Pass the Salt, Please Acts 8:1-4

1. Once when I was about 11 I tried putting sugar on Ice Cream - never made that mistake but once!

2. Eating salt is a habit - salt the food before tasting - automatic

3. Salt is good for the body in moderation, it is good for the church in abundance

4. Jesus said of the church at Jerusalem "you are the salt of the Earth" He meant that Those in Christ enhance all the

world and make it better - Salt affects everything that comes into contact with it

5. So, the Salt of the Earth is not to be confined to the CHURCH BUILDING OR THE CHURCH FAMILY - if it is,

it’s useless and God will do something about it

I. As a Church and as a Person you need to know "God will move you if you don’t move"

A. The Great Commission - Matt 28:16-20

1. Make disciples!

2. Jesus minced no words

3. Receive power - Giving of the Holy Spirit

4. No reason for them not to leave Jerusalem and get on with the task

B. Frustrating to have salt trapped in the saltshaker.

1. Pastors of about every church have to deal with Salt trapped in the Church

2. Taking serious our TASK of spreading the Gospel

C. Verse 1 - A Great persecution broke out" Persecution of the Church at Jerusalem

1. They had no choice but to move

2. God always takes the upper hand - Christians need to listen

3. Old Testament - Jews taken into captivity when they centered on themselves

4. Go back as far as you want - Genesis - the tower of Babel - God forces stubborn people to change

II. As a Church and as a person you need to know When God moves you - you have the opportunity for blessings

A. God blesses HIS people

1. From Genesis to Revelation God promises Great Blessings to those willing to do His will

2. Should a person choose to disobey God - there will be sorrow until there is repentance

B. Verse 4 tells us that When they left Jerusalem they went preaching

1. Samaria and Judea were enriched, blessed

2. Jesus taught about sowing seed - when good seed lands on fertile ground - blessings abound

3. People were healed as well as saved!

III. The purpose of the Church and your salvation

A. Share the Good News - God has provided a Savior

1. It is easy to confine the Good News to a stained-glass saltshaker

2. It is easy to confine the Good News to your family

3. God’s purpose for your life is not to confine the Good News but to sprinkle it on all the people you

encounter in life

4. The old ask, "Why am I still here?" My answer is God has a purpose for you - and that purpose could be to

share the Good News with one special person

5. Do not limit what God intends for you life

B. The church’s second purpose is to produce

1. Jesus said, "go into all the world and make disciples"

2. Parables of the Vineyard (give it one more year), the tree with no fruit (cut it down)

3. Christ Community is having some problems - lost some people, bills are due - Maybe God is trying to tell us

something - We should be making disciples

1. Preachers, pastors and deacons were forced to leave Jerusalem - they went preaching

2. members - cooks, weavers, herders, shop keepers were forced to leave and they went preaching

3. Are you flavoring the people around you in a positive way for the Lord? Are being salt?