John 21:1-19

Every large city has a store in which there is nothing but lamps, hundreds and sometimes thousands of lamps. Some are antique, some are new. Some are plain, some are ornate. Some of them unplugged. Some of them are plugged in and showcasing their light.

One day a little girl was asked by her mother which lamps she liked best. "I like best the ones where the light shines out."

There are over 300,000 Christian churches in the US. Some are antique, some are new. Some are plain, some are ornate. Some are not plugged in. And some of the ones plugged in keep their light mainly to themselves.

God likes best the ones where the light shines out.

But what does it mean to shine out the light into a world like ours?

What is North Korea going to do next? If you live in South Korea, or Austin, Texas, you are following every move of another "Little Kim" other than Kim Kardashian.

How do we shine the light in a world frozen by fear, flawed by distrust and fractured by dissension, a world every day helplessly teetering on the edge of disaster?

But this was the world of the first century. It was the world the first disciples of Jesus faced. It is also the world faced by all of Jesus' twenty-first century disciples.

(from http://www.sermons.com)