Jesus, the Light of the World — Joshua Daniel

Welcome to the Lord's Challenge with Joshua Daniel. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International is a ministry reaching people from all walks of life since 1935. After a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of 16, Joshua Daniel has been declaring the marvelous deliverance from sin, which is freely given to all those who turn to the loving Savior.

From small villages to large cities, in many parts of the globe, through revival meetings, literature, radio, internet, and television, Joshua Daniel has been tirelessly laboring, trusting God to supply all that is needed.

Wherever this message has gone out, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and thieves turn into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing.

Jesus Reveals His Heavenly Identity

That God has for you. Let us turn to John 8 chapter from 23. He said unto them, You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins.

For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. So here is a question which our Lord is asked, Who are you?

And we see him answer that question in the same chapter, the 18th verse, I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father who sent me beareth witness of me. So, I am from my Father, I am not of this world.

Now these people were expecting the Messiah to come, and when the Lord Jesus came, they could not recognize him. And they were asking him, Who are you? In the 12th verse, the Lord Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So, I am the light of the world. So, nothing secret before this light. I am the light of the world. You see, when we hear of some of these things that have been such scandalous things that have taken place in churches.

Transparency and Integrity Before the Light

Now, what does that imply? What does it mean? It only means the preacher himself does not believe what he is preaching. You know, when I started preaching, I can't remember in which place, somewhere in Pennsylvania, I suppose, the people said, Hey, this fellow preaches as though he really believes what he preaches.

Can you imagine such a comment? How sad. And especially when we live in the midst of such an atmosphere, how important it is that our lives should be transparent, clean, nothing questionable. I walk before the Son of Righteousness.

I am a child of light. Now, if tonight the Lord would speak to all the tax cheats, and everybody takes his checkbook and sends off to the treasury, I owe Uncle Sam $2 ,000, $2 ,000 ,000, $200 ,000. And tomorrow morning, you know, I don't know if there is any mail these days which reaches in one day.

They call it snail mail these days. And so, if the snail should reach the treasury by tomorrow, well, you can imagine what a sensation, what a boost the nation will get. All the boost that the nation gets is economic boost, the moral boost, the revival boost in other realms has almost vanished.

We have thrown it out of the window. And all that we are looking for is an economic revival. The economy must be revived. That's all that people are looking for. Now, how is the economy to be revived and its stability maintained?

God's Word and the Sin of Stealing

You simply can't do it without the Word of God. You cannot do it. The bigger the boost the economy receives, the bigger get the thieves and the tax cheats. And so, if you think you can revive America by the economy alone, you are just a shallow thinker.

Your thought processes are badly flawed. You don't know what you're talking about. You cannot do without thou shalt not steal. You know, actually, we ought to have this in every little family and children's room.

Thou shalt not steal. I do not know where the people are getting this stealing habit. Maybe in their own families. You know, they see their fathers and mothers arguing about money, and they're surely going to think money is the most important thing in the world.

And soon, they will say, why can't I help myself to some of this money sitting on the table? You see, who sewed that thought into the child, the father and the mother? They produce the thieves. And soon, this thieving habit grows.

And when it comes to paying taxes, people like to cheat. They are thieves. That's all they learned from their childhood. Oh, my dear people, who are you? I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Identifying as Followers of Jesus

You know, if somebody should go out into the street or the main street here and begin to say, hey, the sun has risen on Sabring today, people will reach for their cell phones and say, here's a madman loose on the streets here.

Someone come and quickly restrain him. But you and I are almost afraid to say, are you? I'm not. Here's the sun of righteousness. We are not ready to identify our Savior. When you go to work, you carry your little identification with you, don't you?

Or you may not be let into the company. Everybody wants an ID, a photo ID, everywhere today. But what is the ID that you can provide? I am a child of Jesus Christ. You know, culturally, many people find it very difficult in their cultural habitats to come right out and say, hey, I belong to the Lord Jesus, and remove from their families and from their persons all other marks which lead people or mislead people into thinking, oh, these are all still our people, the old heathen here.

We all worship these idols, and we all bear these various marks and symbols. But you know, my dear friends, the Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples, if any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself.

I do not know what are those particular sticking points in your life. Some people have all kinds of ambitions. And one of those ambitions, especially from people who come from a poor background, you know, they always feel deprived.

I never felt deprived in my life, never. My father was not rich. I was not born with a silver spoon. But I never felt deprived. Oh, I don't have this. I don't have that. What a mindset that gives people.

Rejecting Worldliness and a Money-Centered Heart

See, it's all a money-centered mindset. I can't see how such people can be Christians. I simply can't see it. See, some of my classmates, if you ask them, why did you choose this subject at the university, they would come out and say, you know, jobs are easy to find in this particular subject, which I am studying, and there's money to make.

So I'm, that's what I want to do. I never had that outlook in my life. I did not see it in my parents. And I never had that outlook. Well, it seems like a cursed outlook to me. It seems at the antipodes to Jesus to me.

If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Love not the world or the things of the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. A money-centered heart, how can it ever bear the cross?

The cross speaks of denying yourself. The cross speaks of death. Those things that were gained to me, I counted them as loss for Jesus. Yes. Let me tell you, there is a big deficit balance in your lives.

Trusting God to Provide for Gospel Ministry

And what is that deficit balance? What is that red ink, that feeling that money is going to do it? And as long as you have that feeling, you're just no good for Jesus. Don't you imagine you're a big patron of Jesus?

But that is the way people are groomed in their lives. That's the teaching that they receive from with the milk bottle. That's all they see in their parents, the high value which they place upon money.

You know, folks, when I see the bills of the fellowship just soaring, my business is to preach the gospel. And if month by month, our bills just keep soaring, well, it would be a natural thing to ask who is going to pay for it.

You know, we are just about to take up a telecast to the biggest German state, which has 20 million of the inhabitants of Germany to cover that state, the industrialized part, highly industrialized part.

And I suppose some of you know that the euro, which is the currency of Europe, European Union, is now 1 .3 of a dollar, nearly 1 .3. It was far below a dollar and now it's 1 .3. Well, they wanted 1 ,500 for a single telecast.

Euros. I said to them, well, you know, we are doing this for the good of the people. There's no commercial interest involved. We never ask people for money. So can't you bring it down? Yes. A thousand euros.

That means certain months is 5 ,000, a little more like 6 ,000 dollars, a little more than that. Well, who is going to pick up this new bill? Your heavenly father knoweth. My commission, your commission is to take the good news.

Proclaiming Jesus to a World That Does Not Know Him

Who are you? We don't know you. We don't recognize you. That is exactly what the world is saying today. Who is this Jesus? You know, dear friends, we are asked that question. Who is this Jesus of whom you are, about whom you are talking?

We don't know this Jesus. Who is he? And just imagine that today when information travels around the world in just a second or two, there are people who don't even know who Jesus is. Do you think anybody was born in this world who never heard of the S-U-N son?

No. But they have never heard of the son of righteousness. They have never heard of Jesus. You know, we see thousands of people trooping into churches, doing their motions, you know, whatever motions, and their chants, their motions.

What's the outcome? Sex abuse? Child abuse? What's the outcome? Increase in wickedness in the country? That's not the son of righteousness. Somebody certainly is not doing his business. Who is that somebody?

You and me. Who are you? What did the Lord Jesus Christ say in John 1 and verse 12? 11 and 12, he came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

He gave them power to become the sons and daughters of God, sons of God. He gave them power, power to live holy lives. You know, my dear friends, I hate talk, empty talk. People blame me, in fact. They say, Brother Joe doesn't talk.

We want to sit down and discuss, talk. I never did that in my life. Communists, atheists, others who came and sat and heard God's word from my student years, they never said, let's sit down and discuss.

Living Without Fear Through God's Presence

Never. They saw the reality of Jesus. They saw the Lord working, and they turned to Jesus. So I'm not in the habit of just sitting and talking. Let us pray. Let us tell God, Lord, when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.

For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Lord, I want to live this experience of not panicking, not feeling abandoned, not feeling helpless. My heavenly Father knows I am his disciple.

My Father cares. My Savior's name is Immanuel. Loving Father, we want to really bring some little honor to you in a day wherein people say, who is your God? Where is your God? Where people would almost ask you, like those men who said, who are you anyway?

Oh, loving Father, let us not leave this matter in doubt. Where we work, where we live, let people know that Jesus is the Savior of the world. Hear our prayer in Jesus' holy name. Amen.

And if you have a problem or concern you would like to share, please do let us know. You can email us at host at lefi .org or visit our website at www .lefi .org. Our mailing address is L-E-F-I-P-O-Box 14, South Lyon, Michigan, 48178.

You can also call us at 248 -486 -6326. Until we meet again next week, may God bless you.