How to Walk in the Light and let Jesus' Light Shine in You

  I hope you are doing well. For this update, I put in tracts for each Youthquake family. Here is the previous link.

Why? I doubt we’ll have services to celebrate the Resurrection. But, so what if we can’t? The church has been mobilized. This is the time to be sharing your faith.

I don’t know if you have spare stamps around, but the way people communicate today, that’s not as necessary. You can type in what they say yourself; it’s very simple. Or, better yet, share your testimony with the person along with how they can know Jesus and be saved.

With who, you ask? Anyone on social media, your contacts on your phone, and so on. If you don’t know a friend’s number, maybe a mutual friend does. Or try to find them on Instagram or some other media. (As I understand, parents can monitor those accounts for their kids so they can communicate, so there are accounts set up for kids under 13.)

Why? People have questions. They are scared. The world has changed so much, and the false gods we worshipped are gone. Help them focus on Jesus, who is alive!

Think about it: Sports; entertainment; money; freedom; the list goes on. All impacted by the Coronavirus. Sure, some people have great families and have fun, but others don’t. Either way, all need to know the God of love who will save them from their sin. Not only that, if they trust Him as Saviour, they will have life and life more abundantly (John 10:10) starting right now. Joy that no man can take from them. Peace that passes understanding. Access to the throne of Grace in prayer. And so much more.

What to do with the info in this tract?

1. Pray about who should get that message typed or spoken to them. You can even still witness to people talking to them more than 6 feet away on a walk. But, you can also learn how to share over the phone or text.

2. Follow God’s leading and pray for the chance to witness. When it comes, take it, letting the Holy Spirit guide your words. Sal, who sends his greetings, has had God send him people ready to make decisions over the phone..

3. Be ready to answer questions, or know where to send the person for help. There’s the Youthquake site gcyouthquake.org or e-mail thetruthmatters1@gmail.com. A great site to look up answers is www.gotquestions.org. Kids under 13 can ask questions at www.gqkidz.org – note the z to set it apart – and teens at www.412teens.org .  Maybe your friend will go there and ask questions even if they won’t go to church. But *beware* – not everyone there uses the preserved Word of God. If any go there, they should read verses from the King James Version. Also true at Godlife.com/gospel, I saw a link to a free Bible there, if you get one make sure if’s the KJV. Kingjamesversiononline.com lets you read it online.

4. You can pray someone through yourself. If someone prays with you to receive Christ, or just reports on their own, tell us. That is a time to celebrate!

Yes, things are hard now, but as you pray like I shared before, it’s important to realize that revival isn’t just about a change of heart. That is the main thing, but it’s also about actively doing what God calls us to do. This includes witnessing.

You may think of other ways. Using the #, share these sites along with friendly greetings and replies to people in Instagram, Discord (if it uses those, I’ve never tried it), Snapchat, etc.. Remember of course to be a Godly example yourself so people believe you when you share the Gospel. Search for a # that can mean people want help, like #bored.

Don’t just lounge around. Even if we would have a Resurrection Sunday service, we must be about the Lord’s business. And, we have a great opportunity now. Sal sends his regards, too; next weeks’ will be sent later in the week but the Gospel needs to get out now.

So much is empty now – churches, schools, stadiums, etc. But, this Resurrection Sunday, we can always reply, “So is the tomb.” See our site, gcyouthquake.org, for several great things about that (right hand side, top of front page). But, let’s look deeper into it.

In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus warns us “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth…” He reminds us things grow old, get stolen, break, etc.. He tells us instead to build treasures in Heaven where nothing goes wrong. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

I alluded to that earlier. I said the gods of this world were disappearing. This isn’t just about putting God ahead of all the other things we put in our lives, though. This is about why we need to put God first. It’s for our protection. The tighter we hold onto the things of this world, the more we miss them when they are gone.

That’s why that empty tomb is so important. Jesus has conquered death. The Bible says “Death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Cor. 15:55-57. Paul is saying, “You can’t threaten me with death. If I die, I’m going to Heaven to live forever.”

Of course, the Bible warns we should *never* tempt God. We also should *never* get involved with the devil. 1 Peter 5:8 says the devil walks around like a roaring lion, “seeking whom he may devour.” Getting involved in evil like witchcraft or drunkenness or hatred or anything like that can not only cause you to lose blessings and rewards, it can hurt all those around you and even lead to an early death.

However, you can be certain that if you are in the middle of God’s will, whatever happens, it won’t be evil. He will only put in your life what He knows you need to grow closer to Him. And, He’ll use you as a Godly example to those around you. Being a big help to family, doing chores, being kind to others, and so on are all things we can do now.

 And, when we look at the empty tomb, we can remember that those things we love most, when we give them over to God, will be used by Him for His purposes. And, we will have them forever someday. Think about it – right now the churches are empty, but we can fellowship with God’s people forever someday. We’ll run and laugh and play and do so many amazing things. Stuff we never had here on Earth but trusted God for, we can have up there. Jesus promised each of us a mansion, after all.(John 14:2) We trade or emptiness for trust in the empty tomb, so Jesus can make us full someday, and fill the holes in our heart here.

So, that empty tomb means not only do we not need to fear death and the grave, but all that we’ve given over to God, He promises to use for His glory and we can be sure something like it will be there for us in Heaven. For instance, Billy Sunday gave up a very good baseball career to be a preacher. Maybe he’ll play it in Heaven. Wouldn’t it be cool if Youthquake had lots of sports teams in Heaven, and we worked with Bully Sunday? For Sal and I it would. 

When you give something to God, He might give it back to you to use for His glory. Someone who enjoys music, writing, etc. might use that passion to create things that honor God. Tim Tebow used his fame in college to honor God, and Reggie White, one of the best linemen of all time, was an ordained minister as well as a football player.

The empty tomb exists because we serve a risen Saviour. All other founders of religions and everything else have died and are still dead. No matter how long it takes, we have promise we can share with others. The tomb is empty. Jesus is alive, and believers have the certainty of eternal life, where things are better than you can imagine. That is a message you should share with everyone, as you talk with family, etc., this season, and make sure they, too, have called on Jesus to save them from their sins. White died only a few years after retiring; we don’t know how long we have, but we know God says now is the time to be reaching others with the Gospel.

Sal and I both wish you a great Resurrection Sunday.

​ For something unique, gather the family and anyone who wants to hear over the phone or computer and read this pretending to be the churches Paul wrote to in the New Testament. Yes, only the Bible is inspired; ​​but Sal and I always try to share what is on our hearts from God's word. It’s fun to imagine what it was like for the early church.

Greetings in the name of our risen Saviour. I remember with great joy the fun we had and how we celebrated God's love both during lessons and play time. We learned we should put God first in everything we do. He is a loving father who loves to give good gifts to his children. He has adopted those who trust Him by faith to save them from their sins. His children are not to be children of darkness. Those who know him are in the light instead.

As you read the Bible you will see comparisons like this. This is why we should rightly divide the word of Truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) There is a difference between being in darkness or in light. We see in 1st John for instance several places where it says what it means to be in either of these. If you are reading the Gospel of John you saw this right away: Jesus, the light, shined in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.

So, the question God asks His children each moment is, are you walking in light? We still have that flesh nature that causes us to turn to darkness. We need to defeat that nature by walking in light. How do we do that? One example is that if we love one another we are in the light. If we have bitterness and anger and malice then we are in darkness. Forgiveness and such things as the fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) are light. And so on.

So, which of these are you producing? Are you producing light or darkness? Are you patient with others, showing mercy and grace? Are you being nice to others and helping them, edifying them by building them up? Those are examples of being in the light. Look in the Bible and you will see many other examples of both. 

Jesus is the light of the world, and in Him is no darkness at all.(1 John 1:5)

This world has lots of darkness. Sometimes it tries to create a false light; as even the devil pretends to be an angel of light.(2 Corinthians 11:14) When people talk about coming together in a one world government, that is the spirit of antichrist because they are talking about uniting against God. We see some of that today in how the whole world is trying to unite and build itself up rather than God. We can see how the world hates God in some forms of entertainment and the way some people talk and act. They are selfish, boasters, they claim to consider others but do it to glorify themselves. They claim things like alcohol which can be so destructive have to be at any party, for instance - look at how many college kids on Spring Break in Florida claim to love the planet, yet left so much litter on the beaches when they were done with their parties - instead of making their own fun and being responsible.

But we who are in the light know that we can have fun and still honor God. We have joy unspeakable inside of us. We look different from the world. Or, at least we should. When we don’t, when we turn to the flesh nature, that is when we walk in darkness.

We showed how we can have fun at Youthquake. We gave you fun activities around sound Bible teaching. We plan many fun things for after this pandemic passes, to make up for time lost but more importantly to demonstrate that God's people love to have fun and that we do have lots of fun within the safe boundaries God provides for us.

We don’t know when we will resume, but Sal and I are both praying – as are others – that you continue to walk in the light. Pray for our leaders to have wisdom and for forces of darkness to be defeated. Pastor Brown also sends greetings and thanks for the outpouring of love at the homegoing of his wife. Grace and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.