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[ Silence ] [MUSIC - "THE LORD IS MY LIGHT"] (SINGING) The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

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The Lord is my light and my salvation. Who shall I fear? ♪ The Lord is my light ♪ ♪ And my salvation ♪

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♪ The Lord is my light ♪ ♪ And my salvation ♪ ♪ The Lord is my light ♪ ♪ And my salvation ♪

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♪ Who shall I be ♪ ♪ Who shall I be ♪ ♪ Who shall I fear ♪ ♪ The Lord is the strength ♪

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♪ Of my life ♪ ♪ Who shall I fear ♪ ♪ He shall hide thee ♪ ♪ In the time of trouble ♪

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♪ He shall hide thee ♪ ♪ In the time of trouble ♪ ♪ He shall hide thee ♪ ♪ In the time of trouble ♪

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♪ Peace shall I bring ♪ ♪ Who shall I hear ♪ ♪ Who shall I hear ♪ ♪ Who shall I fear ♪

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♪ Who shall I fear ♪ ♪ The Lord is the strength ♪ ♪ All my life ♪ ♪ Who shall I be? ♪

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♪ Shall I be? ♪ ♪ Who shall I be? ♪ ♪ The Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ All my life ♪

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♪ You shall I fear ♪ - Amen. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?

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The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.

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Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. Kingdom of light, the Lord is my light. This is an affirmation of faith. It's a proclamation of good news.

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It's a song of confidence. Life calls for a robust faith. This is a brave declaration. Circumstances threaten us on every hand.

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There are situations that overwhelm us without the penetrating power which is greater than ourselves, the supreme power of the universe. The finite needs the infinite. The temporary must depend upon the eternal.

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Our existence is interrelated and interdependent. To be sure, there is darkness in the world. This is not fantasy. It's a fact.

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is an ever-present reality. We must reckon with the darkness, whether we like it or not. It's present. It serves as a threat to our existence. Edward Brightman, in his philosophical system provides for what is known as the given. There is this which is a symbol of evil.

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It's not God's creation, but it's here. God neither creates it, nor does he particularly desire it as such, but he controls it. The very beginning of the Bible, we read in the book of Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

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The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep." was already here. The darkness you see is present. Scripture does not teach that God created the darkness, but God does control the darkness. The darkness is present. And before he performs his creative acts, we notice that the darkness is given. So that is the

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mystery of our history. The darkness is given. It is given in our anxieties. We are constantly troubled by the hidden horrors of the darkness. All of us encounter darkness. It's inescapable. We have our fears. Some of our fears are healthy. Some of our fears are harmful. Some of our harmful. It's good to be afraid of fire, to be afraid of disease. It's also good for

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us to be afraid of sin. Some people have phobias such as fear of high places, fear of closed places, afraid to ride in an elevator, fear of flying, fear of being in the water. It's It's not unusual, however, to be afraid of the dark. Some people do not like to go out at night.

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You try to avoid as much as possible being alone in the dark for fear of being a victim of the darkness. So you see, darkness here serves as a threat to our faith. Darkness seeks to prevent us from being ourselves.

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The darkness seeks to prevent us from measuring according to the divine design. It is the blindness that keeps us from perceiving the realities of human existence. Darkness is the evil that not only besets us, it is the demonic force that seeks to destroy us.

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Darkness is fear. Darkness is the anxieties that trouble us. The fear of the unknown, fear of the difficult, fear of the dangerous, fear of the enemy, fear of ourselves, fear of others, fear of the future.

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I need not spend time convincing you of the presence of darkness in our world. The Daily News with its reports of crime, injustice, war, disease, division. That's enough for us to be completely convinced of the presence of the darkness. There is darkness in our world.

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Earthquakes, famine, suffering. The darkness descends. There is public pressure upon us, the nature of which we do not altogether understand. There's no question about it.

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The darkness is here. So we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. The darkness is upon us. Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people.

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The kingdom of darkness seeks to rule absolutely and completely. is present. But the wonderful thing is that light is present and that light dispels the darkness. The psalmist declares, "The Lord is my light. I have available to me," he's saying in so many words, "the supreme power. I have available to me the best possible resource

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of guidance to direct me on my journey, for the Lord is my light. I have available to me that which gives me courage and confidence because the Lord is my light. We are not left alone in the dark.

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We're not left in the darkness to sort of find our way home as best we can. In the wicked even my enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh. The psalmist says they stumbled and fell. So amid all of the anxieties, amid all of my fears, there is one thing that gives me

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confidence with all of the opposition that I might face with all of the back-dragging forces of this world, with all of the darkness that surrounds us. There is this firm faith that the Lord is present, the Lord is my light. With all of the ambiguities, with all of the things that seem to be so uncertain, with

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all of the absurdities that happen all around us, with all of the things that occur in our lives that seem to make no sense, there is the reality that comes in knowing that the The Lord is the light that shines along the way. You see, this is the light which is essential to life.

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Light is essential to life on this planet. So at the very beginning in that Genesis story, we noticed that the earth was without form and void. There was no sign of life.

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There was confusion, disorder, disharmony. God spoke and said, "Let there be light," and there was light. This is God's first creative act. God said, "Let there be."

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The liberating word of the eternal is responsible for the occurrence of light. There are obstacles, hindrances, hidden horrors, but the word of the eternal says, "Let there be." And you see, Christ is that word.

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It's Christ that makes the situation different. Christ is the eternal word of God, and he works creating and making new. So whatever may occur in our lives, whatever there may be to disturb us and to threaten us there is the presence of Christ that says let there be let there be and when

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God speaks in our lives through Jesus Christ just as it was in creation darkness rolled up on one side and the light stands shining on the other. Well the light is the medium of God's Word it's manifested in our lives through his son Jesus Christ. You see God made the sun as that means of ruling by

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day. The sun, the king of the solar system to rule by day, the moon by night, and in the midst of all of the darkness there is the sun to shine, the S-U-N to shine. but there is in the darkness of our lives the S-O-N, the Son of God to shine, to pierce that darkness, to penetrate the darkness, and that sun shines and there

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is nothing, absolutely nothing that can put it out. That's good news, that's good news. That's why the psalmist is able to proclaim with such joy and with such confidence the Lord is my light. For you see, through the process of photosynthesis, light gives life to plants and we could not live without light. I remember when we moved into

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a new home in Waco that we had in that home a planter that was built in and it was rather dark there. There was no place where light could shine upon it and with the plants that we put there kept dying because there was not enough light. And sometimes that's the problem. We try to have life without light and it's

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necessary somehow to have the light of Jesus Christ in our lives in order to have the life that we need to live courageously and triumphantly in this world. And so the Psalmist said, "You know, I'm not afraid of anything. I don't really have anything to fear because the Lord is my light." Now when you think about it,

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think about the fears that we may have. Sometimes it's the fear of whether or not we're going to be ready for our retirement. It's fear of how we're going to get along on our jobs. It's fear of our relationship with this person or that person. All of us find ourselves troubled with some fear, but the Psalmist lives in

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such a courageous way because he has a hookup with God and he's able to say, "The Lord is my light. I'm not disturbed about the enemies, not disturbed about the foes. That's enough for me, that the Lord is my light. It's a door hosted in camp against me. Doesn't matter about how numerous may be the opposition, no matter how great may be

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the army that's against me, that's courage. The Lord is my light. The Texas Rangers had an experience that is said a story concerning a riot that occurred in the town and a ranger got on the train and went to the town and the people were there to receive him and they said that as he arrived he came because the word

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had been sent that there was a riot in the town and when he got off the train it was only one ranger and he said why only one ranger he said well you only to have one riot. So one riot, one ranger, one riot has been the motto identified with our Texas Rangers. We're one God and all of the enemies that one may encounter

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that doesn't make any difference. Just one God, one light to shine amid all of the darkness and that light makes the difference. So the Psalmist is not afraid although a whole army should threaten. The Lord is all I need says the psalmist, though a host, though an army, though a multitude of the forces of the

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opposition should encamp against me. The Lord is all I need. When enemies come to devour me, when they think that this is going to be the end of me, that somehow they stumble and fall. The Lord is my light. He drives away the darkness, but he has the power to penetrate the darkness.

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The wonderful thing is that the Lord is that kingdom of light. He rules through the kingdom of light. If I asked the darkness to cover me and light to become night around me, the darkness would not be dark to the Lord, night would be as light.

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That's what the psalmist says in the 139th Psalm. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. That God controls the light. God rules the night through His light.

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This is the singleness of purpose that God wants us to have. For the Lord is our protection in time of trouble. He'll hide us in His secret place. He will hide us and protect us.

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So the psalmist says, "I will show my gratitude to the Lord by offering in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy." Sometimes when we get the help we need, we forget where we got it. We forget sometimes in our haste, we forget to come back and say thank you.

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But somehow in the midst of it all, the psalmist recognizes that he has been delivered time and time again. And so he comes to say thank you, Lord. I want to praise your name and the presence of your people.

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He comes time and time again. He recognizes that this light is the eternal light that shines amid the darkness. That even when my father and my mother forsake me,

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my friend and foe may rise up against me, but the Lord will be with me because he is my light. The light that rules no matter how dark may be the night. And then he says, "He's my salvation.

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He's my salvation." And that means that the Lord gives victory. He's my deliverance. He's my success.

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He's my stronghold that I take refuge in him. He provides for me an asylum in time of trouble. He gives me protection from the very dots of the wicked. He is the light that is with me, and that's good news.

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Can you say that this morning in your heart of hearts, that the Lord is my light, my possession, that that light on this Palm Sunday, that that light rules in the midst of all of the darkness of this world that everything that may be arrayed against me to defeat me that there is that something within me that gives me courage and strength to

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go on and that is the Lord. Paul was able to pick up that refrain when he said the light the Lord the God that commanded the light to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts. Unless somehow as we celebrate today, unless we can identify with those words, we really can't engage in a meaningful celebration.

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But for God who calls the light to shine in the darkness that that God has shined in our hearts, yes light all around us, we have our light to shine, the lights that are outside to shine even in the midst of this worship service but it's equally significant if not more so to have a light to shine inside. A light to

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shine. That when we are in the midst of the darkness of depression that there is a light that shines. That when we are discouraged that there is a light that shines. That when we are disappointed there is a light that shines. In the midst of all of our despair there is a light to shine. Well that ought to be our

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testimony. That was the psalmist's testimony. We have a story to tell to the nations. It's a story concerning a kingdom of love and light. As we come now we extend the invitation to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[Music] [MUSIC PLAYING] [ Music ] (piano music)

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♪ I heard the voice of Jesus say ♪ ♪ My voice ♪ ♪ Of Jesus ♪ ♪ Say ♪

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♪ Come unto me ♪ ♪ And rest ♪ ♪ Lay down thy weary head ♪ ♪ Lay down thy head upon my breast ♪

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Though I had upon my breast, shine on me. Shine on me. Let the light from the lighthouse be. Shine on me.

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Shine on me. ♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ Let the light of day ♪

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♪ From the lighthouse ♪ ♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ ♪ I came to Jesus ♪

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♪ ♪ ♪ I was weary and worn and sad ♪ ♪ I'm sad ♪

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♪ I found in him ♪ ♪ A resting place ♪ ♪ And he has made me glad ♪ ♪ Shine on me ♪

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♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ Let the light ♪ ♪ From the lighthouse ♪ ♪ Shine on me ♪

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♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ Shine on me ♪ ♪ Let the light ♪ ♪ From the lighthouse ♪

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♪ Shine on me ♪ [ Music ] >> I want to call your attention to the fact that last Sunday-- [BLANK_AUDIO]