Who Do You Think You Are - Week 4

I'm Jeff Thompson, I'm a Firefighter. I am confident, I am brave, I am an overcomer, I am a father, I am a son, I am a brother. I'm Jeff Thompson, I am salt and light. Well, welcome today. Could I get all of you to say influence? All of our churches, all of our Network Churches, everybody just say it again, say influence. Several years ago, I was doing a funeral and there was a guy who was in the funeral, I didn't know he was there, but he is a very well-known business person in my community. He was also quite honestly, very well-known for the very hard and visible party life. He was very wild. And evidently, the funeral touched him spiritually, and a couple of weeks later, he called my office and he said, I don't go to your church and I'm not a religious guy, but I have some questions and I was wondering if Craig would meet with me. And I said, Sure, I would be happy to. So, we went out in the middle of the day to a restaurant. And this restaurant was so full that they said, Would you mind if we would seat you in the bar? And he said, No, we'd be happy to sit in the bar. So I walked in, Pastor Craig, with a very well-known sinner into the bar. And I may be overly sensitive, but it seemed like I could just feel people kind of staring going, 'Is that Pastor Craig in a bar with a well-known sinner?' I kind of felt that, and I just kind of reset my mind to remember that Jesus was often criticized for eating with sinners and tax collectors and the Pharisees just couldn't stand that. I just reminded myself of what Scripture said; Jesus said that it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but it's the sick. He said: I didn't come to call the righteous to repentance, but I call sinners to repentance. And so, I just settled in totally engaged in a conversation with this guy and was able to make significant spiritual progress, moving this guy much closer to Christ. The interesting thing is though, by the time I made it back to my office, literally, less than a twenty-minute drive; we already had, believe it or not, two phone calls from Christians who were not a member of our church, but felt obligated to call and let someone know that Pastor Craig was sitting in a bar with a well-known sinner! What they should have done was said, Wow! We saw your pastor acting like Jesus again! Because when you know who you are, you'll know what to do. Who do you think you are? I want to remind you if you're a Christian, a committed follower of Christ, God has called you to be a change agent, a divine influencer into this world. If you're taking notes, who do you think you are? Jesus says that you are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world. Big massively important statement! You're not just the salt of your community or the light of your city, but you are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world. I want you to realize who you are in Christ, so you will know what to do. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 5:13, he said: You are the..... What? All of our churches, everybody together, He said: You are the salt of the earth. He said: But if salt loses it's saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the salt of the earth. Now, you may say, Well, what does that mean? I mean, is that good? What is salt? Well, in the context in which Jesus was speaking, His listeners would have known that salt was known as the second most important commodity on earth. The sun, everybody believed was number one, and salt was number two because of all that it could do back in the time before refrigeration and all of our modern conveniences. In fact, in ancient Rome, people were often paid for their labor in salt. That's how valuable it was. At the end of the day you would receive salt and that's where we get our phrase, He's not worth his salt. If you've ever heard that before, it's because people were actually paid in salt. And Jesus says, That's what you are. Now, this doesn't mean you're a salt of the earth person. In today's world that often means, you're just a really good ole' boy. What Jesus was saying was really, 'You're a really bad ole' boy that was changed by a really good ole' God and because of that transformation now, you should be a divine change agent, a Christ-empowered influencer into this world. Think about it, what does salt do? Here's a few things if you're taking notes: First of all, salt preserves. If you are a Christian, you should be a divine preserver, helping people to find eternal life, to live forever with God in heaven. What else does salt do? Salt purifies. In a very impure world, you should be an agent of purification, representing the Kingdom of God and holiness in a very impure world. Salt also creates thirst, doesn't it? In fact, if you're ever in a bar with a well-known sinner, chances are they'll serve you some peanuts or some chips and salsa because these have salt on it and will make you thirsty. So, in theory, you'd order more beer or alcohol to drive the tab up. Salt creates thirst. As a Christian, when you are so full of God's transforming love, you'll create a divine thirst in other people where they'll say, What is it about you? What do you have? Why are you so full of joy? I want what you have! Salt creates thirst. Salt also melts. If you're ever caught in a snow storm or an ice storm and the pathway is icy, you throw some salt on it and what does it do? It melts the salt. In the same way, you with the warmth of the love of God, can melt hard and cold hearts and soften them to hear the things of God. Finally, what does salt do? It heals. If you ever get in the ocean and you've got a boo boo on your knee and you get in the salt water, what does the salt water do? It speeds up the healing process. In the same way, you, filled with the Spirit of God, can be a healing agent in this world to people who have been hurt by religion or turned away from God by other things. You are the salt of the earth. Everybody say, I am the salt of the earth. What else are you? Jesus also said in verse 14: You are the.... What? Everybody help me out, Jesus said: You are also the light of the world. He goes on to say: A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. Now, what He was again talking into the context, everyone would have understood in a Palestinian home, they all had one window. And at the end of the day, they'd have to light their candle and you can imagine without a lighter or a match, how difficult that would be. And so they'd spend time getting their candle lit. If they would ever leave, they'd take a bowl that had a hole in the bottom of it, they'd turn it upside down, put it over the candle to protect it from blowing out and it could breathe with the little hole so it would keep on burning. He's saying, when you are in the house you don't ever do that because you want the benefit of the light. He's saying, as Christians, don't ever cover up the light. In fact, in verse 16, this is what He says: In the same way, because you are the light of the world, what should you do? Jesus said, In the same way, let your light shine... Come on, everybody help me out! Jesus said: In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and they will praise your Father in Heaven. You are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world. The world needs salt because it's impure. The world needs light because the world is dark. You are the salt of the whole earth. You are the light of the entire world. When you know who you are, you will know what to do. Because you are a light, you don't run from the darkness, you shine into it. Because you are salt, you don't run from the impurities, God uses you as an agent of change. Everybody, all of our churches, everybody say; I am...say it again, I am the salt of the earth. I am the light of the world. I am a Christ-empowered influencer and my life will make a difference. That's who you are! You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. If you are a Christian, you are a Christ-empowered influencer. Your life will make a difference. You may say, I don't feel like it! It doesn't matter what you feel like, that's what you are! Well, I need to learn more Bible and I need.... No, no no! That's what you are. If you're a Christian, you are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world. And I want to give you just two motivating statements that I pray will help drive this truth deep in your hearts and you will be the salt of the earth and you will be the light of the world. The first thing if you're taking notes is: As the light, we are going to learn to let our light shine. We are going to let it shine. As a Christian, you don't ever have to like force your light to shine. Somebody looks at you and you are like going like this.... You know, what are you doing? Trying to shine! No you're not! You look like you're going to the bathroom! That's not....as a Christian, because of what God has done, when you realize who He is, it's just a natural overflow and you just let it shine. In fact, in Acts, Chapter 16, I will show you my favorite example of two guys, who just their salt and light living impacted anyone who was close by. Their names were Paul and Silas, and they'd been transformed by Christ. I mean, miraculously transformed. And so, everywhere they went, they were telling people about Jesus. And the religious authorities didn't like what they were doing and said that they had to stop. And they would arrest them and beat them, and arrest them and beat them over and over and over again; but they simply wouldn't stop. And there is a little introductory part of this story that basically says that they were stripped and flogged and put into prison and their legs were put into stocks. And so, you're typically, if you're like me, you just read over that and you think, 'Okay you know, they had a bad day!' But I want you to pause for a moment and think about just how bad this day was. They were stripped okay, imagine that; in public, your clothes are taken off. Then they were beaten, flogged. It's very likely they would have been whipped 39 times across the back with a whip that would have had glass and little rocks imbedded in it, designed to rip your body open until your internal organs were exposed. Stripped down naked, whipped. Then they were put into a dungeon and their legs were put in stocks. And we typically think, 'You know, okay, that's what happened!' But what they would do is they'd take your legs, kind of like you would a wish bone, you know how you take a wishbone and snap it? They'd take your legs and spread them out as far as they could with your bottom on the ground and that used to induce cramping in your legs and it would used as torture. And so, this is a really, really bad day. So, what do you think Paul and Silas were doing after this day? Well Scripture says in Acts 16:25: About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and they were singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. This is amazing to me! They were, just because of who they were they were letting their light shine. I can guarantee you they didn't have an emergency meeting and say, 'Okay, okay, there's prisoners over there and we are supposed to be Christians, so what should we do to really represent Christ well?' 'I know, how about we have a Bible study? I can't reach my Bible because my legs are hurting!' 'Okay, let's quote our memory verse for the day!' 'Oh no, let's just sing a song! That will be a good witness to them!' They didn't' go through any of this, it was just simply who they were. And because of who they were, they let their light shine. It's a little bit like, have you ever seen the moon and the moon is just beautifully shining bright; like, what a bright moon! Well, let's just get technical for a moment, is the moon really bright? The answer is no! What's bright? The sun is bright and what is the moon doing? The moon is simply reflecting the sun. And in the very same way, that is what you do as the light of the world. You may not be bright on your own, but you simply reflect the sun. In your case, it's S-o-n, and as you reflect the Son, others around say, Wow! I see the light! It's reflecting off you and you just let it shine as a natural overflow of who God is and what He's done in your life! If you want to get a little bit cheesy, which helps every now and then, you can sing the little song that maybe you sang as a kid! I'd sing it for you, but you'd say, Craig, your light is dimming when you sing! It goes: This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine... Then it says: Hide it under a bushel? No! Very good, very good, very good! If you said, No! That's really good! You were paying attention in Vacation Bible School as a kid, before they gave you the cookies at the end of class! Hide it under a bushel? No! No! No! In other words, Paul could have said, like he did elsewhere, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ ever, ever! I'm going to confess Him publicly anywhere and everywhere I go! I'm not ashamed of Christ! I would never hide my faith. I would never put a bowl over the light anywhere, everywhere, all of the time. You are going to know who I stand for because He gave His life for me! Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm going to let it shine! Don't let Satan what? Don't let Satan....you can say blow, but I always poof! It's better when you poof it out! Don't let Satan poof it out, I'm going to let it shine! There's two reasons if your light's not shining and you're a Christian: 1. You're hiding it, and I pray you take the bowl off! 2. Satan's blowing it out and I pray that the Spirit of God would reignite the fire in your heart and you would let it shine! Let it shine! Anywhere, all of the time. That's who you are! If you're a Christian, it's not like; Yeah, I'm a Christian, I go to church on Sunday! No! I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've been transformed by Him. Anywhere, all of the time, He is at the front of my mind and it's my greatest joy to represent and reflect His love. I will give you an example. Last week, I told you about Erica. If you weren't here, Erica is on our staff. Her husband, Jeff, at the age of 38 had a massive heart attack. And for over 90 minutes, he had no heart rate. For several minutes, he had nothing until the ambulance got there and they kept him alive manually by pounding on him and shocking him back to life over and over and over again. And so, when we went to visit they just said, It's kind of a game over situation. And I've been at enough of these to where I thought, It's probably just a game over situation. I asked if there was any way he could come back, what's going to happen? And they said that he was brain dead for sure. And so, we just along with a bunch of other people prayed, and God did the first of many miracles. Here's what I'm here to tell you is, that was two weeks ago. Last night, at the very first service, Jeff was here with me, with his wife at church! No brain damage, home, totally miraculous in every way. But that's just the beginning of what I love about this story! What else I love about this story is that everybody in the hospital was impacted by salt and light, because there was salt and light all over that place! I mean, there were literally hundreds of you who just went up there just to kind of shine and just to kind of love. And over and over and over again, for the ten days or so that he was there, there was lots of crying and lots of praying and lots of snot flinging and lots of worshiping, and lots of crying and lots of praying and lots of snot flinging and lots of worshiping! And the staff was so moved, one guy named Don actually facebooked about it. A nurse, wrote a long thing. He said, I've never seen anything anything like this, God obviously supernaturally healed this guy. He came back in on his day off just to see these people on his day off, to see what was going on there! And finally, he just said, I can't hold it back anymore. You guys are church people right? I said, Yeah! He said, I've got to know, just tell me! Which church do you go to? They told him. He said, Can I come? And he came last week and he's here again today, this week! Because I'm telling you, it's simply Christians being salt and light. There wasn't anybody in there going, We need to be a good witness for the nursing staff! It's just, we love God, we trust God, and it's just a natural overflow and it just shines. You just let your light shine! And that's exactly what they did and that's exactly what you will do as a Christian. And here's what happened when their light was shining, verse 26: Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake... God shows up and says, 'I'm going to show off a bit!' ...that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. The jailer woke up.... Sleeping on the job, Mr. Jailer! ...woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.... Now you may say, Why would he do that? It's because he knew very well that if any prisoner escaped for any reason, he'd be publicly executed and he didn't want to go through that. So he thought, 'I will just get it over myself.' But, in verse 28, Scripture says: But Paul shouted, Don't harm yourself!... Don't do that! We are all here! Now, that to me is amazing at several levels, because if God broke me out of prison chances are pretty good I'd be doing this, I'm out of here, baby! That jailer was the guy who put me in here, he's the guy who did this with my legs, he's the bad guy, he's the darkness, I'm out of here! But, that's what so many Christians do today. They look at people and go, Darkness! Secular music! Alcohol drinking! Tattoo wearing! Spikey-hair people! Sinners in the bar! And they run! No, no, no, no no! Darkness isn't something you run from! When you're light, you shine into it! And that's what they did! They stuck around and they said to the guy that they could have wanted to see harmed, 'Hey, don't hurt yourself, we are still here!' What did they do? They showed love for the guy. That's what they did. That's being salt and light. They showed love for the guy, an incredible act of love. I know some of you probably think, Okay, I want to be salt and light, but I don't know enough yet! I mean, I need to know more before I can! Here's the deal, most people don't care how much you know, they want to know how much you care. When you care, you can minister to people in such a profound way, and that's what they did. They simply loved on this guy and said, 'Hey, don't hurt yourself, we are still here, man, it's okay, we didn't leave. We are all still here.' It's amazing what can happen when you see darkness as an opportunity to shine your light into it. I will give you an example. My senior year of college I met Amy and we were developing our relationship, moving toward marriage. I graduated from college and I felt very called into ministry but nobody was calling. So, I took a job, the only job I could get, selling burglar alarms. Basically, I was a door-to-door burglar alarm salesman! In case you ever feel vulnerable at night, I can hook you up and still get you to sign on the dotted line! I sold alarms for Honeywell Protection Services, and I was really excited to go from, as a new Christian, from the wild college environment, into a place where I thought there would be less temptations, because I was coming out of all of this stuff and still felt tempted in ways. And so, I thought Honeywell would be a safer environment. Little did I know that Honeywell actually made my fraternity look like a second grade party with tea and cookies! First day in, the other sales guys are like, Hey, glad you're here man, we are going to lunch you want to go? I was like, Sure, I'd love to go to lunch! Where are we going? They said, We are going to a strip club! I was like, No naked women dancing with poles! That's a motto for me as a new Christian, no naked women dancing with poles! It's a motto as a new Christian! I was like, No! And so, I just lied, I just lied. I just said, I've got my sandwich in my lunch box in the car! In my lunch box in the car! I'm thinking, it just came out! I'm thinking, it's better to lie than to see naked women dancing with poles! And so, I just lied! And then, the girl at the front desk, I will call her Stephanie. It's not her real name, but I will call her Stephanie. She just said to me, she said, Don't wear Polo Cologne, because anytime guys where Polo Cologne, I'm with those guys! I was like, Oh, thank goodness I'm a _____ man! And that's what she said and she had been hurt in a marriage and so she said that her goal was to conquer, it was her words, every man that she could. And you can just kind of figure out what that means! Then there was Karen who had also been hurt in a relationship and was trying to figure out her way. Cletus was my favorite guy, just a good ole' boy, was installing security, taught me the installation side, but was very far from God. Well, I went home at the end of the day the first day. I told Amy, I said, I don't know what I'm going to do! They wanted to take me to the booby bar, and they were like, the Polo Cologne, I can't work there! It's just too dark! And she said, Don't you think God sent you in there to make a difference? I was like, Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh I forgot about that! And so, I totally shifted my mindset and we decided just to pray like crazy for all of these people and just to go in and love them. So, we went to their parties and we'd drink water and they'd get sloshed, and there was lots of guys who wore Polo who came in and out of Stephanie's life. And over a ten month period before I left to go into ministry, Amy and I were able to lead about a third of the office workers to Christ! Here's what I love; Stephanie, the Polo girl, she ended up totally giving her life to Christ, joined the church I was a part of, First United Methodist Church, sang in the choir. One of the most beautiful voices, and served there years after I was gone until she moved to another city. Karen gave her life to Christ and was actually a part of our church in the early years, until I buried her after she died of cancer. But finished strong, serving Christ in a new marriage with a phenomenal family. And ole' Cletus, I had lost track of where he was until I was down at Life Church, South Oklahoma City doing a vision night. Cletus came up at the end and he was like, Pastor Craig, I love you! I love our church! I was like, Cletus, dude, what are you doing here? And it was so rewarding to know that over a ten-month stretch of time, check this out, this was not Pastor Craig. You need to hear that, this was not Pastor Craig, this was Craig, the door-to-door Honeywell Security Alarm sales guy who was just salt and light. And that is exactly what you are called to be. You need to own that wherever you are. Oh, but it's dark...! No, no, no! You shine into the darkness! Oh, but it's impurity! No! You are an undercover change agent, working to bring people to the love and the goodness of God. That's what you are. You let your light shine. The second thing if you're taking notes is this: 2. You need to understand that your salt and light living, it changes lives! That's what it does. Your salt and light living, it changes lives and that's exactly what happened in Acts, Chapter 16. Paul and Silas stood around and said, 'We are still here!' Verse 29: The jailer called for lights, he rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked.... The most powerful and biggest, most complimentary question anyone could ever ask. Basically, 'I've seen your life, I've seen your faith, I've seen your unwavering passions: Sirs, what must I do to be saved? I want what you have. You've created a thirst. I've seen you worship when you shouldn't have been worshiping, I've heard you preach when they told you to stop. I've seen your God act, just like Don saw Erica and Jeff's God act, I've seen it, now I want it! What must I do to have what you have? And here's what they said: 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your whole household.' Call upon His name and you will become a new creation. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone. Call on Him and you will become God's masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works which God prepared in advance for him to do. Call on Him and you'll become an overcomer, by the blood of the Lamb and by the words of your testimony. Call on Him and you will become His ambassador, God's highest ranking diplomat sent from heaven to earth. You will become the salt of the earth and you will be the light of the world. When you call on Him you will never ever be the same. And here's the deal, when you know Him; not when you go to church, when you know Him, you will be salt and light. You can't stop it, it just happens. There's a friend of mine, I've been developing a friendship with years at the gym. He's one of the biggest guys in the gym. I've got him coming to church, he came on the masterpiece week and he said, Craig, that just really ministered to me! I've never seen myself as a masterpiece. I want what you have! I was looking at his muscles and I thought, I want what you have! I want those muscles on muscles! And it's the greatest compliment he could have given me, I want what you have. And I just said, Let me just tell you, you could have what I have. It's not self discipline, it's not a positive thinking. What must I do to have what you have? Call on Jesus, call on Him. I'm telling you, call on Him, call on Him. You may say, Well, nobody ever does that to me! That's not a real common occurrence for someone to come ay that to me. Often times, I find that salt and light works best over a long period of time. Back in college, there was a guy that I really respected. We weren't close, but he was a great athlete and he was kind of in a different group of friends. But, we'd often party together from a distance. We'd be at the same parties and we had good interactions. And when I became a Christian, it was relatively controversial because I was known as a wild partier, then I was known as the transformed Jesus guy, like that! So it was big news at our little school. And this guy came up to me and he goes, What's up with this religious stuff? I mean, you were fun before! And I said, I know, I know! He said, Is this going to be a phase that passes? I said, Let me just promise you this, this will never pass I promise you! He was like, I just don't understand! I said, I don't expect you to understand, I wouldn't have understood it before. But, here's the deal. I said, One day, when you're ready to talk about spiritual things, I don't care where you are, I want you to call me! I want to be the one to talk to you about it! He's like, Ah, that will never happen! And so for years, we graduated and I'd bump into this guy out in places and he'd be like, Are you still that God guy? I'm like, I told you dude, it's not going away! And I said, Listen to me, one day you are going to want to talk! He's like, I know, I know, I know; when I do, you're the guy I call, right? I said, Yes, please do! Well, years went by. A couple of years ago, he did call me. He looked me up and he said, Hey, remember me? I'm the guy... I said, You're ready to talk aren't you? He goes, Yeah, I am! I said, What brought you to this? He said, My wife left me and I don't know what to do! And so, we met and this guy, I mean, big strong athlete guy, just put his head on my shoulder and I just held the guy when he cried and cried and cried and cried. And at the end of his tears he said, Okay, I'll go to your stupid church! I said, I didn't invite you to my stupid church! He said, I know, but you were going to, weren't you? I said, I was! And he said, I'll go! And so, he came and his 13-year-old daughter gave her life to Christ on that day. And he called me a couple of days later and he goes, I don't get it, but the same thing that happened to you happened to her. He said, It's probably going to happen to me, isn't it? I said, Yes, it is! He said, Well, let's get together and get it over with! And so, we got together and we prayed a life-transforming prayer, and this guy now serves in our teenage ministry in SWITCH, and his greatest prayer request is that he would be able to share the Christ who changed him with his x-wife; not so that they could get back together, although he'd love to, but because he really wants her to know the Christ that has changed him. I'm telling you, what's so rewarding to me about that, is that was a 20-some odd year process! A 20-some odd year process! Some of you, you've got somebody you've given up on a long time ago. Don't you dare give up. Salt and light, salt and light. Love and grace, love and grace, love and grace. Not running from the darkness, shining into it with the love of Christ. That's who God created you to be and He can use you to make a difference. Here's what's so amazing to me about this story with the jailer. They were in Philippi, and many people believe that it was this single event that brought about the birth of the whole church in Philippi. Two people sharing with one guy whose whole family was changed that overflowed into a church. That's why you're called the light of the world and the salt of the earth. You're not just a regular Christian who goes to church and believes moral things; no, no, no, you are a divine change agent, you're an undercover influencer. There's times when you work behind the scenes and there's times when you just shine boldly. God has created you, this is who you are, you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. You are a Christ-empowered influencer and your life will make a difference. God, I pray for everyone that does claim you, I pray that your Spirit would seal this truth in their heart, so they would be salt and they would be light. As you are praying today at all of our different churches, those of you who would say, I do, I want to be salt, I want to be light, I want to be a great influence for Christ in this world! Would you lift up your hands right now if that's you, would you lift up your hands right now, all of our churches say, Yes, that's me! Put your hands down. I want you to think for a moment about individuals. It could be your husband, could be your wife, your son, your daughter, your brother, your sister, someone in your chemistry class, someone in your sorority, someone that you see at the gym, someone at your office, it could be your boss, it could be your dad. I want you to think of those people that you know and you love that don't know the freedom and the power and the grace available to them through the risen Christ. What I want you to do is think about those people. Bring their names to the front of your mind and just kind of quietly or even in your mind, just say those names before God. Now God, we pray for these people and we acknowledge that you love them even more than we do. As much as we want them to know you, you want it even more. And so, God we ask for miracles, just like you did with Jeff, and just like you did with Erica, and just like Don, came back to you because of that. And just like Karen and Cletus and Stephanie, and just like my friend from college. We pray God, that you would give us the greatest honor of being just one player amongst the many players that you bring into their lives to point them toward life in Christ. God, give us the opportunity just to be close by, believing that they will come to know you. And when they do God, we'll give you all the glory for another life transformed. Make your children salt and make them light. As you keep praying today at all of our churches, there are many of you who would say, I don't quite understand it, but I do see something that I want. I remember when this one guy at college, he came to Christ and like, I don't get it, that guy's full of joy; I mean, he doesn't seem to need the things that he used to need. And if you see something like that and you say, I want it! Let me tell you what that is, that is a divine thirst you have, a thirst for something more, because let's just be honest; many of you, you've tried everything you can in this world, you've tried more money, more things, more relationships, more experiences, and you've tried everything and none of it fulfills. Why? Because you were not created for this earth, but you were created for eternity. There is a longing inside of you. Someone said, You have a God-shaped void. Only God can fill it through His Son, Jesus. The problem is, you may have tried to move toward God, but there's like this wall or this barrier. And let me tell you there is, and it is our sin. Our sin separates us from a holy God, but God so loved the world that He sent His Son Jesus, that whosoever calls on Him would not perish, but have eternal life. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. At all of our churches, there are those of you, you know there is something more, you want it. Turn from your sins today, call on Him and let me tell you what He will do. God will make you new. All your sins, He will wash away. You'll be filled with the Spirit of God. You will be changed in a moment and that is why you're here. You know it! All of our churches, those of you who would say, I'm ready, let's do it! Jesus, take my life, I give it to you! I want to know you God, save me! Make me new! If that's your prayer today, all of our churches, lift your hands high right now! Right now, lift them up now! And let me just see you. Lift them up high. Right back over here and way back over here toward the side. Right back over here, God bless all of you. Right up here close to me. Others of you who would say, Me too! Right back here in the center section, lift them up high. Right back over here, praise God for you. And sir, right over here. Others of you who would say, Me too! Way back over here, sir right back over here toward the back, Yes, take all of my life! Way back here, others who would say, Me too! And on the side, others, call on Him. Jesus save me, I want to know you, I want to be transformed. Others of you today who say, Take all of my life. All of our churches together would you just, everybody pray aloud as part of the family of God. Pray; Heavenly Father, save me from my sins, make me new. Jesus, I believe you died for me and you rose again so I could live for you. Fill me with your Spirit. Make me yours. My life is not my own, it belongs to you. Make me salt, make me light to influence this world for your name's sake. Thank you for new life, now you have mine. In Jesus name I pray. And all of the salt and all of the light took a moment to thank God for His goodness for new life in Christ!