Seasoned Saints -- Bishop Dale C. Bronner
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00:00This is Bishop Dale Broder. Thank you so much for joining our YouTube channel today.
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00:19And then if you're in the Metro Atlanta area on a Sunday, check out one of our exhilarating services at 8.30 a.m., 11 a.m. or 6 o'clock p.m.
00:29Our scriptural text today comes from the fifth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew.
00:35This is, as we affectionately call it, the Sermon on the Mount, Sermon on the Mount.
00:41And this is an excerpt from that where Jesus declares to the people that are gathered,
00:46You are the salt of the earth, but what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?
00:55Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
01:03You are the light of the world, like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.
01:09No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.
01:13Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house.
01:19In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
01:30We're speaking today from the subject seasoned saints, seasoned saints.
01:37We have some seasoned saints who are here at Word of Faith as those who have some maturity to them
01:44and have lived through the years and have some seasoning in God's grace.
01:50And some of them have beautiful gray hair, whether it is under some color or weave or wig or something.
02:00But it's there and we celebrate and we love and we honor our seasoned saints in the house as an honor.
02:10We celebrate. Wow.
02:16But here Jesus is talking to all of his followers and saying to them,
02:23You are the salt of the earth. You are the salt of the earth.
02:27And it's interesting that Gandhi said that he had no problem with Christ, but he had a problem with Christianity.
02:36And here was one of his other statements. He said,
02:41If the world were introduced to the Christ of Christianity, it would receive him.
02:49But instead, the world is introduced to the Christians of Christ and it rejects him.
02:55And I want you to think about the fact that this Bible that we believe and teach,
03:02this is the word of God as we receive it.
03:07But it is an Eastern book that we read with a Western mindset.
03:12So when we read things like you are the salt of the earth, we take it as though he's talking to one individual.
03:19Like this, he's my personal savior.
03:22But Christianity and the church is about a community.
03:26We don't live in a silo in God.
03:29God is about bringing the family together.
03:32The church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the church, capital C, is the body of Christ believers all over the world.
03:41And the church is a family of families.
03:47So when he's talking, he's saying, you are the light of the world, church.
03:53You're the light, not an individual, but the church collectively, the church collectively.
04:00In the same way that when you, you know, I don't know about you,
04:04but if I see somebody on the news where some heinous crime has been committed,
04:12it embarrasses me if the person who perpetrated that crime is of my same race.
04:18Because they don't look at that as just one individual, they somehow brand the whole race.
04:26And so in the same way, if something happens to a person who is a representative of the kingdom of God,
04:35they say those church folks.
04:39It is a fallacy in logic to take something from the specific of what one person did and blame the whole group.
04:49That's a fallacy in logic to say that because this is true with this one individual, it is true with the group.
04:55No, no, no.
04:56In the same way, you can't take the general and then make it specific to the person to say this group of people does this
05:03because there's always an exception to the rule.
05:07And so, but Jesus is talking about the people as a group, not as an individual.
05:12He's not talking to a person.
05:14He's talking to a crowd that's on the mountain.
05:17And most of the time when he's writing and when the other authors of the scriptures are writing,
05:22they're not writing to an individual person.
05:26Though we ought to read it personally, but in the context of how we belong to the rest of the family.
05:33And I want you to think about it like your natural earthly family.
05:37If one person in your family messes up, people will say, man, that's the dude's brother who killed so and so.
05:46And your family will become known by the act of the one.
05:50So this is what Jesus is saying.
05:52You, you as a group, you as the people of God, as the children of God are the salt of the earth.
06:01And you are the light of the world.
06:04Jesus is affirming his followers in an absolutely wonderful way.
06:09And remember, Gandhi said, I like your Christ, I don't like your Christians.
06:16And it's because one person, a few people misrepresents certain things.
06:23It bothers me and my heart goes out to police officers.
06:27When 90 something percent of the police officers are good people, they didn't go into it for the money.
06:32They went in there to serve people.
06:34And then you'll have a few cops who are corrupt and make poor judgments and will abuse someone and overuse their authority.
06:42And now all cops get this negative stigma.
06:46Jesus said, you, you, you, the whole group here, you are the salt of the earth and you're the light of the world.
06:54And he's speaking to all of them.
06:56And when Jesus says, told his followers that they were the salt of the earth, he was telling them that they were valuable.
07:04He was telling them that they were worthy and he was telling them that they were needed.
07:09Those three things.
07:10When Jesus told his followers that they were the salt of the earth, he was telling them that they were valuable, that they were worthy and that they were needed.
07:23It reminds me of the, of the nanny in the movie, The Help, that told the little, the little girl, you is kind, you is smart.
07:33Here is Jesus.
07:35It's as though he's grabbing our cheeks and he's telling us, you are worthy, you are valuable and you are needed in the world.
07:45He's, he was, he's just grabbing our face.
07:48He's looking at each one of us individually, though he's talking to the whole group and he's telling us, you is valuable, you is worthy, you is needed.
08:00And do you know that that ought to be the essence of every message that every parent ought to tell to their children?
08:08You know what that will do for your children?
08:10You is valuable.
08:12You is worthy.
08:14You is needed.
08:15I know it's not proper grammar, but you get the message.
08:18You is valuable.
08:20Can you imagine if every spouse, every husband would affirm his wife, every wife would affirm her husband and say, you are valuable to me.
08:28You, you, you are worthy to me.
08:31You are necessary in my life.
08:33I don't just want you, I need you.
08:37I love you with, with something that I can't even articulate.
08:40You are needed.
08:41You are valuable.
08:43You are worthy.
08:44If you're, if you're working for somebody and can you imagine the employees that serve you, the salespeople that, that serve your vision for you to communicate to them, you are, you're valuable.
08:55You are worthy.
08:56You are needed.
08:58You are necessary.
08:59What an incredibly affirming message.
09:02Can you imagine how differently our world would be if we, as the body of Christ, become the salt and the light and start affirming others and seeing their saltiness and their light and affirming them.
09:16And instead of saying that you're a bunch of hypocrites, that you're this, that you're that, that you're the other, that you look them in the face and tell them you are kind.
09:25You are loved.
09:27You are worthy.
09:28You are valuable.
09:30You are needed.
09:32If we can stand up and see something positive out of a negative situation, if you don't believe me how God uses prophetic people to be able to do that, you ought to read in your Bible in Jeremiah chapter 15 where God spoke to Jeremiah and he says,
09:50Listen, Jeremiah, if you are able to take the precious out of the vial, if you're able to look at a dark, nasty situation and discover something that is positive, something that is lofty, something that is full of worth and value and speak that thing and call it out, he says, then I will use you as one of my prophets.
10:12But you got to be able to look at somebody who has been sexually promiscuous and don't determine their future based on their history.
10:20History and destiny are two different things.
10:23You could have been a slut back here, but you'll be a saint up here.
10:27You could have been, you know, easy back here, but you can be a missionary here.
10:32And I'm just telling you, God is looking for people that have prophetic eyes to look at somebody who is doing the wrong thing, selling dope and dealing in darkness of this world and looking at them and tell them this is not who you are.
10:47I see a gift on the inside of you and somebody who is vulgar and call out the light that is in them and call out the salt that is in them and call out the worthiness that's in them.
10:58Call out the blessing that is in them.
11:00Call out their potential.
11:02Call out their anointing.
11:03Call out their talent.
11:05Call out their gift.
11:06Call out their favor.
11:08Call it out.
11:10I cannot tell you.
11:15I'm not afraid.
11:16It's impossible to be afraid of people that you love.
11:19It's impossible.
11:21Let me say that again.
11:22It's impossible to be afraid of people that you love.
11:25You know why?
11:26Because perfect love casts out all fear.
11:28So I've talked to people that sold dope and I've looked them straight in the eyes and I said, you know what?
11:35I said, you're a brilliant businessman.
11:37I said, you don't realize that.
11:39I said, you're a businessman.
11:40You just got it perverted.
11:42I said, you understand inventory and inventory control.
11:46You understand accounts receivable and accounts payable.
11:50You understand sales territory.
11:53And I'm just looking at them knowing that they got some other stuff.
11:57And I have had them while I was up speaking the word of the Lord to bring that dope and lay it on the altar.
12:03I'm just here to tell you.
12:05I'm just here to tell you.
12:06I'm just here to tell you that when the Spirit of God begins to move in people,
12:12he allows you to see beyond their sin, beyond their weaknesses, beyond their current circumstances,
12:19and God will give you a divine insight into the child that's the troublemaker in the class.
12:25Every teacher ought to ask God for prophetic eyes to be able to call out something that said, hey, no, you're not a bad child.
12:33No, no, no.
12:34Maybe they're just gifted and got such creativity brimming on the inside of them.
12:39No, no, no.
12:40No, they're not special needs.
12:42Maybe they are specially gifted.
12:44And God has to give you prophetic eyes to be able to see this one has a lot of energy.
12:50They can finish their work before the others.
12:52And I want to be able to say to this one, one day I see a doctor in you.
12:57I see an accountant in you.
12:58I see a CPA in you.
13:00You can call out of that thing that looks like it may not be what it is now,
13:05but that's the power of the prophetic.
13:07And Jesus is looking at people.
13:09He didn't say you're going to be sought and you're going to be liked.
13:13He's looking at troubled people with issues that they are still struggling with,
13:17not fully delivered in some area.
13:19And he says to them right now, you are the light.
13:23You are the sought.
13:27And he called out, calling those things that be not as though they already were.
13:35This is a time, if ever we've had a time where we need prophetic people
13:40who will lift up their voices not merely to prophesy doom,
13:44but to speak and release the blessings of God that's on the inside of people.
13:49To bless somebody is not what you put on them.
13:52It's what you let out of them by the revelation of the Holy Ghost
13:56that God has to show you that gift
13:59that can only come because God opened your eyes
14:03and allowed you to be able to see the gift.
14:06Because if they don't understand the purpose of the gift,
14:09they would inevitably pervert it and abuse it,
14:12using it for the wrong reason.
14:14But they just need somebody who loves them enough to speak the truth in love
14:19and to tell them you are worthy.
14:21You're gifted.
14:23You are needed in this world.
14:26And I want you to see what Jesus has to say
14:29about people that don't know how to speak life to people.
14:33You have to realize your words have power.
14:36There's power in your mouth.
14:40And what you say about yourself and what you say to others has power.
14:46Power.
14:48Notice what Jesus said to those who would do the opposite of affirming people.
14:52Jesus affirmed his followers.
14:54He said, you are the light.
14:56You are the salt.
14:58I see it in you.
15:00But notice what he said in the same Sermon on the Mountain,
15:02Matthew chapter 5 and verse 22.
15:04Jesus said, but I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
15:09because there are some people that will make you angry
15:11and you'll have every cause in the world.
15:14And this is not gender specific.
15:16He says, I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother or sister
15:19without a cause shall be in danger of judgment.
15:22And whoever says to his brother or sister,
15:25raka, shall be in danger of the council.
15:28But whoever says, you fool, shall be in danger of hellfire.
15:34Now the word raka means three things.
15:38Vain.
15:40It means empty.
15:42It means worthless.
15:44And vain, vain means lacking value.
15:46It means futile.
15:48And when you say empty, it means empty headed.
15:50It refers, it's like calling a person an idiot.
15:53And when you say worthless, it means having no purpose or no meaning.
15:58And you are insulting God when you call somebody else worthless
16:03because every human being on the face of the earth
16:07who is a living person has what's called the imago dei,
16:11the image of God on the inside of them,
16:14whether they act it out or not.
16:16They are made in God's image.
16:18They have the imago dei on the inside of them.
16:21And when we say raka to them,
16:23we are calling them worthless
16:26as though they have no meaning and no purpose
16:29and everything that God does without exception,
16:33He does with purpose, on purpose, and for purpose.
16:37You may not be able to see it, but it has a purpose.
16:40It has a purpose.
16:42And if you don't know your purpose,
16:44you would inevitably abuse something in life,
16:48including yourself, including your liberties,
16:51including your giftedness.
16:53You will abuse whatever you don't understand the purpose of.
16:56So whenever there's a lack of understanding or meaning,
17:00abuse is inevitable.
17:02If you don't know that this is for that,
17:04then you'll use it for the wrong purpose.
17:07So that's why you have to ask,
17:10Lord, what is my purpose?
17:12What is my purpose?
17:14What is my purpose?
17:15If God gives you beauty,
17:17if He gives you a wonderfully fit, well-defined body,
17:20is your purpose to open an OnlyFans account?
17:26I mean, if you don't understand your purpose,
17:28you would inevitably abuse it.
17:30I'm just trying to bring it down
17:32to where the rubber meets the road here for some of you.
17:37Because if you don't understand the purpose of it,
17:40Esther, had she not understood the purpose of her beauty,
17:45she would have lived her life manipulating powerful men.
17:51But that wasn't why she was made beautiful.
17:55And it took a seasoned saint by the name of Mordecai
18:00to speak to her and to say,
18:03This beauty that you have, that you carry,
18:06that makes men's jaws drop,
18:10this is not for your sexual aggrandizement.
18:14This is not so that you can make a little extra money on the side.
18:18Sweetheart, God has a purpose bigger
18:20than what you may ever imagine.
18:22And that's what I'm saying.
18:23If you can't see the God purpose,
18:25you will inevitably abuse yourself
18:27and you'll lower your own standard
18:29because you don't understand the purpose.
18:31And that's why you ought to pray this prayer frequently,
18:33Lord, open my eyes
18:36so that I can see your purpose
18:38and the worth and the value
18:39that you have placed on the inside of me.
18:42Ask God to just show you, show you, show you your worth,
18:45show you, show you your worth.
18:47You need to ask God,
18:48Lord, show me what I'm working with
18:49and why I'm working with it.
18:51Show me why you gifted me.
18:52Why did you give me this?
18:54Because you can have stuff
18:55that you don't even understand its reason.
18:57And you will abuse it or pervert it
18:58if you don't understand it.
19:01And you say to somebody
19:02that they are worthless, having no purpose,
19:04having no meaning,
19:05you are insulting God.
19:08It's a word of contempt.
19:10The word raka comes from a root word
19:12that means to spit.
19:14And it's like treating somebody
19:16as though they're less than human
19:18and they're a piece of trash
19:19like I will spit on you.
19:21And it's that kind of insulting.
19:23God says you'll be in judgment of hellfire.
19:26You'll be in judgment of the council
19:28for calling that that God built with purpose
19:30though you may not see it nor understand it,
19:32but God says don't you dare do that.
19:34Speak life.
19:35Use your mouth to be able to speak life.
19:38And this is why I remind you
19:39that part of the prophetic gift of God
19:42is an uncanny ability
19:44to be able to see the incredible worth
19:47that God has placed in every human being.
19:50There is worth and value
19:52that God has placed in every human being.
19:55You ask God, anoint my eyes, Lord,
19:57so that I can see in other people
19:59the worth and value that you've placed there
20:01so that I can speak and call it out.
20:04And I want you to realize here
20:06that in Matthew 5 here, the Sermon on the Mount,
20:09the emphasis of the Sermon on the Mount
20:11is not on the outward duty
20:13but on inward transformation of our hearts by grace.
20:18This is not about the outward stuff
20:19telling you to do this and do that and do the other.
20:21It's about the inward transformation.
20:24This is why I said,
20:25Blessed are the poor in spirit,
20:27those who are humble,
20:28for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
20:30So he's talking about the inward person,
20:33not the outward.
20:35But we are called to be salt, salt of the earth.
20:38And here are a few things that salt does.
20:40Salt seasons. Salt seasons.
20:42Salt is designed to bring out the best flavor
20:45of whatever it's added to.
20:48It's supposed to bring out...
20:49I mean, if you can't taste it, why put it in?
20:52It's supposed to complement something
20:53and bring out the best flavor.
20:55Too little salt makes it bland.
20:59Too much salt ruins it.
21:02But when the right amount of salt is added,
21:05it brings out the best in the meal.
21:08So there has to be a balance.
21:10I hate it when you have something
21:12and you just can't fix it.
21:15I've been to places and they brought soup out
21:17and it had too much salt in it and I couldn't fix it.
21:20You cannot neutralize salt by putting pepper in it.
21:24I mean, I tried.
21:28It has to be brought in in balance.
21:31Balance is the key of life.
21:33Have you ever met people and some of them
21:34they just talk too loud and say,
21:35excuse me, I'm right here.
21:39And other people that talk too softly
21:41and you're straining to hear what they're saying.
21:43There is a balance to where you're not shouting
21:46and you're not whispering
21:48so that we can have conversation and hear each other.
21:51So there's a balance.
21:54There's a balance.
21:55And this is about having that balance.
21:57When you deal with cooking, with recipes,
21:59it's about having it properly balanced.
22:03And when you've got seasoned saints,
22:05they're not looking at a recipe.
22:09They shake a little bit.
22:10They might taste it,
22:12but most of the time they're not using
22:14any special kind of measuring spoons
22:16and cups and all of this.
22:17They know what they're doing.
22:19They are seasoned with it.
22:21And if they put a little too much of this,
22:22they know how to balance it out with this.
22:24They know how to fix it up.
22:26They are seasoned.
22:27They are seasoned.
22:28So just the right amount of the salt,
22:31it brings out the best in the meal.
22:33That's what God has designed us to do.
22:36I'm just telling you, when I was in school,
22:39I'll never forget it,
22:41both when I was in high school and in college.
22:44And I'd be standing there sometime
22:46and somebody would come there
22:47and let an expletive come out of profanity.
22:51I didn't look at them with disgust.
22:54I was just there.
22:57And they would immediately look at me
22:59and they would say,
23:00excuse me, man, excuse me.
23:02Now, I'm their classmate.
23:04I'm the same age as they were.
23:06And they treated me as though I was their father.
23:11I was just being salt.
23:13They said something, a bad word slipped out,
23:16and then they looked at me and apologized.
23:19I was just being salt.
23:22I didn't have a picket sign.
23:23I didn't have a Jesus banner on my shirt.
23:27I wasn't tatted up with crosses and stuff.
23:30I was just being salt.
23:34Salt announces its presence.
23:37And I was just being salt.
23:39And they would slip and say something
23:41and I'd say, excuse me, man, excuse me, excuse me.
23:45And it was their way of showing respect to me
23:48and I was salt.
23:49I didn't open my mouth.
23:50I didn't say anything one way or the other.
23:53I didn't look at them in a condescending way.
23:57But out of respect, because I was there,
24:02it changed how they spoke.
24:06Just by being there,
24:07can you imagine the things that can happen
24:09when you're there?
24:11There are some people that lost their virginity
24:14at their own house under the roof
24:19because nobody was there.
24:22They wouldn't have done it if Daddy were in the room.
24:26If you're there, there are certain things
24:28that will not happen just because you are there.
24:31When they know the salt is there,
24:33salt doesn't have to shout to anybody and say,
24:35hey, here I am.
24:37I was in Paris, France.
24:38I was sitting up having breakfast
24:40and they brought me a cup of coffee
24:43and then they had some sugar and cream on the table
24:47and I reach in and put two spoonfuls into my coffee
24:53and bring it up to my mouth
24:54and discover that the coarse salt
24:56that was in the bowl with the spoon,
24:58it was salt, not sugar.
25:03Nobody had to tell me that that was not sugar.
25:09The salt screamed at me in the coffee
25:14without ever opening its mouth.
25:16Its flavor announced itself.
25:20And that's why if you are present in the room
25:24and if evil is present,
25:27your saltiness ought to announce itself
25:33just by your presence.
25:37When you show up at the council meeting,
25:39when you show up at the school board meeting,
25:41when you just show up,
25:43your presence speaks.
25:46It just speaks up.
25:47You don't have to open your mouth.
25:48Just being salt, just salt.
25:51When we were located in East Point,
25:52they opened up some type of sex porn shop
25:56that was about less than a mile away from our church
26:00and I prayed and I said,
26:02Lord, if I'm supposed to do something about this,
26:04you show me what to do.
26:06You call us to be the salt of the earth
26:07and the light of the world.
26:09The Lord gave me the idea.
26:10He said, hey, let's get some seasoned saints
26:14and go down there.
26:18And me and the seasoned saints, here we go.
26:21And I wanted them to wear their long dresses
26:26down to their ankles.
26:28We didn't carry any picket signs.
26:32We weren't protesting.
26:33We had no bullhorns.
26:35We just walked in silence and prayed
26:39just to be salt in the midst of a bland situation
26:45and to be light in a dark situation.
26:49And without our opening our mouths,
26:52our presence made perverted men
26:56who had pulled up in the parking lot
26:57too ashamed to get out of their car
26:59when they saw church mothers
27:02just walking.
27:05Reached.
27:13And they were afraid to get out of their car ashamed
27:17without anybody opening their mouth saying,
27:19don't come here.
27:20We are boycotting this.
27:21And you dirty, low-down piece of trash,
27:23how could you?
27:25We didn't have to.
27:26All we had to do was to show up
27:29and in silence walk around.
27:32I instructed them, hold it to yourself.
27:35Talk on the inside.
27:37Just carry.
27:38Your presence will speak.
27:41And in the same way that presence speaks,
27:43absence also speaks.
27:46So when you are not there,
27:48your absence is saying something
27:51about the worth of the person.
27:54When you are there, your presence speaks.
27:57And when you listen to people,
27:59nothing affirms people more
28:02and establishes their worth
28:05than when you respect them enough to listen to them
28:09when their heart is bleeding
28:11and sometimes it's not even about
28:13whether or not you understand,
28:15but it is simply the empathy that you care.
28:20You don't have to know what I'm talking about,
28:22but if you see that I'm hurt by it,
28:24your empathy is medicine to my soul.
28:30And so just be salt and just be light.
28:34You don't have to explain it.
28:35You don't have to make a whole lot of hoopla about it.
28:38It's not about picket signs and, you know,
28:40like the loudest mouth.
28:41Sometimes God says, I just want my people.
28:44Just like they were walking around the walls of Jericho.
28:48He says, you walk around these walls
28:49and keep your mouth shut.
28:51But when they see you walking,
28:53something is shifting in the realm of the Spirit
28:56because every place that your feet will trod,
29:00God said, I will begin to give it to you.
29:02And that when you start moving,
29:04God says, I'll begin to move on your behalf.
29:06But He says, when you go, if you go,
29:08God says, I will go with you.
29:10And when you're walking, it's more than just you.
29:13It's you coming under the divine authority of God
29:17because I've got a mandate from God to be here.
29:20If I go somewhere,
29:21I don't want to go on my own reputation,
29:23on my own accord.
29:24I want to go in the name of the Lord
29:26representing the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
29:29I'm an ambassador of His kingdom.
29:31And if God has sent me,
29:33I'm going with all of heaven backing me up,
29:36bringing every demon into submission
29:39so that they cannot interrupt God's divine plan.
29:42When I begin to go to a nation,
29:44I begin to pray over that nation.
29:46I begin to break the spirits of darkness
29:49and the angel warfare that's happening up in the heavenless
29:52to begin to declare, Lord, Thy kingdom come.
29:55Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
29:58Where I'm just saying, Lord,
30:00I want to be an intercessor in this place right now
30:03or go between while I'll stand God.
30:05And I'm not trying to put them in the judgment seat.
30:08I'm trying to get them to the mercy seat
30:11to say, Jesus, have mercy, have mercy, have mercy.
30:16Amen.
30:21It's amazing.
30:23When Jesus says that we are the salt of the earth,
30:27He's telling us that our very presence among people in the world
30:31should bring out the best in them.
30:34Our very presence should bring out the best in them.
30:39There are certain directions
30:41you shouldn't take if you're present.
30:46When the family comes together,
30:48there are certain things that shouldn't happen if you're present
30:51because your presence speaks.
30:53But oftentimes, instead of just being present
30:57and bringing out the best in others,
30:59we often under-season things
31:02by distancing ourselves too far from the world.
31:06And then sometimes we over-season
31:09by trying to be too much like the world.
31:12Remember, balance is the key to life.
31:15Balance is the key to life.
31:17But in addition to salt seasoning,
31:20it also preserves.
31:22I've been in countries, and I've seen meat hanging outside
31:26with no refrigeration at all,
31:29but it's salted down.
31:31And I was wondering, why in the world is this meat not going bad
31:33as hot as it is out here?
31:34I mean, flies all over creation.
31:36I'm like, what kind of unsanitary situation is this?
31:39But they knew something that I didn't know.
31:42It is that salt preserves.
31:45When Jesus said, you are the salt of the world,
31:47the salt of the earth, he said,
31:49I've got you there so that they don't decay,
31:52so that they don't go into corruption.
31:54I've got you there in that neighborhood.
31:56I've got you there in that school district.
31:58I've got you there on that job
32:00because there are some people,
32:02your mission field may sometimes be your job.
32:05It may be your neighborhood.
32:06It may be the block that you live in,
32:08the building that you live in.
32:10That may be your mission field
32:12for you to just be salt and light.
32:15And so we are supposed to combat
32:17the corruption that is in the world
32:19simply sometimes just by being present,
32:22just by being present, just by being present.
32:27I met with a group of Muslims,
32:31and not because I was trying to be converted to Islam
32:34and they were not trying to be converted to Christianity,
32:37but I was just saying,
32:40maybe if you'll let your presence be in the neighborhood,
32:45maybe the drug dealers will stop coming
32:47if they see that you are on the block.
32:50And maybe if they see that we are on the block,
32:53that we can shut down the porn places.
32:56And as the devil gets more high tech,
33:00we got to get more high tech
33:02because they're not going into the peep shows now in person.
33:05They've got it on their digital device.
33:08So now we've got to have a higher authority
33:11operating on a higher principle
33:13because he's got a very clandestine, surreptitious way now
33:17that he is filtering himself,
33:19bringing the temptations to weak people,
33:22and they need somebody to be able to stand up
33:25and yet be salt and light to them.
33:28And I tell you, we've got to be present.
33:30We've got to be present.
33:32We've got to be present.
33:34Our motto should become,
33:36not on my watch.
33:38Not on my watch.
33:40Not on my watch.
33:41No, you don't snatch my children to hell
33:44from their own bedroom,
33:45but what they're doing behind closed doors
33:47with secret stuff and visiting sites,
33:49not on my watch.
33:51Listen, the prince of the power of the air is Satan,
33:54and we better start binding and loosening
33:56and using our communications to open up stuff
33:59and having dialogue and using your dinner table
34:02to really locate your children and see where they are.
34:05Listen, when we're coming to eat,
34:07this is not about just nourishing our bodies.
34:09This is nourishing our social needs on here.
34:12This is our mental health counseling.
34:14I'm just talking about, listen,
34:16you need more than broccoli and asparagus
34:19and a little protein on your plate.
34:21You need somebody to be able to say,
34:23hey baby, what's going on in your life?
34:25How are you really doing?
34:27I'm not talking about this surface thing,
34:30but when somebody is bullying you,
34:32when you're having suicidal thoughts,
34:34when you're dealing with depression,
34:35when you're dealing with low self-esteem,
34:37you need somebody that can look at you and say,
34:40baby, something is not quite right about you.
34:43You can talk to mama about anything.
34:45You better turn that thing into your real counseling office
34:49and know God has already let me know, baby,
34:52that this thing is temporary
34:54and that you are coming out of this.
34:56Prophesy light.
34:58Tell them who they are.
34:59Speak their purpose.
35:01Show them their gift.
35:02Declare the favor of God over them
35:05and begin to stand as an intercessor
35:07in the name of Jesus and say,
35:09this is the way.
35:11Walk ye in it.
35:12Come this way, baby.
35:14Come this way.
35:25He's not gonna take you out of every tempting situation.
35:29When Jesus was praying for us,
35:32the prayer of Jesus that is recorded in St. John chapter 17,
35:36verse 15, notice this.
35:37Jesus said,
35:38I'm not asking you, God, to take them out of the world,
35:41but to keep them safe from the evil one.
35:44That's our prayer.
35:45That's our prayer.
35:46That's our prayer.
35:48Listen, the devil is not just in the ghetto.
35:50He's in the suburb.
35:53He's not just in the factory.
35:55He's in the C-suite.
35:58He says, I'm not praying
36:01that you take them out of the world,
36:02but that you keep them from the evil one.
36:06Evil is in high places
36:09because it is systemic.
36:12It's not what's happening in the classroom.
36:14It's happening in the board meeting.
36:16It's the school board.
36:22That's why you better say,
36:23God, give me eyes so that I can discern and see, Lord,
36:25and may I be present.
36:28I'm just telling you,
36:29the devil begins to run rush hard over your life
36:31and over the lives of your children
36:33when you are missing in action,
36:35but when you will show up like salt,
36:38but the moment they take a sip of you,
36:40they say, huh, I know who's been here.
36:43Your presence announces itself.
36:46Your presence announces itself.
36:49So Jesus said that he was the light of the world
36:51in St. John chapter 8 and verse 12,
36:53but now he's telling his new followers,
36:55now you are the light of the world.
36:58And listen, our light is not our light.
37:00It's really the light of Jesus.
37:02Jesus is the S-O-N,
37:04but he's also emblematic of the S-U-N.
37:08And we are the moon.
37:10And the moon has no light of its own.
37:13The moon only reflects light that comes from the sun.
37:16So when you see the moon glowing at night,
37:19that is proof positive that the sun exists
37:22because the sun is in another position in the world
37:24and hitting the moon,
37:26and what you see, the moon looks like it's glowing.
37:28What's moonlight?
37:30Moonlight is actually sunlight.
37:32So when you see moonlight,
37:34it is the light of the sun.
37:36And we may not be as shining as brightly as Jesus,
37:40the bright and morning star.
37:42He's the S-O-N that represents the S-U-N,
37:46and we are the moon, and we have no light of our own.
37:49The light that we carry of Jesus
37:51is a reflection of the light that Jesus is himself.
37:54And when you go back to Genesis chapter 1,
37:57you discover that God didn't begin anything
38:01until he said, let there be light.
38:05He couldn't create anything until he first made light,
38:08and the light that he turned on initially
38:11was not the sun, moon, or the stars.
38:14God himself is the light.
38:17And if you ever get to the tabernacle,
38:19shebra doshmah, yafikunos, of God,
38:23there's an outer court and the inner court
38:25and then what's called the Holy of Holies.
38:27And the outer court and the inner court have lampstands,
38:30but in the Holy of Holies, the innermost court,
38:34there is no light lampstand
38:36because God himself is the light of that place.
38:40He is the understanding.
38:42And if you ever, shekeb eshedim,
38:45where get to where you cannot understand what to do,
38:48if you can ever get into the Holy of Holy,
38:51where the mercy seat, the mercy seat, the mercy seat,
38:55somebody ought to say, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy,
38:58Lord, have mercy.
39:00There's a mercy seat there,
39:02but God is the light of that place.
39:05God is the light.
39:07He is the light where the mercy seat is.
39:10And if you can get to that inner court,
39:12into that inner place, the secret place of the most high,
39:15God himself is the light, delights all men.
39:19And he gives us his light.
39:21He shines his light upon us
39:23and we begin to reflect it as an understanding.
39:26There are certain things until you get in that secret place,
39:29into that inner chamber,
39:31you don't even realize what you need to do.
39:33But once you get there, this is not a man-made light.
39:36This is not a light with batteries, nor with candles, nor fuel.
39:39This is a light that is the essence of the Spirit of God himself
39:43that has no fuel that is keeping him going,
39:46but it is God who is light.
39:48God is light. God is light.
39:51And that's why if you can ever get into the Holy of Holies
39:55and press beyond the place where the praise goes,
39:58into that place to where you become still and silent
40:02in worship and in awe,
40:05beholding the glory of God.
40:07And I'm telling you, I've been there so many times
40:10and I get broken down and tears begin to fall out of my eyes
40:14and I cannot express my words anymore
40:18because words are inadequate in his presence.
40:20He knows!
40:22And a thought can be comprehended by the almighty God
40:26when you get in the Holy of Holies.
40:28And I'm telling you, God is inviting his people
40:30whose lamps have gone out to get into the Holy of Holies.
40:34You've got to have oil in your lamp.
40:36Hey, yakaboshi!
40:38Oil in your lamp to keep you burning.
40:41And if at that midnight hour it's too late
40:44to run to try to get oil,
40:47you better walk in relationship to the Holy Ghost.
40:54I declare to you in the name of Jesus
40:56that when you can't see what to do,
40:59you don't know where to go,
41:01you don't know which decision to make,
41:03you better press your way into the Holy of Holies
41:07where there is no man-made light,
41:10but God himself is the light of that place,
41:13the light of the world,
41:15shining under your soul
41:17and showing you what to do.
41:23You can go to that place at nighttime
41:26and the light coming from the Holy of Holies
41:29will shine about 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning
41:33and all that you'll know,
41:35you won't even know when he visited you,
41:37but you'll know when you wake up the next morning
41:40what you need to do,
41:42what you need to start doing,
41:44what you need to stop doing.
41:46Somehow, the light,
41:48by being exposed to the light,
41:51you'll know what it is that you need to do.
41:55And I'm telling you,
41:56God has put certain blind spots in the earth
41:59the way you'll come and you don't know, Lord,
42:01whether I should go to the left or to the right.
42:03I don't know whether I should slow down or speed up,
42:06but get into that throne room.
42:08Get into that throne room.
42:10When you get into that throne room,
42:12you got to talk to the big man himself.
42:15You got to talk to the Father himself
42:17that while you're blind,
42:19that while you cannot see,
42:21you're in the room where the light,
42:23the brilliance of the light
42:25is shining out into your souls
42:27and he's shining so he can show you something,
42:30show you what you cannot see in your flesh,
42:33showing you what your natural eyes cannot see
42:35but can only be beheld by the eyes that are in your heart
42:38because God will give you dreams and visions
42:40and show you of things to come
42:42that doesn't happen with these eyes.
42:44Sight is a function of these eyes,
42:45but vision is a function of the eyes that's in the heart.
42:48And God says if you will come
42:49and if you will give me your heart,
42:50he said, I want your heart.
42:51If you will give me your heart,
42:52I'll begin to show you great and marvelous things.
42:55I will begin to show you great and marvelous things.
42:58You'll be trying to work out legal situation
43:00and you don't know how it's going to happen.
43:02And you're trying to get this person to have
43:03and that person to have,
43:04but God will begin to show you a way out of no way
43:07that doesn't come by the cunningness of mankind.
43:12God says if you'll just come into my presence
43:15and if you'll let my light shine into you,
43:18I will enlighten your soul.
43:21Somehow you'll wake up with a conviction
43:23that I know now what I've got to do.
43:25I know now what I've got to do.
43:28And somehow God is able to put a fire up under your feet.
43:32This is why he said in this word that Psalm 119,
43:38verse 105, his word, Lord, thy word.
43:42Thy word is a lamp to guide my feet
43:47and it's a light for my path.
43:51It's a lamp and a light.
43:54I don't know which way to go,
43:55but Lord, as long as I've got your word,
43:57I've got your word,
43:58I've got something in your word that I have found.
44:01And it doesn't show me the whole staircase.
44:03It shows me the next step.
44:05I've got enough light to know just the next step
44:08that I need to take.
44:09I don't fully know where it's going to lead,
44:11but I've got enough light just for the next step,
44:15just for the next step.
44:17I'll give you enough light to be able to make the next step.
44:22And you can't tell it until you look back
44:26and you see what the Lord has done.
44:28What marvelous things that God was weaving.
44:32Yeh babashi kol ha-voreshi.
44:34What he was weaving,
44:35why you couldn't even understand what he was making.
44:38And sometimes he has to get you far enough away from it
44:41to even allow the image of what he was weaving
44:44as a master weaver in your life.
44:46And now you can look back and the image emerges
44:49and now you say, Lord, I understand now
44:52why I had to go through what I went through.
44:56I see now, Lord, why you couldn't bring this
44:58into my life earlier.
45:00I wasn't ready for it.
45:01I would have squandered it.
45:03I would have messed it up.
45:05I would have gotten cocky.
45:07I would have been egotistical.
45:09I would have messed up, Lord.
45:10I would have robbed you of the glory.
45:13I would have started smelling myself.
45:15I would have started thinking that the gift was about me.
45:18But God says I've been working
45:20while you couldn't even see.
45:23And all of a sudden that you'll reach back
45:25and you'll discover that I was at work
45:27even in the midst of your confusion
45:29when you couldn't see.
45:31You were in darkness,
45:32but God says I was light all around you.
45:35I saw you.
45:36You didn't see me, but I saw you.
45:39I could see you because God says I'm not in darkness.
45:42In him there is no darkness.
45:45There's neither any shadow of turning.
45:49You can't even see why people died
45:51and left you and your heart was bleeding.
45:54But God says I was revealing to you my grace.
45:58There's a strength that comes in you
46:02that you won't even understand
46:05until God has taken you through some things.
46:08The resilience of God in your life
46:12is not about how quickly you spring back.
46:16It's about how whole you are when you get back.
46:23A resilient person is one that has come back
46:26from what should have taken you out.
46:29And God has healed you and your emotions.
46:32That what should have hurt you and damaged you
46:34and caused you to lose your mind.
46:36That what should have caused you to be angry with God.
46:39That somehow you got a healing in you.
46:42And the people that hurt you,
46:44you don't even care the bitterness
46:46and the resentment in your soul anymore.
46:48God has already dealt with you about people
46:50that didn't do you right.
46:52And it's water under the dam now.
46:54It's over.
46:57It's God's way of saying you survived this.
47:03And as in the book of Numbers,
47:06God told them to set up seven lamps,
47:09the lampstands.
47:11And He said, I want you to set it up in a way here
47:14you'll notice, He says,
47:16when you set up the seven lamps in the lampstand,
47:18place them so that their light shines forward
47:21in front of the lampstand.
47:24And so Aaron did this and he set up the seven lamps
47:27so that they reflected their light forward
47:30just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
47:33May I tell you that God says,
47:35I want you to set up your light
47:37so that it reflects forward.
47:39This is not about what happened back there.
47:42This is so that what happened back there
47:44that now you can shine light on some other young person
47:47who's got their life in front of them.
47:49They'll be able to see.
47:51It is so that you'll be able to say
47:53that you won't understand what God is doing
47:55until the goodness of the Lord is seen
47:57in the land of the living.
47:59But He says, I didn't show it to you back there,
48:01He says, set your lampstands up now
48:03to say this is what will come to your life
48:06when you stay faithful to God,
48:08when you serve Him,
48:09when you make Him the Lord of your life.
48:11It's not that you won't make mistakes.
48:13You will make mistakes.
48:14But it's saying that God will pick you up
48:16out of the dunghill.
48:17He'll raise you up.
48:18He'll strengthen you.
48:20He'll bring something in your life
48:22that begins to be light to other people.
48:25He said, I want what you've been through
48:28to be light to somebody else.
48:31Don't let anybody else go down that same road
48:33that you had to go down.
48:34You take your light from all of the trouble
48:36that you went through,
48:37the mistakes that you made,
48:39the misjudgments that you have.
48:41Cast your light forward, forward.
48:44You're not walking backward.
48:45Why would He want to put light
48:47on the stuff that is covered by the blood?
48:51What you uncover, God will cover.
48:54But what you cover, God will uncover.
48:56I hope you hear the Holy Ghost today.
48:59If you cover it, God will uncover it.
49:02But if you cover it by the blood,
49:04if you let God cover it,
49:07no man can snatch it all.
49:11Cast your light forward.
49:13Cast your light forward.
49:15Cast your light forward.
49:16You gotta help somebody else.
49:18Cast your light forward.
49:20You need to be praying and saying,
49:21God, who's in front of me
49:23that I need to shine light on?
49:25Who is it, Jesus?
49:26Who is it, Jesus?
49:27Who is it, Jesus,
49:28that I need to be able to cast my light
49:31to show them a better way?
49:33I need to show them the way.
49:35A leader knows the way.
49:37Goes the way,
49:38shows the way.
49:39A leader knows the way.
49:40Goes the way,
49:41shows the way.
49:42A leader knows the way.
49:44Goes the way,
49:45shows the way.
49:46It's time for you now
49:48to cast your light forward.
49:50Not throw shade, but cast light.
49:53Don't throw shade, cast light.
49:56Don't throw shade, cast your light.
50:03You are the salt of the earth.
50:06You are the light.
50:09Be the light, be the light, be the light.
50:12We hope that you enjoyed that message.
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50:26Thank you for what you do.