Collierville First Baptist Church

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Our heavenly father, we do pray for. For Greg. We do pray for Sandy. Lord, we prayed for the specific prayer request. Prayer request that Greg asked us to pray for the Lord. I pray that you would meet every physical, spiritual, and emotional need and financial need that Greg and Sandy have according to your riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

00;00;28;26 - 00;00;53;11
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Lord, be with them. I pray that Greg would be able to to finish what you have called him to write, and I pray he would have the means to distribute those books for kingdom purposes. Lord, I thank you so much for for the good news that Bill West received today that he's not having to have open heart surgery.

00;00;53;13 - 00;01;18;27
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And I pray you just watch over him, protect him. And and I pray that the stance that they put in will work. And there be no, no problem with any of that. Lord, we love you. And thank you for your grace, Lord. I pray that you would fill me with the Holy Spirit and use me to teach your word tonight, and give us ears to hear what the Spirit of God would say to us in Jesus name.

00;01;19;00 - 00;01;35;19
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Amen. All right. Thank you so much. His surgery tomorrow. Tomorrow? It's a long surgery.

00;01;35;21 - 00;02;03;21
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Okay. I want you to take your Bible and turn to Matthew chapter five. We finished the Beatitudes, and now we move into a passage that you've you've read and heard about for a long time. I'm sure, about salt and light. Now, Howard Hendricks, I got this story right here in your notes. Howard Hendricks, godly man. He he's with the Lord.

00;02;03;21 - 00;02;37;25
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Now, I'm sure. And, he's he taught at Dallas Theological Seminary, and he said that that, one of the greatest witnesses that he had ever seen was an ophthalmologist in Dallas, Texas. Doctor Cooper. But he had always been a great soul winner. In fact, some students, some college students came by and said, hey, doc, are you sharing your faith?

00;02;37;28 - 00;03;01;09
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And he said, no, as a matter of fact, I'm not. I don't even know how to go about it. And they said, we've got a little training program. How about getting involved in it? He said, count me. And then they taught him how to share his faith. This guy had led a lot of people to Christ. And Howard Hendricks went to India to teach.

00;03;01;11 - 00;03;43;20
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And he used, Doctor Cooper as an example or illustration of evangelism. He didn't use his name. He did not reveal his name. And after he taught, there was a man that came up to him and said, were you talking about Doctor Cooper from Dallas? He said, yes, I was. And this, this gentleman who is a neurosurgeon, I guess, in India, said when I was in Dallas going to med school, I went to see him for my eyes, and he led me to Christ, and he discipled me the whole time I was in medical school.

00;03;43;22 - 00;04;19;06
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And here is a guy in India that was influenced to Christ by an ophthalmologist in Dallas, Texas. So the title of our study tonight is a Kingdom Influencer. Now, if you if you were in the young group upstairs, you would know something about being an influencer. It's a phenomenon that wasn't even around when I was growing up. And of course, there was no social media when I was growing up.

00;04;19;08 - 00;04;48;12
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But social media influencers, you got to understand they make millions of dollars. Some of them make millions of dollars. And, but we're talking tonight not about being a social or a social media influencer. We're talking about being a kingdom influencer. And that's what our text is all about. Now let's just review for just a moment. Let's review the Beatitudes.

00;04;48;12 - 00;05;17;09
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Okay. I want you to get these in your mind and heart. I want you to understand them because they're so important. The first beatitude is poor in spirit. Now, to be poor in spirit is to admit you desperately need God. Do you realize how against the grain that is, with how we're brought up today in America? We're taught in America to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, right?

00;05;17;12 - 00;05;47;23
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To, if you're going to have success in life, you've got to make it happen. But I'll tell you this Kingdom value the first one in the list of Beatitudes is one that the normal person would never associate as a kingdom value, because it's totally opposite of what the world teaches. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

00;05;47;25 - 00;06;17;06
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And then blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Now mourn over what kingdom people mourn over sin in their heart, in their community, and in their nation. And I talk here about how Jesus, when he came into Jerusalem, at the time when he was going to be crucified, what did he do? You remember he wept over the city.

00;06;17;08 - 00;06;44;20
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He wept over the people. They were like sheep without a shepherd. They were full of rebellion. They were going to reject their Messiah. And they were following the, the leadership of the the religious elite who were out to get Jesus. And he wept over them. Let me ask you a question. Do the things that break God's heart.

00;06;44;20 - 00;07;17;21
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Break your heart. That's what this beatitude is all about. You know, we we hear a lot about the border. And one of one of the tragic things that's happening is sex trafficking, where they take little boys and girls, even boys, and they sex trafficking them, and they make a ton of money by trafficking them out to perverts. And it's a tragedy.

00;07;17;21 - 00;07;46;17
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And does it break your heart when you read about stuff like that, when you hear about stuff like that? I hope and pray it does. That's what this Beatitudes is all about. And then blessed are the gentle, for theirs is the kingdom. They shall inherit the earth. They shall inherit the earth. Now what does it mean here? The gentle.

00;07;46;19 - 00;08;14;10
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Well, it's another word for it is meekness. Okay. Your your translation of the Bible may have meekness. But even though the culture of the first century looked at meekness or gentleness as a form of weakness in the kingdom, it's looked at as a form of strength, right? And it literally means submitting the control of your life to the Lord.

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See, when you you realize that you desperately need God and you mourn over sin in your life, in your community, and in your nation. And then naturally, the the, the the result is that you submit your life to the control of the Lord. And then the next beatitude, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

00;08;43;28 - 00;09;18;26
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Now hunger and thirst for righteousness. This is a desire to know, to obey, and to honor King Jesus with how we live our lives. It's where we align our lives with His Word or his will and his way. That's hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Now when you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you don't hunger and thirst for the things that the world hunger and thirst for.

00;09;18;28 - 00;09;50;23
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You don't hunger and thirst for popularity. You don't hunger and thirst for riches. You don't hunger and thirst for materialistic stuff. You hunger and thirst for righteousness to be right with God in every area of your life, to please him and honor him. And then blessing of the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. When the believer has submitted the control of their lives to the Lord and long to obey him.

00;09;50;26 - 00;10;27;17
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They naturally it's a natural result. They become merciful because that's that. That's the heart of God. They show compassion to people who need compassion. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Now look at the next one. Blessed are the pure, pure in heart. For they shall see God. Now the pure in heart is someone who loves the Lord with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind and all their strength.

00;10;27;20 - 00;10;58;17
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Is someone who has integrity. They don't just talk the talk. They actually walk the walk. How they talk and how they live are seamlessly connected. Okay. And it says they shall see God. See, as long as we live our lives with a mask on. I'm ten. We are great at wearing a mask and hiding who we really are.

00;10;58;19 - 00;11;18;07
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And we even get the idea of sometime, not long that we can hide who we really are on the inside from people around us, people in the church, our neighbors or our family or whatever. But we get the mistaken idea that we can hide who we really are on the inside from God. Can I tell you that is impossible?

00;11;18;10 - 00;11;40;20
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God, one of the attributes of God is God is omniscient. He knows everything about everything. He knows everything about everyone. You cannot hide anything from God. And if you really want to see God, if you really want to know God, you have to pull the mask off. And you have to be real with God. Then God will reveal himself to you.

00;11;40;21 - 00;12;14;23
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He'll be real with you. And then blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Now, what's a peacemaker? A peacemaker is somebody who is so in tune with God, seeking after righteousness with all of its heart, soul, mind, and strength. A man who is pure in heart, woman who is pure in heart. And they can take two people who are at odds with each other.

00;12;14;25 - 00;12;43;14
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And the Lord uses them to bring them together, to bring about a reconciliation or two groups of people. They will experience a high degree of happiness and joy, and they shall be called sons of God. And then persecution. Verses ten through 12. The Bible says, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for the sake of righteousness.

00;12;43;21 - 00;13;17;22
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What are we doing now? Don't forget these beatitudes. They're linked together. They're not random. They're linked together. And what are we hungry and thirsting for? That's a question. We're hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Right? And it says here, blessed are you. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, because you have aligned yourself with God, with His Word, his will, and his way.

00;13;17;25 - 00;13;50;06
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It cost you. It will cost you something. It'll cost you something at work. It'll cost you something at the golf course. It'll cost you something at home. Sometimes with even your own family members. Blessed are those who have been persecuted or who have been persecuted for the sake of rights. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

00;13;50;08 - 00;14;24;02
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Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So persecution, when you reorient your life around God, his word, his will is way. There will be some backlash that you'll have to face. I promise you. So look at this statement. Believers who embrace and exhibit these Kingdom values are influencers.

00;14;24;05 - 00;14;52;05
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They're influencers. You're a Kingdom influencer. If you embrace these kingdom values that we're looking at here, the Beatitudes and you live them out in your life in a consistent way. I promise you, people, God will use you to influence other people. Now, here's a question. Are you a thermometer or are you a thermostat? Now you know the difference, right?

00;14;52;07 - 00;15;33;03
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A thermometer. If we had a thermometer in here, it would tell us the temperature in the room, right? But if we had a thermostat, we could control the temperature in the room. We can control the climate of this room. We can make it colder, or we can make it hotter. Right. So here's a question. Are you one of those people as believers who, because you have embrace and you exhibit the Beatitudes in your life and through your life that God uses you to affect the climate of people around you as a thermostat.

00;15;33;05 - 00;16;03;00
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You're not a thermometer. Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ didn't save you to be a thermometer. He saved you to be a thermostat, a Kingdom influencer. But that goes against the prevailing prevailing attitude of today. Doesn't it? How many times have you heard people? I don't I don't talk about religion. I don't wear my religion on my sleeve. That's private to me.

00;16;03;03 - 00;16;36;23
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Now, let me tell you some that may sound like the American ideal, but I promise you this. That is not the kingdom ideal at all. You may say your religion is private to you. It's not private. Because I know God the Father, God the son, God the Holy Spirit, know everything about your religion. And I know that Jesus Christ expects everyone who believes in him to have not only an inward faith, but an outward faith.

00;16;36;23 - 00;17;12;13
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He expects you to be a Kingdom influencer. No shape, form, or fashion. Can you ever ignore that or argue with that? Now, can life be cleanly separated into the sacred and the secular? No. No way. You know what? Because Jesus is Lord of both the sacred and the sick, right? Now we're going to look at in depth verses 13 to 16 tonight.

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Remember, it's a passage. It's a sermon that Jesus preached by the Sea of Galilee. He preached it to his disciples. But a lot of other people listened in. They listened and now look.

00;17;31;07 - 00;18;06;01
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In our text, Jesus gives three specific actions that you and I can take to be a Kingdom influencer. Number one, you must define your faith. Now let's read verses 13 to 16. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? And the inference there is, it can't.

00;18;06;03 - 00;18;36;21
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It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand. And it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works.

00;18;36;21 - 00;19;05;25
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And look at this. Right? Right. Going with our our sermon series. Been preaching on Sunday morning and glorify your father who is in heaven, a Kingdom influencer. Number one, if you're going to be a kingdom influence, you got you got to know what your faith is. You got to define your faith. Unfortunately, we've allowed the world system to define for us what our faith is.

00;19;05;27 - 00;19;44;17
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I love this this quote, Jim Nelson Black wrote a book entitled When Nations Die. Look what he wrote. One of the greatest reasons for the decline of American society over the past century has been the tendency of Christians who have practical solutions to abandon the forum. At the first sign of resistance. God help us. Let me tell you, if you're going to be a Kingdom influencer, you don't get out of the battle at the first sign of resistance.

00;19;44;20 - 00;20;09;03
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You just dig in and you go a little deeper and a little harder. But you never get out of the battle. You don't get out of the battle because of resistance. It's part of who you are as a believer, and it's a part of what it means to be a Kingdom influencer. Amen. Well, I read the text here a minute ago, so I want you to notice something.

00;20;09;03 - 00;20;50;20
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And we define our faith. You are saved from something. You're saved from something. That something is sin. You're saved from sin. The Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse nine, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? That's right. Out of the Word of God. Now, I want you to understand that there was a time in your life when your heart was desperately sick, when you were a sinner in need of a Savior.

00;20;50;26 - 00;21;37;16
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You needed to be delivered from sin. You needed forgiveness. And there came a moment when, through the Holy Spirit's ministry, you realize that you did have a sin problem. And the Holy Spirit, according to John chapter 16, Jesus said, The Holy Spirit will come to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment, sin, righteousness, and judgment. And the Holy Spirit took a heavenly can opener and opened up your heart and your mind and your spirit, and brought you to a place where you understood some key things.

00;21;37;16 - 00;22;09;02
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You understood that Jesus is the Son of God. You understood that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the father but through him. You understood the blood atonement of Jesus on the cross. Now, you may not have been able to explain it in theology terminology, but you understood that Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, went to the cross of Calvary and died for your sins.

00;22;09;04 - 00;22;35;28
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In fact, at first Peter 224 it said, And he, he, he bore your sin in his body on the cross, so that you might die to sin and live to righteousness. For by his wounds you were healed. And you understood that. Now you didn't come up with that on your own. You didn't know that, don't you? You didn't sit down and meditate, and suddenly all of a sudden, you understood all that.

00;22;35;28 - 00;23;08;22
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Know the Holy Spirit of God showed you all of that, broke your heart over your sin, and brought you to a place of brokenhearted repentance and saving faith. I remember I'll never forget as long as I live in my dorm room, Mississippi State. I'm telling me the Spirit of God broke my heart. Not not over some meaningless something, but over sin in my life.

00;23;08;24 - 00;23;33;02
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And he brought me to a place where I placed my faith and trust in Jesus. And he made me a new person in Christ, with new desires and a new destiny. So when I was born again. But not only are you saved from something, but you were saved to something. This is where a lot of believers miss out.

00;23;33;04 - 00;24;00;02
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They just sort of hunker down on that. You're saved from sin and they miss out on the fact that you are saved to something. You're saved for a reason. And that's so important. You were saved to live your life from that moment forward under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Now, what does it mean to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ?

00;24;00;04 - 00;24;34;23
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Here's what it means. It goes along with the beatitude. It means the blessed are the gentle. It means that you don't get the cold shots. You do not get cold shots. Peter, put it like this. First Peter two, nine and ten. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people. Look at this. For God's own possession.

00;24;34;26 - 00;25;03;17
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Do you realize what that say is? Say that God owns you. He owns you. You're his. You're his child. You're a part of his kingdom. You don't get to do what you want to do all the time. You are to bring your life under his lordship, under his leadership. You're to bring your life under his word, his will, and his way.

00;25;03;20 - 00;25;33;17
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That's what lordship means. But you are a people for God's own possession. We saw that in the glorified series in first Corinthians chapter six, verse 18 through 20. When the Bible says that you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. You're bought. He owns you, and you were to live the rest of your life as a Kingdom influencer.

00;25;33;20 - 00;26;05;25
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Now you say, well, pastor, that don't sound too good to me. Well, bless your heart. Well, let me tell you, it is a wonderful thing for us to know that he owns us. You know what that means. That means at some point in the future, he's going to bring who he owns to heaven to be with him. And it'll be worth everything.

00;26;05;27 - 00;26;38;17
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Sometimes I think we forget in the Beatitudes that they're list, repetitive thing. Blessed are. Blessed are blessed. Our blessed are. You're blessed if he owns you, you are blessed. You know what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter one verse three? It says, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now, I don't mind my Lord owning me for all that he does in my life.

00;26;38;18 - 00;27;05;26
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Amen. All the blessings that he gives me. I think one of the the the most difficult things for me to swallow in the church today is how some people who claim to be believers, think they have the right to call the own shots in their lives. We don't have that right. Because he belongs. We belong to him. Okay.

00;27;05;29 - 00;27;33;17
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Let me finish this verse back on first Peter two nine and ten. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. So that now, look, that's a purpose that anytime you see. So that it's a purpose statement. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him has called you out of darkness into it.

00;27;33;17 - 00;28;03;13
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Marvelous light for you, one for not a people. But now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. But it just doesn't get much better than that. And look, he uses two simple metaphors in our in our text tonight, verses 13 to 16. First, he uses the metaphor of salt.

00;28;03;15 - 00;28;37;15
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Now, that might seem like a an unusual thing, but if you lived in the first century, you would know how valuable salt was. And in fact, it's been said by, by scholars that in the mind of Romans, salt was the second most important thing in the world. First the sun, then salt. Salt. You say? Why? Well, Roman soldiers were often paid with salt.

00;28;37;17 - 00;29;08;23
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Not coins, but salt. But why? Why was salt so valuable in the first century? Well, think about this. They didn't have refrigerators. So if you had a piece of meat, you better cook and eat in a hurry, because that thing's going to absolutely be corrupted, and you will not be able to eat it. So you know what they did?

00;29;08;25 - 00;29;38;12
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They took salt and they salted down the meat. They rubbed the salt in the meat and it preserved the meat. I remember my granddaddy we had, we had we had hogs and and my granddaddy, when he killed hogs, he would take those hams, and he would solve them down and hang them in the smokehouse. My phone.

00;29;38;12 - 00;30;13;02
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I can't believe I left that thing on. I'm sorry. All right. And he would hang them in the smokehouse, and I said, granny, what? What are you doing? He said, this salt will keep this ham. Good, and we can enjoy it for breakfast. He explained that to me. The same thing was true in the first century. But it was not only good to preserve meat, it was also good to flavor things.

00;30;13;05 - 00;30;53;06
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Now look, I I'm a firm believer that salt is good for you, okay? Because I like I'll, I cannot tend to think of eating a, a portion of purple whole peas. It's not been salted. Oh my goodness, that'd be awful. Or to eat a steak that hadn't been salted. Sea salt in the first century was not only super valuable for preserving meat, but it is also super valuable for flavoring me.

00;30;53;08 - 00;31;26;22
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Let me ask you a question. Are people around you being flavored by your saltiness? I mean, when they look at you, do they know that you're a believer? Do they see Jesus in your life? Do they see these kingdom values as a part of your life? Are you flavoring them so salt does it preserves from corruption? It flavors.

00;31;26;27 - 00;31;48;13
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There were other uses for Saul. They used it for for medicine. It would keep a wound from getting gangrene. They rub salt in it. You ever you ever been eating, a tomato and you salt a tomato and you got a cut. You know, you got a cut on your hand, and that salty tomato gets in there. But it burns like the Dickens.

00;31;48;13 - 00;32;27;26
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Done. But that's not a bad thing. So salt was so valuable in the first century. So Jesus knew what he was doing, obviously, when he used salt as a metaphor for a kingdom being a kingdom influencer. Now he also used another metaphor of light. Light. Now salt is a hidden, powerful influence, but light is a visible, powerful influence.

00;32;27;28 - 00;33;02;24
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So to add to his description, Jesus said that believers should be like, what a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. People ought to know by looking at your life that you are a believer, that you are a child of God, that you are owned by Jesus and he is using you to, preserve a corrupt culture to, to, to be rubbed into the culture, to preserve it for, for the cause of Christ.

00;33;03;01 - 00;33;32;25
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And he's using you to flavor those who are not believers around you and to drive out the darkness. But what Jesus in John's gospel talked a lot about light and darkness. Flip over to John chapter one just a minute.

00;33;32;28 - 00;34;00;24
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Look at this. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Speaking of Jesus, all things came into being through him, and apart from him. Nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life and the life. Look at this was the light of men.

00;34;00;27 - 00;34;30;19
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The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And boy, there's a lot of light and darkness. Metaphor was used in the Gospel of John. So we're to be like a city set on a hill. So, so much for the idea that we're to keep our faith to ourselves. We don't. We don't want to wear our faith on our sleeve.

00;34;30;20 - 00;34;39;22
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You are to wear your faith on your sleeves. And everybody around you ought to know that you are a Christian.

00;34;39;24 - 00;35;06;03
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Look at Philippians chapter two, verse 15. Paul wrote so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear. As lights in the world.

00;35;06;05 - 00;35;33;13
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You're to be a light in the darkness. Can I just be honest with you? There's a lot of darkness in our world today. But every member of Cairo First Baptist Church is a true believer. Ought to be a light in the midst of that. You ought to be a light in your neighborhood. You ought to be a light in your work at your work.

00;35;33;15 - 00;35;58;16
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You ought to be a light when you're at home in the garden. You ought to be a light. Everything you do, people ought to be able to know without a doubt that you are a follower of Jesus Christ, and you're not ashamed of him. It's interesting how Jesus emphasized the you. Here you are. The light of the world is emphatic.

00;35;58;19 - 00;36;36;14
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The idea is you are the only salt of the earth. You. There's no plan B, you understand? Jesus did not have a plan B if we as his followers are not salt, he's not going to raise up animals to be salt, to give witness to him. No, no, we are the only salt that he is provided for. We are the only light that can drive out the darkness of the world.

00;36;36;16 - 00;37;18;16
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It's up to us. Every New Testament church in the world today, every believer in the world today, is to be involved in being salt and light to a corrupt and dark world. The interesting the word you. The pronoun you is plural. And you know what that means. It means not just, just not not just a pastoral staff, but every single believer is being a part of being salt and light to the world.

00;37;18;18 - 00;37;44;05
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And the the verb here are stresses being rather than doing. See, it is your nature as a believer to be salt and light. When he saved you. Let me let me just say this. When Jesus saved you, forgave your sin. The Bible says, therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things are passed away.

00;37;44;06 - 00;38;16;09
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Behold, new things have come. You're a new person in Christ. And when he made you new, guess what? He made you salty and he made you light. That's who you are. That's who you are. It's not that you have to be something that you're not. You just have to be what you already are. In Christ. Now, your faith should be influential.

00;38;16;12 - 00;38;57;07
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How do we do it? Well, define your faith. Number two, defend your faith. Defend your faith. Now, when you live out your faith in a world that is inherently corrupt. It exposes it to defilement. Here, here's the danger. Jesus pointed it out. Look at look at it again in verse 13. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salt?

00;38;57;09 - 00;39;23;05
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Again, that's the danger that you, as a salty believer would lose your saltiness. Now I'm then say, lose your salvation. I said lose your sin. Somebody get me a drink of water.

00;39;23;08 - 00;39;40;29
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So the danger is losing your salt in this. But here's another danger. Look at it. Verse 13 again. You're the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become. Taste less, how can it be made salt again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world.

00;39;40;29 - 00;40;07;20
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A city set on the hill cannot be hidden. Now here's a second danger about being light. Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. It gives light to all who are in the house. That's the second danger. Not only that, you lose your saltiness, but there you hide your light. You hide your light.

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Now.

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In first Corinthians chapter nine, verse 26 and 27, Paul talked about this danger of contamination by the world system. The danger of hiding your light. The danger of losing your saltiness. Thank you. Manny.

00;40;42;02 - 00;41;13;10
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Look at First Corinthians 926 and 27. Therefore, I run in such a way as as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air. But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I preach to others, I myself may not be disqualified. Hey let me. I read an article today.

00;41;13;12 - 00;41;38;05
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And man, when this happened, it broke my heart. A pastor I'm not give you his name because that's not important. A well-known pastor with a large church who extremely gifted, a great theologian, a great pastor.

00;41;38;07 - 00;41;52;27
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This article says he was removed from his position at his church due to an adulterous relationship. This man is in his 70s.

00;41;53;00 - 00;42;01;08
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The adulterous relationship is with a much younger woman.

00;42;01;10 - 00;42;19;16
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And he's had to move out of the state to give his family some space.

00;42;19;18 - 00;42;35;04
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This other pastor called the pastor who had this failure. Moral failure, and this pastor poured out his heart during the phone call, expressing deep remorse.

00;42;35;06 - 00;43;18;08
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Listen to the listeners paragraph. I'm trying to remember not to use his name. This person's relationship with the young woman was one of acquaintance and then friendship for approximately five years, but was not one of a sexual nature until very shortly before it was exposed. Do you hear that? It started out as an acquaintance, a friendship, and then it went into full blown sexual immorality and adultery.

00;43;18;10 - 00;43;36;12
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And he lost his ministry. I cannot imagine what it would be like to wake up on Sunday morning and not being able to come to this pulpit and preach.

00;43;36;15 - 00;43;40;27
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But that can happen to anybody.

00;43;41;00 - 00;44;18;24
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In fact, I got a I got a text today from my cousin and in her church, this this pastor and his wife, they're in their 40s. The pastor's wife came to the pastor and said, I haven't loved you for ten years. I want out. Well, the whole church has been decimated. So don't fall into the trap of thinking, well.

00;44;18;26 - 00;44;48;15
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You know, if I do this, it'll only hurt me. Oh, man. There's so many ripple effects out of this stuff. And I told the staff we had a senior staff at me. I told him, I said, listen, you got you got to guard yourself. You got to guard yourself. And I wasn't just talking to the young, old. Sam and I are the oldest ones in the room.

00;44;48;17 - 00;45;18;26
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And Sam and I have to guard our hearts to. You can't play around with this stuff out or listen, or you'll lose your saltiness. Or you take the light. Jesus said you're the light of the world. And you put a bushel basket over the light. And nobody can see that. No, nobody will be able to see the light.

00;45;18;28 - 00;45;31;05
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Man. So that's the danger. But what about the defense? What is the defense?

00;45;31;07 - 00;45;47;15
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You guard your heart. You determine to live under the direction and power of the Holy Spirit of God. Take your Bible. Look at, Romans chapter six. Just a minute.

00;45;47;18 - 00;45;58;10
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Romans chapter six.

00;45;58;12 - 00;46;42;14
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Look at the. Well, I've shared this with so many people. Who are walking the plank spiritually. Look at verse, 12. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. Who is this written to you? It was written to Christians. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you obey its lust. Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

00;46;42;18 - 00;47;11;00
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For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. That's how we defend ourselves. I'm telling you, when Jesus saved you, he saved you to be a Kingdom influencer. How does it happen? Well, you define your faith. You defend your faith. And number three, three. And last one, you have to display your faith.

00;47;11;02 - 00;47;14;00
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Yet display.

00;47;14;02 - 00;47;56;10
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Christian faith was never meant to be hidden or locked away. I don't know how that idea ever was, planted in the hearts of people who are believers. We must just display our faith publicly. Look what Jesus said in verse 16 of Matthew chapter five. Let your light shine where before men. Before men. Their work at school. When you're involved in your hobby.

00;47;56;13 - 00;48;06;09
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Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see what your good works.

00;48;06;11 - 00;48;14;00
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And do what? And glorify your father who is in heaven.

00;48;14;02 - 00;48;41;29
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So you display your faith publicly in Ephesians 210. Look at it. It says, for we are his workmanship. If you're born again believer, look at me. If you're a born again believer, you are his workmanship. You know what the word workmanship means in the Greek. It means you are a work of art. Have you ever thought of yourself as a spiritual work of art?

00;48;42;01 - 00;49;07;07
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I don't ever think of myself like that. But that's what Jesus thinks of me. He thinks I'm a work of art. You know why? Because he's the artist. The artist makes me a work of art. For you are his workmanship. Look at this. Remember, you were saved for a purpose created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand.

00;49;07;07 - 00;49;12;28
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That we should walk in them.

00;49;13;00 - 00;49;38;02
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I want you to think about something. You're born again believer. Your name is written in heaven. And there are things that the Lord decided he wanted to do in you and through you. From the moment you're saved. Till you step into heaven. Nobody else can do them.

00;49;38;05 - 00;50;09;05
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They're for you. I can't do your good works. You can't do my good works because Jesus gave me my good works for me to do. And he gave you your good works for you today. Right now. No, don't misunderstand this. This is not a work salvation thing because of two verses prior to verse ten for looking for by grace are you saved through faith?

00;50;09;11 - 00;50;34;17
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Not of yourself, not as a result of works, so that no 1st May boast. You're saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. And then it says, for we are his workmanship. After your sight, where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. So we're to display our faith publicly, and we're to display our faith purposefully.

00;50;34;19 - 00;50;57;00
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So why don't we let our light shine so that people will glorify God? Let me tell you, every person that you run across, every person that you work around, they were created in their mother's womb, and they were created to bring glory and honor to the creator God.

00;50;57;02 - 00;51;10;12
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So you gotta ask yourself. Am I a thermostat? Or am I a thermometer?

00;51;10;14 - 00;51;27;29
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Now? I better not say that. I was going to talk about thermometers for just a minute. I remember what my mom used to do with a thermometer sometime. It's just not pretty.

00;51;28;02 - 00;51;32;18
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Aren't you glad I didn't go there?

00;51;32;20 - 00;52;01;22
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That's the Holy Spirit. That's the Holy Spirit. So I don't want to be a thermometer. I'd rather be a thermostat. I read the Lord Jesus. Use me to make a difference in people's lives. And to set a spiritual climate that would honor and glorify him. So how does it happen? You got to define your faith. Good. Define your faith, and you got to display your faith.

00;52;01;24 - 00;52;33;16
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Don't ever forget the world. The world today is like a piece of rotten meat. It is. And the Holy Spirit of God wants to take us salt, and wants to rub us into the rotting meat to preserve it from corruption. Holy Spirit of God wants to take us as lights in the world, and remove the bushel basket and let that light shine and drive away the darkness.

00;52;33;18 - 00;53;17;21
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And he can he can use you. So be who he created you to be. Do what he's created you to do. You've been saved to make a difference in this world. Don't ever sell yourself short. Okay. Let's pray. Heavenly father, thank you for our time tonight. I pray that we would be kingdom influencers. Lord, I know we're not going to make millions of dollars like some of these social media influencers, but Lord, we're going to inherit the Kingdom of God, and we're going to be blessed immeasurably because we have believed in your son and we are a part of your kingdom.

00;53;17;24 - 00;53;36;22
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Lord, we love you. Help us to be thermostats. Lord, help us to be thermostats and not thermometers. In Jesus name, Amen. Thank you. God bless you.