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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 up far and near the lord of hosts is marching on to victory the triumph of the christ will soon appear the fight is on oh christian soldier and face to face in stern array with armor gleaming and knowledge dreaming the right and wrong engage today the fight is on but be not weary be strong and in his blindfold fast if god before us his banner or us will sing the victor's song at last the fight is on a row and victory will assure go buckle on the armor god has given you and in his strength forever will endure the fight is on the fight is on is we'll sing the victor's song at last the light is is the light is on is amen wonderful singing let's start off our service with the word of prayer lord god heavenly father we just thank you for giving us another day and 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 uh ready ears prepare our hearts for the message uh please feel past 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 22 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 grace this hour 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 are they white as snow 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 crucified 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 are they white as snow are you washed in the blood of the lamb when the bridegroom cometh will your robes be white are you washed in the blood of the lamb will your soul be ready for the mansion's bright and be washed in the blood of the lamb are you washed in the blood in the soul cleansing blood of the land are you washed in the blood of the lamb lay aside the garlands that are stained with sin and be washed in the blood of the lamb there's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean holy washed in the blood of the lamb are you washed in the blood are your garments spotless are they white as snow are you washed 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 diversion changing tables are available there as well as speakers and screens 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 so many times and teams there in the middle the list of expecting mothers and then the stats for salvations 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 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 gonna be exciting and so we also have the lady's prayer breakfast coming up on saturday april 5th meeting at the building at 10 a.m ladies want to encourage you to participate in that if you have any questions you can talk to miss jenelle gonzales 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 uh although maybe we could work something out i don't know we'll see that'll be at 9 40 not the easter egg hunt the breakfast is at 9 45 the egg hunt will be after the service and so there will be there will there will be a table of invites in the back the foyer and so take some invites for the easter service when you go out zoning take them throughout the week so you can invite your family friends and co-workers and last the attendance that when we broke attendance was 218 at 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 a couple 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 um you know kind of troubleshooting trying to figure out what's going on with them he's running a high fever but they don't necessarily know where the infection is and so today i believe what they're going to do is they're going to run some numbers to see what his inflammation numbers are if they're too high they're going to 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 and 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 them know that you're praying for him let them know that you want to send them a meal or something i'm sure they would greatly appreciate that 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 special provision for our members pray for god to increase our faith to give on that day uh pray for future 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 uh 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 uh year or so and so that's exciting but please continue to pray that would continue to grow pray for souls to be saved in the new building a lot of souls being saved here 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 just kind of surprised you guys a little bit now i will say that we're not going to utilize it until the next couple weeks it's going to take a while to get prepared uh next week i do want to prepare there's going to be hole in that wall not the whole the wall is not coming down but there is going to be a hole there and so but the door is 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 and uh 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 uh 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 sow thy seed giving campaign and we're already seeing god provide in a great 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 to sing our next song 248 now i belong to jesus song number 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 me gave his life to ransom my soul now i belong to him now i belong to jesus jesus belongs to me me but for eternity once i was lost in sins degradation jesus came down to bring me salvation lifted me up from sorrow and shame now i belong to him now i belong to jesus jesus belongs to me me joy floods my soul for jesus has saved me freed me from sin that long had enslaved me his precious blood he gave to redeem now i belong to him now i belong to jesus jesus amen wonderful singing at this time the ushers will come forward to receive the offering you can turn your bibles to matthew chapter number five so so so morning we're in 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 for they shall inherit the earth blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy blessed are the pure in heart they shall see god blessed are the peacemakers for they shall 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 evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be exceeding glad for greatest reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which are before you ye are the salt of the earth but if the salt have lost its savior wherewith shall it be salted it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and be trodden under the foot of men you're the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid now they demand light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and give and give it 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'm come to destroy the law or the prophets i'm come not i'm not come to destroy but to fulfill but rarely i stand to you till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so he should be called the least in the kingdom of heaven but whosoever 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 thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment but i say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment whosoever shall say to his brother raka shall be in danger of the council whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remember is that thy brother hath ought 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 are in the way with him lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge delivered to the officer and that be cast into prison verily i stand to thee that shall by no means come out thence till i was paid the uttermost farthing you've heard that it was said by them of old time thou shall not commit adultery but i say unto you that whosoever look upon a woman to lust after her after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart and if thy right hand offend me 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 me 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 whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her a writing of divorcement but i say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication cause of her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committed adultery again you have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thou shall 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 shall swear by thy head because thou can so not make one hair white or black let your communication be yea yea nay nay 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 sue thee at the law take away thy and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also 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 hath been said thou shalt love thine enemy thy thou shalt 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 he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good and send the rain on the just on the unjust for if you love them which love you what reward have you do not even the publicans 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 lord god thank you for everything you bless us with and thank you for your word just ask that you would be with our pastor now and fill him with the holy spirit as he preaches it and in jesus name we pray amen amen okay the time 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 the same 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 it giveth 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 himself 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 sold you can be solved if you want to be light you can be like 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're 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 trotted under the foot of men what is that referring to it means that it's worthless so there instances in the bible where god refers to a believer as being just a worthless believer believe it or not 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 salty 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 like manner we want to be bright christians not these you know black lights these dim lights or 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 5 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 uh 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 actually 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 exasperates it it irritates it it causes people to become uncomfortable it causes major discomfort it causes major pain why because salt irritates this world why because of the fact that christians simply irritate look at 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 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 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 going to hate you the world is going to persecute you the world is going to revile you the world is going to 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 got to ask yourself you know if i've never suffered persecution as 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's going to revile you your friends are going to revile 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 gonna 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 law breakers 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 name's sake 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 is the bible telling us the bible is telling us that we're in good company if we are being persecuted for righteousness sake because that's exactly what they did to elijah that's exactly what they did to elijah 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 preached because of what they believed 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 treats 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 gonna 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 salt 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 you know unpunished he will execute righteousness upon this earth and you know what 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 you know we shouldn't be annoying people we shouldn't be irritating people you know 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 compromise you can't compromise your convictions in order to get along with everyone 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 you might as well be the salt of the earth because if not you're going to be the salt that lost its savor and you're going to be good for nothing look what it says in john chapter 3 verse 19 it says and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world the men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil for everyone that doeth evil hated the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved 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 reproved right they're actually shown that they're wrong and you know when it comes to christianity christianity is the religion that there is no wiggle room 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 hell fire and damnation and brimstone well that doesn't sound very good you're going to 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 going to offend people you're going to displease people you're going to 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 well you're a church person now wow now you didn't even do the things that you used to do it's just like is does this irritate you living a godly life actually irritates people living a godless life does not irritate people yeah you know living a godly christian life of purity and honesty for some reason makes people mad why because it reminds them that there's 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 nine mark chapter nine mark chapter number nine 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 you from john chapter 17 verse 14 it says i have given them thy word and listen 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 shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil so you know god's will is not for us to become amish to go into 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 in 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 it 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 and 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 i'm just like salt is good don't don't believe people when they say salt is bad it's going to raise your cholesterol hey the bible says salt is good but if the salt hath lost its 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 salty 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 going to 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 what 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 pull out 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 scourged 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 today 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 going to be christians and if we're going to walk as jesus walk and ask ourselves what would jesus do well then we shouldn't be surprised then what we do what jesus did that we also in like manner irritate others and 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 what 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 you're telling me what the bible says i want to 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 are 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 like husband and wives doing this holding hands in public with their children walking you know to have obedient children in public it's almost just like you know to have a wife stay at home is irritating to people might irritate you 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 lover to obey and love 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 savor and you know what if you're a 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 is not 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 nothing wrong with salt if i pour salt on my skin right now 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 well i just think every child should have a choice of you know what what kind of religion they should believe uh not in my house hey folks as for me in my house we shall 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 want to be a hindu or something hey my kids put some some some pagan stuff in their room i'm jereth bail and i'm going in there 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 the open wound called tolerance seasoned 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 gangrene it's just it's just i don't even know if that could be healed and so uh 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 that please god at least you know there's no such thing as being a feminist and being a christian it doesn't exist in the word of god it's it's 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 just you know 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 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 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 it's contrary to the word of god look and if you're just like ah don't blame the salt shaker it's the open wound seasoned christians irritate the world but let me also say this you know go to second corinthians chapter two if you would second corinthians chapter two let me also say this is that you know salty christians 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 hemalayan salt amen that pink salt 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 six six 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 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's 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 the 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 second corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 it says now thanks be unto god which always causeth us to triumph in christ and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place for we are unto god a sweet saver of christ and them that are saved and in them that perish to the one we are the saver of death and to death and to the other the saver of life unto life and who is sufficient for these things what is it saying you know we bring the knowledge of jesus christ everywhere we go and this is why it's important this is going to 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 dishonest 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 while 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 about 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 you say hey don't take the lord's name in vain in my presence i'm a christian i believe in 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 actually believe the bible and in fact i love you so much why don't why don't you give me a couple minutes to show 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 can 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 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 in 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 that 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 family members are 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 well i'm praying for my parents to be saved well you know what pray and be a good testament be salt and enhance your relationship with your parents you know how about you telling your mom and dad that you love them let me 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 you know i'd love to have you come to church with me how about dressing a little different i don't 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 first corinthians chapter 7 first 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 first corinthians 7 verse 13 it says the woman which hath in 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 else were 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 going to 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 going to 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 you know let's just say they don't get saved immediately i'm going to 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 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 then they can't really tell the difference they think i'm nagging them right now no 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 reverend to your husband submit to your husband don't be disrespectful to your husband folks you don'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 so if you if there's a believing spouse in the household with an unbelieving spouse but they have 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 i can't believe i just said that but the bible says you know that we are his epistles written in our hearts known and read of all men so you know a good testimony a salty testimony and enhancing testimony can be a blessing to others and 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 uh 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 sixth one on the way that'd be crazy yeah i got the sixth one on the way and you know 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 you have 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 who just he they 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 it's all you know roses and light i'm just like if you don't spank you you're gonna get a whooping when you get home do not misbehave yourself you say well you 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 i would give you the translation my mom said to me but we're in church i can't say that my mom would be like you better not misbehave yourself in public and if you do you're getting the pinch on the shoulder it's gonna 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 murderers and people who are going to 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 sony 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 in first timothy chapter 4 verse 12 says let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word and 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 in your 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 yeah but not just in the house of god everywhere you go 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 going to get sugar but this is salt i know they look the same but it's only when you taste it 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 offering sugar there's just sugar sermons sugar sermons just making you feel good just 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 they 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'll 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 bible says that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto 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 anahim 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 unregenerated 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 that if 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 going to go to the lake of fire where the fire is not quenched the worm dies 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 i want my brother to be saved i want my sister to be saved i want those who i know to be saved and you know there's countless times we're just 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 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 i praise god that we have a church that is filled with zealous soul owners who reach strangers every single week but i also pray 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 saving his own country right amongst his own country amongst his own kindred 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 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 them to church bring them 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 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 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 five matthew chapter five if you would what's the title of the sermon seasoned and bright christians seasoned and bright christians the last couple of minutes i'm just going to 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 ye are the light of the world a city that is set on the hill cannot be hid neither do men light a candle put it under a bushel but on the candlestick and it giveth 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 went 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 going to ask me about something really controversial in the bible i just don't know what i'm going to say about it you know like i don't want to like i don't want to be ashamed of the bible but i don't want to seem like a weirdo you know 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 that's weird you wow i'm not going to feel awkward about believing the bible i'm not going to be made feel felt uncomfortable for believing the bible and 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 yeah oh you believe it that's weird wow yeah you actually believe that two thousand year old book well 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 that is like outdated the bible's 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 them and you know 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 look like whoa 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 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 can hide behind that if you want like yeah a christian believes the bible genesis to revelation 100 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 it didn't the original says exactly what it says here and i believe it and 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 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 but you know 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 no i'm ashamed 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 the bible i mean yeah i mean i mean it's more like you believe the bible yep 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 it look what the word of god says in mark chapter uh 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 said oh you're going to 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 going to be ashamed of you this doesn't mean you're not saved it just means that god's going to be ashamed of you it doesn't mean your sins aren't forgiven it means that he's just going to 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 all right come on let's go come on yeah you're safe yeah i see 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 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 what you do oh that's weird that's what i do i just flip it on them why because 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 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 well you shouldn't be ashamed to come to our church either what church do you go to uh this is christian church just oh what's it called do you know uh it's like baptist something oh okay i grew up baptist well what which one is it i don't go to church i'm just kidding just tell them i go to first works baptist church what if they google it so be it so be it because you never know someone might google and be like whoa this church is based i've been looking for a church like this google it you know for example i i put out a video uh sometime this week and i was just saying hey you know 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 my pastor friends 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 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 sent the website you know a few moments later they're like uh i was wondering if you can answer some questions i googled it and you know some stuff came up and i just want to know is this really true i said yeah you said you wanted to go to church right i'm not sending you to like a mormon tabernacle or anything like that sending 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 any of that it's not true i'm like no it's a 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 gonna go over these verses because i'm out of time but just go over these go to this last passage Ephesians chapter five Ephesians chapter five this is the last verse what does light also do i'll tell you what it does is it wakes people up all 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 wakes you up that's what it's 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 you just pull an all-nighter what light is supposed to do is wake you up and you know what we're supposed to do as god's people is to wake you up maybe you gotta wake up call 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 the bible says in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 13 but all things that are approved are made manifest by the light for what's over doth make manifest is light wherefore he saith awake thou that 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 if you want to be a bright christian don't be a dimmer it's just like little this is a little too bright you know no 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 seasoned 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 we 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 bless us as we go on our way lord we love you 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 saved a wretch like me me i once was lost was grace that taught and grace my fears how precious did that grace appear i first believe through many dangers toils and snares i have already come have already come his grace has brought me save us far and grace will lead me home when we've been there 10 000 years bright shining as the sun we've no less days to sing god's praise than when we first begun amen wonderful singing you are dismissed