The Distinct Church: Living as Salt and Light (Session 1) - Beacon Summer Retreat: August 22, 2025

Alright, thank you. Is this okay right there? Okay. It's uh it's it's really I know everyone is obligated to say it's a pleasure to be here, but it is really a pleasure to be here. Um so IBC is a church that we planted back in 1996, and uh just to give you a flavor of what what we were like, right? Um we didn't know what we were doing. Uh 96, I think there might have been a book on church planting. I wasn't aware of it. We just kind of church planted because I came out of an English ministry of a Korean church, and um uh that English ministry had kind of grown, and um, and a lot of young guys are going to seminary, and I kind of got the boot, like I was like encouraged to go out and do something else.

And so I took 10 friends and we church planted, and of those 10 friends, I think like six or seven of them are still with us. Others had you know taken jobs and moved on at some point, etc. And um almost all of us were single, except for me and one of my good friends growing up in college. I'll tell you more stories about life and stuff, uh, because a lot of the guys, a lot of the core guys, a lot of the guys that we started church with, we're all good friends. And so that was an interesting transition with me. And I'll tell you some of our college stories because we were a bunch of knuckleheads, right? Like we were literally those guys that we room together, we'd sleep through midterms, and then we'd mess up, and then we'd have to go beg the professor to let us make up tests, and like we're it was that group of guys, and all of them are um all those guys that we live together with, etc.

They're married, right? They're all my age, so they're in their mid-50s, and um uh they they've raised kids, and most of the kids follow Christ, and um they they are lawyers and doctors and finance dudes, and uh they they've all they've done amazingly well for if you took a picture of us in college, right? Like that's like that's amazing that the Lord is faithful because you guys are not, right? And in that same way, I think in a lot of times the testimony of our church plant is uh that of God's faithfulness, not of mine. And then this is what I mean by that. And this is why this is so precious to be able to kind of preach to you guys because everything about you guys reminds me of what it used to be like.

And yes, I'm old enough. I look back and it's like, oh yeah, remember the golden days, right? That that this, and it may not feel like it to you, but this is the golden days of beacon church. This is where it won't get much better than this. It'll get better than this because you'll begin to see an entire life's full of God's faithfulness and how he's dealt with you so well, and he's provided for you all these things. He's taken you through these very difficult moments, etc., right? Like it'll be greater in the sense that you see the fullness of his faithfulness further down the road than you do now. But this is the golden age. It's when you literally know everyone in your church. You you know what's going on in their lives, they know what's going on in your life.

You could try to fake the funk, but someone knows you're faking the funk, right? That's the best part of it. It is it is church as family, and this is the part you are gonna want to desperately keep and hang on to. Because even as you grow as the Lord blesses you, as the Lord sends some away, brings others in, you want that culture of this being God's people and the redeemed of Christ, calling each other's brothers and sisters in the Lord. You want that church family dynamic to never change. That's the blessing of the church as it begins as it as it grows, as it is in this particular early stage and season of its life. So let me tell you something about my life and how I came uh to Christ. I'll say more about it later, I'm sure.

But um, I I was born in South Korea. Uh we emigrated to the US when I was three years old. Our first landing spot was in South Central LA. We live in some apartment complexes that were across the street from Dorsey High School. Um, I didn't appreciate any of that stuff until years later, right? Like, so we're in South Central, it's just normal. That's life. And one of the stories I could tell you though, is that as a three-year-old kid, um, you know, we're we're going to school, etc., and then you know, some well-meaning um um, you know, um family members, right? Some uncles and aunties, they they're telling us, hey, you know, Yungi, who is my brother, right? Pak Yungi, Pak Namki, right? Like Yungi and Namgi, they have Korean names.

They need English names. Makes sense, right? And so they're like, hey, Yoongi's the oldest, we'll name him George, like George Washington, the first president of the United States. And back in those days, that was the thing. Like, you know, you want to be a president or something. So so like every talk to your grandparents. They get that, right? Like, and so George, my brother, he's known as George. He doesn't go by Yugi, he's George. And people often ask me, hey, your brother's name is George. Why is your name still Nam or Namgi? Right? Why do you still have your Korean name? All right. And I said, well, and this is the story. It's because when my uncles and aunties said, hey, for your second son, for Namgi, let's name him Richard.

Rich is a good, solid, you know, English name and stuff. And they're like, oh, okay. Hey, how do you like that? Do you want to be Richard? I said, no, no, I already have an English name. They said, Oh, you have an English name? Yeah. I'm the Flash. I'd been reading like American comic stuff, and in particular for whatever particular religion, I like the Flash. So I would run around and go, just call me Flash. I'm the Flash, I'm the Flash, right? And uh, and so it never stuck. They never, like, you know, they're kind of waiting for me to get over the whole flash thing. Never kind of really did it. And so I ended up just being Nam or Namgi all my life. So that's still my name. That's my legal name.

George is George. I'm Nam. We're very different. But that's us growing up. Well, that was South Central. By the time I'm in second grade, we moved to Gardena, South Bay. Anyone of you guys live in South Bay? But it's a great place. You should go visit at least, right? Gardena's not that great of a place. Torrance next door is really nice, right? Go visit there. But Gardena's just, yeah, it's a little bit sketchy. But I grew up there, went to all the places that are related to Gardena. Gardena Elementary School, that was literally the name. Perry Junior High School didn't have Gardena in the name. But Gardena High School, not a highly recommended school, right? Like, you know, it's got a lot of issues and some violence, etc.

Anyway, right? So I grew up kind of in the hood in Gardena, right? Grew up there. Um, started going to church because um one of my best friends, Danny Socaso, his parents thought we were kind of out of control and we needed to go to church. So this is what they would do. They would drop us off at church, Garden Valley Baptist church, they'd drop us off there every Sunday, and then they'd go off and go watch a movie or do whatever shopping or do whatever they that was just kind of their culture. They're like, you guys are wild, you need church. So they just dropped us off at church. We were like in third grade, and we just went to church, you know, and uh, and um, and I like church. I learned some wonderful stories, and the people are really kind and generous and thoughtful, and we're trying their best to teach these rascals how to how to think about them like the gospel and what it means that we're sinners, and it never really stuck.

And so by the time I get to high school, I'm just running wild. I just live in my own life, I don't really care. Rebellious kid, had a difficult relationship with mom and dad. Um, got I I mean, I was kind of a bad kid. I I wasn't like doing drugs, much, right? No, no, no. I wasn't down, I wasn't doing much, right? Like I wasn't that crazy, but I I really did not have a right relationship with the Lord. Uh didn't have a right relationship with uh with my parents. So I got got kicked out of the house a couple times, you know, because I'm acting too bad and stuff like that. And my brother the entire time is um is a young man who is following Christ and is still serving at Guardian Valley Baptist Church and helping out with youth ministry, and he confronts me one day when I'm in high school and says, hey, listen, like like uh like do you think that you are a Christian?

Because Christians don't live like this, right? And I said, No, I don't think like I'm a Christian, right? I don't hate the church, I'm not mad at you for being part of the church. I think all that stuff is good, and if it was true, that's wonderful. That's good for you, it's not good for me, right? You know, that old line that a lot of your unbelieving relatives will give you, that was me. And then uh I was thinking, I got I got so like um I don't know, pessimistic about life and about how dark life was and the hopelessness of it, that by the time I was a senior in high school, I applied to colleges like you're supposed to do. Um I got accepted to UCLA. I was on the waiting list and I got accepted.

So, you know, like if you think it's a big deal that got into UCLA, I barely got in. And back then, everyone got into UCLA. That was the easy school to get it to, I think, right? Because they took me, why would they take me if it wasn't an easy school to get it to? I barely got in, and um, and I didn't want to go. Because I was like, well, what do I need college for, man? I just I just need a fast route to making some money so I could do what I want to do, live at least a decent life, and then die, and then disappear into the universe. That was my that was my nihilistic view on life and purpose. I go to UCLA because I got nothing else to do, right? Because all my friends are off to college and doing other stuff, and so I go, okay, so I show up and um and I don't know anybody there.

Uh and it turns out that there I have an older cousin who invites me to his Bible study, and I'm like, ha haha, yeah, yeah, that's cool. That's cool. Yeah, yeah, tell me, when is it? Alright, alright. And I'll never show up. I mean, just being that putting on that fake uh Asian politeness and pretending that I'm gonna show up. I had no intention of showing up. But providentially, it turns out that all the friends that I would make as I am um as I'm commuting to UCLA from Gardena, and I'm commuting because we can't afford me to live out. Um my parents had declared bankruptcy in my senior year in high school. Another reason why I was so so angry with them, because uh, whereas my friends are driving new cars and and they're getting their college paid for, I pick up a part-time job at UCLA so I could pay for my tuition.

Which by the way, back then when I when I started college, like in 87, I think it's 87, like tuition was only like 400 bucks a quarter. Isn't that crazy? So I could literally work at the bookstore for about 15 hours, and I could pay all my books, all my to it wouldn't, I just couldn't live anywhere on camp because that cost extra, right? And so I was commuting, and then so it's hard to make friends, and and you guys remember, right? If some of you guys remember when you're a freshman, it's like you don't know anybody, it's hard to make friends. And the friends that I would make, it didn't dawn on me that they're friendly to me because they're all trying to evangelize me. All these Christian guys from different Christian groups, right?

And so they're all telling me about all this stuff, and then and after a while, I catch on and I'm like, Yeah, dude, I know the gospel, right? I went to a Baptist church. All right, I remember being scared, you know, because we watched that one movie about backward masking music, and then all these other kinds of like you've been left behind. See, these are if you were in your 50s, you would laugh because these are all real things that were circulating around churches. And I was so I would like to give my life to Jesus like at least three or four times every summer. Because, you know, because you're I'm so scared of hell. That that's that was my experience. And so they say, Hey, do you know the gospel?

I said, Yeah, I know the gospel that Jesus is a son of God, that he came to live a perfect life, he died for my sins. If I believe in him, I could have eternal life. That's the gospel, right? And I'm like, Yeah. And then they didn't understand, like, well, if you know it, then why why why isn't this important to you? And we were honest about that. And I said, Well, I don't know, I don't I don't know if it's real, if it's real, I guess it's important, but I'm just not convinced. It just my life is a mess. And it's it's hard for me, and as bad as it is, to say that I'm gonna follow some savior and give my life to him. I'm still not willing to do that. That still seems way too much. Even if my life is all messed up, I don't like my parents, right?

I barely I hate going home, right? I'm I'm paying for everything myself. I'm basically I'm on my own as this 18-year-old, and all I have to my name is a car, right? That's all banged up because I keep getting into accidents, right? And stuff like that. Like, like with all of that loss, I I still feel like I'm still giving up something, and it's I I can't do it. And they challenge me to go to a Bible study, go to church, etc. And I say, Listen, I have this cousin that's been bugging me to go to his Bible, I'm gonna go to his Bible study. So I do. I show up at Bible study and I figure out how they do stuff, right? The first time you visit and you're almost accosted by everyone, and then you figure out, okay, this is how it works, right?

So I would show up a little late, they start their songs, and so when they're singing their hokey songs, and when it's done, then I would sneak in because that's when like you know, they announce who's teaching and the guy teaches and stuff. And I'll be honest with you, I think I stole my first Bible out of the bookstore because I didn't have one, and I was like, dude, these Bibles are crazy expensive. And so I I literally boosted one, which is a shame. But praise the Lord. The Lord forgives, right? And so um, so I go to this Bible study, and they're just teaching the scriptures, and I never heard preaching like that. They're just teaching what the word of God's explaining to me. And I was I was dumbfounded, and I was convinced that I'm a sinner, and then I had no hope.

And this sense of hopelessness, this listlessness of life, this kind of needing stuff and trying to find stuff to do, and constantly kind of looking for the next thing, just trying to score like something that'll make me some money and just kind of live in that way, was as meaningless as it sounds as I say it out loud. And then I realized, man, no wonder, is because this is what I am. I'm a sinner, I deserve God's judgment. I deserve his judgment in this life, and I deserve his judgment for all of life in all of eternity. I agree with him in terms of his righteous judgment against me. So, what do I do? Praise the Lord as a gospel preaching, uh Bible study. I heard the gospel, and so I think I spent like two, three weeks every night I'll pray the same prayer, Lord.

Um, if you would forgive my sins, I'll follow you, I'll do whatever. Um, I just give me life and let me live for you. I need your the purpose that you give, I need to know that I can live for you, right? And then I'm expecting like some Shazam moment, right? Because I said that magic prayer. So you think like something's gonna boil up inside of you, something nothing happens. So it's like, okay, so the next night I pray the same thing. Lord, you know, I recognize I'm a sinner, I can't save myself, only you can save me. Thank you that you're willing to save me, save me, and I'll do anything you want. I'll live whichever way, I'll go wherever. You could send me anywhere, because I'll be yours.

Again, no no magic, you know, no magic static, just kind of normal. And after a while, after like two, three weeks of that, I started realizing that that maybe that's all there is. It's just I made my commitment to the Lord. It doesn't have to be this fiery weird experience. It doesn't have to feel super. It turns out it is supernatural, but it's not necessarily something that I can see or feel. I might be emotional about it. I certainly could be emotional about it. That's righteous and good. But it wasn't like, you know, I changed and transformed overnight. Some sins fell off right away because I just knew them to be sin and the Lord be displeased. They're easy to kind of disappear from my life.

Other sins took a lot longer and a lot more work and prayer and fasting to kind of see things through. Nevertheless, I I changed my entire life. That was towards the the, you know, halfway through my freshman year, towards the end of my freshman year, and my whole life changed. I I needed to figure out okay, what are you gonna do now? Because I was studying political science. You know why I studied political science? Because I was terrible at science, right? And political science, it's not really science. You get anyone here study political science? History, history, praise the Lord. That's a cuss. Right? That's that's my people. At UCLA, the campus is divided into North Campus, South Campus, South Campus is like where all the engineers, the chemistry majors, pre-med guys, all of those guys, all of biology, everything, that's all South Campus.

And at South Campus, you could tell at South Campus, because I don't know, even the buildings look kind of austere, right? Like not inviting. It feels like there's it's more cloudy. Like it's really north campus, it's like all the literature majors, history, political science, all those guys, art, right? And there's the sculpture gardens. It's it's really pretty up there, right? It's it's bright and sunny, it's like a totally different experience. Well, I was studying polypsci because I needed a quick way to go into law because I was just gonna be an ambulance change chaser. I was just gonna be a lawyer that sued people and made money. That was my ambition. And now, as a Christian, I was like, that won't honor the Lord.

What do I do with my life? And so I'm already like, you know, in my second year, I'm taking polypside classes, so I'm kind of like, yeah, I'll just keep going. I don't know what what better thing to do. I can't take science classes. I stink at science, right? I took a physics class for two weeks, and I never came back to that part of the campus again, right? So I was north campus, I needed to do this, and so that was my my trajectory. And as I got involved with church and Bible study, the body of Christ, I was amazed by how how enjoyable it was to understand God's word and explain it, to talk about difficulties and struggles over sin with other brothers in Christ to learn from older guys, and they're only older by a few years.

Like how to pray right, right? Not just praying for stuff, but to pray, to talk to the Lord. How to do this, how to do that, like that was so enjoyable that that became kind of something that I loved and cherished. So I started teaching often at that Bible study. I started teaching, helped out at the youth group of the church that I was attending, and you know, started teaching at youth level and started doing and and eventually the Lord kind of laid upon me a desire to keep doing that. Like I'd rather be a teacher of God's word than kind of go do something, make a lot of money and support, you know, a Christian ministry. So nothing wrong with it. I hope that's you guys. I hope you guys love the Lord, and if you're not going into ministry, that you make a ton of money and give it to this church.

I mean, I mean, let the gospel spread through your efforts, right? You you have a task, and if it's not a full-time job, it is still a full-time task. It is still who you are, and that's what we're gonna talk about tonight. But that's how I became a Christian. That's how I decided to go into ministry. I went to the master's uh seminary uh in my last year in college. I started dating this wonderful lady that I married, uh Kathy, and um, and uh we we have four kids. You missed one of them, one of us off in college, one of my boys. So two girls, two boys, they're both like three years apart and three years apart. They're they're like best friends, and and all the kids uh really get along and uh thankful for my big family.

But uh, but I hold them with uh with an open hand because uh, like I said, Becca's married and she's off and she's still at our church, helps out with worship and stuff with her husband Winston. But um, I imagine at some point they might move far away. You know, Chloe's moving out and uh gonna live with some single girls and uh um and uh and who knows, she might meet somebody and then get married and then move on. I mean, that's just kind of normal, and I'm absolutely okay with that because praise the Lord for them, and praise the Lord that he has rescued them and that uh they are walking with him. With all that said and done, we started uh IBC in 96, and um this is how this is how like the the realization of how kind of dumb I am in terms of trying to figure out how to do church right and not thinking about it well, um dawned on me, like in year five of our church plan, right?

Of our church's existence. Um, the seminary I attend attended, right? I had I graduated seminary and started the church in 96. So it's been five years since I graduated, five years since I started the church, and the church is doing okay. I had like 50 members and stuff over five years, which may not seem like an explosion. It certainly was an explosion, right? But we were starting to grow, and then we started to grow a lot soon thereafter. But the seminary that I attended, I knew some of the professors, and one of them in particular wanted me to meet, put me on a list of church planners to talk to, right? That um that could encourage these church planters in terms of how to think about church planning.

So, like these guys that email me and say, hey, Pastor, can I get together with you and then maybe talk to you about church planning? Like with me. Dude, like you should really ask other guys, right? And they're like, no, no, you're on the list. I'd love to kind of all right. So I get together with them and they they'd ask these questions that you know that they're learning in class. They'd say stuff like, hey, so how did you choose the location that you guys are at? And then at the time we're in Glendale renting a Red Cross um uh facility, and I said, Oh, well, I sent out a bunch of letters, and this Red Cross, someone said we could rent from them. And that was it. You didn't do a demographic study, find out what kind of people.

Nah, we just we just felt like we needed a place to meet, and if they they offered, so we're like, hey, we're gonna be in Glendale. That's that's how we started. And they said, okay, so, and so these other guys would ask me, like, okay, so how did you start to kind of get the community know that you were there? Like, did you guys like get like door knockers and put it on doors and stuff? I said, No, dude, that's that's a you should write that down. That's that's good, right? You just took an ad in the paper. Oh, bingo, man. That's that's not bad. That's good thinking, right? Like they'd they'd offer all these suggestions that they had learned that I had that that at year five I still wasn't doing.

They go, really? So you guys just grew just from word of mouth and from having a sign in front of the building. I said, Well, yeah, word of mouth, we didn't have a sign that said Emmanuel Bible church until year 10. I mean that that is true, and that's how backwards we were. But ours is a testimony, not of our great thinking and planning, but of God's faithfulness. IBC is the lasting legacy, not of me or of any of those guys that started with me, because we were dumb. I mean, literally, it was like week one was like, okay, hey, I'm gonna preach, obviously, I'm gonna preach, and then uh, so I'll preach through. Let's do Ephesians. I'm gonna preach through Ephesians just to start on Ephesians.

Okay, so okay, that sounds good. That sounds good. Oh, Pat, hey, you can play guitar, right? Okay, can you play guitar and lead worship for the first month? Okay, hey Rob, you play guitar, right? Okay, good enough to lead? No? All right, well, it's probably good enough for us. Like, so you got you have to literally, that's how we planned out everything that we did. So backwards, so unthought out, right? So unwise. If I could, if the Lord sent me back to talk to me back then, I don't know if I'd even say anything. Yeah, look me square in the face and just punch me in the nose and go, it's gonna happen anyway, man. Good luck, you know, and and just leave me at it. Because, yeah, it's amazing what the Lord has done.

Um, not because of me, not because of certain individuals, but because the Lord is genuinely and truly faithful. So all that as a long introduction to you about me and about IBC and why it is a particular pleasure to come and speak to you guys. You guys remind me of us, right? Not so long ago. We're gonna be celebrating next year. So this year, next week is our annual retreat. This year 29, next year would be our 30th anniversary as a church. And no, we almost never celebrate any anniversary because we're dumb. Right? We we don't we literally don't care about stuff like that. We have no bells and whistles, right? We are we are ridiculous. Yeah, I didn't have health insurance from the church until like year 12 or something.

We're so dumb. Like we could do not do church like that. Like my my what I would tell young church planners if they're asking me for advice is well, don't do it the way we did it, do it better, think it through, right? And um, but always do the one thing we did was we just trusted in the Lord for everything. Well, all that to come to, which I hope would be one of the shortest of the messages that I do. That's my give you a long introduction today, and that's um from Matthew 5, verses 13 through 16. It's that section that you'll recognize uh that speaks of being salt and being light. And as you turn there, Matthew 5, 13 to 16, I will pray for our time and as the Lord bless uh our our evening together.

Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for this church, and thank you that you brought Pastor Peter to this church, and that you brought each of these individuals to this church. Lord, we trust that that is a sovereign act of your divine goodness, that you intend each of these individuals to have some role, some part. And Lord, divorce in our minds this notion that having a part or being useful it has to do with something that that has a title or that gets in front or that displays some kind of unusual ability and remind us that Lord, whether we are the eye or the nose or the feet or the toes, Lord, we are yours and we are part of this body. May every person, Lord, if they are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, recognize their value, the intrinsic value of being God's child and being part of a church family.

So as we talk about church as it talks about the Christian life, we pray that you give us, Lord, uh, your Holy Spirit's enablement to understand your scriptures and to grow from it. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Matthew chapter 5. So tonight's message is the distinct church, the distinct church. Now, I'm gonna fade in and out of like talking to you as if I'm talking to you as an individual Christian, because I'll say stuff like the Christian life, your life, you are doing, etc. And another time, I'm gonna mean by that you, I'm gonna mean the church as a whole, because these blend together. What is the church? The church is not a building, it's not an organization, right? The church is the redeemed members that are placed together by God's sovereign design to be in one local assembly.

You're the church. Right? And as the New Testament often does, when it gives commands, it gives it in the second person. Makes sense, right? If I say, hey, you stand up, right? I mean that singular. And unfortunately, in most of our English language, uh, the you can be used singularly, or it can be used as a plural. In the new New Testament, the vast majority of the usage used in in the sense of a command or imperative is as a plural. Is that a plural? The reason why I say most of our English speaking, you know, American world uses, you know, it doesn't distinguish, is because there are some in the South that call that use the word y'all. And that turns out to be so biblically accurate, right?

Because I could say you individually stand up, or I could say y'all stand up, right? And you guys all know I'm talking second person plural. Isn't that funny? It's like all our southern brothers and sisters, they're the only ones that kind of distinguish something that is so helpful for us. So when scripture speaks often of commands to the you, it's speaking to all of us, and often we should be constantly asking, how does this apply, not just to me individually? It does. We always begin with us because we are we are the problem that is the most messy in our lives. Right? That's one of my main evangelistic things. Like I run into people who will come visit the church, and sometimes they'll one individual tell me, like, hey, listen, I come from a gay lifestyle.

Let me let me let me ask you just point blank, right? Like, you think I'm gonna go to hell if I live out this gay lifestyle. And I'll say, yes, but not because that's my judgment, but that's because the that's the judgment of God in the scriptures. But wait, wait, before you leave, because I don't want to just leave you with that, right? I want you to, I want you to know something. If right now, if it was based on my knowledge, if I had to determine which of us deserve to get in the express line to hell, you would imagine that I would think it's you because you have said that you're gay, right? But you'd be wrong. Because that's one, and it is a life-dominating, huge and kind of difficult sin that is part of your life, right?

And that deserves God's judgment. But my life, I have decades. I have stuff I don't remember anymore, of stuff that I've done to other people that I've done to myself, that I've done to the Lord. I could not in a short amount of time give you all the litany of sins for which God should condemn me. So if you want to weigh my sins versus your one sin that I know of, if it's based on my judgment, I get to get in the express lane, right? I get the fast pass to hell. You, yeah, you're going to hell too, but I deserve the fast pass, right? What is the difference? The difference is not in me, it's in the fact that Christ died for my sins for all of my sins. And that's an offer to every sinner, including you.

And even if you if you can't tolerate that now, would you would you think on that? Would you meditate on that? Would you let that percolate in the back of your minds that you are welcome to walk away from your sin and from you being the God of your life to making Jesus the God of your life, seeking repentance and forgiveness of sins, and he'll give it to you. Just let that kind of percolate. Well, uh, all of that is just to say that it is all about what the Lord has done for us, and how as a result of that, we individually, right, live a distinct Christian life. And corporately, we want the church to live this distinct Christian life. When I say distinct, I mean that it needs to stand out in a way that is so different from the world, that is so different from other religions, that it's so different from any philosophy.

In other words, if there's a world view, if there's a way to understand this world, the church, this church, you individually, and you corporately, you and y'all, you guys should all be able to say that we are distinct and different. That's what salt, that's what light is, and this is about the distinctly Christian life. This section in this passage follows on the heels of the Beatitudes. Remember, blessed are this, for they shall do this. Blessed are these, for they shall do that, right? Like, it is just after that. So it's like in the context of kingdom citizens, what it looks like by character to be a child of God and kingdom citizens, Jesus seems to be saying, So now I want to give you something that should characterize you as my people, right?

And he begins at verse 13 with this be salt to the earth. He says this, and I apologize. I'm reading from the ESV. You guys, are you guys doing legacy or are you guys all mixed? We're mixed. Okay, okay, so now I don't feel so bad. I thought maybe you guys are all doing legacy, and I'm the odd man out. But ESV says this you are the salt of the earth, but if Saul has lost his taste, how shall this saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. Again, it's the plural y'all, right? Then the emphasis is not on doing something, and I know the way that I phrased it sounds like you have to go be salt of the earth. There is a sense of that, but the idea of what the idea of what Christ is saying is this is what you are.

Child of God, redeemed sinner, person that Jesus loves so dearly that he will lay down his life for you. You are called to be different, you are called to be salt. This is what you are, it's a being term. Not a go-do term, right? This isn't go be salt, go salt something. The command here is not really a command. It's that you are. If you're a follower of Christ, and if this church follows its Lord Jesus Christ, you're salt. That's just a statement of fact that Jesus would send to us. It's such an interesting metaphor. So the two metaphors are going to be salt and light. And the first one, this one, salt. If we're to be light, or we're to be salt in the earth, or to the earth, the question is, what does the Lord mean by that?

To be salt, as the way that he phrases it, is to have a saltiness to it. See, he says, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? There's two possibilities of the way that we think about salt, at least in in that uh period of time and in the language that is used in terms of what would salt symbolize, one would be that preserving element. We are used to having refrigerators, right? Praise the Lord for refrigerators, right? Like you put stuff away, stays cold, and it lasts for a while. Well, before refrigeration, and before the ice man came and gave you a thing for your ice box in the old days, how did they preserve like meat and stuff? It's packing of salt. Like that this is so salt has a preserving uh uh sensibility to it.

You could you could use salt to kind of disinfect wounds. Salt had a lot of uses like that that was preserving in terms of nature. That would be a cool metaphor if that's the way that Jesus meant it. But I don't think so. Because the other way that salt can be thought of in terms of what it is useful for is its flavor. And clearly it's that because the Lord literally says, you are the salt of the earth. You're supposed to stand out as salt stands out, right? From the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, he says, how shall its saltiness be restored? So the Lord's emphasis here is on you as my redeemed people, you as beacon church, right? You're you are salt to the world. You are from the world, but you're that salt that comes out of the world, and particularly he has in mind that you should have saltiness, that you should be flavorful, that you should be, I want to say zesty, but that term is used in an unawed way by my boys, and so I will not say that any anymore, right?

Like, but you get it? Like the Lord is literally saying there should be something about you that has a sense of of taste. You get you guys, I mean, I like smoking meat. You guys down with that? Because I like meat, and then I'll smoke meat. Um, and I have never smoked like a piece of brisket or or you know, or pork or something, I've never or chicken. I've never smoked it without seasoning, without salt. If you came to my house and I say, Hey, listen, I smoked this meat, you know, I want you to taste it, and you taste it, and all you taste is just meat. Like there's no salt at all. You can kind of imagine what that would taste like, right? Not a pleasant experience. There's something about salt that draws stuff out that is so good.

It is, it this goes back through all of human history, right? But salt has this sense of flavor, its usefulness, it's singular usefulness outside of that preserving nature that we talked about, is that it provides like good flavor. The Lord literally is talking about your salt, so don't lose your saltiness, right? The Dead Sea, it's salenity, in other words, the salt content is so high. I've never been to Israel. Maybe some of you guys have. One day, maybe in a new heaven, new earth, I don't know. But one day I might be in a place like the Dead Sea, and apparently the salinity is so high that you jump in and you don't have to do much, you just naturally flow. Because the water is so sick, so sick, so thick with salt, but not necessarily table salt.

One of its primary salts, you know, salt refers to all kinds of crystallized stuff. Damn, look at it. I'm trying to, I'm faking the funk. You guys think I I know science, right? The way I say this, right? I read this, right? But but like the the primary, like salinity, salinity. See, I I should I should have just kept going, right? Um, the thickness comes from gypsum. Gypsy, gypsum, right? Which is a fake salt. It looks like salt, it's crystallizes white, it looks just like that. But if you sprinkle that on your meat, then you go, man, it tastes like dirt got added up on this stuff, right? Like it's it's not salt. And so when the Lord is saying that that if salt is not salty, you can all you can do is just throw out into the street.

This is what he's talking about. There is a false, a fake version of the redeemed salt that are the people of Christ. I think he's saying to some degree, because throughout, right, the entirety of the Sermon on the Mound, he has been talking about the difference between acting religious and being transformed by God. Right? The entire beatitudes are all about you don't you don't expect God to do the other stuff for you because God is your genie. You become the meek to inherit the earth. You pursue purity because the pure in heart, they will see God. Like these things that are mentioned, these tremendous blessings as you read and hear the beatitudes. I can imagine the genuine believers hearing Jesus, the potential Messiah, preaching this sermon and talking about you're gonna see God.

You hunger and thirst for righteousness, you're gonna get it, right? Like you are the meat, you're gonna inherit the earth. You mourn, but but that morning's gonna see, like all the stuff that he says, they must be thinking, like, oh my goodness, this is so good. This is what I want. And the Lord is warning that there's a potential of something that looks like salt, sits in the pews like salt, generally, and you know, kind of mimics salt in so many ways. How do you know it's not salt? The flavor's not there. The self-sense of what God has created salt to be is not there. It is, you know, salt, NACL, table salt. Um isn't evidence of God's goodness. Do you ever think about that? Like all the different things that you like to taste.

Like if I say, hey, what's your favorite like dish or dessert? You probably have one. Like, oh I like this, I like, I like this, right? Um that's great. But it's because it tastes like something, it's flavor that you enjoy. God didn't have to give us flavor. He could have made everything taste gray, right? That wouldn't be weird. It would just be like, oh, dude, I'm running low on energy. I should eat some grain. Ah, right. And it's just like, well, it tastes like dirt again, right? But that's and we we'd be satisfied. Why? Because it would give us the nutrients we need, and we just go on with life. He gives us salt. What's its purpose? Well, it's primary purpose in our lives is to make our food good.

That's how good God, He's crazy, He's amazingly creative, right? And He does that just to kind of show off how much He wants you to enjoy, like normal things in this life. That's outrageous to me. That's how good God is. And Jesus, in using this metaphor for his people, and how you would distinguish his people from those people that act like his people that aren't really his own, you could taste it, man. You could taste it in their lives, right? There's something about them that kind of doesn't dull out. The word that is used here for tasteless is a word that uh in other contexts can be translated foolish. It's a word, in fact, that we get our English word moron from, right? But in the context, when he's speaking of of salt, it and maybe maybe this English word translation might help us.

You think of dullness. If salt is dull, it's gypsum, right? It's not real salt, it's just crystallized something. Right? And in that same way, like if salt is flavorful, it's and if we take that metaphor one step further, then I think Jesus is saying something about the realness, the genuineness, the distinctiveness of the Christian and the redeemed life. There's something about it that is spiritually vibrant, exciting, flavorful, it's not dull and foolish. It's dull and foolish, right? To be a Pharisee, and there are a lot of them listening even to that sermon. It's dull and foolish to go to temple, to go to synagogue, to do your thing, and to do that repeatedly because that's what you're supposed to do, or that's what you were culturally taught to do, or that's what mom and dad always did, without realizing that you were meant to be so much so much more.

You're meant to be desirable, to be flavorful, to demonstrate that there is something genuine and excellent and distinct about this new Christian life. Jesus in the Gospel of John, right? When he talks to Negodemus, Nicodemus, he says you need to be born again. That's weird terminology. And Nicodemus gets it. He's probably understanding the metaphor. Like something has to be so transformative that it's like you're you're you're born brand new. And Nicodemus, he says, like, well, how can you come? You can't climb back into your mother's womb and be born again. And he's he's following the metaphor, I think. He's trying to say, like, how do you do that? Like, I know I know all of us want to grow and change, but you can't become a brand new thing.

You are what you are, and there's some limitations to how much you can change. And Jesus is saying, no, see, that's what you're not understanding, right? This isn't a you thing, this is a God thing. And when the Lord grants you eternal life, the Holy Spirit indwells us, we are transformed. Are we made so new that we hate everything that is sinful and everything that is so like no? We still struggle with all that stuff. But the power that all of our bondage sins had over us, the power is dead. Our memory's there. So I might be tempted to some things that you are not tempted to, and you're tempted to some things I'm not tempted to. But we can go to the Lord, and in his power we can overcome. May not come quickly, like I said, some sins in my life after I became a Christian quick.

Some things took a long time, right? And some things are still ongoing. But we know that we're different. We know that our life has changed. My testimony to my parents was that my life had changed. My dad was an unbeliever. My mom professed faith, and then she was a believer and had difficulty with me all of her adult of my adult life with her until I became a Christian. And I realized as a Christian, I needed to have a better relationship with them. So signing that freshman summer year before my sophomore year, I just hung out with them. You know, they must have thought it was so weird, this rebellious and crazy kid with just like, hey, what do you guys want to do today? You guys want to watch something on TV?

Like, well, who are you? And what have you done with our son, right? It's very one of those kind of moments. And I'm just trying like, hey, hey, uh, yeah, I'll cook dinner. I mean, I only know how to cook spaghetti, but we can make spaghetti. We could all eat spaghetti, right? Like, I'm just trying to be a good son, have conversations. Try to share the gospel in Korean to my dad. And my Korean is restaurant Korean. I could order stuff in a restaurant, it's really good, right? Um, but when I'm trying to share the gospel with them, I realize I don't have terms like resurrection. So I'm saying Jesus died, right? Like I know that. That's like everyone knows how to say something died in a language if they know it at all.

Um, and I was like, and then he woke up, right? Like I thought I don't know what the term is, right? And I'm just like making up stuff that doesn't really make sense. And it's like, it's like, yeah, like you, you, you know, like, yeah, just doing whatever I and my father didn't come to faith until decades later, and and at a time when I just thought, oh, it's never gonna happen. But my life transformed in terms of the flavor of what I was trying to be in front of my parents, not because anyone told me this is what you have to do, not because a disciples said, hey, this is what you're doing wrong, but because I knew it. The new life is new, and it shouldn't feel like the old stuff with the little band-aid on top.

See, so the genuineness, it's distinct, but secondly, it's it's useful. That's the flavor of it. That's what we've been talking about. It's meant to be like zesty in the right sense of that term, right? Like it's meant to be like strong and inviting and winsome and challenging. That's what salt is. That's what we are. That's what the Christian is. He says it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. That's a strong statement of judgment. If Jesus is saying to those that want to be his followers, you are the salt of the earth. Unless you're not. And we know because you're not salty, then you deserve to be thrown out on the street. What is he talking about?

He's talking about religious leaders. They look like Saul, they pretend to be Saul, that act like they are Saul and they're not. And as Jesus often condemns the Pharisees, you are big on making other Pharisees just like you. And that's why their judgment is so severe. Look, if you're faking the funk in terms of your spiritual life, take this weekend as an opportunity to really examine yourself and to make things right with the Lord. And to choose to follow him no matter what, and see where he takes you, see what he does with you. You might be amazed. We are meant to be flavorful, right? We are meant to be uh meant to be experienced because our life is a transformed experience, and our lifestyle should impact those that are around us.

I have a bunch of great illustrations. I want to give you one, right? There's a story of Woodrow Wilson, president. You guys ever hear that one? Um he goes into a barber shop in Chicago, and he says, and this is in his own words. He says, I was sitting in a barber chair when I came aware that a powerful personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as myself to have his hair cut and sat in the chair next to me. Every word the man uttered, though it was not in the latest didactic, showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with what was being done to me, I was aware that I had attended an evangelistic service because Mr.

D.L. Moody was in that chair. And then Will Joel Wilson says, I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular effect that his visit had brought upon the barbershop. They talked in undertones, they did not know his name, but they knew something had elevated their thoughts. And I felt that I left that place as I should have left, a place of worship. That's what I'm talking about. And I'm not saying you need to be that. In fact, as a as a as an issue of evangelism, I'm very strong on the Lord has made you a certain way. Right? If you're crazy shy and you find it difficult to evangelize people, that's fine. You need to work on that, right? I'm not saying just stay there.

Nothing in the Christian life should sound like, oh, you're you're born that way, just stay there. No, instead, it's like, oh, is that a weakness? Well, work on that. Let's work on that. But my expectation won't be that you know that you're gonna be Billy Graham. And my expectation is you're gonna be fighting, right? Your nerves to kind of share the gospel with someone that you've known all your life, right? That's that's my expectation. And then other people are gifted in such a way, and you probably know some like that. I know a bunch of pastors that are like that. Where I go to a pastor's conference, we get into Uber together, and I struck up a conversation with the with the Uber driver because I just want to know something about their life, about how long they've lived in the city, and I go that route, right?

And then I'll talk about like, hey, because they're gonna ask me, well, what are you guys doing here or here? Because we're pastors and we're here for a conference. Because, have you attended a church anytime recently? Right? And I'll share the gospel with us. Well, somewhere along the way, at least one or two of my good pastor friends, they'll just jump in and they're just like, they're better at that than me. They're more like they answer questions quicker than me, like they are so good, and I'm like, what in the why wouldn't you sit in the front seat, bro? Right? Like, and I love that. But I don't, I don't, I don't feel like, oh my gosh, if I'm not them, if not Billy Graham, let me share the gospel with them.

No, I share with whoever I can. And if they shut me down, I'm totally embarrassed. Like, I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so embarrassing. Like on an airplane, that's the worst. So I'll be honest with you, I wait until like we're kind of towards at least the second half of the flight. Because I've had that where I begin that conversation and they don't like it and they don't want to talk to me. And I'm like, oh my gosh, it's so awkward. Like they're literally literally sitting right there and probably like angry that I brought up sin, right? And I'm just like, I gotta bear this for another three hours, you know. Like so, right? Like, but I have friends that will, if they think that seat, that conversation is the whole flight having a good conversation, and there's this one.

Do what is yours and get better at what it is that the Lord allows you to do. Don't settle for what you are. But the point is, we are to be like D. L. Moody. That is not as necessarily effective as him, but it's not about effectiveness, it's about faithfulness. We'll talk about that in another in another message that we'll do. The second metaphor. And we try to work through this quickly because I've I don't even keep track of how long of it. I'm sorry. So this might be like two hours at this point, but you hang in there with me. Um, and the scriptures are still worth your while, right? The second um metaphor that he uses is light, and he says in verse 14, you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house.

See, again, it's the to be verbs, right? He's not saying, go be, shine your light on somebody. He he is kind of implying that, but he is letting us know that those that are his and that are truly his and redeemed by his blood that are his people, that is that are his gathered community of belief that are his church. You guys, your name is beacon. So this this verse should mean something a little bit more to you than to us. We're just a manual, God, you know, God with us, right? Like I'm down with that, right? But you guys should know something about this verse. You are the light of the world. Light. Is used, I think, in two ways as I understand it, right? Uh, as a symbol of something. One, it is used by way of uh in the realm of the moral or morality.

And so if we talk about light, we might be talking about purity. Um, first John 1 3. God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. And there, in that context, it's probably speaking to the fact that in God there is no moral darkness, that he is pure, that he's morally light, right? So light can be used that way in terms of moral purity. It can also be used, that's a big word, epistemologically. All that means is in the realm of truth, right? Like light shines, and so now I can see, right? And so the scriptures use that often, like in John 1, 4 through 5. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Now it could be that it is the light of moral purity, maybe, but more likely it is about the fact that the light shines through Jesus, his words and what the message that it brings, and as a result, uh, as a result of that, we use the illustration, the light bulb went on, right?

The light went on. And it's like I came to understand it. Right? Psalm 1980, your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my back. There's something that is understandable that is truth, that is truthful, that comes from the scriptures, and so you have both moral purity and you have truthful revelation, right? You have both of those as kind of elements of what light is. If y'all are supposed to be light, then I think it's both of those things. It's meant to be that we are in contrast to darkness, we should be living differently. The way that you live, the things that you pursue, like what you want for your kids. It's a good example. If it just sounds like your neighbors, your unbelieving neighbors, right?

Or your unbelieving co-workers, or that that cousin you have that's in the same stage of life. If it looks all the same, it sounds all the same, and you're pursuing the same things, then that's not light. That's just kind of gray zone, right? And I'm not saying that's all wickedness. Provide for your kids. And choose a good school if you can choose a good school, right? I'm not mad at any of that, and I'm not judgmental about any of that. What I'm saying is that there should be some things in the course of how you live, what you choose, what you are about, and how you think about your experience right now in life, that is a little distinct, that is different, that brings some clarity, moral clarity, or truth clarity on a circumstance.

Because you are light, and everything that you know is about what God has revealed to you in truth and for the purpose of his holiness, of being separate and different and consecrated for his purposes. He uses two illustrations with the light. He says, A city that's set on a hill cannot be hidden. And the word I would give you on that phrase is it's conspicuous. Why do you put a city on a hill? Well, you want people to come to that city. If it's a secret city, you don't put it on top of a hill, you put it underneath some cave someplace, right? Like you remember Superman had a fortress of solitude, Batman had the Bat Cave. They don't have Bat City, right? Out on the hill, because then everyone can see it.

It's like it's like, hey, do you know where Batman lives? Yeah, right on that city. See that Bat City? Is that big bat signal up there? That's exactly where he lives. Right? Hey, do you know where Superman is? I got some kryptonite. I'm gonna take care of this guy, right? It's like, yeah, you can see it. Don't you see it? It's the it's the fortress of solitude, but it's not in solitude. It's the forest is a publicness, right? Like it's just out there for everything. It's conspicuous. And so a city set on a hill, it cannot be hidden. And it's not meant to be hidden. Jesus is saying in very plain language, one thing you'll notice about my disciples is they act like they're my disciples. They choose to speak about things like they're my disciples.

They live in such a way that demonstrates their discipleship and their commitment, their loyalty to me. They live differently, distinctly. Why? Because that's what they are. They're supposed to be the city set on a hill, right? They're supposed to, there's they're supposed to be conspicuous. You know why superheroes wear those weird costumes? So you know they're superheroes. Right? If they showed up dressed like me, then you go do, dude, get back, man. There's dangerous stuff going on. Godzilla's attacking. Don't be getting up in there. So don't worry, I'm a superhero. You don't look like a superhero, right? They wear Renakos costumes so they can be identified. I guess in a more practical sense, like police officers, fire firemen, etc., they wear uniforms.

Why? So you can identify them. They're conspicuous. That means obvious. Sorry, I didn't define that. Right? It means obvious to the eye. It's it's you see them and you can tell that there's something. Spies do not wear costumes. Right? Because their whole point is to be inconspicuous, unidentifiable. We are to be identified as Christians. We're supposed to be light to the world. I give you a JC Ryle quote because JC Rao is always good. He says there's a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have and think they have enough. A cheap Christianity, which offends nobody, requires no sacrifice, which costs nothing and is worth nothing. When Jesus says your salt, and then he says your light.

With light, he means that at the very least you're supposed to be like a city on a hill, conspicuous. The second thing he says about being light in verse 15 is nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all that is in the house. Or can I put it this way? You have a job. God has rescued you, he has. And he's delighted in you. He's poured his love out in you, like Romans 5 talks about. And the evidence of God's love for you is that Christ died for your sins. There's gonna be stuff in your life that you're gonna go, Lord, I don't know why this is happening. And you're gonna go to Pastor Peter, right? Just like some of my uh members come to me and say, Pastor Nam, why did this happen to me?

And I'm gonna say, I don't know. Or they're gonna tell me, now you don't understand how hard this is, and I'm gonna tell them honestly, I don't, because I'm not going through it like you're going through it. But I do know this. I know that God loves you. And even if you're struggling to know that God loves you, all you have to do is look at the cross. Who sends their only beloved son to die for someone else unless that person loves that person dearly? If you believe the gospel, you need to remind yourself of the gospel, because that's how much God loves you. And you have been saved then for the purpose of taking that gospel message and displaying that, speaking about that, living that out in such a way that it's conspicuous, it's obvious, and then it's functional.

You're trying to be light to the world. You have a purpose to shine the light of Christ on people who are like you, dead in their trespasses and sins, drowned in the darkness of their own sinful life. You have a capacity to bring them that truth and no, you're not gonna save them. And can you can you can you remind yourself, which I always need to remind myself? I'm not gonna mess this up so bad that they're gonna lose their salvation. You know? They get so nervous sometimes if someone wants to engage, but they're kind of hostile. I think, like, Lord, okay, I gotta say this right, I have to answer this question right, or else this guy might never get saved. And it's like, dude, wait, hold on a second.

Where does that theology come from, right? God's the only one that saves. So even if I mess up this gospel presentation, the Lord might still rescue this individual. And if I do a fantastic job, the Lord may still not choose to rescue this individual. My task is just to be light, to be conspicuous and to cast light on the truth. Because I want, I want the world to know. Right. There's one brother I know in our church, and I love him. Um, but he's kind of intense, and uh his personality is such he's he's really into it, he just wants to evangelize, street evangelize people and stuff. I'm not against that. I think that's great. But as we talk about it, he like laments the fact that people won't street evangelize with them or do kind of random evangelism with them and stuff like that.

And I'll say, hey, listen, like part of that is that people naturally have a fear of man, and I and I get that, and they need to work on that. But just so that we're clear, you realize like they can do the best they can, and the Lord can still rescue someone, he can still save someone. So they can do the worst that they could possibly can, and the Lord can still rescue somebody, right? Is your passion to just tell somebody the gospel? Or is your passion to tell someone the gospel because they might actually be saved by our God? My desire, my intention in evangelism is I'm I'm hoping, even if it's not here, even if it's not now, even if they're mad at me now, that the Lord might bring that person to saving faith.

I I want the conversion, right? I want I want to know that, even if it's not in this life, but in the heavens and the new heavens and new earth in that life, maybe that's the only time I'll see that, and that person will go, hey, do you remember? I grew up with you, you shared the gospel with me after you became a Christian, I thought you were nuts. And I might be like, no, no, I don't, but refresh my memory, this is awesome, right? Because it's not me. I want to evangelize, I want to stand different, I want to choose things that are morally upright. Not because that's what Christians do, or that's what I want to look like, or I want to look like a godly person. I don't care about any of that junk.

I just want to know that the Lord might possibly use something that I did or said or lived or chose to do, and then he might have drawn some people to himself through that. Because that's how I was drawn to him. There wasn't a particular individual that shared the gospel with me directly, but there was dozens of people. There's people that shared the gospel with me before I ever cared about the things of Christ, because my unbelieving right best friend and their family would drop us off because we're bad boys, and they would drop us off in elementary school to a church nearby, and I'd hear all these Bible lessons, all these things, so that when I went off to college, still an unbeliever, living a worldly life, I'd hear people teaching the scriptures, not talking to me directly.

No one, some people shared the gospel to me directly. That wasn't to me, I thought that wasn't that big of a deal. But over the course of that, all of that information came to bear on my soul. Praise the Lord. In eternity, I'll have these random people, people whose names I've forgotten. To think you go, hey, you had a small part in me understanding something about what it means that Christ came to die for my sins. You had a small part in teaching me something about my helplessness and my sin. You had a small part in this or that, and all of it. That's what it means for us to be salt of the earth. That's what it means for us to be light to the world. And let me give you, just as a closing, verse 16, to be a testimony of his glory.

This is what he's asking us to be, because this is what we are. In the same way, in the same way as what? As salt is flavorful, as light shines in a dark place. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Jesus, he he cast it in the sense of good works. But just so you understand, he's not just talking about mercy missions, he is saying that you need to live in such a way that goodness exudes from you because God is good and you are his child. If my evangelism, this is my concern with his brother, if my evangelism just sounds angry, like he feels like it's so important to emphasize that that guy's going to hell.

Without a desire to say, dude, you you are going to help without this message. Then you're missing the whole point. The whole point is begging God to rescue that unbelieving family member. Beg God that He would rescue that unbelieving friend or co-worker. I want to see conversions. I don't have the power to convert anybody. But man, I'm desperate to see the Lord do that work in others. Because our Lord is good. And in that same way, as salt is flavorful, as light shines in a dark place. We are to live in such a way. That's what he means by that they may see your good works. That you stand for graciousness, that you stand for truth, they stand for hope, that you live in such a way that is different.

Then you say no to stuff regularly because that's not for you, right? Because that doesn't honor our Lord. And then in the end, they may give glory. They might themselves give glory to the Father who is in heaven. We might draw others to ourselves, not because of what we are, but because all we're doing is reflecting the light of Jesus Christ to them. This is the first mark of a healthy church, right? Because that you guys live like you guys are salt and you guys alive. Individually as Christians. But then y'all live as salt and light together. That's prayer. Lord, thank you for our time, our opening time for the scriptures today. And Lord, for the rest of our season uh sessions together, I pray that it would be a blessing unto our souls, that you would nourish and feed us, and Lord, give us challenge, but Lord, give us the solve of your grace, that you are kind and excellent, and that your burden is never heavy.

You are a good God. And help us to exemplify that goodness because we want to be your children. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.