just did. And we're talking about it when we get back. Stay tuned, friends. This is Viewpoint. Viewpoint doesn't determine what's next. We'll be right back. Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues and homosexuality was an abomination. So what happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Chris Mar and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the fourth commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org. (upbeat music) My wife and I in our home love certain areas where we put real stats. Now we normally call those dimmer switches, dimmer switches. In other words, we want to control the intensity of the light for various purposes. Normally, we would put a dimmer switch or a rheostat. We would put that in a place where we don't want the light to shine so intensely. In other words, we might call it mood lighting. Now we've got a lot of mood lighting in the church. For the past 50 years, we have had a reduction of the intensity of the light of Christ in the teaching and preaching of the word, such that we have in effect conducted what I call rheostat religion. We have put a dimmer switch on the light of Christ and the light of the gospel, and therefore we have gotten exactly what we should have expected. If we don't shine the light brightly, then we don't see what God wants us to see. And he says that his word is light and life. Doesn't he? In fact, the Psalmist said, your word, your word is a light into my path. Your word is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path. And so I will hide your word in my heart. But what if we don't shine that light brilliantly upon our path? Then it's very easy for us to lose our way, to stumble in the darkness and others that are supposedly following us are gonna do the same thing. Because they think, and we give them the idea that they're following us walking in the light when in fact, we're not following in the light or walking in the full light at all. Because, as Jesus said, if the light that is in you be darkness, then how great is that darkness? So this matter of light is critical. It is of such great significance that we dare not try to minimize its significance. So what is the significance of light in the Bible? Well, first of all, the matter of light in the speaking of light occurs over 270 times in the Bible. In fact, right here I have it. The word light is in the King James Version of the Bible, 272 times in 235 verses. And that's just the word light itself. Another says the word light actually appears in the NIV Bible 293 times. Well, actually 263 times and 293 times in the King James Bible. According to Bible Gateway, it occurs 309 times. These guys can't even get as straight as to how many times the word light appears. So how much light do they really have? The point though is the word light occurs hundreds of times in the Bible. Now if the word light appears hundreds of times in the Bible, you would think that it would be a matter of very considerable importance to us, wouldn't you? If the Bible says that God is light, which it does, why is it we put all the focus on love and we don't put the focus on life? A light. Here's what Jesus, a beloved disciple, had to say about it in 1 John. He said, God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, but walk in darkness, we lie and don't do the truth. Now remember, He's writing to Christians, but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Well, maybe this is telling us why we have such problem with walking with our brothers and sisters in fellowship because somewhere along the line, we're not walking in the light. We decide to create our own light. We have our own thoughts, our own interpretations, our own excuses for why we shouldn't believe what God has said in His Word and so on and so we don't walk in the light. And then we don't have fellowship with one another, even in our marriages. Why do you think marriages have broken down so significantly among professing Christians over the past 50 years? It's because purportedly Christian-married couples are not walking in the light. It's simple, not walking in the light. Why are they not walking in the light? Because they don't want to. They don't want that much light. Hmm, maybe we should talk more about that, which we will here in just a few moments. John goes on to say, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Now, why would we say that we have no sin? Because we don't have enough light shining on our ways to reveal that we are in sin. That's why pastors don't necessarily teach the whole counsel of God. They don't want to get in trouble by shining too much light on the people sitting in the pews, lest those people would say, "I don't want to see all of that dust and all that dirt and all the vermin crawling around in my life, and therefore I'm out of here." (laughs) It's pretty simple, friends. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. In other words, his light has not shined in our lives. You see, the word is light. Thy word have I hid in my heart, the psalmist said. Then he said, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." The reason we don't see our sin is because we are not walking in the light. We are either not receiving the light, that is, it's not coming to us or we're trying to hide from it. So here's the problem. We can hide from the light, but we can't outrun it. So the only thing we can do is hide from it or reduce its intensity. We can't outrun light. So what's going to happen, think of this, what is going to happen when Jesus returns? In glory, remember he's the light of the world. He left, but he's coming back and when he comes back, he is going to come back in great glory. In other words, the light is going to be so brilliant. And what is going to happen? How are the people going to respond? What does the book of Revelation tell us is going to happen? The people are going to run from the light. They're going to hide, as we used to sing as kids, they're going to look for a rock to hide their face. The rocks are going to cry out, no hiding place. There's no hiding place down here. In other words, you can't outrun the light. This light is so comprehensive. It is so full blown, you can't outrun, and you can't really hide from it. That's the way it's going to be. Now, if we really realize that, we might just want to welcome more light into our lives, right? You would think so, but then we're human beings. How many human beings really want to have enough light shining through their windows to where they can see all the dust balls and all of that on the floor of your house or on your furniture? Don't want to, do you? No, we don't want to. Why don't we want to? Because we don't want to see the way things really are. Because then I might have to do something about it. I want to be real honest with you. Whenever my wife comes to me and she says, Chuck, our windows are so dirty. Our windows are so filthy. I say, oftentimes I hadn't noticed. Now, there are times when I do notice, but oftentimes I have not noticed. Why is that? Because I was not particularly focused on the windows. I was focusing on what was happening inside the house. But my wife saw what was happening in the windows. Now, how did she see that? Well, the time that she saw it was when the sunlight was shining brilliantly through those particular windows. Only then could she see the water spots and whatever it was that was there. The dust, the water spots. And now in this season, it would be what? Pollen? Yeah. So, I said, okay. When the windows get really dirty, then we'll get them cleaned. So every once in a while, I receive a text from a company that does windows. So I have to decide, do I want to take the time and the money to clean the windows? Now, because there's only so much cleanliness that you can get in your windows because tomorrow they won't be clean, right? So you dust your house today, and a week from now, you have to dust it again. Why? Because dust happens. Why is it that we can see that with regard to dust and dirt on our floors, in our furniture, in our windows, and we cannot or refuse to see the very same thing happening in our lives? Interesting, isn't it? So you see, all of this really applies to my life into yours. And because the light of the gospel has not been shined, shown, shined brightly into our culture for 50 to 60 years now, certainly ever since the sexual revolution, ever since the 50s, we see the consequences of it. The dust has built up. The dirt has built up in our country. Yet we complain about the dust and the dirt that have been unwilling to do anything about it. Why? Because we turned down the light or the intensity of the light and gave only as much light as made people feel comfortable. In other words, reduce the light, reestat religion, dimmer switch religion, reduce the light, the intensity of the light so you cannot see the sin that's building up, yes, even in God's house. There's our problem. And pastors and people are complicit in it. But pastors don't want to lose what they think to be their ministry. And so they play the cultural game of diminishing the light, compromising. They'll still teach and preach a lot of the gospel, but not the parts that really hit people's lives where their sin is. Because to reveal the sin is to reveal the dust and the dirt and people don't want to deal with that, so they're either going to leave the congregation and vote with their feet and their pocketbooks or the pastor's going to compromise, turn down the light so that the people feel more comfortable. Is anybody listening? This is how things work. And it's really very simple, isn't it? There's nothing complex about this. You don't have to be a deep theologian to understand this because it's just natural truth. It is real truth. That's why the Bible talks about light so much. Because the light, Jesus says, shines in the darkness. And the darkness itself cannot put the light out. So how does the light get put out? We do. We put it out in our churches. We put it out in our country. We change the laws to bless same-sex marriages and transgenderism, all kinds of things. And yes, even no fault divorce and all. We have actually turned down the light intentionally. It's pretty amazing for 60 years. Is it possible to recover the light? Yes. But then why? There is so much more about Chuck Chris Meier and Save America Ministries on our website, SaveUS.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on his mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry, marriage, and morals, SaveUS.org. Marriage, divorce, and remarriage. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at SaveUS.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea Project, SaveUS.org. And many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, SaveUS.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's viewpoint broadcast, Live and Archive, Save America Ministries website at SaveUS.org. ♪♪ The Statue of Liberty, sitting there in New York Harbor, is probably the most significant lighthouse of the world, the most recognized. And as its light blazes from under the seven-spike crown in New York Harbor, the promise of political liberty and freedom has been shed across the seven seas and the seven continents. But there's another lighthouse without whose light liberty becomes license, and license turns to laziness or lawlessness. And that lighthouse is the church. ♪♪ So, in my book, Renewing the Soul of America, it begins with an opening chapter called A Nation at Risk. In fact, the opening chapter is actually called If I Could Speak. And it's personifying the Statue of Liberty, if she could speak. What would she say? For the end of that book is another chapter. It's called The Lighthouse. Beginning with these words, if I would see the light, I must be the light. If I would see the light, I must be the light. So, here's my question for you. You see, here on this program, it's information for transformation, and that requires application. So, the bridge from information to transformation is always precise application, and that's where we're going with this issue of light. It's not about how many lighthouses there are in the world and so on. That's interesting, but it doesn't do anything to change our life. What does something to change my life and yours is when we really apply this matter of the light and the lighthouse to see what its implications are for our life and what happens when we don't see the light. There's a song that says, "I saw the light. I saw the light." No more darkness, no more night. Really? Have you seen the light yet? Don't answer too quickly, because the majority of American Christians have not. If the majority of American Christians had seen the light, we would not have a divorce rate for the past 25 years in this country nearly equal in the church to the nation as a whole. We would not have the divorce rate in the Bible built of America for the past 20 years that has exceeded the nation as a whole by 50%. We wouldn't have that. So the light has not been shining in the darkness. The darkness has been putting it out because the light has not been shining. It hasn't been shining for the pulpits of America. I remember reading from Alexis de Tocqueville. You know that secular Frenchman that came over here in 1830 to try to discover what it was that made America great after the French Revolution and France could not get a stable government together. But America seemed to be taking off like a rocket. So we came over here to study what it was that made America great. And you spent nine months here that should give birth to something, and it did. It gave birth to a book called Democracy in America that used to be called a classic in American history and literature. You'd be hard pressed to find it in our high schools or colleges anymore. Why? Because we don't like the light that it shines upon our culture. We don't like it. But here's what he said. He said, "You know what? I went into across this country and I saw all the great harbors and I saw the natural resources and all these wonderful things, the great rivers, all of these things." And it was so amazing. But then he said, "It was not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness." In other words, the light, the fire, the light of righteousness that I understood, the secret of her genius and power. Our pulpits have not flamed with righteousness for a good 60 years in this country. They flamed with all kinds of other stuff, but not righteousness. To the point where, about 15 years ago, as I've shared so many times, I was on my way to a pastor's prayer breakfast. We had one monthly here in Richmond, Virginia, and I was crossing the birth river of America, the James River, in my car, on my way. And I asked the Lord a simple question. "Lord, why is it that after all of these years and national days of prayer and all this prayer going up for, supposedly, for revival in America? Why is it we have no revival?" And instantly the Lord answered the question. He said, "Because my pastors are not preaching righteousness." In other words, my pastors are not shining the flame, the light of righteousness. So I'm contemplating that for a few seconds. And by the way, that's why my church looks the way it does. And then he said, and by the way, that also is why my church has no ability or power to change the country. There's no light in her. No righteousness. We have used a spiritual dimmer switch to shut out the intensity of the light that would have revealed the sin in the life of professing Christians so that we could not shine as the light of Christ to a nation being increasingly engrossed in darkness. Even with the darkness, our light was not shining brightly. Oh, we had political responses to the darkness pointing our finger at the darkness rather than those that purported to be the light. And that's why Jesus said, "If the light that is in you be darkness, then how great is that darkness?" So the darkness that encompassed the nation was the result of the church not emanating righteousness in the light. So I got to the meeting and was sharing this little tenet that I had had with the Lord with the pastor of one of the larger churches in the city. It was supposedly a strong, evangelical church. And as I shared this story, the pastor hung his head and echoed these words, "Shuck, I don't think I even know how to preach righteousness." I want you to consider the implications of that. I don't think I even know how to preach righteousness. Well, if the Bible says that righteousness alone exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people and the pastors don't know how to preach righteousness, then the light that is supposedly in us is darkness. And we're actually helping to facilitate the down turning of America, the down turning of our nation. But we haven't recognized that. And so we pointed our finger at somebody else, the engines of darkness without recognizing that we were part of the problem, if not the primary responsibility, because we were not doing what we were supposed to do and what we alleged to be in our country, the agents of light. So I urge you to get a copy of the book. I'm interviewing the soul of America. I think it will bless you. Remember, if I would see the light, I must be a light. So I ask you a question. It's just a rhetorical question. Are you truly a light? Or is your life so compromised that the light that is in you is actually dim or dark and can barely be seen? So while you purport to be a lighthouse in reality, you're just a dim, dim flashlight. Just ask it. You see, this is how the Word of God is intended to be preached. It's all. And we're doing it in a way that helps us. This is not so much preachment. Some people call the message, okay, you can call it what you want. This is not preachment. This is actually reasoning together. This is what a Christian talk show should be about. It should help us to live righteously and with integrity and to be doers of the Word, not here as only, so that the very thing that we're accusing others of, we're not guilty of ourselves, like the cattle calling the pot black. You see, God wants us to shine His light. And the only way we can do that, because we don't have any light of ourselves. Did you know that? There is no righteousness in and of ourselves, so to speak. We can't save ourselves. But we can humble ourselves and repent and align our minds, hearts and wills with God's word, will and ways. And by doing that without exception, so that we're not dimming the light, we can actually reflect God's light that has no shadow of turning. It's a bright light. And it reveals unrighteousness, both in our own lives and wherever we go. So, what did Jesus say? Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is heaven. Notice the word let, not make. Let. Get a copy of the book, Renewing the Soul of America. $15 on your website, it will encourage your heart, it will give you direction for your own life. Right there. Save us, talk, or pause for me. I would save you a say. Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study showed 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore 1st century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ by His Spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold, how they love one another." Incredible. But the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click sell church. We'll revive 1st century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about a body, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click sell church. ♪♪ Let your light so shine. What does that mean? It doesn't say make your light shine. It says let your light shine. You know why we can't make our light shine? Because in and of ourselves, we have no self-generated light. The light that we have is echoed or reflected back from God. He is the light. Jesus is the light. So when Jesus ascended back to the Father, remember, he said, "While I am in the world, I'm the light of the world." Guess what? He's not in the world today. So he turns around and he says, "Now, you are the light of the world." A city that sat on an hill cannot be hid, and so on. Those words were from Jesus, not from Ronald Reagan, and not even from John Winthrop in his model of Christian charity in 1630. You are the light of the world. But how can we be the light of the world if we're not letting our light shine? So the only light that you and I have is reflected light. But when our lives are not characterized in by integrity, and honesty, and truth, and righteousness, and holiness, our light is so dim that it cannot really be recognized and isn't. It just isn't recognized. You can see the problem. We need to allow our light to shine. But in order to do that, we've got to wash the windows of our life. We've got to dust the floors and the furniture in our life spiritually. We've got to come clean before God. Pun intended. That's why John, first John, he says, "God is light, in head of no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, but are walking in darkness or semi-light, we lie and don't do the truth." But if we're walking in the light as he is in the light, not diminishing the light, but as he is in the light, guess what? That reflected light is going to shine brightly. So, we can get some idea about this when we take a look at the moon. You see, the moon has no light of itself, right? No light of itself. All it has is reflected light. From where? The sun. The sun generates the energy that produces the light. That goes out with brilliance and shines upon the surface of the moon. And depending upon the position of the moon with regard to the sun, in its rotation and so on, what we see is the light that emanates from the moon is either increased or decreased. Now, there's coming a time, I'm told, next month, when there's going to be a total eclipse of the moon, where the light will not shine at all. Now, we can have a total eclipse of the light of Christ in our lives. Did you know that? How would we have a total eclipse of the light of Christ in our lives? By just not living according to his word, will and ways. By picking and choosing, by refusing to obey his commandments, by engaging in sexual promiscuity, in deceit, in lying with tongues that are uncontrolled, with attitudes that are bitter and resentful and unforgiving, all of those kinds of things you see keep the light from shining, and to the extent that they aggregate together, they can actually cause a virtual total eclipse of the light of Christ from our lives, even while we're professing to be Christians. You see, the moon doesn't change. The moon is the moon, but to the extent that it cannot reflect the light of the sun, you don't see the light. The same is true in our lives. It's not really that much of a mystery. It's very simple. Again, the book Redoing the Soul of America is going to be very helpful to you. Let me give you an idea why that would be. Not only with regard to the light itself, if I would see the light, I must be the light, but how about some other things? Let's take a look at this. If I would be self-governed, I must self-governed. In other words, I must govern myself. To make a difference, I must be the difference. If I would be served, I must serve. You see, it's not about them. It's about me. There is no national faith without personal faith. Again, character is character in action. Courage is character in action. If I would have courage, I must reveal that courage through my character. Not somebody else's character, my character. And how about faithfulness? Well, if I would be treated faithfully, I must be faithful. Now, these things seem so simple, don't they? But they're revealing that we don't live this way. If I would have honor, I must be honorable. These are life-changing understandings. And this book will help us. If I would have virtue, I must be virtuous. If I would have morality, I must be moral. If I would have goodness, I must be good. And on and on it goes, renewing the soul of America. One person at a time, beginning, not with them, but with you. This is how we let our light shine. If I would see integrity in the nation, I must be a man or a woman of integrity. If I would see and experience truth in my government, I must be a person of truth. Begin to get the picture. That's what God is looking for. He wants us to be what we say we are. Now, I want to ask you a question before we offer this book again, or after we offer this book. And knowing the soul of America, one person at a time, beginning with you, there's a reason why 38 National Christian leaders endorsed this book, because they saw as a life-changing book, completely different than all the books written about our country, because this would really produce the change. This would give hope. This would give us direction. And it didn't start with them, it started with me. Everybody wants to know, well, what can I do? Well, what I can do has to begin with what I must be. Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. You see how it all ties together? Greg Lorry wrote a piece two weeks ago. He said, he talks about could be Christians and no doubt Christians. He said, "There are a lot of people running around today who are what I would call kind of Christians." I know that isn't a theologically correct term, because according to the Bible, you're either a Christian or you aren't, but I'm referring to people. Well, they're sort of Christians or could be Christians or almost Christians. You may see some things in their lives that lead you to believe they might be followers of Jesus. They go to church and talk about God periodically. Maybe they even pray before their meals. Yet there are other things in their lives that seem to contradict what they say. And it makes you wonder where they really are spiritually. And one of the reasons for that is shallow and anemic preaching, he said. I'm afraid that there may be a generation of people running around today who believe they really know God when they don't know him at all. It's because they've been told to believe, but they never have been told to repent. In other words, they've never had the sin cleaned out of their lives because they have never had the light, the true glaring light of the gospel to reveal the sin in their lives shown into it by their pastors or by the people on the radio or television. He goes on to say, it's because they have been told to believe, but they never have been told to repent. They've been promised the hope of heaven, but they never have been warned about the reality of hell. In other words, they've never really truly seen the light. In fact, he says, this is Greg Laurie. He says, I question whether most Americans have ever heard the authentic gospel message. And that's quite a statement coming from the pastor of a 10,000-member church in Riverside, California, who came to Christ during the Jesus movement. He said, David Kenneman, CEO of Barna Group, wrote an interesting book called On Christian, which identified behaviors that so-called believers share with non-believers. When asked to identify their activities over the past 30 days, those considered themselves born again believers were just as likely to gamble to visit a pornographic website, to take something that didn't belong to them, to consult a medium or a psychic, consume enough alcohol to be legally drunk, use an illegal drug or lie about someone in retaliation. He said, I would suggest that these people are not Christians at all. At least we could say there is no light in them. They are not reflecting the light of Christ. Why? Because of the dirt on their windows. Here's what we don't need today, he said. We don't need any more could be Christians or maybe Christians or kind of Christians. We need no doubt Christians. In other words, Christians who truly are living in such a way that they are truly letting the light of Christ shine from their lives. Without compromise, there's no tarnish in their lives that is frustrating the light of Christ from shining back into the culture, into other people's lives. That's what he's talking about. He said, that's because there's been no true repentance and commitment to Jesus. All was considered normal as far as first century Christianity was considered, would be considered radical by today's standards, he said. I remember having a conversation with a young woman who was having an affair with a married man. But she professed to be a Christian. So he said, I asked her, do you believe the Bible is the word of God? To my surprise, she said yes. So then I explained why her choices were wrong and pointed out the scripture passages that made this clear. But she responded, well, that's your opinion. I feel that it's okay for me to do. So she simply felt that what she was doing was okay. In other words, she would not allow the light of the truth of the word of God to enter her heart and mind and life to bring about change that she could believe in or that anybody else could believe in. So Greg Laurie goes on to say people need to see evidence in our lives that we have been with Jesus. As we go into a world full of challenges, temptations, persecution, opportunities and all the rest, may God give us the same power of the Holy Spirit that came upon the first century church so that we too can be bold in our faith. What we need today are people who walk and talk with Jesus, people who before they even speak a single word, if something different about them, people who through their godly lifestyles have earned the right to be heard. What we need today are people who have evidence of their lives that they have been with Jesus. In other words, they're letting their life shine. Thanks for joining us here on Viewpoint Today, I hope this has been of some encouragement to you, exhortation, whatever you want to call it, become a partner friends. We're preparing the way of the Lord for history's final hour. That's what we're doing today and every single day here on Viewpoint. Don't let them wait for the other guy to do it. You do it, go to our website, make your children's contribution there, right to us. God bless and let your life shine. You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Chris Meyer. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. We urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint as we confront the issues of America's heart and home. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]