Who is your "them"?

Living Stones Church - South Bend

Matthew 5:12-16 – “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt – seasoning that brings out the God-flavors on the earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Here’s another way to put it. You’re here to be light, bringing the God-colors to the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand – shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” SERMON POINT #1 – RELATIONSHIPS ARE KEY TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD Acts 11:1-3 – The apostles and the believers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and at with them.” Galatians 3:28 – There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Colossians 3:11 – Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Chris is all, and is in all. Genesis 1:26-27 – Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female, he created them. SERMON POINT #2 – WHO IS YOUR “THEM”? Matthew 5:46-47 – “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”