Mars Hill Baptist Church

Good morning Sonshine! Another season is now upon us, and as the weather warms up, the grass begins to grow, the flowers to bloom and the birds begin to sing a new song of glory to God in the highest! Spring is probably my favorite time of year. It is a time of rebirth, of renewal. How mighty is our God who has control of the seasons! Just like salt adds flavor to our foods, spring adds flavor to the earth. Spring for some like me, brings on allergies; salt, for some (again, like me) is bad for your health if used too liberally. It can make your blood pressure rise, its bad for the heart, etc., but have you ever tried to eat a potato without salt? Like my Daddy used to say, “Honey, if it tastes good, spit it out!” And I have found through the years that my Daddy was spot on with his advice, just as God is always spot on with his plan for our lives.

Bro. Tyson McLean was our guest speaker this week, and his message came from Matthew 5:13-16. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

In this very familiar passage, salt is a good thing. As Christians, we should be the salt of the earth—all day, every day, 365 days of the year. If we are not working for Jesus, then our salt has lost its flavor and is no longer good for anything. Have you ever considered what is actually in salt? Sodium chloride, potassium iodide and dextrose. If you think about this for a minute, you know that sodium by itself is deadly. So is chloride. Just like us without Jesus Christ in our lives, we are headed down a deadly road to hell! Just as salt flavors and makes our food taste better, as Christians, we should be making the world a better place. Salt is also used as a preservative. Christians, through much prayer to God, can preserve the earth. But hear this: salt can also destroy if used in the wrong way. Just as it can be bad for our bodies, it can be bad for the earth.

Years ago, people used salt in smoke houses to preserve meat. Once that salt was embedded in the ground, nothing else would grow there. Many of us Christians like to wear our Christian jewelry and have the bumper stickers on our cars proclaiming our faith in God. But for some of us, that’s as far as our walk with God gets. That’s it. We have nothing embedded in our hearts to back up what our mouth says we are, which is why lots of folks don’t attend church. They see so many of us self-proclaimed Christians out in the world and we are no different from anyone else. God calls us to be “set apart” from the world, to let our light shine in such a way that it can never be hidden by any man. Once a Christian has lost his witness for God, the salt is no longer any good. We must live a godly life outside of the church doors every day to be the salt of the earth that God has called us to be.

Have you ever ridden down the interstate by night and seen the lights of a city in the distance? You can’t hide the light. It’s there for everyone to see. You can be in a totally dark room, but once you turn on a light—no matter how small that light may be—it’s no longer dark. Light and dark do not mix. Jesus and the devil do not mix. It’s like oil and water; the two will not blend together.

Lighthouses used to be popular in many countries as a way to guide ships to shore. Today, lighthouses are pretty much a thing of the past. New technology has made them obsolete. But a lighthouse to a Christian should never go out. Everything we say and do should be to glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to proclaim him and his love for all mankind to the world. Jesus is our lighthouse. Light symbolizes purity and divine revelation. We should be above what is taking place in the world around us today, having complete faith that God is still in control and he knows what’s best for us.

We thank God for the healing of Shirley Mims after surgery this past Monday. She was in church today, praising God for now being cancer-free. Praise the Lord!

With this in mind, please give generously to our ongoing efforts to raise money for Relay For Life this year. Give in your Sunday school classes. We will serve lunch on April 6 after the morning message for donations toward this cause. We have many cancer survivors in our church. Let’s honor them and praise our Lord for all that he has done and is doing. Amen.

Please continue to pray for our church, that we be the light on a hill in our community. Pray for our pastor, the sick, the lost, the hurting, our children who are on Spring Break this week, our country, our troops and our government. God is good, all the time! Amen.