True Life Begins When Our Life Ends

Today's sermon comes from Matthew 5. Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored. It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. This is the word of God for the people of God. You may be seated. Well, hey, Summit Family, if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to meet me in Matthew chapter 5 as we're kicking off a series on the Sermon on the Mount, and I'm excited to dive into God's Word with you today. But before we do that, let me just say a word of prayer and off we go. Father, thank you for all that you're doing in and through our church.

Thank you for a church that really believes that everyone is to be sent out no matter what their spheres of influence may be, neighborhood, apartment complex, college campus. And for some Lord God to actually put their yes on the table to be sent out to the ends of the earth. And thank you for a church that encourages that, that unleashes that in our culture. We do pray, Father, that that would continue to be baked into who we are, especially as we get into the Sermon on the Mount, and we end by looking at Jesus' call for us to be salt and light, that no matter where we are, no matter Lord God, what we do for vocation, kingdom of heaven people are called to be salt and light. Father, would you use me not to be an impediment to what you want to do, but simply to step in the flow of your spirit to encourage us as it relates to what that looks like? I pray for my brothers and sisters, Lord God, who are here and they're not a part of your kingdom, Lord Jesus. I pray that your word would be living and active, that your spirit would so rumble among us, Lord God, that no one would leave here without surrendering their life to you. It's in Jesus' name I ask all of these things, amen and amen. John Colson was the epitome of success. Here was an individual, it seemed as if everything he touched turned to gold. In his early years, he had been given a full scholarship to an Ivy League institution. He would go on to be educated in some of the finest schools in the world. He was legally trained. He was a successful lawyer. He argued cases and won before the Supreme Court. He was noticed by presidents. In fact, he became a presidential advisor to Richard Nixon, and that is when the bottom fell out. Some of you are chuckling because you understand that Charles Colson was a part of a little scandal called Watergate. He was tried and convicted for his role and was sentenced to serve time in an Alabama prison, just like that.

Charles Colson went from the mountaintop of success to the lowest of the low. And yet here he is in prison, the way Chuck Colson talks about it. It was a real gift to him. He had come completely to the end of himself. Oh. He had nowhere else to turn, and that's where the great hound of heaven, Jesus Christ, tracked him down. A beacon of light called grace broke through. The gospel was received by Coulson, and just like that, his life was utterly transformed. In fact, he would go on to start a global ministry called prison fellowship, which would take the good news of Jesus Christ to inmates, incarcerated all over the world. His life, as he knew it, changed when he went to prison. Charles Coulson, reflecting on his time in prison, says this, it's pretty astounding when you look at it with me. Coulson says, "The great paradox of my life is that every time I walk into a prison and see the faces of men or women who have been transformed by the power of the living God, I realize that the thing God has chosen to use in my life is none of the successes, achievements, degrees, awards, honors, or cases I won before the Supreme Court. That's not what God is using in my life. What God is using in my life to touch the lives of literally thousands of other people is the fact that I was a convict and went to prison. That was my great defeat. The only thing in my life I didn't succeed, and do you see what he's saying? God used paradoxically failure to set him up for the greatest success in achievement anyone could have in life, and that is Jesus Christ." It didn't happen until he came to the end of himself that he was ready to receive the good news of Christ, the kingdom of heaven. This is a truism to Charles Coulson's life, and it's actually a truism of our text. In fact, here's my sermon in a sentence, you ready? If you get nothing else I say, get this, true life begins when my life ends.

If you get nothing else I say, I want you to get that point. It's a point that canvases our teaching today, and that is the reality that true life begins in your life, when my life ends. It's when I come to the end of myself and have nowhere else to turn that is actually a blessing. I want you to think about it. I want you to toss this question over in your mind. For those of you who are followers of Jesus Christ, here's the question. When was Jesus most real to you? For some of you, maybe you would say, "That happened when I was told I had cancer." Others of you, you would say, "Jesus was most real to me when my marriage blew up." Others of you, you would say, "Jesus was most real to me," like a gentleman said to me after the last service, he says, "This is when I, like Colson, went to prison." In fact, what he actually said to me was, "I was more on fire for Christ in prison, and now that I'm free, I'm struggling with lukewarmness." Others of you, you would say, "Jesus was most real to me when I realized, 'Oh, shoot, it's not just a struggle, I'm addicted.'" Others of you, you would say, "Jesus was most real to me when depression and anxiety overwhelmed and overcame me." It's really true that true life often begins, that our experience of Jesus is oftentimes heightened, not on the mountain peaks of success, it's when we've come to the end of ourselves. This is how Jesus kicks off the sermon on the mountain. Sermon on the mountain is one of the most familiar stretches of scripture, even if you wouldn't call yourself a follower of Jesus, I'm guessing you've heard of the sermon on the mound. It's not only a familiar passage of scripture, it's one of the most familiar passages of ancient literature. And here is Jesus, and in He begins, Matthew begins with this little stunning detail. that seeing the crowds that Jesus went up on the mountaintop

and when he sat down his disciples came to him and he opened up his mouth and he taught them. I say this is a stunning little detail because in Jesus's day, the mountains were a popular hangout for revolutionaries. The revolutionaries would often take their followers up into the mountains to have a whiteboard strategy session for how they can overthrow the empire. Here is Jesus, he's taken his followers up with him to the mountains, what now follows will be one of the most revolutionary teachings in world history, but he's not looking to establish an earthly political kingdom whereby he can overthrow Rome. Remember, Jesus would go on to say, my kingdom is not of this world. But he is looking to establish a kingdom. It's the kingdom of heaven. In fact, would you look with me at verse three? Notice how Jesus begins the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, don't miss this, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Notice how he ends the Beatitudes. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Notice Jesus begins with the promise, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and he ends with the promise, for this is the kingdom of heaven. This is a rhetorical device called an inclusio. The idea of an inclusio is the first point is repeated with the last point.

So the first and the last are the same, and everything sandwiched in between helps to fortify or support or buttress the main point. Don't you see, the main point here is the kingdom of heaven. And all of the Beatitudes point to that. Now, do not miss this. The Beatitudes are not formulas or equations, things we have to do to get into the kingdom. But they are indicator lights that allow us to determine if the kingdom has gotten into us. He is not, he is not, he is not saying, be merciful to get saved. Instead, what he is saying is saved people are merciful. See what Jesus is doing is he is unleashing a frontal assault on something really popular down south, I'm from down south, not ripping on you two. He is unleashing something that's a frontal assault, real popular down south, cultural Christianity. It's what I call easy believism. Where I can just come to church, I can say a prayer, I can invite Jesus into my heart. We love that phrase around here. And I can be saved with hardly any life change. So would Jesus is saying, "If your faith is authentic, "it expresses itself in a life that's got different appetites." Now, I'm hungering and thirsting after righteousness. I'm authentic, I'm pure in heart, I'm merciful, I'm humble, I'm meek, you see it? Again, I don't do these things to get into the kingdom of heaven, but the only way I know that the kingdom of heaven

has gotten into me, these things are exhibited. So these beatitudes, Jesus opens up by showing a person who liked Chuck Colson has gotten completely to the end of themselves. I believe this first beatitude is the key, not just to interpreting the whole of the Sermon on the Mount. I actually believe it is the key to what the Christian life looks like. Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You talk about a counterintuitive beatitude. Our culture says the exact opposite. Our culture says blessed are the rich and famous. Blessed are the popular. Blessed are those with the most followers on social media. Blessed are those who drive the nicest cars, who live in the nicest neighborhood. Those people are blessed. Jesus is giving us these beatitudes, and as Matthew is writing, he's writing in a language called Greek, and the Greek has two words for poor. One word speaks of the working poor. This is a person who is eking out an existence. Their head is barely above water. They're living from paycheck to paycheck, barely making ends meet. That is not the Greek word Matthew uses. The Greek word for poor is tocos, P-T-O-C-H-O-S. It is not the working class, poor. It is not those who are eking out an existence living from paycheck to paycheck. No, this word for poor is a much deeper poverty. It is actually the word that was used of beggars.

This is a person who can't get a job. Can't you see them now standing at some busy intersection, holding a cardboard sign, saying will work for food? All day long, soliciting, funds choking back their pride, begging? That's the word Jesus uses. Notice, he doesn't say bless to the poor in finances. He actually says bless to the poor in spirit. The idea here is a person who has a disposition of desperation, if I were to rewrite this beatitude so that it accurately conveys the sentiments of Jesus, here's how it would look. It would say, "Blessed are those who have a disposition of desperation, who have nowhere else to turn, for it is right then that they are ready to receive Jesus and his kingdom." Wow. So I just want to say, some of you are here today, you don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I'm so glad you're here. Maybe this is your first time and maybe you had that coworker, that neighbor, that friend who had maybe been inviting you before, for whatever reason you didn't come before, but now you're here and maybe, maybe the reason why you're here today, maybe that reason is the bottom has fallen out. Life is life and it's chaos. Okay, I'll give this church thing a try. I want to say in complete pastoral compassion, I'm on the one hand, I'm so sorry what you're going through, but I also want to say, under the authority of the Word of God, what a gift that God would love you so much that he would let your foundations to be shaking so that you could come to the end of yourself and turn to the only hope that exists, Jesus Christ. I just feel led to say this, I haven't said this in any other service, some of you, maybe you've got a loved one who maybe claims Christ but is just kind of out there living reckless. I'm just thinking of the sermon on the Mount. The sun doesn't come home until he's in the pit pit. I think one of the best prayers we can ever pray for our loved ones who have ventured out

in the far country is, God let them get to the end of themselves. What about the rest of us who are followers of Jesus Christ? Okay, Brian, how do I know if I'm living a poor in spirit life? Well, here it is. The word "poor" is the idea of a person who begs. If you want to know, if you're living a poor in spirit life, do you take on a posture of a beggar? Well, tell me about that. What do beggars do? Beggars beg. What does that look like for me? How's your prayer life? Embounds, the great 19th century prayer warrior and writer, Embounds says that prayer is the expression of the soul's dependence on God. Prayer at its epitome says, "I need you. I need you. I need you." A prayerful person is in touch with their neediness and they never stop begging. So I got to ask you, is your prayer life constant? Is it fervent? Is it intense? Or is it middle class? We're all broken people. The sad thing is only a few of us know it. Are you a beggar? Is there an intensity to your prayer life? Is there this thing? God, I need you to show up. If you don't show up, it can't happen. From here he goes, there's four blessed are those who mourn for they shall be, they shall

be comforted. Tell us what's going on here is Jesus is talking about two kinds of mourning. One is what we might call circumstantial mourning. That's not something we need to necessarily pray for. It's just called living in a fallen, broken world. You keep living and life is going to life, tragedy is going to come knocking. You're going to go to the doctor one day and you're not going to get bad news one day. It's just called living in a life in a world that is fallen and broken. I love Ernest Hemingway, he's one of my favorite writers ever. True story, Ernest Hemingway, the great writer, was sitting at a lunch table with some other writers, maybe there in some cafe, maybe these writers who were enamored with Hemingway, maybe they got together and conspired at first. I'd like to believe that's true. I don't know if it's true. Anyways, they're sitting down at lunch, Ernest Hemingway. If you've ever read Hemingway, here's what you know about Hemingway. He has this brilliance where he can just take short sentences, not a whole lot of words, and just paint a masterful picture. These writers sitting there, and one of them says to Hemingway, Ernest, I got ten dollars in my hands. I bet you, you cannot right now write a short story in six words or less. This snatches a ten dollar bill out of his hand. He reaches for a pen, reaches for a napkin, and writes this brilliant six-word short story. Here it is. Ernest writes, "For sale, baby shoes never worn." Wow. It's brilliant. Do you not hear the tragedy? Can you not feel that? Six words or less.

Morning can be triggered. The cancer is back. Your spouse says to you, "I'm leaving." A kid you love with all of your being says, "I hate you." The school of your dreams sends you a rejection letter, "Sorry, you didn't make it." Suffering's coming, morning's going to happen. And Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn." What? It's not how we roll in America. America's the exact opposite. Blessed are the happy. Blessed are those who never have problems. Jesus says, "Blessed are those who mourn." Why Jesus? Because Jesus understands that prosperity is a horrible teacher. That suffering has a way of knocking away our idols, clearing away the distractions, our assumptions, creating a space where we experience an intensity of God that we would not know otherwise. That's why think about it. Whenever you've gone through a season of suffering, on the other side of it, we all say the same thing. Never want to go through that again. So glad I did. It's exactly what Paul was getting to with the Corinthians. When he wrote the Corinthians this, 2 Corinthians chapter 1, "Look at it with me. be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Secondly, there's circumstantial mourning, but there's a greater mourning. There's spiritual mourning. We should mourn our sin. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that there is, here the language, a godly grief that leads to repentance, not a godly guilt. But there should be, when, there should be a godly grief, let me just invite you to my prayer life. What I've been praying for myself since January, as I'm just coming into the New Year, 2026, there's this thing about me. I'm a little repulsed by the nonchalant flippant way. I can just kind of sin and confess that sin. Sorry, God, if we confess our sins, faithful and just, you'll forgive me, sorry, won't do it again, I repent. And here's my prayer. God, would you give me tears over my sin? Because for me, I'm not talking about you. For me, I tend to react to sin like a speeding ticket. I've never mourned a speeding ticket. It's a piece of paper. I don't mourn pieces of paper. And I think somewhere in my heart, when I sin, I just violated some paper. I just violated a book. I just violated a commandment. That's not how the Bible depicts sin. There's a person here. It's God who loves you and I so much.

He gave us his only son. We've been adopted into the family. And when we sin, we don't just violate paper. We hurt the heart of a God who adopted us. I got one of my mentors was going through difficulty. They had adopted this child. Child was living a rebellious life. And I remember just checking in. He goes, he goes, here's what hurts me about that. I got, my other kids are biological, but what especially hurts me about this person's kind of rebelliousness is I chose them. You never hurt somebody and you saw the hurt in their eyes. And it just did something to you. I think that's good for our souls. God, would you just let me see what my mess does to you? 'Cause if I understand, when I mourn my sin, blessed. If you're a Christ follower and you can sin and there's no mourning, it's a fair question. Am I legitimately part of the kingdom of heaven? I don't mourn to get in, but if the kingdom's in me, I should mourn. First two Beatitudes, paint and broad brush strokes. What an end of me person looks like. The rest of the Beatitudes gives us just some quick indicator lights. I'm pouring spirit, I'm mourning. I've gotten completely to the end of me. What are these indicator lights? Notice what he says next. Blessed are the me for they shall inherit the earth.

Again, the Greek word for me here is the idea of humility. I love this, this Greek word, it was used of wild horses who when they first got these wild horses, no one could mount them, no one could command them, no one could bring them under control, but they would take these wild horses and they would domesticate them, meaning they would take them through a process by in which they were broken to the point where now a person could mount them, could give them commands and they would obey because they had been broken. That's the word translated as meek. Blessed are those who have been broken so that the Lord Jesus Christ can sit on the throne of my life and I obey. Are you humble? Some of us know the name Nick will end. maybe you saw the special in 2013 when Nick Willinda went out to the Grand Canyon, stretched a wire across the Grand Canyon and before a large crowd, he walked from one side of this particular point in the Grand Canyon to the other without falling off. I remember watching that going like this. Nick Willinda does this, he's successful at it. The crowds leave. Do you know what Nick Willinda spent the next three hours doing? Brace yourself, he gets off the high wire

and he spends the next three hours not signing autographs but he spends the next three hours picking up trash. Now why did he do this? Was because he was a nice guy, his mama raised him that way? No. Nick says it this way, will you look at it with me? Three hours of cleaning up debris is good for my soul. Humilities does not come naturally to me. So if I have to force myself into situations that are humbling, so be it, here it is, as a follower of Jesus. I see him washing the feet of others. I do it because if I don't serve others, I'll be serving nothing but my ego. Are you humble? An arrogant Christian is an oxymoron. Jesus was humble in the Garden of Destiny for example. He says, "Nevertheless, not my will, your will be done." I obey is your life marked by obedience because humility and obedience are synonyms. God, you're in control. You're not just my savior. You're on the throne of my life, you're Lord. Are you humble? Next he says, "Blessed are those who hunger "and thirst after righteousness, "for they shall be satisfied." Oh, what does this mean, Brian? Righteousness, righteous living.

Is he calling me to have a driving hunger and thirst for performance, to do the right things? No, Psalm 8914 would put some color to this. The Psalmist writes, "Righteousness and justice "are the foundation of your throne, steadfast love, "and faithfulness go before you." Do you not see what he's saying? And speaking of God, he's saying that righteousness is rooted in the righteous one. So to hunger and thirst for righteousness means, I have a driving hunger and thirst for you, God. You remember this. One of your parents would be cooking when you were a little kid, making dinner, maybe it was 4.35 o'clock in the afternoon, whenever it may be, and you come in and go, "Hey, can I have some Oreos, "or can I have some Cheetos, or whatever?" If they were good parents, they'd say, "Absolutely not." I've got a great meal coming for you. I don't want you to do anything. I don't want you to snack, or you'll spoil your appetite. Here, here he's giving us the appetite, that there should be a driving hunger and thirst for the only one who can satisfy, which is the righteous one, God. And it makes me ask, "Brian, what are you snacking on "in this life that's spoiling your appetite for him?" Next, he says, "Blessed shall the merciful,

"for they shall receive mercy." Here's what we know, Jesus cannot mean, he cannot mean, he cannot mean, do merciful things to receive mercy that's self-defeating. It's contradictory, why? Because mercy means to not receive what you do deserve. Instead, he's saying the opposite. If you've really received the mercy of Jesus Christ, you'll be merciful. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is all of us were headed for an appointment in eternity in hell. And yet Jesus Christ gave us great mercy, snatching us out of the fire when we responded to his grace in mercy. By faith, we have received mercy. And we're to show mercy. An unforgiving Christian is an oxymoron. Are you merciful? Listen, far too many of us, we're just too sophisticated, too cool to let you know that we're angry. We ain't gonna cuss at you, we ain't gonna yell at you, we ain't gonna fight you. We'll just say praise God for the block button. We'll just cut you off. We won't have a hard conversation. You do one thing, bro, you're cut. And I love our excuses. Hey man, what happened? You haven't called me in a while.

Oh, I got a new phone and your phone number, I just must not have made it. Everyone else has made it, but not theirs. [BLANK_AUDIO] One of the lessons a sermon on the Mount teaches us is, one of the primary ways you know you're really saved, it's not how you treat people who treat you well, it's how you treat people who mistreat you. Are you merciful? From there he goes, "Blessed, blessed he says are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, the idea of pure it means unmixed, it was used of metals that had mixed with other metals." No, this is pure gold, this is pure silver. I love this, it was used of the Roman army who had gotten rid of all of the cowardly soldiers and what was left was one lean, mean, pure fighting machine. No mixture. The idea here is authenticity, that I am authentically, not perfectly, but authentically following Jesus. He's taking actually a shot, I believe, at the religious leaders, the Pharisees where he calls them hypocrites later on, he would actually say to them that their whitewashed graveyards full of dead men's bones, they look one way on the outside, but another way on the inside, he says, "Don't be that, be authentic." And then he says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, not blessed are the conflict avoiders." Peace in the Bible is not the absence of conflict. In the Bible, peace is wholeness, it's the idea of shalom. Here in this context, specifically, I believe the idea of peacemaking here, it is relational wholeness. I believe that there are two levels of this one. On a surface level, there's horizontal, that whenever I sit down and have a hard conversation with some, maybe they did something to me I don't like or maybe I see something in them, a pattern of behavior that's not Christ-like and I've got to sit down and have a hard conversation.

I ask questions, I'm doing it in the spirit of love and I've got their best interest in mind. Whenever I do that, I'm being a peacemaker and Jesus says blessed. Is that you? Are we in conversations with people? But I also believe there's a vertical dimension here, that whenever I open up my mouth and share the good news of Jesus Christ, whenever I'm used by the spirit of God to be conduit to facilitate a relationship between sinful humanity and a holy God, whenever I help to make that happen, that is peacemaking. And they're blessed. Over and over again, Jesus in these beatitudes, he says blessed, blessed, blessed the idea there is happiness or fulfillment. What's interesting about that is Jesus is saying this in a context where Cyprus is not too far, the island of Cyprus and in that context, everybody called Cyprus the happy aisle. The Greek word for happy is actually the same Greek word translated as blessed in our passage. When they called Cyprus the happy aisle, here's what they were saying, that culture says everything you need to really live life to the full, just get to Cyprus. And I like to believe Jesus is wagging his finger going no, it ain't there. It's in the kingdom of heaven. What does this mean for us today? In the 21st century world, what does that mean for us? Some of us, we literally think if I can just get to retirement, that's my Cyprus, that's my happy aisle, I'll be fulfilled. If I can just get into a certain economic bracket, then I'll be fulfilled. If I can just buy that home or get married or have kids, I'll be fulfilled. And each time Jesus is saying, absolutely not. In fact, we just made our way through Ecclesiastes where we learned over and over again, vanity of vanities chasing after the wind. So as this individual has gotten to the end of themselves, the kingdom of heaven is broken

in, they're being filled up with the things of Christ. What happens to them? Well, it spills out of their lives as they are now postured, end of me, people are bold witnesses. Verse 10, he says, "Blessed are those who are persecured for righteousness and sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, blessed are you and others. against you, falsely on my account, rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Now, I admit that this is a very tough text because if there's one disconnect between the world of first century Christians in our world today, instead in America, we're not really facing persecution the way they did. So I don't wanna talk about persecution. I actually wanna talk about what should trigger persecution. Boldness. Are you living a bold life? Are you such a bold, out loud witness for Christ that persecution is even a possibility? I want you to put this picture of my wife on the screen here. That's probably the most joyous day in my wife's life. She's a raving bears fan. And she's got a boot on that was during her CrossFit season. She broke her foot and promptly retired. So no more of that for her. That has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. She gave me permission to share this story with you. My wife is an off the charts bears family

to how much she loves her Chicago bears. I had, for one of our milestone anniversaries, I had banked enough sky miles that I had two free business class tickets anywhere in the world. So I said, honey, pick the spot. Where are we going? She says bears, packers, soldier field Chicago. I said, no, no, you didn't hear me. Enough tickets, two free business class seats anywhere in the world. Surely we're gonna talk about Cape Town in Paris or Rome. She says, you didn't hear me. Bears packers, soldier field. This is crazy. So I called it one of my friends who had times playing for the bears. He got us field access. I kid you not, it's close. I think she showed more joy that day than on our wedding day. (audience laughing) I got one weekend off between now and in the end of the year. So I said to my wife, I got us tickets to go see the bears and the falcons down in Atlanta. Couple weeks, we're going. She's so excited. I said, honey, but here's the deal. The tickets that I got, they're not in the bear section.

They're in the middle of the falcons. I have no problem, honey. Wear your gear, put your wolf's paint in Jersey on, wear your bears hat. Cheer, yell, scream. I says, what I don't need you doing is mocking other people. You have to understand, that's a real conversation. My wife, it's not just good enough for her to cheer. She's got to point at you. She's got to make fun of you. Yeah, she does this little thing with her voice where she acts like she's a little third grade teacher talking to kids. You know what I'm talking about here? I says, you can't do that. She goes, I'm gonna do my thing. That ain't the woman you marry. (audience laughing) I says, no, you're not. She says, how come I can't do my thing? Yeah, that's just how I roll. I says, honey, one of these dudes around you gets a little liquored up and calls you out your name. I'm gonna go viral. I'm gonna lay hands on this guy and it ain't gonna be for prayer. (audience laughing) So I don't need you, I don't need you mocking people. You know, I got to thinking about it.

We're gonna be in a posing team stadium and my wife's gonna be living out loud for her bears. She's gonna wear the gear. She's gonna cheer for her team. There will be no mistaking who she's rolling with. Is that true of us? Who are on Team Jesus? (audience chattering) This world is the other team stadium. Stop trying to make it home. We're on the visiting team just passing through. You wearing your gear? You talkin' your trash? (audience laughing) If persecution was on the table, are you even being bold enough to make that possible? (audience chattering) This is how Jesus ends. He says, "Hey, I want you to know you are the salt of the earth." How shall its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You're the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Two things and I'm done. He says, I want you to know your salt and your lights. What is going to make us effective is two things. Number one, be distinct. Light, different from darkness. Salt, different from the food it interacts with. It interacts with. You've got to be distinct. In fact, he says if the salt loses its saltiness, it's no longer good for anything. It's gonna be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. I wish I had more time to chase this, but I want you to understand, back then, the roofs. In Jesus's day, the roofs of homes were like the southern porches. That's where people hung out. That's where kids played. That's where people walked in the cool of the evening. The material used to make those roofs. They would take salt and they would mix it with a common mineral called gypsum. And in mixing it with gypsum, it would form this pace that they found was constructive to making the roof. So notice what happens. The salt mixing with the common gypsum would make this roof and people would literally trample it under feet. I believe Jesus is saying when you mix with the world, not when you hang out, but when you take the mindset of the world,

you lose your distinctiveness in God-given authority. And he says, you're the light of the world. Don't put it under a basket, put it on a stand. Shine. Be distinct, but don't go so far where you're operating out of fear, self-righteousness, where we're not like them. So I didn't wanna talk to them. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. What makes salt and light effective is not just that they're distinct, but they actually interact. He doesn't say you're the salt of the shaker. You're not meant to just stay in the shaker all the time and just have Bible studies in the shaker all the time. That's good. At some point, you need to be poured out. He doesn't say you're the light of the sanctuary. The light of the world. So here I am, I was in Denver last week is preaching at one of our church plants and sick something in the morning. I'm having my time with Jesus and just making my way through the Bible. And I'm in Luke last Sunday. In fact, providentially, I'm in Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount. And I'm reading this, like literally I'm just reading and praying, okay, I'm the salt of the earth, the light of the world. And like I do with a lot of my prayer times,

I just kind of end with my hands out, okay, God, fill me with your spirit. Sit on the throne of my life. You call the shots and so I'm saying a little residence in there. And I think it's called Arvada, Colorado, something like that. And I, there's a good little breakfast spot. Not far from my hotel, maybe four or 500 feet. And I'm walking to the breakfast spot, just had my time with Jesus. And as surely as I'm talking to you, I just sense the Holy Spirit saying, okay, let's be salt and light right now. You're like, okay, okay, Jesus, what do you have in mind? Nothing big, Brian. I just, I just want you to ask the server their name and how can you pray for them? Got it. Don't like that as an introvert, talking to strangers. I'm an introvert whose love language is words of affirmation. All that means is tell me how awesome I am and be gone. (congregation laughing) So I get to the restaurant, I say, hey, how you doing? The server comes over, ask her her name, her name's Haley. A little while later, I said, Haley, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. Hope this doesn't weird you out,

but I think I'm supposed to pray for you. And immediately tears. She starts to take off her sweatshirt. I'm like, whoa, what's happening here? She rolls up her sleeve, still see the tears coming out her face. She shows me two bullet holes. She says, it's crazy that on today you would ask me how you could pray for me. She says, today is the six year anniversary. Just a moment. No Haley didn't try to receive Christ. I just wanted to come out the shaker and be a little salt. Simple question. It's a little prayer. I remember getting in the car, driving to church, just rejoicing. Like salt and light. It's an invitation to joy. It's just an invitation, and it just begins with a question. What if, what if that person's not just my barista who's serving me. What if God's allowed our paths to cross? So I could be some salt and light, so I want to pray. I want to invite our prayer team to come forward. They're just going to fan out across the front, and we're going to sing a little bit. And here's what I want to do during worship. I believe the spirit's already messing with us. Some of you, you're here today, you're not a follower of Jesus Christ. And maybe, maybe life's going good for you, maybe the bottoms falling out like Chuck Colson. But Jesus has given an invitation today. He says, "You want fulfillment?

I got you. I got you." It's called the kingdom of heaven. Come to the end of yourself like Chuck Colson did, and just come to me. There's going to be some people down front that you can just come to and just say, "You know what? I want to know Jesus today, and they'll pray for you." For those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, here's what I believe has been happening. Spirit's God's been tapping you on the shoulder, "Hey, there's a broken relationship. You need to show some mercy. You need to do some peacemaking here." And I believe what the Spirit's got is saying to you, "Why don't you come down front and just come to one of our prayer team people and just say, "Hey, will you just pray for me? I need mercy." "Just pray for me. I need authenticity." But would you just pray that my appetite, my hunger, my thirst for God would deepen? Others of you. I'm not bold. You're sitting here. I'm just not. Maybe your prayer is, maybe your thing is I'm going to do a bold thing in church. I'm going to stand up. I'm going to do a bold thing, and I'm going to walk to somebody, and that act of boldness is going to be my first step to just living a life of boldness. Everyone else is coming out the closet. You get what I'm saying? Be bold. So Father, I bless you.

I honor you. We receive your invitation today. Jesus, you said, if you be lifted up, you draw people unto you, draw. For those of us who are already in the kingdom of heaven, may we be bold, salt and light. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.