Hi, I'm Darrell Bailey. Thank you for tuning in to Send Service for Christ. Here as we do our New Year message, glorifying God at Bartow County. Now, you might be in any county. I happen to be in Georgia. And I believe this is one of the best counties you can ever have. I live here. I'm proud of it. And I went to school here, except for being gone in the military. Bartow was the home I wanted to come back to. And I'm glad that here in the up and coming year of 2024, if the Lord permit, that the greatest thing that you can do to start out is glorify God in whatever county you're in. Mine, I'm glorifying God in Bartow County. Matthew chapter 5, take your Bibles, verses 13, 14, 15, and 16. Follow with us over there because we're going to be talking about some very powerful things. You know, Deuteronomy 6, 5 tells us that God instructed his people to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. And then in Matthew chapter 22 verses 36 through 38, Jesus identified this as one of the greatest commandments, our highest calling, our central purpose, and our ultimate goal. And that seems like a very, very big order, but it can feel like an overwhelming challenge. But I'm glad that this is one of those commandments that I believe that we set our purpose to every year. And so, We share the word with the world. We support the believer, the minister, the layman, understanding the preaching and teaching of God's word. And then we prepare everything that we can to lead men, women, boys, and girls to give their hearts and lives to Jesus Christ and to secure them for eternal life. We ensure all that we can minister to the needy. of our areas in the world. Right here in Bartow County, there's a lot of need right here. You don't have to go all the way over on the other side of the world to find need. You'll find it right here in everybody's counties, all across the states. And then we provide Jesus Christ His proper place, which the Word gives Him. Amen. He sits on the throne of our lives. And so, as we pick up, take your Bibles with us over into Matthew chapter 5, and what we're going to be talking about is going to be dealing with how that we can glorify God, amen, in Bartow County. First of all, we'll be talking about glorifying God by our seasoning in verse 13, our shining in verses 14 and 15, and then our servant in verse 16 as we get into the wonderful Word of God. Now, you know, As we look at verses 13, 14, 15, and 16, these four verses will summarize the function of the believers in the entire world. It reduces everything to just one word, even though these four verses out of Matthew chapter 5, one word that functions that I'm going to be talking about, and that means influence. Influence. influence, how that we influence people. Whoever lives according to the Beatitudes is going to function in the world as salt and light. We're going to influence somebody. The Christian character, consciously or unconsciously, it affects other people for better or for worse. And so as we are reminded of a story on an island of an ancient Greek myth that tells of a goddess who came to earth unseen, but whose present was always known by the blessings that she left behind in her pathway. Trees burned by forest fires sprouted new leaves. Violets sprang up in her footprints. As she passed a stagnant pool, its water became fresh. A parched field turned green as she walked through all of them. Hills and valleys blossomed with new life and beauty wherever she went. Then another Greek story tells of a princess sent as a present to a king. She was beautiful as Aphrodite and her breath was the sweetest perfume, but she carried with her the contagion of death and decay. From infancy, she had fed on nothing but poison and became so permeated with it that she poisoned the very atmosphere around her. Her breath would kill a swarm of insects. She would pick a flower and it would wither. A bird flying too close would fall dead at her feet. And so I'm glad that every one of us can have a function of influence. You can be the most beautiful person that when you get through walking all of a sudden everything begins to grow or you can come into the room and kill everything and suck every bit of the air out of the room it's according to how you want to carry on. Now you know Jesus summed up much of the Old Testament with two commandments or sometimes they presented in the Gospels as one commandment with two parts and he said it pretty much In the teachings of the law and the prophets, he said, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all of your mind and with all your strength. And then he added this, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Mark chapter 12, verses 28 through 31. Now, most of us find very little difficulty in keeping the first part of Jesus' command, loving the Lord our God with all our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind and with all of our strength. We love God. But the second part, loving our neighbor as ourselves, treating others as we would have them treat us, often is quite a challenge because the Bible teaches that our neighbor can be defined as pretty much anybody. People easy to love, people hard to love, and people we think who are nearly impossible to love. But Jesus teaches that we're to love others and he often teaches us that we demonstrate our love for others by serving them. And I'm glad if you glorify God in Bartow County, if you influence somebody, one of the greatest ways you'll do that is by serving. And so then this time frame will be sharing God's love in a very practical way right here in Bartow County for 2024. And you know, Jesus said one time it's more blessed to give than to receive in Acts chapter 20 verse 35. And you know what? It's a blessing of giving that comes by serving others. But we're also going to be looking at how our Lord teaches us about service by looking at these passages. And all of them are from the gospel that we look at Matthew here. And so As we get into the reading of the wonderful Word of God, the Bible starts out and he tells us as we read this, we're going to preach it. Amen. And so, Father, as we read the Word of God, we ask your blessing upon it. And we ask God that you would take the many, Lord, that look back on 2023. and realize how challenging it was, how devastating, or maybe it was the best year they've ever had. But whatever the situation, prepare us. No matter what we do, we can't prepare ourselves for the coming year of 2024. But Lord, you are our source. And as Pastor Keith Dipsy said this morning, Father, you are our most important resource that we always go to. even in the changing of the times and the years, the days, the months, and all. Thank you, Father, as you give us another time to celebrate and give glory and honor to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. And so, the Bible says, and ye shall, ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Now, you know what? Jesus teaches his disciples how to glorify the Father by being salt and light. We're Jesus's disciples today in Bartow County, and if we've trusted him as our Lord and Savior, we can see that this passage teaches us how to glorify God here in Bartow County. And one of the first things that we see as we read verse 13 that comes up is we can glorify God by seasoning our community. Ye are the salt of the earth. I'm glad that if you want to season something, you put some salt on it. You put some pepper on it. Amen. You put some hot chilies in there. Hallelujah. You begin to put the salt to it. And what a strange thing to say to someone. But you and I are the salt. But if we remember what the major characteristics of salt, then we understand why Jesus called the disciples salt. Salt seasons food. It provides zest. It has a powerfully good influence upon food, which makes its contact with. In Jesus's day, salt was a rare commodity. In fact, history tells us that Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt. And so you wouldn't go well with us today because you could pick up your paycheck and you can get a case full of salt with no problem. But in Roman times, it was just like getting your paycheck. In fact, our word salary is from the Latin word salarium, which means salt. And that is why we have the expression about people being worth their weight in salt. We glorify God by seasoning our community in Bartow County and your county of whatever state and whatever region or whatever part of the world that you're in, praise God, because salt is good and without it, food is bland and it's tasteless. And so Jesus says to his disciples, you are all salt. He doesn't say you shouldn't be salt or that you should try to become salt. He says you are salt. And so, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It's good then for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Pure salt cannot lose its potency. But some impure types of salt, such as certain kinds dug out from the shores of the Dead Sea, it can lose its flavor. water would eventually dissolve the sodium chloride, leaving a pile of tasteless, flavorless, nothing. I read that where this tasteless salt might be stored in the Jewish temple, where it rained and the marble floors of the temple became slippery, and this flavorless stuff, good for nothing, it would be basically thrown out into the floor to keep people from slipping around. And so because it's lost its flavor, it was good for nothing but to be trapped under the foot by men. I remember when I was out West and I would go out and I lived in San Miguel Apartments on Academy in Colorado Springs at Fort Carson, Colorado. My job, I would get out and my landlords were elderly and I would shovel off the sidewalk. And then if I didn't get all of the ice off of it, I'd take a little salt and I would sprinkle it on that sidewalk. And you know, every time I'd wash my car at that time, I still had my Cutlass Supreme. And man, I thank God that every time if I didn't park my car in the right place, a snowdrift would hit it and bury that thing. And I got to where I didn't even want to wash my car because it's almost like it brought me luck for the snow to come. And so, you know what? Every one of us, when we look and realize that Jesus says that if you and I lose our saltiness, our influence, as I started out talking about influence, how that we influence people, there is a few things worse than a stagnant, tasteless Christian merely occupying space in the church Forever pushing people further away from Jesus rather than drawing people closer to them. Man, you ought to make them thirsty when you get done talking about Jesus. You ought to influence. You ought to influence. You ought to influence. Glorify God in Bartow County. Amen. And so Jesus is teaching how Christians should positively influence people for God's glory, seasoning all of the people from whom we come in contact with, hallelujah. And we consider the application, the metaphor that a few characteristics of salt is number one, salt cannot be ignored. You know, when you're encountering salt, if you've ever put too much salt on your food, you know what I'm talking about? It cannot be ignored. It's not neutral. That's right. It's active. Salt is an active chemical compound. I remember when I was out with John Hagee, in the Dead Sea. And I stayed out in the salt water out in the Dead Sea for over an hour. And you're talking about that salt starting to burn my skin. I believe it went past the baby's butt skin. And I mean, I was I was ready to get to the shower and shower off that strong salt that was buoyancy where I was just floating around all over the Dead Sea having a great old time taking balls of the mud and throwing it and just having a jolly good time because I didn't have to worry about sinking. It didn't matter if he was a good swimmer or not a good swimmer. You will buoy it in the Dead Sea. Did you know that salt actually lowers the freezing point of water? I'm glad that I take my old mountain ice cream maker. Boy, I tell you, I love to make me some old-fashioned ice cream. Man, I thank God we do it at the college a good bit. Amen. I take that Salt Rock salt, man. I begin to layer it down around that churn, and man, I churn that thing in 20 minutes flat. I got homemade ice cream, hallelujah. Boy, that freezing point of that water, that's why salt is used in the winter to keep the roadways from freezing. You can actually cause a puddle of water and remain liquid at sub-freezing temperatures if you fill it with enough salt. And so, as a Christian, as the salt of the earth, It's our responsibility to be active as well. Salt cannot be ignored. We must keep our own hearts and hearts of those around us from freezing from beneath and becoming hardened by the world. Amen. We cannot be neutral and frozen in the world when Christ has issued to us a calling to be active. So salt cannot be ignored. Influence somebody. Amen. Second thing is, is that when we glorify God by seasoning our community, salt cannot be ignored. But if salt is absent, it's missed. Oh, my God. Where's the salt shaker at? Sometimes some people go to the table and the first thing they've reached for, they ain't even tasted their food yet. They go ahead and reach and grab that salt shaker and they begin to put it on that food and they don't even know if they need it yet or not. Have you ever noticed that some foods just don't taste right without salt? And if salt is absent, it's missed. Jesus was salt. He could not be ignored. His absence was missed. He was not neutral. And so most people either loved him or they hated him. And that's how it often is with us because salt cannot be ignored. People should know that you live for the Lord, that you stand for the Lord. And speaking of the influence that we have upon others, F.B. Myers said one time, a sudden silence should follow certain kinds of conversation when we enter the room, unquote. Do you know, want to know whether you have lost your influence for Christ? I remember when I was in the old fashioned store when I was a little kid. And you know what? When the old fashioned preacher would walk into the local store, people would get quiet. You know why? Because he had a reverence about him, that of the holiness of God, that when the man of God began to go anywhere, when he went to the local little bitty hardware store, when he went over to the fruit market, when he went into the local gas station, hallelujah, there was some influence there, amen. There was some holiness of that pastor, amen. And people would get quiet and say, there's the pastor, hallelujah. And so you know what? You want to know whether you have lost your influence for Christ? How do other people who know you talk in front of you? Do they take you seriously? Are they shocked when they find out that you're a member of such and such church? You know what? Salt cannot be ignored. If salt is absent, it's missed. But thirdly, salt must come into contact with something in order for it to have influence. So long as salt merely remains in a salt shaker, you don't know whether it has any zest to it. And it's ineffective until it becomes contact with something. But when salt is added to anything else, it carries a powerful influence. For example, have you ever noticed a car that has endured several winters in a place like Chicago? When I was in Germany, man, over there, I stayed at British Concern where the Pied Piper story was. And I'm trained on the Rhine River. and while I was there I saw all these opals all over the place and the fenders were held on with what we call duct tape today but back then we called it 5,000 mile an hour tape and literally the duct tape held the fenders on the opals because why? They had been eaten up by so much salt that it went up in there and it eat up everything on the fender and the fenders were about to fall off the little old cars. Man, I could get on the Autobahn and kick it and get going. Hallelujah, man. Oh, my goodness. It's like going back home. And so, so often that we've observed the influence, the nature of salt, that when salt comes into contact with certain metals, it has a tendency to work its way into the surface and it causes them to change. And we can call it rust. if we don't see it as a positive thing. But the way that it perseveres and permeates and changes everything it touches is the very lesson Jesus was teaching about glorifying God in Bartow County, that we glorify God by seasoning our community, amen. So it is with you and I. Jesus says you're the salt of the earth. He doesn't say that you're the salt of heaven. He doesn't even talk about the salt of this church or the salt of that church. He says you're the salt of the earth. He says that we need to have influence, that we need to make an impact on everything that we come in contact with. And what was the last time that you salted someone with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Huh? When was the last time you put out some seasoning in your community? And so how long has it been since you've pointed someone else to Jesus by sharing the good news or by serving them in a practical way? Well, we can't talk about the characteristics of salt without mentioning this one final thing that salt cannot be ignored. And if salt is absent, it's missing. And salt must come into contact with something in order for it to have influence. But fourthly, salt produces thirst. Physical salt makes you thirsty and that's how it ought to be spiritually as Christians. You're in my life, all of our lives, all to make people thirsty for Jesus. Has anyone ever asked you to tell them about the Jesus that you serve? Have you ever got so excited that the kind of thirst that you begin to have after listening to somebody tell you their testimony? One of the neatest things that can happen to you and me at work or at school or at the grocery store is to have someone come up and ask, what is it about you that's so different? Hmm. I used to be asked that a lot. A lot of people used to accuse me of being on drugs because I was so happy. I want whatever it is that you've got. Salt produces thirst. And we glorify God by seasoning our community. Amen. But secondly, the Bible says you're the salt of the world. A city that settled 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 unto all that are in the house." I'm glad that not only do we glorify God by seasoning our community, but secondly, we glorify God by shining in our community. In verses 14 and 15, he says, you are the light of the world. And so I'm glad that in John chapter 8 verse 12, Jesus has said, I'm the light of the world, but he passes on this road to his disciples. We're to reflect his light, you and I. Just as salt has a seasoning influence upon others, so light has a shining influence upon others. And when people look at us, They ought to see an illuminating glory of Jesus Christ. Amen. And so shining all over the place, brightening the community with our love. Hallelujah. And we look at the verse 14. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Amen. Cities like Jerusalem were set on hills. They were in plain view of everyone for miles around. And even at night, the city was visible because the numerous oil lamps burning throughout the evening. You say, well, what's the point? The point is, like salt that cannot be ignored, so light cannot be ignored either. It cannot be hidden. And because you are salt and light, you cannot be hidden for 20,024. People do watch you and they are influenced by you. Again, there's that word. Comedian Sam Levinson says about the time that his overprotective mother went with him on his very first day of school, his mother insisted on talking to the teacher before leaving him that first day. And his mother told the teacher a number of things. Oh my. And one of the things that she told the teacher was that if the teacher caught Sam misbehaving, she should punish the boy next to him. And the teacher asked, why? And Sam's mother said, because my little boy learns by example. And so folks learn by example. Some folks do what's close by, what they see others doing. That's true, isn't it? Have your children ever put on a pair of shoes and walked around the house pretending to be you? It's so flattering that your child sometimes good that they they've seen you do some good things, hopefully more good than bad, that they want to mock you. They want to do and be just like you. And that's flattered when your child does something good that they've seen you do. Remember, your little children are watching you. Your sons and daughters are watching you. Your brothers and sisters, they're watching you. Your classmates are watching you. Your co-workers are watching you. All of Bartow County is watching you. And the world is watching you. As you leave these doors. Bethel Crossroads Baptist Church was watching you. And so, as ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ, each and every one of us, we've got a shining influence as a church. And in this community, I'm glad that we're a city that is set on a hill. Jesus said that we should be shining, a shining influence, a spiritual light right here, glorifying God in Bartow County. We're not like the mythical Scottish village of Brigadoon. The story of Brigadoon is one of the villages that becomes visible to outsiders only one day every hundred years as a result of the village's minister who had prayed for this extreme camouflage as a means of protecting the village from change. But Christ calls his church to be visible. more than once every hundred years. He calls us to be visible more than once a week. He calls us to be visible every day as we seek not to be changed by the world, but to change and put change in the world, to influence, to glorify God in Bartow County. And so he tells us here in verse 15, neither do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel. He says, neither do men light a candle and put it under the bush and put it on the candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Some ancient Near Eastern dwelling places consisted of one, just one main room of the whole place. Somewhere protruding from the wall of that room would be a place where you would put an oil lamp, a lamp stand, and when you wanted to extinguish the lamp, you would take basically a measuring basket and you would cover it up and the light would go out. Jesus is saying be a shining influence. There's no such thing as a silent Christian. There's no such thing as a silent witness. Here this coming year Jesus said that if you're going to be a silent Christian you may as well just extinguish your light and put something over the lamp stand and cover it up. Paul Little in his book, How to Give Away Your Faith, says that trying to be a silent witness is ineffective. He says it'd be like a cancer victim learning about a cure before any other patient knew about it. And after they're cured, return to the ward running and doing handsprings and cartwheels and handstands and backflips while thinking, I'm going to be a silent witness about the cancer cure. Man, don't you know that if somebody had the cure for a disease like that, they'd go down the road like Steve Martin saying, the new phone book's here. The new phone book's here. Hey, the new phone book's here. You'll be telling everybody there's a cure for cancer. There's a cure for cancer, praise God. If they only demonstrated their health, no one else would get cured. We got to tell them where to get the treatment at. You can't point people to Jesus by being silent. People must see Jesus in what you say and how that you live. And so what we see here in verse 15, and it gives light to all who are in the house. It giveth light unto all that are in the house. When you flip on a light switch, the light doesn't just shine in one particular spot in that room. It doesn't just shine in the center of the room or just three feet of one corner in the room. No, it fills the entirety of the whole room. It gives light to all who are in the house. Light isn't just for your own use, it's for everyone's use. You're the light of the world, praise God. And so we see that the church should shine for everyone, whether you're whatever color of skin, whether you have money or poor, whether you smell good or bad, whether you look good or bad, amen. Some Christians just want to sit in the light, basking in the light. Have you ever seen these people at the beach with those metal reflectors trying to soak up all of the light around their face? And there are Christians like that. They come to Sunday school and worship and they just soak up a lot of good Bible teaching. But Jesus wants us to go a step further. He wants us to get up and share the light with others, knocking on doors, pouring light in all of the homes around Bartow County. Amen. Sharing the love of God in practical ways, serving Him by serving others. Amen. You and I must be a shining influence wherever we are. Shine for Jesus at your workplace. Shine for Jesus in your neighborhood. Shine for Jesus in whatever county, in state, in region, in country, wherever you're at. We glorify God by seizing our community. And we glorify God by shining in our community as well, praise God. But as we go to our last scripture, let your light so shine before men that you may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. That brings us to our third point. We glorify God by serving our community in verse 16. And so let your light so shine. And I'm glad that is just as the lamp on a lampstand shines. When we serve others in our community, those that we serve bring glory to God. It's not about us. Jesus doesn't say, hey, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and say, my, how could we ever get by without you? Oh, is that what we are looking for? We're looking for self-glorification. Listen, you need to let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and recognize you publicly before the congregation, before mentioning your name, giving you all of the trophies, all the plaques to hang on the wall. It's not about me, myself, and I. No, right? No. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father that's in heaven. Jesus is instructing us to let our light shine, not for the purpose of our own being seen, but in order that he would shine so brightly in our lives that he can't be missed. They're going to say, man, I want what you got. Jesus points out in these verses that we have three choices concerning how that we glorify God in our works and in our service. First, we can do nothing because this is equivalent to hiding our light under a basket. But this brings no glory to God and is of service to no one. Light that's hidden, the gospel kept silent are both of little value. And so first, we can do nothing. But secondly, Jesus indicates that we can let our own light shine. Here we can do good works. We can reach out to others. We may even do these things in the name of God, but we do them in order that others will see how good that we are so that others will begin to look and see the glory of God and that you give glory and honor to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Amen. And the problem with sometimes is it's not about us. No matter how brightly we may shine, no matter how good our works may be, our own light is dim in that it does not offer the hope, the forgiveness, and the salvation of Jesus Christ. And so thirdly, That third choice Jesus gives us, is it really the only choice for Christians? Because when we glorify God by serving our community, we're to be the salt and light in our community. We're to share the gospel. We're to serve others. We're to do all things, not for the purpose of making ourselves look good, but for the purpose of leading others to the cross of Jesus Christ. Everything that we do is for the purpose of making Christ more visible in Bartow County and around the world. You know, there's people in the world today, they're all caught up in nothing else but just about their family. They don't care which way the wind blows. They don't care what's happening anywhere. It's all about their family. They could give a hoot if the family next door is going to hell, or the family down the road is going to hell, or any other family that's going to hell. All they care about is them and their family. That is not letting your light shine. But as I close out, the reason that we have the season to shine and to serve is not to point others to us, but to point others to God. The ultimate aim of every Christian, the glory of God, that others see our good works and glorify the Father who is in heaven. We live our lives to glorify God in Bartow County by seasoning our community, by shining in our community, and by serving our community. And when you bless others, you're blessing yourself. I'm glad that we look and we realize the words that is more blessed to give than to receive. Don't miss receiving this new year an eternal blessing by taking just an hour or two, going out, whatever it is you're doing, grocery shopping, whatever, and give glory to God as Jesus and his disciples will bring glory together by seasoning, shining, and serving our community. And so, as we close out, I hope and pray that you influence, influence, influence somebody in your neck of the woods, in your part of the country. Father, Lord, I thank you, Lord, that Jesus is talking to his followers, his disciples, those that have trusted him as a savior. Lord, I pray, may we Be the one, Lord, that would go about the work and be the salt and the light that you want us to be in the Word of God. Without Christ, we're in darkness because of our sin. But Lord, ever since we received you as our Savior, you have given us forgiveness. You have made us the light of the world. May our light so shine and reveal the good works. Thank you for the privilege. of giving us another opportunity to speak and to give glory and honor to you. Everything that we do, everything for others, may we speak the truth of your word. Father, I thank you so much for saving us by your marvelous grace and we want to send your blessings of salt and light out to those that are around us in Bartow County as we glorify you in Jesus's marvelous mighty name. Amen. Thank you so much and Happy New Year to you.