Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located
in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship
Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,
discipleship, and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church
and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bickford and I will be
your host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages
are a blessing to you and bring you closer to God.
Hello and welcome back to the podcast. My name is David Bickford. I'm the pastor at
the Potter's House Salmon Arm Church. Today's message that I put together is called Darkness
to Light. Its subheading would be, You knitted me together in my mother's womb. The text
that we are going to be using this morning as a jumping off point is Acts 26 verses
12-8. If you are following along you can go ahead and pull out your Bible, pull out your
sword there and go ahead and turn to Acts 26 verses 12-18. So the time of recording
this I just came back from a little mini vacation with my wife Sarah. We were able to go to
Sun Peaks for a few days and so you know you'd think oh you're probably nice and well rested
and relaxed except for the fact that darn military stuff comes up and my neck is throbbing
with pain as I record. So we had a great time, did some snowshoeing at night and we did some
axe throwing but yeah my neck is all messed up and so I just hoped this nerve pain kind
of calms down. But with that it kind of goes hand in hand with the illustration I have
for this message because it goes back to my background again. So it's all about the Marine
Corps boot camp and the yellow footprints. And so when I was a kid I really wanted to
join the military. It was a huge focus of my life even from as young as 14 which I think
I've said before. But one of the key things that separates Marine Corps boot camp from
other armed services boot camps is how it's all kind of veiled in this almost haunting
apparition of what you're walking yourself into. The Marine Corps has its own lore, it
has its own story, its own driving force. And so 10 days after I turned 18 I was on
my way to the Marine Corps recruit depot in San Diego and I had been preparing for this
since I was 14 and now the only question that remained was if I was going to be good enough.
So my parents dropped me off at the MAPS station which stands for Military Entrance Processing
Station and that is where I had my final processing before getting sent to the airport and taking
a flight by myself to San Diego. I didn't have much in the way of belongings, the Marine
Corps makes it pretty clear what you're allowed to bring. So we're not allowed to bring much
of anything because you're closing the door on your old life and you're starting a new
life as a Marine or a Marine recruit. So there weren't any cell phones at this time, there
were cell phones, they were invented, I'm not that old, but they weren't cheap enough
that a kid would typically have these things. There weren't any tablets, you weren't going
to bring a laptop because that just wasn't something that you typically had. But you
were allowed to have a personal effect so you were allowed to bring a Bible or something
like that but for the most part you were going with just the clothes on your back. And so
when you're on that flight, I'm flying from Michigan over to San Diego, you've got all
this time, this idle time just to think, what are the next 24 hours going to look like?
What have I done in making this decision to join the Marine Corps? Who am I going to become?
So when I'm thinking about that and when I'm putting this message together, it got me to
thinking about how we all begin in the dark. Once I got off that plane in San Diego, I
met up with some other recruits who were also headed to MCRD. There were people there with
signs to direct us and they bring us on as a group onto this dark bus. Now the people,
the drivers of these buses, they're polite but they're very firm. They're not active
duty Marines. I'm sure some of them are veterans or whatnot. But for the most part, they're
just being polite, they're being courteous, but they're also being somewhat blunt with
their direction. There was clearly this eerie feeling that was in the air, like this palpable
tension that you could almost cut with a knife, it was so tense. There was a bit of a morbid
or sadistic humor to what was about to happen to us, but at this point, we didn't fully
realize what was coming our way. That drive on the bus felt like forever, but really it
wasn't that long at all. The driving time between the San Diego airport and MCRD up
in Miramar isn't really that long. But the bus was dark. It was already well after sunset,
which to us seems like it was part of the plan. There was a strategy at play. They didn't
want us to be able to see where we were going and what we had signed up for. So with this
allure of the Marine Corps, it was clearly set up this way that we were going to be in
darkness entering into our future. So as we get to Marine Corps Recruit Depot, the bus
finally comes to a stop. And then we have this deep silence that we're sitting in right
before the chaos ensued. Marines are born into chaos. And from the second that a drill
instructor steps onto the bus and chases us out onto those yellow footprints, we're standing
under these bright floodlights that are shining down on us as the chaos erupts all around
us. So in our text in Acts 26, 12 through 18, we're going to read a little bit about
Paul and his conversion. So in verse 12, it says, In this connection I journeyed to Damascus
with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O Kings, I saw on the
way a light from heaven brighter than any or brighter than the sun that shone around
me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all had fallen to the ground, I heard
a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It
is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord
said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have
appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness for the things
in which you have seen me and those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from
your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that
they may turn from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan to God, that they
may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in
me. So our lives are bound to the cycle of birth and death, darkness and light, sin and
repentance. And throughout the scripture, we can see a pattern. We can see humanity
is birthed from the dirt or pulled from the darkness and placed into the light only to
fall back into the darkness and needs God's light. Then we are sent into the world to
be the light until we are taken home to be or to heaven to be near the true light that
is God. Which brings me to my first point, which is born from the womb into the light.
In Ecclesiastes 11 5 it says, as you do not know the path of the wind or how the body
is formed in the mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all
things. An unborn baby spends around 38 to 40 weeks in the womb. And during this time,
there's a lot of work being done. The baby is undergoing some amazing changes and developments
by week four, a baby is the size of a grain of rice, but it is already developing a digestion
system by week five, the nervous system is starting to develop by week nine, the baby
is developing its eyes, mouth and tongue. That is what is meant when David cries out
and how we are fearfully and wonderfully made in Psalms 139 11 through 16. It says, if I
say surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night, even the darkness
is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day for darkness is as light with you.
For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb and I praise
you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it
very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately
woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance and in your book
were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none
of them. From the very moment we are conceived and even before that God knew us, though we
were cloaked in darkness, our God knew us and knows us today. Not even the darkest of
the womb can separate us from the Father. He can reach into the dark places and care
for us. It is often in these dark places, these places of beginning that God does the
most work in our lives. So as I stood there as a young recruit on those yellow footprints,
I did not know what was going to happen next. Drill instructors were everywhere yelling
and barking as if they were the devil dogs that we had heard so much about. Marines were
called Teflhunden by the Germans in World War I, which translates to devil dogs. It
certainly felt to all of us recruits that these drill instructors were devil dogs. The
next several hours were a blur of running, standing, running, screaming, sir, yes, sir.
The purpose of this exercise is to show that Marines are expected to endure chaos because
we're born into that chaos. A baby is also born into chaos. It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to understand that when a woman goes into labor, it is a chaotic mess for
everyone involved. It can be loud and it certainly is painful and the imagery or the sensory
overload of that baby is hard for all of us to imagine. And I think that's part of the
blessing of why we're not born with that memory intact. How traumatic would that be if you
were taken from the womb into the world? So you're taken out of all you ever knew, the
darkness, the warmth, the comfort. You're not even breathing on your own. You're stripped
from that world. Now you're in an entirely different environment where you're forced
to breathe air for the first time. You're forced to have your eyes open to a little
bright, harsh lights for the first time. You think of that, how traumatic that would be.
And I think it's a blessing that we don't remember that to be taken from the darkness
of the womb into the light of the world. This is a powerful thought because it is the story
of our entire existence told over and over again. We have all been born from the womb,
taken from the darkness and the light. And hopefully we have all taken that next step.
Our world has fallen and sin permeates every aspect of the world. The hurt, the pain, the
violence, the despair, even death itself comes to us from that first sin of Adam and Eve
passed down to us through the ages. The thing with us being a Christian though is that we
know that there is hope. We know that there is something more. Thank goodness for those
brave enough to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with us. Thank God for sending his
son who died for us on Calvary. And that brings me to my second point, which is the hope for
humanity is the next point. The reason we are here, the reason for which we glorify
God and give him praise. So the title, like the heading of the next point is born again
into Christ and John three, one through seven, it says, you must be born again. And verse
seven, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This
man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come
from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered
him truly, truly. I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second
time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly. I say to you, unless
one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born
of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said
to you, you must be born again. God sent his son, Jesus, Jesus Christ, to bring us out
of the darkness again. This is the picture of our second birth or what we call being
born again. This is the greatest of miracles, the ability to come into direct relationship
with the father again through his son, Jesus Christ, being born again, bridges the gap
that the first sin created. So in our text, we see this spelled out for us when Jesus
spoke to the apostle Paul in verse 16. It said, but rise and stand upon your feet for
I have appeared to you for this purpose to appoint you as a servant and a witness to
the things in which you have seen me and those in which I will appear to you. Delivering
you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I'm sending you to, open their eyes
so that they may turn from the darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins in a place among those who are sanctified
by faith in me. So when Saul was converted, he died to his
own life and he was reborn as Paul the apostle to the Gentiles. This calling led him to cast
off his old life as a persecutor of the church and become one of the most strident builders
of the church. How dramatic is this change in his life, this death to himself and this
rebirth as a new creation in Christ Jesus? How can such a change occur in a man or a
woman's life? Has anything so grandiose happened in your own life? Everything changed
for Paul on that road to Damascus, but this is not a one-off experience. We have example
after example of this throughout the New Testament. When Matthew was called, he left behind his
entire world to follow Christ. This change was so thorough that all the apostles, excluding
Judas, were persecuted for their belief in Christ and their salvation. All except John
would die while being martyred. So while back at Marine Corps Boot Camp, I had no idea the
changes that were going to be required of me. Eventually, the yelling of the drill instructors
changed into constructive coaching, but one seemed like torture now made sense. As you
get closer to the end of basic training, it is like the scales begin to fall off your
eyes. The drills, the yelling, the running, push-ups, pull-ups, they all begin to click.
The very last event of the Marine Corps Boot Camp is an exercise that's called the crucible.
This event is a multi-day event in which you get very little sleep and you're under extreme
pressure with very limited food. You spend a lot of time in the darkness again. It is
an extremely difficult tradition, but the end is magnificent and difficult to really
describe. The emotion of it is difficult to describe. But on the very last morning of
the crucible, you get up before sunrise and you begin another forced hike. If you're in
San Diego for boot camp, you're starting this hike as a very steep uphill gravel hillside.
You're already tired. You're already sore. You're hungry from not having much food over
the last few days, but you drudge on. As the sun begins to rise and the night begins to
recede, you drudge on. Eventually, you see the top of the hillside within reach. As you
crest the summit, you can see the sunrise and you know that it is the end. The final
challenge has been met. For me, becoming a Marine was one of the most pivotal moments
in my life. I was not saved at this point in my life, but looking back, I can tell you
that the emotion that I felt on that day was overwhelming. Still, it pales in comparison
to salvation. I was born in the desert both as a Marine and as a son of God. Only one
year and three months separated the time that I became a Marine and the time that I was
born again. Just like Paul, the grace of the Father is more than anyone deserves and it
is there for each of us. The darkness of our lives and our choices are relevant to the
power of God's grace. In Job 1222, it says, he uncovers the deeps out of the darkness
and brings the deep darkness to light. And in John 1.5, it says, the light shines in
the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. As sons and daughters of the Lord, we
are now to walk in that light. Which brings me to my final point, which is heavenly citizenship.
In Philippians 3, 20-21, it says, but our citizenship is in heaven and from it we await
a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious
body by the power that enables him, even to subject all things to himself. I can't wait
for my heavenly body. I'm only in my early 40s, but as I'm riddled with arthritis and
all sorts of stuff, I can't wait for that heavenly body. In Ephesians 5, verse 8, it
says, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the world. Walk as children
of light. So on top of that hill, at the end of boot camp, there's a ceremony. The ceremony
is the Eagle Globe and Anchor Ceremony. This is the first time our drill instructors call
us Marines. Almost three months have gone by and they hand each of us an EGA, an Eagle
Globe and Anchor, and shake our hands. The Eagle Globe and Anchor is the insignia of
the United States Marine Corps. Young men stand there with tears in their eyes. The
challenge, the hardship, the pain, and the trials have all been for this moment. I find
it interesting as I remember back to this, and I contrast this to society today. So much
of society doesn't believe that hardship should ever happen in your life, that rather everything
should be given to you as an entitlement. But nothing worth doing is worth doing without
hardship. Similarly, as we become Christians, we think that hardship is going to end and
never touch us again. But the reality is that hardship creates growth. Being pulled from
the darkness into the light produces character. So even in this moment as we're standing there
on the hillside, there is an understanding. There's an understanding that there is a deeper
responsibility to bear when you're given the title of Marine, just like there is a deeper
responsibility to us as Christians and followers of Christ. Some expectations have to be met.
As we engage in our celebratory Warrior's Breakfast on that hillside, it's understood
that this is only the beginning. There will be new challenges, new hardships, new triumphs.
Today is only the beginning of the story. The book is still to be written. I got saved
in a different desert, as I mentioned, a year and three months later. I've spent a lot of
my time in deserts all around the world. I've spent time in the Iraqi desert, the Kuwait
desert, in the ruins of Babylon. Deserts in the United States grew up in a lot of deserts.
The power of salvation, though, is indescribable. But even that indescribable power of salvation,
it only marks the beginning of the journey. We're still living in a very darkened world,
a desolate world, just like those deserts. But as a Christian, when you finally give
your life to Christ and you've received the Holy Spirit and the joy and the peace and
everything that only comes from the Lord, there is an understanding that we are called
to be the light unto this lost world. It is the light of Jesus that shines in us, that
is meant to lead others to the cross and then to their own salvation, their own relationship
with Jesus Christ. It becomes our responsibility to train up disciples and mature followers
of Christ until the day that Christ does come. But wait, there's still more. Even though
we're conceived in darkness, we're born into light. We live in darkness, but we are redeemed
and born again into the light of our Lord Jesus. We serve our Lord as the light to a
dark world, but we will enter into a kingdom of eternal light. At the end of the race,
we will have communion with our Lord in heaven. We will never again be separated from the
light of the Lord. In John 14, 1 through 3, it says, let not your hearts be troubled.
Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, there are many rooms. If it
were not so, I would have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am,
you may also be. And you know the way to where I am going. We have confidence in these words
from Jesus our Lord. In Revelation 21, 3 through 4, it says, and I heard a loud voice from
the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them
and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe
away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning
nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. The last of this
world's darkness will come to an end and we will be born into light, the light of the
Lord. Through our salvation in Christ Jesus, we will again be transformed. Just like was
stated in the above verse. In Philippians 3, 21, it says, who will transform our lowly
bodies to be like glorious bodies by the power that enables him even to subject all things
to himself. Our new heavenly bodies, again, we find ourselves taken from the darkness
of this world into the light of our Lord. And with that, if I could have every head
bowed, every eye closed, obviously, if you're driving, be safe. We all come to a decision
in our life of who we want to be. As a young man, I had to make a decision if I was going
to follow through with my choice to join the Marine Corps. And I thank God I did. I believe
that it was part of his plan for my life because he put me in contact with a friend, John Morris,
who led me to the Lord in a different desert that year and three months after boot camp.
And he got me, you know, like I came to Jesus Christ, but I became part of this wonderful
fellowship that we're a part of today with so many churches globally, so many believers
globally, all preaching just an undiluted gospel Bible. Just the simple fact that Jesus
Christ died for your sins and that if you repent and accept him, he can be your Lord
too. And with that, if this message has convicted you, I pray and I pray that it has. I pray
that you lift your hand, whether you're, you know, whatever you're doing, just lift your
hand. I can't see it, but God can. Don't let this moment go by. This is an invitation
to you to accept Jesus as your savior. So if you lifted your hand, you meant it. I just
want to simply lead you in a quick prayer. Do what I know that you died for my sins.
I repent of my sins and I accept you, Lord Jesus, as my savior. And I thank you for your
grace in Jesus name. Amen. Super simple, super quick prayer. You repent of your sin and you
accept him as your Lord. Your life has changed. Now I pray that you did. If you prayed that,
that you'll take the next step, which is simply just to download a Bible, read a Bible. You
can do like you version or any number of Bibles. There's tons of good translations out there
and start reading the words of God for yourself. You can start a new Testament or whatever.
You can reach out to me. We can, we can have a chat and then start praying. Just cry out
to God with the troubles of your life. And finally, find a Bible believing church to
lock into that you can serve because part of coming into the light is making yourself
available to help others. Just like, you know, others have helped you in your life. You want
to be able to help those less fortunate than yourself. If you need help finding a church,
like I mentioned, we have over 3,500 churches globally. If you're in Sam and are please
come and visit us for church. I'd be ecstatic to have you come to service. But if you're
not reach out the email contact information is all in the show notes. And I'd be more
than happy to put you in contact with one of our number of churches. We're just simple
Bible believing churches preaching a simple gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, we have a Pentecostal
background and we're very proud of that. And I just want to thank everybody who is taking
the time to listen to these messages. I want to thank you those who've shared the podcast
who are, you know, because it does help us grow and help us get the word out. And we
have seen some good growth lately. And so I just want to pray that you guys would continue
to like, you know, like, share and subscribe so that we can get this out to as many people
as possible. I want to thank you for listening to get today. And I pray that you have a blessed
day. In Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the P.H.S.A. Potter's House Salmon Arm
podcast. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon arm to keep
up to date on what we're doing. Join the conversation and discover how Jesus Christ
can revolutionize your life.