 Jesus is the light that came and brought hope he brought purpose he's the light that pushes back the darkness amen church and today Jesus is that light I want to read to you John 812 it says then Jesus spoke out again I am the light of the world the one who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life first John 1 5 says now this is the gospel message that we have heard from him and announced to you God is light and in him there is no darkness at all come on shirts that's something to be happy about this evening Jesus pushes back the darkness the gospel is the good news and that good news is that God is the light that pushes back the darkness amen amen as you're holding that candle in your hand understand that candle while it might be a small little flame a small little light the very nature of light causes darkness to cower causes darkness to flee the very nature of these lights shining on me right now are causing this stage to be lit up everywhere that light is darkness can't be did you hear me everywhere light is darkness can't be during the celebration I want to I want to remind us the power that Jesus has over darkness and some of the darkness that Jesus has power over is the darkness of depression you know Christmas is one of those times of year where many people are actually statistically the most oppressed they're most reminded of the money they don't have the family they that they're in disarray with they're oftentimes reminded of all the materialistic things they wish they had and looking at their brother and their friends and saying man what's my wife what's my life worth you know 50 million Americans today are struggling with depression the world we live in today is full of heaviness and everywhere you look people are trying to medicate their pain they're trying to meditate through their pain they're trying to find some form of spirituality that's gonna help push back the darkness that's in their heart and in their mind going through the season of darkness and depression and feeling such heaviness and it's so common to happen maybe you're here today and you're feeling like honestly I'm kind of kind of fighting through darkness in my mind darkness in my life I want to let you know that Jesus is the light that can push back that darkness Jesus is the light who will remove and eradicate depression from your life you know what's amazing is that you know people they oftentimes will go to alcohol or drugs or some form of spirituality to try and numb the pain like I said to medicate or to meditate into a different place but when you drink alcohol or when you partake in drugs that only numbs the situation it only makes it numb for a moment but the moment that that substance is gone the depression is back the depression is there again the moment someone who tries to find enlightenment through spirituality and trying to discover themselves they're limited in their ability to deal with what happens around them you know spirituality is like a moon the thing about the moon is it's a counterfeit to the real light all it can do is reflect the Sun it's only a faint image of what the real source is well you might be here today and you might feel like Jesus is just that other spirituality that little bit of light that I need but Jesus is more than just your moonlight he is the Son of God and he is the source of light and he removes all darkness he doesn't just come in and light your pathway but he comes in and he brings complete light where there is darkness darkness cannot stand where Jesus is at you know darkness can't dispel darkness and you know the thing about the moon you only can see the moon when it's dark but when the Sun is out you don't see the dark you don't see the moon all you see is light Jesus is the light of the world he is the source what makes Jesus different than all of the other remedies is that he actually eradicates darkness I want to read to you Isaiah 53 for surely he has borne our griefs and he carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted Jesus dispels the light of depression and Jesus is the cure not just the medication he is the cure he is the source he says in Matthew 11 28 come to me who are all weary and burdened and I will give you rest Jesus has power over depression and I want to tell you that Jesus not only has power over depression but he has power over despair now some people who are in our season of depression or going through the season and feeling like man well I know another way that life can be dealt with is if I just remove mine they think that if I just remove my my life from this world I won't have to worry about depression but let me tell you something that's more sad and heavy and more depressing than depression and that's eternal despair you see leaving this world doesn't fix the issue of darkness leaving this world has really very little effect if not only makes things worse when it comes to the area of darkness if you think that if you just take your life it will solve the problem it won't Jesus doesn't just come to remove depression but he comes to remove despair eternal despair and particularly with the hope of salvation despair literally means the absence of hope or hope that is completely lost you see each one of us without Jesus in our life we're in despair not only you might be depressed but even if you're not depressed without Jesus you're in despair you have no hope there is an absence of any any glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel because even if you leave this life without Jesus despair is waiting at your door some people think that if they're good enough person that they will be able to bargain with God about whether or not they can make it into heaven and some think that all paths lead to heaven and others they've developed their own standard of truth and their own law of morality I want to read to you Romans 3 23 it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and Hebrews 7 19 says this for the law made nothing perfect on the other hand a better hope is introduced there which we draw near to God a better hope is introduced the light that we celebrate today is the better hope that was introduced to you and I to have a relationship with Jesus Hebrews 7 22 accordingly Jesus has become that guarantee of a better covenant because of Jesus you and I have hope for eternity there's not only light in the day that we live but there's light in the eternity that will spend with the rest of our life amen amen and the third thing that I want to remind you that Jesus has power over is the darkness of death John 1 verse 4 through 5 says in him was life and the life was the light of mankind and the light shines on in the darkness but darkness has not mastered it when you walk in Jesus you're walking in the light of life you see Jesus doesn't come like I said he's the son he's the source he doesn't just come and get rid of the darkness he replaces it with the light of life where there is light darkness can't be and the light that's there replaces any any space where there was darkness you see when you when you receive Jesus into your life he doesn't just bring he doesn't just remove darkness and despair he gives you life and more abundantly John 10 10 says the thief comes to still and kill and destroy and it says I have come so they may have life and have it abundantly Acts 2 24 but God raised him up having released him from the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held in its power Jesus expels the power of darkness of death it's impossible for death to have a hold on each one of us who are here today you might be wondering you might be here today and and feel that you know what I'm I'm I really don't know if there's any reason or rhyme why I'm here I came here because a family member brought me I came here because this is what you do on Christmas Eve it's the tradition that we have but I want to tell you that the reason why you're here is because Jesus he came in the form of man he came humbly on the cross he came as a small child to die on a cross and he came to give life to you and I he is the light of the world he's the glimmer of hope and for those of us who are in this room today who carry that light understand that light that each of us carry is causing every single one of your candles is like a representation of the light of Christ being lit all throughout the room and the more that these candles get lit the more that his light pushes back the darkness in this world amen