Greetings my friends, grace, and peace to you in the name of God our father the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I thank God for you and for your families. I hope that everything is good with you and that God is keeping you safe. God loves you and cares for you. Because God loves us and cares about us, in all that we do, we should do in the name of the Lord. Whatever circumstance that causes us to make a decision, we should ask ourselves will the lord be offended or pleased by what I do?   What is the effect will the decision I make have on others? The way that I conduct myself will others see me as a Christian? Who am I? Do I represent God in the way that I walk, or live my life? Does my life reflect the fact that I am a servant of God? Who does God say you are?

Lord God, I thank you for this opportunity to share your word with your people. I thank you, Lord, for each one of these your people with whom I am also one. I ask that you open their heart and mind as I share your word with them. I ask that you lead and guide me, fill me with your Holy Spirit lead and guide me that I may say that which you will have me to say. Thank You, Lord God, In Jesus’ name Amen.

Jesus Said, ” you are the salt of the earth, 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 underfoot (Matt 5:13). Salt, what is it? One thing it’s not is an antiseptic, an antiseptic is something used to combat poison, and tends to its cure. Septic is something that is devoid of poison in itself. Salt does not cure corruption or decay. Salt prevents the spread of decay or corruption. If meat is tainted and corrupt salt will arrest the decay, and prevent it from further corruption to the part that has not yet been corrupted.

The Lord expects His own to function as a moral and spiritual influence preventing the spread of sin’s corrupt forces, Living near Him, the source of untainted Holiness, we are to give goodness its opportunity. Although salt is beneficial, salt can lose its pungent power, its tang. Once the pungent power goes the salt is good for nothing. Saints can never lose their soul, Amen!!!  But they can lose their savior, the pungent power. You can become unsavory in life and exhibit decay in the grace God has given you. Your savory influence will be lost in an unsavory world. Christians who put up with corruption around them add to the corruption of humanity.

You are the light of the world, a city built on a hill can not be hidden, neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bed,  instead they put it on a lampstand and give light to everyone in the house. In the same, way let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven (Matt 5:14-16). Light is of a threefold nature, natural, artificial, and spiritual. The light of the sun is natural, that of a lamp is artificial, and that of the Lord and those who believe Him it is spiritual. Christ uses the word luminaries to describe His own light. Christ gave us the same identification he appropriated for His self. I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. but will have the light of life. His light is not a borrowed light, nor is it artificial light, or reflected light. His light is uncreated light. Not only does He give light, He is light, Amen!!! In Him, there is no darkness at all.

The moon is a luminaire, it has no light of its own. The light of the moon is gotten from the sun and reflected on the world. As luminaires, we have no light of our own. As His disciples, we can only shine with His light. No man lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel if he does either the bushel will put the light out or the light will set the bushel on fire. The bushel represents commerce business and trade. the bed used in this parable represents leisure, rest, and comfort. We must be careful not to spend to much time and thought to either. Spending to much time attending to business and leisure will cause our light to go dim.  It will cause our salt to lose its pungency and our witness would be worthless, or unproductive. There is no contradiction between light and salt, both refer to the moral quality of things. The world is corrupt and its iniquity needs the saints as salt, the world is blind and dark and its ignorance requires the saints as lights.

A lamp or candle is dark bodies and can give no light until it is lighted, just the same we can give no light until we have received divine grace from the Spirit of God. Once you have received it, Let your light shine Amen!!! Let your light shine so that the world with its variegated surfaces can feel the fructifying and gladdening radiance, let your light shine, a light-reflecting in good deeds resulting in the Glory of God.

If you don’t know Jesus I can tell you this, He knows you, and He loves you. He wants you to have His light shine in your life. Jesus said” God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life (ohn 3:16). If you believe this Pray to God, tell him that you believe that Jesus died for your sin, and you believe that God raised Him from the dead and He is alive right now at the Father’s right hand. If you pray this prayer you shall get saved Amen!! Thank you, Lord, God bless you, my friends.

Chaplain Rev. Reginald Stevens pastor.