my text is Matthew 4 verse 12 12- 17 my subject is night vision oh out and context is Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist after he was baptized the spirit led him up into the Wilderness where he was tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights we don't know for sure how much time elapses between him completing his test in the wilderness with Satan and when my text begins but we can assume that there is some time that passes and when we find Jesus in the text he has received news about
John the Baptist and verse 12 says now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison he departed to Galilee and leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulon and napali that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying the land of zebulun in the land of Napal by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light and upon those who s sat in the region and shadow
of death light has dawned from that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Spirit of the Living God Lord knows I need you I need your spirit I need your wisdom I need your Insight I need your courage God I I thank you for the gift of wisdom and Revelation that you have gathered Us in this room and watching online not to be entertained not to feel good but to learn more about who you are and what our response should be to who you are God
I pray that you would use me to be an interpreter that I would present the people to you and that I can present you to the people and so God where there are nerves where there are fear where there's even tiredness God I ask that you would allow your spirit to rest on me that I would decrease so that you may increase to the extent that lives would be changed that Hearts would be healed that passion would be reignited and that we would leave this place with night vision in Jesus name I pray amen amen
you can be seated and because the fast is over when we're finished we can go get get some chicken and waffles vegan chicken if that's you'll get down if I were to turn the lights off in this room right now after Panic ensued for a few seconds it would take about 20 minutes for your light for that for your eyes to adjust to the darkness in the room it takes about 20 minutes for your eyes to undergo a process called Dark adaptation and in this process of dark adaptation the retina begins to take in light
differently than when there is light on it begins to adjust its receptors so that it can understand what light looks like even in the dark wish I could say that better but I want you to understand that even when your retina adapts to the decreasing levels of Illumination that your eyesight is still not ever as sharp as it was when the lights were on you know this because when you're in your room and you turn the lights off it takes you a minute that's why you stub your toe a little bit I saw a video
this is so Random I saw a video from CCE wies and she was talking about how you when you stub your toe you need to say thank you Jesus has anyone seen that video we know who the real Christians are when they stub their toe I'm going just leave that at that I don't know what comes out your mouth when you st your toe but if you say praise the Lord like CeCe W is you real real saved I won't be saved I am saved like CeCe wi is I just didn't know that I wasn't
St your toe save but that's my anyways listen it takes 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness and this is part of the reason why I think that even though your eyes adjust you're not seeing with as much detail and color and I think this is part of the reason why in 1939 we see German Engineers trying to figure out what night vision can look like as it relates to battle because though the solders eyes can adjust to the dark it is still lacking a level of clarity and color necessary in order
for them to engage in battle and these German engineers in 1939 must have understood that in order for them to have an advantage in war they could not be relegated to just fighting in the light they had to find a way to take advantage of the darkness and so in World War II they begin working on a technology that would allow them to have an advantage to fight in darkness think about this this is actually pretty fascinating because while Darkness intimidated most people it made most people feel like maybe I cannot fight any longer because
because it's dark there was a different way of thinking that suggested maybe there is a way that I can utilize Darkness for my advantage I have to have a strategy in darkness oh God help me I need to have a strategy for fighting in the dark one and four businesses fail within their first year part of the reason why these business businesses fa it's not because they didn't have Smart Founders it's not because they didn't have brilliant ideas it's just that too often when we create our strategies we create them in the light we don't
always create our strategies to survive dark times we don't even know what dark times to anticipate and so we have strategies that are contingent on light times this is why I think I think marriages they should start having marriages closer into the evening like nighttime cuz I feel like it just sets a perfect foundation for what it's like to be married is that sometimes in marriage it's not about the Beautiful Moments that you see in the fairy tales and the romcoms marriage is really tested in those dark Seasons where you're just feeling one another out
where you don't even know where you end or they begin because life has changed so rapidly that you're in a dark season my father told me one time when I was getting remarried and he told me I want you to think about marriage in this way you are picking the person you want standing next to you when you're lowering me in the [Music] [Applause] ground we're not talking about who you want to hold hands with when you're watching a movie we're not talking about who you want to cuddle with we're not talking about who's going
to be funny we're talking about who you want to be with you in a dark [Applause] season some of us we start the new year and we have all of these resolutions and I'm going to do this I'm going work out I'm going do this I'mma Eat Right I'mma do no more fried foods and we plan those in light Seasons but we don't plan for what happens when we have that long day at work the kids have gotten on our nerves we still haven't worked out and you want me to go home and eat a
salad you see when I started this diet it was a light season I didn't plan for a dark season and in a dark season I need a dark piece three please two legs one thigh and a biscuit I'm in a dark season hand me that chocolate chip cookie I'm in the dark I was on the diet but then I hit a dark season you know what I mean life just got real hard in this dark season I was in school but then the financial aid fell out and I thought I was going to graduate but
now I've gone through a dark season I was climbing the ladder but I didn't realize that the ladder had a glass ceiling at the top then I got to the glass ceiling on to find out it was really a cement bottom and now I'm in a dark season in this job because I planned to break a generational curse but I didn't know the route was going to take take me through a dark season I wasn't planning to go through a dark season and you have to have a strategy for dark [Applause] Seasons too often when
we strategize we're only planning for things to go well and so when things go wrong we completely give up my husband has a leadership podcast is called the called podcast and one of the things oh come on some of you already know I only mentioned that cuz I'm about to steal and I just at least wanted to lay the foundation that I heard this from someone else him right there I didn't want him to get in the carel was like your sermon was anointed but there was one part that sounded awfully familiar he says that
sometimes when entrepreneurs start businesses that they're overly optimistic and because they are overly optimistic they never plan for what could go wrong and because they don't plan for what could go wrong they easily give up I wonder how much different your strategy would be if you planned for dark Seasons not so that you can give up but so that you can survive them come on somebody because some of you know how to plan for dark season so so that you find yourself in a depression but I want you to start planning for a dark season
and how you will overcome that dark season what's the worst thing that could happen I could lose the job the job not work out but you know what I'll still have my mind I'll still have the spirit of God on the inside of me I'll still have this marriage I'll still have this friend I may go through a dark season but I'm going go through that dark season that dark season doesn't get to hold me I'm planning on going through some dark Seasons I know that I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging
for bread but I also know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust so my plan for dark seasons is I'm going to learn to praise and worship even in the dark season if I can't do nothing else but lift my hands I can't write a check the check might bounce but I'm going to lift my hands cuz I'm going through a dark season I don't know whether the child is coming or going cuz I'm going through a dark season but I'm still here anyway because I can't afford for that dark season to
stay in me Paul and Silas were going through a dark season they had been arrested and they were in prison and they were going through a dark season because they were under attack for preaching the gospel and when they should have just sat in the prison cell and let themselves be prisoners and let themselves feel ashamed and let themselves feel like two people who had messed up they did something crazy Instead at midnight in the middle of the dark these men start praying and worshiping because I'm in a dark season but I got night vision
I won't let this dark season keep me from seeing God I wish you could do a little bit better than that but I realize some of you are going through a dark season right now and praying and worshiping in your dark season sounds crazy but I want you to know when Paul and Silas started praying in the middle of the night that all all of a sudden the ground started shaking cuz I'm in a dark season but his word is a lamp unto my feet and a light into my path so whenever I'm in the
dark and I need a little bit of light I don't wait for God to come get me I go and chase him down I'm in a dark season but I'm praying and worshiping cuz something happens he inhabits the Praises of his people that's why the enemy will do everything he can to keep you from being in the house of the Lord he'll do everything he can to keep you from turning on the sermon because he recognizes that when you're in a dark season that the light can still invade that dark season the enemy is trying
to keep somebody in a dark season but I rebuke you now in the name of Jesus somebody's coming out of a dark season tonight somebody's going to get some light tonight I dare you to touch your neighbor and say the light is coming the light is coming the light is coming the light is coming the light is somewhere in your soul it's somewhere in your praise it's somewhere in your worship I know you don't feel like worshiping but if you wait until you feel like it you might stay in the dark but if you worship
anyway even when you don't feel like it your spirit and your mind will catch the Light I'm sorry I got some light catching to do I got some light catching to do I'm worshiping cuz I got some light catching to do when I was a little girl we'd go outside at night and we'd catch lightning bugs and it was hard to catch them cuz we was in the dark but we keep trying anyway cuz it was so important that we catch the light that it didn't matter what I went through I got some light I
got to catch I'm living in a dark world baby I got some light to catch [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I'mma just o don't do that yelling stuff that make me think you didn't cost some life don't do that [Music] [Applause] I'm sorry I feel something happening in this room it was something about when you beat that drum that made me think somebody was getting some night vision in the middle of a battle I feel the drums beating cuz somebody's heart is coming back to life [Applause] my strategy for the dark is my praise and
My Worship my strategy for the dark is my praise and My Worship that's my strategy that's my [Applause] strategy that's my strategy that's my strategy for the headlines that's my strategy for the headlines I'm going just make the ground shake they building but I'mma make the ground shake [Music] [Applause] woo the worst thing you can do in a dark season is close your eyes [Applause] you got to keep your eyes open cuz your eyes can adapt in the dark isn't it funny that the creator of our bodies the one who decided what we would need
in order to function in this world created our bodies in such a way that he prepared our eyesight to not just exist in the daylight it may take them some time but their eyes can adapt to the dark so if you close your eyes in a dark season you will miss how you can adapt and still see even in the midst of Darkness if I didn't say nothing else we could pack up and go home you were created to see in the dark I don't know what you're going through in your life and I know
that it may seem like things are turning off but I want you to understand that God created you to see in the dark because he needs you to understand that you were created not just for good times but for dark times and if you don't keep your eyes open in dark Seasons you cannot see how God is [Applause] moving even in the dark do you know that we serve a God who can still move even in the dark that sounded like just a church response I would I wish I had some like real authentic people
in this room who would tell you about a time when they were in the darkest season of their life I don't mean no cute dark I mean I don't want to live no more dark how did you go from being in that dark of a season to where you are now unless we serve a God who knows how to move in the dark how did you go from that depression that was on your spirit into who you are to today unless we serve a God who knows how to move in the dark how did I
go from the 14year old girl carrying the baby to the grown woman carrying a word unless we serve a God who knows how to move in the dark how did you go from being lost and out of your mind into somebody who has the spirit of love power and a sound mind unless we serve a God who knows how to move in the dark shouldn't be in even be in this room but I serve a God who knows how to move in the dark shouldn't even have this idea but I serve a God who knows
how to move in the dark you sit next to some people who are no longer Afraid of the Dark how did you get to a point where you were no longer Afraid of the Dark cuz I saw God move in the middle of the night I saw God move in my darkest hour so the dark don't scare me [Music] [Applause] I see now why I've been fighting over this word I was thinking about the 10th plague for the children of Israel when Exodus would not let them go and God tells them to take the blood
of the lamb and put it over the doorpost and at night he's going to pass through and wherever there's blood over the doorpost he'll pass over what does that tell me about the character of God what that reveals to me about the character of God is that even in dark Seasons God knows who his is oh I wish I wish we could take a minute for that the whole world could have dark over it but God knows who's his even in the dark season God says I can see that blood even in the dark God
says I can see that worship even in the dark I know who's mine you keep the blood over the doorpost I'll do everything [Music] else cuz God God's got night vision I know how to see in the dark darkness was hovering over the face of the deep but he still started calling the Earth out because I know how to see in the dark I don't need to see your potential I can see you in the dark you don't have to perform that's why the enemy couldn't have you because God can still see you in the
dark you gave up on yourself in the dark but God couldn't give up on you cuz even in the dark I know who you are even in the dark I know you're still mine even in the dark I know you still got potential to do everything I've called you to do cuz I can see I can see in the dark I can see in the dark I can see in the dark I'm trying to move but I want you to know that God can see in the dark God can see in the dark even when
your eyes haven't adapted God says I can still see in the dark he woke Gideon up in the middle of the night he said I need you to reduce your army and I need you to invade the camp right now Gideon says it's not enough of us it's too dark God says I need you to do what I asked you to do cuz I can see in the dark and I'm telling you that's sometimes darkness is your advantage sometimes darkness is how you get the advantage over your enemy because you think that only you can't
see you don't understand that the enemy can't see either and because your enemy can't see but you standing on the side of a man who knows how to take darkness and turn it into light dark Seasons don't scare you when you working with the light I wish I had some Ganges in this what I don't even walk by sight I walk by faith if you see me move you better know it's cuz God said do it and I don't know what he's doing but I know he knows how to see in the dark [Music] [Applause]
it is no question then why Paul of all people prepare the church for what it means to receive this revelation of who Jesus is because Paul knows a thing or two about dark sea Seasons but Paul also knows the thing or two about having night vision this is what I want you to understand and this is what he tells the church over and over again whether it's the Church of Ephesus the church in Rome he prepares them over and over again for the reality that there's going to be suffering that this isn't going to be
easy because God will never let you walk into a dark season unprepared Paul wants them to understand that your faith is going to be tested it will not be tested in the light your faith will be tested in the dark I love and Ephesians 6:12 and 13 you all know this scripture he's preparing the Church of Ephesus and he tells them I want you to understand that this faith that you have received is not one that you're going to have to fight out amongst people for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against
principalities against Powers against the rulers of the I want you to understand that this faith is not going to be about who you can tell off oh Jesus this is not a flesh and blood battle this is a spiritual battle when you received God you also received God's enemies so all hell is going to break out against you you do not wrestle against flesh and blood if you are wrestling against flesh and blood you got the wrong opponent I want you to understand that you are wrestling with the devil that you are wrestling with Satan
but I want you to understand that you are already designated to win this battle Paul says you can win this battle take me to verse 13 He says so you going to have to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand okay I got excited when I was reading this because he's giving them a strategy for how to fight against these principalities these Powers these rulers of Darkness he says put on the whole armor of God if you put on
the whole armor of God now let me tell you something when I Envision this in my mind and I think about the whole armor of God I immediately go to Like Gladiator 2 where they put on all of this armor [Applause] armor is heavy and by time he goes through the list of the whole armor of God I'm going to be honest I'm thinking to myself they going to be tired by the time they put on this whole armor can we talk about the whole armor the whole armor of God the belt of Truth the
breastplate of righteousness I got to tell the truth truth and receive the truth I got to be righteous in what I do the shoes of the gospel of peace The Shield of Faith the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit you got to put all of that on for this battle and I'm thinking to myself by the time you put all this on you going to be heavy and you going to be tired but that's all you got to do is put it on he says if you put that on and just stand
I'm not asking you to swing it I'm not ask I'm just asking you to put it on put it on and just stand even in the dark I'm standing even in the middle of the dark cuz it's going to take all I have to keep the breast play the righteousness on in this dark season but all I got to do is stand in this whole [Applause] armor standing helps you [Applause] withstand I withstand when I stand in the whole armor a thousand follow my rights a 10,000 but I [Applause] stand we're going to have to
pray practice putting on the whole armor of God I think Paul says the whole armor because sometimes we put on pieces of the [Applause] armor but when you're in a dark season you can't afford to have the sword of the spirit and your mouth has no self-control you can't have the helmet of salvation and be ready to throw [Applause] hands some of y'all got on pieces of the armor I heard God said you going to need to put that whole armor down he said sword of the spirit I'm going to need you to put that
nine down I don't need you to be holding on to your peace just just the pieace the gospel of peace no other pieces you going to need your whole armor for this fight when we find Jesus in the text he's entering into a dark season I think it's important for us to understand that Jesus himself faces dark seasons yeah God gave me this text and I wasn't exactly sure why he gave it to me but I understand now that he gave me this text because he was preparing us for a dark season and he wanted
me to be able to see how Jesus functions in a dark season and all of a sudden I heard the words night vision John has been arrested Jesus hasn't even fully stepped into public Ministry at this time he hasn't even stepped into the fullness of his anointing at this time and his Forerunner John the Baptist has been arrested which means that before he can even get started he can tell that he's starting from a place of already risking persecution he's starting from a place of already having enemies some of us like clean starts where we
can start without enemies where we can start and the runway seems clear but Jesus starts in a dark season he also recognizes that the culture and political climate of that time is at at tension and that he has a word and a revelation that is going to continue to disrupt the tension of that time and era it's one thing to be saying yes in the dark season it's another thing to recognize that your obedience is going to cause even more friction in a time where there's already disruption I wish I could say that better he's
been called to preach the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand but him preaching about the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand is a disruption to other kingdoms oh I wish I could say this real good sometimes your obedience is someone else's threat and he knows that but he's got to obey anyway which means my obedience is leading me into the dark and this is where he is when we find him in the text and I thought to myself how courageous it is that Jesus says yes anyway that he says I know that it's going to
put a Target on my back I know that it means I'm going to have enemies but I am going to say yes anyway because what God has called me to do with the mission that I am on is more important than the enemies I will make along the way that was good I know some of the people Pleasers won't like that cuz we want everyone to be happy when we say yes but sometimes you have to decide that the mission you are on is worth the enemies you make along the way I recognize that I'm
going to make some enemies along the way but the mission is more important than your approval the Mission I have a generation to save I've got things to do in the Earth the mission is more important than your [Applause] [Music] approval so I'm thinking to myself wow he's very courageous he said yes but then I realized that in context when you look at this scripture in context that this is not any ordinary Jesus this is is not the 12-year-old boy who was lost in the temple this is not even the Jesus that we see being
baptized by John the Baptist this is the Jesus who was fresh off his [Applause] fast 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness I'm about to close let me tell you something we got no work come [Applause] on I love this church cuz I know somebody was like I actually got a clock in at 1:00 so Jesus is fresh off his fast he's fresh off of facing off with the devil in the wilderness in the dark and something happens when you face off with the devil in the dark that equips you and empowers you to
Face Off With the Devil in the public oh I wish I could say that real good too many of us are asking God about our public purpose and what can I do in the Earth on your behalf and I hear God saying if you really want to do something for me I want you to face off with your devil in private I need you to look your devil eye to eye and tell that devil no I need you to face off with your own demons because I want you to understand that the devil doesn't have
any power over you anymore so that when I send you into the Earth you don't think that the devil has power over the plan that I have in the earth that's why too many people get started and then back off but when You Face Off With the Devil in private you learn a thing or two about the devil that he's all smoking mirrors that he don't have no power that his plans fall apart that no weapon formed against you will prosper that's why you got to Face Off With the Devil in private you got to
go to war the devil in your own prayer life you got to be willing to fast and pray and get into your own Wilderness so that you recognize that that devil who once hailed you that once tempted you no longer has power over you as a matter of fact you got power over him if you really want to go to war to Devil with the devil on God's behalf I hear God saying let it start at home because if you let it start at home when I send you into the marketplace when I send you
into the political system when I send you on the front lines of the church you won't back down when the devil throws something your way cuz you already know no weapon formed against me will prosper you will already know that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world how do I know this cuz I faced off with the devil in the wilderness I look the devil in the eyes I told addiction you got to get off of me I told depression I'm going to therapy I told my generational curse
it's got to end with me I wish you knew who you was sitting next to you sitting next to somebody who's had to Face Off With the Devil in real life I looked him in the eye he said my name he wanted to take me he wanted to hold me but you looking at a woman that got Lo loose that woman and let her go loose that man and I wish I had a little bit more energy cuz I would preach like somebody crazy in this room I would tell hell to get your hands off
of that child I would tell hell that you s your last fight your last shot W I plead the blood of Jesus over every dark space I plead the Wonder workking the miracle performance the blood the blood the blood the blood the blood the blood the [Music] blood devil I rebuke you fear has no home here God is Not giv me the spirit of fear but of power but of power but of power love and a sound mind that means you're not about to drive me crazy that means you're not about to drive me to
Hast I hear God saying somebody need to shake themselves loose somebody need to shake themselves loose I'm coming out of this I'm coming out of these grave clothes I'm coming out of the dark early one Sunday morning how early wasn't it was early enough to still be night outside resurrecting power became my [Music] [Applause] portion I hear God saying it's going to take night vision I hear God saying you built to see in the dark I hear God saying that you want somebody to pray over you but I hear God saying that breakthrough is in
your own mouth I hear God saying you going to have to decree a thing so it can be established in the earth you going to have to declare a thing I was pouring over my notes and rearranging things and finally it hit me this is an attack because I'm preaching against Darkness so instead of studying my nose I said I plead the blood of Jesus over my mind devil I rebuke you in the name of Jesus I have an assignment to fulfill you got to get out of my way I don't care if the notes
make sense or not God gave me a word and that word is going to be a lamp unto my feet it's going to show me how to walk through this room walk through this season walk through this marriage walk through this family walk through this school walk through this paren walk through this [Music] divor I'm I'm going to be the [Music] lamp I'm going to be the lamp unto your feet I'm going to be the lamp unto your feet you're not going to get it from man you going to get it from me you're not
going to get it from nobody else you going to get it from me keep looking I got a lamp for you keep look you looking around look down at your feet I'mma order every step I'm going to give you the words when you need them I'm going to show you how to survive I'm going to show you how to fight I'm going to teach Your Hands to War even in the dark I'm going show you how to [Applause] [Applause] [Music] Jesus Hallelujah Jesus [Music] has night vision Jesus has night VIs vision and he's got disciples
who he's got to teach how to have night vision walking through a disease but you got night vision walking through change don't know where change is headed but I got night vision Jesus says instead of going the other way I got to go to Galilee so that the prophecy could be fulfilled that a bright light has dawned in a dark place God's going to take me into the Fulfillment of the prophecy related to my identity through a dark season hear me the Fulfillment of the prophecy connected to your identity is going to go through a
dark season don't let the dark Catch You by surprise it may take you some time to adapt to the darkness and I know we so saved that we just want to close our eyes and pretend that it's not a dark season when it is no it's it's just a little bit of a dark season out here even if it's not in the headlines for some of us in our lives I can't see I can't see but God says I'll give you night vision if you stay with me if you allow my spirit to rest on
you if you allow me to just hold up a light I'mma Turn All the Lights On in a minute but for now you may only have a flicker but a flicker is all you need I want you to be like a little kid catching lightning bugs in this dark season don't let any light pass you by somebody said something to me right when I need it oh that light all that message came right when I needed that SL something happened to me in worship today that's light somebody acknowledge the work I've been putting in this
sacrifice is not in vain that's light that's light that's light that's you got to catch every light there's only one thing I knew for sure as I Was preparing for this message and that is that though this is a dark season that the Lord is intentionally creating space for those who are called by his name to invade dark spaces I want to talk for a moment to those of you who have been called to bring change in dark spaces I know it's heavy I don't know what your dark space is for some of you it
may be in industry for some of you it may be in your families for some of you it may be in the political climate I don't know what your space is but I want you to know that it is not uncommon for God to send you into dark that's why we're here we are the light of the world you have to be willing to go into dark spaces but you cannot go into those spaces ill prepared Jesus it says in the in Matthew 4 that he's led up by the spirit to the Wilderness why is
the spirit leading him up to the Wilderness because the spirit is preparing him for the spaces he must invade you have to be someone spiritually on the inside before you can go and invade those dark spaces and some of you may have done that spiritual work in the past but for some reason or another maybe God's moving you into another space a different realm a different dimension and you think that the consecration from before is enough to carry you into the new and I want to challenge you to take inventory about where God is taking
you and to ask yourself not what am I to do there not what is the mission because if you're honest most of you are very clear on the mission because when we receive God's word for our life the prophecy for our life he gives it to us in the light he gives you an idea of who you are and what you can do in the light that's why we get so excited and we jump up and down the real question is who am I going to need to be on the inside for the darkness I'm
going to have to invade in order to fulfill that prophecy my Bible tells me that Jesus went to the cross for the joy that was set before him Jesus found a way to keep the vision alive even in the dark my prayer for you family is that you would keep the vision alive even in dark side seasons
