Verse 35, he was a burning and a shining light.
Boy, wouldn't you like that to be said of you?
How would you like to be said of you? Just put your name in there.
You know, Steven Anderson was a burning and shining light.
Boy, I'd love that to be my epitaph. Wouldn't you love that to be on your tombstone?
This person was a burning and a shining light.
The Bible says, let your light so shine before men, they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
As long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world, Jesus said.
But in Matthew 5, he says, ye are the light of the world.
You are the light of the world.
And so, are you letting your light shine?
But not only that, he says he was a burning and a shining light.
Now think about something. Does you burning, does it sound like a comfortable position for you to be in?
I said, how are you doing right now? Man, I'm burning up.
Are you comfortable?
No, I mean, if you live in Phoenix, those words have come across your lips before.
Oh, I'm burning up. Oh man, it's so hot.
Just like it says in Revelation 3-20, or not Revelation 3-20, but in Revelation chapter 3 where he says,
I would thou work cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
He said, I want you to be cold or hot. Is it comfortable to be cold?
Is it comfortable to be hot?
Is it comfortable to be lukewarm?
Yes.
You know, right in the middle, right?
But God says, that's not where I want you.
I want you to be in a state of discomfort.
I want you to be like, I mean, do you think John the Baptist was living the life of luxury?
The Bible says, hey, they that wear soft raiment are in king's houses.
This guy is living out in the wilderness.
This guy is eating locusts and wild honey.
This guy is clothed in camel's hair.
Okay?
He was wearing rough clothing.
He ate in a rough kind of a diet.
He preached hard.
He got thrown in jail.
And eventually he got his head cut off.
But he was a burning and a shining light.
See, a burning light is something that not only shines, but it is consumed in the process.
Think about it.
Is this a burning and shining light that we have here?
No, these are lights.
And are they shining?
Are they burning?
No.
Because when things burn, then they are consumed.
They're gone.
And so John was somebody who gave it everything he had.
I mean, he burned himself out serving God.
I mean, he was in the process of giving light to the world.
He was destroyed himself.
Think about a match.
You light that match and it provides light.
But it burns and destroys itself and it's gone.
Think about what it said of Jesus.
He saved others, but himself he cannot save.
That's what they said mocking him.
But how true it was that in the process of being destroyed himself, he was saving others.
That's what your life is.
It's not about how good of a life you can have.
It's not about taking care of yourself so well.
You know, you ought to take care of your body.
That's not what your whole life is about, just pampering your body.
Pampering and being so good to your body.
Oh, I'm just always going to make sure I always get my beauty rest no matter what.
I must sleep.
Pastor Anderson must sleep for eight hours every night to get his beauty rest.
Yeah, there are times when I don't sleep that much.
Last night I slept in the car.
Last night I slept for, I think, four and a half hours.
Okay?
You know, you say, oh, Pastor Anderson, you got to take care of yourself.
Hey, sometimes you got to burn a little bit.
Huh?
If you really want to put out a lot of light, sometimes you got to burn a little bit.
You know, why don't you get yourself in a position where you're not very comfortable?
You say, well, I'm comfortable with 59 minutes and 59 seconds of soul winning per week.
Well, you know, why don't you push that to an hour?
Okay?
Well, why don't you push it to two hours?
Why don't you push that to three hours or four hours?
And you say, well, how much did I go soul winning?
Go soul winning until it's uncomfortable.
Huh?
Go soul winning until it hurts.
Go soul winning until, you say, how much Bible should I read?
How much Bible should I read?
Read the Bible until it's uncomfortable.
You say, oh, well, you know, I'm comfortable with reading for about five minutes.
Yeah, I know you are.
And that's why you don't know the Bible if it slapped you in the face.
Okay?
Because I'm comfortable with a little cup of coffee and I just read one Psalm a day.
That's my Bible reading.
Just one Psalm per day.
Just to get a little bit of the love, you know, and just get a little bit of the praise.
Just that's where I do my worship.
I get up and I sit in my La-Z-Boy and I pour myself a cup of coffee and I just read one of the Psalms
and just look out the window and there's birds chirping on the bird feeder.
And I just look at the sun come up and sip on my Folgers, you know, the best part of waking up.
And I got the Psalms in front of me and I'm a little more comfortable with the NIV.
No.
I'm not comfortable with these big words.
Good.
Maybe you're burning.
Maybe you're actually doing something.
Maybe you're actually hot.
Maybe you're actually on fire for God.
Maybe you're actually doing something.
You say, oh, Pastor Anderson, I'm not really comfortable with the way my life's going.
Well, you're probably living for God.
You must be right with God then.
Welcome to the club.
People that are comfortable in this world that are Christians, it's usually because they're doing nothing for God.
I could be comfortable.
I mean, you could be comfortable.
Just get along with everybody.
Never say anything negative.
I could just get up and just preach to you.
Isn't God good?
Isn't it such a blessing to be here?
You know, I'm not going to make any enemies like that.
You're never going to make enemies like that.
But David said, I'm for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
You know, here's a man who's saying what needs to be said and it made some people mad.
And so the point is, your goal in life should not be to be comfortable.
Oh, I just want to make enough money so that I'll be comfortable.
Well, that's too much.
You're making too much.
Oh, I just want to be comfortable.
No.
God doesn't want you comfortable.
Oh, well, I just got my life just where I'm comfortable.
Well, then go put in some extra hours of soul-willing.
Do some extra Bible reading.
Do some extra prayer because you're a little too comfortable right now.
You must be lukewarm.
You must be Goldilocks.
You must be Goldilocks Baptist Church.
But anyway, I'm just saying here, hey, he was a burning and shining light.
You say, well, why should I want to be like John the Baptist?
Because John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived.
That's why.
Jesus said among men that are born of women are not risen and greater than John the Baptist.
That's why you want to burn.
That's why you want to shine because you want to be like John the Baptist.
I believe.