Good morning. Hope everybody's had a good week. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew chapter 5. Some of you may be thinking, Brother David was just in Matthew chapter 5 last week. Well, you know, it's not that I'm trying to reteach something that Brother David's already taught. And it's not that I don't think Brother David is not a great Sunday school teacher. I would argue the other way. He's a great Sunday school teacher. And part of the reason I say that is because it's made me to dig in a little bit deeper. about being salty. And you know a Sunday school teacher has done their job when you go home and you're still thinking about it and you're digging in the word of God and you're trying to find some stuff. So I think Brother David's a great Sunday school teacher. But we're gonna look at saltiness this morning. And how salty are you? I was privileged to be able to share this with the folks at the Towers in McMinnville Tuesday night. Some of it, I've added to it. And I think it went really well, and it was received really well. And people come to me afterwards telling me, you know, I'm a little too salty. And I'm like, well, yeah, you can be too salty. But if you have your Bibles there in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 13, we'll use this as our text to start with. It says, ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is sense force, good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. Salt is important. And us being followers of Jesus Christ, well, we're to be a little bit salty. And salt makes a change. Salt give things flavor that needs a little bit of flavor and seasoning. Have you ever tried to eat something that needed salt, but the salt wasn't there? Can you think of some things? Potatoes, beans, soups, breads. I don't know. There's a bunch of things, right? Some things are just bland tasting without a little salt thrown on it. And I think we can all agree that a little bit of salt sure can make some things taste better. And as Christians, we need to be salty. And we need to make a change for the better. For the better. Now, when I say that, we'll get into a little bit later. Can you oversalt some things? Yeah. It is terrible when you oversalt things, isn't it? You can't really eat it. It tastes terrible. I feel like we could be like that as Christians, too. Thinking you can go too far planting seeds and offend somebody Maybe that's why it says in there to turn the other cheek. Maybe you went too far planting seeds, and you offended somebody I don't know But if that is the case we do need to turn another cheek Salt sure does make things taste better in Job chapter 6 and verse 6 it says can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt and Well, it can be, but it just don't taste very good. It don't taste very good at all. It goes on to say, or is there any taste in the white of an egg? Is there much taste in the white of an egg? Not really. I don't know that much about it, but you ladies that cook, you know that you can use egg whites to cook with. They can be used for bacon. They can be used for binding agents in foods, desserts, et cetera. But by themselves, they really don't have any taste at all. They need a little salt. That's just one example. We talked about some others. Did you know as human beings we need salt? We have to have salt. Humans do need salt. The human body requires sodium. It's a key component of salt for essential functions such as conducting nerve impulses, muscle contraction, and maintaining fluid. Now, do I know everything I need to know about what I just told you? I really don't. But this is what the internet says. We need salt. And I can say we need salt. Have you ever worked out in the heat of the summer and sweat and sweat and sweat? Well, you need some salt to replenish. Some that you've you've lost brother David talked about that just a little bit It's estimated that adults need 500 milligrams of sodium daily for these vital functions however most people consume Significantly more than this amount and it's often due to processed foods In case you didn't know a Lot of the processed foods, maybe all of them. They're not really good for you There's even something called ultra-processed foods. They're really not good for you at all, so watch out for sodas, potato chips. Brother Nathan, this is going to hurt you, but hot dogs. Hot dogs really ain't good for you. They're ultra-processed food. Now they taste good on a grill, don't get me wrong, and everything in moderation is okay if you can do that. But I'm telling you, these people that do the hot dog eating contest, A hundred hot dogs in eight minutes or whatever it is. I don't know how many they eat, but that ain't good for you. That ain't good for you to do anything like that. Gluttony is a sin. So when you're shoving your belly, your mouth full of something like that, can you, I can't even imagine how sick I would be trying to eat a hundred hot dogs or how many ever they eat. I don't know. And they eat the buns too. Crazy. Chicken nuggets are really not good for you. There's other things that are not good for you. But I heard a doctor say, in general, if you ain't cooking it, it probably ain't good for you. There's nothing better than going to the garden and getting some fresh vegetables, potatoes, green beans, corn, tomatoes, that sort of thing, and cooking that stuff up, squash, zucchini. That stuff's good for you. This ultra-processed stuff that's loaded with sodium, it's really not that good for you. And we learned last week that salt can be used to preserve things, too, such as meats and so on and so forth. I didn't know this, but salt can be used for other things, too. Well, maybe I did know some of it, but ladies, I don't know if you knew this, but if you take a moist towel dipped in salt It works wonders to remove soot from glass candles. Do you know that? I didn't know that. That's what it says anyway. Also, it can be used as a hand cleaner. I'm super sensitive to smells, okay? We let the girls drive the Tahoe to Gatlinburg last year to something. I don't even remember what it was. But while it was sitting at the cabin or whatever, a mouse got in there. And we seen evidence of a mouse in there when they brought it home. And I set the trap too late. And you know what happened? That thing died in there. And it don't smell good. And I'm very sensitive to smells. And I still smell it in there. I can't turn the floor level. Heat on or whatever our feet freeze riding home in the wintertime because I Can't take the smell. I'd rather have cold feet is the smell that So I'm just saying I'm sensitive to smells But did you know that the lingering of smell of onions on your hands? when you cut one up to cook with If you take some salt and rub on them and leave on it for about 30 seconds and rinse it under warm water Somehow it's supposed to exfoliate the scent right off. I don't know but that's a good trick to know if you didn't know that but salt can be used for that salt can be used to Detour pest like ants so on and so forth I Actually did know this Salt can be used to clean stainless steel Or cast-iron pans after cooking it's effective at removing stubborn burns that a normal wash couldn't clean off So you might want to try that sometime? Salt can also be used as a weed killer in your garden or yard, whatever salt can also be used to deodorize your garbage cans I Didn't know that your trash cans So salt can be used for a lot of good things salt is useful and the point I'm trying to make is we need to be salty as Christians and in a good way, just the right amount. If you're not salty at all, then you ain't doing no good. You've got to be salty. You've got to make things taste better. You've got to make a change. Somehow, someway, as a Christian, that's our job, is to help make this world a better place. Spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you believe the Lord likes salt? I don't know, but maybe you could use the scripture here when God told the Israelites to salt their meat offerings. In Leviticus chapter two and verse 13, it says, in every oblation thy meat offering, thou shalt season with salt. Neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering. With thine offerings, I shall offer salt. Now why did God have the Israelites to salt their meat offering? You may know there's really a study into that. The commandment to salt all the grain offerings was given by God to the Israelites to symbolize the covenant of salt between God and his people. Actually, salt was a precious commodity in ancient times, representing purity, preservation, and a lasting covenant. The inclusion of salt in offerings served as a constant reminder of the covenant relationship and the need for faithfulness and integrity in worship. It underscored the holiness and purity required in offerings made to God, signifying that the offerings were not merely ritualistic, but deeply connected to the spiritual and moral obligations of the covenant community. Salt is a needful thing. Salt's mentioned way back in the Bible times. Our bodies need salt, and we need to be salt, spiritually speaking. Jesus himself said those that follow him are the salt of the earth. We read that. Salt is good. We need to be salty. We need to make a change. And any change that we make, we need to make sure that change is for the better. and not for the worse. We don't need to be over-salting things because you can ruin something being over-salty. In Colossians chapter four and verse six, I thought about this after Brother David taught last week. It says, let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with what? You got it, salt. that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. This verse of scripture is very interesting, and I think we can learn from it, and it's good to be reminded of it, because with this verse right here, I think we should pray about these things. We don't need to just be flying off at the mouth at people on certain things. We need to make sure we're taking consideration on what we're saying, because if you think about The lesson that we've done on communication, your words have meanings. They mean something to people. And the tongue, even though it's a little member, what a fire it can kindle. So we've got to be careful with it. And we always need to make sure that we season with salt our speech with grace and salt. Not too much. Not take the salt shaker cap off and do that. but leave that on there and just sprinkle some on there, what's needed, right? This verse emphasizes the importance of using our words wisely and with grace. Seasoned with salt, the metaphor suggests that our words should be sharp and impactful, reflecting the truth of the gospel and how it transformed our lives. You know Hebrews 4 12 for the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword The Word of God is alive and It will cut you going and coming and that's good for sometimes we we need to read this Book that God's give us and let it cut us sometimes but you know Maybe when you're witnessing to somebody or you're not really in agreement with what somebody's doing and you need to be a little bit salty, maybe let the word of God cut them going and coming. But that don't mean you have to pour salt in it. You understand what I'm saying? Let's be wise about it and let's have grace with it. And we can plant seeds in a graceful way without being too overbearing. Now, don't get me wrong. Some people need a little bit more salt than others when you're witnessing to them, and you gotta get down there where the rubber meets the road with them. But not everybody's that way. Some people truly don't know when you tell them something, and they're all ears. Well, they just need a little sprinkling. They don't need the whole thing poured on them. Always with grace. This indicates that our communication should be polite and considerate, aiming to impress favorably on others. I need help with this, with seasoning things with salt, and being graceful with speech, and so on and so forth, and communication. Sometimes I know I can probably be a little bit too rough, and probably sometimes not rough enough. But I know these things, and we all need help with this right here. Also, Colossians 4.6, this verse encourages believers to reflect the truth of the gospel through their speech, making it a powerful tool for evangelism and communication. And in essence, Colossians 4.6 serves as a reminder for believers to communicate with integrity and grace, using their words to convey the message of the gospel effectively. We have to be careful about how we do that. And that's the reason I think prayer is so important with this verse of scripture right here. Ask God to help you. How you approach somebody or how you correct somebody from the word of God. You know, every time you go to a restaurant, you don't need to say, can I sit somewhere else? You understand what I'm saying? Now, if they take you to a bar area or something's going on that shouldn't be, Can you sit me somewhere else, please? You understand what I'm saying? So we need to be considerate, and we need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Remember that scripture? We need to choose our battles. And we need to season the things that need seasoned. But the things that don't need it, we need to let it go. You understand what I'm saying? So we always need to remember that our words mean something, and they mean something more than we realize most of the time, okay? In Proverbs 18 and verse 24, it says a man that hath friends must show himself friendly. Well, you like to have friends, don't you? I do. Friends are a precious thing. They're just not around every corner. If you have a true friend, you've got something. And in order to have some of those friends, well, you need to show yourself friendly first. I need help with that, too. We were at a cookout. Friday evening. Some serious family had one and there was a gentleman there that I can kind of know a little bit and his family. But it just kind of played out to where we really never even said anything the whole time we were there. You know, I should have been a little bit more friendly. And introduce myself. He probably knew who I was really, There were other things going on, but that's kind of bothered me ever since. I should have made an extra effort to show myself friendly. Who knows what kind of conversation that would have sparked. Probably a good one, I don't know. But sometimes we all need to show ourself just a little bit more friendly. And be salty, just the right amount. We need to choose words wisely. There's a way to be salty that makes a change for the better, and there's a way not to do that. So, good reminder for us this morning. Have you ever thought about people in the Bible that weren't salty enough? You ever thought about that? Somebody named somebody that they probably needed to be a little bit more salty. Anybody do that? Anybody got anything, anybody on their mind? What about Jonah? Terminated Jonah chapter 1 Jonah chapter 1 Jonah chapter 1 it says Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amatea, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and found his ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof, and he went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. You know what? I think Jonah could have saved himself a whole lot of trouble if he would have just been a little bit more salty. Do you agree with that? If he would have just done what God asked him to do, look at the trouble there. It would have saved him. Now, you know the story. He got cast overboard. A great fish swallowed him up, a whale. Three days, three nights in the belly of the whale. What do you think Jonah was doing there? You think he was praying? Well, the great fish vomited him up on the bank there. Think about that. If he would have just been a little bit more salty and done what God asked him to do in the first place, he could have avoided all that. I'm just saying sometimes we need to be a little bit more salty with just the right amount, not too much. What about Peter? Do you know not being salty enough could possibly cause you to be bitter? What did Peter tell the Lord? He told him he loved him, and the Lord told him, Peter, before the sun comes up, you'll deny me three times. What happened when that happened? When Peter realized that he'd done that, what'd he do? It says he went and wept bitterly. Well, Peter could have been a little bit more salty right there, couldn't he? But, you know, we can only learn from things that are written to us in the Bible. And one thing that we can learn is we need to be a little bit more salty. Jesus Christ told us we're the salt of the earth. We need to make a change. We need to share the gospel. We don't need to go along with dirty jokes. We need to disagree with them. And we need to say, I don't want to hear that. We need to make a change. We talked about this a little bit. Too much salt is a bad thing. I want to talk about that just a little bit. And maybe something that you haven't thought about, and maybe you guys have done a deep study on this before, but I know you've heard of the Dead Sea. You ever heard of the Dead Sea? Yeah. It's the saltiest body of water in the world. And you know what? Nothing lives in it. You know why? Because it's too salty. It's too salty. You really can't even take a good swim in the Dead Sea. It's really a lake. Do you know why? The salt content of that thing is like 34%. You automatically float without much effort at all because of the density of the water in the Dead Sea. So maybe you can take a good swim. I don't know. But maybe you can't really dive down to the bottom or whatever. And really, you're not supposed to swim in that thing for extended periods of time. You need to get out and go take a shower, wash that stuff off. I'm just saying, too much salt is a bad thing, sometimes. Let's see what I've got here on this. When I started studying the Dead Sea, I really found Some interesting things. The Dead Sea is mentioned in the Bible. Really, it's called the Sea of Salt. In the Bible, it's referred to it as a lot. And it's mentioned several times. Just think about this. The Dead Sea is a large body of saltwater on the southern end of the Jordan River. Cited 16 times in the Bible, the Dead Sea is mentioned primarily to describe the borders of the Promised Land. The Dead Sea is known by a few different names in the Bible, including the Salt Sea in Genesis 14.3, in Numbers 34 and 3 and 12, Deuteronomy 3.17, Joshua 3.16, and Joshua 12.3, the Sea of Araba. and Deuteronomy 3.17, Deuteronomy 4.49, Joshua 3.16, 2 Kings 14.2, 25, and the Eastern Sea. It's mentioned in Ezekiel and Zechariah. It was called the Salt Sea for its unusually high salinity. The name sea of the Arabi was given for its location of the Arabi Valley. Hebrew a rabbi means a wasteland a barren district Now I'm not saying It really can't be used for anything because they do gather minerals and stuff from there To use for other things, but in terms of something living in that Sea assault or the Dead Sea it ain't happening If a fish or something makes its way into the salt sea from the Jordan River, or I think there's another one that feeds into it, it don't last very long at all. It just can't live in there, it's too salty. So if you're too salty sometimes, you ever thought about how maybe we can take life out of somebody instead of giving, sharing life with them, the gospel? Helping them with a word of encouragement. Or maybe they're down on their luck and you're trying to pick them back up. You understand what I'm saying? We're supposed to be giving life and not taking life from somebody. We're followers of Jesus Christ. We're Christians. We should be Christ-like, right? We should be Christ-like. Let's see, what else we got here? The Dead Sea is located 16 miles directly east of Jerusalem. A long and narrow oblong sea in the Bible time is measured over 50 miles from the north to the south and about 11 miles wide at its broadest point. The Dead Sea lies within the Great Trough of the Jordan Valley, also known as the Rift Valley, which forms part of the longest and deepest crack in the Earth's crust at approximately 1,300 feet below sea level. The Dead Sea sits at the lowest point of the Earth's surface. Did you know that? Isn't that interesting? The surface of the Dead Sea is 1,300-1,400 feet below sea level, the lowest point on Earth. That just fascinates me. Did you know that some Bible scholars believe that that's where Sodom and Gomorrah was at? Did you know that? Do you know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? Because of the great sin that Brother David preached on there, sodomy. That sin was so bad, they even named the sin after the city. It's the lowest point on earth. God destroyed that with fire and brimstone. I don't know if it's actually under the sea. Some scholars believe it is. But it sure is interesting to me. Do you know that sin will take you to the lowest point you'll ever be in your life? Look at Sodom and Gomorrah. Sitting right there at the lowest point on earth. That's amazing to me. I would have never knew this if Brother David wouldn't have taught on Matthew chapter 5 and talked about were the salt of the earth, well, it made me dig a little bit. That's a good teacher. The Dead Sea is mainly fed by the Jordan River and a few smaller streams and rivers. The Dead Sea receives an average of about six or seven million tons of daily inflow with no outlet for the water except through evaporation. The extreme heat and dry conditions of the region produce exceptionally high rate of evaporation, even with no outflow of water. The Dead Sea surfaces rises no more than 10 to 15 feet per day. The waters that feed the Dead Sea contain unusually high salt content, approximately 26%, making it the world's most saline body of water, with almost five times the level of salt concentration of the ocean, At 3.5%. That's amazing. I read somewhere else that the Dead Sea is 10 times saltier than your average ocean. How many of you ever got in the ocean before? It's salty. It's salty. Can you imagine it being 10 times? I bet that stuff sticks to your skin. I heard reports that it's kind of oily and so on and so forth. I don't know. And you may not know this, but when you walk the banks of the Dead Sea, that's what you see. Salt piles. Salt piles. Can you think of somebody that was too salty in the Bible? I thought she was going to say Lott's wife. No? You know, really, Lott's wife probably wasn't salty enough. If she would have done what God told her to do, she would have never been changed to a pillar of salt. But instead, she became a pillar of salt. What do you think happened? Well, trodden under the foot of men. We need to be salty. When God asks us to do something, we need to have enough saltiness in us to do it. This lesson got all over me, really, to be honest with you. I hope it does you, too. We need to be salty. That's the bottom line. What else do we have here? Even with its inability to sustain life, the Dead Sea provided a valuable commodity for trading in ancient times, salt. The sea was also known for producing bitumen, a natural petroleum product similar to asphalt, prized for its waterproofing properties. Historians have suggested that Cleopatra's ambition to rule the Dead Sea region was motivated by her desire to control the bitumen trade. I don't really know. That's just what was said there. Biblical archaeologists believe that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 and 19 took place in the vicinity of the Dead Sea. We talked about that. Some believe that Sodom and Gomorrah lie underneath the Dead Sea. Exactly how God destroyed the cities is up for debate, I guess. It really ain't to me. God said he destroyed it with fire and brimstone. That's what I believe. But you know. It sure is interesting. To think about Sodom and Gomorrah being in that region in the lowest point of the world. And it says on its slopes, which are formed by the combination of gypsum, salt, limestone and chalk. There's things formations can be seen of salt like pillars. These pillars are often out to tourists by the nickname of Lot's Wife. You know, I don't really know about that. It says she'd become a pillar of salt. All I know is she didn't do what God told her to do, and she'd become a pillar of salt. And it's interesting that this place right here is the lowest point on earth, and that's what sin will do to your life. That's just interesting to me. God destroyed it with fire and brimstone. He wasn't happy about it. And here we have what supposedly used to be Sodom and Gomorrah sitting in this dead place right here where nothing can live. Very interesting. What about King David when he fled from King Saul? Do you know it was in this area by the Dead Sea that he hid in a cave? That's what the historians say. In contrast to the lifeless nature of the Dead Sea, Engedi is an oasis full of fresh flowing springs, fine dates, aromatic and medicinal plants, and semi-tropical vegetation. Interesting. It's also even mentioned in Ezekiel in prophecy that those waters would be healed at some point in time. I really don't know that much about it. But it sure is interesting to me. Who else was too salty in the Bible? The first one I thought of was Paul. Now don't get me wrong, Paul ended up writing most of the New Testament, or a large part of it. And he was salty. And a lot of us probably need to be more like Paul. But you know, before he was Paul, he was Saul. You knew that. Turn me to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8. We're doing good on time. I'm sorry. Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7. We'll start with verse 51. I'll give you a second to get there. Acts chapter 7 and verse 51. Now this is Stephen right here. He's really preaching and it says in verse 51, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. Stephen was salty. I think Stephen was salty just the right amount for the crowd he was around. In verse 52, which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just one. whom ye have been now in the betrayers and murderers. In verse 53, who have received the law by disposition of angels and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. That's what happens to people when you're a little salty with them. And that's not always a bad thing. We talked about it. The word of God will cut going and coming. It says, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord. and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witness laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. He basically held their coats while they done it. And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Boy, how many of us could say that? Stephen was salty, and I think he was salty just the right amount. It goes on in chapter eight of Acts, it says, and Saul was consenting unto his death. You know, I believe Paul was a little bit too salty about the wrong thing there. It goes on to say, And at that time, there was great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. And it goes on to say in verse three, and as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house and hailing men and women, committed them to prison. and they were scattered abroad, went everywhere preaching the word. Paul thought he was doing the right thing, didn't he? He was way too salty for the wrong thing. He was wreaking havoc on the church there. You know, this bothered Paul for a long time, probably till he died. You know, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it talks about it. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 9, he goes on to say there, for I'm the least of the apostles that am not made to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. He thought he was salting the right thing and seasoning the right thing there, but he wasn't. God struck him down on the road to Damascus there. And, you know, he lost his eyesight. Jesus Christ was too bright to look upon there, wasn't he? With that Shekinah glory. But God had a plan, and he knew that he could use Paul. And he's like, you know what? Paul is salty. I can use that. And look what he had him do. He done a lot of great things in the Bible that's recorded here. Probably a lot of other things that wasn't mentioned. you know you go on to read about when he was there shipwrecked in the island there and a viper rose up and beat him and He shook that thing off in the fire West some good saltiness right there He knew God told him you're going to Rome. I'm I'm going to use you right He was a salty person and we probably need to be more like that I Not too salty, but just the right amount. And we need to salt the right things, the things that need salting, not the things that don't need salting. We need to be servants of Jesus Christ and be Christ-like and be the salt of the earth. And we need to season our speech with salt, just the right amount and not too much. And we need prayer to do that. We really do. Because sometimes we can just be too salty or not salty enough. So I hope that helped you today. It really, it done me good to do a deeper dive on being salty and the salt of the earth. And I learned some things that I didn't know and I hope it's helped you and maybe encouraged you. Maybe it's even made you think about how salty you are. your salt content. Anyway, I hope it helped you today and that's all I got. God bless you.