Better Witnesses

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We are called to be both the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

And now, here's Pastor Jeff with today's message, Better Witnesses.

Before we jump into our message this morning, we're going to skip that video, Mason.

We're just going to go straight into the sermon, but I want to just give the

Holy Spirit freedom to move.

He's here. He's working. he dwells on the praises of his people where the spirit

of the Lord is there's freedom and there's liberty and I want you to know that

you can be free from whatever burden you're carrying this morning,

I know there's been some job losses within our body there's been some struggles there's been hard times,

it doesn't change the fact that God is good that God is faithful that he's true

to his word and that he loves you.

Some of you, you might have come in here and you might feel the heaviness of the burden.

And so we just want to give that to you, Lord. Whatever you want to do this

morning in us, we want to get out of the way and we ask that you move.

And so right now, just in your heart and in your spirit, I want you to pray,

God, I give you all my burdens. Go ahead.

We give them to you, God. Take them. We were never meant to carry them, so we give them to you.

Maybe you're having anxious thoughts this morning.

Give them your anxious thoughts. God, I give you my anxiety.

I give you my anxious thoughts.

Maybe you're worried about where your paycheck's going to come from or how you're

going to survive. Give them that.

We cast our burdens on you, Lord.

We give you all worry.

God, we want to listen to your word.

Your word never returns void, so speak to us through your word this morning. Speak to us.

We don't want to come in this place and not hear from you, so we beg you,

God, to speak through your word. Speak through your servant.

Change us. Make us more like you. Help us to grasp hold of the incredible love

that you have for us this morning.

That we are no longer citizens of this world. We are citizens of the kingdom of God.

We have a new name. We have a new identity. Help us to walk in that identity.

We love you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, Father, for sending Jesus to die for us.

For doing what we could not do.

Please move in this place today, we pray. And all God's people said,

Amen. Amen. Isn't it good to be together in the house of the Lord?

Kids, you can be dismissed.

Have a great time with Ms. Hannah.

If you've been with us over the past few weeks, we've been going through a series

that we entitled Better.

And we've been looking in week one, we looked at better priorities,

how we can seek first the kingdom of God, right?

We talked about that. And then we talked about last week, fulfilling the mission

that Christ has given us.

We looked at having better relationships.

We learned that every relationship that we have is leading us in one direction or the other.

And we had to ask ourselves the question, if every relationship we have,

every friendship we have is leading us somewhere, is it leading us to be more

Christ-like Or is it leading us to be less like Christ?

Because we're called little Christ. That's what Christian means.

And if you missed any of these messages, I want to encourage you,

go listen to them online.

They're in our Church Center app. They're on iTunes and Spotify and YouTube

and Google Play. Oh, and iHeart.

So we're trying to find every single streaming platform that you may listen

to. We want to make it available to you.

So just be sure to go on there. I believe that it'll encourage you and challenge

you to be more Christ-like.

How many of you, just by show of hands, know someone that is not yet a Christian?

Someone who needs to follow Christ. Someone who needs forgiveness.

Someone that needs to know that they are loved. We all know people that need

to give their hearts and to give their lives to Jesus Christ.

And this morning, we're going to be looking at Matthew 5.

Point number one there in your notes is that if you're a follower of Christ,

then you know that you are called to be the light of the world.

You are called to be the light of the world. And this is what Matthew 5 says.

You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.

Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that,

and here's the point, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

So according to Jesus, who is the light of the world?

You are. That's right. We are. You are the light.

And Jesus purposely uses this metaphor of light. What does light do?

It dispels darkness. It illuminates, right? It gives us direction.

It guides us.

It drives out fear. How many of you have ever been camping or in a cave or somewhere

dark and your light went out?

I have. That fear just comes on, doesn't it?

When the light is not there, the fear gets driven up.

And Jesus didn't say that when he's talking to the disciples,

he didn't say that they have the light of the world or that the missionaries,

they are the light or the pastors, they are the light or those who've gone to

Bible college are the light or you've gone to seminary. So they are the light.

No, he said, you, each one of you, each and every one of us is the light of the world.

And if you and I are called the light of the world, then we have to understand

that the call to become a more effective witness is a personal responsibility that we must fulfill.

The call to be light is not something that is a, you know, well,

I'll take it if I want it or if I decide to do that.

It's a personal responsibility. It's not an option for the child of God.

Take it one step further. It's not the responsibility of the people next to

you. It's your responsibility.

We have to own it. Look with me at Ephesians 5, chapter 8.

And Paul says this. He says, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

So live as children of light.

Notice there too, Paul didn't say that you once lived in darkness.

It says you were once darkness.

That was your identity.

So if you were once darkness and you come to Christ, you don't have to try to be light.

You are now the light in the Lord because the Holy Spirit lives in you at the time of salvation.

You are carrying the light within you.

The call to become a more effective witness is also the call to no longer hide your identity.

Go back to Matthew 4 with me. It says, you are the light of the world.

Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden, no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.

I hear the Sunday school song in my head that I learned.

Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone

will praise your heavenly Father.

When you come to Christ, it's impossible to hide the fact that you are now light.

It becomes obvious when you come to Christ, it becomes obvious to those around

you that your identity has changed.

We are not to hide our new identity under a basket.

Jesus says instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house.

Likewise, when you come to Christ, you are no longer darkness, you are light.

And just as light is placed on a stand for the household, God places you on a stand.

In other words, he places you where he wants you to, and he gives you a platform

where you can be light to everyone in the house.

He's talking about proximity.

God has given you the platform that you have now, whether it's in the school

or in your workplace or in a truck or wherever you're at.

He's given you that specific platform, and that platform is your purpose to live out as being light.

We have to leverage our platform to live out our purpose.

We have to shine as brightly as we can where God has put us.

You may not like your job.

God wants you to be there. You may not like your coworkers, yet God has divinely

put you there to be a light to them.

And here's the thing. As I was studying this week, one simple thought.

Guys, you know me. I'm a simple guy.

But here's a thought that I had. only you have your platform.

Have you thought about that? No one else can fulfill God's purpose in your life except for you.

That's why he's given you the specific platform that you have so that you can

fulfill his purpose on the platform that he's given to you.

Only you can live out your divine purpose and be the light to those around you.

I can never live out my kid's purpose or my co-worker's purpose.

I can't live out your purpose.

Only you can live out your purpose.

Maybe it's where you live. Have you met your neighbors yet?

Have you invited them to church yet? Have you tried to get to know them?

Do you think it's possible that God divinely put you in your neighborhood,

in your house, because he knew

that that neighborhood needed a family that would be a city on a hill,

dispelling darkness and bringing light to those who need it? Absolutely.

Verse 16 says, in the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see

that everyone will praise your heavenly father.

See, one of the defining qualities and characteristics of a Christian is the

good works that now flow from your life.

Remember when we studied the book of James a few months ago,

we were not saved by good works.

We were saved for or unto good works.

And so verse 16 shifts from the metaphor of being light to application.

One commentary put it this way.

The phrase, let your good deeds shine, is an imperative for believers to live

out their faith visibly and actively.

See, your faith was never meant to be something that you just live in private.

You are to be visible with your faith and active.

And it says, the phrase, before others, underscores the public nature of our

witness, emphasizing that genuine faith is observed through actions.

The purpose is clear. Good works are not for personal acclaim,

but to direct attention and praise to God.

The things that we do, these good deeds that we do in life are not for us.

It's to bring glory to Jesus Christ. Amen?

The purpose is all attention and all praise to God.

He says, this aligns with the biblical theme of glorifying God through righteous

living, pointing others to the divine source of that righteousness.

You and I were not saved to be hidden away.

We were saved to point this dark world to salvation through loving works that we do for them.

That's why we do Saturday Serve. That's why we're out in our community.

We want to be the hands and feet of Jesus so that by our love for them,

they'll see that our lives are different because we are children of the King.

And that's attractional. We don't have to have a circus in here to be an attractional church.

The love of the Father that's in us and reaching out and loving people will

attract people to himself.

The call to be light is public and it's active.

Can I ask you a personal question this morning? Do those around you even know

that you're a Christian?

Do they see you as a light in a dark world?

Do you reflect God's truth and God's love on a daily basis?

And it has to be both. You cannot just love them, and you cannot just show them

the truth and shove it down their throats.

It's truth with love. So we have to ask ourselves if we reflect God's truth

and love on a daily basis.

So number one, you're called to be light. But number two, you are called to be the salt of the earth.

Matthew 5.13 says, again, you, you are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You see, salt was a highly valued commodity in ancient times,

and it was used primarily for preservation and for flavoring.

And when Jesus calls his disciples the salt of the earth, and he calls you the

salt of the earth, He's emphasizing their value and function in the world.

And just as salt preserves and enhances food, you and I are to preserve goodness

and truth in a morally decaying world.

And to enrich and bring out the true flavor of life as intended by God.

Listen, you and I, we're called to be agents of influence and preservation in

the world, slowing down the advancement of moral and spiritual decay.

This world is full of moral and spiritual decay.

And it's our saltiness that is supposed to influence it and preserve it.

That's why the psalmist said in Psalm 14, 3, all have turned away.

All have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one.

You and I have to be the salt of the earth and help slow the decay of the world around us.

Matthew 5.13 continues and said, But if the salt loses its saltiness,

how can it be made salty again?

As I studied this verse, I came to understand that the salt that Jesus used

was most oftentimes harvested from surrounding marshes as well as from the Dead Sea.

And this salt would be harvested, but it would contain impurities.

And after a while, it could lose its effectiveness and taste.

And Jesus uses this analogy to illustrate that his followers,

if they compromise their calling, if they lose their distinctiveness,

they're also going to lose their effectiveness in the world.

You too are the salt of the earth.

And as vulnerable, as valuable as salt was and is, you are infinitely more valuable than salt.

And you've been given the responsibility, and I've been given the responsibility

to influence the world and to be salt in our society, preserving what is good

and standing against corruption and moral decay.

And to do that, we have to live an authentic Christian life that embodies the

righteousness of God in our daily lives.

Guys, we are called to holiness, to righteousness.

So we need to continually stop and we need to ask ourselves if we are living

a life that is influencing the world around us and help preserving the world.

Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and to preach the gospel,

to make disciples of all nations.

And if we know all of this to be true and yet we fail to do it,

we'll stop losing, we'll stop being effective, we'll stop reaching people for Christ.

I think there's several reasons why we do that.

Why do we hesitate to share our faith?

Why do we hesitate to be witnesses for Jesus? I think number one is that we're afraid.

We're afraid. How many of you have ever gone door-to-door witnessing?

Yeah, a few of you have. I remember when I was in Bible college.

We had to learn a script, and I went to school in New York, Word of Life Bible

Institute for one year, and it's a 12-month Bible school, and they taught us

how to go witness, right? You're going to go knock on these doors.

Someone's going to come to the door, and you're going to talk to them.

Well, we went, we were up, up, up, up in the Adirondacks in Scroon Lake,

population like 35 people plus the students.

They took us. We got on a bus. Oh, Rena, you went there.

They took us, I don't know about your class, maybe we broke them of this,

but they took us on buses to New York City, and we went evangelizing in New York City.

It was terrifying.

I stopped caring about whether or not people were going to hell and wondering

if I was going to be okay or not.

And you start praying, but you're not praying for them. Oh, God,

may they open the door. No, you're like, oh, Lord, please tell no one to be home.

Please. Oh, Jesus, please don't let them be home.

We're afraid. It's not easy to share our faith, number one.

Number two, I think we don't feel qualified.

How many would say that sometimes you just feel a little bit unqualified to

go up to people and start talking to them about your faith?

What if I get to a place where I can't fully explain the gospel?

Maybe you think you have to go to Bible college or seminary or evangelism explosion, or I don't know.

But we feel like we're unqualified. The third one is some of us,

we just, we've had bad experiences with people and we don't want to be pushy.

I guarantee you that each one of us has probably had an encounter with someone

that's pushy, whether it was, you know, a Latter-day Saints or someone else,

or maybe a salesman or whatever. We don't want to be pushy.

Repent, you need Jesus, you're going to hell.

Okay, all true, all true. How's

it gonna come across? Is it gonna be accepted? We don't wanna be pushy.

So you decide that you'd rather be quiet than pushy. Number four,

and this is probably the saddest thing, but many of us, we've just become complacent.

We simply don't care that much.

Our life is okay. We've got Jesus. We're going to heaven.

And so we really don't have the passion that we should. We become complacent.

Listen, you don't have to be an expert. You don't have to know all the answers.

Because you are filled with the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead.

He's living inside of you, and God calls you an ambassador.

You are the highest-ranking diplomat sent from heaven to earth to represent Christ.

Did you know that? Because the Spirit of God is in you.

You are an ambassador representing Christ.

If you are a follower of Jesus, God is calling you, and he's calling me.

We have to share our faith.

In the few minutes we have left, I simply want to show you three ways that you

can share your faith in Christ and be a better witness.

The first way is that you can use what you have.

Use what you have. The very first time we see the gospel spread in the New Testament,

it's by an unlikely candidate named Levi.

If you don't know a lot about Levi, he was the despised tax collector, also known as Matthew.

But when Jesus changed Levi's life, he simply couldn't keep the love of Jesus to himself.

Think about Matthew for a second. He didn't know anything about how to share

his faith. He wasn't a preacher.

He never went to seminary. He had no religious training.

He would have failed miserably.

Levi had never been to a church membership class or pizza with the pastor,

or never done a serve day, never led a connection group.

He never went through rooted. Wow.

But he did something that he did know how to do. He threw a party.

Luke five tells us this. It says, then Levi had a great banquet for Jesus at his house.

In my Bible, I underline for Jesus. Okay.

But a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.

But the Pharisees, those religious folks, the judgmental folks,

and the teachers of the law who belong to their sect complained to his disciples.

Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?

Jesus answered them, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Matthew simply called his friends up and said, hey, I'm having a banquet,

and I'm going to invite everyone I know.

And he invited sinners to come eat with him.

And the hidden purpose behind it all was to call sinners to repentance.

And you can use the same thing. Whatever you have, you can use it to reach those you love.

Start with what you have. You have a boat.

I know some of you do. Leverage it. Invite people out to go fishing or to go boating.

But you've got in the back of your mind, I'm going to leverage this as an opportunity

to talk to them about Christ.

I'm going to leverage this as an opportunity to invite them to church. Can you cook?

Not just if you think you can cook. You've got to really be able to cook.

If you can cook and you can put a meal together, invite someone over for a meal.

Invite your neighbor over who you haven't met.

Host them. Hang out with them with a hidden agenda that you're going to be light

to them, that you're going to be salt to them.

Use your time to invest in relationships.

Number two, you can invite someone to church. It's pretty easy.

In John chapter 4, there's this

John 4 · chapter mention

powerful story about a woman who had experienced a lot of hurts in life.

And when she met Jesus, he offered her living water.

And it was a relationship that would change her forever. And John tells us this

in chapter 4, verse 28 through 30.

Then leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the

people, Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?

They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

You see, when you have an encounter with Jesus and it truly changes your life,

you can't help but invite people to come meet him.

Because of what you've been through, the hurts you've been through,

when you truly have a life transformation and your life was one way and now

it's another way, you cannot help but go to those people around you and say, I know a man.

I know someone that will change your life.

She didn't memorize a script. She didn't memorize a sermon.

She didn't lead anyone in a prayer. She simply invited everyone to come and

meet the Savior who changed her life.

You see someone in your class hurting or a co-worker are hurting, invite them to church.

You see someone you work with that maybe just needs direction,

ask them if you can pray with them.

Be Jesus with flesh on to them and invite them to church.

So you can use what you have. You can invite someone to church.

Number three you can share your

story you can share your story

i love the story in john 9 about the testimony of the

blind man that jesus had healed the pharisees

man they were they were great folks and the

skeptics they criticized jesus and they kept

calling him a a sinner a con man and then he healed the man and this is what

happened John 9 25-27 the Pharisees they bring this guy in and they're like

what really happened what did he do.

He replied, whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know.

I don't know. One thing I do know, I was blind, but now I see.

I was blind, but now I see. Then they asked him, what did he do to you?

How did he open your eyes? And he answered, I've already told you, and you did not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again? And there's almost this little sarcasm in his voice.

He says, I've told you and you didn't listen. Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you want to become his disciple too?

When you were blind and now you see, you're going to want everyone to know who changed your life.

I love that. He didn't have all the answers. All he knew was that he had had

an encounter with Jesus, and he couldn't help but tell his story.

Most of you, you're here. You've had an encounter with Jesus.

Are you using what you have? Are you using the resources God's given you?

Maybe you have a great house. It's beautiful, and you could host people.

Maybe you could do a Bible study there just with your neighbors or a parenting

thing just with your neighbors.

Use what you have. God's given it to you.

God's given you the platform that you have, and he's given it to you for a purpose,

and only you can live out the purpose that God has for your life.

Share your story. Invite someone to church. Guys, we have invite cards out of the Welcome Center.

Not just to look pretty. It's to give you a vehicle, a tool to start a conversation,

so that you can say, hey, I don't know if you go to church anywhere.

I'd love to invite you. This place has changed my life.

I don't know what you're going through, but here, I'll save you a seat.

I'll take you out for lunch.

Use what you have invite people to church and tell your story it's my challenge for you today,

you are the light of the world you are the salt of the earth,

he saved you and he's called you who you are live a life of righteousness out before people,

your good works the way you do life should reflect the glory of God,

should make people say hey I want what they have something's different about

them they're walking through a hard time and yet they're not depressed,

he just lost his job yet he's joyful He's glorifying God.

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The way you live out your relationship before the world around you can draw people to God.

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I want to challenge you. Leverage the platform God has given you.

Leverage it. Use it.

Only you can fulfill God's purpose that he has for you right where you are. Let's pray.

Father, I am so thankful that you have saved us through the blood of Jesus.

I am so thankful that you redeemed us and.

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We want to live out this life with purpose.

We want to live it out for your glory, for your kingdom, for your honor,

so that people will come to you.

You desire that no one perish.

And maybe you're here this morning, you've never been a witness,

not just because you're afraid or you feel like you don't have enough information

or not even because you're complacent, but it's because you don't know Christ yet.

If that's you, I want to give you the opportunity.

And there's folks that are down front. They'd love to pray with you.

They'd love to talk to you about how you can come to Christ.

But it's easy as ABC. Admit that you're a sinner.

Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You ask him into your heart, into your life.

And you surrender your ways. You surrender your will and you begin an about

face and you now walk in the ways of Christ and you yield your life and your will to him.

And he gives you his Holy Spirit to empower you to live a life of righteousness for him.

And then you confess that he is Lord.

If that's you, the Bible says today is the day of salvation. Today. Don't put it off.

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I want you to make a commitment today that you're going to be a witness and

you're going to be obedient to the call that God has put on our hearts and lives.

I want to ask you to do something. You can open your eyes. I want to ask you

to do something. There's space on the bottom of your notes.

And it says there's a place for five names.

Five names. Five names is not a lot. I want you right now to write down five

names of people that you will witness to this week.

That's less than one a day.

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Five people.

Maybe it's coffee.

Maybe it's dinner. Maybe it's grabbing an invite card and inviting two or three people.

Five people.

I'm going to give you just a couple minutes to pray over that,

guys we are to be active with our faith we're not just going to come and sit

and then leave we're going to be active Lisa is going to continue to play and

we're going to write five names.

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God, I pray that you would help us to live out our lives.

I pray that you would make us shine so bright that people won't see us, they'll see you.

That they'll glorify you because of the good things we do.

Thank you for salvation. Thank you for Jesus. Would you empower us,

Holy Spirit, to go out this week and to invite, to tell our story,

to use what we have to further the kingdom of God.

Let us tell our testimony this week. We ask it in your name.

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