Matthew 5:13-14

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I will take a brief look at Matthew 5:13-14

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Hello my friends, this is truth and love we get a truth and love from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 where Paul says
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But speaking the truth and love we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even
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Christ So join me as we do that together speak truth and love and grow up in all things into Christ He is is our goal.
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He is the one we look toward to keep our eyes Fixed work toward heaven so that we may please him so that we may
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Enjoy him so we may praise him. Everything is about is about him So and that's what Ephesians 4 15 is about and that's what we want to be about.
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But thank you for watching. Thank you for spending some time with me. I really appreciate it We're just briefly going to look at two verses in Matthew tonight
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Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 and 14 and and before I come on I was thinking about the importance maybe of You know is is this particular
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Time together less important because I'm only looking at two verses rather than a whole section and and it occurred to me
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You know, even if we were just looking at one letter or one word because it's it's from the
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God of the universe It's the most Important time that we could be spending together the most important topic that we could be looking at.
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So You know I reoriented my thinking based on the the the object of Our faith and and where this word comes from so, you know
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One jot one tittle is more important than than anything else in this world when it comes from the
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Lord You know the verse that says better is one day in your house than a thousand elsewhere.
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So that's That's where we would rather be is is in his house being his doorkeeper
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Looking at one jot or tittle of his word Rather than than anything else.
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We're going to glean the most from from him. And so let's Let's just take a few moments to look at Matthew chapter 5
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We're going to specifically look at verses 13 and 14 But I want to read the passage that we looked at last time to kind of lead up to 13 or 14 because I think obviously if you sit down and Go through sections go through books
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You're you want to read it in sequence? So you are going to you're not going to miss what was before and after and a lot of times when we
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When We do expository preaching or teaching and and we do you know sections at a time
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Review is sometimes good because if we're just pulling out one section We miss some of the context and I don't want to miss miss the context of the passage that we're looking at So Matthew chapter 5 starting in verse 3 and You'll you'll be familiar with this as as I read it
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It says blessed are the poor in spirit where theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted
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Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
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For they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful where they shall receive mercy Blessed are the
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Pure in heart, excuse me, where they shall see God blessed are the peacemakers where they shall be called sons of God Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness
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For theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when men cast insults at you and Persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of me rejoice and be glad For your reward in heaven is great for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you and verse 13 and 14
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You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again?
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It is good for nothing anymore Except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men
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You are the light of the you are the light of the world a city set on the hill cannot be hidden Oh 15 and 16, excuse me.
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I wanted to go to more verses Nor do men light up a lamp and put it under a peck measure
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But on the lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house 16 let your light shine before me in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your
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Father who is in heaven. I apologize. I wanted to do 13 through 16 and so yeah, if you remember we looked at or If you've read this best before been in church at all at any length of time
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You you're probably familiar with what they call the B attitudes this beginning of Jesus's Sermon where Jesus is talking about Kingdom life how he would have us to to live and And what we've seen is that it's contrary to How the world lives it's contrary to how
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Hey John, hope you're doing well It's contrary to how the world lives worldly wisdom
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And so we're going against the grain when we live this way and and it talks about consequences
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When we live this way You'll you'll be persecuted or Blessed of those who are persecuted
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There's an expectation of persecution when you live this way and blessed are you when when men cast insults at you?
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So this there's this expectation that when we are going against the grain We are going to get a backlash.
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We were going to see persecution There's going to be the tension there between us and those of us who are
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Not believers those who are not believers who are not in Christ Who are still living according to their own wisdom or the wisdom of the world?
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There's going to be tension There's going to be backlash and even persecution the difficulty with this passage and and other passages for us
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Specifically is The place and the time the location in which we live
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You can go around the world today and find places that are similar to What was going on in the time of the original audience there definitely are places
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Like that that you can find but for us here where we live. I Don't think that any of us and and I guess
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I'll just speak for myself there. There is no way for me to even Imagine what they would have been hearing how they would have been processing this information
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Because of the world that they lived in and and what they knew they were going to be facing so so when we read
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Blessed are those who who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, you know We we think when we receive a little insult
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Blessed are you when men cast insults at you and and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely
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We can't comprehend what that meant to the original audience and and what that means to folks who live in other places in the world who are
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At this very moment Scared for their lives for the sake of Christ for the cross for the glory of God.
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We can't even imagine What it would be like to stand or in their shoes to stand in their place
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Here in in their time in in first century It was not a matter of You know personal insult, you know, it was a matter of this is this is how things are and If you go against the grain if you go contrary to our family our religion your friends your culture your customs your society if you go against that in any way even in even in your family and how
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Husbands and wives treat each other how At that time the
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Masters and their servants would treat each other If you go against that and you go against the the grain of that and contrary to that in that society
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You're either out of the household or you are out Out period
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You're you're you're put away from this earth. You were no longer breathing Because you you're going against religion against family against culture against society and so it is
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It's impossible for me to fathom How they would have been processing this information and what
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Jesus said that they would They would be going through and what our brothers and sisters are going through now in other parts of the world so It made me think about first Peter I'm studying first Peter or an upcoming sermon and it made me think about it some verses in first Peter I won't read them to you first Peter chapter 4
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Starting in verse 3 take a look at these verses for the time already passed
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It's sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles having pursued a course of sensuality lust drunkenness carousals drinking parties and abominable idolatries and in all this they are surprised that you do not run with him into the same excess of dissipation and they beline you
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But they shall give an account to him who was ready to judge the living and the dead so We've got to keep that in mind.
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And that's what they they were being Encouraged to keep in mind here is how
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Christ wants you to live in his kingdom and Living that way will bring backlash will bring persecution
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But we've got to we've got to think outside of what's in front of us, yes
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And and here again, there's no way for me to imagine
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Putting myself in that position to where This is how
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Jesus wants me to live. And if I live this way, this is what's going to happen to me
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I'm going to be cast out or even killed for my faith in how I live
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But yet Jesus says or Peter said in chapter 4 first Peter that There was a time for that and you and you left that and and they are surprised that you don't run with them anymore
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So they malign you but Jesus Peter says that They will be judged
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So it helps to orient our thinking To correct our thinking to to give us a confidence in the position that Christ wants us to be in What he wants us to live this way.
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There's going to be backlash. Hey, happy. Hope you're doing well, brother there's going to be backlash because of Of how we're living but keep this in mind
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That they will be judged vengeance is mine says the Lord. I will repay this what he says so move forward
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Move forward in the light of They're they're going to be judged in their behavior.
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Whatever they do to you God's gonna handle it either here now on this earth or later on Judgment Day and so we can keep that in mind and and I truly believe that Scripture teaches us that He will give us the grace
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He the Spirit is giving them grace that I cannot even fathom Where our brothers and sisters are being persecuted now
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The Holy Spirit was given our brothers and sisters here in in this first century grace that I can't fathom because of the backlash and the persecution of Going against the grain of their religion of their family or their society that I can't and I'm sure many others here in this
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Country that we live in can't even fathom But God will give us because he's the one who placed us here.
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He placed us where we live We couldn't control where we were born. God put us here and he will give us the grace through his spirit to Live how he's called us to live in Matthew 5 3 through 12
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Bruno says Bruno I hope you don't mind. I'm gonna put you up here on the screen if that's okay
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He says you can't obey someone you don't know and if we know him, we don't act gingerly
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There is a sense of urgency in our lives because we know Understanding carry the truth
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Hebrews 10 24 the day is drawing near Bruno also says
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He will give us grace and also strength to endure and endure and persevere amen
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Absolutely, and that's what we that's what we've got to hang on to that promise Because if we if we step back and think about as I was doing
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The position that they were in and our brothers and sisters in who who are you know in other countries
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We can't fathom being in that position so we must Anchor ourselves in the in the promise of that grace that he will give us that that strength
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They will give us to endure and persevere. So here's the second thing verses 13 through 16 the first thing was that that sense of God's got this under control
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His he will take care of this in his timing now or later on Judgment Day But from 1st
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Peter chapter 4 he will judge them. So We don't have to worry about that verses 13 through 16 in Matthew chapter 5 here's
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Here's the other thing that that Jesus wanted them to keep in mind. Here's how
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I want you to live It's going to be contrary. You're going to get backlash in in every situation wherever you are and Here is the here's the motivation for up for living that way
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Verse 13 you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt of the gum tasteless, how will be made salty again?
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It is good for nothing Except to be thrown down and trampled under foot of men. So we are the salt of the earth the thing that gives this this earth flavor and Preservation and Jesus is speaking of the earth.
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That's one of the main points that I wanted to make tonight. I'm sure you can you've heard sermons or Sunday school teachings or other teachings breaking down these verses, but one of the main points that I wanted to make tonight is the fact that that Jesus cares about his creation and we see that in John 3 16 for God so loved the world and and back when
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I was A younger in my Understanding of the sovereignty of God I wanted to I know that John 3 16 wasn't a
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It's not a verse that that talks about the the quantity of the gospel
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It's a it's a verse that talks about the quantity or the quality of the gospel
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Everyone who was believing for God to love the world that everyone believing in him will have everlasting life
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We we've we misunderstood this King James word whosoever and so in the backlash of my being young and my understanding of the sovereignty of God I Wanted to make the word world and of course in the book of John John John does use the word world like around 14 different ways but I wanted to make the word world fit in my understanding of the sovereignty of God and an election and predestination
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But what I didn't realize is that the Greek word is cosmos There's other
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Greek words for for earth or world Oikomene is one of them.
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Oikomene is a more localized word And you'll see that when you
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Oftentimes when you're studying eschatology But here it's not oikomene.
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It's not a localized thing and it's not just talking about You know a certain race of people or a certain group of people
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Jesus says for God so loved the cosmos his his whole of creation
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That he sent his one and only Son What an amazing grace that is and And so there's something about his creation
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That he is that he loves and he is Preserving and here in his sermon in Matthew chapter 5 verse 13.
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You are the salt of the earth that preservation of the earth
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It's it's about evangelism it's about souls, but it's about having dominion
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Think about creation and the creation mandate Adam and Eve they were to go Subdue the earth and how many souls were on the earth at that time?
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It was those two So it wasn't about evangelism It was about subduing the earth
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Because God cares about his creation and he wants his people to glorify him through their work in creation
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And so God is about preserving the earth subduing the earth the bringing under the submission of Jesus Christ and the glory of God and so That was one of the main points that I wanted to make instead of breaking down these verses
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So we're the salt of the earth. We are the the light of the world City set on a hill cannot be hidden.
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So we we are to be shining that light of God's Word of the gospel the good news of Salvation the good news of the kingdom as he is preaching here
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Have to remember we we go back to Matthew chapter 4 verse 23 and Jesus was going about going
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About in all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every
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Kind of sickness among the people so Jesus is preaching about the good news of the kingdom
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That's what we are as the salt of the earth as the light of the world. We're to be going out and preaching and teaching the good news of the kingdom which includes salvation and Matthew chapter 28 he's going to go back
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He's going to go to that again. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth therefore go
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Make disciples of all the nations Baptizing them in the name of the Father Son of the Holy Spirit Teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you and lo
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I'm with you even to the end of the age So it's it's about preserving the earth shining light of the kingdom of Christ over the earth and Here this this last point that I wanted to make which is um
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So foundational to in verse verse 16 let your light shine before men
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And what's the light? the light is Living like verses 3 through 12 is teaching us to live
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So we can talk about the light being the good news we can talk about the light being the kingdom, but the light here in context is
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You living out the kingdom In front of the world It's the the context is the world and the context is us living out the kingdom in the world
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It says let your light shine before men in such a way That they may see your good works and Glorify your father's who is in heaven and we when we think about glorifying
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God We think about something that we that we desire to do sorry about the video
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We think about it something That we have a desire to do as Christians as a positive thing that we give
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God glory We do it in worship We do it in how we live and how we breathe and walk and move and everything that we do we do it
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To to give God the glory but here it is Unbelievers seeing our good works and giving
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God the glory so We know that there's going to be backlash.
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We know that there's going to be Persecution insults
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All kinds of evil spoken against us falsely so we know all those things are going to happen
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And it's going to come from the world unbelievers in the world and they are the ones who are going to be glorifying the father who is in heaven
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When they see our good works so What does that look like?
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I thought about a good example and it's been I Can't remember exactly how long ago it was
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What was it a month ago two months ago? It was somewhere Right in there when a group in the
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Middle East was firing missiles at Israel they were firing missiles at Israel and The missiles were not reaching
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Israel and I think a lot of it had to do with what they called the iron dome So they were they were falling short they weren't able to reach their target mainly because of the iron dome for my understanding there in Israel and it's also my understanding if the report is accurate that there was a news report that This this group that was attacking
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Israel in their amazement that their missiles weren't reaching
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Israel Made the comment Their their
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God is protecting them The their God is keeping them from from the missile attack basically,
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I can't remember the exact words But that's what I think of when I heard that This is the verse that I thought of In principle,
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I think that's how it works in our lives They Worked they weren't glorifying
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God as as in praising him For the work that he was doing protecting
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Israel at that time. They were just giving him credit They were giving him credit because of the actions that were taking place and I think that's the principle that it is occurring here when
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We are shining our light into the world living according to Christ Obeying his teachings and the world sees our good works
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They will give him credit how that works what that looks like exactly
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I'm not 100 % sure But I think that's the principle
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They will see our good works and they will give God the credit not that they have a desire to praise him but they will be given him the credit and that's what our look live should look like and and our motivation not
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Not to live in such a way that we are Pointing to ourselves
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Giving ourselves credit lifting ourselves up but living in such a way to Then our desire is
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When the world sees our good works, they will give God the credit and Whatever their motivation is
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They may be even cursing God But they are giving God the credit for your good works.
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They are seeing God Through you and your good works and your obedience to Christ Let me see what else
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Bruno says here and then we'll wrap it up Bruno says that's right salt of the world No half -stepping.
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Let's live our lives sold out for our King and Savior Jesus Christ Have we considered the cost
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Luke language? No self -preservation. Let's share it Let's live it out and let the gospel go forth from us in all aspects.
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Amen and First Thessalonians 1 6 to 8 you also became imitators of us and of the
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Lord having received the word during great Affliction with the joy of the
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Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia For the word of the
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Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia But in every place the news of your faith toward God has gone out so that we have no need to say anything
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Amen Thank you Bruno for those comments. I thank you guys for watching again
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If I can pray for you, I'd love to be able to do that. Let me close this In prayer father.
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Thank you for this time that we have together Thank you for your word and showing us the importance of your word and I Know I don't
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Give you thanks enough for the place and Time on this planet that you have placed me and the freedoms that we have that we take for granted
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So father, I thank you and I praise you and and I pray for our brothers and sisters who are
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Not as fortunate as we are that are under persecution. I Pray that you would grant them strength and grace for the hour and if it be your will father you would deliver them
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Those that won't rescue those that want out father, I pray for their rescue
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Father, will you let this word? abide in our hearts and Work itself out as we grow up In salvation in Jesus name we pray
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Thank you guys for watching. I really appreciate it. Remember that Jesus is King Go speak with the authority of Christ Live in the victory of Christ and let's continue to go out there and share the gospel of Christ Hope you have a good evening.