SUMMER TOGETHER | Part 4 | 8 Powers of Salt

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Okay.

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Oh yeah.

>> [music]

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>> Hey, welcome to Grace Summit Church

podcast. We're so glad you're here.

We're all about helping people know

Jesus, grow in their [music] faith, and

live out his love every day. No matter

where you're at in your faith journey,

our prayer is that this message helps

you [music] know Jesus more and live

with greater purpose and conviction.

Let's jump in.

>> Hallelujah. Grace Summit Church, how we

feeling today? My goodness, y'all are a

handsome bunch of folks. Praise the

Lord. Hey, if you're a first- time guest

with us, uh my name is Ben. I have the

opportunity to serve as lead pastor and

really excited you're in the house of

God this morning. Amen. Can we celebrate

first and time second time guest today?

[applause]

Don't worry if it's your first time. I'm

not going to have you come up to the

altar and embarrass you or anything like

that. We're just excited you're here.

>> Well, hey, we're going to dig into the

word of God today and [clears throat] uh

believe I have a word uh for you. Uh

would you pray with me? Father, we thank

you, Lord, for Lord, the living word of

God. Lord, we don't need to add to or

embellish or take from, Father, anything

with your word because your living word

is life. And Father, we pray today that

we would just simply receive, God, your

word.

>> Praise you, Jesus. Father, I thank you

for the blood of Jesus Christ that has

cleansed us, Lord, that we can even sit

here and hear you. And so, Father, we

pray and thank you for the anointing

upon the preaching of your word, the

anointing upon our hearts, our spiritual

ears and spiritual eyes to be able to

receive of heaven today. Bless it now in

Jesus name.

>> Amen.

>> Well, hey, I want to kind of uh continue

a little bit. Last week, if you were

with us, uh we talked about uh being a

peacemaker. Blessed are the peacemakers.

Uh and we kind of compared that versus

peacekeeping. There's a radical

difference there and really kind of just

unpack peace as a whole. And we're going

to uh read the sermon on the mount.

Matthew chapter 5 uh verse 1 says,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

"Seeing the crowds, he went up. Jesus

went up on the mountain. And when he sat

down, his disciples came to him." Let me

pause there for a minute. So they're in

the crowds and Jesus says, "Hey guys,

let's let's go up here." And so the

disciples follow him. And I just want to

make note that sometimes following Jesus

means leaving the crowd. Amen.

Yeah. So Jesus has uh in this scene kind

of uh the crowd as the backdrop. They're

sitting up on the mountain

and he's using the presence of the crowd

as a type of teaching moment.

In other words, what he's

speaking in non-verbal

tone is disciples, when you're

ministering to people, all of those the

crowd down there, this is how you should

be.

And so in verse two, he begins what we

call the biatitudes.

Verse two says, "And he opened his mouth

and taught them, saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for

theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they

shall be comforted. Blessed are the

meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst

for righteousness,

for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall

receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in

heart, for they shall see God. Verse

nine is where we were last week. Blessed

are the peacemakers, for they shall be

called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for

righteousness sake, for theirs is the

kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when

others revile you and persecute you and

utter all kinds of evil against you

falsely on my account. Rejoice and be

glad, for your reward is great in

heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who

were before you.

Verse 13 is where we want to spend some

time today. He says, "You are the salt

of the earth." Say, "Salt."

>> Salt.

>> You know, Jesus could have just as

easily said, "Sugar.

Get out there and be sweet. You're the

sugar of the earth." He said, he could

have said, "You're the dirt of the

earth." That wouldn't have been very

nice, Jesus. Amen.

He says, "You're the salt of the earth."

The title of the message today is get

salty.

Oh man, that'll preach right there.

You're not called to be sweet. Get

salty. Amen.

>> Yeah.

Jesus first tells them with the

biatitudes

what blessed character looks like.

Then he tells them, and this is what I

like to receive. He tells them what

blessed character does. It becomes

the salt of the earth. Today I want to

give you eight attributes of a salty

Christian. Man, if you're taking notes,

I'm going to keep you busy today.

Yeah, I might have got kicked out of

hermeneutics class, Pastor Dan.

Homalytics.

Oh, that'd be so staunch. You got to

have a three-point sermon. Three points.

Three-point sermon. Well, I got eight

points. Hallelujah. Because that's what

God's up to today. Amen.

[clears throat]

>> Eight attributes of a salty Christian

or what I like to call the eight powers

of salt. Number one in your notes is

that salt seasons. This is probably the

most obvious uh use of salt in our

culture. Uh anyone in here love salt?

Man, I am a salt lover. Yeah, give me

the salt. Uh, you ever been a guest and

uh felt obligated to eat a meal that

didn't taste very good?

>> Yeah. What's the one saving grace on the

table?

>> Salt.

>> Yeah. Oh, we're polite about it. Could

you hand me the salt? Because this

tastes like the devil. I don't know what

you did to this thing.

And you can kind of save anything by

just smothering it in salt. Amen.

Yeah.

The Bible says that love covers a

multitude of sin. Uh I think that salt

covers a multitude of cooking sins.

>> Yeah, we can we can make it through this

thing. Uh adding salt changes the

flavor.

Uh the goal of a good chef is to make a

meal seasoned in such a way and I

remember working with Chaz even looking

to see if anyone grabs the salt because

you want to season in such a way that

it's seasoned perfectly that nobody

grabs the salt and they're definitely

not touching the pepper. Amen.

>> Perfectly seasoned.

The other thing I've learned about salt

as a seasoning,

not only does it add flavor, but it

actually pulls the flavor out.

The flavor that's already hiding in the

food. If you put the proper amount of

salt, it actually pulls the flavors out.

Amen.

>> Remember first learning to bake and

going, "Why are we putting salt in a

cake?

That doesn't even make sense, right?"

But it's pulling flavors out. It's

bringing the balance. As a Christian,

being the salt of the earth means that

we're pulling the very best flavors out

of those that we're around. Amen. I

mean, we're adding a little bit of

flavor, but really what we're doing is

pulling the best out. I don't know if

you've been around humans like I have.

Have you ever been around somebody that

has a knack of pulling the very worst

out of anyone?

>> You've met those people, too, right? And

they're like, man, no matter where

they're around, they can pull the very

worst out of me. And how do you, right?

Five minutes in the room and everybody's

there's drama and people are upset and

I'm just like, all he did was show up.

How did he how does he do that? Yeah.

>> Yeah. I've been around those folks, too.

Well, that's not the calling of a

Christian. It's the exact opposite. What

if we were so filled with the Holy

Spirit? What if we were so seasoned with

the salt of heaven that we had a knack

for pulling the very best out of

individuals as we encountered them? What

if the atmosphere changed when we walked

in the room because the God of heaven is

flowing through us?

Yeah. Sometimes Christians

look at other believers or non-believers

and we get critical.

What if the salt criticized the bland

food

rather than stepping up and helping

season it? Amen.

Why do we as Christians let the

atmosphere determine something to us

rather than us being filled the salt of

the earth, right? Rather than us

dictating to the atmosphere that I'm

going to make the very best out of this

circumstance. I'm going to pull the very

best out of you.

Salt

seasons, adds a little flavor. Number

two, we got eight, man. We got to move

quick today.

Number two, salt sanitizes.

Salt sanitizes.

You know, there's lots of different

chemical compounds of salt. They're all

salt, but there's lots of different uh

types of salt. Uh we have a we've had a

hot tub for a few years now at our home

and man I doing the whole chemical

thing. We had hot tubs in Michigan. I'm

used to the whole pools and chemicals

and all that stuff and I really don't

like the chemicals. Anyone with me?

Yeah. I'm not a huge fan of the chlorine

smell and I don't like the way it makes

my skin feel and all that stuff. So I

did some research and uh we switched I

switched it over to a saltwater hot tub.

>> Man, that's cool stuff, I got to tell

you. And uh what I'm used to is uh

maintaining the chemicals all year

round. So every week you got to go out,

you got to shock it, you got to do this,

you got to balance that and do a little

little strip test thing, you know, and

all this different stuff. And uh now

that I've switched it to salt water, I

have very low maintenance. Every once in

a while, I'll go check the pH. Other

than that, that thing is perfectly

balanced, sanitized, and clean. The

other part is that my skin feels a whole

lot better and I don't have that

chemical smell. Amen. Is it interesting

that just salt? That's it. It's just

salt

has the power to sanitize.

It's constant.

It's low maintenance.

Can I just say this? When you get the

salt on the inside, as Jesus is saying,

you're the salt of the earth. What we

don't need is to come every week on

Sunday to get my chemical shock to get

me cleaned back up again

because I didn't have it through the

week and so I need that shock to get me.

You just have it on the inside of you.

Amen.

Salt sanitizes. The Holy Spirit purifies

us from the inside out

every second,

every day.

all the time. We're pure. We're holy.

We're set apart. We're sanctified. We're

sanitized. Amen.

>> Salt makes the water, my goodness, feel

so much softer and gentler.

Doesn't hurt my eyes.

Yeah. No harsh smells. Nice and silky.

Look at your neighbor and say, "You're

silky.

>> [laughter]

>> awkward.

[laughter]

>> You silky.

Yeah.

Yeah. I think about some Christians I've

been around. They're calling out

sin and rightly so, but the way that

they do it is harsh.

You ever met these folks? They're

religious. I connect them as I study the

Pharisees and the Sadducees that Jesus

was rebuking. Some of the same

attributes are in Christians that live

in America today.

It's that harsh chemical shock. Yeah,

we're we're killing the the bad stuff,

but we're doing it in a way that's

harsh.

But what if we were the salt of the

earth and we sanitized and we were just

silky smooth.

Yeah. Nice and smooth. You feel good

when you leave. Amen.

>> Yeah. That's the good stuff.

Salt systems and pools and hot tubs,

they're low maintenance.

Some Christians are high maintenance.

Yeah.

Hm.

High maintenance. Always needing

something. Just like that. Hot tub.

Always needs something, right? Just

kind. This is always every time I check

it needs something.

Salt made it low maintenance.

Man, I just want to be low maintenance.

I don't want to be that needy friend

Christian that always needs something.

Always bothered. Always something.

Right. Pray [laughter] for me. My boss

is being such a jerk.

Pray for yourself.

Amen.

>> Pray for yourself.

Be stable enough. Be sanitized enough

that that your jerk boss isn't throwing

you an emotional tail spin. Oh, I almost

started preaching. Hallelujah.

Yeah.

Salty doesn't mean no maintenance.

does mean I don't have to shock treat my

soul every time something goes wrong.

Salt sanitizes. Number three in your

notes is that salt stabilizes.

Salt stabilizes.

A salty life is a steady life.

Less drama. I think that's become one of

my top goals in life. Less drama. Some

of y'all know my testimony. I lived in

some drama, man. I was on the streets.

I've been in jails. I've been in there

drama all the time. Drama, drama, drama,

drama, drama. I've been in some

relationships pre-salvation. Nothing but

drama. Amen.

Yeah. The more saved I get, the less

drama. I just like peace.

I just like that stability. I like the

consistency. I like the sanitization. I

like the purity of it. I just like I

just like everything to kind of kind of

be good. Do you know what I've learned

is that I'm the one that dictates the

temperature of my own life.

I'm not a victim to your drama.

Man, I almost feel like preaching today.

Salt makes you stable.

It changes reaction time. Interesting

how salt is used. Uh salt actually when

added the freezing point is lowered.

It's how we make ice cream. Put salt on

ice. You guys ever done this?

>> Yeah. And it makes it get colder.

That's crazy. How does that even

happens? Just adding the salt. Salt

added to water,

the boiling point is raised,

the temperature changes, the reaction

time changes.

It means the water doesn't freeze as

quickly. And the water doesn't boil over

as fast. Say less reaction.

>> Less reaction.

>> So salt changes the reaction time to

temperature.

For us, it changes our temperament, our

reaction time. Amen. The more salty you

are in Christ,

the slower you freeze up when life gets

cold.

The slower you boil over when life gets

hot.

Oh my goodness. I needed me some of

that. Anyone in here a hotthead? It's

okay. You can tell the truth in church.

Yeah. Yeah. I got delivered out of

addiction and stuff, but I got to tell

you, man, I just I I I get angry. So

angry so fast. I'm ready to throw hands.

Chaz knows. Chaz knew me back in the

day. I'm ready to throw hands. You got

to talk. You got If you don't talk to me

a certain way, if you're I'm I'm ready

to roll, right? You can look at me

sideways and I'm mad, angry, ready to

man. I just boiling over. Couldn't

control my Oh my goodness. Road rage. I

have ran people off of the road before.

Literally got in front of them and

because I'm I lose my mind. I'm just out

of control. I'd boil over, man. It

didn't even take much. Yeah.

I'm so glad I found G. Jesus found me.

Whatever. However that happened.

Mhm.

>> Yeah.

Passing people in the median in the

grass. Go over the rumble strips.

[laughter]

Get right in front of you and hit the

brakes.

>> Yeah. I was that guy.

Mhm.

Look at your neighbor and say, "I got

saved.

>> I got saved."

>> Yeah. I got salty.

Here's an interesting thing. like the

salt in the water. All of a sudden, your

pot won't boil over. I can be in the

same heated situation that I was

pre-salvation and I'm not blowing my

lid. I remember early on in disciplehip,

uh God was really doing a a a powerful

work on the inside of me. I had this

desire to really be more like him and to

serve him. And uh I had an individual

God just kind of lined it up, I think,

to show me the growth that that had

happened on me and said, "Man, this guy

started coming. He's talking sideways.

And I know two years ago

I would have blew my lid,

but I stood there. I was feeling the

heat, but I wasn't boiling over.

Somehow I got salty.

Say, get salty.

>> Yeah.

Bible says, "Be angry and sin not."

Bible says, "A fool lets full vent to

his anger.

It's okay to get a little heated. Not

okay to blow your lid.

>> Amen.

>> Proverbs 14:29 says, "Whoever is slow to

Proverbs 14:29

anger

has great understanding."

If you're taking notes, you can write

this down. Some of us don't need less

heat in our life. We need more salt.

Amen.

Why do we pray that way? that God would

change them and not me.

I don't need less heat. What I need to

be is mature enough in the spirit that

I'm not blowing up every time somebody

does whatever they do to bring the heat.

Amen.

Jesus says you're the salt of the earth.

Salt stabilizes. Number four, salt

strengthens.

Man, salt increases density.

Uh, anyone familiar with the Dead Sea?

Yeah. Interesting body of water. Uh,

it's 33.7%

salt.

That's salty. Uh, my wife uh her

grandma, she's passed away. Uh, she was

a Pentecostal spitfire. She is a little

little thing. And she was the only one

that was allowed to grab me by the cheek

and call me Benny. [laughter]

Nobody else. But I loved Grant. I

couldn't hardly wait be at the family

fun. She

all this stuff. Yeah. Uh she was just a

wild card. In her 80s, she went

skydiving. It was on her bucket list.

She did the whole tandem thing. I'm

like, "Grandma, you have lost your

mind." And she jumped out of an

airplane. Just a wild card. But she had

it on her bucket list to go to Israel.

And so she comes back and and has all

the pictures and and she's telling her

story. She was just so amazed at the

Dead Sea. How when she got into the

water, she floated.

>> Yeah. You just It changes the buoyancy,

the density of the water so thick with

salt that that And I don't think grandma

lost a bunch of weight before she got in

the Dead Sea to be floating out there.

Right.

>> But somehow the salt in the water held

her up. Say, "Hold me up."

>> Hold me up.

>> Almost like defying gravity.

Salt increases density.

Salt doesn't change the weight. It

changes your float. Amen.

>> Jesus said, "My yoke is easy. My burden

is light." When I evaluate the things

that Jesus walked through, it doesn't

seem like an easy yoke. And it doesn't

seem like a light burden. Amen. But he

still had that confession because there

was something bigger than him that was

holding him up. Amen.

No, wearing myself out just trying to

tread water and stay afloat. But the

power of the spirit on the inside of me

lifts me up.

I don't know what happened over the

years. Something changed in culture.

Everyone started talking about triggers.

Isn't it weird? I didn't even hear it 20

years ago. I don't even know what it

was. Yeah. World's all about triggers.

This triggers me. This messes with my

This messes me up. This triggers me.

Yeah.

Here's my conviction. Don't run from

your triggers. Run to them. Get salty

and work through them. Amen.

Yeah. Invite Christ to that trigger. The

world says avoid them. Christ says

overcome them.

The weight of your problem might not

change.

Your ability to carry it will when you

get salty.

Got quiet in church. What are you guys

doing?

>> Taking note. Getting salty.

That's right.

Yeah, you silky.

Salt lowers your I'm done point and it

raises your I'm losing it point.

You guys been there before?

>> I sometimes I've lived life where I just

bounce between the two.

I'm done. Ready to give up. How many

times I was suicidal in my sin life,

right? I'm done. I'm out. Had enough.

This is all life has to get. I'm done.

I'm out of here. Until the then then I

bounce to the other side. I'm losing it,

man. I'm ready to just explode. It

lowers that reaction time. The pressure

didn't change.

The ability to handle the pressure is

increased

because of the salty life.

2 Corinthians 4 says this, "We are

pressed." In verse 8, we are pressed on

every side by trouble, but we're not

crushed. We are perplexed, but not

driven to despair. We're hunted down,

but never abandoned by God. We get

knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

That's the life of a salty Christian.

We're not praying for God to change the

weight. We're praying for us to be full

of the Holy Spirit and have a greater

capacity to carry it.

Number five in your notes is that salt

preserves.

Salt preserves.

You guys know that uh refrigeration and

preservatives is a fairly new thing as

far as humans are concerned.

Yeah. Uh I don't know what kind of

preservatives they're using, but we have

stuff, you know, that can be in a

package for like six years

and it's still edible.

>> I I look at it, I go, I don't think the

thing was ever edible to begin with,

right? I mean, you've had that honey bun

in your pantry for six years

and you have the audacity to put that

thing in your mouth. Man, you need

Jesus. Hallelujah.

You guys see the thing a while back with

the uh McDonald's hamburger.

>> Yeah. It was like from the 80s or

something and it was still a hamburger.

>> I'm like, meat doesn't do that, guys.

Like, that's plastic or something.

That's not real food. It's like, is it

just all preservatives,

you know? So, anyways, I'm getting off.

Hallelujah.

>> Didn't have refrigeration. Didn't have

preservatives in the days of Christ. And

when Jesus is looking at them and

saying, "You're the salt of the earth."

How did they hear it? Salt is a natural

preservative.

Cure meat with it. It sprinkle all their

meat with it. I grew up in the country.

I mean, really, the country. Uh we

butchered our own animals on the farm

and we'd save the the pelt. Save the

hides and we had stacks of cattle hides

and every time you'd put one down you'd

cover it with salt or venison deer hides

cover salt because we're preserving it

because salt is a natural preservative.

Amen.

Stops the spread of corruption. stops

corruption from even starting to begin

with. Being salty decreases your ability

to be corrupted by sin.

Psalm 119's phenomenal portion of

scripture. Verse 9, it asks a question.

It says, "How can a young man cleanse

his ways?"

"By taking heed according to your word."

Do you know that the word of God will

get you salty? It'll stop the spread of

corruption. and it will stop the spread

of sin. He says in verse 10, "With my

whole heart I have sought you. Oh, let

me not wander from your commandments."

Listen to verse 11. Your word I have

hidden in my heart that I might not sin

against you. That I'm salty enough that

I won't start decaying and corrupting

from the inside out because the word of

God is on the inside of me. Amen.

>> Salty.

Getting salty isn't about a personality.

It's about a posture. It's about letting

God on the inside.

Being salty decreases your ability to be

corrupted and

empowers you to stop corruption in the

world around you.

Not just for you, but for those you're

around.

My saying in my own heart is that the

sin stops here.

Last week we kind of dealt with some of

that passivity peace and keep peace

peacekeeping. Amen. Rather than making

peace.

Oh man, you're not going to sit in my

truck and sin because the sin stops with

me. It's not welcome in my home. It's

not welcome in my vehic. It's not

welcome in my I'm not interested. Amen.

And I'll love you through it. But the

sin stops here.

because I'm salty. I don't even have to

try.

Yeah. Uh I remember some seasons of

Christianity where I was a little more

saved than some of the people I was

around

and they would be doing whatever they're

doing. I didn't know what they were up

to, but I'd walk in the room and they

would all hide stuff and stop. You guys

ever had this experience as a Christian?

And it's like, what what what are you

guys doing? you're being weirdos, you

know, like what's going on?

And they they'll they'll completely stop

whatever sinful thing they were talking

about or doing just because I'm standing

in the room now. The second I leave,

they're going to do whatever they want

to do. Amen.

The sin stops here.

Number six, salt fertilizes.

Again, there's a lot of different uh

compounds of salt.

Uh, real salt has really good minerals

in it. Uh, when I'm talking about salt,

what I'm not talking about is the

bleached iodized salt that we all put in

our body all the time.

>> We actually use sea salt at our home or

Himalayan salt, some of the Oh, you want

the good stuff. The Celtic sea salt.

>> Oh my, that's the good stuff right

there. There's minerals in it. There's

stuff that that's good in it. And salt

in biblical times was a natural

fertilizer.

It might have been one of the most

valuable things to them because somehow

they have to learn to feed their family.

Amen.

They have to make the soil good enough.

Do you know that when you go to the

store and buy fertilizer today that 90%

of it or more is made up of some type of

salt compound?

Yeah,

you can fact check me when you leave.

Salt is a fertilizer. Luke 14:34

Luke 14:34

Jesus says, "Salt is good." Say, "Good."

>> But if it loses its saltiness, how can

it be made salty again? It is fit

neither for the soil nor for the manure

pile, it is thrown out. Whoever has ears

to hear, let him hear. Jesus is talking

to individuals that understand that salt

is a natural fertilizer. And he says,

"Hey, if it loses its saltiness, it's

not fit for the soil or for the manure

pile." In other words, good salt would

be fit for the soil and would be fit for

the manure pile to fertilize.

Real salt

full of minerals,

good for growing.

You're not just called to keep things

from dying.

You're called to help things start

living.

Amen.

>> You are the salt of the earth and the

life of heaven comes with you.

Salty Christians stimulate spiritual

growth in people,

churches,

businesses,

families.

Somehow just because the salt of heaven

is in us, things begin to grow.

Yeah. I was thinking about smelling

salt. You guys familiar with those

things? And some athletes use them and

snap them and smell. Some idiots on on

Instagram do it to their buddies and get

the huge reaction. You know, it's crazy,

but uh I don't usually share this

uh but I used to be in in a former life

um I participated in organized arm

wrestling. Man, I even got the trophies

at home. I said they're in a box

somewhere in the basement. I got I was

participated in this stuff and uh I

don't know why I was good at it. I just

was. But I remember one of the first

organized arm wrestling uh competitions

that I was involved in and I'm waiting

my weight class, right? And this guy

named Bull.

Yeah. He looked like the name. He was

bald. He was just covered in tattoos.

And Bull did not have a neck. I don't

know if he was born that way, but he was

a little guy. And he

>> and he was a little bit small. He's just

a brick house. And he actually wore

platform shoes like from the 70s

>> so he could get to the right height of

the table.

>> Yeah. And so I'm just standing there.

I'm just this farm kid like looking at,

you know, I'm just like, "What the heck

is that?" Yeah.

>> You know, and Bull comes up to the table

and he's up there and he's his whole

head's wiggling and then a guy, a little

buddy of his comes up and breaks

smelling SALTS AND HE'S LIKE [screaming]

JUST LIKE I'M just like

do I have to arm wrestle that guy?

>> Yeah, [clears throat]

Bull.

>> Wonder what Bull's doing today.

>> [laughter]

>> He's he's salty.

>> Yeah. A better use of smelling salts is

in the medical world, right? Uh people

are unconscious. They've historically

using smelling salts and it makes the

unconscious become conscious, right?

It'll wake you up.

When we get salty, we have the ability

for God to use us in such a way as to

make the spiritually unconscious

become conscious and wake up.

That's good preaching.

H

we don't just criticize

unsaved people.

We help people wake up spiritually

just because of the aroma we carry in

Christ. Number seven, salt makes you

thirsty.

Salt makes you thirsty. Blessed are

those who hunger and thirst for

righteousness. They shall be filled. The

question [clears throat] I've had

regularly in my own life is how do I how

am I effective? How can I be effective

for drawing people to Christ? Right?

Well, salt makes people thirsty

for Jesus.

The salty Christians are people who

somehow without trying make God

attractive to the non-believer. Ain't

that interesting? We're not religious

and critical and all this stuff. You

shouldn't be sleeping with your

girlfriend. You're not even married yet.

>> Okay, thanks. That's real effective.

>> Yeah.

Somehow, just naturally, we have this

ability because we're gracious, because

we're loving, because the salt of heaven

is on the inside of us. Somehow, we're

living our lives in such a way that

other people evaluate and go, I don't

know what that guy has, but but I think

I need some of that. Amen. And I've

experienced I remember being early on as

a Christian, I'm going, man, I don't

know what that dude's doing, but but

that's good. That's the right stuff. I I

need to get me some of that. I think

I'll go to church next week. Amen.

>> Yeah. Being salty should make people

thirsty for Jesus. Jesus said, "If I be

lifted up, I'll draw all men unto

myself." Isn't that good? If I be lifted

up, I'll draw all men

unto myself.

I want you to hear the context of that

scripture. When Jesus said that, John

John 12:27

12:27,

Jesus says, "Now my soul is troubled,

and what shall I say? Father, save me

from this hour, but for this purpose I

came to this hour.

Father, glorify your name." Then a voice

came from heaven, saying, "I have both

glorified it and will glorify it again."

Therefore, the people who stood by and

heard it said that it had thundered.

Others said, "An angel has spoken to

him." And Jesus answered and said, "This

voice did not come because of me, but

for your sake. Now is the judgment of

this world. Now the ruler of this world

will be cast out." Say, "Cast out."

>> Cast out.

And I if I am lifted up from the earth,

I will draw all peoples to myself.

And I love this portion of scripture.

This some people go, "Man, has

thundered." Other people are going,

"Boy, an angel just spoke to him."

There's this powerful moment where

heaven opens up and speaks to the living

Christ. Amen. And I love the verdict

that Jesus shares that the prince of the

power of the air, the devil that's been

ruling on this earth is now cast out and

ruled absolutely ineffective.

That's the good news of the gospel of

Jesus Christ. Amen.

And he says along with that, right

behind it, the devil's done is what he

says. But he says, "And if I be lifted

up, I'll draw all men unto myself."

Amen. Our obligation as a salty

Christian is just to lift up Jesus. And

Jesus is the one that draws to himself.

2 Corinthians 2:14 says, "But thanks be

2 Corinthians 2:14

to God, who in Christ always leads us in

triumphal procession,

and through us." Say, "Through us."

>> Through us.

>> Oh, you got to get salty. And through us

spreads the fragrance of the knowledge

of him everywhere. For we are the aroma

of Christ to God among those who are

being saved and among those who are

perishing.

You are the salt of the earth. Amen.

[clears throat]

Psalm 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the

Psalms 34:8

Lord is good."

I think we forget this sometimes in our

witness of Christ to others.

If people only taste and see your

opinions

and never God's goodness,

you're not salty. You're just spicy.

Amen.

>> Yeah.

Don't get spicy. Get salty. John chapter

John 4 · chapter mention

4, we uh read about the Samaritan woman.

Powerful. Jesus uh intentionally goes to

that area and has this encounter uh with

this woman. He meets her at the well.

and he exposes her past sins.

Yeah, he's not being passive. He doesn't

condemn her. Uh but then he offers her

living water. Uh she runs back to town

and tells the testimony, tells the

story. There's this man, this prophet,

and all a lot of the people, they come,

many people come and they get saved.

Amen.

One man said this. She came to the well

empty

and left as a well.

You're called to be a walking talking

salt shaker

everywhere you go.

My theory

is to be so salty that they get cotton

mouth.

Yeah.

>> Mhm. All dried up.

>> Yeah. Everyone all dried up. [laughter]

This is what I want people spiritually

to be doing. I want them coming up here

and going water.

[laughter]

>> You were not expecting that when you

came to church Sunday morning.

That there is fire marshal Bill.

>> Circa 1990, baby. Come on.

Yeah.

But man, I want my life to be so salty

that people start recognizing their need

of God. Amen. That they're feeling

parched on the inside. Like like

everything, all this sugar and all this

spice and all this crap I've been

getting from the devil, it doesn't

satisfy anymore. I want to be around. I

want to be I want to be so salty that

other people are just drawn to Christ

and going, "Man, I want to drink from

the well." Amen. I want I need some of

that living water. I'll never thirst

again.

Jude 1:23

Jude 1:23

says, "Save others by snatching them out

of the fire."

Number eight, and I'll close with this.

Salt is valuable.

Uh being salty increases

your value. Salt was so used

uh in ancient biblical times that it was

actually used as currency. They used it

for everything and you could trade with

it and it was one of the most valuable

things that you could have as salt.

Jesus

looks at us and when we're salty,

there's great value placed upon our life

because he knows that we're valuable for

the building of the kingdom of God.

Amen.

God values you. 1 Peter chapter 2 and

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

verse 9. But you are a chosen

generation,

a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Catch

this. His own special people that you

may proclaim the praises of him who

called you out of darkness into his

marvelous light.

It's interesting that God puts such

great value on our life, but sometimes

we don't recognize the value that he's

placed upon us. How easily we can begin

to devalue our own faith and devalue our

own worth and live in such a way that

the salt doesn't spread.

If you don't value yourself or see the

value that God has placed upon you,

you'll always be attracted to people

that don't value you either. I've

watched it over and over.

That was for somebody. I don't know who.

You're valuable.

You're valuable. A high value God places

upon your life.

If you're taking notes, you can write

this down.

Hell isn't afraid of church buildings.

Hell is afraid of believers who know

their worth,

who know their value.

Yeah.

He called us

to be the salt of the earth, not the

salt of the church.

I think I need to say that again. He

called us to be the salt of the earth,

not the salt of the church. If the only

time you get salty is in the sanctuary,

you've missed it. Amen.

I don't want to be salt that's lost its

saltiness.

Mark 9:50 says, "Salt is good, but if

Mark 9:50

the salt has lost its saltiness, how

will you make it salty again?"

You don't lose your saltiness in a day.

It leaks out through compromise over

time. Amen.

James chapter 3 and verse 7

James 3 · chapter mention

says, "For every kind of beast and bird

of reptile and sea creature can be tamed

and has been tamed by mankind,

but no human being can tame the tongue.

It is a restless evil full of deadly

poison. With it we bless our Lord and

Father.

And with it we curse people who are made

in the likeness of God. From the same

mouth come blessing and cursing. My

brothers, these things ought not to be

so. Does a spring pour forth from the

same opening both fresh and salt water?

James is saying I is it possible

to have both one in the same fresh water

and salt water coming from the same

spring? Absolutely not.

And he's tying it with the mouth,

our tongue, what we say, how we say it.

Our mouth shouldn't switch

from worship to weapon depending on who

we're speaking with. Our mouth shouldn't

switch from blessing to curse depending

on who we're speaking to. Amen.

Colossians 4:6,

Colossians 4:6

and I'll ask the worship team to join me

up here. Colossians 4:6 says, "Let your

Colossians 4:6

speech always,

let your speech always be gracious,

seasoned with salt, so that you may know

how you ought to answer each person."

Jesus has called us to be the salt of

the earth and the light of the world.

I have made declaration with my own

soul, with my own mouth, that I want to

be gracious, that I want to be peaceful.

I want my I want to be a walking,

talking salt shaker. Amen.

>> Let's stand to our feet all over this

house.

I've said it before and I'll say it

again. People need what God has put in

you. People

need what God has put in you.

Before we had kids, my wife and I, we

had a saltwater fish tank for years. We

I don't know how to do anything halfway.

So, we had the big 75gallon.

Yeah. And uh man, we had all sorts of

colorful, you know, the saltwater fish

are really beautiful. and and uh I had a

I had a a porcupine puffer, one of the

puffer fish. His name was Puffy.

He's greatly missed.

Uh he was the coolest little fish. I

didn't know you could pet fish. I spent

so much time with him and feed him

little shrimp and he'd come up and

nibble him out of my hand and then he'd

come right up to the surface. I'd pet

his little head. He's very silky smooth.

You silky? Yeah.

Yeah. A little puffy.

It's interesting how there's freshwater

fish and saltwater fish. Do you know

that salt, the water in the ocean is

made up of 04%.

Glory to God. Hallelujah.

>> Did somebody get lost downtown? If

you're watching online, everybody's

phone just started making the alert

sound.

>> Let me try that again. [laughter]

The ocean water is made up of 04%

[music]

salt.

And those aquatic animals, those fish in

the salt water require salt to live. If

you put them in fresh water,

they'll die. Do you know that your body

is made up of 04% salt?

And without salt, your body, you will

die. Even if you begin to get low with

salt,

you can become unconscious. You can slip

into seizures.

And with no salt, you'll die. Do you

know that you are the body of Christ?

Amen. And we got to have some salt if we

want to live.

I believe this that the world outside of

there, the earth is the ocean. And I

believe that they require a certain

percentage of salt from you to live.

[clears throat]

Praise you, Jesus. Father,

>> I thank you, Lord, that you have called

us for such a time as this.

and you have called us as sons and

daughters of the most high God. Father,

not just to come and assemble,

but to also go and spread the goodness

of God. Father, I pray that we would

live our lives in such a way that heaven

would smile down upon us that Father,

you would look at us with a smile and

say, "That's my son. That's my daughter

with whom I'm well pleased.

Father, I pray

the life that we live will draw

sinners

to fall in love with you.

Father, I pray blessing over every home.

Praise you, Jesus. Over every marriage.

Thank you, Lord. Father, we receive of

you now, Lord. We open our hearts, our

minds, our souls to receive,

Father, that we would be the men and

women of God you've called us to be and

nothing less.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord.

Saints, could you just begin to invite

him to fill you aresh today? Father, I

want to be salty. Father, I want to be

filled by you. Father, I want to be used

by you, Lord. I've made myself available

to you. Praise you, Jesus.

Thank you Lord.

Praise you Jesus.

>> Father we love you today in Jesus name.

Amen. We're going to close our service

with worship. I'm going to ask our

prayer team to come forward. If you need

prayer for anything

right now is the time to come. Let us

lay hands on you. Let us pray with you.

Let us be a participant

of faith that God would make the change

in your life that's needed. Amen. Praise

the Lord. Let's worship the Lord

together.

[music]

Thank you for listening to today's

message from Grace Summit Church. We

hope it encourages you to walk out your

faith this week. If you're in the Fort

Wayne [music] area, we'd love to meet

you in person. Join us for a Sunday

service at 9:15 or 11:00 a.m. on East

Duvant Road or connect with us online

[music] anytime at graceummiturch.com.

Have a blessed week and we'll see you

next time.