By TIMOTHY L. MELTON
Pastor of Cherokee Pentecostal Holiness Church
Transcribed by Myra Colgate
Scripture Reference: Matthew 5:14-16
The Word says, “You are the Light of the world.” I say this in humbleness and humility, but bluntly, “Church, be that Light, amen.” We must come to a place where we stand up for what is right. We do what is right. We say with is right.
I remember years ago when I was in college, and I was working in a paint store. A lady came in and apparently, her paint can held paint that had not been mixed into the proper color for what she’d expected. I know I’d not seen her before, but when she walked in, she’d slammed the can down on the counter and she took the Lord’s name in vain.
When she’d done that, I knew I’d only looked at her, so I said to her, “Let’s see if that prayer you prayed helped.” She glanced away and responded, “What? I wasn’t praying!”
I explained, “Yes, I know. Now I don’t want to fool with you. Maybe you don’t like me, but that (taking the Lord’s name in vain) is not alright.”
You know that answer. It was not being kind. It wasn’t good. It’s not ever okay to agree with the world when they are “out of order’. That is the only true and right way to look at it. The Bible declares, “If one agrees with a person wishing them a ‘Godspeed’, then sin has been visited upon the other person. Each person can hold only themselves accountable for their own choices in life. Their choice is theirs to make, not ours.
The Church, when it has agreed with the world, and because it has, in not wanting to offend anybody, ends up agreeing with anyone and everybody.
I was talking to a man in my house the other day and I said, “Listen. This might blow up our friendship right now because we don’t really know each other very well. I only speak the truth, and this is true. I refuse to let my Light go out to receive a favor, or to make someone else happy.
The world can shout any person down, but God can still put a person somewhere they need to be to be heard by people. God can make a difference in you despite your circumstances.
How many go into a room, flick on a light, wanting to see roaches start scattering? There aren’t any roaches in our house. Thank you, God! But I can tell you if there were any they would scatter. I have a rental, and someone came in and they, unfortunately, brought one of them into the rental. Anyone going in later who turned on the lights would have seen them scatter. I saw one brought there and that is all I saw. Just one was found a long time ago. Similarly, that is the way sin is when one lives for the Lord. Isn’t that amazing?
There are always things that can happen. I remember working some public jobs while I was still pastoring. Amazing things began to happen there. I didn’t go in there to preach. I didn’t go there to preach and sing Gospel music. I didn’t go there to witness to them. I just went there to work and, if the Lord presented the opportunity, I would jump on it.
Somebody had looked at me and said, “Oh, I didn’t mean to say that in front of you.” Now I’ve never chastised anyone for their language outside of a House of God because it is what sinners do. If one is sitting here and has a filthy mouth, then it’s easy to see them as a sinner, and that they still need Jesus. No one can tell me otherwise. Neither can they tell me they are serving God by acting that way. They’ve just thrown a wet blanket over their own life. In covering it over, they are actually saying God has never made a difference in their life, that they have never accepted the Truth. Be very careful not to say something which wrongly accuses others. That is why it’s so important what others see and hear. Otherwise, they may also be talking about churchgoers being hypocrites even when it has often been found not to be the truth.
