Well, if you'll take out your outlines this morning. So we apparently made things easier for you this morning and put the stuff in your outline. So now all you got to do is follow. That was my mistake.
I sent the wrong document apparently to our person who takes care of bullets and stuff. But it may be easy for you today. So this box of salt got this at Brookshire's. This cost $0.89.
Nothing, right? Panies. And that's probably super expensive compared to what it was 50 years ago. I don't know what it was.
It cost 50 years ago. Maybe $0.19. OK, so super cheap. Salt.
So we see salt as disposable. And a part of the problem for us now is we read the Bible is that it makes us a little bit ignorant of the historical impact that salt has had through the history of the world. Now, I'm going to give you a quick history lesson here. Since 6,050 BC, we have records of the importance of salt, the integral part that it's played in cultures around the globe.
We know that the ancient Egyptians used salt as religious offerings. It was a valuable trade commodity between the ancient Phoenician and Mediterranean empires. Salt and history have been intertwined for as long as we've been able to see human history. So salt has enormous uses that many are not aware of.
It's a necessary mineral for our body. It obviously, one of the things that we do use it for is it flavors bland food. It preserved food for millennia before the advent of refrigeration that we now take for granted. And it has been used for cleaning purposes and dying fabrics and a host of other practical uses that many of us are unaware of.
The word salary, which that's a favorite one of ours, our salary actually comes from a Latin word, sal. And it became a salary because in Roman times, they actually gave a portion of the salary or the payment for a soldier's work was given to them in salt. And so this phrase, you're not worth your salt, comes from that concept that it was a part of your payment. And so salt has this rich history throughout time.
I'm not sure if I have this picture up here, but there's a block of salt that you can buy at tractor supply. There it is. This is a 50 pound block of salt that costs all of $8.16 at tractor supply. Now, this is how common salt is for us.
People buy this to put out in the woods so deer can come by and lick it. And they can attract deer, you know, where they want the deer to be. In Jesus' day, this 50 pound block of salt right here would be worth what is today the equivalent of $6,000 to $8,000 in labor costs. This cost us 89 cents.
And that cost $8,000 in Jesus' day. Now is that because salt was rare? Not really. People knew where the salt was.
The expense was in the man hours that it took to collect that salt and transport it around the world where salt was not so readily available. Now, what's the point of all of that? Well, the point of that is that we don't feel the significance of salt when Jesus says these words. You are the salt of the earth.
Because for us, we take salt for granted, and it's a cheap commodity for us. Now, when Jesus says you are the salt of the earth, he's talking about specifically you and I, as Christians in the world, as followers of Jesus, are essential for protecting, flavoring, and influencing our world. We are expected as followers of Jesus to have that kind of positive impact and positive influence on the world around us. Now, we're tempted to think, well, who am I?
I'm just a regular Joe or a regular Jane. And my life's not that important. Well, you'd be very wrong about that. In fact, what I'm gonna say to you is this.
It's a sin for you to think that way. Because the Bible is very clear in these words. If we really understand the cultural impact, when Jesus says you are the salt of the earth, he's talking about bringing flavor and preservation and impact to a world that needs what you bring to it. That's what I want us to talk about this morning.
We're in a series called New Year Same Mission. And we like to start out the year talking about why are we here as a church and why are we here as a people? Same year, a new year same mission. Now, today's topic is this, evangelism.
Well, that didn't get a lot of excitement stirred up right there. Now, there's a lot of confusion whenever we hear this word, evangelism. There's more than a little bit of fear when we bring up the subject of evangelism. And there's a whole bunch of covert rebellion when pastors say you need to be doing some evangelism in your world.
And so today, we're gonna try to clarify what exactly is evangelism. And we're gonna try to illustrate both what it is and what it's not. And I'm gonna share some bad examples of evangelism for you. Maybe what typically comes to mind when we think evangelism.
And let's start right now. Let's watch this. It certainly feels not the fighting! Speaking of death and the fighting.
You know what would happen if something tragic happened today? What? Like if the show didn't deploy? What are you talking about?
I'm out, fucksh'n, Joe. Like let's say I pass out before the show doesn't deploy. I don't happen to me when I get the dirt. What about you?
The earth is coming! The ground's coming for all of us, Joe. We're hurling from heaven to earth! That's exactly what Jesus did, Joe.
When do you deploy the show? Would you decide that life after death is a viable conversation? Hallelujah! Hallelujah, Joe!
Joe! Oh, you're praying, okay. Awesome! Woo!
Now, that's what comes to mind, right? For lots of people when they think evangelism. High pressure, you know, heaven, hell. And we want to get past that kind of thinking right there.
So that's our first evangelism fail. I'll show you a couple more here as we go. So what exactly is evangelism? Well, you know, let's think of it like this.
Let's think of it as Christian influence. It's that simple. As natural, a part of who we are, the way we influence our worlds. Because what Jesus says here in Matthew 513, you are the salt of the earth.
It's about having that kind of Christian influence. Okay, so let's talk about what exactly, what's the kind of influence that I do have and I'm expected to have in the world? Okay, number one. My life has strategic significance.
My life has strategic significance. Anybody ever play risk? So I think I got a picture of a risk game here. If you've never played, risk is a game of world domination.
And when I was in college, I had a few buddies and we would play an intense game of risk every weekend. And we'd stay up till two, three, four o'clock in the morning playing risk, you know, back when we were stupid. And, you know, I happened to be the manager of the Student Center my senior year. And so if need be, we could play until we couldn't stay up any longer and then I could put that risk board in a safe place until we could get back to it.
Now, if you're never not familiar with it, you draw cards and there's an element of luck, you have to throw some dice, but ultimately it's a game of strategy. And the point is that you take your armies and you conquer the world. And it's about where and how you place your armies, when to attack versus reinforce your armies, how to stay as much as you can invisible, create alliances with others, it's all about strategy. Now listen, here's what I want us to see as an important Bible truth.
Your life is strategic, not random. Your presence here today is strategic, not random. God knew you would be here today and it's a part of your purpose in the world. Where you live here in Northeast Louisiana is strategic.
It's a part of God's plan. Where you work right now, who your neighbors are right now. What sports your children and grandchildren play and who you sit by in stands and sidelines is strategically designed by God as a part of your purpose. It's all a part of God's plan for both your life and his purpose in the world.
Now here's what Jesus said in John chapter 17 verse 15. Jesus said, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world. This is a prayer. He says, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but to keep them safe from the evil one.
Now this is a profound prayer on the part of Jesus that we got a chance to listen into. He's talking to his heavenly father about his followers there. And he says, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but to keep them safe from the evil one. Now when you became a Christian, Jesus could have taken you away.
Just be done with this and off to heaven you go. You could have done that, but he didn't. Why not? Because you have been placed strategically in the world.
Both for God's purpose for your life and for God's purpose in the world. Now the point of that is something that should be life giving to us. We have a purpose and we have a mission. We have something that God designed for us to accomplish in and through our lives.
And if Christ lives in you, then you shared the mission of Jesus himself. Here's what he said in Luke chapter, excuse me in John chapter 17 verse 18, just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. So Jesus in this same prayer, he says to God, as you sent me to the world, I am sending my followers to continue my mission. And what was his mission?
Well, it's right here in Luke chapter 19 verse 10. For the son of man came to seek and saved those who are lost. Now what does this mean? Well, this means that practically speaking, you have a friend, a coworker, a neighbor, a family member, that you are uniquely positioned in the world to be able to reach.
That no one has quite the same angle as you have to have a positive influence on them for faith. Now the question that you have to ask is, who has God put in my life for me to be an influence on? Now my challenge to you today is pretty simple. I want you to identify your one.
Who's your one? I'm not asking you to have a list of people that you're trying to impact. I'm asking you to identify who's the one person, family member, friend, coworker, neighbor, who's the one that strategically God has placed in and around my life that I can be a positive influence on for Christ. And I'm asking you to pray for them and to simply remain open to opportunities that God brings your way for discussion with them.
Now the truth here is super important because I understand that my life has strategic impact and influence. God put me where I am for a reason. Now here's the second way that I have influenced, not only do I have strategic significance, but my faith serves a vital purpose. So Matthew chapter five verse 13 again, Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth, but let's go on.
He says, but what good is salt? If it's lost its flavor, can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. Did you know you can live for extended time, weeks without food, but you will die quickly without water and salt.
If salt is more essential to your short term survival than actually food is. Without water and salt, you would quickly die of dehydration. Now we often think of salt only as bad, and that's because in our culture, we all tend to get more salt than we actually need, but they struggle often in ancient cultures to be able to get enough salt in their diets. So salt is essential to life as you are essential to preserving our world, which means what?
It means living with a high moral character. Salt is essential to our life as you are to the world by flavoring the world, which means what? Modeling the kind of right living that brings true peace and joy and purpose. Salt is essential to our lives as you are essential to the world in influence, meaning leading people to find true faith in God.
Your Christian influence is a part of what together, all together as an influence of people who are Christ followers, the church worldwide, a part of what sustains the world and keeps it in the light. Bible teaches without the spirit of God in the world that is present in followers of Jesus, the world would be overcome and overtaken by darkness and evil. And we see little pockets in our world where this is very much true today. That makes the influence that you and I have in the world absolutely critical.
We can't expect that it's other people who are doing the influencing. God expects us to be salt and positive influence in our world. Now know what Jesus says here? He says, what good is salt if it's lost its flavor?
Some translations say what good is salt when it loses its salty nests, which is interesting. This phrase lose flavor, which is the verb, what happens when that salt has lost its flavor? It's actually a Greek word pronounced morainanen, which is the word from which we get moron. Now what is Jesus saying?
It's saying he's saying it's stupid for salt to not be salty. And in fact, we would say now from a scientific perspective, it's impossible. Salt is actually one of the most stable chemicals on earth. And when salt loses its saltiness, it's literally no longer salt anymore.
It's just become dirt. So salt can only be salty. Now that's so important for us in trying to apply this scripture because here's the point. If you're not being influential in your world for a Christ standing for what's right and good and true, representing the character of Jesus in your actions and your words, then there's a core problem there.
Because flavorless faith, no influenced faith, no impact faith is like saying dry water or cold fire. It doesn't exist. There is no such thing as dry water. Neither is there such a thing as flavorless faith.
Now there may be ritual or religion, but not the genuine kind of faith that the New Testament describes. Now what does that mean, genuine faith? Well genuine faith as we study New Testament is about having been touched by grace and building our life around the faith values and priorities that the Bible teaches. This is genuine faith and that can't help but influence people in a positive way towards Jesus.
Now here's the truth, there are people in our world who don't feel the peace of a relationship with their creator, who don't know God's purpose for their life, who feel alone and adrift in the universe. And they live in our neighborhoods and they work in the same workplaces as we do. And we pass them every day. And a part of our vital purpose is to represent Jesus to those people in our world.
Now they need to have what we have and so share it with them, but not like this. I'm not going to go home late. Coffee is hot. Can I have to work?
I just put my tongue. You know what, you think that's hot? You gotta try that part like 10 billion times worse all over your entire body as you fall into the pits of hell because you haven't surrendered your life over to the will of Jesus Christ. That's a burn, you won't get over.
Stayed you cookie. Okay, so there's a wrong way to go about it. All right, so what does the Bible say about our influence? Well, you have strategic significance, number one, your faith serves a vital purpose and number three, your influence requires intentional contact.
Now look, it's super simple. We just got done with Christmas. God's method of influence was incarnation, not distance. What did we celebrate at Christmas?
We celebrated Emmanuel, God with us. God, Jesus didn't evangelize from heaven. He came and became one of us. And he moved into the neighborhood.
Here's what says in John 1 14, so the word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailingly love and faithfulness. We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only son. So simple fact, only when salt touches food does it change the flavor.
Okay, so I could have a nice juicy steak and have this salt sitting next to it and it wouldn't enhance the flavor of that steak. It's not just gonna soak it up out of the air. That salt might be real, it might be pure, but only contact with the steak is going to bring out and enhance the flavor of that steak. And likewise our faith only influences people when we make contact with them.
Actual lives of people that God brings our way, our neighbors, our coworker, that guy at the gym. You're not changing anything if you're a salt shaker sitting pleasantly on the shelf. You're only changing things when you are rubbing next to people. Now it's a simple observation, but it's absolutely a fact.
So the big question is, where's your faith actually making contact with people right now, today? Jesus didn't say, be salt near the earth. He said be salt of the earth. Mixed in, making contact, changing flavor through presence.
Now let me give you three ways that you can do that because I hear you, I hear you, I hear you saying, well, you know, pastor, I just can't do that. I can't do that. Okay, let me give you three reasons why you can. Number one, you aren't doing it on your own.
Okay, so here's the verse in Acts chapter one, verse eight. Jesus says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, through Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. So it's not something that you're doing through your own strength, in fact, God's doing it through you, and it's gentle and it's real, not the stuff we've been looking at. Now, number two reason you can do it is it's not as hard as you think, okay?
Evangelism is not those videos that we've seen. It can be as simple as an invite. It can be as simple as inviting someone to come with us to our church, and that doesn't need to be something that we avoid at all costs like this guy. We've been telling the choice to be a good friend and invite his neighbor, Rick the church, or 10 a colony of angry bees.
Well, let me tell you, I choose the bees, Carl. All right, Ted. Precise and slow movements discourage the fear-feromone of the queen bee. So I just pull this out to inspect the bees?
Ingo. You're gonna wanna avoid making direct eye contact, and as little guys view that as an act of aggression. You know, once the colony begins to swarm, you know, Ted, are you sweating? I have a condition.
Wish you would have disclosed this earlier. Bees interpret sweating hostilities. They're in my pants, they're in my pants, they're in my pants, they're in my pants. Stand down, get in there, Betty.
Stand down. You wanna go to church, didn't I? Yeah, why don't we swing by the hospital first? That'd be real nice.
All right, so it's not that hard. And I can show you what it looks like. Okay, so one simple illustration. I call it the Invitational Approach.
So Jesus, one time he actually went out of his way to go to this well where he knew he would encounter a particular woman. And he said to her as the approach to this well, can you get me a drink of water? And she said, you want me to get you a drink of water? Now, why would she say, well, you want me to get you a drink of water?
Well, because number one, she was a woman, and Jesus was asking a woman if she would get him a drink. Number two, she was a Samaritan woman, and good Jews really didn't talk to Samaritans because they were like the out crowd. Okay, so Jesus says, can you get me a drink of water? And she says, you want me to get you a drink of water?
And Jesus says, if you knew who I was, you would be asking me for living water. And thus this conversation, and what do you mean living water? And make a long story short, she became a follower of Jesus that day. And here's what Jesus told her.
Go home now and don't tell anyone about this thing that happened right here. And so she went home and immediately told everybody about it. And here's what it says in John chapter four verse 29, she says, come and see a man who told me everything I did, could this be the Messiah? And the whole town went out there to see and hear from this Jesus.
Okay, now here's a simple fact I want you to get. Most people in the world don't come to church because of the pretty building. And this is a pretty building. Most people don't come to church because of the popular pastor.
Not that I'm a popular pastor. Most people don't come to church because of the flashy postcard that they got in the mail. Most people come to church because somebody that they know invited them to come with them. If you don't believe me, look it up.
Survey after survey after survey confirms the fact that personal invitation crushes every other method of outreach. People come to church because they know somebody and that somebody invited them to come with them. And that's the power of being a Christian influence. And that is super simple, doesn't require being a theologian or an attorney or arguing with people about faith concepts and science versus Bible.
It's as simple as, man, this is great. I have such a wonderful experience here. Why don't you come with me one Sunday? And you'll be surprised at how many people would say yes.
So the message is be a bringer and an includer. It's part of our mission and it's part of your mission. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you've given us this great responsibility but great joy to continue the mission for which you left heaven and came to earth.
And I pray that we would be the people who live the right way, who stand for what's good and right and true. And share with people what it is that grounds us and motivates us to live for what's good and right and true because we know and love and follow you. So help us to this year in 2026, stand for that mission as a church and work towards that mission as individuals through your strength and power in our lives. For it's in Jesus name, we pray, amen.