Here is John's latest sermon from the series on authenticity...the link to the sermon and notes here.

As we continue our discussion on what it means to be an authentic Christian, today we will talk about salt and light.  We started out this discussion several weeks ago highlighting 14 statements that relate to “behaviors” of the Christian life through our guest speaker, Chris Vengala.  Since that time, we have been breaking down the statements one at a time.  Last week, our discussion focused around authentic Christians being those who pursue intimacy with God rather than go through religious rituals of trying to relate to God.  That lesson followed our previous lessons:

• Authenticity means obedience; knowing what the word of God says and doing it.
• Authenticity means wholeheartedness; knowing you have to follow God with all heart, and not comparing your righteousness to others.
• Authenticity means good stewardship; handling God’s resources righteously.
• Authenticity means genuineness; that we live privately the same way we live publicly.

This morning, our attention turns to Jesus’ sermon on the Mount (recorded in Matthew 5), where He discussed the importance of authentic Christians sharing their faith with a dying world.  He challenges us to be the salt of the earth, that which adds flavor and preserves life, and the light of the world, that which pierces darkness and exposes sin.  We really want to capture the importance of this, because this message is a clear delineator between those who play Christianity, and those who are living definitions of Christianity.

So today, we will examine our saltiness level, and see what kind of light is shining from our lives.  As we reflect on Jesus’ words and talk about living examples of salt and light, my aim is that we would each be challenged to become more of what God is calling us to be in this area.