July 21, 2025 • 24 mins
This message by Pastor Lonnie explains Jesus’ call for his followers to be the salt of the earth and light of the world. It encourages us to live out our faith beyond the church walls—intentionally, relationally, and authentically. Salt represents our influence, adding value and preserving goodness in the world, but only when it leaves the shaker. Light symbolizes hope and truth, breaking through darkness to guide us on our path. Using humor, real-life stories, and examples like those in Grace on Wings, the message inspires us to utilize our gifts, love across differences, and reflect Jesus in everyday life—not with loud religion, but with a quiet, powerful presence.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I would like to talk about what does it mean.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
To be a follower of Jesus, not just in theory,
but in very tangible ways in how we live.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
And Jesus helps us out with that question because.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Immediately following he lays it out after the Beatitudes in
his Sermon on the Mount. And when Jesus broaches the subject,
he says something that.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Might sound odd. Odd if you've never heard it before.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Think if you've never heard this before, think how this
must seem.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
You are the light of the earth or the soul
of the earth. You are the light of the world,
salt light. What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Is this a cooking class? Are we starting a candle
making company.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Salt light? Of course not. But Jesus is giving.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
A powerful picture of what our presence, our presence can
be like in the world.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Let's start with salt.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Simple, But salt will not work in a shaker, will it.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
It can't do much if you notice it. But I
go to home Goods.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
They have their section of food goods at home Goods,
and there's every kind of pink salt and sea salt, all.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Kinds of salt.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
But if it doesn't leave the container, it's not going
to do any good. If it doesn't find its way
to your French fries, what good is salt?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It's no good.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And we can't just hang out in our Christian bubbles
and season each other until we get over salted and weird.
Salt does its best job when it gets out of
(02:42):
the shaker.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Into the world where it can what does it do?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Preserve, enhance, and it brings out really the best.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
In every thing it touches.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
So I really believe that jesusaid, hey, you were the salt,
and he had a real reason for stating that, because
salt what it adds flavor, It has flavored to life.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Salt also heals.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There's this healing aspect of salt. It preserves and it
makes you thirsty. Now more on the thirsty aspect in
about two or three minutes. Okay, we're going to go
back to thirst. It makes you thirsty. So how do
(03:39):
we get out of that the sawt shaker.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
That's part of the challenge, part of the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, essentially, in the context of the local church, it
means showing up, not just showing up here, though it's
critical to show up here because this is where where
we grow together. We build together, we learn together, we
fellowship together.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It is central.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It's like every Sunday we have a big family reunion, we.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Have a celebration, we have a gathering. But the other
reality is people reach people, not programs.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And if there's one thing that's been the demise of
the church, we felt we could save the world by
the kind of program we have. And when Jesus is
talking about sought and Light, he's not talking about a
fancy program you put together. He's talking about how we
are shaped as individuals who are out in the world
(04:45):
and how that touches the world.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
People reach people, not programs.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
For people like Andrew, like he reached out to his brother,
Philip was a person who reached out to another reached
out to Nathaniel. And if you think of the story
of Jesus with the woman at the well, he reached
out to her. And I think it's interesting, but we
(05:15):
knew that they lived in two very different worlds, this
woman at the well. But he didn't kick things off
by saying repent or perish.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
He didn't say that.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
What did Jesus do when he encountered someone who was
far from him?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
He said, could I have a glass of water. Think
of that. He showed respect.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
In a time and a culture for people like her
weren't usually shown any respect.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Now, I asked Ellen to leave something out.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Of her story because I wanted to borrow it.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Okay, and it goes way back.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Before she had that first visit on a fourth of
July many years ago. These band members, they're usually gigging
on Saturday night and their home around two or three
in the morning, and they somehow find their way to
show up here and not fall asleep.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
They have a rough time, many many, many many years ago,
very late, as musicians usually do. There was a group
that had gathered.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
They were at some restaurant that was still open, and
they were talking.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Kostia was there.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Ellen was there, and Ellen had some very disparaging things.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
To say about the local church.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
How she talked about well, she just had a lot
of bad things to say, and how the church was
irrelevant and not for her. And coast You said, well,
that's not how it is at my church. That's being sought,
(07:18):
not a program, but someone as Coastya, who has the
utmost respect in the music community.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
They listen to this guy, they follow him, they're inspired.
It's true, we love you, buddy.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
But when someone who has a life of integrity says
that's not how it is at my church, that is
more powerful than fifty sermons that Billy Graham could preach
in winning someone to come forward.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
It's being the salt, and I just thank you for
letting me share that, and thank you for being there.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Okay, silent witness, he's you know, so so okay, So
being sought.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Being sought essentially means.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Caring for people wherever you are in the setting that
also respects them.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
It could be sending a text to check in.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
It could be praying with someone, not just praying for them.
I encourage you if we're always encountering people who need prayer,
who ask for prayer, and I want to just encourage
you when you have an experience like that, do me
a favor, which was.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Oh yeah, would you keep me in your prayers. I'm
going to pray for you. Will you stop and say
can we pray right now?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And you don't have to be ordained to pray with someone,
but just embracing them and saying, Lord, I just pray
for my friend. What my friend's going through. We don't understand,
but we know that you're bigger than this.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Just any kind.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Of prayer, but that breaches out, it shows you. It's
bringing a meal. It's listening without talking. Sometimes we can
have to keep talking, but sometimes just turn off the
mouth and listen to someone. It could be crying when
someone's hurting, crying with him, celebrating when they're winning, loving
(09:20):
them even if they never come to your church, respecting them,
even if they never agree with you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's what I call salty love. Okay, salty love. You
can also call it Jesus style love. Okay. Now, let's
talk a little bit about light. Light, and I encourage
you be the light, not the laser pointer.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
There's a big difference, Okay, a big difference. Light is powerful, obviously,
it shows the way, it reveals what's hidden, what you
can't see. It gives hope, and it's what people look
(10:21):
for when things are dark.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
And by the way, things have been getting dark, and
light is needed more than ever today.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And it as Jesus himself who said I am the
light of the world. Think of that when people talk
about dark times, think, well, that's how it is in
that world, but in.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
My church, but in my place.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
But when I look out, there's something different, there's some
light there.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And then right after notice the construct of Jesus's language. Here,
I am the light of the world. Then he immediately
says you are the light of the world.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And then ironic the connectedness of Christ with this church.
That means we reflect his light. We're not just trying
to shine from our own strength. We're just like mirrors
that's angled to catch the sunlight and reflected.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And to carry that through. Let's bounce to the Old
Testament for just a moment.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
If you go to some one nineteen verse one oh five,
for those of you, one of the zoo in God
says it. His word is a lamp to our feet,
that beautiful lamp. I think again, it's instructive to let
the Bible speak. It is a lamp, not a floodlight.
(12:20):
There's a difference between a lamp and a floodlight. It's
not a floodlight into someone else's problem or a spotlight
on ourselves. Look at me, put the spotlight on me.
It is meant to guide and not to blind. Sometimes
we've made that light blinding and it's not been helpful.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
We do not need leon leon.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Billboard screaming behold the Christian approaches.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
We need street lamps.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Lights, gentle, steady, hopeful street lights for the way.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Well, think of caw Blank and Grace on Wings. He
saw the video. There's a book on her story, and
I like how story.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
He Some of you may not know this, but he's
what you would call a cidy Christian.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
He was a very he from a Jewish family.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
And was longing for the Messiah, very conservative, and he
encountered the Christ as the Messiah of God. And so
he still has it keeps a lot of the Jewish practice.
This is his tradition because Jesus was a Jew. Jesus
wasn't a Christian, and he honors Jesus. He's he calls himself,
(14:08):
I'm the complete Christian here. I got the old in
the news.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
So it's great.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
We'll have to have how sometimes share that story.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
He uh, it's it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
But what happened with Grace on Wings again with being
a light.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And being salt. You know, he's a medical professional.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
He also likes aviation and and a lot of those
medical folks they like to play with airplanes and and
they like to help people.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
They're Christian.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
They we went on a simple mission in in in
the Latin American country, Central American country, and and brought
to their health care and their planes to help people.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And they said, this is kind of fun. This is fun,
this is fun.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So they combine their love of aviation medicine to care
for people in crisis, and their light shines.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And I love it. It's on the airplane, there's.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
The cross of the rudder and then by the door,
sharing Christ's love through aviation, being a light. Use your
gifts and your passions and say God uses.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Use it. He was able to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Where's God placed you? Where you do you have a
little more time on your hands than you had before?
Where is God guiding you today?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
What do you love? What do you do well?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
That might be the way that you will bring light
into someone else's life.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
And then here's another subject that is challenging for us.
It's challenging in the times in which we live.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You can't avoid conversations like this as we should not,
And that is how do we shine light as dedicated, devoted,
clearly followers of Christ in a diverse world.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
We live in a diverse.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Country, and I like for us to be real about
that we live in a world that is full of
different beliefs.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
And world views. And that's okay in one way, because
Jesus did say this. Jesus, he said love your neighbor.
He didn't say love your Christian neighbor.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Again Smithing, love your neighbor, Love your your Muslim neighbor,
your atheist neighbor, your Buddhist friend, the random person at
work who says he believes in the universe of good
vibes and juggles crystals around. Because note this, in Jesus's time,
(17:29):
his followers, the Christian movement, they were a tiny, marginalized
minority trying to live like Jesus in the middle of it.
Think of that challenge they had. And Jesus never went
(17:51):
around trash talking other religions. He spoke truth, he spoke grace,
He listened, and he cared.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I think that is our model. And so when we.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Interact with people of different faiths or no faith at all,
I don't think we need to argue them.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Into the kingdom.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I believe we need to live in a way that
makes them curious, in a way that shows love, and
in a way.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
That reflects.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
The clearly defined actions of Jesus to others, because that's the.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Difference we do. We believe, each of us that we
have met God through Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
We have, and Jesus makes the difference in how we live,
and how we love and how we respond.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So let's be sought that makes people thirsty as close
to you was to Ellen.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
You want to evangelize, you want to bring people to
Jesus who may be far from Jesus, who has other values.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Well let's make them thirsty.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Let's not have a funky program thinking it's going it
can be changing.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
It's not thirsty for something.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
That's real, thursty for something that's meaningful.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
And good. Let's be the light that helps people find
their way.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Ah, not light that blinds and burns, but that guides.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And welcomes. I'm about done. Okay, I'm about done, but
i want you to get this. It's kind of edgy,
kind of edgy.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Jesus laid down his life on the cross, not to
give us a religion, but to give us a relationship
with God. I could discourage when to get these books
of world religions, and we're just one among many.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
I wish we weren't even in there. I'm not a religion.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I know technically we are, but we are people who
live with a relationship with the living God. We're not
just one of many, and that it doesn't matter who
as long as you're as long as you're devout. Jesus
laid down his life on the cross to give us
(21:06):
and the world a relationship with God, and that.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Changes everything.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
And that's what fuels our mission as a local church.
And I like the words of the apostle paul Or
he said in Second Corinthians five, we.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Are Christ's ambassadors. We are ambassadors in a foreign land.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
We are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Appeal through us. We're ambassadors. We are ambassadors.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
You're not just a bystander in a story. You're a carrier,
a carrier of hope, of love, of truth. So do
me a favor, stay salty.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
And be a light for another. Thing is insightful.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Jesus didn't tell the world to go to church.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
He correctly said that the church should go to the world.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
So what are we doing about that?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Let the world taste great, let us see Jesus, and
whatever you do, would you play.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Sand for prayer? And then we're gonna sing wonderful Him.
I want to walk as a child of the light.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Let us pray, Holy God, we thank you for calling
us not just to believe, but to live, To live
as salt and light in a world that desperately needs both.
(23:13):
Remind us that our faith is it meant to stay
bottled up in a church building or talked away for Sundays.
It's meant to be lived out with love, with purpose,
with joy. Help us to be the kind of people
and church who will show up for our neighbors, our
(23:37):
co workers, our friends, and even strangers.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Teach us to.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
And how to season our conversations with grace, how to
shine without overpowering, and how to love without an agenda.
Let our lives point to you, not by perfection, but
(24:08):
by presence. Give us courage to leave the comfort of
the shaker. Give us clarity to light the path, not
just for ourselves but for those around us. And in
everything we do, may people see the heart of Jesus
(24:31):
in us.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
We pray in the powerful, world changing name of Jesus. Amen, Amen,
I would like to talk about what does it mean.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
To be a follower of Jesus, not just in theory,
but in very tangible ways in how we live.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
And Jesus helps us out with that question because.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Immediately following he lays it out after the Beatitudes in
his Sermon on the Mount. And when Jesus broaches the subject,
he says something that.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Might sound odd. Odd if you've never heard it before.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Think if you've never heard this before, think how this
must seem.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
You are the light of the earth or the soul
of the earth. You are the light of the world,
salt light. What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Is this a cooking class? Are we starting a candle
making company.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Salt light? Of course not. But Jesus is giving.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
A powerful picture of what our presence, our presence can
be like in the world.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Let's start with salt.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Simple, But salt will not work in a shaker, will it.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
It can't do much if you notice it. But I
go to home Goods.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
They have their section of food goods at home Goods,
and there's every kind of pink salt and sea salt, all.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Kinds of salt.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
But if it doesn't leave the container, it's not going
to do any good. If it doesn't find its way
to your French fries, what good is salt?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It's no good.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And we can't just hang out in our Christian bubbles
and season each other until we get over salted and weird.
Salt does its best job when it gets out of
(02:42):
the shaker.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Into the world where it can what does it do?
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Preserve, enhance, and it brings out really the best.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
In every thing it touches.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
So I really believe that jesusaid, hey, you were the salt,
and he had a real reason for stating that, because
salt what it adds flavor, It has flavored to life.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Salt also heals.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
There's this healing aspect of salt. It preserves and it
makes you thirsty. Now more on the thirsty aspect in
about two or three minutes. Okay, we're going to go
back to thirst. It makes you thirsty. So how do
(03:39):
we get out of that the sawt shaker.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
That's part of the challenge, part of the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well, essentially, in the context of the local church, it
means showing up, not just showing up here, though it's
critical to show up here because this is where where
we grow together. We build together, we learn together, we
fellowship together.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
It is central.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
It's like every Sunday we have a big family reunion, we.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Have a celebration, we have a gathering. But the other
reality is people reach people, not programs.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
And if there's one thing that's been the demise of
the church, we felt we could save the world by
the kind of program we have. And when Jesus is
talking about sought and Light, he's not talking about a
fancy program you put together. He's talking about how we
are shaped as individuals who are out in the world
(04:45):
and how that touches the world.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
People reach people, not programs.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
For people like Andrew, like he reached out to his brother,
Philip was a person who reached out to another reached
out to Nathaniel. And if you think of the story
of Jesus with the woman at the well, he reached
out to her. And I think it's interesting, but we
(05:15):
knew that they lived in two very different worlds, this
woman at the well. But he didn't kick things off
by saying repent or perish.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
He didn't say that.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
What did Jesus do when he encountered someone who was
far from him?
Speaker 1 (05:33):
He said, could I have a glass of water. Think
of that. He showed respect.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
In a time and a culture for people like her
weren't usually shown any respect.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Now, I asked Ellen to leave something out.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Of her story because I wanted to borrow it.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Okay, and it goes way back.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Before she had that first visit on a fourth of
July many years ago. These band members, they're usually gigging
on Saturday night and their home around two or three
in the morning, and they somehow find their way to
show up here and not fall asleep.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
They have a rough time, many many, many many years ago,
very late, as musicians usually do. There was a group
that had gathered.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
They were at some restaurant that was still open, and
they were talking.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Kostia was there.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Ellen was there, and Ellen had some very disparaging things.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
To say about the local church.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
How she talked about well, she just had a lot
of bad things to say, and how the church was
irrelevant and not for her. And coast You said, well,
that's not how it is at my church. That's being sought,
(07:18):
not a program, but someone as Coastya, who has the
utmost respect in the music community.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
They listen to this guy, they follow him, they're inspired.
It's true, we love you, buddy.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
But when someone who has a life of integrity says
that's not how it is at my church, that is
more powerful than fifty sermons that Billy Graham could preach
in winning someone to come forward.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
It's being the salt, and I just thank you for
letting me share that, and thank you for being there.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Okay, silent witness, he's you know, so so okay, So
being sought.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Being sought essentially means.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Caring for people wherever you are in the setting that
also respects them.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
It could be sending a text to check in.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
It could be praying with someone, not just praying for them.
I encourage you if we're always encountering people who need prayer,
who ask for prayer, and I want to just encourage
you when you have an experience like that, do me
a favor, which was.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Oh yeah, would you keep me in your prayers. I'm
going to pray for you. Will you stop and say
can we pray right now?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And you don't have to be ordained to pray with someone,
but just embracing them and saying, Lord, I just pray
for my friend. What my friend's going through. We don't understand,
but we know that you're bigger than this.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Just any kind.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Of prayer, but that breaches out, it shows you. It's
bringing a meal. It's listening without talking. Sometimes we can
have to keep talking, but sometimes just turn off the
mouth and listen to someone. It could be crying when
someone's hurting, crying with him, celebrating when they're winning, loving
(09:20):
them even if they never come to your church, respecting them,
even if they never agree with you.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
That's what I call salty love. Okay, salty love. You
can also call it Jesus style love. Okay. Now, let's
talk a little bit about light. Light, and I encourage
you be the light, not the laser pointer.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
There's a big difference, Okay, a big difference. Light is powerful, obviously,
it shows the way, it reveals what's hidden, what you
can't see. It gives hope, and it's what people look
(10:21):
for when things are dark.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
And by the way, things have been getting dark, and
light is needed more than ever today.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And it as Jesus himself who said I am the
light of the world. Think of that when people talk
about dark times, think, well, that's how it is in
that world, but in.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
My church, but in my place.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
But when I look out, there's something different, there's some
light there.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And then right after notice the construct of Jesus's language. Here,
I am the light of the world. Then he immediately
says you are the light of the world.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
And then ironic the connectedness of Christ with this church.
That means we reflect his light. We're not just trying
to shine from our own strength. We're just like mirrors
that's angled to catch the sunlight and reflected.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And to carry that through. Let's bounce to the Old
Testament for just a moment.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
If you go to some one nineteen verse one oh five,
for those of you, one of the zoo in God
says it. His word is a lamp to our feet,
that beautiful lamp. I think again, it's instructive to let
the Bible speak. It is a lamp, not a floodlight.
(12:20):
There's a difference between a lamp and a floodlight. It's
not a floodlight into someone else's problem or a spotlight
on ourselves. Look at me, put the spotlight on me.
It is meant to guide and not to blind. Sometimes
we've made that light blinding and it's not been helpful.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
We do not need leon leon.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Billboard screaming behold the Christian approaches.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
We need street lamps.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Lights, gentle, steady, hopeful street lights for the way.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Well, think of caw Blank and Grace on Wings. He
saw the video. There's a book on her story, and
I like how story.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
He Some of you may not know this, but he's
what you would call a cidy Christian.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
He was a very he from a Jewish family.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
And was longing for the Messiah, very conservative, and he
encountered the Christ as the Messiah of God. And so
he still has it keeps a lot of the Jewish practice.
This is his tradition because Jesus was a Jew. Jesus
wasn't a Christian, and he honors Jesus. He's he calls himself,
(14:08):
I'm the complete Christian here. I got the old in
the news.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
So it's great.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
We'll have to have how sometimes share that story.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
He uh, it's it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
But what happened with Grace on Wings again with being
a light.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And being salt. You know, he's a medical professional.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
He also likes aviation and and a lot of those
medical folks they like to play with airplanes and and
they like to help people.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
They're Christian.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
They we went on a simple mission in in in
the Latin American country, Central American country, and and brought
to their health care and their planes to help people.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And they said, this is kind of fun. This is fun,
this is fun.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So they combine their love of aviation medicine to care
for people in crisis, and their light shines.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And I love it. It's on the airplane, there's.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
The cross of the rudder and then by the door,
sharing Christ's love through aviation, being a light. Use your
gifts and your passions and say God uses.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Use it. He was able to do it.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Where's God placed you? Where you do you have a
little more time on your hands than you had before?
Where is God guiding you today?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
What do you love? What do you do well?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
That might be the way that you will bring light
into someone else's life.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
And then here's another subject that is challenging for us.
It's challenging in the times in which we live.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You can't avoid conversations like this as we should not,
And that is how do we shine light as dedicated, devoted,
clearly followers of Christ in a diverse world.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
We live in a diverse.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Country, and I like for us to be real about
that we live in a world that is full of
different beliefs.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
And world views. And that's okay in one way, because
Jesus did say this. Jesus, he said love your neighbor.
He didn't say love your Christian neighbor.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Again Smithing, love your neighbor, Love your your Muslim neighbor,
your atheist neighbor, your Buddhist friend, the random person at
work who says he believes in the universe of good
vibes and juggles crystals around. Because note this, in Jesus's time,
(17:29):
his followers, the Christian movement, they were a tiny, marginalized
minority trying to live like Jesus in the middle of it.
Think of that challenge they had. And Jesus never went
(17:51):
around trash talking other religions. He spoke truth, he spoke grace,
He listened, and he cared.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
And I think that is our model. And so when we.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Interact with people of different faiths or no faith at all,
I don't think we need to argue them.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Into the kingdom.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
I believe we need to live in a way that
makes them curious, in a way that shows love, and
in a way.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
That reflects.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
The clearly defined actions of Jesus to others, because that's the.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Difference we do. We believe, each of us that we
have met God through Jesus.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
We have, and Jesus makes the difference in how we live,
and how we love and how we respond.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So let's be sought that makes people thirsty as close
to you was to Ellen.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
You want to evangelize, you want to bring people to
Jesus who may be far from Jesus, who has other values.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Well let's make them thirsty.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Let's not have a funky program thinking it's going it
can be changing.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
It's not thirsty for something.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
That's real, thursty for something that's meaningful.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
And good. Let's be the light that helps people find
their way.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Ah, not light that blinds and burns, but that guides.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And welcomes. I'm about done. Okay, I'm about done, but
i want you to get this. It's kind of edgy,
kind of edgy.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Jesus laid down his life on the cross, not to
give us a religion, but to give us a relationship
with God. I could discourage when to get these books
of world religions, and we're just one among many.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
I wish we weren't even in there. I'm not a religion.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I know technically we are, but we are people who
live with a relationship with the living God. We're not
just one of many, and that it doesn't matter who
as long as you're as long as you're devout. Jesus
laid down his life on the cross to give us
(21:06):
and the world a relationship with God, and that.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Changes everything.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
And that's what fuels our mission as a local church.
And I like the words of the apostle paul Or
he said in Second Corinthians five, we.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Are Christ's ambassadors. We are ambassadors in a foreign land.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
We are Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Appeal through us. We're ambassadors. We are ambassadors.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
You're not just a bystander in a story. You're a carrier,
a carrier of hope, of love, of truth. So do
me a favor, stay salty.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
And be a light for another. Thing is insightful.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Jesus didn't tell the world to go to church.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
He correctly said that the church should go to the world.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
So what are we doing about that?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Let the world taste great, let us see Jesus, and
whatever you do, would you play.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Sand for prayer? And then we're gonna sing wonderful Him.
I want to walk as a child of the light.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Let us pray, Holy God, we thank you for calling
us not just to believe, but to live, To live
as salt and light in a world that desperately needs both.
(23:13):
Remind us that our faith is it meant to stay
bottled up in a church building or talked away for Sundays.
It's meant to be lived out with love, with purpose,
with joy. Help us to be the kind of people
and church who will show up for our neighbors, our
(23:37):
co workers, our friends, and even strangers.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Teach us to.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
And how to season our conversations with grace, how to
shine without overpowering, and how to love without an agenda.
Let our lives point to you, not by perfection, but
(24:08):
by presence. Give us courage to leave the comfort of
the shaker. Give us clarity to light the path, not
just for ourselves but for those around us. And in
everything we do, may people see the heart of Jesus
(24:31):
in us.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
We pray in the powerful, world changing name of Jesus. Amen, Amen,
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