Light of Life Part 2 teaches that the light of Jesus does not hand you something new; it reveals what God has already given you, so you can stop living by your five senses and take hold of it. Dr. William P. Hohman continues in John 1:4–5 and explains that the life in Jesus is zoe, life as God has it, and that this life becomes light in everyone who receives it. He closes with Paul’s call to put on the armor of light. This message continues directly from Jesus #4 The Light of Life.
Below this light of life part 2 introduction you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.
Sermon at a Glance
This is the fifth message in a series on who Jesus really is. Pastor Hohman opens by recalling a traditional religious upbringing where people learned stories about Jesus but never Jesus Himself. Even after being born again, he says, there is much more of Jesus to know, and none of it comes by intellect. The goal is to stay in awe, always eager for what He reveals next.
The message runs about 79 minutes and includes communion and a prayer to receive Jesus as the light of the world. It returns to several passages from the previous week and draws them together around one idea: light does not create blessings, it shows you where they are.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Dr. William P. Hohman |
| Series | Jesus (part 5 of 6; light of life, part 2) |
| Main text | John 1:4–5 |
| Key theme | Living by the light of Jesus instead of the five senses |
| Length | About 79 minutes, including communion |
Why John Wrote About the Word in the Flesh
Pastor Hohman compares the four Gospels. Matthew writes to the Jews and traces Jesus’ genealogy from Abraham. Luke writes to the Gentiles and traces it from Adam. Mark writes to the Romans and emphasizes miracles and power. John comes a couple of decades later to correct errors that were spreading about Jesus.
Many of those errors came from people claiming an angel had given them special revelation. Paul dealt with that directly: even if an angel brings a different gospel, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8). The Gnostics claimed secret knowledge and said Jesus could not have come in the flesh because He was too holy, so He must have been a kind of shadow or ghost. Pastor Hohman warns that believers who are not grounded in who Jesus is are still easily drawn away.
So John opens with John 1:1–5: in the beginning was the Word, all things were made through Him, and in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. In his first letter, John adds that he heard, saw and handled the Word of life with his own hands (1 John 1:1). Jesus, the Word, came to express the Father’s heart to people.
The problem, he explains, is that fallen man became finite, fragile and locked in corruption, living entirely by the senses: what we can taste, see, feel, hear and smell. God kept showing His love and goodness, but it was never enough, because the senses always report something new and the senses usually win. Someone is prayed for and the pain leaves, then wakes the next morning feeling it again and decides the healing is lost.
Darkness Could Not Control Him
Pastor Hohman reminds the church that the word of God is quick and powerful, and that if Jesus is the Word, then the Word includes both life and light. He returns to John 18:6. Judas brought the temple guards to the garden to arrest Jesus, and Jesus came out without a club, a stick or a knife. When He said, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
Darkness, he says, could not comprehend Him and could not control Him. The soldiers came to frighten and dominate Him, but no one killed Jesus; He freely gave His life in the face of His enemies. In doing so He fulfilled the picture of Psalm 23:5, a table prepared in the presence of enemies. With His resurrection, believers receive His life and light and can see all the good things He has done and has for them.
The light also shows what is behind the darkness, good and bad. Darkness trips the senses. Pastor Hohman recalls his years guiding bear hunters who came up from Chicago, Rockford, Madison and Milwaukee. He only let them hunt with a bow. Night after night he had to walk into the woods to bring them out of their tree stands, because once they had seen a bear they were afraid it was still out there in the dark.
That, he says, is the senses at work: fear grows wherever the senses rule in the dark. As a church, believers have to come to the place of wanting to know Jesus more. He recalls an old worship song about knowing Him being the greatest thing in life. Intimacy is not only hearing His voice; it is knowing what is in His heart, and that is exactly what the Father sent the Word to show.
Zoe: Life as God Has It
Reading John 1:4–5 again, Pastor Hohman teaches that the Greek word for life here is zoe, which he describes as the principal life, the source of all life, life as God has it. That life is not only meant to get believers to heaven one day. It is meant to bring heaven into them now and build an intimate relationship with God on this side of eternity.
That is why church matters, he says. It is not an afterthought for when nothing better comes along. Each time believers gather, they want to know Him in a greater way. It is also why testimony matters. Sharing what God’s heart did in your life gives people who are blind some picture of what they cannot yet see.
He illustrates the point with a farmer whose clock stopped. The man took only the hands to the clockmaker and insisted the hands were the problem. The clockmaker could do nothing without the clock itself. In the same way, he says, many Christians try to fix the people around them by teaching better morals and ethics. That is impossible. God has to have the heart before He can fix the hands.
He adds a warning for believers. Scripture shows that someone alive to Christ can fall asleep, and neither a dead person nor a sleeping one can see what is happening around them. Saying “I asked Him into my heart when I was 12” while living any way you please is not the life He came to give. When darkness creeps in, it should be a wake-up call.
Seeing What Is Already Yours
Pastor Hohman says believers already have everything. Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added (Matthew 6:33). Everything that pertains to life and godliness has been given (2 Peter 1:3). Health, provision and blessing belong to them, but they must see it to partake of it, and seeing comes by revelation from God.
Peter is his example. When Jesus asked who people said He was, Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus said flesh and blood had not revealed it to him, but the Father (Matthew 16:13–18). Pastor Hohman sets this beside Helen Keller, who used the sun in her analogies without ever seeing it. Knowing about Jesus with only the natural senses, without having your eyes opened to Him, he says, is religion.
The table below summarizes the contrast Pastor Hohman draws throughout light of life part 2 between the senses and the light.
| Living by the five senses | Living by the light of life |
|---|---|
| Pain returns, so I must have lost my healing | Go back to where you received it and live there |
| Afraid of what might be out in the dark | The light shows what is really behind the darkness |
| If I cannot see it naturally, it is not good | Seen or unseen, what God gave is yours |
| Worried about what was missed years ago | God will still fulfill it; nothing is missed |
| A new job feels great for a week, then sours | Wherever God puts you is in your favor |
Pastor Hohman revisits the camp of Judah from Numbers 2:9, whose 186,400 men he connects to the speed of light, and points to the God who made the sun and moon stand still for Joshua (Joshua 10:12–13). No matter your age, you will not miss what He has for you; that fear only comes from living by the senses. As David said, the Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23:1).
Here is his central image: light does not hand you what you did not see before; it reveals where it is, and you are the one who takes it. His Word is a lamp to the feet and a light to the path (Psalm 119:105). He shares that on four occasions, when finances were needed, provision simply appeared, including a bank he had never set foot in calling to say money in an account was his.
Light in Every Area of Life
The light gives understanding in two directions, Pastor Hohman says: how the kingdom of heaven works, and what is hiding behind the curtain of darkness in this world, so you do not get scammed. “The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130). Problems may remain, but you will see the solution, or see where you shot yourself in the foot and need to ask forgiveness.
Because the Word is light, it removes darkness, fear and concern. “For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness” (Psalm 18:28). He pauses to lead the church in asking Jesus to fill their hearts with the light of His glory, so their lives are bound not by fear but filled with liberty and joy.
He revisits hell. Jesus says five times in Mark 9 that its fire is never quenched, yet in Matthew 8:11–12 He calls it outer darkness. How can a fire be dark? Because God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all, and God is what is missing there. The reverse is true too: you will see your marriage differently when God’s presence comes into it, and your job differently when you invite Him into that space.
He illustrates with a job at a factory that builds garbage trucks. He did not let his senses or emotions take control. He took the job after remodeling the company president’s home, on the condition that ministry came first. He came in an hour early to clean light bulbs, fix things and brighten a drab plant, praising and whistling as he worked. Others kept wanting his position, and each move led to an easier one, until he was given a night post with time to read his Bible. It did not look good at first, he says; the provision was there in the darkness until he could see it.
Putting On the Armor of Light
Next he reads 1 John 1:5–10. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie. All the complaining and criticizing, he says, is God calling us out of the dark to take hold of His goodness. Walking in the light brings fellowship and cleansing, and it means waking each morning and asking the Father to tell you again how much He loves you.
Paul calls this putting on the armor of light, and Pastor Hohman says seeing God’s goodness the way you should is the armor of light. “The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Romans 13:11–14). Trying to stop a habit that plagues you by willpower alone, he says, will not work. You need His light to fill you, and you have to switch it on, stirring up what is in you rather than sitting like a lump.
Psalm 139:7–12 says, “The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” So Pastor Hohman refuses to fear the darkness. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12). He did not offer to show us a light; He is the light. You do not fight darkness; you turn on the switch, and everything hidden becomes visible.
God “reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him” (Daniel 2:22). Pastor Hohman teaches that Jesus is the tree of life Adam passed over; Adam followed his five physical senses, but eating from Jesus, believers receive knowledge of good and evil with wisdom, not bound to the senses. In Isaiah 45:2–3 God promises “the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.” When Jesus comes into a life, he says, He does not improve it; He illuminates it.
He ends with 1 Corinthians 1:30–31: Christ has become for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. At communion he asks the church to see Jesus in the bread and cup, reading 1 Corinthians 11:23–25. The broken body is for every personal need, and the shed blood redeems from corruption, poverty, sickness and spiritual death.
Putting Light of Life Part 2 Into Practice
“Today just don’t admire the light, step into it,” Pastor Hohman urges. Here are the practical steps drawn from this message:
- Stop trusting your senses over His Word. When feelings say a promise is gone, go back to where you received it and stand there.
- Start the day in His love. Ask the Father each morning to tell you again how much He loves you, and let His heart set the tone.
- Look for what is already there. Instead of asking God for something new, ask Him to open your eyes to what He has already given.
- Bring light to your workplace. Like Pastor Hohman at the truck plant, show up early, work cheerfully and let your attitude change the atmosphere.
- Share your testimony. Telling what God’s heart did for you gives people who cannot yet see a glimpse of Him.
- Put on the armor of light. The armor of light is seeing His goodness. Cast off the works of darkness and switch on the light rather than fighting a habit in your own strength.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 Knowing Jesus, not just stories about Him
- 3:10 How the four Gospels differ
- 4:11 Angels, cults and Paul’s warning
- 5:13 The Gnostics and John 1:1–5
- 8:18 Fallen man lives by the senses
- 10:27 John 18: darkness could not control Him
- 12:35 A table in the presence of enemies
- 13:39 Bear hunters afraid of the dark
- 15:46 Zoe: life as God has it
- 19:01 The farmer and the clock hands
- 22:19 Seek first the kingdom
- 24:25 Peter’s revelation of Jesus
- 25:27 Helen Keller and the sun
- 30:39 Judah and the speed of light
- 32:49 Light reveals what is already yours
- 36:10 Money in a bank he never used
- 37:16 Understanding from the light: Psalm 119:130
- 40:27 Why hell is dark
- 48:53 The garbage truck factory job
- 52:59 Walking in the light: 1 John 1:5–10
- 55:05 The armor of light: Romans 13
- 59:18 Psalm 139 and John 8:12
- 1:05:36 The treasures of darkness: Isaiah 45
- 1:10:05 Communion: see Jesus in the bread and cup
Jesus Series
This message is part of a six-part teaching on who Jesus really is. Start at the beginning or continue where this one leaves off:
- First message: Jesus #1
- Previous: Jesus #4 The Light of Life
- You are here: Jesus #5 Light of Life (Part 2)
- Next: Jesus #6 The light of life
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Pastor Hohman say believers should ignore problems?
No. He says plainly that the light does not make all your problems go away, because you still live in a corrupted world. What changes is that you can see. The light shows you the solution, or shows you where you made the mistake so you can ask the Father’s forgiveness. It also shows the good things God has already placed in your path, so you can take hold of them.
Why does Pastor Hohman say a born-again Christian can be asleep?
He points out that someone alive to Christ can still fall asleep, and a sleeping person, like a dead one, cannot see what is going on around them. Christians who say it does not matter how they live because they once asked Jesus into their hearts are, in his view, in that state. The answer is to wake up, open your eyes and keep pursuing a closer walk with Jesus every day.
How should communion be received, according to this message?
He shifts the usual emphasis. Communion is done in remembrance of Jesus, but he asks the church to see Jesus Himself in the bread and the cup, because Jesus is in everything. When believers partake, the broken body is for every personal need, and the shed blood is for redemption from corruption, poverty, sickness and spiritual death.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- John 1:1–5 — in Him was life
- John 8:12 — the light of the world
- Romans 13:11–14 — the armor of light
- Psalm 119:105 and Psalm 119:130 — light and understanding
- Psalm 139:7–12 — darkness and light alike to Him
- 1 John 1:5–10 — walking in the light
- Daniel 2:22 — light dwells with Him
- Isaiah 45:2–3 — the treasures of darkness
- Matthew 16:13–18 — Peter’s revelation
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
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