Out of the Salt Shaker
Terry Somerville

 


A while ago I was giving thought and prayer to these words from Jesus.

Mat 5:13 You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its savor, with what shall it be salted? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and to be trodden underfoot by men.

Usually when we hear this passage we focus on the qualities of salt. Here are the usual preaching points: We are the salt, and the world needs our "flavor and preservation." But the Holy Spirit was drawing my attention to the salt shaker of the organized church as well. We need to know, the shaker is made for the salt, not the other way around!God is bringing a "shake up" to the shaker, trying to get the salt loosened up and out of the shaker, and into the world where it belongs.

Here are some thoughts on salt and shakers.

1. Salt has one purpose: to give flavor to food. Salt NEVER serves its purpose staying in the shaker. The purpose of the Christian life is found when "shaken out" to flavor the world. Too often the highest vision of ministry given to Christians is to be on the church platform, rather than changing the flavor of the world.

2. Shakers have one purpose: to shake salt onto food in a beneficial manner. But we tend to value the shaker rather than the salt. We focus on them. We like big ones, pretty ones, crystal ones, expensive ones, or name brand ones. However, this is completely unimportant. In fact, it is a useless diversion. The essential question is, "how does the food taste when I salt it?" Remember, shakers don't create salt, but they can spoil it. Same with the church.

3. Salt loses it's savor when it is kept in a container too long. It's best sprinkled out fresh! In the church we often hold back the "fresh" converts, afraid of their "raw" qualities. "You are not mature, you are not ready. You need training first." Excuse me? Salt thats not mature? How stupid can we be! "Raw" Christianity in the church brings the best flavor to worldly friends.

4. Salt clumps and spoils when left in the container too long. Staying in church too long is not beneficial to believers. Eventually believers think their purpose IS the container! They clump together, and compete for position in the shaker. Church fights and cliques are caused by believers who have not been shaken for a long long time!

5. Salt is a preservative, it doesn't need preservation. Often we say "they are new believers, they need protection". This is "low-salt" thinking. New believers were living in the world when they got saved. They overcame the world in their decision for Christ. They are bona-fide salt already! They don't suddenly need protection from the world by being kept in a shaker! They need encouragement, not seclusion. Jesus saved them and He will keep them! New believers need to be savor to their unsaved friends immediately. Their preservation power will come out!

6. We fill the shaker to put salt on the food, we don't salt the food to fill the shaker. In church our goals are often backwards. We usually do outreach to fill the church shaker. The church has lost it's savor and is trampled underfoot. Genuine saltiness wants to be shaken out and Trust Jesus to refill our shaker.

7. When the holes are plugged, we change shakers. One of the reason Christians "church hop" is because they are not "released". They are looking for a shaker with holes.

8. A shaker with no holes is really a jar. A church with no holes gets left on the shelf by the "Master Chef"

Terry Somerville
www.totalchange.org

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'SUCCESS STORY'
GENE 'JUBAL' JOHNSON
Jun 29 2008 02:00PM


Real Success

Alan Riley

One of my favorite movies of all time is a picture called "Mr Holland's Opus." It's a good movie in and of itself, but I will always have a soft spot for this movie because when I saw it for the first time in the theater, it delivered a powerful message to my heart that I really needed to hear.

"Mr Holland's Opus" is sort of a modern version of "It's a Wonderful Life." In the film, Mr. Holland (played by Richard Dreyfus) is a musician with dreams of making it big as a composer. To make ends meet and to put food on the table, he takes a job as a music teacher in a school. He enjoys interacting with the students and teaching them music, but he still dreams of success, fame and adulation as a composer. He tells his wife he will just teach for a year or so to get them back on their feet financially. That one year turns into two, those two years into ten, those ten years into twenty, and before you know it, it is time for him to retire.

As he reaches the end of his teaching career, Mr. Holland is dejected and feels like a total failure. He has wasted his life teaching school and never made it big. He cleans out his desk and heads home for the last time. One of his fellow teachers uses some excuse to get him to come into the school's auditorium and he is shocked by what he finds. The auditorium is filled with thousands of his former students, all of whom have come to let Mr. Holland know how much he affected their lives. Each one of the students has a story to tell how they were touched, inspired, motivated, challenged, or encouraged by this man who was much, much more than just a music teacher to them.

Mr. Holland looked around the room and realized that he was not a failure. He saw all these people who had been impacted by his life and he realized that while he didn't make it big in the way he wanted to, there was no way around the fact that he had been a success in his career.

If we are not careful, we can buy into the world's definition of success and that becomes the yardstick by which we measure our lives. But that is not the measure that God uses! He is much more concerned with how you lived your life than the stuff that you accumulate. He is more interested in how many people you are bringing to heaven with you than with the size of your 401K. He is more impressed by the people you invest your time, effort and love into, than your investment portfolio. It is those things that are eternal that touch the heart of God.

When I was a little boy, my father gave me a little fold-out placard for my birthday. It still sits on my desk in my study as a reminder of what real success is. That placard simply says,

"Only one life will soon be past; Only what's done for Christ will last."

Do you sometimes feel like a failure in the world's eyes? If so, think about the lives that you have touched, and think about the heavenly version of Mr. Holland's surprise party in the school auditorium! Think about all of the people whose lives you have touched by acts of kindness, or service. Think about those who you have shared Christ with who will be in heaven because of you. Imagine all of those people gathered together in heaven to welcome you home and to thank you for touching their lives.

And then hear the voice of Jesus saying, "My child, look around you, for great is your reward..."



++++ SUCCEED ++++



STORE NOT UP FOR YOURSELF

TREASURE HERE

PLEASURE NEAR

DEPOSIT YOUR GOLD

YOUR TIME

YOUR EFFORTS

YOUR LOVE

IN PEOPLE

IN OTHER LIVES

FOR THIS IS THE LASTING

ACCOUNT

THE BANK OF HEAVEN



THE DIVIDENDS

WILL NEVER END

THE PAYBACK

GREATER THAN

YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE

AS YOU SET YOUR SIGHTS

ON THIS SUCCESS

THE PROMOTION OF OTHERS

AND NOT JUST YOURSELF

PREFERRING YOUR BROTHER

YOUR SISTER, OVER YOUR OWN AMBITIONS

SERVING THEM, INTO THEIR GREATNESS



SUCCEED YOU WILL

NOT AS THIS WORLD

CONSIDERS IT

BUT BY A HEART OF SERVICE

THAT LOOKS FOR THE MORE LASTING REWARD

BEYOND THE VEIL

THAT GOLDEN CITY

WHERE INVESTMENTS LAST

WILL NEVER FADE AWAY

FOR ETERNITY.



GENE JOHNSON ~ 2008

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WALKING OUT YOUR INTERCESSIONS
Grandma Anna


When you are loving your God with all your heart, with all your strength and all your might, there is real power behind your walking out what you are praying.  In addition, when you take the circumstances you are in and use them as physical hooks to hang your prayers, the enemy can’t stand in the midst of such zeal.  Strongholds disappear quickly.  You will feel My presence in a mighty way before, during, and after these situations.  Be comforted, that as you have walked out the difficult things while praying for the Body of Christ, so will you get to walk out the blessings.  They aren’t too far away!

“…The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:16 NKJ)

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;”  (1 Timothy 2:1 KJV)

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lEXOPHILE tREASURE
D Sutton

FOR LEXOPHILES (LOVERS OF WORDS)

 I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

 
Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

 
Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.

 
To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

 
The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

 
A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.

The math professor went crazy with the blackboard. He did a number on it.  

The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.

The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.

A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

A will is a dead giveaway.

A backward poet writes inverse.

A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France, resulted in linoleum blownapart.

He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

A calendar's days are numbered.

A boiled egg is hard to beat.

If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.

When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

Acupuncture: a jab well done

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I WILL WORK FOR FOOD
Author Unknown

 
I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant
just off the corner of the town-square.

The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street.

There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his
worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read,

"I Will work for food."

My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others
around us had stopped eating to focus on him.

Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We
finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and
quickly set out to accomplish them.

I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat half-heartedly for
the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would
call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him.

I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: "Don't go back to
the office until you've at least driven once more around the square."

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the
square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the
church`s store front, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet
wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be
a sign from God: an invitation to park.

I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

"Looking for the pastor?" I asked.

"Not really," he replied, "just resting."

"Have you eaten today?"

"Oh, I ate something early this morning."

"Would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Do you have some work I could do for you?"

"No work," I replied. "I commute here to work from the city, but I would
like to take you to lunch."

"Sure," he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions.

Where you headed?"

" St. Louis "

"Where you from?"

"Oh, all over; mostly Florida "

"How long you been walking?"

"Fourteen years," came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the
same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly
beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an
eloquence and articulation that was startling.

He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus
is The Never Ending Story."

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in
life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences.

Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had
stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to be hired by some men who
were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival
services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his
life over to God.

"Nothing's been the same since," he said, "I felt the Lord telling me to
keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now."

"Ever think of stopping?" I asked.

"Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has
given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I
work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads."

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission
and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment
and then I asked:

"What's it like?"

"What?"

"To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show
your sign?"

"Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments.
Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that
certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to
realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's
concepts of other folks like me."

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his
things. Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and said,

"Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for
you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave
me drink, a stranger and you took me in."

I felt as if we were on holy ground.

"Could you use another Bible?" I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not
too heavy. It was also his personal favorite.

"I've read through it 14 times," he said.

"I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and
see" I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he
seemed very grateful.

"Where are you headed from here?" I asked.

"Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park's
coupon."

"Are you hoping to be hired there for awhile?"

"No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star
right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next."

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his
mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours
earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his
things.

"Would you sign my autograph book?" he asked. "I like to keep messages
from folks I meet."

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had
touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a
verse of scripture from Jeremiah,

"I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, "plans to prosper
you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope." (Jer.
29:11)

"Thanks, man," he said. "I know we just met and we're really just
strangers, but I love you."

"I know," I said, "I love you, too." "The Lord is good!"

"Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?" I asked.

"A long time," he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend
and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put
his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said,

"See you in the New Jerusalem."

"I'll be there!" was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from
his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said,

"When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for
me?"

"You bet," I shouted back, "God bless."

"God bless." And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold
front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my
car. As I sat back and reached for the hand-brake, I saw them...

…a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length
of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if
his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: "If you see something that makes you think
of me, will you pray for me?"

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the
world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two
hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry.

"See you in the New Jerusalem," he said.

Yes, Daniel, I know I will...

"I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or
any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass
this way again."

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BEHOLD! I WILL DO A NEW THING!
Grandma Anna


Dear one, because I want you to learn to lean upon My Word concerning My promises and not upon your understanding, I am purposely withholding your total understanding of the new thing I AM going to do.  Don’t be concerned about feelings of unworthiness or weakness in receiving it.  This has nothing to do with the strength of your flesh.  I AM your strength.  Don’t allow anything to choke My Word.   Keep it safely nestled in your heart of hearts with firm belief and trust.  

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19 KJV)

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” (1 Corinthians 1:27 KJV)


“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”  (Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV)

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1. Follow Your Bubbles

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."1

Vern Treat tells about a scuba diver who said that when you're in deep water, you're encircled by light, so there's no way you can tell which way is up because the water diffuses the light. You're also totally weightless, so you have no sense of gravity. The only way you can tell which way to get out of the water is to go the direction the bubbles are going.

Surrounded in an aura of light and weightless, it's very easy to lose all sense of direction and get disoriented. You may sense that this way is up and that your air bubbles are going sideways. You may be so convinced that your perception is true that you decide to ignore your bubbles and go the way you think is up.

One of the first things we were told when learning to scuba-dive, Trent said, was to always trust your bubbles—to always follow your bubbles. No matter how you feel, no matter what you think, your bubbles are always right.

Life can be like that at times too. If we base the rules of life on our feelings, perception or what we think, we can be very easily led astray. The philosophy, "If it feels good it must be right," is a dangerous guide to follow because our feelings can play all sorts of tricks on us. If something is wrong, it is wrong regardless of how we feel or what we think. True, it's important that we don't deny or repress our feelings, because we can learn to trust them; but what we can't always trust is our interpretation of them.

The only safe guide to follow when it comes to the rules of life is to trust God and his Word, the Bible. Therein lie the "bubbles of life" to follow. These "bubbles" are always right. Always!

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, and for giving us principles for healthy living and loving. Give me a love for your Word and the desire to hide it in my heart so I won't sin against you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name. Amen."

1. Psalm 119:11 (NIV).

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BELT OF TRUTH
By Marion Smith


 Ephesians 6:14 Stand firm, with the buckle of truth buckled around your
waist

Recently God gave me a story when I put on tight shoes. Tight
shoes are no fun! Today, however, I I put on a belt that was too tight
! Ouch! That is a worse feeling than tight shoes, I do believe! I had
to wear the belt, because it went with the outfit… so suffer
through it I did! I let it out to the last notch, and it was tolerable
as long as I stood up. If I sat down, however, something happened and
it almost took my breath away. Boy, was that ever uncomfortable.

One part of the Armor of God is the belt of truth. Have you
ever compromised it?? For instance, you're ready to have a day filled
with truth and good news and then-something happens. Perhaps a friend
asks you a question and the truthful answer would hurt her. You may
reason… a little slanting of this one answer won't hurt, Lord,
will it? A situation may arise when telling the truth puts you in an
awkward position… what do you do? Or perhaps your child asks you a
question about the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus or the tooth fairy. How
can you answer these questions without compromising your promise to God
about not lying? Each time you fudge a little or slant the exactness,
your belt of truth gets a little tighter. You feel uneasy in your
spirit, and know you have not spoken accurately. Telling one white
lie and then another builds a foundation for lies to roll off your
tongue more easily each time. It is not a good habit to succumb to.

I do not have the answer about how you should speak to your
friends in truth, or discuss delicate issues with your children. I do
know, however, that God calls us to speak the truth, and we are to do
so each and every day. That is why He told us about this "belt of
truth" that we should wear every day- it is part of His armor to
combat Satan. I know I need this piece of Holy armor, and pray I will
never stretch or bend the truth in such a manner that it cuts of my
breath, the way my belt did on my outfit today.

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NO MORE WITH ME
Author Unknown

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me! I don't mean to hold you up," he said as he
struggled to get off the escalator.

I'll admit to it. There have been times when walking or driving behind an
older person I've gotten impatient and upset. I've huffed and zoomed around
them because I was in a hurry to get nowhere. Perhaps I'm more aware of it
now because I see myself there one day soon. Today I saw myself in this old
man's shoes and it caused me to slow down, stop and ask for his forgiveness.

He was about five or six people ahead of me. I was in a hurry and saw him as
an obstacle. I've seen people get off the end of an escalator and stop dead
in their tracks, gather their things and suddenly there's a pile up of angry
people behind them. You can't stop an escalator full of people behind you.
Like the Energizer bunny, they keep on goin'.

This man was well aware of the challenge. He tried desperately to step
aside. Fumbling with his small packages, struggling to gain his footing, you
could see how troubling this was for him. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me! I
don't mean to hold you up," he said as he struggled to get off the
escalator.

I suddenly saw this in a whole new light. It was like I was watching my
future. I felt sorry for him. I felt sick to my stomach because this man was
apologizing to everyone, when we should have been helping him and calming
his fears.

One by one, people zipped around him. I heard a few angry comments whispered
as one lady passed by him.

I saw me.

By the time I got to him he was just about steady on his feet.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was more," he said.

"No, sir. No more with me," I said. This really hit me hard. I realized
right then how sad it was that the world was in such a hurry. That, of
course, included me. But...no more with me. Count me out.

This wonderful man paid his dues. For whatever time he had spent on this
earth, he most likely walked many rough roads and too many important miles.
Now he should be apologizing for moving slower?

My heart ached as I looked into his eyes. I wished that I could see what he
had seen all those years. His face weathered from life itself, was creased
and wrinkled. The small soft pockets under his eyes and the gentle lines
that curved up and around them told me he had many happy moments, too. Those
were traces left behind from laughter and a smiling, happy man.

"My friend, can I help you with those things?" I asked.

Hesitant at first, he finally said, "Well, yes, thank you!"

I placed my hand under his left arm and walked with him a safe distance away
from the rush of people.

"So what are you shopping for, sir?"

"Oh, just a little something for my neighbor. She's a young mother raising
kids on her own. She's always so nice to me. I thought a box of candy for
Mother's Day..." he said, stopping suddenly as he searched his inside pocket
of his sport coat.

"Do you need something?" I asked.

"Oh, no. Here. I think I have it right here. I always carry them with me,"
he said. Then pulling out a hand full of papers he shuffled through them and
handed me a business card that read:

"John A. Pomicter
Friend to all...enemy to no one!
I said a prayer today and you were the answer. Thank you!"

"That's for you," he said. "Thanks for stopping to help an old man."

"My friend, you helped me. I discovered that I was unhappy with the world
and I was part of the problem. Now I'll be part of the solution. No more
with me!"

"Then this was meant to be," he said smiling.

"You know God sends me gifts every day and always at least one special
person. You were my gift for today! Let's go get some chocolates, my
friend."

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