Illustration results for salt light
Free Memorial Day Resources
Sermons & Illustrations: Top SermonsTop Illustrations
Sermon & Worship Packages: Time to Remember
If you look at a sundial on a cloudy day, the pointer doesn’t leave a shadow to indicate the time, it’s quite ineffective in that state. Without the “sealing of the Spirit” we’re just like that sundial, failing to live up to expectation and realizing our potential as the children of God, as salt and light in a corrupt and dark world.
A pastor and his wife decide to have the church deacons and their wives over for dinner. It was quite an undertaking, but the pastor and his wife want to be "Salt and Light" for the leaders of their church. When it comes time for dinner, everyone is seated and the pastor's wife asks her little four year old daughter if she will say grace. (As a note to new parents: Don't do this!)
The girl says "I don't know what to say."
Her mom tells her, "Just say what I say honey."
Everyone bows their head and the little girl says, "O dear Lord, why am I having all these people over for dinner! Amen!"
The problem is that the church that fails to change fails to impact the culture of change. It becomes a dinosaur, a memorial to a world that no longer exists. So, on the one hand, while it protects those within its walls from overwhelming stress, on the other hand, it becomes biblically and spiritually irrelevant. That which is to be the salt of the earth turns tasteless, and its light flickers dimly if at all.
Aubrey Malphurs, Pouring New Wine Into Old Wineskins, p. 88]
Four things that Doug Murren says in his book Churches That Heal that hinders the church from becoming a church that heals:
i.A Lack of Compassion
He notes, “Two million people die every year. Only about 200,000 of those die knowing Jesus as their Savior. Loneliness is one of the major contributors to the high number of heart attacks. Each year 800,000 babies are born out of wedlock (Churches That Heal pg. 104).
ii.The “Us verse Them” mentality
This mindset builds walls and barriers toward unbelievers. We are to be the light and the salt to this lost world around us. We are to tell people about Jesus Christ and show them the way to eternal life. Not hide from them (105-108)!
iii.A lack of transparency (108, 109)
We must live lives that show that we are “Saved by Grace” and that we are not perfect. We must be genuine and authentic with others.
iv.A consumer mentality
This view has devastated the church today. Christian view church as a place to have their needs met. They have no desire or will to sacrifice and serve others. It is self-centered Christianity which focuses only on what do I get out of this church. The reason there is tremendous turnover in the church is because peop...
Salt is one of those common everyday items we use without thought. We grab the shaker and shake. According to the Salt Institute (www.saltinstitute.org), over a billion dollars were spent on salt in the United States alone using about 24 ½ million tons of salt. 2002 was actually a lighter year.
The Lord has called us to be salt and light. We are to bring every area of our lives into subjection under the lordship of Christ that people can see the difference that Jesus can bring to an individual, a family and to society. We have an incredible opportunity to show the difference that Jesus can make when we bring our marriages under the subjection of Jesus Christ.
Our Hindu neighbor Rina began to ask my wife Lenora about our family. She commented that she saw our marriage as good. She said she believed it was because of Christ and the Bible making a difference in our lives. This is exactly the kind of testimony we are hoping to have as we seek to bring our marriage under the Lordship of Christ.
Do you remember from watching Sesame Street “One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn’t belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?” If you are a Christ follower and you are in the company of non Christ Followers you are the thing that is not like the others, or at least you should be.
From Denn Guptill’s Sermon: Salt and Light Are?
Dad often reminds me of the Tombstone somewhere in the US that has as the epitaph
Pause, stranger, when you pass me by,
For as you are, so once was I.
As I am now, so will you be.
Then prepare unto death, and follow me.
And someone had scratched on it:
To follow you I’m not ...
Light serves a purpose as well. And this was a picture that these fisherman would understand. A Light Attracts Peter and Andrew and the boys fished at night because during the day the fish in the Sea of Galilee stay close to the bottom where it’s cooler but during the cool of the night they come close to the surface and the guys would have kept a lit torch aboard their boats to draw the fish even closer. You ever turn your lights off on your porch in the summer time because it attracts moths. 10 Years ago when we first moved into Kingswood our son Stephen had fallen asleep watching TV and had the outside light on and the front room light on and someone who was lost deep in the Bowels of Kingswood came to our door at 2:30 in the morning looking for directions, why? Because they saw our light. When we are the light of the world we will attract people to Jesus, that’s part of what we are supposed to do. Remember what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 4:19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” and Paul writes in Ephesians 5:8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light!
From Denn Guptill’s Sermon: Salt and Light Are?
I remember when I was fishing with my dad sailing into Yarmouth in the fog, I can’t remember sailing into Yarmouth without fog but that’s a different story. And we’d use our radar as much as we could but we would put a man out on the bow to keep a look out for the light from the buoys. The pre-Christian may be directed toward Christ by the Bible or a T.V. Evangelist or a book but the Gospel has to come to life in the light of a believer.
From Denn Guptill’s Sermon: Salt and Light Are?
Pastor's MediaVault
