The Church The Salt Shaker
There are people who desire to see New Testament do not want to live like the New
Testament Church.
Matthew 5 reveals that Jesus said in the beatitudes, we are to let our light shine that
they may see our good works and glorify our father who is in heaven.
14 Ye
are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither
do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and
it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven.
He goes further and says we are the salt of the earth but if the salt has lost its savor
it is good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the feet of man”.
13 Ye
are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith
shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to
be trodden under foot of men.
What does that mean? It means that the church is to be a salt-shaker releasing God’s
flavor into a tasteless world.
Are You Salt That Has Lost Its Flavor?
“In today’s world, the Church needs the qualities of salt
SALT IN THE SALTSHAKER IS OF NO VALUE

SALT PRESERVES

SALT PURIFIES

SALT PRODUCES THIRST

SALT ENHANCES, SEASONS, FLAVORS, PRESERVES AND HEALS
Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that
which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Let’s consider the effects of the salt when it is displaced?
Acts 8:1 And Saul approved of their killing him. The Church Persecuted and
Scattered On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in
Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and
Samaria.
2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.
3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off
both men and women and put them in prison.
4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
The “salt” was now leaving the “Jerusalem saltshaker” to be spread over all Judea
and Samaria, just as the Lord had commanded (Acts 1:8).
They tell how you, here is the true witness of the church, is that we are to be salt
wherever we go. Her influenced she would be experienced.
The Western Church struggles with this concept, because the church has become what
can you do for me, why am I here? What are we doing?
The Challenges for the Church

Technology has given us many choices

Consumerism

Illiteracy

The Demise of Doctrine
Church in the Book of Acts
I.
They understood the need for uniting
The church is a living organism!

an individual living thing

a system with many parts that depend on each other and work together
The place is not the building; the place is in the assembling. Wherever they gathered, it
was not a building or a location.

The Church is a living Organism, not a static institution

True Mission of Church in the first century, telling the story of Jesus to anyone
who would listen was essential.

The church was led by nonprofessional missionaries who traveled in teams

Christians did not set out to establish a form of organized religion

The church was more of movement than an organized institution.

The church happened wherever two or three Christians gathered together.
The purpose of the church was to model and proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God.
What is the Gospel?
The gospel is the Good News that God became man in Jesus Christ; He lived the life we
should have lived and died the death we should have died – In our Place. Three days later
he rose from the dead. Proving he is the Son of God and offering the Gift of salvation and
forgiveness of sins to anyone who repents and believes in him.
Acts 4:23-24, 31-33
II.
They understood the difference being in related and being in
relationship
Related:

Belonging to the same family.

Belonging to the same group because of shared characteristics, qualities, etc.
Relationship

The way two or more people, groups, countries, etc., talk to, behave toward, and
deal with each-other.

The way in which two or more people or things are connectedness.
III.
They understood the difference between meeting and
gathering
The early church had been doing ministry and when they came together it was to share
what God had one, it was to pray Acts 4, to encourage.
4:23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief
priests and elders had said unto them.
2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in
breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Church has become something that we merely participate in instead of a lifestyle we
actively live out every day and a core pillar of our being, the church is a place. In the
book of Acts it was where they met to get fueled up.
We need the wind because we need to be filled.
Wind sock on a flight line let us know which direction the wind is blowing.
The wind in the house was moving from every direction.
It came from heaven
We need the fire to sit upon us because we need to be consumed.
Upon their heads don't try to figure it out.
Not eloquent words but power of God
We need the tongues because we need a prayer language
We use our tongues for everything that is useless
The language when it speaks, it crosses culture, language,
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us
who are saved it is the power of God.
First they heard a sound from heaven
They saw cloven tongues of fire
They spoke in tongues