Song number 409, the fight is on.
Let's all stand together for this first song, if you're able.
Song number 409, the fight is on.
All together, nice and strong on that first verse.
The fight is on, the trumpet sound is ringing out.
The cry to arms is heard afar and near.
The Christ will soon appear, The fight is on, O Christian soldier,
And face to face in stern array, With armor gleaming, and brawler streaming,
The right and wrong engage today, The fight is on, but be not weary,
Be strong and in hope.
We'll sing the victor's song at last.
The fight is on, a rout she's told, just brave and true.
And victory will assured, go buckle on.
The armor God has given you and in his strength,
forever will endure.
The fight is on.
So again, let's start off our service
with a word of prayer.
Lord God, Heavenly Father, we just
thank you for giving us another day.
Then we can come here to your house,
hear the preaching of your word and fellowship
with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And we ask that you please bless our service this morning.
Bless every aspect of it bless the singing Lord that it would be pleasing to your ears
And it would give us ready ears prepare our hearts for the message
Please feel pasted me here with your spirit as he preaches unto us Lord and give us your spirit in the congregation as well
That we may leave here changed in Jesus name. We pray amen. You may be seated
Please turn your song books to song number
song number 22 are you washed in the blood song number 22 all together nice
and strong on that first verse have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power
are you washed in the blood of the lamb are you fully trusting in his
the blood in the soul cleansing blood of the lamb are your garments spotless are
they white and stale are you washed in the blood of the lamb are you walking
daily by the Savior's side are you washed in the blood of the lamb
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Are you washed in the blood
In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb?
Are your garments spotless or they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
When the bridegroom come in, will your rose be white?
Are you washed in the blood?
Will your soul be ready for the mansion's fright?
And be washed in the blood of the lamb?
Are you washed in the blood?
In the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb?
The blood is hot, the sun is bright and sunny
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Is that our stain with sin, And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?
There's a fountain flowing for the soul to clean,
Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!
Oh, be washed in the blood!
In the soul, and in the blood of the Lamb!
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
in the blood of the Lamb.
All right, great singing.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here.
Before we sing our next song, which will be song number 248,
if you want to get that ready in your song books,
now I belong to Jesus.
248 in your song books, if you did not get a bulletin,
go ahead and raise your hand.
One of the ushers can get one for you.
Some important information there.
Of course, we welcome you to come back
to our Sunday evening service.
at 5 p.m. And then we also have a Thursday night Bible study where we go verse by verse
expository preaching through the book of Isaiah. And so we hope to see you during our midweek
service there. If you're visiting with us this morning, we are a family integrated church and so
infants and children stay with their parents in the service. But for your convenience, the Mother
Baby Room is located in the back of the building there in the corner. Should your child need some
so you can still tune into the preaching and come back in at your discretion.
And parents, please make sure you utilize that so as to not be a distraction during the service.
You see the soul winning times and teams there in the middle,
the list of expecting mothers, and then the stats for Salvation and Baptisms
for the month of February there at the bottom left hand corner.
On the right hand side is the upcoming church events.
we have the TJ missions trip coming up this Saturday, March 29th. We'll be meeting at the
building at 9.15 a.m. and so if you'd like to participate in the mission trip, just make sure
you see Brother Ulysses Hernandez, our evangelist, to coordinate with him. Make sure you bring your
passport and then of course all the expenses are paid for and be in prayer that we get a lot of
people saved there. It's going to be exciting and so we also have the Ladies Prayer Breakfast coming
Ladies want to encourage you to participate in that. If you have any questions, you can talk to Ms. Janelle Gonzalez
She heads that up and so you can coordinate with her. Our big thing going on here is on Sunday, April 20th
We have our Easter service. So that's gonna be exciting. We're looking forward to that Lord willing
We will break attendance on that day and we would have a lot of new people come that could potentially get saved
Maybe some of some of them will be baptized. Just keep in mind that we have a breakfast on that morning at 9 45 a.m
So bring your visitors nice and early to get a breakfast and then we're also going to have an Easter egg hunt
Yes, you heard right an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Sorry not for the adults although. Maybe we could work something out
I don't know we'll see
That'll be a 940 not the Easter egg hunt the breakfast is at 945 the egg hunt will be after the service
And so there'll be there will there will be a table of invites in the back the four-year
And so take some invites for the Easter service when you go out soul-warning
Take them throughout the week so you can invite your family friends and co-workers and the last
The attendance, when we broke attendance, was 218 on Friend Day.
I think we can smash that and so bring all your friends and family to that.
We're looking forward to honoring the Lord's resurrection on Easter on the 20th.
So that's going to be good.
And then we have a science meetup.
on Sunday, April 27th, after the evening service.
Of course, that's for the kids who homeschool in our church.
And so bring your kids to the Sunday evening service
to participate in that.
So a couple of things that are not on the bulletin here
that I want to mention.
Please continue to pray for John Michael.
He's been in a hospital since his surgery earlier this week.
And he's had some sort of infection.
They can't really tell what it is.
They're still kind of troubleshooting,
trying to figure out what's going on with them.
He's running a high fever, but they don't necessarily
is and so today I believe what they're gonna do is they're gonna run some
numbers to see what his inflammation numbers are if they're too high they're
gonna try to extract some fluid from his wound there and see how that goes and so
please pray for him he had I saw him yesterday he has a great attitude and
he's not discouraged but obviously he's in pain and he's in discomfort so if you
can pray for him shoot his parents a text message let him know that you're
praying for him let him know that you want to send them a meal or something I'm
And then lastly, I do want to mention that in eight weeks, we have our May 11th offering.
And this offering, of course, is to prepare us to save for purchasing a building.
And that, of course, will be in the next maybe five to seven years approximately.
Let me just briefly go over this prayer sheet here.
If you did not get one, you can get one after the service.
The top 10 prayer requests, of course, pray for our May 11th offering Sunday.
Pray for God's special provision for our members.
pray for God to increase our faith to give on that day, pray for the future building to suit our
needs. Obviously the building that we purchased we wanted to suffice the needs that we have as a
church as we continue to grow, pray for the weekly monthly building offering, we want to set aside
some money to save up for the down payment for our building, pray for continued growth of our
church and we've seen a lot of growth over the last year or so and so that's exciting but please
Pray for souls to be saved in the new building.
A lot of souls are being saved here,
but we want more souls to be saved in the new building as well.
Pray for the next generation who will serve God in our new building.
Pray for God to give us the next door unit.
Oh, wait a minute, God already answered that prayer, amen.
So we actually just got that next unit there,
and that's why I wanted to go over this, you know,
and just kind of surprise you guys a little bit.
Now, I will say that we're not going to utilize it.
until the next couple weeks is going to take a while to get prepared.
Next week, I do want to prepare, there's going to be a hole in that wall.
The wall's not coming out, but there is going to be a hole there.
But the door's not going to be installed yet, and so we're going to tape that off.
Please make sure your kids don't go in there.
Make sure you don't go in there as well, but praise God that we got that next-door unit
and that'll help us for the growth of our church.
It'll be like a new foyer and we can essentially utilize this as we continue to grow and tear down this wall here
to expand the auditorium that way as we continue to grow as a church.
And then lastly, pray that we will continue to glorify God each step of the way, amen.
And so, be in prayer over the May 11th, so thy seed giving campaign
way even now. Lastly, please make sure you silence your phones during the
preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. And that is it. Let's
go ahead and sing our next song, 248 Now I Belong to Jesus.
All together, nice and strong on that first verse.
Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever
From him no power of evil can sever
He gave his life to ransom my soul
Salvation. Jesus came down to bring me salvation.
Wonderful seeing at this time the ushers will come forward to receive the offering you can turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter number five
Matthew chapter number five, Matthew chapter five, the Bible reads, and seeing the multitudes
he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened
his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy, blessed are the pure and
heart for they shall see God, blessed are the peacemakers for they should be
called the children of God, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness
sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are ye when men shall revile you
and persecute you and shall say all men are viewable against you falsely for my
sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so
persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of men.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Now there do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it give it the light and all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall know wise past from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so,
he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
you shall no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
You've heard that it was said by them of old time that shall not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment
But I say unto you that whosoever is angered with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment
And whosoever shall say to his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the council
But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire
Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there, rememberest that thy brother hath
thought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Agree with thy an adversary quickly, whilst art in the way with him, lest at any time
the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and
that be cast into prison.
Fairly I stand to thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the
You have heard that it was said by them of old time, that shall not commit adultery.
But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right hand defend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable
for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast
into hell.
And if thy right hand defend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is profitable
for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast
into hell.
It hath been said who whose service shall put away his wife let him give her a writing of Divorcement
But I say unto you that whose service shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication
Cause the third to commit adultery new service shall marry her that his divorce committed adultery
Again, you've heard that it hath been said
By them of old time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but thou shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.
But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool,
neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black, but let your communication be yey, yey,
ney, ney, for whatsoever is more than these, cometh of evil.
You have heard that it hath been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you that you resist not evil
But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also
And if any man will soothe thee at the law take away thy and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain
Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away
You have heard that I've been said that I shall love thine enemy that I shall love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy
But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you and do good to them that hate you and pray for them
Which despitefully use you and persecute you they may be the children of your father which is in heaven
For we make it the sun to rise on the evil and on the good and send it the rain on the just on the unjust
For if you love them which love you what reward have you do not even the public ends the same
And if you salute your brethren only, what do you eat more than others? Do not even the publicans also?
Be therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Let's pray to the Lord God
Thank you for everything you bless us with and thank you for your word. Just ask that you with be with our pastor
No, I'm feeling with the Holy Spirit as he preaches it and a Jesus. Let me pray amen. I
Amen. Okay, the title of my sermon this morning is seasoned and bright Christians seasoned and bright Christians
Matthew chapter 5 very familiar portion of scripture here that most of us could probably quote
But often is overlooked regarding its principles. It says in verse 13
Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor wherewith shall it be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing
But to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men," he goes on to say in verse 14,
"...ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on the hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick,
and to give it light unto all them that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father,
which is in heaven." Of course, we know that these
Here in Matthew chapter 5 are metaphors that Jesus is using on the Sermon on the Mount to depict how a Christian should essentially conduct themselves in this world.
And I want you to notice that he doesn't give the option to be salt or to be light.
He's like, hey, you know, if you want to be salt, you can be salt.
If you want to be light, you can be light.
No, you're just automatically salt, you're automatically light.
Because once you believe on Jesus Christ, once you get saved,
once you're a child of God, you automatically become the salt of the earth.
You automatically become the light of the world.
And really the only thing that you can determine is the quality of salt that you're going to be.
or the wattage of light that you're going to produce.
You know, because of course here we see that
it is possible that the salt can lose its savor, right?
And it's saying here that if a salt loses its savor,
wherewith shall it be salted?
It stands forth good for nothing,
but to be cast out to be trodden under the foot of men.
What does that refer to?
It means that it's worthless.
So there are instances in the Bible
where God refers to a believer
So that sounds kind of rough. Well, how about this when Jesus Christ said you know when you've done everything that was commanded you say
We are unprofitable servants. I mean that sounds kind of rough, but it's literally what the Bible teaches
Why because God placed us here obviously he wants us to be saved
But after salvation he wants us to glorify him. He wants us to serve him
We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works
And so it's our job as Christians that we recognize not only are we salt but we want to be good quality salt
We want to be able to be salted on this earth and actually make a difference make an impact
We want our lights to shine. We don't want to be cast out to be trotted under the foot of men
We don't want to be worthless Christians. We want to be Christians of value
We want God to use us. We want to be able to glorify God to be used of God
to be salty Christians.
In a lack manner, we want to be bright Christians.
Not these, you know, black lights, these dim lights,
or we're just not shining at all.
We want to be able to be used of God
to shed light on this world
of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
And so this morning, I want to look at the properties
of these two commodities
and just draw some parallels
when it comes to being a Christian.
Now you're in Matthew chapter five.
Let me give you the first point here.
Let's go over the salt.
the commodity of salt first and foremost, what are some
characteristics or attributes that we can draw from salt? Well first and foremost, let me just
right away dig into the context here, and that is that seasoned Christians, salty Christians,
irritate people.
And some of you are visiting with us today. You're like, yeah, that's true.
You know, or maybe before you became a Christian, you're like, yeah, actually, you know, some Christians are annoying actually, you know
Some Christians actually kind of irritate me a little bit and it's absolutely true
You know being a Christian can aggravate those around you
You know the world, you know you've heard the phrase you know salt and an open wound right well
Let me just tell you that the world is filled with open wounds of sin that go untreated and undiagnosed
Churches are filled with open wounds of false doctrine of sin
preconceived ideas that are left unchallenged and the truth of the matter is is that when salty Christians
Seasoned Christians are poured into those open wounds. You know what does it exasperate it? It irritates it
It causes people to become uncomfortable, it causes major discomfort, it causes major pain.
Because salt irritates this world.
Why?
Because of the fact that Christians simply irritate.
Look at the context of Matthew chapter 5.
Skip down to verse 10, or go up to verse 10, should I say.
This is the context.
It says in verse 10,
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely
And here's the key for my sake
What is this referring to it's referring to the fact that the world is gonna hate you the world is gonna
Persecute you the world is gonna revile you the world is gonna curse you, but not just because it's you
It's because of Jesus
So, therefore, when we preach the words of Jesus, when we live out the words of Jesus,
when we behave as Christians, according to the Bible, all these things are going to come
upon us.
And here's a question you've got to ask yourself.
You know, if I've never suffered persecution as a Christian, am I really being a good Christian?
Because the Bible specifically says, yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus,
listen to this, shall suffer persecution.
And I'm not saying that means that you're going to be beat up or killed.
Obviously that entails those things.
Sometimes it just means that your family is going to revalue you.
Your friends are going to revalue you.
People closest to you are going to criticize you.
People closest to you, in your family, your neighbors, they may not like you, not because
there's something inherently wrong with you, but because of your beliefs.
Because you're a Christian, because I'm going to tell you right now, you irritate them.
Obviously there's Christians out there that are just irritating just because it's not even because of Jesus
They're just kind of annoying period, right?
You know, maybe they're hyper spiritual
Maybe they are not necessarily a good testimony. Okay, maybe because they're lawbreakers
Maybe because they're dishonest
Maybe because they have unjust balances. Maybe because they don't have integrity, right?
Maybe because they're not people of truth. Maybe because it's they're they're hypocrites. I'm gonna tell you right now. That's annoying
And that's irritating, but what the Bible is referring to here is a Christian who's living according to the word of God is
Living according to the principles of the Bible and is irritating others because of it
Okay, and it's saying here that people will revile you to persecute you for righteousness sake for his namesake. Look at verse 12
Be sad and be depressed and be discouraged when these things come upon you. No, actually it says rejoice and be exceeding glad
That's kind of hard to do when you're being persecuted, but according to the Bible you should though, okay?
Leap for joy, right? Why for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets
Which were before you what does the Bible telling us the Bible telling us that we're in good company
If we are being persecuted for righteousness sake because that's exactly what they did to Elisha
That's exactly what they did to Elisha
That's exactly what they did to Isaiah to Jeremiah and all the great men of God in the Bible
They persecuted them because of what they preach because of what they believe why because they were also salt that
Irritated this world and the people around them. You know the reason why we're persecuted is because of the fact that we believe
You know the Bible and we vocalize it
And I think everyone here, or at least most people here can attest to the fact that maybe
your family treats you a little differently now, now that you're a Christian.
Maybe your friends treat you a little differently now because you're a believer.
Maybe those around you who are closest to you in times past, maybe there's some distance
between you and them, and I'm going to tell you why, because you irritate them.
And it's not because you're a bad Christian, it's because you're a good Christian.
Because Saul naturally irritates an open wound.
You remind people of sin.
You remind people of their sin let me say this you remind people of the consequences of sin because we believe in hell, right?
We remind people that there is a just God in heaven
who will punish sin, will not let it go unpunished.
He will execute righteousness upon this earth.
And you remind people of that and that irritates people,
that annoys people, that aggravates them,
but that's exactly what we're supposed to do.
Hold your place there in Matthew chapter five
and go to John chapter three, if you would.
John chapter three.
Now there's this idea out there amongst Christians
that says, well, we shouldn't be annoying people.
We shouldn't be irritating people.
Everyone should love us, everyone, we should be able to get along with everyone.
Now here's the thing, is that our default setting is that we do want to be at peace
with people, right?
Our default setting is that we want to get along with everyone, and in fact the Bible
specifically says, as much as lies within you, right?
To be able to get along to have peace with everyone as much as lies within you.
But let me just remind you that that's not at the exclusion of compromising, you can't
Okay, let me just remind you we're Christians, not politicians
Christians not politicians
You know politicians will speak out of both sides of the mouth because they want to please both sides
Whereas a Christian we want to please people, but we want to please God first and if that displeases people then so be it
And here let me just be honest with you you can't please everyone
So you might as well just side with the Lord.
You might as well just tell people what the Bible says.
You might as well be the salt of the earth,
because if not, you're gonna be the salt
that lost its savor, and you're gonna be good for nothing.
Look what it says in John chapter three, verse 19.
It says, and this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world
and men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateeth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproofed.
Now obviously we're not talking about the light of the world as of yet, but this applies
to the salt as well.
See people don't like to go to Christians who actually believe the Bible by the way.
They don't like to go to Christians who actually know what the Bible says.
Why?
Because then their deeds are reproofed.
Right?
They're actually shown that they're wrong.
And you know when it comes to Christianity, Christianity is the religion that there is
in the sense of, you know, this is what the Bible says.
This is what God says and we can't change on that.
We won't change on that.
And so people don't necessarily like to go to Christians
because of the fact that, you know, Christians will tell them,
well, no, there is a health, not a separation from God.
It's eternal flames and hellfire and damnation
and brimstone.
Well, that doesn't sound very good.
You're gonna scare a lot of people away with that.
Well, here's the thing is that, no,
I've actually scared a lot of people out of hell
because of that.
You see the opposite is actually true right when you tell people about the reality of what hell is according to the Bible
You actually pull them out of the fire
Others save with fear the Bible says pulling them out of the fire
So preaching the biblical hell doesn't push people away from hell what it actually does is pushes people out of hell
But yet there's this idea, no, you're gonna offend people,
you're gonna displease people,
you're gonna be, you know, irritating people.
Well, that's exactly what I do though, we're salt.
Salt irritates those around us.
Salt can irritate your family.
You know, for whatever reason,
sometimes your family is okay with you
on Friday nights going out and partying
and doing the Lord knows what.
Getting involved in all kinds of sin.
All of a sudden you're trying to get up on Sunday morning
to go to church and it's just like,
oh, you're a church person now,
well now you didn't even do the things that you used to do.
It's just like, does this irritate you?
Living a godly life actually irritates people.
Living a godless life does not irritate people.
You know, living a godly, Christian life of purity
and honesty for some reason makes people mad.
Why because it reminds them that there is a moral standard called the Bible and
That there's a human being around them that is actually following that moral standard and it causes them to realize hey
There's an eternal the eternal does exist the principles of God are true
And so we see here that everyone that do with evil they hate coming to the light why because they don't want to be reproved
They don't want to be told that they're wrong. They don't want to be reminded of their sin
They don't want to be reminded of the afterlife
Go with me if you would to mark chapter 9 mark chapter 9
Mark chapter number 9
And here's the thing, you know what separates us from other religions?
What separates us even from other sects of Christianity? I'm gonna tell you what it's the Bible
Because there's Christians out there that don't have a problem getting along with every religion
Every person that's involved in sin, but I'm gonna tell you why because they're not they're not being honest with what they believe
Or they may not even believe the Bible.
They're just parading as Christians, right?
Let me read to you from John 17.
You're in Mark chapter 9.
I'm going to read to you from John chapter 17, verse 14.
It says, I have given them thy word.
And let's say to this, and the world hath hated them.
Because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,
but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
So, you know, God's will is not for us to become Amish.
To go on to the middle of nowhere and just create a compound like Jim Jones
He says I don't want you to take them out of the world. I just want you to keep them from the evil
He says of verse 16. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world
And I want you to notice this sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. What does it mean to sanctify means to separate?
So what separates the Christian from all other segments of Christianity and all other religions?
I'll tell you what separates them is the word of God the Bible itself
What causes people to hate you?
The sanctification of the word.
What causes people to be irritated by you?
The sanctification of the word.
What causes people to be annoyed by you
is the fact that you believe the word, okay?
Now, with that being said though,
let's not try to be irritating towards one another, you know?
You know because according to the Bible
Obviously we should have that salt in an open wound effect on the world
But not necessarily in church, you know look what it says in Mark chapter 9 verse 15 salt is good. Amen
I mean, I love putting salt on my food
Every time my wife gives me a play. I'm like does this have salt?
And I rather sound just like
Salt is good don't don't believe people when they say salt is bad. It's gonna raise your cholesterol
Hey, the Bible says salt is good, but if the salt hath lost it's his saltiness
Wherewith shall he season it in other words? What's the point of even using salt if it has no taste?
He says have salt in yourselves, and I want you to notice this and have peace one with another
So he says be a salty Christian
But don't be so salted that you're irritating one with another because God wants peace amongst ourselves
It's called unity in the church, right?
So don't be an annoying member of the church.
Don't be irritating people in our church,
annoying people in our church,
you know, being the kind of Christian
that can't seem to get along with just anybody at all.
You see, our default setting again
is that we want to get along with everyone.
But at the end of the day,
we know the byproduct of living a godly life
is that that's not gonna happen.
But we shouldn't go forth and endeavor
not to get along with people, right?
We should have peace one with another yet have salt in
Ourselves the Bible tells us in Luke 21 verse 17 and he shall be hated of all men for my name's sake
That's the opposite of the message of most churches are saying today
They're saying oh no you you're giving Jesus a bad name
You know you are a bad testimony of Jesus because of how you preach because of what you believe because and it's just like okay
Well, let's look at the example of Jesus
You know, let's go ahead and put on that bracelet,
what would Jesus do, right?
Let's ask ourselves that.
And before we look at what Jesus did,
let's first look at what happened to him when he did it.
Now, class, can anybody tell me what happened to Jesus?
It's called, he was crucified.
It's called he was scourge.
It's called he was beaten.
It's called he was called Beelzebub.
And the Bible says, if they call the master of the house, Beelzebub, how much more shall they call the day of his household?
In other words, hey, if they're calling Jesus a devil, don't be surprised that the same people are going to call you the devil.
Not everyone loved Jesus as proven by the fact that they crucified him.
He came into his own, his own received him not.
They delivered him up to be crucified his blood be on us and on our children
Crucify them they said over and over again, you know, it sounds like you know, what he did
irritated people
So in like manner if we're gonna be Christians
And if we're gonna walk as Jesus walk and ask ourselves what would Jesus do well then we shouldn't be surprised
Then what we do what would Jesus did that we also in like manner irritate others
In fact, you know the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 that we are killed all the day long
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter
Just as Jesus was why because at the end of the day we will irritate people and again
I don't think you should endeavor to try to irritate people
But don't be surprised when you do because of your beliefs don't hide your beliefs
Don't remove the saltiness from your salt
Don't try to you know minimize the quality of your salt because you just want to please everyone
You need to make sure that you honor the Lord Jesus Christ you become a salty Christian and you know whoever gets offended at that
That's on them
And obviously, there's a gracious way to approach things,
right?
People ask you, what do you believe about this?
It's just like, well, this is what the Bible says.
No, no, no, you tell me what the Bible says.
I wanna know what you believe.
And you just say, well, what I believe
is what the Bible says.
What are we talking about this morning?
We're talking about seasoned Christians,
or salty Christians that irritate this world.
We are the salt to the open wound of this world.
Let me tell you something.
Nowadays, it's almost irritating to people
just to see a family out and about.
Just to see husband and wife doing this,
holding hands in public with their children, walking.
To have obedient children in public is almost just like,
to have a wife stay at home is irritating to people.
Might irritate some of you right now.
I just think, you know, this is 2025.
Yeah, and you still haven't caught up
to what the Bible says about that.
You know, that irritates people.
When we talk about the importance of a wife staying at home,
being a keeper of the home,
keeper of the house,
to raise the children, homeschool the children,
hey, to obey and love her,
to obey and love her husband, that irritates people.
Let me say this, it irritates Christians.
Some Christians are just like they gnash at me with their teeth
Why because I'll tell you why because they lost their saver. That's why that
Salt has lost its saver
And you know what if you're Christian you should be offended of nothing of the Bible
You know, great peace have they which love thy law
and nothing shall offend them.
Everything that the Bible says,
you should accept as being 100% valid and true.
And if you have a problem with it,
then you need to renew your mind.
You need to change what you believe
and bring it into alignment with the Bible says.
Because irritation just shows us,
see, the salt in the open wound,
there's not a problem with the salt.
There's a problem that there's a wound.
It's just the salt exposes the fact that there's a wound that they're wrong with the salt if I pour salt on my skin
Right and nothing's gonna happen unless I have a wound it only exposes that there's something wrong there
And so when the principles of God's word are being put forth
Such as the biblical home that a man is supposed to love his wife as Christ loved the church that she's supposed to love and reverence
Her husband that's not a cuss word. That's not a dirty saying. That's Bible
Hey, that we should raise our children in the nurture
and the admonition of the law.
Well, I just think every child should have a choice
of what kind of religion they should believe.
Not in my house.
Hey, folks, as for me in my house, we should serve the Lord.
We're gonna worship the Lord Jesus Christ in my house.
I'm not gonna let my kids just in the room like,
well, you know, if you wanna be a Hindu or something.
Hey, if my kids put some pagan stuff in their room,
I'm Jeru Bale and I'm going in there
and I'm just tearing everything down.
Why you does that irritate you a little bit? Does that make you mad a little bit?
I'll tell you why because it's salt in that open wound called tolerance
Season Christians irritate people by their life. They they irritate people by their beliefs
They irritate people by their beliefs about the home
By their beliefs in marriage by their beliefs in child rearing by their beliefs in work by their beliefs and just every moral issue
That exists they get irritated by those things
This is why you know feminists hate the Bible
Because feminism is an open wound. It's like gang ring. It's just it's just I
Don't even know if I could be healed
and
so
And you know what? If you're a Christian and you're a feminist, then you definitely need to change that.
That's an oxymoron.
Christian feminists don't exist in the Bible.
Please God, at least.
There's no such thing as being a feminist and being a Christian. It doesn't exist in the Word of God.
It's just a complete oxymoron, it doesn't go together,
it flies in the face of every biblical principle
in the Bible, and I know that there's women
who maybe you grew up in this world
with the principles of this world,
and this might irritate you a little bit,
but I'm just pouring a little salt.
I'm just pouring a little bit of salt
in that open wound called feminism,
just to remind you, hey, you haven't fixed that wound.
Don't blame the salt, blame the wound.
If that bothers you, hey, I'm just kind of going like this in the congregation.
If it stings a little bit, you might want to get that taken care of.
See salt also when coupled with water is known as saline, I know, right?
Brother Mori, isn't that true?
Which is actually like a healing agent.
And so when we mix salt with a little bit of the word, you know, the salt kind of irritates
it, but the word heals it.
So that's why you come to church to get a little bit of saline into your system to hydrate you through the word of God
To wash your well by the water of the word to wash your mind. Hey to brainwash you. Oh
You brainwash your congregants. Yes, I do
Gotta scrub all that filth that the world is constantly teaching all that feminism all that
anti-bible
Feministic
LGBT whatever
Ideologies that's contrary to the word of God look and you and if you're just like ah
Don't blame the salt shaker
It's the open wound
Seizing Christians irritate the world
But let me also say this you know go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 if you would 2nd Corinthians chapter 2
Let me also say this is that salty Christians also enhance flavor and produce thirst.
See what's the purpose of salt?
It's to enhance the flavor.
Pour some salt on the meat, pour some salt on the rice, it just tastes better.
You know, I'm not for like bland tastes and no seasoning.
You know, I want some salt.
Give me some of that Himalayan salt, amen.
Why? Because it enhances the flavor and you don't like manner.
Yeah, Christians can often irritate other people and people who don't believe the Bible
because it rubs them the wrong way. It goes against the grain of what they actually believe.
But in like manner, it actually enhances life.
Christians can enhance the lives around them.
And the Bible tells us in Job 6-6,
can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt?
Is there any taste in the white of an egg?
What do you say?
Put some salt on that thing.
Hey, you want to make life exciting?
You know, befriend a Christian who actually believes
in the Bible, and they'll make life exciting for you.
You know, we as God's people should enhance people's lives
when we come into contact with them.
Joseph enhanced the life of Potiphar.
Jacob enhanced the house of Laban.
It should be the wherever we go,
we just improve the quality of the lives
of those around us, right?
Not make it worse, you know, we should enhance the lives
We should increase the quality of life of those around us not be these people who just you know
Suck the life out of people's lives
We're there to give life
You know we see that piece of chicken and when we just throw throw some salt there is a while this tastes better
Now that the salt was added. Hey, this neighborhood is better because that Christian is here
Hey, this job is better because we have Christians working here now
Hey, this city is better because there's Christians who are here. There's a church that's here. Therefore this city has become better
That nation has become better because there's Christians in that nation. Why because Christians like salt enhance the flavor of a society
If so, you know, we cause people to recognize that when you taste the Lord that he is gracious
Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14
He says, now thanks be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ and make it
manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.
For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ and them that are saved and in them that perish,
to the one we are the savor of death unto death, and to the other the savor of life unto life,
and who is sufficient for these things.
What is he saying?
the knowledge of Jesus Christ everywhere we go.
And this is why it's important,
this is gonna be one of my other points,
to have a good testimony.
Because automatically people think if you're a Christian,
oh, then you should believe the Bible,
be a law-abiding citizen, pay your taxes,
you know, be honest, not be some dysonic derelict
who doesn't pay his bills on time,
who doesn't work hard, is lazy.
You know, you're not adding any flavor
to that area that you're in.
We need to bring Christianity everywhere we go.
And this is why it's important for us
not to compartmentalize God.
It's like, well, I'm a Christian when I'm here at church.
I say, brother, well, I'm here at church.
I talk about the Bible, I'm here at church,
but at my job, no one knows I'm a Christian.
And I'm not saying you need to go around on the clock
telling people that you're a Christian.
But you know what there should be some semblance of Christianity in your life with your work ethic though
You know hey, some of you young people who go to school still
You know people should know that you're a Christian there because you could tell people you're Christian there
You know here's one of the best ways to do it. Why don't you carry a Bible with you?
Hey, but how about on lunch break you read your Bible?
Right, how about you actually preach the gospel to those who are closest to you your friends?
You know how about when your friends tell a dirty joke or take the Lord's name in vain you stop them
They say hey, don't take the Lord's name in vain in my presence. I'm a Christian
I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my God you're talking about and if you want to continue to be friends with me
Then don't take the Lord's name in vain. Oh, man. You just uh, all right. We'll see you. I'm not gonna be around you
I don't want to hear that. Oh
Why are you so touchy about that because I'm I actually believe the Bible
And in fact, I love you so much.
Why don't you give me a couple of minutes
to show you what the Bible says about heaven
and win them to Christ.
Enhance the people of the lives around you
by giving them the gospel.
Hey, instead of going back home, young people,
and preaching to your parents
and being annoying to your parents,
why don't you actually go home and be a good son,
be a good daughter,
be an honest, obedient son or daughter,
and enhance the lives of those in your household.
So that your parents could say you know ever since my child has become a Christian they just become a better person
They're just they're just I don't know something happened to them
They're just more obedient. They actually clean up the room
They actually obey me they eat their vegetables
They take out the trash they don't sleep in anymore. They don't play video games anymore
They don't stay up till three o'clock in the morning
playing video games with headphones, with other people.
They actually are responsible functioning members,
not just of society, but even of my household.
Pastor, they respect me as a parent now.
You see, that's what should be said.
That once a young person becomes a Christian,
you enhance your family's life and your household.
Your parents should be able to see that and you know if you want your parents to be saved
You know obviously they need the gospel because the gospel is the power of God into salvation
But a little salt of your life being poured in that household through your life. I kind of helps with that
Last thing you need is to be a bad testimony with a good message
Especially if you live with them
You know a lot of a lot of the family marriage is just like I don't want to hear it
Because he never he doesn't change all he does is condemn me for my sin
Says all kinds of stuff to me, but you know, he doesn't pick up after himself. He doesn't go to work
He just plays video games all day. He just does this that and the other
You know, why don't you go ahead and enhance the life of your family by being a good Christian be salt?
I'm praying for my parents to be saved. Well, you know what pray and be a good testimony be salt and enhance your relationship with your parents
You know, how about you telling your mom and dad that you love them?
How do you say, Mom, Dad, I love you.
What do you want?
Nothing.
I just want to tell you I love you.
I want to see if you want to come to church with me on Sunday.
I'd love to have you come to church with me.
How about dressing a little different?
That'll make an impact in your parents' lives, for sure.
The point that I'm making here is that Christianity should and can enhance the lives of those around you,
but it really depends on the quality of salt that you are though.
It enhances every society. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 29 verse 2,
when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
Psalm 33 verse 12 says, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own
inheritance. Go with me if you went to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, 1 Corinthians 7.
First Corinthians chapter 7 you see salt
Irritates absolutely. We can't do anything about that because we're just that salt in the open wound that needs to be fixed
And once people allow us to try to help them to fix that it becomes saline
Because mixed with water of the word it begins to be a healing agent
But not only that salt also enhances the flavor of those around us. It causes people to improve
Their environment their atmosphere their ambiance
Let me say this is the Christianity also enhances a marriage
You know if you're in a marriage where one is a Christian and one is not you can enhance that marriage still and
In fact, if you are a parent and you're saved, but your spouse is not and your kids are not
You can drastically
Enhance the quality of life in that household by just living out the Bible
and pouring a little salt in your family by your life.
Look at 1 Corinthians 7, verse 13.
It says, the woman which hath an husband
that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her,
let her not leave him, for the unbelieving husband
is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife
is sanctified by the husband.
Elsewhere your children unclean, but now are they holy.
What is this referring to?
It's saying that if you have a saved spouse,
Who is living out the Bible obeying the word of God that husband or that wife is gonna love it?
Even if they're not saved
So if a spouse is not saved, but they have a safe spouse living there
It's more likely that the spouse is gonna get saved
This is what the Bible means when it says that they're sanctified by the wife sanctified by the husband
It's more possible for that person to be saved because there's salt in that house
And not only that, let's just say they don't get saved
immediately, I'm gonna tell you something right now.
The life of that spouse who is saved,
who has good quality salt,
will improve that household drastically.
And that husband or that wife will love
when their husband or wife behaves like a biblical husband
and a biblical wife.
So let me just say this, wives,
if you have an unbelieving husband, don't preach to them.
Because you view it as preaching, they view it as nagging.
They can't really tell the difference they think I'm nagging them right now, and I'm just kidding
You know they see it as nagging
You said what am I to do well according to the Bible obey love reverence your husband submit to your husband
Don't be disrespectful to your husband
Folks you didn't even have to be a Christian to like that
A lot of people who aren't saved love that stuff and you know what that does that softens them up to the gospel
But not only that we see here that children are sanctified also by the parents
If there's a believing spouse in the household with an unbelieving spouse and they have unbelieving children,
it's more likely that those children are going to get saved because they have a believing parent.
The likelihood of the children getting saved is a lot higher because of it.
So you need to see the glass half full rather than half empty is what I'm saying.
Because you being that salt in that household can provide the gospel can enhance that household because that's exactly what Christianity
Viewing it as salt can do
And you know what this is kind of corny, but it is true
You know sometimes you are the only Bible that people will ever read
Can't believe I just said that
But the Bible says you know that we are his epistles written in our hearts known in red of all men
So, you know a good testimony a salty testimony an enhancing testimony can be a blessing to others
And what what's the point here?
The point is that salt enhances the flavor, but it also creates thirst and it should be that we live such a life
That's pleasing unto the Lord that others look at it and say man. I want what they have
That's why it's good. Let me just say this
It's good that when you go out as a family that you're a good testimony out at the restaurant
You're a good testimony out soul winning
that you don't have unruly children,
you don't have an unruly household out in public,
because then at that point,
you are being a bad testimony.
Understand what I'm saying?
Obviously we can't necessarily,
kids aren't perfect.
I got five of them, six on the way,
six one on the way, not six on the way.
The six one on the way, that'd be crazy.
Yeah.
I got the six one on the way.
And you know what, obviously kids are not
perfect all the time, they're kids, right?
But that's why they require discipline and training.
Then when you go out to the restaurant,
look, this is what I do.
When I go out to a restaurant,
my wife and I always have to talk with the kids.
You better behave yourself.
Listen to me.
And you always point to that one, though.
Like I'm talking to you all,
but I'm talking to you, though, specifically.
The one who just, they have that tendency, right?
is that we need to behave ourselves.
We're Christians.
People are watching us.
We want to be a good testimony.
Do not misbehave.
And it's not all, you know, roses in line.
I'm just like, if you don't, I'm gonna spank you.
You're gonna get a whooping when you're getting home.
Do not misbehave yourself.
You say, well, you know, I see you Christians are always
like, actually my mom was not a Christian
and she did that to me.
So what?
And I'll give you the translation.
I would give you the translation
when my mom said to me, but we're in church.
I can't say that.
Mama will be like you better not misbehave yourself in public and if you do you're getting the pinch on the shoulder
That's kind of that's a warning
Okay, and then you're gonna get it when we get home. Hey, I'm all for that
I'm all for disciplining children. We can't allow the society to determine how we raise our kids folks
I'm not trying to raise gang members and murderers and people who are gonna go to prison because they weren't disciplined as kids
I want to raise God fearing law abiding citizens
and it happens by them learning to obey their parents.
And so when you're out there zoning
and preaching the gospel,
don't allow your children to be unruly too.
We're out there doing the work of the Lord.
Teach your kids how to behave in public.
Teach your kids not to interrupt.
Teach your kids not to mess with people's property.
Say why because as salt we are supposed to enhance the flavor of those around us
But also create thirst
You know when you go out in public and many people have said this in our church
You know you go out in public and people are just like wow
Your kids are so well-behaved like this is you have such a beautiful family
Like wow you just they're just happy to see that
It just puts a smile on their face
You know what that does that's glorifying God
It's causing people to realize and then and then a lot of times they'll say are you guys Christians?
Why because they know
They understand that this is what a Christian family should look like
does look like and it makes them want that and
So, you know the world should look at us and say, you know, we want what they have and not just families
But even young people, you know, the Bible tells us you don't have to turn there and 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 12 says let no man despise thy youth
But be that an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit,
in faith, in purity the Bible says.
What is that telling us?
You know that young people, some of you guys who are teenagers and you're 20s, early 20s,
mid 20s, you need to make sure that you're an example to the believers.
Don't make the older people in our church despise your youth because you're disrespectful,
prideful, and arrogant.
You should be someone who enhances the flavor of those around you
You know you're like, I don't know about all this well
Maybe because you thought you were gonna get sugar, but this is salt. I know they look the same
But it's only when you taste that you realize one is sweet and the other one actually enhances flavor
You can go to a ton of churches that are offering you sugar. There's all kinds of churches out there that are offering sugar
There's just sugar sermons, sugar sermons,
just making you feel good,
just filling your belly with sugar.
Oh, everything just tastes sweet and everything.
But you know what, every once in a while,
we need some actual flavor, though.
We need a steak, we need ribeye,
we need meat with a little bit of salt,
some nutrition to actually help you to grow.
And so salt is better than sugar, amen.
Turn with me if you would.
Go to Jude, the book of Jude, if you would.
Go to Jude chapter five.
Just kidding, no one caught that.
There is no chapter five.
By the way, salt also melts ice, did you know that?
You know, if you become cold towards the things of God,
just get yourself some hard preaching,
some Bible preaching, some salty preaching,
you know what it does, it'll melt that ice,
that cold-hearted ice, that apathetic ice,
it'll melt it.
So you can be tender towards the things of God once again
What are we talking about? We're talking about seasoned Christians can enhance the flavor and produce thirst not only that
But we also see that salt can prevent decay
Now we live in the United States, so we have something called refrigerators
So we may not know anything about this some of you of course know about this
I remember years ago before I was a Christian I went to go visit family in Guatemala
And we were in this particular part of the country
where it's kind of by the ocean.
It was a coastal city that we were visiting.
And then we went to a marketplace
and there was all types of meat and fish just out there,
right?
They just had it all on tables.
And I was just like, from a distance, I thought to myself,
like, how does this not go bad?
Like, it was hot too.
It's really hot.
You know, Guatemala.
But then, you know, and upon closer inspection, it was just saturated with salt.
And so obviously this people did this back in the day, even in the Bible times, but they still do it now,
that when there's no adequate refrigeration, they just pour salt on the meat and it will prevent it from decaying.
You know, it has that that preservation agent that will cause prevent something from actually rotting and decaying
And you know what the the parallel there is that as Christians who are sold we can prevent this world from decaying
We know how to preserve life first and foremost how through the gospel
You see people are perishing the bosses that the preaching of the cross is to then that perish foolishness
But then to us what you're saving is the power of God
And so people are dying and going to hell every single day.
And this is why we need to pray for laborers
to go into the harvest, because we can prevent that.
We know how to prevent someone from going to hell.
We can prevent someone from dying
and experiencing the second death.
How?
By preaching the gospel.
You know, it reminds me of Joseph
that when he was, when he went into Egypt,
he told his brothers, what?
You know, God sent me here to what?
Preserve life.
You know why God sent First Works Baptist Church
from Omani to Anaheim Hills, California?
I'll tell you why, to preserve life.
You know why we go to the cities, the highways,
and hedges, the neighborhoods?
Why, to preserve life.
You know why God placed you in that home?
You know why God placed you in that un-regenerated home
to preserve life?
You know why you have those friends at your high school?
You know why you're around the people that you know?
It's not by accident.
I'll tell you why, it's to preserve life
through the gospel of Christ.
It's to be a salt in that world to prevent them from dying and going to hell look at Jude verse 22
It says enough some have compassion making a difference others save with fear
Pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh
So it sounds to me that when we present the gospel we're supposed to present something that strikes fear
It's not just like a sugary message. It's not just a good message
You know it's a bad message first
It's hey hell exists. You're a sinner who deserves hell and hell is forever
You're gonna go to the lake of fire where the fire is not quenched the worm died on the fire is not quenched and
The fear of knowing that will motivate someone to flee from the wrath to come to the foot of the cross to be saved
And this is what the Bible means,
that we pull them out of the fire
in a spiritual sense, right?
The illustration is like,
we're reaching into the depths of hell
and pulling people out of the fire
through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What's the point here?
The point is, is that we as Christians
should prevent decay in the lives around us.
Do you have a family member
that you stay in contact with regularly
that you have not preached the gospel to?
You're not being salt.
You know and I praise people in our church who make it their agenda to try to reach their family. I
Think it's great that you reach
Strangers, but I also think it's great when you try to reach your family
When I first got saved that's what I want. I want more than anybody else. I wanted my family to be saved. I
Wanted my mom to be saved. I want my dad to be saved all my brother to be saved all my sister to be saved
I want those who I know to be saved
And you know, there's countless times we're just weeping,
praying that they would come to the saving knowledge
of Jesus Christ.
Why, because I wanted to be salt in that world.
I know that God placed me in that household
for the purpose of leading them to Christ.
Don't become hardened towards your family, my friends.
It's easy to become hardened towards those who we know personally in our family people that we grew up with because we see them
We've been around them and sometimes we're like well if they don't want it. Hold on a second pull them out of the fire
Be salt preserve that person's life
Have you tried witnessing to your brother?
Have you tried preaching the gospel to your sister? Have you tried reaching your mother?
Have you tried reaching your father?
How about your cousin? What about your uncle?
What about your aunt?
Think about them.
You know, I praise God that we have a church
that is filled with zealous so-owners
who reach strangers every single week,
but I also pray that you would have the heart
to reach those who God placed you in their lives
since you're a kid.
And obviously, you know, a prophet is not without honor,
save it his own country, right?
Amongst his own country, amongst his own kiddred,
that's absolutely true.
But you know what?
It shouldn't prevent us from trying, though.
And you're like, man, but yeah pastor,
I just, I don't know how to preach the gospel yet though.
Here's the frustrating thing,
I don't know how to preach the gospel.
You know, I want to get my family saved.
My brother, I want to get them saved.
My cousin, I want to get them saved.
My nephew, I want to get them saved,
but I just don't know how to open my mouth boldly
to make known the mysteries of the gospel.
Well, learn.
Learn how to preach the gospel.
Have some urgency about yourself.
Get on a team, learn how to preach the gospel
to get them saved.
But you know what, if you're not there yet,
then let me say this, bring them to Easter.
Bring him to church bring him to someone who does know the gospel
Be like the woman at the well who went back home and just brought everyone from the city to come see Jesus
Be that salt go back to your family go home to your family and say I want you to come with me to church
But if you already know the gospel say you know what I want to share something with you because I love you and obviously
You know that I'm a Christian and I'm quite frankly. I'm just be honest with you. I'm ashamed that I haven't shared this with you
My bad, this is my fault, but I need to share this with you because I love you
And I want to show you what the Bible says on how to go to heaven you'd be surprised how people respond to that type of humility
Be salt preserve life
Preserve the lives of those around you go back to Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 if you would
What's the time of the sermon seasoned and bright Christians seasoned and bright Christians?
Last couple minutes. I'm just gonna go over what it means to be a bright Christian
This will not be as extensive as the salt
But a lot of the same principles can be said look at verse 14
It says you are the light of the world a city that is set on the hill cannot be hid
Neither do men light a candle put under a bushel but on the candlestick and to give it light unto all them that are in the house
So bright Christians first and foremost we see here are unashamed Christians
Why it says there a city that is set on the hill cannot be hit
Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel.
What does that mean?
It means you better make sure that you're open about being a Christian.
You better make sure that you are unashamed of the Bible.
And you know, sometimes Christians are ashamed of the Bible.
Let me just be real honest with you, okay?
Go with me if you want to Mark chapter 8, by the way.
Mark chapter 8.
You see, light is seen by all.
And sometimes Christians are like,
man, I'm afraid that someone's gonna ask me
about something really controversial in the Bible.
I just don't know what I'm gonna say about it, you know?
Like, I don't wanna be ashamed of the Bible,
but I don't wanna seem like a weirdo to them.
Well, here's the thing.
Here's how you can get over that.
You have to understand that they're the weirdo.
I'm over it.
Anytime someone asks me about some so-called radical view of the Bible. I'm a hundred percent just like yeah
That's what I said. You don't you don't believe that
It's weird
You wow
I'm not gonna feel awkward about believing the Bible
I'm not gonna be made feel felt uncomfortable for believing the Bible
You know what I'm sick and tired of people trying to make other people feel uncomfortable for believing the Bible
Let's make them feel uncomfortable about that. Oh, you believe it. That's weird. Wow
Yeah, you actually believe that 2,000 year old book, but it's actually a lot older than that, but yeah, I do
Yeah, and you believe every article that's placed within the last five days on the Internet
So what
Yeah, but you know that is like outdated. The Bible is not outdated. It's timeless
And you know, I'm not the only one who believes there's a ton of thousands millions of people believe and you know
You this is what you tell them when when they try to make you feel stupid and weird for believing the Bible
This is what you tell them when they when they come to you with that
You tell them this you say
Don't you expect Christians to believe the Bible
Like oh, wow, Christian believes the Bible
You should be shocked if I don't believe the controversial verse that you're talking about
The weird thing is when Christians don't believe the Bible
That's weird
So if a Christian comes to you like oh you actually believe well the cultural context. I don't need cultural context
I need scriptural context scriptural context says this is what the Bible says and I stand with it
So it's just like oh man, you know you believe the but yeah, because I'm a Christian
Isn't that what you would expect for a Christian to actually believe the word of God?
So that's you could hide behind that if you want like yeah a Christian believes the Bible
Genesis to Revelation a hundred percent and in fact, you know
There's been times when people have have posts made posts about me
They're like oh pastor says this and people who are not Christian go in the comment section and say oh wow a Baptist believes the Bible
And I'm just like, heart, thumbs up.
Why is that weird?
It's weird when Christians don't uphold the word of God
as being authoritative.
It's weird when Christians are ashamed of the Bible.
That's weird.
It's weird when Christians try to make excuses for the Bible.
That's weird.
It's weird when Christians try to come up
with all kinds of excuses.
Oh, well, in the original, it says it,
no, in the original says exactly what it says here.
And I believe in, so do millions of other people
believe it as well.
I find it weird when people don't believe
Leviticus 2013.
I find it weird when people don't believe
Romans chapter one.
You don't believe that?
That's weird.
You should convert to a different religion then
that doesn't believe the Bible.
Because it's just commonly reported
I know this is really crazy that Christians are supposed to believe the Bible, all of it.
We live in a society where Christians have allowed themselves to be bullied by other Christians
and agnostics and atheists out there to try to cause them to be ashamed of the Bible.
Folks, I'm not bowing down to any of that.
I believe the Word of God cover to cover and you should be ashamed of the fact that you don't know that.
Is someone surprised that I believe the Bible? I'm ashamed of them.
That's shameful for you to believe that.
I'm a Christian, you should know for a fact.
Yeah, but what about these verses?
All of it, all of it, all of it.
I think it's all good.
I agree with everything that God says in there.
Every single nook and cranny I hold to it
to be the word of God.
And don't flinch either.
Two for flinching.
Don't flinch.
You believe in the Bible?
I mean, I mean, I mean.
It's more like, do you believe in the Bible?
Yup.
Yeah, but what about Leviticus?
I love Leviticus.
Yeah, but what about all those verses?
Yeah, especially those verses.
Yeah, but this is one verse that's my life verse.
I love it all.
And especially if you're dealing with another Christian,
put them on the spot.
You don't believe that?
You make excuses for that?
Why are you ashamed of the Bible?
Look at what the Word of God says in Mark chapter eight
and verse 38, it says,
whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me
and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation
of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed
when he cometh in the glory of his Father
with his holy angels.
He says, oh, you're gonna be ashamed of me
before all these wicked people.
People who are just godless, who promote the most wicked,
abominable ideologies known to mankind,
but you're ashamed of the purity of God's word.
He says, when I come, I'm gonna be ashamed of you.
This doesn't mean you're not saved.
It just means that God's gonna be ashamed of you.
This doesn't mean your sins aren't forgiven.
It means that he's just gonna be ashamed of you.
Why? Because you're ashamed of his word.
One of the greatest motivators for us not to be ashamed of God's word is that I don't want Jesus to be ashamed of me when he comes
I
Want him to look for me
I want to be like I believed it
From cover to cover from the day that I got saved and I didn't make any excuses for it
I preached it. I think the word of God is great. I
Don't want him to be like
Let's go, come on.
Yeah, you're safe, yeah.
I saved you.
I don't want that.
I want him to know that I've never
been ashamed of the Word of God.
And you know what, we need to turn this tide around
and stop letting Christians be bullied.
You know, stop allowing Christians to, you know,
Christians just need to get a backbone.
Let me just be honest.
Right, yeah.
They need to get a backbone. They need to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might and have some resolve about themselves
You know and and take some quote-unquote pride about the Bible and say, you know, I don't make excuses for the word of God
I believe it and so and by the way, not just anybody I believe in the King James Bible. Oh
You don't use the modern versions. Why you do?
That's weird
That's all right, I just flip it on them
Why cuz light
What does light do?
It causes us to be bright.
It causes us, I'm losing my notes here,
light is seen by all, it's unashamed.
You're not trying to hide it under a bushel.
You're trying to show people that you are a Christian.
You know, people at your job should know
that you're a Christian not because you're vocal about it,
but because your life shows it.
But the areas where you can be vocal about it, you should.
You shouldn't be ashamed to be a Christian.
Oh, you shouldn't be ashamed to come to our church either.
What church do you go to?
Oh, this is Christian church, just.
Oh, what's it called?
You know, it's like Baptist something.
Oh, okay, I grew up Baptist.
Well, which one is it?
I don't go to church.
I'm just kidding.
Just tell them I go to First Works Baptist Church.
Like, what if they Google it?
So be it.
Because you never know, some of my Googling
be like, whoa, this church is based.
I've been looking for a church like this.
Google it.
You know, for example, I put out a video sometime this week.
And I was just saying, hey, if you're looking for a good church
and you're in these particular areas,
I named off some states.
I said DM me, and I got a ton of DMs.
I was able to direct people to my pastor friend's churches.
And then one of them was just like,
whoa, I'm in this particular area, where's that church?
I said, oh, and I said, how far are you from this address?
I don't remember the address.
And they're like, five minutes away.
I said, perfect, go this Sunday.
And they're like, all right, so I set the website,
you know, a few moments later.
They're like, I wonder if you can answer some questions.
I Googled it.
And you know some stuff came up and I just want to know was this really true? I said, yeah
You say you wanted to go to church, right?
I'm not sending you to like a Mormon tabernacle or anything like that
Send you to a Baptist church
And you're like, oh, okay. Uh, all right. Well, thank you for your time, which basically means like I'm probably not gonna go
But they're asking me about all these controversial things and I was just like yeah, it's all true what I mean
He's a Baptist preacher
So what would you I mean, that's what the Bible says they thought I was gonna be like, oh, yeah, don't listen to you
That's not true. I'm like no, it's he said that
It's cool, huh
Because there's no use in being ashamed there's no use in being ashamed
Light is unashamed. Also light exposes darkness. I'm not going to go over these verses because I'm out of time
But just go over these go to this last passage Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians chapter 5 this is the last verse
What does light also do I'll tell you what it does is it wakes people up
Right, you know the darkness is meant to release the melatonin in your body so you can sleep
But once the sun rises
It does something to your body, it wakes you up.
At least that's what it's supposed to do.
Some of you gamers don't know what I'm talking about
because you just pull an all nighter.
What light is supposed to do is wake you up.
You know what we're supposed to do as God's people
is to wake you up.
Maybe you gotta wake up called this morning
through the message.
Don't get mad at me, I'm just, I'm being light here,
being light here, I'm trying to wake you up
to what the Bible says.
Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 13, but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light
For what's over doth make manifest is light
Wherefore he saith awake thou that's sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light the Bible says
Christianity enlightens you to the truth
Christianity brings the answers.
Christianity sheds light on the issues of our day.
You talk to us as a Christian,
we should be able to give you an answer
from the word of God.
Why? Because we shed light on that.
We don't leave people in darkness.
We shed light.
And so, you know, if you want to be a bright Christian,
don't be a dimmer.
It's just like, this is a little too bright.
You know, crank that thing all the way.
Make it as bright as possible.
Hey, why?
Because let your life so shine before men
that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Be unashamed, be bright, expose the darkness
and wake people up to the truth.
What's the sermon today?
Be a seasoned and bright Christian.
Season because you're salty,
bright because you're smart.
But also because of the fact that you're letting the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
Shine unto this world. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word
Thank you for the Bible Lord
And for the unsearchable riches of Christ that are found in the word of God
What a blessing it is to be able to have a Bible in our hand
I pray that you'd help us as your people to be a burning and shining light just as John the Baptist was
That we would have our loins geared about with truth
That would be set aflame Lord in this world to see people saved and turn those who are already saved to a higher standard of righteousness
But also help us to be salt and not be surprised when the people of this world are irritated by our message
That is the byproduct of being a Christian
But also help us this salt to preserve life Lord
to enhance the flavor of the atmosphere around us, Lord,
and to create a thirst in this world for the truth.
And I pray you, blessed as we go on our way, Lord,
we love you and we thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.
Please turn your song books to song number 244.
Song number 244, Amazing Grace.
Song number 244, all together nice and strong in that first verse.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saves.
Wonderful singing, you are dismissed.