Sermon on the Mount – You are the Light of the World

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

More than just a fellowship, we're a family. So welcome home, everybody. All right. That is something I'm so proud of and so blessed by. When the kids are excited to come together and pray together the words of our Master. It's a big deal. We take it for granted because we've heard it so many times, right? They haven't been saying it their whole lives. They've just learned how special it is. And you can feel the excitement. You can feel the weight of what they've learned from you in this fellowship. By you daring to read the prompts every single week—can't read, they hear it and they're responding. And I thank you for participating and being mentors of the children here. It's a big deal for me. We're continuing. Hopefully it's been an edifying series on the Sermon on the Mount. And of course today we're going to dive into light, which is simple enough, right? You just be the light.

Standing in the Way of Evil

On March 24th, 1980, there was a priest that was giving mass in a small chapel at a Christian hospital that treated cancer patients and those who were terminally ill. And as he moved to the center of the altar, a red car pulled up outside, a man went to the door, and he pointed a U.S.issued M16 variant at him and shot him in the heart. And the priest's name was Oscar Ramirez. And he was a priest serving in El Salvador right before the El Salvadoran civil war started in the late 1980. And this was a time when the people were being ruled by an oligarchy. 2% of the population owned over 60% of the land and wealth.

And the people began to resist it. The people began to stand up against it, and which every time that happens, any government that's controlled by the rich always sends to yield, right? They're like, oh yeah, we'll listen to it, yeah. The people wanted the government to take care of them, to keep them safe, but they felt like the government was just taking advantage of them and leveraging their labor, their wealth, their money, their presence, their bodies to funnel wealth upward. And this was the time during the Cold War. The United States was extremely active internationally, and we intervened in countries like El Salvador and Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism.

And this was driven by, of course, fears of losing global influence, disrupting established economic relationships, and facing security threats. Scary time. In El Salvador, the U.S. supported the government and engaged in agricultural practices, similar to how the French did in Vietnam, acquiring vast tracts of land to cultivate and export cash crops. And this created an economic dependence and contributed to the social unrest that fueled the El Salvadorian Civil War. And due to this pressure and the government having power, they decided that anyone who comes forward and criticizes the government or has dissent or wants to push back, we can't let happen, we can't let people have power, we can't let people have a free democracy because it would affect our security as well as theirs.

And so they began responding to protests, they began responding to people criticizing politicians with intimidation and violence, which led to massacres. Tens of thousands of people killed. And Oscar Ramirez, he said, "This isn't right. It's not right." Especially because this is a Christian country. Mostly everybody in the government, in the slums, soldiers, paramilitary, everyone claimed to serve Jesus. And he said, "This isn't right." And he stood in the way of not only the government leaders and the military forces, but also the rising guerrilla forces that would go on to form the FMLM, a freedom fighter group that fought against the El Salvadorian forces.

That's what the war was all about throughout the 80s. And Oscar, this priest, pleaded with them. He said, stop fighting. Stop. Stop killing each other. You stop oppressing and drowning the poor in cruelty. And you—remember the teachings and show love to your enemy because they're you. The soldiers that you see that you hate so much and that hate you, you're the same. You're all people. You're all human beings that are being influenced by greed. The soldiers are you. And he would speak to the forces and the police. And he'd say, the poor, the marginalized, the ones you're fighting and trying to control and killing, they're you.

They're the same. They're just like you. And we are all Christians, or we claimed to be. And so we should stop. And he got in a little bit of trouble because he never really—you have like a far right regime and you have like a far leftist regime, right? Trying to fight each other. And he didn't associate with either. He just stood in the middle. And he said, this all needs to stop. And so they started, well, he's just—he's supporting them and he's supporting them. But he maintained his voice. He said at one point a few years earlier, he writes, he says, peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.

Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. To the rebels, do not pick up arms. Do not respond to the horrible things they have done to you and your families like they did. He stood against the violence of the government, and he stood against those affected, supporting those who were victims. But he didn't really support one side or another politically. He just stood in the middle because he saw a problem. And his voice began to gain a little bit of popularity. And he was seen as one of the people the government needed to suppress.

And so, on March 24th, 1980, they shot him in the heart with a .223 round bullet. And he was committed to what he believed Jesus had commanded him to stand for. And he said, he knew his life was at risk. He said if he was to be killed, he considered it a sacrifice for the people. Because he knows resurrection exists after death. It's what the faith is based on. And if he does, he said, very poetically, he said, there will be a resurrection through the El Salvadorian people. And his death caused a huge international spotlight to be shined on the circumstances that were going on there with the government. And it left shockwaves throughout history of what it looks like to stand in the way of evil, no matter who was causing it.

Light of the World

Light. In Matthew 5, 14, we come to the next section of the Sermon on the Mount as we've been traversing or navigating it. And it says, Light of the world. Don't cover your light. This little light of mine. Be a city on a hill. Way up at the top. So everybody can see you—the light going forth from it. And what is the light that Yeshua is describing here? Well, it's symbolic, just like the salt. Good deeds. Good deeds. Good deeds. I always think of good deeds as like holding the door for someone at the restaurant. You know, no, no, it's action. It's action. You're going to claim to follow the teachings.

You do the teachings. Action. No matter the risk, no matter what, you make an impact. You make an impact and an action that causes people to glorify God. That's what light is defined by Yeshua. That they may see your actions and glorify your Father in heaven. So you're to emit light so others can see it. And when they see it, the reality of God is revealed to them. You are to participate in actions that the world will see that will cause them to be inundated with the glory of God. And that's not a New Testament concept at all. The prophets speak about this a lot. Because Yeshua is referencing one of the bigger prophets, Isaiah.

He's dropping a huge bomb that is anticipated even in Genesis 1, but formed and built leading up to, during, and after the Babylonian exile by the contributors to the Isaiah scroll. And this was a time when Israel found themselves enslaved and oppressed. Their land was taken from them and used to leverage power in favor of Babylon. And the prophet Isaiah forms a theme of light throughout the entire compilation of the book. Now, the Hebrew word for light is "or." Right? "Or." Like "ora." I guess it's "or." And there's an association made between "or" and the Torah, right? Which means the teachings or the Torah, the law, if you will.

As well as the verb form of Torah, which is to teach, which is "yora." So we can make some tongue twisters. And all three of these words, like they almost became synonymous in the minds of biblical authors when they were describing God's action in the world. Because the light of God is in His Word. And from His Word comes light. From the Yorah of the Torah comes the Or. Like in Genesis 1, it's nothing but darkness until something comes from God's Word. And then the light breaks forth. And in Isaiah chapter 2, we have a prophecy about the last days. And last days is such a weird concept for us in America because overwhelmingly we're taught the last days is like the final, like this is the last, the last three and a half years when Antichrist is going to come and, you know, like that, the end of everything.

The biblical authors spoke about living in the last days after the resurrection, right? They understood that the last days or the transition or the recreation or the new creation account of the world has started. We're in it. And although we have a glimpse of it, of that reality, being followers of Yeshua, the world is still in darkness. It's a transitional. But Isaiah 2 speaks about the latter days. And it speaks about a new eschatological temple, a new Zion, a new Jerusalem. Where the light of God will shoot outward and impact the entire world. And do you want to see what that is described as? Like what that looks like?

Of course you do. It's Isaiah chapter 2, right? And it's Isaiah chapter 2, 1 through 4, and I have snippets of the verses. And it speaks of the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established at the highest of all mountains. Yeah, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established at the highest of all mountains. It will be exalted above all hills, and all nations will do what? Stream to it. So... The Lord's Temple will be established on the highest of all mountains, above Everest. Nations are going to have to start at the bottom, high up, high up. Mountains were seen as the connection points between heaven and earth, the realm of the deities, the divine and earth.

That's what temples were considered. The stargate between the two. And the diverse communities of the world— look at what they say in verse 3. Here's what all these diverse communities of the world, they say. They say, hey, come on. Let's go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us. He will yora his ways so that we may walk in his paths because the Torah, the law, will go out from Zion. The word of the Lord from Jerusalem. It's really cool.

Nations Will Stream to Zion

Well, what is that going to look like? And what happens when that happens? What impact will that make, right? What does it look like when the true, authentic light of God goes forth into the world? And here's what it says in verse 4. He will judge between nations and settle disputes. He's going to be the righteous judge that no one else has ever been able to be. And he's going to be the judge of equality and equity. And that's justice. You and you are in conflict and you're fighting and you don't like each other, whatever. Here is how we resolve this and everybody's happy. Fantasy world, I know. That's what it says.

Not only that, because there's no conflict, because there's no more disputes, guess what else there isn't? War. War is gone. That'd be great. No more conflict. There's no more need for everyone to have huge military and huge military budgets. So what do they do? They take their massive military budgets and they grow food. Heaven on earth. Everybody has plenty. They turn their tanks into tractors and no one would ever take self-defense classes anymore. No more fighting. It won't even be a thought. Why would it? This is what it means when the Torah goes out to the nations from Zion. And then we get to the last verse of this section.

It's verse six of this poem at the top of chapter two. And he says this, he says, come descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Come on, Israel, let's walk in the light of the Lord.

Walk in the Light of Yahweh

The disciples of Yahweh, which are linked to the Torah going out to the nations. Light that comes from God's word, like in Genesis 1, is now light coming from God's word. The Torah authentically going out from Jerusalem. Isaiah's prophecy laments Israel's failure to fulfill this, to fulfill their divine purpose of spreading Yahweh's light and peace throughout the scriptures. They succumb instead, especially under King Solomon moving forward, to greed, violence, political turmoil among the other nations leading to their exile. Isaiah envisions a future where this purpose is achieved, maybe not from an entire nation, but from an individual that he calls the servant.

He begins to speak about this one that will come to serve. And this is the one that will lead by example and illuminate the world with peace. Now, we've read the sequel, so we know who this is speaking about. This is speaking about Yeshua. This is the servant. And again, this was written for those in and post-exile to give hope that God is not done with his promises. Which leads us to chapter 42. I know it's a big jump. Where we're introduced to God speaking about this servant that Isaiah mentions. He's speaking about a single individual that will shine forth the light of God, which becomes synonymous with Zion, with the temple itself, where the word of Torah goes forth from.

The Servant as the Light of the Nations

And here's what Isaiah 42 verse 1 says. What's interesting is in chapter 2, Isaiah said it was God that was going to bring justice to the nations. And what is the mission of this specific servant that the prophet speaks about? In verse 6, it speaks. He says, So look at that. The servant will become the light, the light of restoration, the light of freedom, the light of bringing justice. The servant will be the light of the nations, right? It was supposed to be the role of Israel in the biblical story, but unfortunately that never happened. There were always pitfalls, which every single one of us can empathize with.

It's so funny. We get so judgmental of Israel in the Bible, especially in the Exodus. We're just so high-horsed. Like, oh, they're complaining again? Most of us can't walk a quarter mile in the summer without losing everything in here. And I've seen greater moans and groans than what Israel was going through in their discomfort of leaving Egypt. Because how many of you know it is uncomfortable when you leave Egypt? Why are they complaining? How could they complain when they've seen all this stuff and they've seen God do all these miracles and all these wonderful things in their life? How could they just complain? So judgmental.

A Nation Like Us—Pitfalls Over and Over Again

But that's the story. That's how the Bible is written to tell the story of the people that God chose. And the pitfalls over and over again. Even the patriarchs. We love esteeming the patriarchs because they should be esteemed and respected. They were key players in the story. Hebrews 11 sends a whole chapter esteeming them. And we're like, yes, Abraham, and that's a great mentor for my son. Hold up. He had times of faith. And then he had times of taking the servant and turning her into an inappropriate slave because his wife thought it was a good idea. She saw and she took Hagar and she gave Hagar to her husband is what it says. It should sound familiar. It's the same words that are used in Genesis 3. When Eve saw the knowledge of determining good and evil for herself apart from God and she saw it and she took it and she gave it to her husband. And that's fine. At least when Abraham went to Egypt with her, everything was good, right? Pharaoh said, hey, she's pretty. Who's that? Is that your wife? Sister, take her. That was not a good thing, right? Right?

God's Promises Still Stand

And we see the whole story of a nation that we relate to because we understand that sometimes we can be good and righteous. Sometimes we're not. And that's the story that leads us to a downward spiral in exile, living apart from God's rest, from God's presence. And the journey of God adamantly proclaiming, I'm not done yet. There will be restoration and redemption. And it will be bigger than you can ever imagine. And it will be more unexpected than you can ever imagine. And so this is the theme of Isaiah. During this time when Israel was going into, at, and at the bottom, after, of the Babylonian exile.

And this servant, he's going to be the light, which was what Israel was charged with, light to the nations, right? Kingdom of Christ, holy nation. God's light to the nations would be, ideally, his people living by the Torah that brings justice. And so a few chapters later, we have chapter 49, where the servant speaks. And the servant repeats all of these themes at the beginning. Like God has called me from the womb to be his servant. I have been called to regather the tribes of Jacob back to God. And I was called to be the light for the nation so that my salvation, Yeshua, will go forth to the ends of the earth.

I thought that was neat. And this is what God says about the servant in verse 8. It says,

The Servant Becomes a Covenant

Now notice that language there. It says that the servant isn't going to make a covenant. No, this servant will become a covenant. Do you see that? He's going to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances that were taken from Israel during the exile. In the New Testament, Paul and Peter reframe the promises of Abraham and the land to be synonymous with God's kingdom. We inherit God's kingdom or we're going to inherit the promises of God. Galatians , if you are in Christ, you have become part of the recipients of the promises of God. Because the land was also synonymous with God's rest in the end of Psalm 95.

This is the place where you dwell with God and rest with God or walk with God in the cool of the day. That's why Hebrews emphasizes that phrase in associating finding the rest in Yeshua. And that's a big deal. It's a big deal. And so we have this vision of a new Zion, a new Jerusalem that is above Mount Everest, shining forth the light of God and bringing forth the Garden of Eden throughout the entire earth. And he says, this is going to happen with one servant. One servant will be the covenant that restores and redeems. You guys still with me? I was putting this together and I said, this is going to be way too dense.

And I hope you can see the themes of Isaiah and how the biblical authors put these patterns together. Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament. Yeshua hung on to the words of Isaiah more than any other prophet. This is why. Every single time he dropped a little, I guess it's not an Easter egg, what's it called? Just a little, oh yeah, I can't say that, but you know what I mean. Little nugget, thank you, yeah, colored nugget. So every time he drops a nugget, people would understand, oh man, it's like a hyperlink or an icon, shortcut on the desktop where you click it and then everything, big Windows programs open from this itty bitty icon.

This is what Yeshua was wanting to draw us back to. This is what he's doing, what he came to do, what he came to fulfill. And it's fascinating because here we have this reversal of a people, all people, but here the context is Israel. And they could not achieve the promises of God or the mission of God because of not the Torah, not his word, but because it's an issue with the heart.

Now, I don't know if you have that problem, but it's an issue with the heart. And if you're old enough, you've come to realize that issue of the heart. And instead, God chooses a single individual to bring forth his promises from. And I found that super interesting, and I haven't vetted this out. Bible studiers, go do it. It's kind of like God finally did what he wanted to do back with Moses when he was really upset at the people. And he was like, Moses, listen, I'm going to start over with you. The whole nation isn't working. We're going to start with you, one individual, to bring forth the mission.

Ironic. And this light is going forth from Zion, from the temple, from the servant. But what happens to the people who see the light of the servant? What happens to the people who are dwelling in the new Zion? Well, Isaiah chapter 60 tells us what they're saying. And the people of the new Zion, the people that are living in the light, chapter 60 verse 1, they proclaim, "Arise, for the light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you." So the people are in what? Darkness. It's a pre-creation state, right? That's Genesis 0. And there's nothing but chaos and darkness. And then God's glory is rising upon you, hovering, fixing to do something magnificent and amazing—fixing to take the chaos and the darkness and form it into something beautiful and good.

This is the proclamation from Zion. The darkness is about to be reformed into a new creation. The light of the servant will shine on them so that their light will then bring the nations to the light.

The Light Spreads Like a Virus

Oh, so it's almost like a multi-level marketing thing. You get one person, and then if you sign up five people, and they sign up five people, and you get five tiers of that, you get a $200 and a free spatula. If you get enough PV points, you can... But no, there's something about this servant that's synonymous with the city, that's synonymous with the temple, that's synonymous with God's word, become flesh, where his light is going to infect. It's the best virus ever. Infect people, and then they are going to be ambassadors of the light. They are going to be light bearers of the servant. And when they go out, all of the nations will see the glory of God through their light, through their actions, through the kingdom that they stand for.

And again, the context here is Israel in Babylon. All of the nations that oppressed you, all of the nations that defeated you, that made you so small and weak, the rest of chapter 60 speaks about how they are going to bring gifts to you and they're going to be servants to you. They're going to serve you. And the children of your oppressors are going to bow before you and give you honor. The people that enslaved you will bring restitution as the Torah promotes, and they will bring peace. The strong will serve the weak. It's like we're reading out of the New Testament. Isn't this exciting? Isn't the Bible amazing?

A couple people, great—I'm glad you. It's great.

The Oppressors Become Servants

And then we come to the end of Isaiah 60. Near the end, we have verse 19. And what's it say? It says that the sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you. For the Lord will be your everlasting light and your God will be your glory. Sounds so familiar. Oh, isn't that how the community of followers of Yeshua is described symbolically at the end of Revelation? You are to be a city on a hill. You are to be the light of Zion. Now the light, of course, is actions. It's good works. And that's far beyond reality—dropping some money in a little thing, whatever. Sometimes we stop.

Do you ever realize that we hate giving control over to God? Let me rephrase that. We don't like trusting God. I say that generally, I know. But generally, we don't like trusting God because we've been taught throughout humanity that it's always better if you're going to do something, do it yourself. You have control over it. And so we always love to give God trust in areas that we're confident he doesn't even need to worry about or intervene. But in other areas, we ignore. And we try to make ourselves feel as righteous as we can based on our own self-righteousness, our own perception of what God would prefer.

What Does the Light Actually Look Like? I say that to say, when we say good works, typically we put a limit, a boundary of what that looks like, right? I'm going to say, yes, ma'am. No, sir. It's a good deed. I'm going to show honor. I'm going to hold the door. Maybe I'm not going to use my parents' Netflix password. And I say that to put it in perspective. How many of us would really see the things that are going on in El Salvador and stand in the middle of it? Like not take a side, not put on someone's jersey because that defeats the purpose. How many of us, and with our nation's history of horrible acts of oppression occurring to many people groups, I can say that most of us would never.

It's not who we are as a nation. But the light, according to Yeshua, is your actions. It's not your opinions. It's not your beliefs. Those are great. It's what you do. And then Yeshua, after saying this, he goes on to list how to actually shine your light with the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. These are the actions that the light looks like. This is how you portray the aura, the yora of the Torah, which is the aura, the teachings of the Torah, of God's. This is how you portray Torah accurately if you subscribe to following Yeshua, Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior of the world, the only way to the Father.

What is described in Isaiah is your mission as a believer because we're not waiting on the servant to come. The servant has come, and the servant has shined his light on, and now you are shining his light. Oscar Ramirez—he had a quote, another quote that I really liked. And he said, a church that does not provoke crisis, a gospel that does not disturb, a word of God that does not rankle, a word of God that does not touch the concrete sin of the society of which it is being proclaimed. What kind of gospel is this? What kind of gospel is this?

The Jubilee and Eternal Rest

The very next chapter says, Chapter 61 of Isaiah, end cap. It speaks about the eternal jubilee, the eternal rest. Because that's what the jubilee is, right? Jubilee is like the mega Sabbath. You got the weekly Sabbath, which according to Deuteronomy is a mini Passover. It's a celebration of the rest we have because we are no longer slaves, which I love as a believer because that's a whole other level of rest—and then you have the annual Sabbath, the year-long Sabbath, every seven years. And then every seven years, that's when we come to the big one, the Jubilee. And it's so liberating, it's scary. It makes me uncomfortable as a person of the world, of society.

Can't just give all that stuff away. What are you doing? How will that work? Doesn't matter. Eternal Jubilee. And throughout the prophets, this idea of a Jubilee happening evolves into a promise of God of what it's going to look like when his kingdom reigns. Always. An eternal Jubilee. The eighth day forever. And Isaiah 61 speaks about this. It's the culmination of all of these things. This kingdom of the servant coming and overtaking earth.

Isaiah 61 Fulfilled Today

And Yeshua actually quotes this chapter. I mean, it's a great thing to look in the future and I just can't wait for this to come, you know? Like, what's it going to be like the day when the eternal jubilee of God actually manifests on earth? That would be really cool, right? Heaven on earth. And Yeshua is teaching at the synagogue and he quotes Isaiah. And this is the first part of chapter 61. It's a hyperlink or an icon. And here's what it says in Luke chapter 4, verse 17. This is the servant talking. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

Verse 20 says, "Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Today, not at the end of time the way we want the end of time to be, not in thousands of years at his return. Today, this is happening today. It started. It's here. Jesus says it's here. He says it's now because that's what the kingdom of God is. It is a representation. It is the reign of God, the justice of God on earth being manifested now through the ambassadors of the light. That's why we look different to the world. That's why we make the world mad if we're doing it right because we're invading the world, all of it, the kingdom of Satan, with another kingdom.

We're encroaching on someone else's turf now. God's encroaching on the darkness. Yes, that's the point. That's the mission. That is the mission of Christianity.

Stop Making Excuses

And we love to make it so easy. So we sum it up. Say a prayer. You do your best in life. And then when you die, you go to heaven. And that's great. That's fantastic. There's going to be a judgment. There's going to be rewards. But in the New Testament, it talks very little about that in comparison to what the kingdom of God looks like now through the hearts and hands of the followers of Yeshua. Jesus says it's here. It's now. And so we need to learn to stop making excuses, thinking that we'll become the light of the world when Jesus comes back. It will be too late. If you have seen the light, which John records Yeshua saying, "I'm the light of the world." If you've seen the light, then you have become Jesus, an ambassador of the light, unless you're putting a bowl over it, which is the same thing as the salt being worthless and not even good enough to put and mix in with animal excrement, according to Yeshua. You are the light of the world, a city on a hill for everyone to see.

Shine Your Light

Shine it. Shine it in a way that is offensive to the world. Shine it in a way that sets you apart from the world. Shine it in a way where despite the conflict that you're involved in, standing up for the teachings of Yeshua and the ethic of Yeshua's kingdom, shine it in a way that you're never confused with the people you're standing up to and the people you're calling out. That's the key. Or we can just put a basket over it and pretend. Yeshua is sharing his light. Yeshua is sharing his covenant. He's sharing his mission. Are we walking in the light? Are you walking in the light? Do you have your lamp lit and ready?

Or do we find ourselves walking in darkness as well, being the very people that need to see the light? And so I don't know where you're at today, but the Sermon on the Mount, to put it bluntly, is rough. It's sandpapery. It's frustrating. Because how could we possibly? And I think the answer is you trust God and you trust that this mission is something that you're meant to be on, and you walk it out, no matter the risk, no matter the consequences. You stand up for the same things that Yeshua called, and do not be afraid. And so I encourage you to stand with us as we conclude services with worship. And I'm going to call Mr.

Brian up here to give a word before we do that. And during this time, you can worship with us. You can pray. If you need prayer today for anything or anyone or any situation, we'll have a prayer team off to the side of the stage, and I would love to pray with you and lift up those circumstances to the Father.

Meeting Faith Today

Alvina Moccano, our Father, our King. Father, we thank you for this time together where we once again allow the Holy Spirit, the life giver, to pierce our hearts, to remind us of the calling. And Father, I ask in the name of Yeshua that it never is silenced, that it will always continue to push us forward and give us the power and authority to stand for the one who is the temple, the one who is the Zion, the one who is the light and the word manifest, King Yeshua, that we would be good soldiers in his army. In Yeshua's mighty and holy name we pray. Amen. Brian? Hello, hello. Okay. Bless you. During praise and worship this morning, the Lord told me that he's meeting faith today. Wherever your faith is, he's going to meet it for whatever you're looking for. So if you have something, he's here. It's almost like an appointed time—like he's here this morning to meet your faith.

The Altar as Exchange

Don't leave. I can't get out because of so many of us here and we're in agreement. Don't leave this place of agreement. He's waiting. Just submit it. We have people here to pray. This is an altar. The altar is a place of exchange. You got to give it to him to get what he wants from you. So for some of you, it might even be your worship. It might even be how you praise. He knows you, so he knows how you look when you give him extreme worship, when you give him 100%. So you might have to do that today. Whatever it looks like, I don't know. It's up to you.

We Are the Light

But like Pastor Matt said, we are the light, so we might even have to repent for that bowl. And that's what I'm going to say. Sing Shema with me. Shema Adonai. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom for all eternity. May the Lord also cause you to increase and overflow in love for one another and for all people in order to strengthen your hearts as blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Yeshua with all his kiddushim. And may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance toward you and give you his peace. In the name of Yeshua HaMashiach, our Sar Shalom, our Prince of Peace. Amen. Shabbat Shalom, family.