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“Who Can Truly See?”As “show me state” citizens; I am sure we all take pride in saying we live in Missouri, some of you have even been born in our great state, although I must confess that I was not. We take pride in our Super Bowl Champions, most recently the Chiefs but also the Rams; our World Series Champions (Cardinals 11 times – Royals 2 times); the Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues.We can proudly tell our out of town friends and relatives and visitors about our state – in fact we may even boast a little about the tallest man-made monument in the USA – The Gateway Arch, the invention of the ice cream cone at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. The famous fellow Missourians; Maya Angelou; Yogi Berra; George Washington Carver; Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain); Harry S. Truman, WWI artillery captain ( and he was famous for something else that escapes me at the moment); Edwin Hubble; Walter Cronkite; John J. (Black Jack) Pershing; and of course each one of you.How much do you know about our great state? (Cheating is acceptable, LOL)State tree? Flowering _______State bird? ____ birdState insect? ______eeHow many caves does Missouri have? Almost _,_00Missouri, long known as the “Cave State” has almost six thousand four hundred caves. Missouri State Parks showcases four of the best for public tours.Onondaga Cave and Cathedral Cave at Onondaga Cave State Park, Fisher Cave at Meramec State Park and Ozark Caverns at Lake of the Ozarks State Park. If you have ever been on a tour of one of these magnificent creations of God, as I have been privileged to have been, you see His handiwork everywhere. During the tour at some point he guide will lead you into a large “room” in the cave and he will, after he warns you of course, turn out the lights. The guide even turns off his lantern. He lets you experience or “see” what total darkness “looks” like. It is a darkness so thick, so total, so complete, and so “dense” that you cannot see your hand in front of your face. What happens, you find yourself thinking, if the light doesn’t come back? You would wind up lost in that place, in that cave, in the darkness with no hope of getting yourself out. You would be blind, lost, and without hope. According to the Vision Council of America, approximately 75% of adults use some sort of vision correction. About 64% of them wear eyeglasses, and about 11% wear contact lenses, either exclusively, or with glasses. Over half of all women and about 42% of men wear glasses.What an amazingly high percentage this is. But, to be able to see properly is a wonderful, a crucial thing. Think about all of the diseases that steal away our sight.Age related macular degenerationGlaucomaDiabetic macular edemaCataractsRetinitis pigmentosaKeratoconus – This is one that I had never heard of so – Keratoconus is a disorder of the eye which results in progressive thinning of the cornea. This may result in blurry vision, double vision, nearsightedness, astigmatism, and light sensitivity. Usually both eyes are affected. In more severe cases a scarring or a circle may be seen within the cornea.I’m not even scratching the surface with this list, and we there certainly a number of eye disorders whose very names sound scary.Well fellow Show Me State residents, let me tell you that there is a far worse darkness that that found in a cave with the light extinguished. Sadly, there are many, many people who are living in that darkness without realizing it. They do not, they will not, in fact they refuse to see.But, who can truly see? The theme for our convention is “20/20 Faith Vision” with our theme verse of 2 Corinthians 5:7, “F or we walk by faith, not by sight.” There is however a light by which we see and are saved. You know, as in when you are lost in the darkness of a cave and then see the small glimmer of light from the party coming to rescue you.There is light. Read Genesis 1:1-5: Discuss who is the source of light?But, darkness enter as Adam and Eve fell into sin. Mankind was living in the light of God, in the perfection of the Garden of Eden, which God created for them. So our sin brought about this darkness which is now plaguing the world. We, God’s children, are imperfect, flawed. We lost the 20/20 faith vision that Adam and Eve were created with. Our vision is out of focus, our sinful nature does not willingly come to God’s light, we would willingly stay in our pit of darkness and despair, our pit of sin. Yet even as He is punishing them God promises the light whom He will send. He promises the One who will crush the head of the serpent as His heel is being bruised. God gives this promise over and over. To Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. He gives it to David, Solomon; He gives it to the prophets to proclaim to the people, the people who insist on living in the darkness.Darkness is used as a metaphor for sin and for punishment in God Word. Look at Exodus 10 beginning with verse 21: What is the plague which God sends upon Egypt and what god is it against that the Egyptians blindly worshipped?Read Revelation 16 verses 10-11, discuss what is the object of this plague and what is it that the people do not do? The unbelieving Egyptians, living in the darkness of their sin and unbelief and punished with actual physical darkness, a darkness that can be felt. We feel the darkness of sin in our lives everyday as we daily suffer sin’s consequences, either our own sin or someone else’s.But, as we find out from John’s Gospel, the promise of the Light was kept. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”6 “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.”9 “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Discuss what the above verses say about the Light.This Light was not recognized by everyone. Some, through the power of Jesus’ Word and the Holy Spirit were brought to the Light. Read in John 9 the account of the man born blind. What does Jesus call Himself? What does He mean by verses 39-41? Discuss. Yes, some thought they could see, but their vision was still darkened. The Light was in the world. Who is the Light of the world? Read Isaiah 8:2 and discuss what is the darkness and what is the great light?But, the Light was not received. In fact, by God’s plan and will, He was crucified and it appeared that the darkness prevailed over the Light and that man’s vision was to be forever taken away. Matthew 27 tells us about something that occurred at Jesus’ crucifixion, read this and discuss what happened. The darkness did not prevail. Jesus, the Light of the world rose from the dead on the third day. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”The Light of the world, Jesus has risen again from the tomb and gives us light and life through the forgiveness of sins. But there are those who remain blind to the Light, their vision remains far less than 20/20. We have been given our 20/20 faith vision to see and to believe in Jesus the Christ, the Light of the world, the Light Who brings His light to all the peoples. To be outside of His light is to be blind and to be in darkness and death. To be in the Light of the life that He gives brings is eternal life and light and returns to us the perfect 20/20 faith vision that was lost. We are brought to that Light and given the gift of faith by which we walk.Read what St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:2-3, and talk about where our 20/20 Faith Vision comes from. What is worse than being physically blind? Being spiritually blind and not having the 20/20 Faith Vision to see and to believe in Jesus as Savior. Matthew 22 talks about what happens. Read and discuss the Guest without a wedding garment.The Holy Spirit working in us through the Means of Grace gives us that 20/20 Faith Vision by which we can truly see and believe in Jesus Christ the Light of the World.God’s richest blessings to you all.Pastor Dave OddiLWML Missouri District Junior Counselor. ................
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