Bible Class - Apostolic Pentecostal Church

We're going to get into the word of the Lord this morning. Uh starting this week in September. Now, we're going to begin a new series of lessons. We just spent about three months talking about the word of God. And as we said at the opening of that series of lessons, we don't usually talk about the word of God. We talk God's word. we get into it and study what it means. And so that was that was a little bit different series of lessons. It's important. We need to understand why we believe and why we put so much trust in this book.

Why we believe that it is the inspired word of God. All those things. But beyond that, then the word needs to impact our hearts, right? It needs to touch us. It needs to become more than just knowing about it. But we need to know it as something that is real and alive in our hearts. And so this week we will begin a new series of lessons. And I will let you know this, we are returning to the curriculum that Pentecostal Publishing House puts out. We did that for many, many years.

Use their curriculum. And so the last three, four years we kind of took a detour and we put together our own series of lessons. But I will note to you that the outset the format of the lessons has changed postcoavid. uh before COVID hit, when we would use those, they would generally take uh the year and divide it into four quarters, which they still do, a 13-week period. And usually during that time, they would take one theme for all 13 weeks. And so it would cover, you know, great chapters of the Bible.

It would cover, you know, maybe a portion of the Bible and it would just take that 13 weeks. uh they've kind of changed that up a little bit and they break the quarter down into three miniseries. Um in practice that means that every month the theme changes a little bit. It's similar but it does change. And so combine that the fact we don't always have Sunday school class every Sunday. Uh some of the themes may only get a couple lessons. And so what I've done is gone through all the lessons, all 13 of them, and I picked out uh knowing the ones we would not have lessons and picked the ones that we are going to do.

So the bottom line of why I tell you that we probably won't announce a theme. We're just going to teach the lessons as they come and go that way. So we are focusing on evangelism on Wednesdays this month. And this lesson today dovetales with that focus and we are going to be studying the the metaphors of salt and light in Jesus sermon on the mount. And so in our text today, Jesus turns it attention to the great purposes of the kingdom and that is to impact our world.

We know that although it's not an earthly kingdom when he talks about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom when he talks about that yet it exists on this earth right now for a purpose and that is to exert its influence over a sinful world. We're not part of a heavenly kingdom just so we can be he heavenly minded and know earthly good. But we are to influence our world. And we will see that in our Bible text. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 5. We're going to begin at verse 13 and read through verse 16.

Matthew chapter 5 says this. Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt hath lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trotten underfoot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light unto 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.

Jesus used many metaphors. He used parables. Had many different ways of teaching. Obviously, he was the consumate teacher. He was able to touch lives and they people that heard him said, "We've never heard anybody speak like this." He was speaks with authority. He touches our hearts. He just does such a ma master job of teaching. And you can be sure that when Jesus spoke, he spoke with purpose and precision. I don't think he said anything by accident. I don't think he chose the metaphors that he used by accident.

And I don't think he chose the parables that he was teaching by accident, but they all meant something. And and so in this lesson, he likens us to two different things. And both give an interesting perspective on the purpose of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven as it is called variously in the different gospels. Both salt and light have certain properties and functions that will help us understand our role in the earth. I don't think he just said you're the salt of the earth.

Just to say, well, you're good people. A lot of times we use that. Oh, they're just salt of the earth people just down home, whatever. That's really not what he was getting at. He had some purpose behind what he was saying. And so, we're going to begin with uh salt as Jesus did, and we're going to study that. Certainly, salt has the ability, you've probably noticed this, to influence everything in which it comes in contact with. When you mix it with food, you know it's been salted.

It completely changes the taste, doesn't it? Sometimes you eat something, you say, "This is just so bland. This is so tasteless." You put a little salt on it, it tastes great. Put too much, it might not, but put a little salt. It It permeates. It penetrates. It It changes. And not content to just be on the surface, but it just kind of permeates into the food and you taste it all throughout. And and Jesus' analogy regarding our being the salt of the earth denotes that we have the ability, and here's what he was saying, church, you have the ability as those that are part of the kingdom to permeate and to affect and to influence everything you come into contact with.

If we're doing what God wants us to be, the spirit of God within us will provide that quality, if you will, to to reach down and impact others and to impact situations and other people. Without his spirit, we have no power. And it would be good for nothing but be cast out and trotten under the foot of men. Without God's spirit working in our lives, but when it is, it has the opportunity to touch people and to touch lives and to reach out to other hearts.

The biatitudes that were recorded in Matthew 5, we didn't read through them, but they begin in uh verse three and go through verse 12. They're an expression of what the spirit's influence would be in the life of the believer. If you've read those, blessed are they that mourn, they should be comforted, the meek, they be inherit the earth, and and on and on. He's he's talking about these, but they represent really the effects of that salt penetrating whatever it touches. Why do these things happen? because that spirit of God is working in us and it changes things.

A person could never mirror those responses. We can't be what what Jesus was setting forth in the biatitudes without the influence of the spirit in our lives. And truly the spirit of the god has the power to to penetrate and permeate any anyone whose heart will allow it. Someone asked recently of of my sister. She said, "Do you really think that I can change to be what God wants me to be?" Well, not on your own, but when the spirit comes in your life, it will begin to permeate everything that you do.

It will begin to change your perspective and your attitudes, and it will begin to work in your heart. Just like salt changes the food, and salt does so many different things, it will do that. And it will do that to each and every one of us. So no question, well, can I ever become what God wants me to be? Can I ever serve God? I've done this. I've done that. I've lived this kind of a life. Can I change? No, you can't do it on yourself.

But he can change you because you are the salt of the earth. The second is salt is a preservative. We understand that for centuries before refrigeration, before they had all the fake preservatives they put in our food, all those kind of things, they use salt. They learned long ago that you rub the salt into the meat, you could last almost indefinitely and put it in there and do that things. It is a preservative. It was able to change things. And here's what we know about that.

The Christian influence in our world, if we're truly being Christian, it helps preserve our culture. It helps preserve our world for com from complete corruption. We can make a difference. And I know sometimes we look at the world and we say it's just getting so dark and it's getting so bad and it's getting so this and it's getting so that. Guess what? We can influence that. We can change that. We can preserve it. You ever notice in scripture, mankind under the unrestrained workings of their own nature are represented as entirely corrupt.

Bible talks about that. Yet in man's worst condition, we often will see a preserving factor. We'll see something in there, namely those whose faith is in God. Let me give you a couple examples. Before the flood, it was said of this in Genesis 6:11, "The earth was also corrupt before God." And the earth was filled with violence. And I know we always look at our day and say, "It's never been like this." Yes, it has multiple times throughout history. It said, "And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth." Now, some would just throw up their hand, say, "Well, there's just no use.

Everywhere you look, there's perversion, there's this, there's that, immorality, there's there's all these kinds of addictions and everything else. There's just no hope." And even though God purposed then to destroy mankind, yet we also found this in Genesis 6:8. Yet Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God looked down and said, "There's someone that still trusts me. There's someone that still believes in me, and I'm going to let my grace abound to him." Noah's faithfulness was a preserving factor that prevented God from just wiping out the whole human race.

He said, "Yes, I'm going to destroy it all, but wait a minute, there's something. So, I'm going to preserve mankind. Here's someone." And so through Noah a ma way was made to preserve mankind. God spoke to Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah. And the Lord said in Genesis 18:20 behaus the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grievious. I will go down now and I will see whether they've done altogether according to the cry of it which has come up to me.

And if not I will know. So he made a decision. I'm going to look. The sod sin of Sodom was great. And yet Abram interceded on the behalf of the people. And the Bible says in verse 23 of 18, "And Abraham drew near and he said, will you also, Lord, destroy the righteous with the wicked?" Okay, you plan on destroying these cities, but will you do it? Will you destroy the righteous people, too? What if there's 50 that are righteous within the city? Will you preserve it?

God said, 'Yes, if I find 50 righteous in the city, I'll spare all for their sake. We're talking about a preserving factor. He said, 'I won't destroy them all if there's 50. And so Abraham says, "Well, okay, I've asked for that. How about 45, Lord? Will you destroy it for 40? Will you destroy it for 30? Will you destroy it for 20?" And every time God said, "No, I won't. How about 10, Lord? No. If I find 10, I won't destroy it. Sadly, the Bible says when Abraham left off his conversation, he quit asking.

I wonder if he'd just said, "Lord, if there's just one, will you?" I think God would have said, "Yeah, okay. If there's one righteous, I won't destroy them." Because there is something preserving about people that will live righteously. Now, let's bring that to us. Paul drives the point home for us in the day we live in writing to the the Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 2. He said he's he's talking about the coming of the Antichrist, the end of the world. He's talking about the things that have not yet happened but are getting ready to.

And we can see more and more getting closer and closer. He said, ' Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except first there's a falling away and that man of sin is going to be revealed, the son of predition, that antichrist who opposes and exalts himself above all that is c called God or that is worshiped. This is that he as God, he thinks he's God. He sits in the temple of God showing himself or pretending or acting showing forth I am God that he is God.

Remember you not, he said, I told you these things. And then he says this, and now you know what we what withholdeth that he might re be revealed in his time. Here's the thing that is preventing that. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. So there's already all this sinfulness in the world. He said only he that now letth will let until he be taken out of the way. Now that's King James language. And we talked about this in our last series of lessons. these words that have changed meaning when he said he that letth will let so a more modern modern translation gives you this in the last two verses and you know what is restraining him here's why the antichrist is not yet here so that he may be revealed in his time for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work so his doings is already coming in place only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the So there is something restraining the end of the world.

There's something restraining the antichrist. This there is a restraining force at the work in this world that has prevented him from coming to power and completely being revealed. And that restraint that is preventing him is the presence of a spiritfilled church. You're the salt of the earth. You're preserving this world, church, until he takes us out. When the rapture comes, it's all going to break loose. But until then, yes, it's getting worse and it I mean, even when the Bible tells us and seducers, they're going to wax worse and worse, and we're going to see more and more.

And I mean, things are getting scary. You have somebody working for big AI company that says, "Oh, we could be gone in 10 years. They could wipe us out." you know, and things that that are just happening. But there's something restraining. We are the salt of the world. We are preserving this world from the judgment that is to come. The character, the principles of of Christian people, the indwelling of the spirit in them, their righteous lifestyle, when it is brought into contact, close contact with the world, it is designed to keep and to preserve mankind from ultimate destruction that will come when we are taken out of the way.

The third thing salt does, and you've probably noticed this, it creates thirst. Well, that was salty. I need something to drink. Individuals have their own free wills. Now, we can't force people, right, to live for God. You can't do it. But if we're truly the salt of the earth, we can just be that little sprinkling of salt that says, "You know what? I want to look further into what you've got. there's something that's making me hungry or making me thirsty to say what what is it about what you have in your life and through then our influence through our words and our actions they should eventually lead some to seek the Lord they should impact others Jesus stood up before the crowd on the last day of the feast of tabernacles in John 7:37 and he said if any man thirst let him come to me and to drink salt will eventually drive us if if you will, to water.

If you get something too salt, we will eventually will say, "I need something to drink." And as the salt of the earth, when we're living in a way that is pleasing with God, people will be influenced by that. And they will begin to say, "I want what you've got." Now, I know sometimes that word salt can be used in a different way. Heard people say, "Well, he's just salty." meaning they're kind of hard to deal with. They're just salty. That's not what he's talking about. You know, too much salt is not a good thing.

It's really tough to take a piece of rock salt and just suck on it for a while. Might taste good for a little bit, but eventually you say, "Okay, I've had enough of this." We need to be wise as serpents and harmless as dove. This Bible talks about when we are the salt of the earth. It's not cramming something down here. Have some more. Have some more. Be wise in letting your life influence someone else's to let it reach them. And people are ready for different amounts, but somewhere along the line, we need to help create that thirst in them.

Another thing we know that is salt purifies. just looks like salt, but it does have an ability to purge whatever it touches to clean attack germs and impurities. I I won't necessarily advise against doing this. You ever get a cut, just rub a little salt in there. It won't feel good for very long, but it probably won't get infected. It It preserves It purifies working silently effective. It purifies life. So when we are looking at Jesus' instructions that he gives in Matthew and we we're not reading this whole passage, but when you look at 21 through 48, if you would read the rest of that, Jesus begins to take the law and he said, "Well, you've heard in the past, thou shalt not kill." But let me tell you, if if yes, that is true.

But if you're angry with your brother without a cause, and you're just a hateful person, guess what? You're in danger of judgment. He talks about several different things, you know, different things from the Old Testament. He said, "But let me help you understand what this means." To live that way is only possible when we let the Holy Spirit make us holy, make it purify our life. There is a transformation within us when the Holy Ghost moves into our lives. Things we used to do, suddenly we say, "I can't do that anymore.

I don't want to be a part of that anymore. I don't want to live in that kind of a way anymore. Why? Because the spirit will work in us and it will begin to purify ourselves. Now, I understand when we get the Holy Ghost, it doesn't mean that immediately you never again sin and it just all goes away and you you just suddenly you're on clouds. Yes, it is a wonderful experience, but it will work in us. And it works in us daily if we allow it.

It will work in us. As the Bible says, we are being conformed to his image. When something is being conformed, it is changing. That's why Paul would write in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. All things are become new." That's that salt. That's that spirit of God working in us and changing us from what I was from what I once did the way I used to live into how I can live for him.

Let the Holy Ghost work in your life. Let it like salt just come in and permeate everything about your life. Let the spirit of God work in you. Let it change us to become more like Jesus. The next verse, he changes up the metaphor. Instead of talking about salt, he said, "You are the light of the world." Now, here's what we understand because Jesus himself said it and the Bible talks about it. Jesus is the true light. He is the light of the world. Isaiah wrote concerning that Messiah that would come in Isaiah 9:2 and 9:5.

He said, "The people that walked in darkness had seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death. upon them the light hath shined. And he was talking about the coming of the Messiah. He said they have seen a great light. And truly when Jesus came into this world, it was like a great light. It was so different. It no one else has impacted the world as much as Jesus Christ. And when we look at this impact that he has had this light and Jesus himself said in John 9:5 he said as long and here's the interesting thing as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.

So as long as he was walking the shores of Galilee as long as he was walking to Jerusalem and through Nazareth and Samaria and everywhere else he walked, he was the light of the world. But in Matthew five, he said, "You're the light of the world." He's no longer physically present, but he is present in his church. He is in our hearts by the infilling of the Holy Ghost, his spirit in us. And so he said, "Yes, as long as I was in the world walking, I was the light of the world." He said, "As long as I am there," he still is, but not in a physical sense of him walking through our place, but through work walking through his church.

Now, here's the thing about light. You ever notice that sight requires light? of all your senses. You can be perfectly dark room, you can hear just fine, you can feel just fine, you can taste just fine, but you can't see. You have to have light. And it is only as light is reflected off of objects that we can really see that they're there. You can stand in a perfectly center of a room in total darkness and have no clue what's in that room. If it's an inanimate object, if it's what's around me here, and close your eyes.

If I did not know and I came into a perfectly dark room, I would not know that there's a speaker over there. I wouldn't know there's a podium here. I wouldn't know there's green plant-like objects over there. You wouldn't know that because you can't see it. Sight requires light. Perhaps that's why scripture decide describes those as lost who are lost as being blinded in living in darkness. In Ephesians or 2 Corinthians 4:4 he said in whom the god of this world he hath blinded the minds of those that believe not.

So they can't see it. They don't believe. They don't don't understand the gospel message. Why? He said, "Lest," he's blind to them because he doesn't want this to happen. The light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. He knows as long as he can keep them blinded. He knows as long as he can keep them not believing and not seeing that they won't see the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul on the other hand contrasts the believers with the unbelievers using these same terms of darkness and night light.

He said this in Ephesians 5. He said ye were sometimes darkness. He didn't just say you were in darkness. He said you were darkness. Ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord. So walk as children of light. Let that light, as Jesus said, so shine before men. Let it shine forth. Those of us who have come to a saving knowledge of the gospel have had the light shine into our lives, illuminating what was once veiled in darkness. What we did not understand, we suddenly as the Holy Ghost comes into your life and that light begins to shine, you begin to understand, yes, this word of God is true.

Yes, this is really real. My wife and I were talking uh actually just yesterday and she was talking about a friend that grew up in a very conservative Christian church and she's kind of gotten away from but she's looking now and she's saying looking at the things she said you know what I'm I'm thinking the stuff they told us was true about the end times and things that are happening said the more I see it why because the light is trying to shine and say this word of God is true.

The things that we have been taught from this word, they are true. If they come from this scripture and if it were not for that light shining into our darkness, we would still be lost in sin. But thanks be to God, I've seen a great light. Aren't you thankful? The light that shined in your life. Light that shined into your heart. The light that opened up that said, you know what? I see it. I see the truth of the gospel. I see what Jesus has done for me.

He changes our life. Jesus standing before the audience in the synagogue and he was there in Nazareth, a city that was in darkness and that really never accepted him, his hometown. And he revealed his purpose. He said this. He he begins to read from the book of Isaiah. And he said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me." That power of the Holy Ghost was in him fully. Said, "Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He had sent me to heal brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive and recovering of sight to the blind.

He came to give sight to the blind. And yes, in a very literal way. He did that on on a couple different occasions. He he healed blinded eyes and they went away seeing in a physical sense. But I think more than that, he wanted us to see that there was a spiritual light. In fact, if you look at those things, he's preaching the gospel to the poor, but he said, "I want to heal brokenhearted." That's not something you can see, is it? I mean, maybe you see it on someone's countance, but you don't necessarily see.

You can't tell. You could probably look at every one of us and and not know, well, that person has a broken heart. Some maybe, some maybe not. to preach deliverance to the captives. You can't necessarily tell who's who's in captivity, who's battling with an addiction, who's who's in a in a position and they just feel captive to the sin or to the situation they are in. And so those things are spiritual things. So I think when we look at that, that's more what he is talking about there.

And so when he says recovering to sight to the blind, I think he is talking about spiritually blind. I want to open your eyes Nazareth to what God wants to do in you. He came to give sight in that way. His ultimate goal was to give spiritual sight to those that are walking in darkness. First John 17 said talks about walking in the light is what we are supposed to be doing as he is in the light. The world will have no trouble seeing Jesus working through us if we allow him to work through us.

There were a couple of warnings given with both of these metaphors. With salt, he said, "If a salt hath lost its savor, has lost its taste, it's no longer salty." In other words, I don't think that happens with our table salt we use, but the salt that they used in the Middle East was one that it would it was a different type of a salt and if left to the elements, if left whatever and left, it could eventually lose that saltiness and it didn't no longer tasted salty.

It would kind of degrade. And when that would happen, they'd say, "Well, this is useless. It's no longer salty." And they'd throw it out. It's not doing what it's supposed to do. And so Jesus is looking at that situation and he said, "If you've lost your savior." So there's a warning here. We can't blend with the world to where we no longer have that saltiness, that influence, that spirit of God that will touch lives and that will touch hearts. We got to be careful, church. Salt, as we said, it will impact everything that it touches.

And when we're no longer impacting everything, we need to look at our lives and saying, "Am I letting the Holy Ghost work in me? Am I letting that salt touch other lives?" And then he takes up another warning in Matthew 5:14 and he said, "If there's a city that is set on the hill, it can't be hid." Why? Because you can see the light of that city from far off. It's there. Now, I'm from Illinois, so we don't know a whole lot about hills, but we lived out seven miles out of a small town.

And there were big towns 30 to 40 miles. See, to the southeast, the south, straight south, to the north, west, straight north. So around us or was Poria, Bloomington, Decar, Springfield, and we were kind of right in the middle of it. And I'm out in the middle of the cornfields, and you could look at the sky at night, and it would be bright in the direction of Poria. It would be bright in the direction of Bloomington Normal. It'd be bright looking over where Decar was. It would be bright looking toward Springfield.

You couldn't hide it. There was a city over that direction. Now, if you look straight, east, it was black. Straight west, it was just black. Especially on a new moon, very black out there. Couldn't see anything except a few stars. But you could see light in the sky where those cities were. It cannot be hid. And so it is with the child of God. But not only the child of God, but the church of God. You know, the town I grew up close to was Lincoln.

It didn't have a whole lot of light. Couldn't see a whole lot looking that direction. Wasn't very big till you got close. But when a church is doing what God wants to be, it needs to impact its community. And Jesus said, "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." And then he gives this warning. You don't light that candle and put it under a basket. Put it under a bushel, but you put it on a candlestick. Now, we sang about that in Sunday school.

This little light of mine. I'm going to let it shine. Hide it under a bushel. No, I'm going to let it shine. Kids song. But we got to live that in real life. You can't go through life saying, "I'm a Christian and nobody really know it because your light doesn't shine and they can't see it." If we do, we leave the world without hope. We leave them in darkness. Those who are lost needs Christians who will tell them about the gospel. Those without hope need believers who will give them something to hope for.

In fact, Paul tells us this and it it really hits home. 2 Corinthians 4:3. If our gospel is hid, who's it hid to? To them that are lost. You're not hiding it from yourself. You're not hiding it from the devil or from God. You're not You're hiding it to the people that are lost. The only chance of them being saved is to hear the truth. Is for our gospel to shine, for our saltiness, to touch lives, and to permeate. Although we're to be witness to the world, we need to be careful that, as we said, we don't become so involved in the world that they don't see our light or they don't see the taste the saltiness.

We got to be careful that we don't seclude ourselves to the world and to the point where they don't know we even exist. On the other hand, we got to be careful that we're not linked up with the world, having the same loves, desires, motivations, and following along just what they're doing so that we're not impacting them. We can't allow our values, and we can't allow our way of life to become like theirs. As Paul said in in Romans 12, be not conformed to this world.

Don't follow after. We're we're trying to be conformed to Jesus Christ. If we are conformed to the world, we can't let our light shine. We can't let our salt impact the world. We can't conform to the world, neither the things that are in the world. He said, "Don't love those things. For if you love them, the love of the father is not in you." And so in doing so, we're we ultimately begin testifying, well, maybe we're just living in darkness, too. We had the light, but we just covered it up.

Jesus sums up the metaphor with a reminder of our purpose in 5:16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. I love that verse. Let's let's talk about it for a minute. This is not in the notes, but we need to talk about this. There are many people, many Christians that will tell you works are useless. You can't earn salvation and they're useless. So, there are, you know, quit trying to be a good person and quit trying to do this and Okay, let's address that.

You cannot earn your salvation. True. There was a song, some of you are older than me, so I'll mention this. There was a song, it came out in the 70s. Uh, some Christian group sang it. I think the imperials even uh sang it back then. And it talked about why me, Lord? What have I ever done to deserve even one of the blessings you give? And you know, I think Christopherson wrote that. Here's the thing. In one of the verses, it says, "Well, maybe if I help somebody else and if I do this, then I can work my way back to you." You can't earn your salvation, church.

If you're trying to be good enough to live for God, it's not going to happen. So, no, works will not save you. But here's the thing, and Paul talks about it, too. He said, "You have been saved unto good works." So when the Holy Ghost comes upon you, yes, there's going to be some good works. Not works that say I'm going to try to earn salvation, but works that say I'm going to please Jesus Christ and the world is going to see the way I am living and it's going they're going to glory not to me and say, "Wow, you're a great No, they're going to glorify your father which is in heaven." That's what letting our light shine is all about.

Living for God so that others will glorify God. Anything that gives me glory to say, "Wow, what a great person. He's doing this. She's doing that." Whatever. Is missing the purpose. It's to give God God glory. It's not me. It's Jesus living in me. That's what makes the difference. Our purpose of light of the world is seen in the words of the Lord to Paul in Acts 26. It It's such a beautiful passage. Now, if to Paul, he was kind of in shock. He'd just been knocked down by a great light shone from heaven.

He's telling this story that he's calling me to be a missionary to the Gentiles. And he's calling me while I'm on the way to go kill Christians. And he stops me in my path. But here's what he said to Paul. I'm delivering thee from the people and the Gentiles unto whom I now send you. I'm sending you there to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by the faith that is in me.

He's given us that calling, church, to turn people from darkness to light, from sin to God, from Satan, the things of this world to the things of God. We have a responsibility. I said this dovetales with what we've been studying, what we are studying on Wednesday nights. Jesus told his disciples, "Go ye therefore to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever commanded you." And he said, "And I will be with you always when you go do this." If our calling in commission lines with Jesus' purpose and plan, then that call is to tell everyone the good news.

That call is to bring hope and healing to the hurting. It is called to give sight to the blind, to heal the brokenhearted and as salt and light. That is our mission, church. Our mission is not to get to heaven. That's our reward. He has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He has set us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He is coming again to take his church. But the mission is to reach others and to bring them along. And that work has to be intentional.

When we look at those two warnings that he gives on salt and light, don't lose the saltiness. Don't hide the light. We're reminded of our importance of being in the world. We are in this world, yes, but not of this world. We are in this world to influence. We are in this world to convert and to show them Jesus Christ. We must live a lifestyle that reflects God's glory. And that will happen in your daily conversations. It will happen when you show love, when you show respect, when you don't treat the waitress bad.

When you don't get upset in traffic and cut somebody off just to be spite them. When you don't, we could go on. Our behavior should season the atmosphere around us and let people see the light of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are to serve as that preservative. We're to be here. You may not see the effect of that at all times, but it works. Church, godly influence. I can tell you there's people that talk different when they come into the room that I work in, and I've never said a word to them, but they do.

Why? There's something they say, why I probably shouldn't say those words in here. I've never told them that. Some do, but some some Some use that kind of language, some just won't. And I've never said a word to them about it. Why? They see something. And it's not me. They they know the spirit of God. They feel something different. Our workplaces need someone to be salt. Our communities, our cities, your neighborhood, they need someone to be that salt in that life. To live in that world, pure and different lives.

We're citizens, Paul said, uh, not of this country, but of a heavenly country. Hebrews writes, "And we've been placed in this world for for its benefit." You know, he didn't save us and then immediately call us out of here. We might have liked that. We might have been thrilled even so, come Lord, quickly. Let's get this over with. But that's not what it's about. Reach others. reach others and as light as we said we need to illuminate those around us. Second Corinthians 4:6 for God who hath commanded the light to shine out of darkness.

He is a God of light, isn't he? Let there be light. He commanded it. He hath shined in our hearts. Paul said, does he shine in your light? Does he shine into your heart? Here's the reason he said he hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He did it so that you could shine forth. And when light shines from our lives, it reveals Jesus working in us. Jesus working through us.

Let your light shine wherever you are before unbelievers. And we do that when we live a biblically based, a holy life, a life pleasing to God. Refuse to let worldliness, don't let it dim your light. Don't let it, you know, well, I'll just blend in and nobody will ever know. No, that's not our purpose. Live that life for God. We'll end it with this. Philippians chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. Paul writing again do all things. This is a tough one. Without murmurings and disputings. Don't be the gossip.

Don't be the one. I don't know why they're bad talking. without murmuring and disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke. In other words, nobody's going to be pointing fingers. Yeah, you're a hypocrite in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. So when you see the world around us, you need to be blameless and harmless without murmuring, disputing in the midst of this world that is around us. And then he said, "Among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

Let's stand. You don't have to raise your hand, but answer this question. Do I want to be a light to the world around me? Do I want to be the salt that not only preserves, but it causes thirst to someone that will want to know Jesus Christ? don't want to be those things. I said, don't raise your hand then. Let's all raise our hands now. Let's just ask him to help us. Lord, in your name, your word is challenging us. And I know we've heard this since Sunday school and used to sing those songs.

But Lord, more than that, you desire it to become real in our hearts. Help us, God, to be a light to those around us. Help us to be the salt that will bring them to you. That will touch their lives, that will change in Jesus' name. This is what it's about, church. This is why we're here to reach down not only to touch with God, but as we often say, to reach others. And we do that as being light and salt to our world. Jesus name.

Jesus name.