January 26, 2025 • 41 mins
Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon on the Mount - Salt and Light
Matthew 5:13-16
Disciples of Jesus are the salt of the earth
1. Visible
2. Valuable
3. Vital
The responsibilities of the disciple of Jesus
1. Be Pure/
2. Preserve
3. Irritate
4. Penetrate
Disciples of Jesus are the Light of the world
1. Guiding
2. Correcting
3. Reflecting
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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If you have your Bibles, we'll be in Matthew chapter five this morning.
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This is our second week of going through the Sermon on the Mount together.
Last week, if you weren't here, we looked at the Beatitudes that Jesus shared and in
those few verses, he described to us how we are to be happy.
And it was completely opposite of what we think is going to make us happy.
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He never said that those who are happier, those who have a great family, those who are
blessed or those that have a good job with steady benefits.
This was Jesus telling His disciples in this moment that what they have seen so far looks
like success in ministry.
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And he looked at these things and because of where they were and what was going on in
this ministry, crowds were following him.
In the previous chapter, it speaks of how he healed every disease and affliction.
Matthew tells us that Jesus was famous.
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So Jesus pulls his disciples in and he says, what you have seen, what you have experienced,
it might look like this is why I came, to draw crowds and to heal people, but I'm here
to show you what it means to have happiness and joy.
He says the reality is those who are pure in heart, those who are gentle, those who are
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persecuted for my names are the one who will experience a true state of blessedness.
He was telling them it wasn't external things that are going to bring them joy, but it was
an internal reality of how they were changed.
So when I think about that and I think about my life and I think about our church, I want
to challenge us all a little bit.
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Is success in ministry, how many people come?
Is it how many events that we do?
Is it because that people know who we are?
I never want us to get to the point where we are content with drawing a crowd.
Now people coming in and people visiting and people coming to our events is not a bad thing,
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but my question is what is the point if all we do is get people here, get people to come
to our events and that's where our desire stops.
Are we broken hearted when we come across somebody in our circle or somebody in our community
and they come to one of our events but in the end they are rejecting Jesus?
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Paul wrote in Romans chapter 9.
He says I speak the truth in Christ.
I'm not lying.
My conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit.
I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for I could wish that I myself were
cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people
of Israel.
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And so I think some of us, I think we can feel that.
If you don't, maybe it's because you don't know enough people or maybe you don't love
enough people because when you get to know them and you begin to care for them, when
you know that they reject Jesus it should make us sick.
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It should break our hearts.
There's a story in Romans Revelation chapter 10 and in Revelation chapter 10 it speaks
of the end times and there's this drama in the middle of that story of this unrolling
of the scroll and breaking the seals and all those things, all those things we just sing
about.
It talks about how those things are going to happen and there's this scene in the middle
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of this story where the angel takes a scroll, he takes a little scroll and he hands it to
John and he tells him to eat it.
And at first the scroll tastes sweet but as it works its way through his digestive system
and into his stomach it begins to make him sick.
There is a sweet thought when it comes to thinking about Jesus returning.
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We'll raise our hands, we'll raise our heads, we'll welcome him, we're excited, we look
forward to that day but at the same time there's also this bitterness that comes with all of
that because of all those that have rejected him who didn't take him seriously, who are
going to be punished eternally.
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So how do we as a church, how do we as Christians who are busy reach a culture where they're
too busy for us and we are too busy for them?
Well I think about Jesus.
I mean think about his life, think about where he hung out.
Jesus went to some pretty crazy parties where there's prostitutes and thieves, people are
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on him, are all drinking and getting crazy and whatever they did back then.
And the church people, it was the religious people who were like why are you hanging out
with them?
Why are you going into those places and I love Jesus' response.
He says because those are the people that need me.
That's who I need.
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And so my question is are we doing that?
Are we getting out there?
Do your neighbors know who you are?
Are you taking time to know people and love people?
I mean the world thinks that Christians are just a bunch of people who just want to get
them.
Right?
Want you to come to church, come to my Bible study, believe what we believe.
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That's what the world, how the world views Christians.
We don't take time to get to know them or care for them.
We just want them to come to our church so that we can get another notch in our spiritual
belts.
We don't really care for them.
We just want them to be a part of our church.
That's not how Jesus lived.
Jesus by his lifestyle attracted a following.
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He lived a life amongst the culture that everyone wanted to follow him.
He loved people.
He gave to people.
He healed people so they liked hanging around with him.
But when he spoke his message, that's when the crowds scattered.
Now as Christians we are really good at the second part.
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We're good at sharing the message.
We're good at those kinds of things.
But are you attracting people with your lifestyle?
Jesus is going to tell us today what our lives should look like.
We're going to invite Obi up here to read our passage this morning.
He's going to read verses 13 through 16 of Matthew chapter 5.
If you're able, we'd love for you to stand as we honor the Lord's word together.
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Tell you Obi.
You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt has lost its taste, how shall saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything except be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a
basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
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In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Father, thank you for Obi.
Again, thank you for just what you're doing in his life and how he's leading and how he's
growing.
I pray that you continue to give him a strong desire to know you and your word.
I pray, Father, that as we look at Jesus' words, that we will be convicted by them.
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I pray that you will speak through your texts.
I pray that you will speak to our hearts.
We ask all these things in your name.
Amen.
Thanks, bud.
All right.
So right out of the gate, we need to understand that as disciples of Jesus, which is if you've
professed faith in him, you are his disciple, that we are the salt of the earth.
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Once Jesus saves us, we are salt.
This is not a process of becoming salt.
If you are a believer in Jesus right now, you are salt.
And Jesus is telling those in his day, he's telling us today that as believers, we are
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salt whether we like it or not.
It's not a matter of whether or not we are influencing others.
That's not the question.
But it's a matter of how are we influencing them?
And as salt, we have an awesome opportunity to make an eternal impact in the lives of
those around us.
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So there's a few things we need to be aware of.
In order for us to have an impact on the world around us, the first thing is we need to be
visible.
That's pretty obvious.
Our ministry is to a lost and dying world.
We are to win lost souls and help them establish a relationship with Jesus.
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The only way that we can accomplish our mission is to be visible in our society.
We don't do any good if we just stay locked up here in the church and this is the only
time we talk about it.
It's not going to have any impact.
We cannot be isolated from the rest of the world.
Do you know what never gets used in my house?
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These things that are out of sight, out of mind.
I can't tell you how many times I've been doing a project at the house and it's been
difficult and I thought I had a tool for it or I thought I had this for it but I can't
find it.
And so I hunkered through to get through the project.
Guess what happens a few weeks later, a few months later?
I find that thing I was looking for.
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It was hidden away somewhere.
It didn't get used because it wasn't visible.
And when I find those things that I've been looking for, I always say, man, that would
have been nice to have.
That would have made it a lot easier.
We need to be visible.
We also need to understand that as salt we are valuable.
Now in today's society, we miss the impact of what Jesus was saying in this verse.
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However, those that lived in the ancient societies understood the value of salt far better than
we.
Romans believed, for instance, that there was nothing more as valuable as salt except
for the sun.
Many Roman soldiers received their pay in salt.
Now I'm well aware, I was confirmed after first service.
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Some of you all are pulling out your phones and googling things and fact checking me like
your Zuckerberg.
I get it, whatever.
I try to do my best to make sure I'm being truthful.
And so somebody was fact checking me after first service and I was right.
Thank you.
But we both learned something new.
We get our word salary from the word salt.
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How cool was that?
So Roman soldiers were paid in salt.
It's where the phrase comes from.
That guy's not worth his salt.
That's where that comes from.
So those listening to Jesus may not have understood all that he was saying, but they knew that
to be called the salt of the earth was to be something very special and valuable.
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We should know we are valuable because our salvation was costly.
Jesus died for us.
He laid down his life for us.
He chose us.
So not only are we valuable to the Lord, we're valuable to the world.
I want you to think about this.
How did you hear about the gospel?
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Where would your life be right now if somebody didn't share the hope that they found in Jesus?
Your life has tremendous value because God will use your life to be a witness to the
lost and dying world.
He's going to use you.
The salt is vital.
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Among its many uses, salt is essential to the health of both humans and animals.
In ancient days, it's vital part of the economy in terms of sources of revenue.
Our existence as believers and our influence as salt of the earth is vital to the preservation
of our society.
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Right now, it is the existence of believers in this world that is staying the awful punishment
of a holy and righteous God.
That is who you are as the salt of the earth.
You are here for a purpose.
Your purpose is so much more than just going to work and earning a paycheck.
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Your purpose is so much more than driving your kids from activity to activity.
God has placed you on this earth in this time in human history.
You live in the neighborhood in which you live.
You work at the job in which you work.
He saved you when he did so that he could use you for his kingdom purposes.
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There are no accidents when it comes to your life.
Because of that, we have some responsibilities.
This is salt has different jobs to do so do we as disciples of Jesus.
The first responsibility we have is to be pure.
Salt symbolizes purity.
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Now there's so many verses in the Word of God that tell us that as his followers, we
are to be pure.
Second Corinthians chapter seven reads that we are to pure ourselves from everything that
contaminates our spirit.
God tells Timothy to keep himself pure.
A few years ago, my wife, Sina, tried to kill me.
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It's a true story.
She's going to deny it but it's true.
She had cooked this batch of sweet potatoes.
Now I like sweet potatoes as much as the next guy so that wasn't the issue.
The issue was that once she cooked the sweet potatoes, she left them on the stove overnight
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and then served them to me like that's a normal thing to do.
Like nothing had happened.
Well, let me tell you, something happened.
I've never been so sick a day in my life.
As they sat on the stove that night, after they had been cooked, they became a breeding
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ground for all kinds of bacteria that has made me unable to look at a sweet potato the
same way again.
Now as believers, when we fail to remain pure, we cease to be what God created us to be.
We need to not give the enemy opportunity, avaricunity to make the world sick when we
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are around.
We need to be careful with what we watch.
We need to be careful with what we listen to, with what we say.
We need to be careful with how we spend our time so that we can be used appropriately.
We are also called to preserve.
Now to the people of Jesus' day, salt was a preservative vital to their way of life.
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The only way the fishermen could safely get their fish to the market in good condition
was to salt it and pack it in different layers of salt.
It kept the fish fresh.
It kept it edible.
You are the salt of the earth.
It implies that there's a rottenness going on on the earth.
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It implies a tendency of pollution and to become foul and offensive.
The world's tendency is to do evil.
It's like meat.
It has a tendency to putrify and become defiled.
Ever since man was in the garden, the world has become more and more corrupt.
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It is the purpose of believers to be a preserving influence to stop the moral and spiritual decay
in the world.
Now I've worked at a lot of different places.
I've had many jobs throughout my life, but it always seems like the people that are there,
they all have the same characteristics for the most part.
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Maybe some of you will relate to this.
It's hard to work around a big group of men, a large group of men in the workplace and not
hear them constantly complaining about their wife.
She does this wrong and she tried to kill me with sweet potatoes and she nags me all
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the time and she doesn't like whatever it was.
Men are always complaining about their wives and then they feed off one another.
Now I don't think that's what they hoped for when they got married.
I don't think that as she was walking down the aisle, she was sitting there thinking,
man, I can't wait to marry this girl and then complain about her the rest of my life.
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I can't wait to be miserable all the days of my life.
No, no, they started off with good intentions.
They were in love, they liked each other, all those things, but because the enemy loves
to see the breakdown of the family unit, he makes sure to drive them to misery.
So one of the ways I felt the Lord calling me to preserve my culture, my small little
culture of my workplace was to commit to never talking bad about my wife.
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Even when I was a senator, even when she tried to kill me the day before.
I would make sure that everyone around me knew how awesome she was, how much I love
having a partner to do life with, how I'm so much more thankful for her today than I
was when I married her.
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Just little things like it changed my workplace.
The complaint slowly stopped and believe it or not, I started hearing positive things
and that started feeding one another.
We're called to preserve.
We're also called to irritate.
We're called to irritate.
Salt can have a stinging quality.
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Now in our own unique way, as believers, as followers of Jesus, we are to be somewhat
irritating to the world.
Just as salt and a wound stings, but believers are to prick the conscience of the world and
to be an irritant to ungodly behavior.
Salt can heal wounds.
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It's painful for a moment, but it's great at preventing infection.
It kills bacterial cells by pulling them out and dehydrating them where they eventually
die.
Sometimes we need to be that irritant that reminds people that their lifestyle and the
words are dishonoring to God.
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We should take pride when people apologize for their behavior around us.
You ever been there?
Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to say that.
We don't take pride in it because we're better than them.
We don't take pride in it because we're happy that they feel bad.
We take pride because it's a reminder where our lifestyle is reminding them that God has
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a higher standard for their life.
Everybody is salt, we are to penetrate.
Now once salt has been applied to food, it penetrates the food and it changes the way
it is.
If you have enough salt on it, it will make you thirsty.
The apostles penetrated the society in which they live to such a high degree that Acts
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chapter 17 says they turned the world upside down.
If a Christian, if as a Christian, you are not making the world around you a better place
by your presence, we are not fulfilling our function as salt.
Once salt penetrates a food, it will cause thirst.
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As we penetrate the world around us, our hope should be that our lives, our actions, our
efforts, everything about us would create a thirst for God.
If we were to stop and I were to ask you, what about your life would cause someone to
pursue God?
What would it be?
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Is it the way you interact with your spouse?
Is it the way you handle your money?
Is it how you have peace in difficult situations?
Is it how you are running away from sin?
Have you allowed the word of God?
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Have you allowed the presence of God to penetrate you enough to the point where you are equipped
to turn the world upside down?
Peter has a great word of encouragement for us in 1 Peter chapter 2.
He says, live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong,
they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
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Live your lives in such a way, even though they might be mocking you, even though they
might disagree with you, live your life in such a way they give God praise.
Now, in Israel, there is this body of water called the Dead Sea.
I'm sure you've heard about it.
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If you ever get a chance to go to Israel, I'd really encourage you to go visit the Dead
Sea because it's a pretty remarkable place.
The water is so salty that it makes the water so dense that you can't sink down into it.
You just kind of float on top of it.
You're just kind of floating on the water there in the Middle East.
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Because of the amount of salt that's in the Dead Sea, sea life cannot be sustained.
Everything's dead.
Now, the Dead Sea is fed by the Jordan River.
So the Dead Sea has fresh water flowing into it, but the problem is the Dead Sea has no
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outlet.
And so all that flows into it dies because once it gets to the sea, the fresh water evaporates
and only the minerals are left behind.
That's why it's dead.
If it had an outlet, life would be able to be sustained in it and we would no longer call
it the Dead Sea.
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So it is with us.
We have an inlet of fresh water when we come to church, when we read our Bible, when we
have a relationship with the Lord.
But if all we have is an inlet, we might be salt, but there isn't any life.
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The fresh water that comes into our life needs to flow through us and out into the world
around us.
There are too many Dead Sea Christians walking around this earth.
There are too many Dead Sea churches right now.
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We're all full of salt, but because we only have an inlet and not an outlet, people don't
look to us as the carriers of living water.
We're just, we're just said they just, they just see us.
They see different aspects of us and they just see dead religion.
We need to be better at not letting all the minerals that flow into our life through the
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Word of God, through prayer, through worship, through our relationship and just letting all
those minerals just terminate on us.
We need to stop being Dead Sea Christians.
Jesus says not only are we salt, but we're also light.
Whether you like it or not, you are light and we are light for a purpose.
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Now we know from the scriptures that there's different types of light.
The first light being we are a guiding light.
Luke writes in Acts chapter 13, says in Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying, it was
necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrust it aside and judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal life.
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Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.
For so the Lord has commanded us saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that
you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
Paul writes in Philippians chapter 2, says do all things without grumbling or disputing,
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked
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and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the
Word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain
or labor in vain.
As light in the world, we are to lead others to the light of God.
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How will they know if nobody preaches to them?
How will they know if nobody tells them?
How will they know?
We are to be the light that illuminates the path to abundant life, that's our responsibility.
We are able to do that because God has filled us with His Holy Spirit to speak into a dark
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and destructive world.
Tell your story.
Tell somebody your story about how God brought light into your life.
We're also to be a correcting light.
In Ephesians chapter 5 Paul writes, but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes
visible.
For anything that becomes visible is light.
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The light of Christ made it uncomfortable for those around Him because it exposed the
sinfulness of their deeds.
But by the same token our lives ought to have the same effect upon those around us who choose
to continue to live and sin.
Our righteous deeds ought to be a rebuke to the unrighteousness of others.
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How we love our kids, how we take a stand against the evil that we see around us, how
we worship God in this place is showing others something.
It's showing them something.
Are we showing them the correct way to do things or are we just doing our best to fit
into the crowd and what we think is easier?
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We're exposing them to something.
What are you exposing them to?
Finally, we are to be a reflecting light.
Now, when Sinai and I were in our 20s, which seems a long time ago, we liked to vacation
like we were retired.
We didn't know it at the time, but we decided to fly up to New England.
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We stayed at air, not airbnbs, but bed and breakfast.
We drove around to see the colors of the trees and things like that.
We didn't realize when we booked the trip, but we soon realized that we were the youngest
people there by a good 25 years or so.
We didn't mind it.
We had a good time.
We enjoyed it.
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Now, as you've never been to New England, apparently there is a task that you have to
do when you go there or the whole trip is a waste.
We had to go and look at lighthouses.
If you go to New England and don't look at lighthouses, you wasted your time.
This is what I learned when I got there.
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Why do you have to go look at lighthouses?
I don't know, but we did.
We have many pictures of us standing in front of lighthouses.
We didn't go into them.
We know nothing about them.
We would stand and get our picture taken in front of these lighthouses and we'd go from
lighthouse to lighthouse and be like, oh, that's a good one.
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We didn't know.
We didn't know.
We didn't know what we were talking about.
My life did not change at all except for the fact that I can now stand before you and say,
I have seen a lighthouse.
It's the only thing that changed.
Doesn't mean anything else, but you ask a captain of a boat in the middle of a storm
how important those lighthouses are and they will tell you how vital they are to their
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survival.
They don't need the lighthouse when the sun's up and everything's going well.
They don't need the lighthouse when the sea is calm.
They need them in their moments of desperation.
Those you interact with every single day might not ever let you know that you were needed,
but in their moments of desperation, they are going to be looking for a light.
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They are going to be looking for a direction in which they should go.
Do they know that they should be looking to you?
Do they know that they should be looking at you?
When the storms of life come into their life, have they seen enough evidence in you that
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you are a lighthouse, that you will help lead them to safe shores?
Are you a reflecting light?
We cannot be effective in reaching the lost if our light is not shining where they can
see it.
The candle on the candlestick represents the believer.
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It represents the believer letting his or her light shine through the ministry of a
local church, through the ministry of their family, through the ministry at a workplace.
And they can have some impact.
So I brought some things to kind of show you these different things.
We all have one of these, at least one probably in our house.
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We probably have 25, never confined them when we need them, out of sight, out of mind.
But that's about the brightness of a candle, right?
And I tried this the other day and I can't get this room dark enough.
But I want you to imagine, I want you to imagine we have an obstacle course here and it's my
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responsibility as a believer to get you through it without stubbing your toe, without you
falling down, without you getting hurt.
But all I have is this light.
So I had to stick really, really close to you and illuminate as much as I can so you
can get the best picture you can.
And I'm shining my light to lead you to abundant life.
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And I might have to get on the ground with you and do all that.
I think we could do it together.
It might be a little difficult.
It might take a little more time, but I think we could do it together.
But what if as believers we all put our lights together?
Well, then we have a better opportunity of not getting hurt, don't we?
And so we get these little floodlight type things and as we form together, we're not
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just one light, we're many lights, some million candles, some 300 candle, whatever.
But it'd be a lot easier to shine and lead you through an obstacle course with this light,
wouldn't it?
It's a lot brighter to do it together.
No guarantees we won't stub a toe.
I still stub my toe in my well-living room.
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On the table that's been there for years, I still stub my toe on those stands.
We're not guaranteed we'll never be hurt, but it'd be a lot easier to make it through
life when we're working together and our lights are shining together, wouldn't it?
Jesus says we are the light of the world.
Like it or not, you are the light of the world.
Now my family has done a lot of road trips.
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The last couple years they mainly consisted of just driving back and forth to Texas, which
is about 1100 miles back to where we come from.
But we've been able to travel all over the country.
We've seen some really awesome things.
And as you do road trips more often, you quickly learn certain things and you quickly learn
the look of certain gas stations.
Like I'm not going to stop there because I'm going to get robbed.
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I'm going to go to this other one.
You just kind of learn those things.
Sometimes the hard way, but we learn those things.
And so one of our favorite gas stations, our only favorite gas station is Buckeys.
If we are within 100 miles of a Buckeys, we will pass every other gas station before we
will pull into that thing on fumes if we need to, but we're going to stop at Buckeys.
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They have the best bathrooms.
They have the best snacks.
You can do all of your Christmas shopping if you decided to do that at Buckeys.
When we were moving up here, we mentioned that we had stopped at Buckeys and they'd
never heard of Buckeys, so we told them a little bit about Buckeys.
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And some of you who are in this church, I'm not going to call you by name, but some of
you in this church said, oh, we have Casies.
No.
No.
It's not the same thing.
Not all gas stations are created equal.
I'll never forget that.
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Explain Buckeys.
Oh, well, we have Casies.
No.
Yeah.
Here's the thing about Buckeys.
They've created a destination experience for the road tripper.
As far as I know, and I'm not the most intelligent person in the room, but as far as I know,
they have the same gas as every other gas station that we passed on the way to get to
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that one.
But my family wants to go to Buckeys.
We could have stopped at the Chevron that's right around the corner from there, but we
are going to get to Buckeys.
That gas that's at Chevron could have gotten us to our next destination just fine.
I wouldn't have worried about that.
I would have filled up my tank and got us to where we needed to go, but we're going
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to stop at Buckeys.
Church is a lot like a gas station.
We come in and we get filled up and we go about our week.
And hopefully by next week, you are so drained and running on empty that you need to be filled
again.
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Now the reason you come to this church is going to be different for all of us, but we
should strive to be the Buckeys of churches.
Not because we are the biggest, not because we have donuts, and not because we have the
best facilities, because people know when they get here.
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This is not only a place to be filled up, but it's a place where they can experience
life.
It's a place where we can worship the Lord in spirit and truth.
It's a place where we care for the orphan and widow.
It's a place where people can experience healing.
It's a place where there's acceptance and grace.
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We should be a destination to the lost world because our light is shining so brightly.
And so people feel drained and empty and they come here and because the spirit of God dwells
here and because our people are filled with the light of who God is, they walk out of
here changed.
That should be our goal.
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And as we send you out for the week, and as you pour out your life and you shine your
light and your salt, my hope is that you'll be so drained and poured out that you've got
to come and get filled up again.
And then we're going to send you out again.
And so this passage is very familiar.
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We know where's the salt of the earth?
So we're the light of the world.
My question is, are you a dead sea Christian?
Do you just come and get poured into, get poured into, get poured into.
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Go to Bible study, the Bible study.
Come and worship and hear the word of God.
Wake up every morning and read your Bible.
Seek after Him.
Live your life right.
And all those nutrients are just terminating on yourself.
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If that's you, you need to plead with God that He digs you.
He digs out of your life a trench where the good war continues to flow to others.
Do you think of your life as light?
You're reflecting something.
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Jesus didn't give you.
You could be the light.
Somebody says, you're the light.
You're going to reflect something.
What are you reflecting?
What are you shining the light on?
Are you taking your sin seriously?
Are you correcting?
Are you guiding?
Are you reflecting?
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When people look at your lives and how you live your life, what are they seeing?
They see somebody that is hypocritical.
We're all guilty of that, been there, do that, all those things.
But we shouldn't be content with that, should we?
And so I'm going to pray for us and I worship that He's going to lead us in another song.
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My prayer is that whatever the Lord is telling you, however He's asking you to respond, however
He's leading you to respond, that you'll just be obedient.
You'll be obedient.
You'll repent.
You'll lay things before Him.
You'll trust Him.
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You'll call upon His name.
People will realize that, hey, maybe I am a dead sea Christian.
I've consumed a lot of information over my life.
I can go back and forth with any one of you theologically for hours if you wanted to,
but that doesn't bring any, that doesn't change any lives, doesn't, if my life doesn't
reflect it.
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So the challenge today is for you to understand your salt, your light, deal with it.
But how are you being used?
That's what we can have a voice in, right?
And so just as we pray, as we sing, just ask the Lord, what do you want?
How can my life best reflect you?
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How can my life penetrate the world around me?
God lead me as I walk into my workplace.
How can I help preserve that?
God, I'm not walking in purity right now.
I have an addiction to pornography.
I have an addiction to this.
God, how do I purify myself in that?
He will lead you.
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So you are salt, you are light, like it or not.
But let's do our best to honor the Lord and how we live.
Let's pray.
Father, I pray that as we close out our service, as we close out this weekend, God, I pray
that we will not be a dead sea church.
I pray that your spirit continues to fill this place just as it hovered over the waters,
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just as we sang about earlier.
God, I pray that you will fill each and every one of us.
I pray that you will bring conviction to our hearts when we have failed you.
I pray, Father, that you give us the courage to repent and change and run away from sin.
We cannot do anything without your spirit guiding us.
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So I ask you to move and ask you to speak, ask you to heal, ask you to save.
There's nothing that I can do except stand up here and ask you to do these things.
So Father, we ask you to work in our lives, work in this place, help us walk in obedience.
We ask all of these things in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
If you have your Bibles, we'll be in Matthew chapter five this morning.
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This is our second week of going through the Sermon on the Mount together.
Last week, if you weren't here, we looked at the Beatitudes that Jesus shared and in
those few verses, he described to us how we are to be happy.
And it was completely opposite of what we think is going to make us happy.
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He never said that those who are happier, those who have a great family, those who are
blessed or those that have a good job with steady benefits.
This was Jesus telling His disciples in this moment that what they have seen so far looks
like success in ministry.
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And he looked at these things and because of where they were and what was going on in
this ministry, crowds were following him.
In the previous chapter, it speaks of how he healed every disease and affliction.
Matthew tells us that Jesus was famous.
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So Jesus pulls his disciples in and he says, what you have seen, what you have experienced,
it might look like this is why I came, to draw crowds and to heal people, but I'm here
to show you what it means to have happiness and joy.
He says the reality is those who are pure in heart, those who are gentle, those who are
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persecuted for my names are the one who will experience a true state of blessedness.
He was telling them it wasn't external things that are going to bring them joy, but it was
an internal reality of how they were changed.
So when I think about that and I think about my life and I think about our church, I want
to challenge us all a little bit.
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Is success in ministry, how many people come?
Is it how many events that we do?
Is it because that people know who we are?
I never want us to get to the point where we are content with drawing a crowd.
Now people coming in and people visiting and people coming to our events is not a bad thing,
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but my question is what is the point if all we do is get people here, get people to come
to our events and that's where our desire stops.
Are we broken hearted when we come across somebody in our circle or somebody in our community
and they come to one of our events but in the end they are rejecting Jesus?
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Paul wrote in Romans chapter 9.
He says I speak the truth in Christ.
I'm not lying.
My conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit.
I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for I could wish that I myself were
cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people
of Israel.
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And so I think some of us, I think we can feel that.
If you don't, maybe it's because you don't know enough people or maybe you don't love
enough people because when you get to know them and you begin to care for them, when
you know that they reject Jesus it should make us sick.
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It should break our hearts.
There's a story in Romans Revelation chapter 10 and in Revelation chapter 10 it speaks
of the end times and there's this drama in the middle of that story of this unrolling
of the scroll and breaking the seals and all those things, all those things we just sing
about.
It talks about how those things are going to happen and there's this scene in the middle
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of this story where the angel takes a scroll, he takes a little scroll and he hands it to
John and he tells him to eat it.
And at first the scroll tastes sweet but as it works its way through his digestive system
and into his stomach it begins to make him sick.
There is a sweet thought when it comes to thinking about Jesus returning.
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We'll raise our hands, we'll raise our heads, we'll welcome him, we're excited, we look
forward to that day but at the same time there's also this bitterness that comes with all of
that because of all those that have rejected him who didn't take him seriously, who are
going to be punished eternally.
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So how do we as a church, how do we as Christians who are busy reach a culture where they're
too busy for us and we are too busy for them?
Well I think about Jesus.
I mean think about his life, think about where he hung out.
Jesus went to some pretty crazy parties where there's prostitutes and thieves, people are
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on him, are all drinking and getting crazy and whatever they did back then.
And the church people, it was the religious people who were like why are you hanging out
with them?
Why are you going into those places and I love Jesus' response.
He says because those are the people that need me.
That's who I need.
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And so my question is are we doing that?
Are we getting out there?
Do your neighbors know who you are?
Are you taking time to know people and love people?
I mean the world thinks that Christians are just a bunch of people who just want to get
them.
Right?
Want you to come to church, come to my Bible study, believe what we believe.
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That's what the world, how the world views Christians.
We don't take time to get to know them or care for them.
We just want them to come to our church so that we can get another notch in our spiritual
belts.
We don't really care for them.
We just want them to be a part of our church.
That's not how Jesus lived.
Jesus by his lifestyle attracted a following.
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He lived a life amongst the culture that everyone wanted to follow him.
He loved people.
He gave to people.
He healed people so they liked hanging around with him.
But when he spoke his message, that's when the crowds scattered.
Now as Christians we are really good at the second part.
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We're good at sharing the message.
We're good at those kinds of things.
But are you attracting people with your lifestyle?
Jesus is going to tell us today what our lives should look like.
We're going to invite Obi up here to read our passage this morning.
He's going to read verses 13 through 16 of Matthew chapter 5.
If you're able, we'd love for you to stand as we honor the Lord's word together.
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Tell you Obi.
You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt has lost its taste, how shall saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything except be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a
basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
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In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Father, thank you for Obi.
Again, thank you for just what you're doing in his life and how he's leading and how he's
growing.
I pray that you continue to give him a strong desire to know you and your word.
I pray, Father, that as we look at Jesus' words, that we will be convicted by them.
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I pray that you will speak through your texts.
I pray that you will speak to our hearts.
We ask all these things in your name.
Amen.
Thanks, bud.
All right.
So right out of the gate, we need to understand that as disciples of Jesus, which is if you've
professed faith in him, you are his disciple, that we are the salt of the earth.
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Once Jesus saves us, we are salt.
This is not a process of becoming salt.
If you are a believer in Jesus right now, you are salt.
And Jesus is telling those in his day, he's telling us today that as believers, we are
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salt whether we like it or not.
It's not a matter of whether or not we are influencing others.
That's not the question.
But it's a matter of how are we influencing them?
And as salt, we have an awesome opportunity to make an eternal impact in the lives of
those around us.
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So there's a few things we need to be aware of.
In order for us to have an impact on the world around us, the first thing is we need to be
visible.
That's pretty obvious.
Our ministry is to a lost and dying world.
We are to win lost souls and help them establish a relationship with Jesus.
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The only way that we can accomplish our mission is to be visible in our society.
We don't do any good if we just stay locked up here in the church and this is the only
time we talk about it.
It's not going to have any impact.
We cannot be isolated from the rest of the world.
Do you know what never gets used in my house?
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These things that are out of sight, out of mind.
I can't tell you how many times I've been doing a project at the house and it's been
difficult and I thought I had a tool for it or I thought I had this for it but I can't
find it.
And so I hunkered through to get through the project.
Guess what happens a few weeks later, a few months later?
I find that thing I was looking for.
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It was hidden away somewhere.
It didn't get used because it wasn't visible.
And when I find those things that I've been looking for, I always say, man, that would
have been nice to have.
That would have made it a lot easier.
We need to be visible.
We also need to understand that as salt we are valuable.
Now in today's society, we miss the impact of what Jesus was saying in this verse.
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However, those that lived in the ancient societies understood the value of salt far better than
we.
Romans believed, for instance, that there was nothing more as valuable as salt except
for the sun.
Many Roman soldiers received their pay in salt.
Now I'm well aware, I was confirmed after first service.
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Some of you all are pulling out your phones and googling things and fact checking me like
your Zuckerberg.
I get it, whatever.
I try to do my best to make sure I'm being truthful.
And so somebody was fact checking me after first service and I was right.
Thank you.
But we both learned something new.
We get our word salary from the word salt.
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How cool was that?
So Roman soldiers were paid in salt.
It's where the phrase comes from.
That guy's not worth his salt.
That's where that comes from.
So those listening to Jesus may not have understood all that he was saying, but they knew that
to be called the salt of the earth was to be something very special and valuable.
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We should know we are valuable because our salvation was costly.
Jesus died for us.
He laid down his life for us.
He chose us.
So not only are we valuable to the Lord, we're valuable to the world.
I want you to think about this.
How did you hear about the gospel?
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Where would your life be right now if somebody didn't share the hope that they found in Jesus?
Your life has tremendous value because God will use your life to be a witness to the
lost and dying world.
He's going to use you.
The salt is vital.
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Among its many uses, salt is essential to the health of both humans and animals.
In ancient days, it's vital part of the economy in terms of sources of revenue.
Our existence as believers and our influence as salt of the earth is vital to the preservation
of our society.
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Right now, it is the existence of believers in this world that is staying the awful punishment
of a holy and righteous God.
That is who you are as the salt of the earth.
You are here for a purpose.
Your purpose is so much more than just going to work and earning a paycheck.
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Your purpose is so much more than driving your kids from activity to activity.
God has placed you on this earth in this time in human history.
You live in the neighborhood in which you live.
You work at the job in which you work.
He saved you when he did so that he could use you for his kingdom purposes.
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There are no accidents when it comes to your life.
Because of that, we have some responsibilities.
This is salt has different jobs to do so do we as disciples of Jesus.
The first responsibility we have is to be pure.
Salt symbolizes purity.
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Now there's so many verses in the Word of God that tell us that as his followers, we
are to be pure.
Second Corinthians chapter seven reads that we are to pure ourselves from everything that
contaminates our spirit.
God tells Timothy to keep himself pure.
A few years ago, my wife, Sina, tried to kill me.
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It's a true story.
She's going to deny it but it's true.
She had cooked this batch of sweet potatoes.
Now I like sweet potatoes as much as the next guy so that wasn't the issue.
The issue was that once she cooked the sweet potatoes, she left them on the stove overnight
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and then served them to me like that's a normal thing to do.
Like nothing had happened.
Well, let me tell you, something happened.
I've never been so sick a day in my life.
As they sat on the stove that night, after they had been cooked, they became a breeding
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ground for all kinds of bacteria that has made me unable to look at a sweet potato the
same way again.
Now as believers, when we fail to remain pure, we cease to be what God created us to be.
We need to not give the enemy opportunity, avaricunity to make the world sick when we
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are around.
We need to be careful with what we watch.
We need to be careful with what we listen to, with what we say.
We need to be careful with how we spend our time so that we can be used appropriately.
We are also called to preserve.
Now to the people of Jesus' day, salt was a preservative vital to their way of life.
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The only way the fishermen could safely get their fish to the market in good condition
was to salt it and pack it in different layers of salt.
It kept the fish fresh.
It kept it edible.
You are the salt of the earth.
It implies that there's a rottenness going on on the earth.
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It implies a tendency of pollution and to become foul and offensive.
The world's tendency is to do evil.
It's like meat.
It has a tendency to putrify and become defiled.
Ever since man was in the garden, the world has become more and more corrupt.
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It is the purpose of believers to be a preserving influence to stop the moral and spiritual decay
in the world.
Now I've worked at a lot of different places.
I've had many jobs throughout my life, but it always seems like the people that are there,
they all have the same characteristics for the most part.
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Maybe some of you will relate to this.
It's hard to work around a big group of men, a large group of men in the workplace and not
hear them constantly complaining about their wife.
She does this wrong and she tried to kill me with sweet potatoes and she nags me all
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the time and she doesn't like whatever it was.
Men are always complaining about their wives and then they feed off one another.
Now I don't think that's what they hoped for when they got married.
I don't think that as she was walking down the aisle, she was sitting there thinking,
man, I can't wait to marry this girl and then complain about her the rest of my life.
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I can't wait to be miserable all the days of my life.
No, no, they started off with good intentions.
They were in love, they liked each other, all those things, but because the enemy loves
to see the breakdown of the family unit, he makes sure to drive them to misery.
So one of the ways I felt the Lord calling me to preserve my culture, my small little
culture of my workplace was to commit to never talking bad about my wife.
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Even when I was a senator, even when she tried to kill me the day before.
I would make sure that everyone around me knew how awesome she was, how much I love
having a partner to do life with, how I'm so much more thankful for her today than I
was when I married her.
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Just little things like it changed my workplace.
The complaint slowly stopped and believe it or not, I started hearing positive things
and that started feeding one another.
We're called to preserve.
We're also called to irritate.
We're called to irritate.
Salt can have a stinging quality.
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Now in our own unique way, as believers, as followers of Jesus, we are to be somewhat
irritating to the world.
Just as salt and a wound stings, but believers are to prick the conscience of the world and
to be an irritant to ungodly behavior.
Salt can heal wounds.
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It's painful for a moment, but it's great at preventing infection.
It kills bacterial cells by pulling them out and dehydrating them where they eventually
die.
Sometimes we need to be that irritant that reminds people that their lifestyle and the
words are dishonoring to God.
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We should take pride when people apologize for their behavior around us.
You ever been there?
Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to say that.
We don't take pride in it because we're better than them.
We don't take pride in it because we're happy that they feel bad.
We take pride because it's a reminder where our lifestyle is reminding them that God has
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a higher standard for their life.
Everybody is salt, we are to penetrate.
Now once salt has been applied to food, it penetrates the food and it changes the way
it is.
If you have enough salt on it, it will make you thirsty.
The apostles penetrated the society in which they live to such a high degree that Acts
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chapter 17 says they turned the world upside down.
If a Christian, if as a Christian, you are not making the world around you a better place
by your presence, we are not fulfilling our function as salt.
Once salt penetrates a food, it will cause thirst.
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As we penetrate the world around us, our hope should be that our lives, our actions, our
efforts, everything about us would create a thirst for God.
If we were to stop and I were to ask you, what about your life would cause someone to
pursue God?
What would it be?
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Is it the way you interact with your spouse?
Is it the way you handle your money?
Is it how you have peace in difficult situations?
Is it how you are running away from sin?
Have you allowed the word of God?
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Have you allowed the presence of God to penetrate you enough to the point where you are equipped
to turn the world upside down?
Peter has a great word of encouragement for us in 1 Peter chapter 2.
He says, live such good lives among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong,
they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
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Live your lives in such a way, even though they might be mocking you, even though they
might disagree with you, live your life in such a way they give God praise.
Now, in Israel, there is this body of water called the Dead Sea.
I'm sure you've heard about it.
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If you ever get a chance to go to Israel, I'd really encourage you to go visit the Dead
Sea because it's a pretty remarkable place.
The water is so salty that it makes the water so dense that you can't sink down into it.
You just kind of float on top of it.
You're just kind of floating on the water there in the Middle East.
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Because of the amount of salt that's in the Dead Sea, sea life cannot be sustained.
Everything's dead.
Now, the Dead Sea is fed by the Jordan River.
So the Dead Sea has fresh water flowing into it, but the problem is the Dead Sea has no
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outlet.
And so all that flows into it dies because once it gets to the sea, the fresh water evaporates
and only the minerals are left behind.
That's why it's dead.
If it had an outlet, life would be able to be sustained in it and we would no longer call
it the Dead Sea.
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So it is with us.
We have an inlet of fresh water when we come to church, when we read our Bible, when we
have a relationship with the Lord.
But if all we have is an inlet, we might be salt, but there isn't any life.
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The fresh water that comes into our life needs to flow through us and out into the world
around us.
There are too many Dead Sea Christians walking around this earth.
There are too many Dead Sea churches right now.
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We're all full of salt, but because we only have an inlet and not an outlet, people don't
look to us as the carriers of living water.
We're just, we're just said they just, they just see us.
They see different aspects of us and they just see dead religion.
We need to be better at not letting all the minerals that flow into our life through the
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Word of God, through prayer, through worship, through our relationship and just letting all
those minerals just terminate on us.
We need to stop being Dead Sea Christians.
Jesus says not only are we salt, but we're also light.
Whether you like it or not, you are light and we are light for a purpose.
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Now we know from the scriptures that there's different types of light.
The first light being we are a guiding light.
Luke writes in Acts chapter 13, says in Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying, it was
necessary that the Word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrust it aside and judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal life.
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Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.
For so the Lord has commanded us saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that
you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
Paul writes in Philippians chapter 2, says do all things without grumbling or disputing,
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked
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and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the
Word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain
or labor in vain.
As light in the world, we are to lead others to the light of God.
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How will they know if nobody preaches to them?
How will they know if nobody tells them?
How will they know?
We are to be the light that illuminates the path to abundant life, that's our responsibility.
We are able to do that because God has filled us with His Holy Spirit to speak into a dark
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and destructive world.
Tell your story.
Tell somebody your story about how God brought light into your life.
We're also to be a correcting light.
In Ephesians chapter 5 Paul writes, but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes
visible.
For anything that becomes visible is light.
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The light of Christ made it uncomfortable for those around Him because it exposed the
sinfulness of their deeds.
But by the same token our lives ought to have the same effect upon those around us who choose
to continue to live and sin.
Our righteous deeds ought to be a rebuke to the unrighteousness of others.
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How we love our kids, how we take a stand against the evil that we see around us, how
we worship God in this place is showing others something.
It's showing them something.
Are we showing them the correct way to do things or are we just doing our best to fit
into the crowd and what we think is easier?
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We're exposing them to something.
What are you exposing them to?
Finally, we are to be a reflecting light.
Now, when Sinai and I were in our 20s, which seems a long time ago, we liked to vacation
like we were retired.
We didn't know it at the time, but we decided to fly up to New England.
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We stayed at air, not airbnbs, but bed and breakfast.
We drove around to see the colors of the trees and things like that.
We didn't realize when we booked the trip, but we soon realized that we were the youngest
people there by a good 25 years or so.
We didn't mind it.
We had a good time.
We enjoyed it.
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Now, as you've never been to New England, apparently there is a task that you have to
do when you go there or the whole trip is a waste.
We had to go and look at lighthouses.
If you go to New England and don't look at lighthouses, you wasted your time.
This is what I learned when I got there.
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Why do you have to go look at lighthouses?
I don't know, but we did.
We have many pictures of us standing in front of lighthouses.
We didn't go into them.
We know nothing about them.
We would stand and get our picture taken in front of these lighthouses and we'd go from
lighthouse to lighthouse and be like, oh, that's a good one.
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We didn't know.
We didn't know.
We didn't know what we were talking about.
My life did not change at all except for the fact that I can now stand before you and say,
I have seen a lighthouse.
It's the only thing that changed.
Doesn't mean anything else, but you ask a captain of a boat in the middle of a storm
how important those lighthouses are and they will tell you how vital they are to their
(29:05):
survival.
They don't need the lighthouse when the sun's up and everything's going well.
They don't need the lighthouse when the sea is calm.
They need them in their moments of desperation.
Those you interact with every single day might not ever let you know that you were needed,
but in their moments of desperation, they are going to be looking for a light.
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They are going to be looking for a direction in which they should go.
Do they know that they should be looking to you?
Do they know that they should be looking at you?
When the storms of life come into their life, have they seen enough evidence in you that
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you are a lighthouse, that you will help lead them to safe shores?
Are you a reflecting light?
We cannot be effective in reaching the lost if our light is not shining where they can
see it.
The candle on the candlestick represents the believer.
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It represents the believer letting his or her light shine through the ministry of a
local church, through the ministry of their family, through the ministry at a workplace.
And they can have some impact.
So I brought some things to kind of show you these different things.
We all have one of these, at least one probably in our house.
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We probably have 25, never confined them when we need them, out of sight, out of mind.
But that's about the brightness of a candle, right?
And I tried this the other day and I can't get this room dark enough.
But I want you to imagine, I want you to imagine we have an obstacle course here and it's my
(31:01):
responsibility as a believer to get you through it without stubbing your toe, without you
falling down, without you getting hurt.
But all I have is this light.
So I had to stick really, really close to you and illuminate as much as I can so you
can get the best picture you can.
And I'm shining my light to lead you to abundant life.
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And I might have to get on the ground with you and do all that.
I think we could do it together.
It might be a little difficult.
It might take a little more time, but I think we could do it together.
But what if as believers we all put our lights together?
Well, then we have a better opportunity of not getting hurt, don't we?
And so we get these little floodlight type things and as we form together, we're not
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just one light, we're many lights, some million candles, some 300 candle, whatever.
But it'd be a lot easier to shine and lead you through an obstacle course with this light,
wouldn't it?
It's a lot brighter to do it together.
No guarantees we won't stub a toe.
I still stub my toe in my well-living room.
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On the table that's been there for years, I still stub my toe on those stands.
We're not guaranteed we'll never be hurt, but it'd be a lot easier to make it through
life when we're working together and our lights are shining together, wouldn't it?
Jesus says we are the light of the world.
Like it or not, you are the light of the world.
Now my family has done a lot of road trips.
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The last couple years they mainly consisted of just driving back and forth to Texas, which
is about 1100 miles back to where we come from.
But we've been able to travel all over the country.
We've seen some really awesome things.
And as you do road trips more often, you quickly learn certain things and you quickly learn
the look of certain gas stations.
Like I'm not going to stop there because I'm going to get robbed.
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I'm going to go to this other one.
You just kind of learn those things.
Sometimes the hard way, but we learn those things.
And so one of our favorite gas stations, our only favorite gas station is Buckeys.
If we are within 100 miles of a Buckeys, we will pass every other gas station before we
will pull into that thing on fumes if we need to, but we're going to stop at Buckeys.
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They have the best bathrooms.
They have the best snacks.
You can do all of your Christmas shopping if you decided to do that at Buckeys.
When we were moving up here, we mentioned that we had stopped at Buckeys and they'd
never heard of Buckeys, so we told them a little bit about Buckeys.
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And some of you who are in this church, I'm not going to call you by name, but some of
you in this church said, oh, we have Casies.
No.
No.
It's not the same thing.
Not all gas stations are created equal.
I'll never forget that.
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Explain Buckeys.
Oh, well, we have Casies.
No.
Yeah.
Here's the thing about Buckeys.
They've created a destination experience for the road tripper.
As far as I know, and I'm not the most intelligent person in the room, but as far as I know,
they have the same gas as every other gas station that we passed on the way to get to
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that one.
But my family wants to go to Buckeys.
We could have stopped at the Chevron that's right around the corner from there, but we
are going to get to Buckeys.
That gas that's at Chevron could have gotten us to our next destination just fine.
I wouldn't have worried about that.
I would have filled up my tank and got us to where we needed to go, but we're going
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to stop at Buckeys.
Church is a lot like a gas station.
We come in and we get filled up and we go about our week.
And hopefully by next week, you are so drained and running on empty that you need to be filled
again.
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Now the reason you come to this church is going to be different for all of us, but we
should strive to be the Buckeys of churches.
Not because we are the biggest, not because we have donuts, and not because we have the
best facilities, because people know when they get here.
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This is not only a place to be filled up, but it's a place where they can experience
life.
It's a place where we can worship the Lord in spirit and truth.
It's a place where we care for the orphan and widow.
It's a place where people can experience healing.
It's a place where there's acceptance and grace.
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We should be a destination to the lost world because our light is shining so brightly.
And so people feel drained and empty and they come here and because the spirit of God dwells
here and because our people are filled with the light of who God is, they walk out of
here changed.
That should be our goal.
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And as we send you out for the week, and as you pour out your life and you shine your
light and your salt, my hope is that you'll be so drained and poured out that you've got
to come and get filled up again.
And then we're going to send you out again.
And so this passage is very familiar.
(36:30):
We know where's the salt of the earth?
So we're the light of the world.
My question is, are you a dead sea Christian?
Do you just come and get poured into, get poured into, get poured into.
(36:54):
Go to Bible study, the Bible study.
Come and worship and hear the word of God.
Wake up every morning and read your Bible.
Seek after Him.
Live your life right.
And all those nutrients are just terminating on yourself.
(37:15):
If that's you, you need to plead with God that He digs you.
He digs out of your life a trench where the good war continues to flow to others.
Do you think of your life as light?
You're reflecting something.
(37:37):
Jesus didn't give you.
You could be the light.
Somebody says, you're the light.
You're going to reflect something.
What are you reflecting?
What are you shining the light on?
Are you taking your sin seriously?
Are you correcting?
Are you guiding?
Are you reflecting?
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When people look at your lives and how you live your life, what are they seeing?
They see somebody that is hypocritical.
We're all guilty of that, been there, do that, all those things.
But we shouldn't be content with that, should we?
And so I'm going to pray for us and I worship that He's going to lead us in another song.
(38:24):
My prayer is that whatever the Lord is telling you, however He's asking you to respond, however
He's leading you to respond, that you'll just be obedient.
You'll be obedient.
You'll repent.
You'll lay things before Him.
You'll trust Him.
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You'll call upon His name.
People will realize that, hey, maybe I am a dead sea Christian.
I've consumed a lot of information over my life.
I can go back and forth with any one of you theologically for hours if you wanted to,
but that doesn't bring any, that doesn't change any lives, doesn't, if my life doesn't
reflect it.
(39:07):
So the challenge today is for you to understand your salt, your light, deal with it.
But how are you being used?
That's what we can have a voice in, right?
And so just as we pray, as we sing, just ask the Lord, what do you want?
How can my life best reflect you?
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How can my life penetrate the world around me?
God lead me as I walk into my workplace.
How can I help preserve that?
God, I'm not walking in purity right now.
I have an addiction to pornography.
I have an addiction to this.
God, how do I purify myself in that?
He will lead you.
(39:50):
So you are salt, you are light, like it or not.
But let's do our best to honor the Lord and how we live.
Let's pray.
Father, I pray that as we close out our service, as we close out this weekend, God, I pray
that we will not be a dead sea church.
I pray that your spirit continues to fill this place just as it hovered over the waters,
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just as we sang about earlier.
God, I pray that you will fill each and every one of us.
I pray that you will bring conviction to our hearts when we have failed you.
I pray, Father, that you give us the courage to repent and change and run away from sin.
We cannot do anything without your spirit guiding us.
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So I ask you to move and ask you to speak, ask you to heal, ask you to save.
There's nothing that I can do except stand up here and ask you to do these things.
So Father, we ask you to work in our lives, work in this place, help us walk in obedience.
We ask all of these things in Jesus' name.
(41:01):
Amen.
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