Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in transforming Christians into 'salty' individuals who reflect Christ's character and influence the world positively. He warns against the tendency to stray from God's path, drawing parallels with Israel's history of turning away from God after seasons of faithfulness. The sermon highlights the importance of living a life that preserves, penetrates, and flavors the world with a heavenly perspective, urging believers to embrace humility and surrender to God's will. Beach encourages the congregation to recognize their identity as both salt and light, living out their faith authentically and quietly, without seeking recognition. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper hunger for God's Word and a commitment to embodying the qualities of Christ in everyday life.

through your word Lord. Matthew chapter 5. Father, we thank you for the Holy Spirit. We thank you for the wonderful ministry of the Holy Spirit, who faithfully turns our eyes toward Jesus, who deals with our pride, who deals with our selfishness, who always tells us the truth about ourself, always bids us to take the place of a sinner, never leads us to make us look good, but always make our Savior look good, who always wrestles with us when we're unwilling to take the place of a sinner, when we want to look good in the eyes of others, when we avoid the real issues, who's always, always bidding us to let go of our pride, to let go of wanting to be looked at as someone that's spiritual or someone that's holy. Lord, thank you for the Holy Spirit, who relentlessly works in our life to bring us to the place where we simply give up and surrender and stop trying to live our own life, stop trying to be something we're not. Now Lord, you have certainly not accomplished this work in our hearts. There's still a lot of resistance, a lot of resistance, but we are confident that you are faithful and today you demonstrate your willingness to intervene into our hearts and to bid us through your presence and through your call to come back to you in brokenness and in humility, that we might see clearly your grace and turn from our own ways that lead to destruction, that we might hard follow after you. So we pray that during this short time, Lord, you will take the word and bring it into our hearts and help us to see that the Holy Spirit's movement today was so that the word can be fulfilled in our lives. That's all. We commit this into your hands in Jesus name. Amen. One of the great concerns of God regarding his Old Testament covenant people Israel was that they only followed him for a little season and a little time and then they went their own way again. This is the history in the Old Testament. If you're simply a student of the word, you can see time and time and time again. The entire book of judges is the history, the shameful history of the people of God who only followed God for a season and then got caught up in selfish living. And when they got caught up in selfish living, they followed the gods of their age. And then they were brought into bondage and into captivity. And then they cried out to God. And then what did God do? He rose up a deliverer. And then for the life of that deliverer, God's people turned back to him. And then generally, as soon as that deliverer died, then they went back to following their own ways. And this is the struggle that the Holy Spirit has in our lives. For seasons, we are sensitive and tender and broken before the Lord. And then it seems like things get in the way. Cares of this life. Concerns for the busyness of life. We're dissatisfied with God's provision and we begin to go our own way and get hard and calloused and cynical. And so God has to do the same thing with us over and over again that he oftentimes did with the people of Israel. Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. The Holy Spirit is constantly seeking to rescue us from being turned aside. There are two paths that the Word of God speaks of in the New Covenant. There's one path. It's the wide road that leads to destruction. And there are many that are on this path. And then there's the narrow road that leads to life. And there are few that find this way. God's people, the church, those called to follow Jesus Christ are called to follow on the narrow path that leads to life. Not the wide road that many are on. And so what we have looked at over the past several weeks is we've looked at what the heart looks like when it's on the narrow path that leads to life. What do we look like when we're on the narrow path that leads to life? We're going to read a series of scriptures now. We don't have a lot of time. But these scriptures are going to reveal to us what the Holy Spirit is wanting to form in our lives. So that this is a lifestyle. Not just a doctrinal affirmation. This must become a lifestyle. Alright? So listen carefully. Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 through 16. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, its strength, its quality, how can its saltness be restored? It can't be. That's the idea of the message here. Salt that loses its ability to function for the purpose that it was created is good for nothing. It's good for nothing. There is an enemy that wants to take our saltiness and render it inoperative. We learned last week that salt preserves. It cleanses. It disinfects. And that the presence of Jesus in our lives should have a preserving effect wherever we go. It might not be accepted. It might be rejected. But it ought to have a preserving effect. If Jesus is living vital in your life, you will bring a preserving effect in your family. You will bring it with your relatives. The very presence of Jesus preserves. It brings a quality of preservation. It cleanses from germs. Number two, our next salt penetrates. It changes that which it touches. It changes that which it touches. You will change for the good. You will have a moral impact on people, on your children, on your husband, on your wife, your neighbor, your co-workers. If Jesus Christ is actively in your life as the Lord and Master, the effect of the presence of Christ in your life will be that of penetrating. It will penetrate into people's lives. It will flavor. It will bring the flavor of heaven. It will bring the flavor of heavenliness. Eternal perspective. When Christians no longer have a heavenly perspective, their salt has become no good. No good. Any topic that comes up in your life, you will bring the taste of heaven to it. You will live a life that is consistent with the saying, it's not about me and it's not about now. It's not about me and it's not about now. It's about the Lord and it's about eternity. Our life is but a vapor. Our life is here today and it's gone tomorrow. It's not about now. It's not about me. It's not about getting something now. It's about eternity. Salt brings the heavenly flavor. Salt brings the heavenly perspective. A salty Christian will view all the affairs of life from an eternal heavenly perspective. A salty Christian will not hold tightly to the filthy lucre they have. Filthy lucre. A salty Christian will beg God not ever to allow them to develop a love for money. Do you love money? Are your hands tight around money? And I'm glad to be able to say before God that I don't say this because I want it. And I think everybody here knows that. I don't want your money. You'll know if your hands are tight around your money if you look at your checkbook register. You see where it's going. If you have more than you need, it's not for you. That's biblical. It's not for you. It's not for you, for selfish ambition. If you're a salty Christian, that perspective will always be before you. Salt is quiet. That is, it does its effect quietly. Salty Christians don't blow trumpets. Salty Christians don't brag. Salty Christians don't bring attention to themselves. Salty Christians aren't interested in letting the world know about the great things they're doing for God. Salty Christians quietly, quietly affect the world that they live in. They affect it by letting the life of Jesus Christ affect their words, their decisions, their priorities, and their actions. Salt is irrepressible. Once applied, you cannot reverse the effects of salt. You are the salt of the world. Why does the Holy Spirit come into our midst and revive us and bring us to tears? Because He reminds us of our purpose. He reminds us that amidst life we're here for Him. Not only are you the salt of the world, Jesus said what? You are the light of the world. You are the light of the world. Now, light. Our time is out. Alright, we really can't get into it. What time is it? Twenty of. Just turn your Bibles to Ephesians 5. We'll close with this. Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5. Whenever the Bible uses the word light in the New Testament, without fail, light is a metaphor that describes the nature and character of God. It describes the nature and character of God, specifically identifying it as having no part darkness. No part darkness. There is no moral darkness in God. And as followers of Christ, that is the way our life is to be. Listen carefully. Verse 6, chapter 5, Ephesians. Let no one delude and deceive you with empty excuses and groundless arguments. For through these things, that is sexual sin, impurity of any kind, greed and covetousness. That's what he's talking about. Because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of rebellion and disobedience. Do not associate or be sharers with them. For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Lead the lives of those who are born of the light. For the fruit or the effect, the product of the light, consists in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life. And try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Let your lives be constant proofs of what is most acceptable to him. Take no part in and have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds and enterprises of darkness. But instead, let your lives be so in contrast as to expose and reprove and convict them. You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. May the Lord help us as we continue to look to him that these qualities may more and more and more be in our lives. Salt and light. As we continue to get together, we'll look more thoroughly into the significance of being light. And we'll see how challenging this is and what the Holy Spirit wants us to be in our world. Let's just bow our hearts for a moment. Father, again, we thank you for your faithfulness today. We thank you, Lord, for your incredible power to come into our hearts and lives. And we commit the work that you've done in our hearts, the things that you have whispered in our spirit, the promises you've made to us, reaffirmed, confirmed, the convictions that you may have brought, Lord, we commit them to your hands and pray that you'll accomplish your highest purpose in our lives. Help us to see, Lord, why we're here, why you draw near to us, Lord. Help us to see, Lord, that you want to fulfill your word in our lives. I pray you'll create a hunger in our lives for your word, Lord. I pray you'll create a hunger, Lord, that will result in people wanting to get into your word more, to meditate upon it, to obey it, to follow it. Lord, it's so grossly neglected. I pray, Lord, that you'll not stop in your attempts to bring us more and more into conformity to the lovely image of your Son. So we commit everything into your hands today, Lord. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.