Matthew 5:17-20

Truth in Love Network iconTruth in Love Network

0 views

I will continue my discussion in Matthew. Matthew 5:17-20

0 comments

00:39
Hello. Good evening. This is the Truth and Love Network. We get truth and love from Ephesians chapter four verse fifteen.
00:45
Paul says, but speaking the truth and love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ. So, we want to pursue that to the best of our ability to to grow up in all aspects into Christ and speak truth and love and we wanna do that do that together.
01:05
I'd love to have your support if you would give us a like, a heart, a share. If you have any questions or or comments,
01:11
I'd love to interact with you. Ask you questions. I'll try to answer or if you you have a certain topic you wanna talk about.
01:18
Love to spend time talking with you about the things of church, the things of the
01:23
Bible, Jesus, whatever you'd like to talk about. Love to spend time talking to you.
01:29
I love to have your support. Would you pray for us and and all those who are sharing the message of Jesus Christ?
01:36
Um let's see. Yeah, I think that's about it.
01:42
Um I wanna spend a just a few minutes tonight continuing our conversation in in Matthew, Matthew chapter five.
01:50
Tonight, we're gonna look at verses seventeen through twenty and so if you wanna follow along, I'd love for you to do that.
01:57
Um let's go ahead and get started. If I can pray for you,
02:03
I'll pray at the end and all you have to do is type me and let me know that I can pray for you. If you watch the video later,
02:10
I can pray for you later. All you have to do is is type me in the comments and uh I'll see it and I'd love to to pray for you then.
02:18
All you have to do is let me know. Let me read Matthew five. Seventeen through twenty.
02:25
Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
02:31
For truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away. Not the smallest smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until it is accomplished.
02:41
Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches other others shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
02:48
But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the the kingdom of heaven.
03:02
Thank you guys for watching. Um we've looked at at Matthew chapter one through uh through five.
03:10
We we last look at five one through um twelve and thirteen through um through sixteen and most people are familiar with with the beginning of Matthew and it's typically called the the
03:21
Beatitudes and what I find discouraging sometimes is how we we chop up scripture instead of going verse by verse.
03:32
Um and we we lose so much um we we we lose so much information.
03:38
We lose so much context uh when we chop it up. Um because when you look at seventeen, when you look at this passage, eighteen and nineteen and twenty and take it out of its context, um we we fail to see uh what led up and and what
03:54
Jesus is referring to, what he's talking about. Um and from my experience, um
04:02
I feel like things are left unemphasized or or under emphasized or under talked about when it comes to this section uh of scripture.
04:11
When when we look at the Beatitudes, we're looking at Jesus kingdom living, living.
04:17
Um we know that before that uh the message of John the Baptist was repent the kingdom of heaven at the hand and Jesus had the same message uh in verse four.
04:27
He was teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. Um and so,
04:33
I believe here in the this message, this is a message of of kingdom living.
04:39
Um blessed are the the poor spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So, there's there's this behavior and then there there's the consequence of the behavior.
04:49
Um there there's a blessing and then there's also this this uh would you say warning of living distinctly from from the world.
05:03
There's this um understanding that there's going to be there. There's gonna be some troubles and and and problems, difficulties.
05:10
Uh you look at verse ten, blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. There's just the kingdom of heaven.
05:16
There you have the blessing. Um but what comes with it is the consequence of of living uh righteously, living according to how
05:27
Christ would have us to live and so this is about kingdom living and then, hey
05:33
John, hope you're doing well. Um then you come to verses thirteen through sixteen.
05:40
Um staying in the context, staying in this chapter and and what's being talked about.
05:47
We have this this kingdom living idea with with the consequences good and bad and then
05:55
Jesus says, you are the the salt of the earth and then in verse fourteen, you are the light of the world.
06:03
Um and in the last video where we talk about this, we discussed how if if Jesus is talking about the the earth and and the world and that we are we are its salt, we are its light and then he he loves the world that he created and he has a purpose for it.
06:23
Um I thought about this analogy today. If we have a a fruit, a fruit, or a vegetable, let me get this thing out of the way.
06:32
Maybe I'll stop doing that. If we have a fruit or a vegetable that has been sitting out for a very long time, it it begins to rotten.
06:44
It shows bruises and it starts to wither. It has worms.
06:50
Uh what do we do with it? We don't recommend to somebody that they preserve it and and try to um revive it.
06:57
It just doesn't happen. What do we do with it? We throw it out. It it's meant for destruction because it it's no good to us anymore.
07:05
I do not know what's going on with this uh camera here. Let me try that. Hopefully that'll work.
07:13
Alright. So, yeah, we we throw it out. It's no good to us. Um we we discard it and so we we've gotta think about how our um we gotta think about our theology.
07:28
What we what we understand um what god tells us about his world, his creation, and make sure our theology and our understanding matches up with what god tells us that his um his plans are, what he feels about his creation, about his world, and and I think there's a theology out there that would tell us that this world is primed for destruction, that god is going to destroy, destroy the world, but that's overall and I and I know that there's verses that that talk about, you know, fire.
08:07
You you had the flood. You had the fire. Um uh to come. We we have that but the overall context of scripture, we have this um this idea that god loves his creation.
08:24
He loves his world and and he loves the people in this world and so, we as believers, those who come to Christ in repentance of faith, those who
08:36
Jesus is speaking to the that he is um exhorting them to live this way. He says, you are the salt of the earth, the the the preserver of this earth.
08:46
You are the ones who give this um this world. It's good taste.
08:51
You are the light of the world that you're to be shining um into the world, into this world of darkness and so he is he is preserving this world.
09:03
He is a purpose, a meaning for this world and and the people of it because he he created it and he loves it and that's the message that he's sharing with us.
09:11
Now, with that context in mind, it leads us into um without a breath, it leads us into to Jesus next statements.
09:21
Um and uh even even if you go verse by verse in in teaching or preaching, um you can't, you can't do a whole book verse by verse in one sitting.
09:32
You you do have to break it up. That's why we need to be reminded of the context but it is definitely dangerous to you know, do a do a lesson or a sermon um out of a particular passage and then skip to a completely different topic and and book and then maybe 2 years later, kind of come back to that that area.
09:53
We we miss the greater context and and understanding. So, with that in mind, of us being the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
10:03
Listen to verse sixteen, let your light shine before me in in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.
10:13
So, so what is our light? We get it. We get a hint there. It's our good works.
10:19
Our good works. It is our light that is to shine before men so that they may glorify god in heaven and then we get get to our our next verse, our passage for tonight.
10:33
Do not do not think that I came to abolish what? The law.
10:39
I did not come to abolish the law. How do we know what good works are? How do we know what righteousness is?
10:44
We know what um we know what unrighteousness is. Um you know, we know that we know that sin is transgression of the law.
10:55
So, we know what sin is and if it's transgression of the law, what is righteousness? Righteousness is is fulfilling the law.
11:01
It's it's living according to the law. It's obedience to the law. And and Jesus says, I did not come to abolish the law.
11:08
So, our light, our salt, our good works that people are are to see and then therefore glorify god in heaven.
11:18
In the context, Jesus says, is obedience to the commands of god.
11:25
I did not come to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill and what
11:36
I was hitting at earlier is is the the under emphasized parts of this verse.
11:43
I think the in this verse particular we we often highlight the the
11:49
I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. So, we we talk about Jesus fulfilling the law and and somehow we we get this impression that there's a there's a line from there.
12:02
That Jesus has fulfilled the law. Therefore, it's it's null and void. It's over.
12:07
It has no purpose. It's we don't need to emphasize the law anymore.
12:12
We're saved by grace, not by works, of course. But what is it that that works accomplish?
12:20
Jesus has an a a purpose for our good works, our obedience to commands of god.
12:27
It's for us to be the light that people may see our good works glorify our father who is in heaven.
12:34
And of course, we couldn't fulfill the law. Uh so, Jesus had to do that for us so that we may be right before god in order to give us a new heart, new spirit, um or uh our right spirit within us.
12:49
Uh a new heart, a heart of flesh. Um a heart that god has now written his law into.
12:58
We know that from scripture. So, he doesn't, he doesn't get rid of the law. He, he now writes it on our hearts.
13:08
Those who um have the spirit of god within them. So that we can um now do that which is pleasing to god where we couldn't before.
13:19
Um we look at uh kinda on that note, if you look at Psalm 119,
13:28
Psalm 119, verse 126, we see a hint at um and this scripture may have been in mind when
13:40
Jesus was was giving this message. We see in Psalm 119 verse 126, it is time for the lord to act for they have broken the law.
13:53
Other versions say that they have made um they have made your law void.
13:59
So, the route that um the uh the people that are referred to here, the the
14:07
Pharisees, the the Israel, the the nation of Israel, the Pharisees, um they have made the law of god, god void.
14:18
And so, now it is time for the lord to act. It's nothing that that we can do to to reclaim or accomplish and they and they had made god's law void.
14:33
And Jesus came to to fulfill it and that's what we see here in verse seventeen because they had made it it void.
14:42
Um you know, John the Baptist came um fulfilling prophecy, making the path straight, lowering the mountains, raising the valleys, um making the the plains and and the rough places smooth.
14:53
Um and that's what Jesus came to do as well. Make the make the path straight again. They had made them void.
15:02
But Jesus came to make the path straight to to fulfill the law and make a way for us to be able to.
15:09
Uh good evening, Tim. Okay, sorry about that. How is it now?
15:19
How was the echo now? May have been an adjustment that I made to the microphone.
15:31
That'd be sad if I went this long with with a bad echo. So, I thank you for telling me. Letting me know.
15:38
Um so, yeah, praise the lord for Christ who came to to fulfill the law which had been made void and um and it's not and that's interesting.
15:54
It's interesting to think about how um we don't, we're not concerned with the law anymore.
16:00
We we put it on the back burner. We we don't emphasize it. We don't we don't understand the the law in our
16:07
New Testament uh context. Um and and so we just we avoid that conversation.
16:14
We will avoid that study because um it may be a difficult one to tackle.
16:21
Um and we think because we're under grace now. Uh we don't the the law is not relevant to us anymore because we're under grace.
16:30
We're we're not saved by works. However, here here's the interesting thought.
16:35
It was they according to someone when I think that made the law void but Jesus came to reclaim it and fulfill it and then give us a new heart that we may be obedient to god's commands where we weren't unable to before.
16:56
So, we we need to reclaim the the importance of god's law, god's commands in in our own hearts and our lives in in our churches.
17:07
Um so that we can um we can be obedient to to Jesus here and understand that we are the salt and we are the light because we are obedient to his commands.
17:27
Um yes, we we understand that uh the gospel is is the light evangelism is sharing the light but I think that's that is probably um the the extent of where our understanding reaches that we are being the light of the world if we are being evangelist and and a lot of times we we fell miserably at that as well.
17:56
Being evangelist, sharing the gospel but we think that that is accomplishing this um this verse verses thirteen through sixteen being the salt of the earth, the light of the world.
18:10
So, therefore, we must share the gospel and that again is what's so dangerous about chopping up god's word and and reading a little bit here, reading a little bit there, doing a lesson here, doing a sermon here, and not going verse by verse because we take it out of context.
18:29
So, if we if we took verses thirteen through fifteen on their own and then seventeen through twenty on their own, we would miss the context and and we would continue to think that being the salt, being the light, is being evangelist but here in the context, being the salt and being the light is being obedient to the commands of of god.
18:57
We need to reclaim reclaim that in our hearts, our lives, in our churches.
19:02
Let's let's move forward. Verse eighteen, truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until it is accomplished.
19:13
Until what's accomplished? The the law and the prophets. So so what do we mean by that?
19:22
Um it's not void. Jesus says, it is not void. The the law or the prophets are are not void.
19:31
They are relevant and they are going to continue to be relevant until all is accomplished.
19:37
Not just one part, not just the law, not just the prophets, but until all is accomplished.
19:44
And so, what does that look like from from a prophecy standpoint?
19:51
I would like for you to listen to Isaiah chapter two. We're gonna start in verse two and just listen to a few verses in here to to listen to what that sounds like from a prophetic standpoint.
20:01
That it's not void but relevant and and what what that looks like in god's economy in fulfilling prophecy and what god's doing here on this earth.
20:14
Um starting in verse two, now it will come about that in the last days, the mountain of the house of the lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it.
20:29
So, that's what's going to be going on. Um please don't don't miss this um this description of what god is doing when he raises um when he raises the the mountain of the house of the lord and establishes chief uh as the chief of the mountains which we know is
20:49
Jesus, right? All the nations will stream to it.
20:54
This is this is what um we are to be looking for as time moves on.
21:03
Um verse three and many peoples will come and say come let us go up to the mountain of the lord to the house of the god of Jacob that he may teach us concerning what his ways and that we may walk in his paths for the law will go forth from Zion.
21:26
What goes forth from Zion? The law and the word of the lord from Jerusalem and he will judge between the nations and render decisions for many peoples and they will hammer their their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
21:42
Nation will not lift up sword against nation and never again will they learn war. Why is that what we were to be looking for?
21:51
How else does that fit the text that we're looking at? We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.
22:01
God loves his creation and he is using his people to preserve the earth and to bring light into darkness.
22:12
So, we know that he loves his creation. He loves his people and he is doing something.
22:18
There's a meaning and there's a purpose. What's that meaning and purpose? We go back to Isaiah chapter two that when he raises up mountain, the house of the lord, it becomes the chief mountain.
22:30
Everyone will begin to start streaming to this nation. Do we see all this happening at once in an instant?
22:38
No, that's not how god describes in his word how the kingdom will advance.
22:43
It will be like a mustard seed. It will be like leaven. It will be a slow process but this is what we are to be looking for and it gives relevance to the idea that we are preserving the earth.
22:56
We're the light of the world. There's a meaning, a purpose to it in our um in our lives.
23:01
Your life has purpose and meaning and it's a part of this kingdom building and we're working toward this point uh as as Isaiah describes in his prophecy.
23:17
Verse nineteen, whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
23:32
Here, here's the kingdom and there's a kingdom economy and why would Jesus say that if you annul one of the least of the commandments and teach others to do the same, if the laws aren't important, if the commands of god are not important, why would he teach that?
23:55
He teaches it because they are important. They are important to his people in order to fulfill the salt and light.
24:05
Bringing light into darkness. Let's turn to one more place in in Isaiah Isaiah chapter forty -two.
24:13
What is what is Jesus doing? Showing us the importance of of fulfilling the law, reclaiming the law, and then us being obedient to god, being the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
24:35
What is he doing through us in in fulfilling this prophecy and growing his kingdom as a mustard seed as as eleven of course but what is he doing?
24:46
And we see what the messiah is doing in this prophecy in Isaiah chapter forty -two. Behold, my servant whom
24:53
I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him.
25:01
He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise his voice nor make his voice heard in the street.
25:13
A bruised reed he will not break. A dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.
25:21
And I want to stop right there just for a second. When we emphasize the law, when we as Christians turn our head back towards the law and try to reclaim obedience to god through his through his commands, there becomes this hardness as a response from even in our hearts or or those to whom we may be speaking about god's law.
25:48
And it has to do with the difficulties of the commands themselves and in applying them to us as as New Testament believers.
26:08
But here we're told about what Jesus is doing and how he relates to us as as believers and as people here in this world.
26:20
Um he is bringing justice. That means he's going to be making things right.
26:26
He's going going to be doing what's right. And as he is establishing his kingdom.
26:34
We think about the harshness of the law. The difficulty in applying the law.
26:40
But listen to the justice that the Messiah will bring in his kingdom. A bruised reed he will not break.
26:50
And a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. Jesus has loving kindness.
26:58
Jesus has patience. So that there's not this idea of enemies of the gospel.
27:09
Enemies of of the Old Testament. Enemies of the New Testament.
27:14
Enemies of of god and Christianity in general. They want to talk about how god god is a tyrant.
27:20
Um god is god is hateful and and unloving and um he's the the god of the
27:26
Old Testament is not the god of the New Testament. And so he's he's the strict god. But no, he's the same god.
27:34
He's the same yesterday, today, and and forever. And this is how he deals with his people.
27:44
He will he will not bruise uh he will not break a bruised reed. Those those who are are coming to god.
27:53
Those who are weak and heavy laden. Those who who may um be young in the faith.
28:00
Those who may be stumbling in the faith or having difficulty. He will not extinguish their light.
28:07
He will be patient with them and and show them his loving kindness, his mercy, and his grace.
28:15
This is Jesus bring justice to the earth and how he does that. He does that with his loving kindness and with his patience.
28:24
Um now moving on to verse four. Um he will not be disheartened or crushed.
28:32
This movement of the Messiah is is moving forward and we look at all the seemingly setbacks.
28:40
We look at all the difficulties, the the wars, um the the enemies of god. But our
28:45
Messiah, our king, it says, he will not be disheartened or crushed until he has established what?
28:53
Justice. Where? In the earth. Here we have um this prophecy of the
29:02
Messiah. Establishing justice. God's commands, what's right, and and making things right in the earth.
29:13
So much so, the end of verse four says, and the coastlands will wait expectantly for his law.
29:22
They they are waiting expectantly for his law. What is what is that a picture of? The kingdom moving out and going out and growing and moving forward and the coastlands are are waiting for this feeling.
29:36
It's it's starting here and it's moving out and the coastlands are just waiting patiently for for Jesus to be establishing justice in the whole earth.
29:50
That's why we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world. We are part of this kingdom building, this kingdom growth that Jesus is working on this planet and it's exciting to be a part of it.
30:07
So we see our our God, our Messiah, establishing justice on the earth.
30:14
Not to be destroyed. But we have a purpose and our world has a purpose and a meaning and we can we get to see that fulfilled and we get to see
30:25
God use us to fulfill that that kingdom. One more comment
30:33
I wanted to make as we as we transition into our last verse verse twenty. As we talked about how many see the harshness of the commands of the law, the punishments for breaking some of the commands of the law, they they come across to us very harshly and and the enemies of the cross, enemies of the gospel say, well, are you gonna are you going to kill as a punishment those who break this commandment?
31:05
Are you gonna kill this person? Are you going to kill that person for breaking that particular commandment?
31:10
We'll we'll get those type of attacks. But we've talked about how
31:15
Jesus is is loving, is patient, he has grace, and he has mercy, and we see that he came and he fulfilled the law, the demands of the law that we couldn't fulfill.
31:29
So therefore, if Jesus has fulfilled the demands of the law, fulfilled justice, and made things right with God, those that are in him are forgiven.
31:45
Their punishment for breaking those commands were paid on the cross when
31:52
God killed Jesus for us breaking his commands. But those who continue to break his law, is it for us to to fulfill those obligations of justice?
32:08
No. God will do that in his timing in eternity in justice.
32:16
So, when all is said and done, either our sins will be paid for on the cross in our forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ, or we will spend eternity paying for those broken commandments.
32:35
And that's where the justice will come into play and and meet its final fruition.
32:42
Now, let's look at verse twenty. He says, for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the
32:50
Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. These guys, they were they were well respected for their righteousness, for their law keeping.
33:01
We look at them as the bad guys, but they they were well respected at their time for for being righteous.
33:09
And his audience here, when Jesus says you must surpass the righteousness of the
33:15
Pharisees to to be able to enter in the kingdom of heaven like us because we we know the the righteousness of the
33:28
Pharisees and they did as well more so than we do.
33:41
It blows our mind that our righteousness, we have to be perfect to enter in the kingdom of heaven, which we know that we can't do.
33:53
We can't be good enough and we can't make up enough our disobedience to God's commands.
34:00
So, therefore, we have Jesus coming to fulfill the demands of God, the demands of his law.
34:11
So, how then does that translate into verse twenty? How can our righteousness surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees in relationship to Jesus fulfilling those demands, fulfilling the law?
34:25
We have one more verse to look at a very exciting verse Philippians chapter three verse nine.
34:34
We should all write this down. We should all underline this one because it's so important to our faith.
34:41
It's so encouraging to our soul. How do we surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees and the
34:46
Sadducees so that we may enter into the kingdom of heaven Philippians three verse nine and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ.
35:04
The righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.
35:11
Those who are in Christ do have a righteousness that surpasses that of the
35:17
Pharisees and Sadducees because it comes from God on the basis of faith through the work of Jesus Christ and his righteousness.
35:27
His righteousness is applied to our account. So now we have a righteousness that surpasses that of the
35:36
Pharisees and Sadducees on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ.
35:45
And if you do not have faith in Jesus Christ, if you have not repented of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, please do that as soon as possible tonight before you go to sleep tomorrow before the next breath before the next day repent of your sins and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and God will give you his righteousness so that you may have a righteousness that surpasses that of the
36:11
Pharisees and Sadducees that you may enter the kingdom of God. And if you are a believer, if you do have his righteousness, be excited about the commands of God.
36:22
Be excited about being obedient to God and applying his law rightly because we are the salt of the earth.
36:29
We're the light of the world. He is growing his kingdom. He is drawing nations to himself.
36:35
The law is going out from Zion and he is working on this planet that the justice is going to reach the coastlands and nations are going to turn their swords into plowshares and there's going to be to be peace.
36:56
There's going to be um hope in Christ and and Christ is going to fill this world because Adam didn't do it.
37:07
Noah didn't do it. Moses didn't do it. Abraham didn't do it. All of our forefathers were given the command to fill the earth but they couldn't do it and they didn't do it.
37:22
They all failed. The only one that succeeded is was Jesus and is going to be
37:28
Jesus. So, we can rely on him and trust in him and have joy in what he is doing despite what is going on in our world.
37:39
Do you remember what Isaiah said? He will not be disheartened or crushed and we can have the attitude of our savior as well because we trust in his victory.
37:52
So, we don't have to be disheartened or crushed. He will wipe away every tear and he he is doing that now.
38:02
He is doing that now because he is working in us a peace that passes all understanding.
38:09
A hope that doesn't have to be discouraged or crushed because Jesus has the victory.
38:16
I hope that was encouraging to you. Um if it was uh please pray for the ministry.
38:24
If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them. Send me a comment.
38:31
If I can pray for you, let me know. Love to be able to do that. Let me let me pray for us as we close. Father, we thank you for this time together.
38:37
Thank you for your word and thank you for using us all for your kingdom and your glory.
38:43
In Jesus name, amen. Um Thank you, Tim. I really appreciate that.
38:49
Um another Tim, Tim Langley, he asked, he or he says, I have to go. When is the next one?
38:55
Uh Tim, I attempt um uh this is not my primary means of income.
39:03
This is just a ministry that I attempt to do. Um I attempt to be on Tuesday nights and I attempt to be right now on Sunday nights with uh brother named
39:14
Dan. That's our goal is to be on Tuesday nights and Sunday nights. Uh so, catch us then.
39:21
Go back and look at some of our other videos. I hope you'll be encouraged with them and we try to be on as consistently as possible and we'll continue to try to do that.
39:31
Um if I miss, it's because of sickness or or busyness or work. Um just like you all experienced but thank you for the encouragement.
39:40
Thank you for spending time with me and um please share and like and heart so that we can work together in in getting the gospel, the word of god out into our community.
39:51
Hope you guys have a good night. Remember that Jesus is king. Go live in that victory.
39:58
Um speak speak with the victory of Christ.
40:04
Live in the victory of Christ and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with your community and loved ones.