Loving Your Enemies and Being the Salt of the Earth

And then next week, let's see what God did can y'all do that? Let me tell you something else I like interaction so it's okay to say sure no way All right and add this to your list Mike Schneeweiss requested prayer for Abby and her daughter Ashley and And The Denise and Gazi family Denise's mom Wanda passed away and The family of Dwight Bergen bird I'm probably pronouncing it wrong Dwight bird grin passed away I'm horrible at names. It's not your writing. It's just my articulation Articulation. So anyway, everybody got something you could write down on your list for your prayer requests this week Yep One person's caught on Write something down and we're gonna take this time and we're gonna pray to the Lord Put your thing that your special thing that you're praying for this week. Put that on your your list lift it up to the Lord and We'll go from there, all right, it's your time to pray You Father I thank you for this day and for the privilege that we have together to together today Your word tells us that where two or three are gathered together You will be there and we thank you for your presence with us. I Was reminded today that you came not to just give us Fish fish and loaves, but that you came to bring us the bread of life that will sustain us through the good times and the bad I Asked now that you would be with our brother Tim Give him peace and calmness to bring the words that you have for him to speak. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen You You know, I noticed one big difference between being up here and being down there and it's about 40 degrees warmer up here Here that or I'm just really nervous one of those two Richard there he is. Richard made me nervous a couple weeks ago, man The reason he got gets up here and he starts giving testimony time and he's all over Matthew chapter 5 Well that kind of scared me because that's where we're going today Matthew chapter 5. I thought he was going to steal my thunder and He didn't he was all around it though. So what I have done for you this today is I have put all the verses we're going to use up on the board and I did that for a couple reasons one it keeps me on track and Two I use the King James Bible and I use that because when I first started learning scripture I would memorize them and Nothing got more frustrating than memorizing it in the King James And then I pick up another Bible and I try to hold myself accountable. I try to be accurate and I I just couldn't ever get switched. That would mean I'd have to relearn everything. So When I'm 90 years old, I'll probably still be reading the King James and I may be the last one But that's just because I'm too lazy to upgrade so In Matthew chapter 5 verse 43, we're gonna we're gonna set the stage We're gonna talk about who we should love. Who do we love in Matthew 5 verse 43? The Bible says you have heard it hath been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy We have heard a lot of things When I first got up here this morning, I talked about the bad things remember we ought to be thankful for the good and the bad and There are things in our lives that we have had that may appear to be bad when I was growing up. I Grew up in a pretty decent church But I had hair down past my shoulders You believe that It's true I had hair past my shoulders I had a couple of metal things hanging out of an ear earrings I wore jeans with holes in them Not because I that's all I had it's because I put holes in them and I wore rock and roll t-shirts from many Wonderful praise bands like Guns and Roses Metallica all those good peaceful Christ loving bands. I Would wear those to church What would we think about that Remember I like interaction We would kind of snicker and sneer wouldn't we truthfully, okay. Well, my mom was the secretary of the church So, where do you think I hung out daily? If I hang out at the church mom gives me change to go get a soda and get out of her hair Yeah, I knew how to be annoying with a purpose Get a little bit of change and go get sodas so my best friend was at the church as well because his mom was the youth pastor and We grew up in this church. We just hung out there. We were always at the church Where do you want your kids to be? At the church, so I thought I was doing all right, but the pastor he did not like me. I Can't imagine why the shirts? Honestly, they were very inappropriate and if my children wore them I'd burn them The shirt the shirts They were very inappropriate, but the pastor's answer to that was You're going to hell Well, he might have been very well, right? I was not born again. I was not saved I had not made the decision to accept Christ, but I was in the church and What's gonna push a kid away pretty quick like? You start judging him, right? I was judged and You know, honestly after he got fired for stealing from the church. I wanted to give him one of my t-shirts. I Figured we're going to the same place and You know, I never got the chance to see him again but I learned at a very young age what it felt like to be judged and I see that in churches as we've grown up as I've grown up. I still continue to see that and That's why God's really laid this on my heart because you know, I find myself doing the exact same things Have you ever done something to somebody that you didn't want done to you? That goes against the golden rule, doesn't it? If it's the golden rule, it's the most important and we shouldn't break it But we do it time and time again So that brings me to Matthew chapter 5 verse 40 43 says you have heard that it hath been said Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy and what Jesus is doing is quoting Old Testament He's quoting in Leviticus Chapter 19 verse 18 where it says thou shalt not avenge nor bear any Grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself I am the Lord the people that he is talking to are the children of Israel You're gonna not avenge not hold a grudge against the children of Israel So we take care of our own right? What about people that are not children of Israel? It's wide open, isn't it? It's wide open so you can choose to avenge them or bear a grudge Whatever you it's open. There's no rule governing that that's why I said you love your neighbor Hate your enemy Is it easy to hate your enemies? Yeah, how many of us have enemies? I'll do don't wait in some capacity in Matthew back in chapter 5 verse 44 the next verse it says Jesus speaking, but I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you and do good to them that hate you and pray for them, which Despitefully use you and persecute you how many of you? Have been used Just almost everybody how many of you have been persecuted put down make fun of Does it make you feel good Inside what do you want to do back? You want to hurt them back don't you maybe physically maybe just emotionally you want to hurt them back How many of you are kind of sneaky like that Out of the mouths of babes, right Well, Jesus is telling us there in verse 44 to love your enemies bless them Bless them if somebody's your enemy bless them If they curse you How many of you would have difficulty with that? Me too. Me too until I go to Romans I go to Romans chapter 12 and Paul tells us to bless them which persecutes you bless and curse not why go on down to verse 20 And it says therefore if I an enemy hunger feed him. Does that make sense? That's my enemy feed them if he thirst give him drink why? For in doing so thou shalt heat coals of fire on the way He coals of fire on his head now, we're getting to the good stuff, right you want that vengeance you want to be angry at them Coals of fire on your head. How many of that sound does that sound pleasant to anybody? Anybody step on a campfire It hurts doesn't it? Could you imagine all those coals on your head? That doesn't sound like fun, but how's that sound towards your enemy Awesome I Like that girl So if your enemy's hungry feed them, you know your inner desire you want to we all admitted to it We want to get them back, but the Bible tells us not to if we want to get them back feed them when they're hungry Give them drink when they're thirsty That'll get them back be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good the world tells us To do right back unto them what they did to us and then what happens is there ever a result to that? You know if I got into an argument with my neighbor and He came at me and I went back at him. I Would have to do one more than what he did to me So then he's gonna come back and do one more and then I'm gonna come back and do more it it never stops It never stops. So if he does evil to me and I do good to him Does he have reason to do evil anymore? I Took the drive out the fights over The fight is over. So I kind of like that if I want to get my enemies back Do good to them Back in Matthew 5 verse 45 The reason he tells us to do to these things and that gets pretty little doesn't it the print does The reason why is that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he make it the his son to rise on the evil and on the good and Sidneth reign on the just and the unjust For if we love them which love you what reward have you? Do not even the publicans do the same. What good is it if we only love people that love the Lord? Verse 47 if you salute your brethren only what do you more? Than others do not even publicans. So be therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven Is perfect Pretty easy to be nice to people in the church, isn't it? How many of you feel pretty comfortable in here? I'm probably the only one that's uncomfortable right now When I'm sitting down there I'm comfortable but up here I'm kind of not I'm just being honest Luke says it this way in Luke chapter 6 In The mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established right in Luke chapter 6 verse 32 It says for if you love them which love you What thank have ye for sinners also love those that love them and if you do good to them Which do good to you? What thank have you for sinners also do even the same and if you lend to them whom you hope to receive What thank have you for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again But if but love you your enemies and do good and lend Hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the highest For he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil be therefore merciful as your father also is merciful Did God only love those that loved him Who did he die for? All of us right for God so loved who the world Inclusive of all you can't even get that verse out of context and say it's only for the children of Israel He loved the whole world He loved us all he died for all did he only minister to his twelve closest friends No, we're in Matthew chapter 5 that's the Sermon on the Mount who's he talking to Everybody that's there that makes sense doesn't it the multitude he's speaking to the multitude and That's who he ministered to So we are supposed to be different to other people groups, aren't we? Supposed to be different than any other group and one of my favorite verses that I I take great comfort in is first Peter 2 9 And it's got a word in there. I really like it says you are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a Peculiar people. What does the word peculiar mean? Odd strange different How many of you does that define? We're all defined there aren't we we're different we are different a Peculiar people That you should show forth the praise of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light well, those of us that have accepted Christ know where we were going and We know where we're going now, don't we and that should be something we share with other people The process will come easy if we sit back and listen to God and do what we're told It's simple. Let's go back into Matthew Chapter 5 and verse 13 anybody in here have heart problems where they can't have salt My granddad's got heart problems and he can't have salt Now when you eat something salty, can you taste it? You taste that salt what else tastes like salt? Is there anything else that tastes like salt that is not salt Guess what guys? We're the salt of the earth. We're different. Aren't we? We are the salt of the earth verse Matthew 5 13 says you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savor wherewith Shall it be salted it is in the dense forth good for nothing But to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men if salt becomes unsalty What good is it? How many of you really like salt Can I tell on my wife We go to the Mexican joint right and they give you chips and salsa what's on the chips already Salt what's in that salsa? salt and Then my wife takes the lid off the salt container. No, not really she covers the chips with salt and she covers the salsa with salt and Slowly you can see the salsa Sneak through the salt and that to her is perfect My heart would explode and I don't have heart issues She likes salt she likes salt and it produces a very unique flavor What good would that salt be if it wasn't salty? No good at all what good would dry water be It wouldn't be water But that in context if we lose our saltiness If I can say that correctly if we lose our uniqueness if we lose our ability to be different We're like dry water or unsalted salt pointless pointless If we read on verse 14, it says you are the light of the world if we don't understand the salt analogy Let's look at why you're the light of the world You're the light of the world a city that is sit on a hill cannot be hid Neither do men like a candle and put it under a bushel But on a candlestick and it giveth light unto all that are in the house So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glory your father Which is in heaven? For light to be effective. What does there need to be? Darkness there has to be darkness And a lot of us how many of you are scared of the dark? It's okay Caleb's scared of the dark, right? How many of you like the dark? Okay, nobody's scared of the dark But I only see four or five hands go up on people that like the dark. So the rest of us are being bashful, right? Why is it we don't like about the dark You can't see you don't know what you're gonna bump into and What usually gets a boogered up in the dark your shins, right? And what takes forever to heal your shins, so we don't like the darkness So we get to be what do you use in the darkness to get through there? Light now, I brought a handy-dandy light with me. How effective is that light in here? It's not illuminating anything, is it can we see it on the ceiling But you know this little light of mine I'm not gonna sing that little light of mine when I let it shine at my house at 3 o'clock in the morning I can go in and check on the kids and I can light up there. I can see the whole bedroom I can check the front door make sure it's locked. It works very well at 3 o'clock in the morning because there's no light It doesn't do a lot of good in the daytime it does not so our light Shines brighter when we're in darkness But all too often when we get in those dark places in the world when we're around people that don't have the light of Christ What do we do with our light? We take that light we turn it off we put it in a pocket and we blend in with them We're in some kind of a dark place And we blend in with them We're in salty salt or dry water It's of no effect So our light needs to shine bright in those dark situations when The moment we accepted salvation and accepted christ as our lord and savior the devil lost our soul, didn't he? He can't have us The only thing he can still have is our service or lack thereof If we can be quiet and keep our mouths shut He wins he wins and i'd rather heat coals of fire on his head So a little bit of light goes a long ways and the hidden light completely lacks purpose Completely lacks purpose. It would be like lighting a candle and putting it under a sack And hiding it or turning off your light and putting it in your pocket. It does no good so We have to love the lost we have to put the How many of you have a church face? How many of you have a church face? Just be honest. How many of you are really nice in church and maybe somebody different at home? Couple yeah Nobody's gonna admit it. No, no because they're like I can't lie i'm in the house of god But if I was out on the street i'd lie because i'm not a you know, okay, it's a vicious cycle We like to treat people good because we're comfortable here, right? You know when you come to church you're going to be treated, right Everybody loves everybody. Everybody has the same common goal But what good is it if my light? Only shines to you guys Okay, i'm shining a light in a bright place It doesn't work you need to take it out into the darkness need to take it into the darkness so Our light needs to shine we need to spend time but We're scared of the dark, right? The things that we need to be careful of in the dark while we are loving the lost while we're shining our light to the lost There is just a little bit of warning in psalm chapter one that we need to watch out for And this is where we're gonna start wrapping things up in psalm chapter one The bible says blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly while we're ministering To the ungodly while we're loving the ungodly while we're providing them food drink taking care of them loving them What we need to be careful for is that we don't walk in their council. That means we don't follow their advice We don't follow their advice if something hurts Emotionally or physically Somebody may give you outside of the church may give you the advice drowned it in a bottle, right? Right When you drink it to excess you become numb, but what happens to that pain in the morning? Still there It's still there and now you've got the headache to go with it. So Be careful on your advice you're getting If it's not light advice if it's not advice from our brothers and sisters in christ, be careful what you listen to Next part of that says nor standeth in the way of sinners Don't follow their ways their ways Are going to a path they they don't really want to go Where to present an alternative show them a different way Don't get caught up in their way And the next part nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful Don't follow their convictions. Don't get Caught up in the same things that guide their life And make them apply to you We've got the light of christ inside of us Let it shine bright His delight is in the law of the lord and in his law that he meditate day and night We're to love them teach them and point them to jesus and that's exactly what we get to do during vacation bible school teach the kids The kids, you know, they're they're teachable. How many of us adults are teachable? I see no hands We don't like being taught how many of you like being wrong It's even worse, isn't it? Yeah, we like to think we have it all figured out. Well today we got it all figured out We all know this stuff, right? Maybe what we just lacked is a little bit of motivation Okay so If we only put our love god mask on on sundays We're in we're in salty salt Let's try that this week let's put on our love god mask all week long Let's be different. Let's be perfect as we see there in matthew 5 48 Be therefore perfect as your father which is in heaven is perfect. And you know why I think perfection is obtainable Because the god that is perfect is inside of us Those of you that have accepted jesus christ as your lord and savior have a perfect god living inside of you If you listen to that perfect god It's just natural you're going to be perfect does that mean we're going to mess up Yes, but what do we do when we mess up? Admit it and move on admit it and move on Closing thought I just want you to think about if you were driving riding in a boat And you're you see a capsized boat it's flipped over One person has swam to shore and the other person's still out there flopping who would you throw the life jacket to? The one that's still in the water Most of the time we like ministering to each other. Don't we? Because it feels good. It's rewarding But that's the same as throwing the life jacket to the guy on the shore There's a lost and dying world out there and they need the love of christ So let's take a leap of faith this week two things one We're going to pray for the thing. We wrote down on our bulletin every day this week and see how god works through that and two Let's let that light shine this week Somebody that you haven't normally let your light shine. Let's let it shine Can we do that? All right, let's close in a word of prayer lord. We do love you And we thank you for empowering us lord We thank you for considering us worthy even though we ourselves may not think we're worthy Lord, we thank you for considering us worthy to house you to hold you to proclaim you And lord, I pray that you forgive me where i've sold you short and where i've let you down Lord, I pray you forgive each and every one of us and just give us the power the motivation and the excitement That we need to reach this community Lord we love you and just thank you lord We pray for our friends and family that are away this week that are traveling lord We praise you and thank you for the union that was made yesterday and lord We just pray that you uh, you bless that crew you bless that group And guide them and direct them and everything that they say and do and we give you all praise in jesus name amen So I i'm way too loved in this church and i'm way too comfortable because I get up all the time and talk But I I just really feel led today to say a few words about wansa mccrary um Tim mentioned, um, denise's mom wanza passed away And tim has no idea who wanza is and and there are a number of you here who don't know her And I just feel like I need to say something about her. Um She was And I don't know I wasn't crying before but this is how much wanza touched my life in this church She's denise jay hayes mom And she was in the preschool department when my children were born. That's 34 35 years ago And I could not wait for my kids to be in her class. They had a wonderful baby teacher It actually was john peter's mom who has passed away. She was their baby teacher and loved them And and and I knew though that when they got to wanza's class Zachary was the oldest and I thought he's going to get to go in there and finger paint because wanza will finger paint with them And he got in there and he was the only two and three year old who would never finger paint I was so disappointed because he wouldn't put his fingers in the paint but Wanza loved him through everything. She didn't care if he painted or not. I can I can hear wanza back there going I am happy. I am happy. Zachary's here today all the time She was like a mentor to me I I taught in the preschool for a number of years and and I watched wanza to know how to teach she um She was salt and she was light She was I I don't ever remember a time seeing her when she wasn't smiling and loving And and people who knew her are saying that's right She left a great legacy here And now we have preschool teachers who are back there teaching And and and I I know that some of her love is in those rooms because she just loved everyone and especially Children and especially those little preschoolers. She taught them until she could not anymore um she She and her husband oc Retired to oklahoma where the one of them or both of them was from. I can't remember and um I don't know if you know or not, but and I don't know all the details for sure but denise jay is not here a lot the last hasn't been here a lot the last couple years because Like every other week or so she goes to oklahoma about a six to eight hour drive. We aren't sure And and takes care of her mom and dad so that they could stay in their home and not have to be put Somewhere else which was their wish Denise has five brothers and sisters and a couple of them have helped her. It has been very trying for her and for jazi Jazi's here a lot of sundays when denise isn't because denise is in oklahoma taking care of them Um, they're too far away I don't know if anyone would be able to go to that funeral or not. But um It's when denise is here again I just wanted you all to to know those of you who don't know wanda and don't know what denise has been doing I just want to thank god for her life and what she has meant to so many of us here. So, thank you So That's an example of someone letting their light shine So, thank you tim For the message and we'll close with um something that I didn't know carol doesn't know this we're going to do 491 Shine jesus shine, we're just going to sing the chorus of that so It's 491 if you want to know no, but I think many people know this song So will you stand with me and we will sing in deep heart? Shine jesus shine fill this land with the father's glory Flow river flow With grace and mercy You You