How many of you know that we're a busy place around here? And that's a good thing, don't you think? How many of you want to be in boring church, in do nothing church, and come out for an hour on Sunday and hold your coffee while the worship team puts on a show, church? That's not the sort of church that we're interested in having around here. I hope that's not the sort of church you're looking for. Oh, come on. Nothing against coffee. I love coffee, right? But I like to remove as many distractions as possible when it's time to worship God. And I don't say this really to criticize, but I just really do struggle when I walk into a place and I see every hand on a cup and not hands lifted to the Lord. And no, you know, nobody jumping up and down because I don't know, you might spill, it might stain, might do something. Let's just be free, like we sang about this morning to worship God. Are we free to worship God this morning? Come on. Well, we're gonna get into the word of God. Let's open our Bibles to Matthew's gospel and chapter four. And I love Matthew's gospel. I come back to it again and again. I mean, we should all be coming back again and again to all of these wonderful parts of the Bible. But I suppose I come back to Matthew again and again because it's where we get the first gospel account, right? The first story of Jesus. And it spells it out in such a beautiful, just amazing way. And I don't know, I love Matthew for a lot of reasons. And we're gonna jump right in after Jesus' baptism. And the reason I'm doing that is because I will not get out of the baptism story if I allow myself to go there, okay? But just for context, remember for a moment that Jesus just came up out of the Jordan, right? He was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. He's recognized by John, the first prophet of God in 400 years, as the Messiah. And more importantly than being recognized by John, who had a great following, right? All sorts of people from all sorts of different backgrounds were going out to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But more importantly than John's recognition of Jesus is God's recognition of Jesus. Amen. Because God himself opened heaven over Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and he said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. And then we know the story. He goes up out of the from the river Jordan and he goes into the wilderness, led of the Holy Spirit, and there he fasts, he prays, he's alone with God for 40 days, 40 nights, and surprise, surprise, he gets hungry, right? I've said it before, but 40 days and you're hungry? Hmm, 40 minutes and I'm hungry, right? It's like breakfast is gone. What's for lunch? I'll leave that. But how many of you know that he fought a battle in the wilderness with the devil and he was victorious? He was victorious because he chose to obey his father, he chose to be armed with the word of God, he chose to remain on his mission, his mandate, and not cave to the temptations that the enemy sent his way. And he comes out of the wilderness empowered. I love that. Empowered to begin this ministry that God had sent him on earth to carry out. So he comes out of the wilderness and it says Matthew chapter 4 and verse 17 from that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Everything is about to change. So you need to change too. That's what repent means, right? Repent isn't just something that you do at a church altar with tears in your eyes. It's not just something you do with great emotion and sorrow and grief of heart, although it often looks like that. Repentance is everything I realize that reality is about to change, or it's very different than how I've been living. Now I need to change to accommodate what God is doing. I need to change my mind, I need to change my attitudes, I need to change my day-to-day activities because Jesus has arrived. Church, do we live like Jesus has arrived? I know we're supposed to live like Jesus is coming back, but here in the middle of his first coming and his second coming, sometimes it's like we're living like he didn't come at all. Right? We're living like we can just plug into culture, we can plug into normal Canadian standards, we can plug into the way the world thinks, acts, believes, and just kind of tack Jesus onto that. But Jesus is more than an add-on, Jesus is more than something we do and talk about on Sunday morning. Jesus came to change the world, and that change starts with those who believe and follow him by faith. Come on, and that's why I love how Matthew starts this story. Of course, we skipped the Christmas story, we skipped all of that, but here's where the ministry starts. Repent, change, turn around, get a grip on what is happening, lay hold of it, and buckle in for a ride, amen. You're not running this show, you're not holding the steering wheel. I am, Jesus says. Now follow me. And so what do we see immediately after Jesus gives us this condensed tagline, this understanding of what the gospel is all about. Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He shows us what that looks like for the people of Israel, for those who are hearing it for the first time. In Matthew chapter 4, just down in verse 18, it says, He was walking by the Sea of Galilee, and he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Now we're probably familiar with this story, right? And you know, some of us have maybe the chosen version of it stuck in our head, that new series. New, it's already been out quite a while now. But what is the Bible saying here? Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and then he comes. What does repentance look like? It looks like Jesus walking up to you in your day-to-day life, and he says, I am going to follow, first of all, follow me. In other words, I get to decide where this thing is going, as we already said. But he's also saying that I am going to make you into something. How many of you know that God doesn't just come and wash away your sins so that you can go to heaven when you die? Thank God for that. Thank God. And you know, that is the gospel, and it's wonderful, and that gospel needs to be preached. We are sinners in in who need forgiveness from a God who is righteous, who is holy. And if we don't find that forgiveness of our sins, our eternity is not heading where we want it to go. How many of you know the Bible talks about weeping and gnashing of teeth? Outer darkness, flames that don't be quenched. Come on, that's still in your Bible, isn't it? I know we don't like to talk about those things, but Jesus says, Follow me. Don't follow your own desires, don't follow your own ideas, don't follow your culture, don't follow your preconceived religious ideas. Follow me. When's the last time you stopped and asked yourself, am I really following Jesus? He's alive, he's a person, he's Lord, he's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Are we following him or are we just following any other thing? And he says, I will make you, I love that. I will make you into something you are not, something that you can't make yourself to be. But I also love that when he speaks to these guys who are fishermen, that they're born and raised, I'm assuming, doing these things, Jewish fathers, you know, as most of history, what you were introduced to your father's trade, you learned the ropes, literally, in this case, you know, fishermen, ropes, nets, all of that. And that's what you're born and bred to do. And I love that he says, follow me. I'm gonna make you into something. But you notice right there, he takes what you already are and he begins to redefine it. Because, you know, we are supposed to die to ourselves, we are supposed to, you know, sacrifice and lay our lives down, but there's also a part of God who I've made you to be this person that you are, but I've made you to be more. I get to redefine, I get to tweak, I get to show you that maybe the things that you know by my grace you you you were born into, I'm gonna use you in a unique and special way. He takes fishermen and he says, I will make you fishers of men. And we know obviously they're gonna go out and win so many people to Jesus. Amen. This is Peter and Andrew were talking about. And if you don't know about Peter and Andrew, they're amazing men of God. They both died for their faith, they both stood their ground until the end. They took the gospel through what was then the known world, amazing servants of God. But I look across this room, and I was here Thursday night in prayer, and it was like this was resounding in my heart, the idea that God would take what we already are and transform it into something for his kingdom. Because how many of you know that when God calls you, when Jesus steps into your life, most of us can't just literally drop everything we're doing and like, I mean, Jesus isn't physically there, we're not walking after him in that sense. It's now Jesus is coming into the life that we live, but it transforms why we live the way we live. It transforms our relationships, it transforms our activities, it transforms who we are. And you know, I was thinking about, you know, we're such a blessed church, so many professionals and people that are just in different areas in the workforce, and I thought about, you know, what would Jesus say if he said, follow me to an engineer, or follow me to an architect, or follow me to a builder, or follow me to, you know, any number of people. It's like just think about what you do in your day-to-day life and ask yourself: has that thing that I do that I devote so much of my time, my energy, you know, it's gotta be more than just a paycheck. It's gotta be just more than putting food on the table, as important as that is. And I'm not preaching this to you this morning to get you, you know, so spiritually minded that you can't be satisfied in what you do. Because a lot of people get caught up in that, right? It's like I've gotta, you know, make something happen. No, Jesus is saying, right there, right where you are, I'm gonna take who you are and what you do, but I'm gonna give it a whole new angle and a whole new life. God is interested in making all things new. Amen. We're in the middle of a story where you know, we go back to the book of Genesis. God creates a beautiful world, a world full of things that we would enjoy, but also a world that is set up for us to go out and take dominion and multiply and to partner with God to bring his presence and his life to the earth. But we know the story that we we lost sight of God's purposes, we sin, we fall short, and and you know it gets rebooted with Jesus. Amen. Jesus comes and he says, the kingdom that the prophet spoke about, it's here, it's breaking in, it's happening. You guys. Maybe you've heard this one too many times. I don't know. Maybe you're just trying to wrap your head around what I'm even saying this morning. But Jesus changed everything. Jesus changed everything. Jesus did not come just to start a religion. Jesus came to change the world, to change everything. The creator of the universe took on flesh, stepped down into human history, walked among us, taught us. You know, he lived with us, he hungered with us, he was tired with us, he lived with us as a man, he died for us, he rose from the dead for us, he entered into our story, amen. He changed everything. We struggle because a lot of the stuff around us still looks the same. The moment that Peter and Andrew were called, they recognized something about Jesus, something that he was offering them, something that he was beginning that was sufficient for them to leave behind what they were doing. I love this in verse 20. This is the repentance, this is the turning, this is the changing of mind and everything in their life. Verse 20, immediately, say immediately, they left their nets and followed him. How many of you know that we are robbed of so much in God because we postpone what God wants to do now? We tell ourselves that we believe what we, you know, amen, hallelujah, I believe that, but we put it off into the future instead of saying, Jesus is speaking it, I'm taking it in the present tense, I'm going and stepping into this now. Now that's a bit ironic because it seems like over the last month or so we've had a lot of messages around here about patience, about you know, what do we do when there's delay? Well, how many of you know sometimes we do have to navigate those things? And we need to be humble and to submit to the Lord. He's the Lord, he's gonna bring things to pass. But at the same time, as far as I am concerned, I'm not the one who is gonna bring the delay. Does that make sense? We spoke about what do we do when there's delays? You know, we've believed for things, we stepped out for things, we haven't yet seen them come to pass. Don't assume that that means that God never wants to do it, that it's a denial. But at the same time, what if God is asking us to do things? Come on, we're over here asking God to do things and we're struggling with why it's not happening. Now imagine God. We struggle because we can't get God to do what we want. And he, the creator of the universe, has been echoing through thousands of years of history. I'm asking you to do some stuff, church. And the church sits there delaying. There's there's a whole flip side to that, amen. We aren't supposed to be the ones delaying, we're supposed to be the ones that stand up to attention. Yes, Lord, here I am. Send me, come on, immediately. Immediately. You know, we don't live in a context of lords and great houses and kings and all of these things, but I know enough about how the world ran for most of history to know if the king walks in the room and tells you to do something, you don't be like, Yeah, I'll get to that. You know, that's great. Um, as soon as I'm done, X, Y, Z, and by the time I get to Z, I've forgotten, I'm tired, it's not really happening. But by the way, I love you, King. By the way, I honor you, King. By the way, you hear what I'm saying? Immediately, immediately, we could use a little bit more immediately in our following of Jesus. A little more spring in our step, a little more zeal, a little more just jumping into what God wants to do. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Follow me, and I will make you put your name in there, right? I will make you builders. I will make you architects, I will make you whatever it is. God wants to grow things through you, He wants to build things through you. He wants to, you know, I was I don't know why I was stuck on this idea Thursday night in prayer about builders and architects and things like that. It's really, you know, we're so used to, okay, we're standing in this building. How many of you know that at one time this building was just an invisible thought in somebody's head? Isn't that really amazing when you stop to think about it for a moment? It's like this was a wheat field with a slough in the corner. Like there was nothing here, it's just stuff growing. And somebody took a look at this and they said, that could go there, that could go there, and they put shape and design to it, and then that design was passed over to, you know, the contractors, and they had the understanding to know how to turn those lines on a piece of paper into a three-dimensional building, and to do all of these things. How many of you know that that's kind of what it looks like in the kingdom of God? God is trying to bring invisible things into our physical reality, and he uses people, he calls people, and he says, you know, architect, I am going to make you build communities, homes, churches. You know, again, you think about this. This was wilderness, roaming, buffalo, all of that stuff, but now there's society, there's your roadways, there's all of these things, these structures, because somebody had a picture of something in their mind that was more than just fields and buffalo. And I mean, there were people here too. I'm not trying to. But you you hear the image I'm I'm referring to. Immediately. It's another thing for us to be dragging our heels and to delay God's process. Verse 20. Again. Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there, they saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebdi, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebdi their father, mending their nets, and he called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. And this is where things really kick off in the story, right? And notice that before Jesus goes out and attracts a crowd, begins to, you know, gather multitudes to preach messages, to teach, to do all of these things, he's looking for people that he can change, he can make into something that they are not. Amen. So just think about that church. As great as it is to fill this building, and we believe that there will be a day that this building won't even be enough for the people that God will draw to this place because he's drawing them to himself. Amen. How many of you know that the harvest is ripe? That word is not being retracted by Jesus. Do you believe that there's a harvest to be won? Amen. Come on. But before he goes and he attracts a crowd, he gathers people to proclaim this gospel message to the masses. He finds people he can make into something. Do you want to be made into something you are not? Do you want to be used for something bigger than you already are? Do you want Jesus to step into whatever it is, your profession, your sphere of influence, your workplace, and to use it for his glory? I do. Obviously, I do. Kind of my line of work. But I hope that we realize it's not something that ends at the pulpit or at the entryway of a church. It's something that's supposed to change the world. The world. Continuing on, he goes through all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. That's gonna get some attention, right? Sickness, disease. These are oppressed people, poor people, people that are downtrodden. And Jesus steps in. You know, he didn't come to rub shoulders with the high and lofty, those who had it supposedly all together. He comes down, humbles himself, lives among the poor and the outcast, the sick and diseased, the demon-oppressed, to bring life, freedom, hope. And we are supposed to be Jesus out there in the world. Amen. Amen. We are not on earth to get comfortable. You'll have plenty of time to be comfortable in eternity in the presence of God. Where there are no tears, where there is no pain, where there are none of those things, down here we've been given an assignment, a mandate to go and make disciples, to go and preach the gospel, to go and heal the sick, to go and cast out demons, to go and change society for the glory of God, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, healing every disease, every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria. I find that ironic. Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, it doesn't say, and his fame spread throughout all Jerusalem. I mean, people from Jerusalem did follow him as well. Isn't it interesting that his fame spread outside of the religious crowd first? That in itself should tell us something and should humble us and get us on our faces before God. That why is it that those who are often on the outside have not yet entered into the things of God can recognize the change that Jesus brings more easily than we can? Syria, these are Gentiles, non-Jews, pagans, idol worshippers, they're being attracted to Jesus. It does continue after that, though. It says they brought to him all those sick, all those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, and having those having seizures, paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. Jesus is still healing the sick. Jesus is still bringing freedom to those who are struggling in the clutches of the enemy. Amen. There is freedom. There is freedom for everyone in Jesus. No one is beyond hope. No one is beyond reaching. No one is beyond the power of God. No one is beyond. We write people off. I have seen it again and again and again that the people that maybe my limited mind would write off. No, not them. God has a tendency to exalt the humble. Amen. Where am I going with all of this? I'm really just setting us up for an encounter with Jesus up on a mountain where he begins to show us what it looks like now that the world is changing. What does it look like to follow me? You know, if you hang around this church for very long and my preaching, you're gonna find yourself in the Sermon on the Mount again and again. Because I feel like some people, myself included, we have a tendency to run past these foundational teachings of Jesus. We forget so easily. How many of you know it like when it comes to spiritual things and discipleship, sometimes it feels like we're two steps ahead, one step back. Right? We're moving forward, we're learning, but we're forgetting, we're unlearning. We need to come back again and again. And I've set this up for you today to simply remind you that as people are drawn to Jesus, it says in Matthew 5, verse 1, seeing the crowds, these are those who are seeing the healings, those who are being set free. He goes up on a mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. In other words, we need to not just have an initial response to Jesus and be part of that crowd, but we need to draw near to the feet of Jesus so that he can disciple us. Amen. The Great Commission talks about making disciples, not about making religious converts. It's great that you carry the label Christian. What's your religion? Christian. But again, I don't think people in the first century really even thought in those terms like religion is a category of my life that I can put a little label on. First century was following Jesus. Lord. It's following Jesus. What does that mean? It means he gets to determine everything about your life. You guys are crying. I suppose that's okay too. He opened his mouth and he taught them these beautiful words that are so hard to really grasp. Because they're so contrary to everything that the world programs us to think, do, act, attitude, everything. Because Jesus redefines what it means, what the good life is, you could put it that way. What it means to be blessed. And you know, we're funny as Christians, and don't get me wrong, we're supposed to be grateful to God for our blessings, but sometimes we can be so focused on the exact same things that the world looks for, yearns for, works for, and call that the blessed life. And Jesus came to redefine all of those things. You know what I mean? Don't get me wrong. If you get a new house, a new car, you go on holidays, you you know, you got a bonus at work, a raise at work, those are blessings. But those are the same things that everybody in the world is looking for. And how many of you know that Christianity is not just empowering you to get what you always wanted? Come on. That's not following Jesus, that's getting Jesus to empower what you want. Matthew chapter 5, verse 2. He opened his mouth and he taught them. He said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is not having a magic lamp to rub and get three wishes and all your dreams come true. Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Looks like redefining what your life is all about. Follow me, and I will make you into something you're not. But that will start by changing what you love, what you desire, what you're really after. Like, I don't know about you, but in my definition of the blessed life, I do not find poverty of any kind. I think of riches. I don't think about mourning, sadness, and grief. I think about joy and rejoicing and you know a good time. I don't think about humility, meekness, lowliness. I think about exaltation and glory and honor. I don't know about you, but when I think about the blessed life, I do not think about being hungry. The blessed life is a full fridge, full pantry, and a personal chef. That's the blessed life, right? Like the blessed life is I just wake up in the morning and somebody else has already got something smoking, you know, in the smoker or something like that. I didn't have to wake up early. I'm just gonna have a juicy something by noontime. You know, that's our definition of the blessed life. Not hunger, not thirst of any kind. And again, mercy, if we're being really honest, we don't even think of the blessed life of having to forgive anybody of anything. The blessed life is everybody gives me what's coming to me. And God steps in and vindicates me for everything. And Jesus says the blessed life is you adopting and getting a new heart that can forgive, that can be merciful, that can let go, that can be reconciled to your brother. Come on. Blessing. I mean, this one sounds good and spiritual. Blessed are the pure in heart. But I mean, if all of our desires are on all of those sorts of things that we talked about, not that any of, well, most of them, food's not wrong in and of itself, right? Rejoicing's a good thing, but you see what I'm saying? Jesus comes and he flips the world right side up. And he shows us that we are not supposed to just live this life seeking what everyone else seeks, right? And we can see that later in this very same sermon in chapter six. He says, Those are the things that the pagans, the Gentiles are after: clothes and houses and money and all of the rest. You follow me. Get a change of heart. And just as before we continue on any further, I want to show you 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Another scripture you're gonna hear from me. And I heard a lot as a young Christian, and it rightfully stuck with me. I hope it sticks with you as well. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 shows us what we were talking about earlier, that Jesus came to change everything. He came to change the world. We're between Eden and the new heavens and earth, of Jerusalem, right? Jesus steps in, the kingdom is arriving here. Sure, it didn't come, you know, as a glorious city in a cloud descending at that very moment. But what does Jesus change first? And this is something that we probably know, but it's helped me to think about it this way. We want God to take us as we are and put us into this new glorious world. You know what I'm saying? Jesus, come back, wipe away the tears, heal all the pain, do all of those things that the prophets talk about, you know, the riches and glory and majesty and you know, prosperity and all of the rest. And Jesus, he begins to change the world by changing people. He doesn't take you as you are into this perfect world, he begins to change you from the inside so you can change the world. Now, am I saying that we're just gonna make the kingdom happen? No. The kingdom is always coming, amen. The kingdom will come when Jesus returns in glory. But when he decided to begin to change the world, he began to change me. He began to change you. He began by changing Peter and Andrew and James and John and by calling disciples to themself and saying, redefine your life, guys. Stop chasing everything the world chases and start following me. So it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 16, From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Do not use worldly standards to define yourself, your family. Wow. My voice. Do not use worldly standards, your own standards, to define anyone. Paul says in other places, we no longer consider anyone according to the flesh, right? He begins to do something new here. We regard no one according to the flesh, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, how many of us are in Christ? I'm not just talking about Christian, tick off that box on your sent on your census, right? Christian, as in I know Jesus. I've asked for his forgiveness, I've invited him into my life. My sins have been washed away. My his spirit has come to live on the inside of me. I am in Christ. In Christ, in Christ. Everything that we have that is of any value is because of what we are and who we are and what we have in Christ. Everything else is just passing things of this world. What we have, who we are in Christ is our eternal realities. Amen. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All of this is from God, who through Christ is reconciling to himself. He's reconciled us to himself and given us this ministry of reconciliation. That sounds like people who call themselves blessed when they're merciful. That sounds like people who call themselves blessed when they're peacemakers. That sounds like the sort of people that Jesus was calling his disciples to be on the Sermon on the Mount. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. When God began to change the world, to bring the kingdom, he brought it to people. He didn't change the environment. He didn't change, you know, the trees and the river and the animals. He changed human hearts by forgiving their sins and by giving them a new reason to live in the life in the presence of God. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. You need to hear that, church. You are new. You might feel old, you might feel tired, you might feel the same old, same old. That's probably because you're looking at the natural. Look to the inside, look to Christ, look to the things that are eternal, and you'll realize that there's newness, there's life, there's kingdom surging forward. Jesus says that the Spirit of God will be in you, will be like a river of life flowing out of you. Sure, one day there'll be a glorious Jerusalem and a river running out, but there's a river running out of you now. You already are the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. In other words, the things that you're hoping that God would just come and do. God's saying, look inside, I'm already doing it. But where's the immediately? Where's the leaving and following? Where's the let Jesus make me into something that I'm not? And that wasn't just for new believers, for a conversion experience. It's a constant transformation. And I've got news for you. Repentance isn't just something you do to become a Christian. Repentance is something you live every day. Repentance is something that you say, not my will, but yours be done. You know, when you look at the Sermon on the Mount, the heart of the Sermon on the Mount is the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And again, there's so much we could unpack there. And we'll probably come back to the Sermon on the Mount next week. Jesus could preach it all at once, I guess. I'm not so talented. I just stand in awe of what Jesus began to do. But I stand in humility saying, Lord, continue to work in me. You know, when I just look at chapter 5, and there's chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew are dealing with this beautiful message that Jesus kick starts his ministry and this kingdom breaking in reality that was happening. He starts by redefining everything that we value. Will we allow God to redefine what is truly valuable in our lives? Will we choose to value what God values? Or will we use God as a means to an end? God bless me, bless my plans, bless my. Don't get me wrong. He will bless you. But it starts with seek first the kingdom of God. He says in Matthew chapter 5, verse 13 and 14, you are the salt of the earth. You're the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, oh my. I almost said aye aye. Is it okay if I just start doing that in this church? You guys understand what I'm talking about? That's just a carry-forward from my missions experience. I love it too much. If you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, then how shall its saltiness be restored? It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. That is how good a lot of our religiosity is. Amen. And I'll just share this. I love this. I studied this many years ago and it always stuck with me. But uh, you know, I love to look at the background and the context. It's like salt losing its saltiness. Is that even a thing? Like, have you ever had salt on the shelf so long that it's not salty anymore? Like it's kind of a hard, like I've always got to wrestle with that. What's going on? But apparently, apparently this was a question because we actually have records of other disciples asking another Jewish rabbi a similar question. They were asking the rabbi, you know, rabbi, how can salt's saltiness be restored? If we have salt and there's no flavor in it, there's no saltiness in it, how can we restore the flavor? I don't know what was the deal with salt, but hey. And so the rabbi, in typical Jewish fashion, answers a question with a question. And so he says, or maybe it wasn't a question. I'm trying to remember this clearly, but he says something to the effect of that you can restore the saltiness to salt with the afterbirth of a mule. And um, okay, that's interesting, colorful. Um now, hopefully I'm getting this story right, but uh how many of you know enough about what a mule is to understand what was being said there? How many of you grew up on the farm around animals? You mix a donkey and a horse, and you get a mule. Right? But typically speaking, mules cannot reproduce. You always have to take another donkey and another horse to get another mule. In other words, how do you even get the afterbirth of a mule? You can't. So this rabbi in beautiful poetic fashion is looking his disciples in the eyes and he says, you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. Right? So the whole point here, the whole point is real salt cannot lose its saltiness, right? But it's an image of how we can lose the essence of who we are. And he says in verse 14, you are the light of the world. And I say it with all that's in me. You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world, because church, this is our DNA. If we allow him to make us into what he wants us to make us into, if we allow him to redefine our priorities and our values, we are not supposed to be a hidden, secret, unoffensive, never raising any concern. You know, look at both of these things. Salt and life get our attention. You can't hide them. You put salt in food, you know right away. You turn a light on, there's no denying what's going on. A lot of people want their Christianity to be something little off in a corner that nobody knows about. Your following Christ should be the most conspicuous thing about you. It should be noticeable. You should walk around, and people will be like, what is with this person? A city set on a hill. I I need an interpretation on that. We live in Saskatchewan. What's a hill? The top of the valley, yeah, that's about as close as we get. Or go down to Blackstrap and we made one, right? It's like we found out there are hills in other provinces, so we made one. Still petitioning to get mountains made, too, but uh city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. Church. I don't mean this in any weird way, in any self-centered way, but are we ready and willing to attract attention? Because if you're unwilling to attract attention to who Jesus is and what he's done in you, then I have to wonder: are we losing our saltiness? And are we covering our life? Let's stand to our feet and you can come up. Thank you, Lord. This is how the gospel starts, people. Think about that for a moment. The gospel starts with Jesus calling people like you and me. We jump right to the end to the cross. And the cross is where it's all headed, and the empty tomb. But it starts with us. And whether or not we will repent, we will change, we will turn, and we will follow with all that we are, the one that we call King, the one that we call Lord. Today, in the name of Jesus, we pray that we would truly be the salt, we would truly be the light, we would truly call ourselves blessed when our heart is set on the things of the kingdom more than the things of this world. Lord God, we ask you to come today and to redefine who we are, to make us into something that we are not and could never be in our own making. Lord God, I thank you for every man, woman, and child that this church represents and all the gifts, all the talents, all the training, all the education that we have, but we lay all of those things at your feet, Lord God. And just as you called Peter and Andrew and you said, You're fishermen, I'll make you fishers of men. We lay, Lord God, our careers, our professions, our skills, our identity, Lord God. We lay it down and we say, redefine who I am, redefine my life's work, redefine what's important, redefine, Lord God, what's worth living for. Because God, I don't want to get to the end of my life and just see it all disappear, burn away, Lord God, blow away like chaff. I want, Lord God, to stand before you as a humble, grateful child with holy hands raised, saying, Lord, oh, as you made me day by day into something more, Lord God, I just give to you all the glory and honor. All the glory and honor. I want to lead you in prayer this morning for those who have not yet received Christ. Because this is the call, it was the call to the disciples, and it's the same call that goes out to you today. Follow me, and you don't have to be perfect, you don't have to have your life together, you just have to give me your life, you just have to give him your life, and then say this: just say, Lord Jesus, I love you, and I ask that you would forgive me of all my sins, wash me clean, make me new. I want to be in Christ. I believe that God raised you from the dead, and I confess that you are Lord. So be Lord of my life. Here I am. Do whatever you want to do today and every day. In Jesus' name. Amen. I just feel that we could take some time to seek the Lord together. These are reminders, they're things that say we need to let go. We need to make this purpose to step into things without delay. And maybe that's what you could come forward today to do is to just say, Lord, what have I been delaying that you're trying to accomplish in me through me? Lord God, yes, give me patience when delays are happening, but don't make me the cause of the delay, the things that you want to do. Let's just seek the Lord together this morning and take an attitude of submission and yielding before his presence and say, God, make me, make me today into something new. Make me reshape me, renew me, change my mind, change my priorities, change me, Lord God. Just seek him and allow his spirit to minister to our hearts and minds for a few minutes, and and then we'll pray for people this morning. And and I know that we always believe that God will heal. So if you need healing, I would encourage you even just to come over to this area over here.