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Ceres SDA Church

Anil Kanda

Sodium Chloride

Why don't we bow our heads for a word of prayer and then let's get started and ask God for the Holy Spirit Father we just thank you so much God for blessing us in so many ways and Lord, thank you that you put around us a hedge of protection But we thank you Lord most of all that our salvation is secured in heaven, not in earthly things.

And right now we just want to pray for our brothers and sisters that are hurting.

We know that some are starving for food right now.

Jesus we pray and ask that your angels would feed them as they fed Elijah.

God that you would take care of your people And you would help all those that are suffering right now in the Philippines.

Jesus, as we prayed during prayer meeting this week, we ask that you would bring something good out of this destruction.

Alright, the name of the sermon today is called sodium chloride.

Sodium chloride, who knows what sodium chloride is?

And what we're going to be doing is we're going to take a very good look in the Bible about a particular story That had to do with salt.

Let's go to 2nd Kings chapter 2 verse 19 and you're gonna be learning about a very unusual circumstance that took place.

Now the context is this, Elijah had just been translated.

And this is immediately after the translation of Elijah.

Now the difference between Elijah and Elisha, Elijah was this great public rebuker of sins.

He was this mysterious individual who showed up on the scenes and he rebuked the king for his idolatry and all of Israel and he started a great Revival that took place But at the same time this man after he did his job mysteriously disappeared His predecessor came on the scene.

Now the difference between Elijah and Elisha is that while Elijah was this great public rebuker, Elisha was this man who would come close to the people of Israel.

In fact, when you take a good look in the New Testament, you hear the story of a man who had the spirit of Elijah and that was who, ladies and gentlemen?

But then after him Came somebody by the name of who?

Jesus and Jesus's ministry not only consisted of public ministry, but mostly a personal ministry and Here you have the story of Elisha who was this man that would go and be around people.

He entered into Israel and he mingled among them.

In fact, you find many different stories of his personal encounters with people.

1 time he was with his school of prophets and while they were chopping wood, apparently 1 of the axe heads fell into the water another time he was spending time with the the king of Israel at that time right before his death personally counseling him another time he was helping out I assume my widow over and over again You see Elisha's ministry consisted a personal one-on-one contact However in this particular story, this is right after the translation of Elijah You have the story of Elisha and this is the very first thing that happens in his ministry Elisha 2nd Kings chapter 2 starting with verse Chapter 2 starting with verse 19 if you're there go ahead and say Amen.

Okay let's see what the Bible is saying right here.

Then the men of the city said to Elisha, please notice the situation of this city is pleasant.

This school of prophets was located in Jericho.

Jericho was this place that had been destroyed earlier on by the Israelites.

And so this place had a lot of issues but people began to rebuild it.

And so there was a school of prophets that was also located in this area and they said hey look this city is doing really great Elisha it's very right for something big to take place but then watch what he says next this man to Elisha verse 19 please notice the situation of this city is pleasant as my lord sees but the water is bad and the ground what Baron apparently there was something wrong with this place You see while there were a lot of people who were interested in rebuilding this area They had a very significant problem and that problem was this that their well source was not good Something was wrong with the water It doesn't quite say but we know something was wrong with that water and because of it People couldn't take that water and they couldn't grow things and so the land was barren in fact What's so interesting the word barren actually means in Hebrew 1 that cannot give children 1 that cannot give children And Here this school of prophets is set up in this place that had some idolatry in there they were trying to counteract the influences that were there and So while this situation takes place Elisha is there and he begins to come up with the solution.

Look what the Bible says next, this is remarkable.

Verse 20, and he said, Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.

And then they went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water, from it There shall be no more death or barrenness So the water remains healed to this day according to the word of Elisha, which he spoke Elisha told these men He says give me a brand new bowl They brought him a brand new book bowl and then he says put some salt in it He they took some salt and they put in that bowl and he walks over to where the source of this fountain was He pours it in there and all of a sudden the water itself Becomes good again This was totally a miracle of God.

There is nothing scientific about putting salt in this water.

Ladies and gentlemen this was a miracle of God and Here God used Elisha to help the school of the prophets during this event that happened.

Now as we're looking at this lesson ladies and gentlemen there is something very powerful for each and every 1 of us.

When salt was poured into this water it became good.

This same exact well is known as n s Sultan It is named after a sultan who realized how good what this good water actually was that he actually Purchased the land and still to this day.

It is 1 of the most agriculturally rich areas of that area and that water still flows and Here you see this miracle at the root of it.

And the reason why is Because it lies shall put some salt into the situation, you know, Jesus said something very interesting Matthew chapter 5 verse 13 He says this let's read it together.

I know some people are misinterpreting said we are the pepper of the earth.

Salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be?

Seasoned Here you have a bite a symbol Jesus using a symbol to describe how His people are to be in the world today.

It's very interesting when you look at some of the common uses of salt.

It preserves, it flavors, it heals, and it produces thirst.

And in every 1 of these Actions, this is what Jesus is calling his people to be to this world salt was often used for preservation during that time They had no refrigeration So they would pour salt into it.

In fact, when you read the book of Leviticus, salt was always used in the offerings.

In every single offering, it says in Leviticus, they were to add salt in it.

And the salt represented the covenant of God.

In other words, it represented a continuity that God would be keeping his end of the covenant salt also flavors Sometimes if someone cooks for you It's always good to have the salt and pepper nearby, amen?

You know, me personally, I grew up in a very Indian household, and so generally my taste is, it needs to be a little bit hotter.

And so when I'm making food, even bland food, it still tastes hot for people.

And then when I taste it, it tastes like just real cold food But ladies and gentlemen, this is the purpose of salt it is to flavor it is to adjust the taste So It becomes so unique and distinctive.

It's no longer ordinary or plain Salt also, excuse me.

Let's go back So also heal salt was oftentimes used on wounds and it worked kind of like an antibacterial It also was something that produced thirst as Well salt produces thirst If you eat a lot of salty foods you want to drink more what?

And ladies and gentlemen when you think about this God is calling His people To be salt in a hurting world in fact Ellen White says something so powerful here blew my mind away Hearts that respond to the influence of the Holy Spirit are the channels to which God's blessings flow Were those now get this were those who serve God?

Removed from the earth and his spirit withdrawn from among men this earth would be left to desolation and destruction Though the wicked know it not they owe even the blessings of this life to the presence to The presence in this world of who?

God's People whom they despise and oppress there are many examples in the Old Testament Describing this in fact law and his family were preserved through the intervention of who?

Abraham In fact when you read about the people before the flood it was so bad ladies and gentlemen That not even 8 righteous people could buffer the evil that was there.

That's how bad it got before the flood But if all The righteous war removed ladies and gentlemen, this world would fall into complete chaos and would be utterly destroyed God preserves this world because his people are still in it and this is what's so amazing about salt God is calling His people to be salt.

Whenever you take some dish or something like that, and you add some nice salt to it, it changes the flavor of the dish.

And this was Elisha's first miracle that he did.

And his ministry was to be far different than Elijah this scary rebuker And this is what God is calling his people to be in this world to infuse to penetrate to mingle to become Part of this world not of this world Ladies and gentlemen, but to be in this world that God's grace may be felt and experienced.

I had 1 time this experience that took place.

I Was starting a new job and it was at a warehouse Now I had just become a Seventh-day Adventist Christian and I was just like I was so excited I was like, I'm so excited about sharing my faith.

I can't wait till do this But I said Lord, I want to be careful because I don't want to come across too strong So you've got to help me help me to be salt to these people and it was totally a God thing so I got to this job and I started working hard I did my best I said you know what I'm gonna skip my breaks I was actually working 2 jobs I said I'm gonna work really hard I was going to be going to a evangelism school pretty soon but I wanted to be a witness so I said to myself I'm going to work really hard not as a man pleaser, but as a God pleaser And then I said I am going to be so respectful towards anybody who's older than me over there I'm going to respect those who are in position and then I said I'm going to be the most loving and lovable Christian in this area.

I didn't say the most annoying Christian but the most loving and lovable Christian I'm going to go out of my way to help people and it was so amazing like this was again God's thing So while we were there at this work, sometimes the men would be really depressed.

And I would just do my best to try to cheer them up.

I wanted to be a positive encouragement to them.

During break time, when some of them were tired, I said, hey, give me your order.

And I would go as fast as I could but what's so interesting my supervisor came to me he said hey you know what's so interesting ever since you started to work here everyone's been picking up the pace more keep going at it and I began to realize like this was a God thing.

In fact, I begin to pray with people on their lunchtimes and This was totally God's work I believe God was using me in that experience to be like salt and ladies and gentlemen That is to be our experience in the daily intercourse of life whether with be with your family It be at your work or it goes when you're going to the grocery store or wherever you are at you are to change the situation by your actions You are to be salt You are to add a pleasant flavor to the circumstance Amen, in fact 1 thing we do need to be careful about is that when you're cooking food You're cooking a lot of food If you just pour salt in the same place, what happens when you take a bite of that food?

What do you want to do after you take a bite of it?

You know, God's people need to be spread out Amen, they don't be fully concentrated in 1 area.

Sometimes it doesn't taste good when all the sauce right next to each other, right?

But God is calling us ladies and gentlemen.

God is calling us to spread our influence all over the world Salt is supposed to be spread all Over the dish and just like we are ministering ladies and gentlemen, we need to minister in various capacities Next year, we're gonna be attempting a lot of different things.

We have 4 Bible workers that are gonna be coming in to do their internship.

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Sodium Chloride

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