Sermon Notes 2/25/2018

Matthew (14)

Its all about the rules!

Matthew 5:17–20 (NLT)

¹⁷“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.

¹⁸I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.

¹⁹So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

²⁰“But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

The text today

·      Is Rarely preached on

·      But oddly heavily debated about its meaning

It's hard to teach and hard to write about, I’m going to attempt to help you understand just how important this set of scripture is for us all and the game changer it was in Jesus’s day and still is today!

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

Matthew 5:17 (ESV)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

·      This is Jesus’s mission statement!

o   Many wanted radical change

o   The religious powers were creating new laws every day

o   Jesus came to fulfill the law

o   Fulfill the prophesies of the old testament (Gods Scrolls)

Fulfill: (pleroo)

·      Fulfill means to teach the true meaning and implications of the OT : I came to teach the full meaning of the Law and the Prophets.^[1]

·      Fulfill involves several aspects, including doctrinal teaching, ethical laws, and predictive prophecy. It means both to bring a new law that transcends the Mosaic law and to realize what the OT prophesied. Fulfill means to establish the law and prophets by realizing or actualizing them completely in his life and teaching. Jesus is the eschatological goal of the OT, as well as being its sole authoritative interpreter. Jesus shows the direction to which the OT points^[2]

What all this means

Jesus came for two reasons:

1.    Jesus came to fully live out a sin life as a living example for us to follow

2.    He came to give us a guide by which to follow, and clear up the misinterpretations that we had and to abolish some of the man-made laws added to Gods law!

It was no different for the people of God

·      The people were given rules they couldn’t follow

·      They were beat down

·      They were scared and mistreated because of all the rules

·      They were second class citizens, bowing down to the religious elite

·      They were ready for some grace, they were ready for some mercy

·      They need a savior, they needed Jesus

Jesus breaks religious rules, He was a rule breaker

August 2, 2016 by George Dowdell 1 Comment

As we live in an imperfect society we need some rules and laws to combat the worst forms of evil.  Religion has its own sets of rules, but Jesus showed us that if we follow his way, love transcends rules. He was born into a Jewish society which had built up a complex set of rules to moderate and control how people lived their everyday lives. We will see in this article how Jesus broke many of the rules and traditions that religion imposed.

Denouncing Authority

Jesus denounced the religious rulers because they heaped an impossible burden on ordinary people like you and me.  To even attempt to allow all the rules you would have to devote your life, become a pharisee.  The problem was that in keeping to the letter of the law they omitted to do more important things like caring for other people and promoting justice and mercy.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”(Matthew 23:23 NIV)

In denouncing the religious rulers he deliberately set himself against them so he could teach, and demonstrate a better way.

Touching Lepers

A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. (Matthew 8:2-3 NIV)

According to Jewish law, if a person touched someone who was leprous, they would become unclean. Why did Jesus touch this leper?  Jesus realised that this man’s needs were emotional as well as physical.   This man mattered far more than rules and he needed touching! Jesus didn’t disobey rules to be rebellious but to demonstrate that love makes the rule redundant.

Healing on the sabbath

The law said that for one day each week, no work should be done.  This was basically good because it avoided employers exploiting their workers.  But the rules and traditions had made the law difficult to keep.  Jesus pointed out that they were quite willing to save an animal on the sabbath, therefore it was quite reasonable to heal somebody on that day.  This really infuriated the religious rulers who sought to kill him.

And a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. (Matthew 12: 11-13)

Sabbath made for mans benefit

Religious rules, carried to the extreme, can just be plain silly.  To equate picking a few grains of corn with the act of reaping a harvest is ridiculous.  The sabbath day, and the principle of not working that day, was instituted by God for man’s benefit.  The religious teachers had tried to define “work” to the nth degree.  Rules dictated exactly what you could and couldn’t do, but Jesus was quite content to let his disciples break with rules and traditions to satisfy their hunger.

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”  —  Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:23-24, 27 NIV)

Talking to Women

In Jesus’s day it wasn’t considered right for a man to speak to a woman who was a stranger and certainly not one of doubtful character and of another ethic race.  But again, Jesus wasn’t going to be tied down to convention when he met a woman at a well in Samaria.  They had quite a discussion which resulted in many of that town believing in him as ‘the Savior of the world’.

The scandal of drinking his blood

The old testament Law forbid the drinking of blood.

For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. (Leviticus 17:14 ESV)

Yet Jesus told his disciples they were to drink his blood.  To the disciples who had been brought up in the Jewish traditions this must have sounded shocking, scandalous and repulsive.

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:54 NIV)

But Jesus invites to share his life (blood) with us and this ushers in a new era.  Trying to please God by obeying religious rules has been proven ineffective.  God has intervened in human history and made the way open for all men to be one with God through Jesus Christ.   We can ingest the very life of God into our lives

Other Examples

·      Overturning the money tables at the temple.

·      Eating with “sinners”, people of dubious reputation.

·      Not ritually washing hands before eating.

·      Jesus’ commitment to non-violence

·      Forgiving people’s sins and thus bypassing the temple sacrifices.

Love transcends law

The trouble with laws is that they can only try to do away with negatives.  “Thou shalt not kill”, “Thou shalt not Steal”, etc.  Love is the opposite to law in that it deals with the positives.  You cannot legislate for love or define degrees of love.  You cannot pass a law that forces people to love.  You cannot define degrees of generosity.

 Why did Jesus break all these rules?

The old testament law was not possible for man to keep.

Religious rules and traditions only placed burdens upon people.

Jesus came to abolish the idea of trying to please God through (any) religion.

When religious rules get in the way of mercy, compassion and justice they should be overridden.

Jesus didn’t break rules to be rebellious, he broke rules to show that people mattered more than rules.

Conclusion

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ provides the only way we can share in the life of God.

We all need to ask ourselves honestly, “Do I have any religious rules which get in the way of loving God with all my heart, and my neighbor as myself?” and “What would Jesus have to say about religious rules today?”

So was Jesus sinning? No! God was fulfilling His promise! And a new era of salvation

Jeremiah 31:31–34 (NLT)

31 “The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the LORD.

33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the LORD. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

In gods perfect timing, he sent his son to fulfill his promise to a world full of sin, a world that had turned their back on Him. The world needs a savior, and God sent his Son.

So, what was this new Covenant? 

It’s Really simple!

Matthew 22:36–40 (NLT)

³⁶“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

³⁷Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment.

³⁹A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

⁴⁰The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

John 13:34–36 (NLT)

³⁴So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

³⁵Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

³⁶Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?” And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”

Matthew 28:18–20 (NLT)

¹⁸Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

¹⁹Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

²⁰Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

·      Jesus came to simplify things and we have made it hard again

·      We confuse things

·      We study each word, the way it translates

·      And Jesus made it clear!  “All the commands I have given you!”

Paul echo’s this throughout his letters

Galatians 5:22–24 (NLT)

²²But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

Close:

I struggled with understanding God, the more I learned, the more I thought I knew. Its wasn’t until I understood the love of the father, his grace and patience with me, as I work through my sin that I started to understand it is about love! The love of the father for his children, that the fog was lifted, and I started to see things clearer.

Don’t get caught up in the fine print and miss the bigger picture!

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^[1] Tehan, T., & Abernathy, D. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of the Sermon on the Mount (2nd ed., p. 40). Dallas, TX: SIL International.

^[2] Tehan, T., & Abernathy, D. (2008). An Exegetical Summary of the Sermon on the Mount (2nd ed., p. 41). Dallas, TX: SIL International.

Sermon Notes 2-11-2018

Matthew (13)

This Little Light of Mine!

Matthew 5:14–16 (NLT)

¹⁴“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

¹⁵No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.

¹⁶In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Jesus again uses a metaphor to tells us who and what we are supposed to be! Last week it was salt, and salt can be painful and cleansing, bitter and hard to swallow. So, Jesus gives the second part of our mission, the softer side of our mission. To be the light!

Light can be used for a lot of things!

·      It heals

·      It guides

·      It exposes

·      It warms

·      It allows us to see

o   There is no darkness

o   Darkness is simply a void of light

·      It boosts our mood

o   It can set the mood

o   Bright light gets us excited

o   Low light calms us

Dark is the opposite

·      It hides things

·      We can’t see where we are going

·      When the sun goes down it gets colder

·      It can be devastating to the mind

o   Light depravation is used in torture

·      We get scared when we can’t see

o   We avoid dark places

·      It can be harmful!

Light is a big part of our world

·      Today we view light as a necessity of life

·      Light brings everyone hope

o   When you travel the streets a light for safety

o   And we see the lights of the city and feel safe

·      We all carry flashlights

·      And I don’t think any of us could survive without the life giving power of light

Biblically

Light is used to symbolize God, faith or holiness throughout scripture. 

Psalm 119:105 (NLT)

¹⁰⁵Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

Psalm 119:130 (NLT)

¹³⁰The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand.

Light is used to explain who God is

1 John 1:5–7 (NLT)

⁵This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.

⁶So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.

⁷But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

James 1:17 (ESV)

¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Revelation 21:23 (ESV)

²³And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

·      It’s no wonder why Jesus uses light to explain what we are to be to a lost world

·      We are all created to be image bearers of God, and if God character is light

·      We also are to be light in the hearts of man

Now to Jesus text, and I want to break it down in to three parts

1. for there to be light it has to be lit

2. once lit, it has to be placed in the right place

3. and it has to keep shinning, to keep the dark at bay

1. And for there to be light in has to be turned on!

¹⁴“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

·      Your light only comes from one place!

Genesis 1:2–4 (ESV)

²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

⁴And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

·      God is the only one that can give light!

·      But he expects you to carry the light and share it

·      So, if you have the light of God, it’s our obligation to share it

The world is a darkl place in need of light!

Proverbs 4:19 (NLT)

¹⁹But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.

·      Sin has created darkness

o   In every person on this earth

·      The un saved are walking around in darkness

o   Stumbling around

·      What happens to you when you are stumbling around for too long

o   You get frustrated

o   You get anxious

o   You get hurt

o   You feel lost

·      And that is what everyone living in the dark feels like!

So it’s your Job to share you light!

·      God has given you a wonderful gift

·      The gift of light

·      Of hope

·      Of understanding

·      Of humility

·      And it’s your job to keep it lit and stoke the fire!

·      So others might just receive the same gift of light that God gave you!

2. Where to you place a light?

¹⁵No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.

·      Where do you place a light in your house?

·      I put mine where I get the most benefit from it

·      I don’t put it in the cabinet

·      I put it where all the light shines where I need it!

You are Gods lamp!

·      You are a lamp

·      God gave you a light

·      And God will place you where it can be best utilized

·      How many people complain about their job

o   Their family

o   Their friends

·      Asking why me God

o   Why here

o   Why now

o   Probably because he needs your light to shine

·      Stop hiding your light!

o   Be the light God calls you to be where ever you are

o   Stop hiding your faith

o   Stop conforming to the world

·      You don’t have to say anything just shine!

3. this little light of mine! I’m going to let it shine!

¹⁶In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Our light should be:

•       Reflective

o   Jesus’s light should bounce off you like a bullet off of Superman’s chest

o   we should live our lives, so Gods light is reflected to all we come in contact with

•       Seen and Recognizable

o   You light should be seen by all who knows you

o   People should know you’re a child of God

o   Even if people reject it we have to make our light visible to all

o   Sometimes like cock roaches when you shine the light people may run

o   Is there any person you know that if they found out you were a Christian would be surprised?

It's not about making people uncomfortable

•       Jesus did not go around beating people up

•       He showed grace

•       He showed mercy

•       He showed people there was a different way

•       He loved people and hurt for them

•       He died for us all

•       Do talk them to death! Let your light shine in your actions!

Close!

Light always wins!

Charles Spurgeon:

The darkness, though it does not understand or love the light, is nevertheless compelled to yield to it; for the battle between light and darkness is short and decisive. Up to the measure of the light is the measure of its conquest. Though only a few beams should irradiate the eastern sky, yet so far the arrows of the sun have pierced the heart of the night; and as that light shall glow into high noon all trace of darkness must fly before it. Beloved, if God has given light to us, he has put within us a principle that shall go forth conquering and to conquer. Let the darkness be as dense as that which plagued the Egyptians, yet must it yield to light. A conflict is to be expected, but a conquest is guaranteed.^[1]

·      For light to win it just has to be turned on

·      There are still dark places

·      But where you place your light it will shine

·      Jesus wants us to be salt

o   To spread the gospel

o   To preserve and disinfect

·      But he wants us to do it with the warmth and security that light offers

·      Our actions

·      The way we live our daily lives will impact so many if we just turn the light on

·      What you say doesn’t matter if you don’t have the actions to go with it!

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^[1] Spurgeon, C. H. (1881). The Candle. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 27, p. 219). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

Sermon Notes 2-4-2018

The Sermon on the Mount! (12)

Are you Salty

Matthew 5:13 (ESV)

¹³“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

So, this is one of those things that Jesus say’s that is very cryptic and that can go any a lot of different directions. Because of that it can go in a multitude of ways. I have heard this preached and interpreted a lot of ways, and Today I really want to talk about Salt and the many different things that it is and break down the meaning behind the example that Jesus gave us comparing our lives and how we live it out to salt!

So, what is Salt? 

·      Preserves

·      Seasons

·      Seals Covenants

·      Salt Cleans

·      Salt Creates Thirst

Salt has many different uses, and that’s what makes this so confusing. What aspect of salt was Jesus talking about? in my opinion he was talking about it all! Our lives need to be a balance on several fronts if we are to be effective!

Salt seals covenants!

Numbers 18:19 (ESV)

¹⁹All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.”

2 Chronicles 13:5 (ESV)

⁵Ought you not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?

In the ancient world, ingesting salt was a way to make an agreement legally binding. If two parties entered into an agreement, they would eat salt together in the presence of witnesses, and that act would bind their contract.

The Old Testament Law commands the use of salt in all meat offerings and makes clear that the “salt of the covenant” should not be missing from the meat offerings (Leviticus 2:13).

The idea of a salt covenant carries a great deal of meaning because of the value of salt. Today, salt is easy to come by in our culture, and we don’t necessarily need it as a preservative because of refrigeration. But to the people of Jesus’ day, salt was an important and precious commodity. So, when Jesus told His disciples that they were “the salt of the earth,” He meant that believers have value in this world and are to have a preserving influence (Matthew 5:13).

The salt covenant is never explicitly defined in the Bible, but we can infer from the understanding of salt’s value and the contexts in which a salt covenant is mentioned that it has much to do with the keeping of promises and with God’s good will toward man.

Salt cleans and purifies 

As a Cleaner

·      Clean sink drains.

·      Remove water rings.

·      Clean greasy pans.

·      Clean stained cups.

·      Clean refrigerators

·      Clean brass or copper.

·      Clean rust.

·      Clean a glass coffee pot.

·      Attack wine spills.

Around the house

·      Brighten colors.

·      Remove perspiration stains.

·      Remove blood stains.

·      Tackle mildew or rust stains.

·      Clean a gunky iron bottom.

·      Extinguish grease fires.

·      Kill poison ivy.

Personal Care 

·      Extend toothbrush life.

·      Clean teeth.

·      Rinse your mouth.

·      Ease mouth problems.

·      Relieve bee sting pain.

·      Treat mosquito bites.

·      Treat poison ivy.

·      Have an exfoliating massage.

·      Ease throat pain.

More importantly Salt cleans wounds!

·      Salt kills bad bacteria

·      It acts as a scrub to clean the infected area

·      And prevents the would from becoming infected

So, the moral of the story

·      Jesus wants his people to be a high level of concentration to stop the wounds of the world

·      To be a multi-use product

·      Not one sided

·      And to be a help to the people of the world

·      Followers of Jesus should be like salt and have many useful properties

·      Salt was treated like Gold, and sometimes more valuable

·      To be the salt of the world means we will wear many hats to bring light to a dark world

Salt is a preservative 

·      This doesn’t mean as much to us in the day of refrigerators and processed food, but Twinkies that can withstand a nuclear blast haven’t always existed.

·      When Jesus preached this sermon the first time, people used salt to help preserve their food. Salt kept the food from going bad and enabling it to last longer.

·      When Christians exert their influence in everyday situations they keep the world from going further bad than it already is.

·      Make no mistake – judgment is coming. The fact that the sun rose this morning isn’t evidence of God’s apathy; it’s evidence of His patience.

·      Sin and evil continue not because God doesn’t care but because He, in His love and mercy, desires men and women from every part of the world to come to know Him.

·      In the meantime, though, Christians help preserve the world and culture they live inside of.

·      They display integrity, goodness, and honesty, and as they do, they hold up a society whose trajectory is headed lower and lower.

·      Salt keeps things from going bad, spoiling

·      And this world is spoiling

·      It’s our Job to keep the balance

•       Followers of Christ are the only thing keeping the world from total destruction

•       Gods People—even as minority—serve as a preservative in the world, for a little bit of salt goes a long way.

Salt Seasons 

Salt is a tricky seasoning! Too little and food taste bland, too much and it over powers everything making it taste bitter, but just the right amount and it makes food taste amazing! And everyone has a different taste buds and the perfect amount is different for everyone!

Too little! 

·      When there is not enough salt, things taste bland

·      We rarely go back for seconds

·      And it’s just not appealing

·      The gospel is no different

·      When we are not salty enough people don’t get excited

·      They are not offended, but don’t see the benefits

We are not salty enough when we:

·      Sometimes when our lives don’t match our words

·      Or we complain about our church

·      We gossip

·      We just don’t live out what we believe

·      We are not salty enough

A chef is constantly tasting his dish to check the saltiness of his dish, we can check our saltiness by constantly looking in the mirror and looking at how we are living out our faith!

Too Much Salt 

·      Salt can quickly ruin a dish

·      Too much salt makes us just not want to eat it at all

·      Salt is a powerful tool in the right hands

·      But can be devastating if over used

·      A pinch here and a pinch there can make all the difference in the world

·      Christian’s as well can be too salty sometimes

·      A pastor I admire called them “over saved”

·      The thing that came to mind was this 

·      Being overzealous with unbelievers can be too salty

·      We can always add too, it’s hard to take away

·      We season the world best through our actions, living out the Gospel

·      And sharing Jesus without over powering this with judgement and rules!

When Christians exert their influence in the world, we season the world with the gospel. Throughout history, we see how this has happened as followers of Jesus have contributed to the overall good of the world. Amazingly, God has used His people to extend His love to the world, and not just through sharing the gospel. In fact, most of the major social innovations the modern world has known have come as a result of the work those who love and follow Jesus. Health care, education, and most other social programs are the result of Christians seasoning the environment they live in with their influence. God is even today loving the world through the work of Christians as they season it.

The right amount of salt makes you thirsty for more! 

·      Think about the last time you ate something that was well seasoned and it made you thirsty. Along with enjoying the dish, you probably needed your glass refilled several times.

·      That’s because salt makes you crave water to quench your thirst.

·      Whether the world knows it or not, it is thirsty for something more. Something lasting. Something eternal.

·      When Christians exert their influence and display what they have found to be uniquely satisfying, it salts the palette of everyone else.

·      Suddenly, their thirst is more acute; they are more aware of something missing in their lives.

·      When people see the way Christ-followers react to trouble, hardship and difficulty as well as prosperity, the difference in what they have in Christ rises to the surface.

·      And it makes people thirsty.

·      Christians in turn are ready to show them the way to Jesus, the fountain of life that never runs dry.