Andrew McCourt: Uncensored - Salt and Light

[Music] let me take you back 29 years ago I was thinking about this just last weekend 29 years ago last weekend I was 17 years old I was in a Volvo everyone a Volvo three four five can anyone remember one of these bad boys look at that and my brother and his fiancee were up front and I was in the backseat without a seatbelt on you didn't have to wear seatbelts in those days we're driving along a road in Ireland and we're listening to Eric Clapton I feel free yeah yeah that's when music was music everyone I feel free and he we were listening to his cassette on the cassette player yeah used to take three weeks to make a playlist of one of those bad boys everybody us we were a hard court and so Eric Clapton is it's just playing I'm feeling free and everything and suddenly someone just cuts across us and my brother swerves the car what happens as we go like off to the left and he tries to bring her back onto the road and while he's doing that the car just flips everyone goes on to the roof I'm in the backseat at this point I go out the back window into the trunk I kick the whole window with me the rubber seal everything so we're going this way it flips onto its roof and then while it's on the roof it turns this way all in one move it starts pointing the wrong way and then comes back on it's four wheels pointing in the wrong direction my brother and his fiancee they're fine but at this stage I'm in the trunk with my back against the trunk and you know how these things sometimes happen in slow motion I think to myself oh where is that semi the big semi that I'd saw coming up the road and as I thought where is that semi it came straight into the trunk I mean path into the trunk pushes as a way of the road and by the time everything stopped I could touch the grille of the semi with my hand everyone and I did not have a scratch on me not a sin little scratch proving two things that God has grit and Volvo's are good they're really good yes oh my goodness I was 17 and I got out of the car and I thought to myself Lord and a high school soon you're going to hear me I was a Christian at that time and my dad was a pastor but God has no grandchildren you got to have your own experience with God and I knew at that moment in time that I wanted to live a life of influence and impact I just thought God you have spared me I want to live a life of influence and impact we just heard in our reading today the only way to truly live a life that means something that influences and that makes an impact is by basing it on the teachings of Jesus from the sermon on the mind and Jesus said this if you would be salt and if you would be light it is going to make a difference so if you're new to Bayside we got a think it's called a sermon outline and you can ignore it or you can even get a pan out and put some of the fillings but we don't mark it at the end of the service you don't have to hand it in or hang like that there's no scores on this okay it's not a sad stares writing okay so what you can take that and you can follow along and write in and if you want but write this one in here salt high to have influence Jesus said you are the salt of the earth salt high to have influence well this is what Jesus talked about he talked about useful salt two ways he talked about salt first one was useful salt he said you are the salt of the earth what does it mean to be salt what does that actually look like for us today it's a great metaphor but what does it look like well number one is purity right not in purity salt has this purifying ability the Romans they love salt they thought that it came from the most pure of things both the Sun and the sea they love that communities were established around salt salt is essential for life it has the purifying qualities and I think that's one of the things that the church is called to do today is not to be you know this all crude okay but it is to keep the voice of purity and the earliest Christians they lived in a like a crazy world that was created California they lived a a world that basically said we still believe in the values of Jesus Christ and they lived out purity but in a radical radical way so purity is the first thing and then it is a preserver that's what it does it has this sort of quality of preservation people didn't have fridges in those days so to keep me to keep fish they had to put salt on it and it helped preserve it a guy called William Barclay said this the Christian is to be the salt of the earth he must have a certain antiseptic influence on life he's an agent of change that causes this level of preservation to happen izabel a knife that's my wife we planted a church in the City of Derry over 20 years ago and high school students you need to hear this when we first went there we didn't really knew what we were doing we didn't know a single soul in the city when we arrived then we got to meet some people we formed the church and one of the first things that we decided to do was like a breakaway Irish style and it started really small and then just grew and grew the interesting thing is that one summer a hundred and fifty Californians flew to Ireland to help us with our version a breakaway how cool is that and some of these kids had never experienced anything like that and we just thought that we want to go and bless kids in a community that never get a vacation they don't get away all summer and we'll go and we'll will bless them and it was amazing how God used us in those areas fast forward 10 years in the cm City we're now running a different project and is to do with teenagers why because on these walls the teenagers are congregating and they are taking up a bad Irish tradition they're drinking too much when they're too young you know what I'm talking about and that leads to all sorts of like fighting and skirmishes and so we thought as a church we're going to help and we started a ministry called street pastors and we just went out and pastored streets and loved on people and cared for them one night I'm author and this was pretty remarkable I'm there with my body and you know where you just send something's about to kick off the circle forms right on the city walls a circle forms and these two guys they're gonna fight it out but one of them he's gonna get killed every one he's just this small kid then this larger guy it's just cool and nuts and they're just like standing off what this guy does the larger guy goes he gets his shirt and just rips it off and revealed a body like mine it's just no no I'm embellishing stuff and and so he's there with no shirt on and I'm looking at this other kid and he's going to get his head in his hands as a present I mean this is not going to go well and what I do immediately without thinking I just jump in I just jump in a go whoa kam dime and as soon as I jumped in the circle teens the other kid he'd left out the circle knife forms right me and the guy with no shirt on and I'm thinking what a way to die at least get it on YouTube and raise money out of it you know I'm set and so I'm gone body cam dying just cam dying let's talk about this anyway who do you think you aren't I gone I don't know who do you think you are I can just count down Annie when it suddenly everything teens and he just went oh you're the guy that used to bring all those Americans up to our housing scheme and taught us the songs about Jesus I like not this is like and I went yeah my guy I'm definitely that guy getting your memory : to hurt me and then I look over at the other kid and I went if you want to see your next birthday get out of here and then he just dropped his hands cold the hinds off the gang off and we went over to the side and we talked about what happened ten years before when he was a kid everybody I really want to encourage you to be the salt of the earth it's not about having immediate impact oh I threw salt on it no it's about long-term preserver it makes this slow change in society and if you're trying to show your faith and talk to people about Jesus you don't like get them dying put an e in their throat and put salt down their mouth you don't do that everyone what you do is you gently just sprinkle the salt and it has an effect over a long time table salt is made up of two things so you're glad to came to church high school students it's like a science lesson today sodium and chloride it's made up of those two things but Kingdom salt what I mean by that the salt that Jesus said that we are is made up of two things it's true and it's Gris and you're going to see this you need the both you absolutely need both this chloride or it's sorry if you go back there the chloride is what we get chlorine from and it just gives off that really bad stench unless it has the sodium with it truth is the same if we're just full of truth we can get really nasty but Jesus brought it with grease as well and that is the big difference so let's talk again but useful salt okay so by purity it's a preserver but also it adds flavor and that's probably the number one thing that we know today about salt it adds flavor William Barclay again says this Christianity is - like what salt is the food Christianity lends flavor - like that sorry that's the UK spell in there did you see that y'all notice not a little yes the way it should be spelled okay God believes in use Christianity mint liqueur flavor to life come on him look at me Christian you're the spice of life you know that some people just because of the drudgery light has become so bland actually for some people it's become so toxic and they need you to come along and have some refreshing spice and salt back into their life I've a friend and his name is Jared Qian and he's an Australian but his family were originally from Cork and Ireland and a generation ago they emigrated to Australia and jergs God again in the Irish tradition he just took up the drinking and never gave up on it and became an alcoholic and he made his wife's life a terrible thing and that it was for the whole family and that's what Jared remembers growing up it's dad drinking too much and just the mom her suffering because of that and everyone's suffering because of it he lived in a street and Sydney a new neighbors arrived and they were factus now you got to get the cultural nuances here an Irish Catholic family with Baptists neighbors they ain't going to have parties together that's not going to happen but this Baptist woman called Diane she noticed what was going on in the qiyan house and you know what she was really really smart everyone she didn't walk down to their house late with a super-sized Bible and black jurors died over the head with it that didn't happen what happened simply was this that one day she came to the door of the qiyan house with a castle rule she came home with that castle rule do you know that Jesus can hide in a castle rule you know that and she said to George mom hey ah silly me I was making food today and I made way too much buy some skills I mean way too much I'm here maybe you could have this and judge Vaughn TURN RIGHT she said I don't want your charity and Chester off two weeks later she came back with another castle rule Oh silly me I did the same thing again and this day she said okay we'll take it she took it in in the end that Lenny died and about this woman led Jarrod's mum to become a Christian she led her to Christ this is the really good news Jared then became a Christian Jared had a best friend and he was called Steve and Steve became a Christian Jared got connected to a vibrant local church a church called Hillsong in Sydney Jared became what a brand Houston's first interns Brian Houston one day centered and Sue his wife then to London to start Hill song London listen to this everyone Jared his best friend Steve Kim the America and started a church in Virginia Beach and they reckon that because of that one castle rule and that woman called Diana 40,000 people today are Christians because of that in Omni is in everybody so go home and get cooking everybody that's the moral of that story that's what we want you to do but doesn't that add quite literally flavor to life doesn't it change everything then Jesus talks about this because what useful salt and he talks were useless salt this is important that we get this in the positive you're the salt of the earth but then he gives this big warning but if the salt loses its saltiness how can it be made salty again it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under food I'm I love America but you got some strange things here you got something your your drug commercials are like on a different level everybody they're on a different level they scare the life out of me they should be showing after nine o'clock they would terrify small children terrified because like if you get 60 seconds for a commercial 20 seconds its high this drug is going to see if your life and then 40 seconds on how this drugs gonna ruin your life the side effects are enormous you could wake up with three heads in the morning on sixteen legs but who cares you know you can see better I know you're dead it's just like this it's like you know everything's going to kill you Jesus he was like really smart he did this thing with side effects and he said come on everyone it's really important and he's talking to Christian come on Christians look at me he's talking to us and he said you're meant to be salty all the time what the world is looking for if not just people that you know are like one sermon wanders at work he's looking for people are gonna live this no I'm not religious people but living people that really do norm this is what Jesus said he never called us Christians look at this Jesus never called as Christians he called us salt and light agents of change agents of life that's what we are and you know sometimes what I find is that some Christians they're not tasty they're toxic I come from Northern Ireland just so much religion and people like getting negative and their own version a brand of God everybody God doesn't need a lawyer he doesn't need anyone to defend him God just need people to live for him that's what God once there was a man called Oliver Wendell Holmes and he said this I might have entered the ministry a certain clergy men and pastors I knew had not looked and acted so much like Undertaker's you know what I'm talking about miserable Christians you know what if you're a Christian would you inform your face yeah don't talk about your faith talk about your fear has it reached your feast yet because we should be the most vitamin everyone I'm talking about a silly Disney stuff I'm talking about an inner joy that affects every single part of our lives across the long course there we had a comedian at the Thrive conference and his name is John crisp and he is hilarious and I love him because he is a poke at the church he has a little bit of a poke at the church is not good to poke at the church sometimes and he talked about you know these toxic Christians who are no longer about you know being the salt of the earth or light of the world they're all about the church and their place in the church and comfort of the church and so he made this video by what it's like to come with the church and try and find a space in the parking lot do you know what I'm talking about everybody okay it's a hundred degrees outside and you're trying to find a space and you get just a little bit mad and you start making the whole thing about you useless soul okay let's watch this Jesus I am late for church I'm just going to speak this parking spot into existence right now just name it and claim it Jesus Oh for heaven sakes use the crosswalk okay I have to prove the spirit but y'all need to move who she is going to wear that into town see your eyes with your Jesus give me a miracle I need a ram in the thicket love this church it's just like come as you are you know and how do I look though this is Jack and go this shirt oh good lord gift single parents expected mother who doesn't have a parking spot the other days I've been here 27 years I deserve respect oh yeah go ahead take my parking spot Sheila's she probably needs Jesus more than me honestly use your mirror how long does it take to back out of Jesus give me strength this is so straight honestly there better be coffee there better be coffee y'all are gonna make me Park in a handicapped spot hello there go the homeschoolers I swear if somebody took the last jelly doughnut I will don't make me get out of old man get on the ministry tonight today okay oh you're gonna drive a Lexus okay I know where your treasure is at not in heaven Sonic series is what putting others in front of yourself though this doesn't apply to me I mean for heaven sakes move out of the rut look at this trunk where are you going a church or a chomp rally buy a parking spot 15 and it's like oh it is way too cold out here but you better bring a shuttle or I will watch this service online I wish I have a moment of prayer for anyone that would like to repent yeah oh hey let's be useful salt no useless sauce then he talked about like how to have impact it was salt how to have influence in life but also light and how to have impact and this is what Jesus said these words let's remind ourselves okay he said you are the light of the world the time built on a hill cannot be hidden neither do people light a lamp and put it onto a ball instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way let your light shine before others and this is a very interested that they may see your good deeds well Jesus I thought you had said you don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing but why would they see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven we are called to be the light of the world and having just spent this last week in like roof you know Sacramento I'm thinking to myself it must be easier for us to be the light of the world everyone because we're way closer to the Sun that's what I'm thinking okay and we're just all frying here lighting up okay through Jesus smoke about these things write them down Jesus spoke about what it was to be a great life this is important everyone Jesus never called us to be the light of the church he called us to be the light of the world look at me you're part of the kingdom of God never look up here and think oh this is what Christian ministry is about no Christian ministry is about you remember this from the Beatitudes it's about the poor it's about the broken it's about the persecuted it's about the peacemakers it's about the merciful it's not by the high and the mighty it's not by Christian celebrity it's about people like us who go out into this world and make a difference in education that reshape the music industry that are salt and light in thus win the world of sports that are leading journalism that are lawyers that are making new laws to help the persecuted in the world that are doctors and researchers that are trying to make vaccines that are affordable for people it's for you and for me and every single strata and sphere of society being salt and light every one that is the difference it's not about what we do on a weekend in here it's about the difference that we make out there what good is salt if it's just kept in a shaker everyone it needs to get out like shouldn't be hidden like should be seen we should be bringing away that's what Jesus is saying here we need to do it thank God for church this is where we get our batteries recharged that's where we do living again partly said this when Jesus commanded his followers to be lights of the world he demanded nothing less than not they should be like himself because Jesus in John 9 he said I am the light of the world and he said none you are the light of the world it's like the biggest command and yet the biggest compliment ever Jesus said be like me I'm sure many of us are familiar with this image did you ever do this here your brightness your slider yes Auto slight you just slide it up dying get into bed at night turn the light so I want to check the news and Isabel saying you know what Isabel's my wife by the way in case you're a bit freaked okay okay Isabel can we turn your braveness dying it's so when you want to show someone a photograph it's turn your brightness up and I think we've got a brightness slide in our Christian life as well and is a really smart thing and I think Jesus knew how to adjust so to be really practical here what does it mean to be like well it's this here it's just really simple be light not lied be like not live we don't have to show a people all the time we don't have to get that light you know like a torture method and food shining in their eye we don't need to do that everyone we need to adjust the volume some people might be here and going well Jesus showed us a people he called them a brood of vipers and snakes you know who he called but name off religious people that should have been salty and should have had their lumens up that's who he showed that he just went that's not the way I wanted this to be he never did that at sinners everyone he cared for people who didn't know him be bright not brash just shine never be rude to people you don't need to do that and I love this be really entitled and not have all the right answers all the time see people don't care how much you know they just want to know how much you care that's the big difference everybody they don't need religious bigots any people that are like and this is that everyone Jesus just being pieces in all of this and he was attractive yes he was challenging but it was this balance of truth and it was this balance of grace in his life and then Jesus spoke about good deeds he spoke of a great light you spoke about good deeds in the same way let your light shine before others that they may see your good one feed see your good deeds go out there and do something this is like the Bayside code and look at it here good deeds good will good news this is something what we've taken from Acts chapter 2 where it was the early church will ask you a question here was it the early church or was it the early kingdom I don't think they really knew they were the church they didn't have an understanding in the terms that we have today they didn't have a constitution or angin denomination then in the winning of IDA I just think they were the first bunch of people that got to live out the Sermon on the Mount they were working really hard at living out the words of Jesus and this is what it says in Acts chapter 2 they started with good deeds real simple everyone started with good deeds it says that no one in their community had a need if anyone had to need everyone met it it wasn't communism it was communism way different they just made an in society went wow that's awesome no one looks after us like that no family no government that's amazing and this is what they said is what it said they enjoyed the favor of all the people people just thought they were awesome they were being persecuted they were being killed but they just kept loving on everyone that's pretty radical so it started with good DEET then they enjoy goodwill the fever hold the people visit then this is what it says and then the Lord added to their number daily those who were becoming Christians every single day people were coming Christians and where did it start everyone it started with Good Thief and what our good deeds good deeds just being light please you're thinking yourself under if I had to get up and do what you are what you're doing that someone for the microphone I would die please you don't have to do this to be a great light all you have to do is be you and when we go down this level of good deeds good will good news it brings real change and that's why like there's so many parents will never come here to weaken but they'll come here tomorrow morning that's why we stand out at the crosses and we high-five people Isabelle was saying that she was serving this week and one of the little girls said Paul what are the big teas for the crosses are the front no idea at all that's not we go you silly child it's like wow we're doing a good thing here what are the big piece for let me tell you about the big piece it's so cool isn't it everybody you see some teams are dazzling some Dean's are like oh my goodness they're incredible and we do some pretty dazzling things around here like one of them is called surf day you don't know what serve day is on the very first weekend of October this year if you come to Bayside we won't have a service we will nothing will be happening here guess why because all of us are going to go I a be the church everyone we're going to go out and serve I mean thousands and thousands of Bay ciders I put that in your calendar right now I am on serve team I will be serving the first weekend and approver put it in your color right night no excuses you heard it here today thousands that were gone all of us are going to go white and I mean it's going to be incredible it slightly so bright they're going to see it from the International Space Station it will look down on earth and oh here's a great wall of china what's happening in sacramento it's base I serve it's served weekend all my goodness it's amazing and it's dazzling it's spectacular but some things are just dearly everybody it's the daily stuff in life the stuff that really makes a difference I mean it's the daily lights that keep our life going it's street lights you ever thought about street lights when is the only time you notice street lights it's not at night you never notice them at night you never know that it's not like you're going kids kids kids it's it's coming to 6:30 you in the winter it's coming to 6:30 they're about to go on again come on everyone you get the living room blinds and you open them up and you're looking over here here goes on them yeah they are again you give me does anyone do that the only time we notice the street lights is when they're broken oh street lights haven't come on what's on what's wrong the end of the world that's the only time we notice but they're the thing that makes a difference every single day and you and I just living in life caring and loving for people is what makes the difference every day when people are going is there a god you go well yeah just look around look at all the questions that are examining every single day and this is what I would pray if we weren't here I pray the people would notice I pray that people would notice it happens in the dealing just the ordinary stuff so when we decided to move here to America we needed to find schools for our kids and that was a pretty big deal for us so we're looking around multiple schools and different age groups and checking everything like we spoke there tana teachers and invariably the question came up and it was why you moving here or it's because of a work what are you going to do and let me a pastor and Bayside and we got the same response every time and it wasn't like they're all got together to come up with this response but every teacher different school different age groups they said this well let me say they didn't say that's all Oh based on the big church and big is good but if it's salt stuck in a shaker at eating good I don't care how big it is it's not get night doesn't matter or they didn't say oh base hides a great Church you know what they said Bayside is grid for our community I'm gonna leave Ireland leave your folks leave your church leave your life took a lot but I felt really proud at that moment in time I thought we're commonly a good thing here and as long as Bayside is great for the community we're in the right direction we're not perfect everyone we got our air shoes but we're in the right direction that is what it's a byte I finished with this today Jesus spoke about God's glory he spoke about God's glory he said when you do these good deeds it's gonna bring glory to God kourin glory to God back in Ireland it was two presidents ago an old Irish tradition was rediscovered this is our presidential home mrs. in Phoenix Park in Dublin and looking a little bit like the White House well it's a little bit and and our president then heard of a tradition from a century before it from the rural communities of Ireland and there was no motels or there was no hotels or anything like that what you had basically was people just traveling around and at night time was cold it was wet and where did they go but there was a tradition in rural areas of where people if they had a spare room that night and a clean bed and they had a meal that they could offer people they would light a candle beside the window at the front door to say to a weary traveler welcome come in we'll give you a bed for the night and we'll feed you our damn president heard about this and then hi you know what I think he's so cool because we have about 77 million people in the world they claim to have Irish roots or ancestry how many people in here anyone in here you got who look at you I can see your halo I can see your it looks it's all holy all in the room there for a second and this is what you said I just want those people to know they're always welcome home so she decided in the president's house that they would leave a light on every night on the window beside the front door to say to the Irish world you're always welcome home never be a stranger always come home to Ireland when Jesus died on the cross everyone 2,000 years ago wise owl a bike that's an LS an Easter thing or it's a Christian tradition no this is what it's about jesus said I am the light of the world and looks really cool in the sermon on the mind and you picture him on a hillside Swedish Jesus sometimes IKEA Jesus he look so cool everyone Jesus light of the world is him bloody bruised beaten scarred and peeled naked on a cross dying for us because we were far from God and he lit up the world at that time and he cries I Father forgive them I don't even what they're doing don't hold it against them and he shone brightly and he was saying to every single person in this room no matter what your background no matter what your tradition no matter what your mass no matter how guilty you feel or how bad you feel about your life or however far you feel from God you are welcome home and the life of the Cross has never gone out I want to say to everyone you are not far from God today you are close to God and God says come home to the light of my love I want us to pray I'm gonna ask you to remain in your seat would you close your eyes by your head just stay in your seat don't go to that parking lot stresses stay here for this for a second close your eyes by your head if you're here and you're not yet a Christian if you're here and you're going Andreas is just radical I'd love to be have a life of influence and impact it starts with God influencing and impacting your life and a relationship with him and that simply means becoming a Christian doesn't mean joining this church or some weird religious thing that means you get to know your father your heavenly Father so if you're here and you're not yet a Christian but you would really love to come home to God the light of the Cross would you just pray this prayer with me real simple all you have to do is prayer into yourself so here we go dear Lord Jesus thank you that you did die for me on that cross you give your life for me and I repent today I say sorry I receive your forgiveness the gift of salvation Jesus make my heart your home I don't know all the answers but I want to know you come in and be my Lord forever again we are eyes closed your head but if you prayed that prayer in just a second I'm going to ask you to do something radical I'm going to ask you to raise your hand but that's not the embarrassing it won't be like a bigger light will come on your bow but when you raise your hand it's just me and you at that moment in time no one else's look at her runs just me and you and every person in this room is willing you on and I know you feel like butterflies right now but you want to have the courage to do it so here you go if you prayed that prayer and you really meant it would you right now raise your hand put your hand up in the air just put your hand up so I can see it thank you so much thank you so much that is so partially that is so many hands so many hands you can put your hands time Hey for everyone in this trip we're going to do something not feel a little like Christmas but if you've got a cell phone would you take out your cell phone I got a cell phone and if your cell phones got the torch option on it you know it's they what are you calling here flashlight you know the Americans always have two words for every one word we have we call it a torch flash light we call them glasses you call them eye glasses who's always you're always like an extra word term we love you okay but I this is what to do with your flashlight just hold it I'm for saying will you hold it down hold it down put it against your leg or something come on some of you are not holding a dime you need to do this right now it's called effect so if you're here today and you're saying yeah there's always a better version of me but come on today something has lit in your heart and you're going I want to leave here and I want to be salt and light I know I'm not going to be perfect but for God I want to be a flavor to this world and I want to bring hope to this world if you're saying I want to be an active agent of change would you write I just restart up with me raise it right up it's pretty spectacular Wow Wow everybody can we pray will you keep that up that's pretty spectacular Jesus this is more than just a symbolic moment this is us as a community so we take up the charge from the sermon on the mind to be salt and to be like we the persecuted we the broken we the peacemakers we the poor in spirit we the hungry for righteousness we the merciful we take it up we say we will be not the salt of the church not the light of the church but we will be the salt of the earth will be the light of the world and we will do all for your glory you

Channel: Bayside Church

Views: 2,787

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Bayside Church, Bible, Hope, Compassion, Love, Andrew McCourt, Uncensored series, Sermon On The Mount, Salt and Light

Id: M8r0OIp4Ckc

Length: 39min 2sec (2342 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 26 2017