Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Amen. Alright. The children can be dismissed for children's church. This morning, we got at least two of those today.

One by the name of Ryker and the other John. So alright. Going a different direction. As some of you know, our the north wing of our fellowship hall where we normally have children's church. Well, it's kind of in shambles at the moment.

The roof got ripped off by the storm which then rained in and brought the ceiling down which then ruined the carpet. Thankfully, we were here and got almost everything out of the room. However, it's not usable at the moment. So, pray as we seek to get that taken care of and resolved so we can get back there again very soon. Alright.

I'm gonna begin reading from Matthew chapter 13 this morning, and then we're gonna jump over to James one here just to be a few minutes. I do have Matthew 13 on the screen. So so being salt and light. We get this metaphor of Christ from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five. We use that to launch into the message last week on representing the interests of heaven on earth.

That's what being salt and light, it is. It's in it's in it's representing the interests of heaven, of God, of Jesus Christ on earth by being salt and light, by making a difference representing the virtues, the nature, the love, the purpose of our savior in heaven here on earth. I've said many times before, some of you have this memorized, you know what's coming. If the only reason God saved you was to take you to heaven, where would you be? You'd be in heaven.

But if you're a child of God, behold, you're not in heaven yet. So therefore, God must have other purposes in your salvation than just taking you to heaven. He must have a purpose for you here on earth today. And among those purposes just to be salt and light for Jesus Christ, to point people to the truth, to show them the way, to preserve this world through the preaching of the gospel, but also by representing the Lord in everything that we do. James five thirteen and sixteen, you're the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, flavor, wherewith shall it be salted?

It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and be trodden under the foot of man. In the days when Christ lived, salt was not purified to the extent that it is today. So there's a lot of impurities in the salt. Excuse me. And over time, the salt would dissolve and what would be left would look like salt, but it would have none of the preserving qualities or the flavor of salt.

At that point, it was only good to be what? To be thrown out in the street and get some new salt that actually had preserving qualities and flavor. So that's what he's talking about here. Again, as a metaphor for us, that there's two metaphors here. The second one is this one.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick, and it giveth light into all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Thank you Lord for your word today.

Please bless the proclamation of it, the proclaimer, and all who are listening today. May the Holy Spirit work in our hearts. May he open up our minds and our hearts to receive the truth, give us understanding, and Lord, may we not shy away from the challenge that is carried in it today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

There are many ways to be salt and be light, to point people to the truth, Jesus Christ, the only way, to make a difference in their lives in this world in which we live. First, by proclaiming the gospel, by telling others about the Lord, his word, his way of salvation. Jesus said, go ye into all the world and preach or proclaim the gospel, the way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul said, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But how shall they believe in him of whom they have not what?

Heard. Someone needs to tell them. One way we can be solved in light is to tell others about Jesus, to share his word, to share his good news, to share all that we have here are blessed to have in our hands today by the power of his spirit. Last week, we talked about being representative of heaven on earth by voting. Odd topic for a sermon.

I don't think so. Bible says, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the what? Does that include voting? I hope so. I hope you vote not as a Democrat or Republican.

I hope you vote not only your own personal interest or based solely upon personalities. I hope you vote as a representative of the desires of God in heaven who you represent on earth. I believe we have that responsibility. I believe should we shirk that responsibility particularly if we should vote opposite or contrary to that responsibility, I think God will hold us what? Accountable.

And that's why I preached on it last week. We can be salt and light even today in The United States with the privilege of voting. We can affect this country. Therefore, I think we have a responsibility too. Number three, and what I wanna focus on this morning is this.

I would like to address the need for us to be genuine, disciplined Christians who make a difference in the world, who make a difference in the lives of others for Christ by simply living what we believe. By simply living what we believe. Not just declaring it, not just telling others what we believe is right and wrong, but actually living it, living in such a way that our conduct, our actions, our words reflect what we believe. Someone once asked, if they were to be arrested and put on trial for being a Christian, is there enough evidence to convict you? There by all means should be enough evidence to convict you of being a Christian.

If there is not, just simply by what other people observe you doing, then we are failing to be the salt and light we ought to be. Declarations of faith and stated convictions alone are not enough to affect change for Christ in the lives of others. These declarations and statements are a dime a dozen. But someone who actually lives what they believe, well, that's something else. Joining a church or cause or or claiming a label, Christian or Baptist, is not enough to check effect change for Christ in the world we live in.

It has to be more than a label. It must be more than a cause or membership. Proclaiming Christ, his love and goodness and offer of salvation by itself is still not enough, though you should be proclaiming the good news of the gospel. If you proclaim the good news, if you hand out tracts but you do not live for Jesus, it is not enough to affect change the lives of others. And I think we are suffering in our country and in our society because Christians don't open their mouth.

But even when they do, oftentimes, our life does not match what we say. And people are not drawn to the gospel we preach. If we truly desire to be ambassadors for Christ, to be fishers of men for Jesus, to glorify our savior in this world, and then others to glorify our savior in this world, then others will need to see that our works, flow from a genuine faith, heartfelt convictions, and sincere love for Christ, that those works are different from the works of others, that they back up what we claim and that we practice what we preach, that we are real, and therefore, so is our savior, Jesus Christ. Honestly, I think one of the reasons that people are hesitant to accept the reality of Jesus is because his children just don't seem real. And therefore, they doubt that he is too.

We must be dear doers and not hearers only. A vote will not make up for that. Money in the offering plate, a rear end in the pew will not make up for that. Tracks handed out here and there will not make up for that. We must be doers of the word.

We must practice what we preach. We must let others see that Christ makes a difference not only in what we say we believe, but in everything that we do. Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the what? To the glory, to give glory to God. Others need to see our good works.

Works which demonstrate love, holiness, and faith consistently, daily, and when everything goes wrong. It's easy to put on a good face. It's easy to give a good word of testimony when everything is going what? Right. The world expects that.

What they don't expect is that same testimony and that same joy and that same peace when everything seems to be going wrong. We used to have two fellows that came to church. Both of their names happened to be Steve. Steve Altman and Steve Morris. Steve Altman, kidney shut down when he was in his thirties, I think.

He went eight years on dialysis. And then, praise the Lord, the Lord provided a kidney. But he went through a terrible time. Eight years on dialysis is no picnic. And the new kidney, well, that was a great blessing.

But still, no picnic. All kinds of stuff he had to take to, you know, keep from it being rejected. But every time Steve was in the hospital, and he was in the hospital many times, and I would go see him, he was never ever down and depressed. And he he was always eager to tell me about the nurse or the doctor that he got to witness to that day. And he looked at being in the hospital as an opportunity to share the good news of the gospel.

And it wasn't just the fact that he shared it, but was the attitude that no doubt had an effect on those who cared for him. Steve Morris used to sit in a wheelchair here in this aisle. Steve was struck down with heart issues when he was in his midlife and then a stroke. Put him in a wheelchair. Steve always came with a smile on his face, and most people had no idea what he went through.

Most of the time, all by himself in order to get himself he could couldn't really stand on his own. But somehow he found a way to come to church, to prepare himself, and to get here on his own. He was a testimony and an inspiration. It wasn't just what they said that made a difference, it's what they what they did. People could see Jesus in them.

James chapter one. James chapter one. I'm gonna begin reading in verse 22. I'm not gonna pick apart all of these verses and stuff this morning, but I want you to get the overall drift of what James is saying, what Paul is saying in Ephesians. Verse 22, but be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves.

For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass or a mirror. For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. In other words, a person who's a hearer but not a doer, they hear God's word, they don't do it. They're like a person getting up in the morning, they go look at themselves in the mirror and they're all disheveled and they're all dirty and they go, And they just walk away and don't do anything about it. Well, that's silly.

So likewise, it is for us to look into God's word in the face of Christ and then not do anything about it. He goes on in verse 25, but who so looketh into the perth of perfect law of liberty, the word of God, and continue with therein, He be not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. God can bless those who take the word of God to heart, apply it to their life. God wants to do that. But it's hard to do that if we're reading it or hearing it and then doing nothing with it.

Verse 26 says, if any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but to see with his own heart this man's religion is vain. It's it's powerless, effectiveness, worthless. Verse 27, pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, that religion there means living what you believe. This is what God expects of his children. To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, the needy and the oppressed, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

To love not the world but love God. To avoid and to flee temptation and sin. To be holy. This is what God expects. This is what should be the case.

We should, as child children of God, not be satisfied simply to know we're going to heaven, to simply know spiritual things that some others may not know or understand. We should not be satisfied with what we know, but what we know should affect how we what? How we live and what we do. James goes on in chapter two and verse 14 and he writes this, verse 14 of chapter two. What does it profit my brethren?

Though a man say he hath faith and have not works. Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you saying to them, depart in peace, be warm and filled, notwithstanding, you give them not those things which are needful to the body, why doth it profit? Even so faith but hath not works is dead being alone. Yea, a man may say thou hast faith and I have worked.

Show me thy faith. Without thy works, I will show thee my faith, what? By my works. Genuine faith results in good works. Genuine salvation given by grace through faith to the child of God, not earned as a matter of works, but given by God's grace through faith will yet result in good works.

Good works are not the means of salvation. They are the result of salvation, a change in the heart of the child of God. The only way we're ever going to be salt and light is to be real in what we believe and how we live so that others may see that. Who are you really if your stated beliefs and convictions do not affect how you live? If they don't affect your behavior or your moral conduct or your interactions with others or your fellowship with God?

If what you say you believe does not affect what you do, then who are you? Because it should. In the case of Hebrews chapter 11, we call that the chapter of the heroes of the faith. Yet, the writer of Hebrews points out several Old Testament heroes of the faith that were forgiven, that were blessed, that were used mightily of God. And it speaks of their faith because faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the means by which the heroes of the Old Testament obtained a good report before God, not just their works, but their what? But their faith. And yet, when you read through the list in Hebrews 11, here are the kind of things you read. By faith, Abel brought a better what? Sacrifice.

Notice, by faith, Abel what? Did something. By faith, Noah built the lot, the ark to the saving of his family. By faith, Abraham left his homeland. By faith, Abraham took his son Isaac to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him in faith that God would either raise him from the dead or would provide a substitute, which God did provide a substitute.

Again and again, you read through those stories. By faith, so and so did such and such. By faith, Moses refused to be call called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He left the palace and chose his people over the pleasures of sin for a season. Wouldn't it be wonderful if one day someone might say that of who?

Of you. Of me. That by faith, we made a difference. By faith, we stood out in a crowd for Jesus and for God. Wonder why the world is in the mess it is in today, our society, our country, our schools, many of our youth.

In the past, Christians were often bold in their stated convictions but came up short in their personal application. Thus, they were labeled what? Hypocrites. And in some cases, that was probably an apt description. I don't know how many times I've talked to somebody about coming to church or coming to hear the word of God.

And they said, I would, but the church is full of what? Hypocrites. Now, yes, it is an excuse on their part. Because if the church had no hypocrites and they came, it would have one. Okay?

To certain extent, all of us at times have struggled with some degree of hypocrisy. To pretend otherwise is foolishness. But it's too bad that that is often the testimony of Christendom in the world and the reason that people give not to come to church. Sadly, today, oftentimes we're not just lacking in what we do, but we're also lacking in what we say. Not willing to open our mouth either.

I can say with all honesty that I know many Christians whose convictions on some things are misguided. Christians who in some areas of their knowledge are lacking, but who in manifold ways have a greater impact on their world And some Christians who have all the answers but aren't being doers of the word. The test is not just what you know. It is what you do. The Bible tells us that there is a judgment for the lost called the great white throne judgment.

And all those whose names are not written in the book of life, who have not come to God through the way that he has prescribed, for the way that he has made, that is through faith in his son, Jesus, who died on the cross for your sins, who rose again from the dead. If you do that, if you'll come in faith to God through Jesus, if you'll accept him as your Lord and savior, if you will ask him to save you and forgive you of your sins, for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Save from what? That judgment. Because your name will be written in the what?

The book of life by the grace of God, and you won't be cast in the lake of fire. But all those whose names are not written in the lamb's book of life will be cast in the lake of fire because there's no other way to heaven but through who? Jesus. But if you're here today and your lame is written in the book of life and you are a child of God, you will not appear at that judgment, but you will appear before another one called the judgment seat of Christ. And you will be judged based upon the things anybody know the next word?

Done. Done in the body. Now, the Bema Seed is not a place of punishment. It is a place of reward. We're not being punished for our sins.

We're being rewarded for our what? Faithfulness and our service to the Lord. But you won't be rewarded because of what you knew if it didn't affect what you what? Do. Because it is a reward of faithfulness, and faithfulness requires commitment and dedication, and repentment and dedication require doing something.

The Bible says, Paul tells us using a metaphor that some of our works will appear as gold, silver, and precious stones and they'll be tried by the fire of God and they will stand the test and we will receive a great reward. And others who hid their talent in the dirt and did nothing for Jesus with their life, it'll all go up in a cloud of what? Smoke like wood, hay, and stubble. And they'll be saved yet as by fire, but they will receive little to no reward to lay at his feet. Which would you like to be?

They say that you can't take anything with you when you go, But you can send it ahead. Lay up for yourselves treasures what? Where? In heaven. By serving the Lord.

By telling others the good news. By showing them what it means to be a Christian, that showing them that God is what? Real. But not only can you lay it up ahead of time, but the lives of the people you touch for Jesus Christ, the souls that are saved, the Christians that are encouraged in their service to the Lord by you, they're going with you. They're going with you.

So there is something, someone you take with you. Let us not be satisfied with powerless declarations, and let us be effective witnesses for Christ by being doers of the word and not hearers only, By demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ in all that we say and do. By striving to be live holy lives for Jesus Christ, our savior. By learning to be content and joyful children of God that show it on our face. And you will make a difference in this world for Jesus.

I'm not done yet. I've got a lot more to say about those three points. I'm out of time for this morning. So you'll just have to come back next week to hear more about those. Let's pray.

Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for Jesus Christ, our savior, and for what he did for us when he left heaven and demonstrated his love by his death on the cross and made a way for us to be saved. And we pray, Lord, if there's one here today who's yet to receive Jesus Christ as the Lord and savior of their life, I pray that they would come even as we sing this hymn of invitation this morning, might have the opportunity to share with them how they can be saved forever and know it today. And I pray, Lord, if there are others here that are struggling, maybe you have touched her heart in some area in which we're not being the witness. We should. I pray, Lord, that we too would take the time to pray, to to respond to your conviction today, your challenge, your love, and not just to sweep it under the carpet this morning.

In Jesus' name, do pray. Amen.