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[Pause] Read for your consideration Colossians 4, 2 through 5. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with all giving also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance.

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I am also, I speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. This is prayer time. I ask that you would come and join us around the altar.

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[ Silence ] [BELL RINGING] [BELL RINGING] [ Pause ]

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Let us bow our heads. I feel that every heart needs to talk to God. Our Father and our God,

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the Creator of heaven and of earth, the Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, We thank thee for the opportunity to gather round your altar and render thanks unto thee for so many blessings that thou hast bestowed unto us.

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We realize, Master, that you have been better to us than we have been to ourselves. We have not lived up to our commitment to thee. We have not did all that we promised you. We have not served thee in spirit and in truth as we promised.

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But you being a God of mercy, so slow to anger, you have forgiven us of our sins and you've allowed us another chance, another opportunity to draw ourselves a little bit closer to thee. We thank you for it, Master. We thank you for the opportunity to come to this place and to worship thee in spirit and fellowship with one

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another in thy holy and righteous name. And as we come to the altar, we come not Not only did we bring ourselves, but we brought our burdens, our problems, and our cares to the altar. And if you want us to solve our problems, bear our burdens, just give us a little more

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strength. We'll climb the mountaintop. Just give us a little more strength. Touch those hearts that are wracked with pain.

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We know that you can. We know you will. We know that you are able. Touch those, Master, that do not even know you

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in the pardon of their sins. Touch our enemies, if we have them. And bless those that consider us their enemy. Bless the leaders of the country.

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Bless those that are hungry, both for spiritual and physical foods. And Master, we know that you've heard. You hear us right now.

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Invade our presence. Speak to our lonely souls. Lift us up in the name of Jesus. And then when it's all over here, Master,

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take us home where we can spend eternity praising thee forevermore. And we'll walk around heaven singing holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

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Let's shake hands with one another and greet one another this morning as we go to our seats. Please be seated. [inaudible] [silence]

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[silence] [ Pause ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[MUSIC PLAYING] [ Music ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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[Music] (music) [Music] [Music]

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[ Music ] ♪ Oh, he lives ♪ ♪ God so loves ♪ ♪ Oh, he lives ♪

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♪ He lives ♪ ♪ To the places ♪ [Music] ♪ Heaven's ♪

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♪ In it ♪ ♪ It brings ♪ ♪ Your wounded heart ♪ ♪ It turns your ♪

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♪ Anguish ♪ ♪ Bright eyes, no sorrow ♪ ♪ Then, then I'll be ♪ ♪ Joy of the desolate ♪

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♪ Life of the spirit ♪ ♪ God in the name ♪ ♪ Famous and true ♪ ♪ His peace the comfort of ♪

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♪ In heavenly safety ♪ ♪ And at no time ♪ ♪ Our hope vanishes ♪ ♪ And the heavy ♪

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(scales instrumental music) [Music] [Music] ♪ Come to the peace of God ♪

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♪ Come, ever knowing ♪ ♪ That there's no sorrow ♪ [music] [music]

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As we come to our offertory period at this time, we invite you to worship the Lord in the sharing of gifts, worship Him in the dedication of self and substance. Our church is supported through tithes and offerings.

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We encourage everyone to give the tithe one-tenth of your income to the Lord. I would like for all of the tithers in our church to stand for just a moment.

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All the tithers, would you stand for just a moment? Thank you all the tithers in the church to stand for just thank you so much. I'd like for you to meet with me for just a few moments following the benediction today for just a few moments in the rear here of the sanctuary.

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All of the tithers for just a few moments. Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase so So shall thy bonds be filled with plenty, and thy presses burst out with new wine. So let us pray as Brother Johnson leads us in our offeratory prayer.

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Our Father in heaven, we come, O merciful Father, in humble submission to Thee. We thank You for the very privilege of our being here this morning. Help us to know, O Lord, that we are so blessed. Help us to know our missions and bless those who have seen it fit within our hearts to be able to do as thou hast

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Asked us to do from the standpoint of giving bless those who give at any means help us to know Lord that we have a mission in this world here at home and there and everywhere Help us so Lord to be willing to share help us to know that there are needs

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beyond our comprehension. Go with us all and keep us, and O Lord, bless us in all of the ways that we need it. In the name of thy son, we ask thee's blissness. Amen. Good morning, I'm glad to be today in the name of Christ Jesus first of all Pastor Griffin has spoke to you about some concerns and Jesus bids you today about some concerns

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You see he's called us to be laborers in his vineyard And you say oh, I'm not equipped to be a laborer for him He calls everyone Everyone that's willing to give him his and her all

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In our saying, in our doing, in our giving, he calls you today and this song expresses it. [MUSIC PLAYING] (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music)

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(music) (audience applauding) (gentle piano music) [ Music ]

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Just ordinary people. God uses plain, ordinary people. He uses people just like you and me, who are willing to do as his will commands.

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He uses people who will give him all, no matter how small your all may seem to you. Yes, because little becomes much as you place it in the master's hands.

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♪ Just ordinary people ♪ ♪ God uses plain ordinary people ♪ ♪ He uses people just like you and me ♪ ♪ Who are willing to do as his will commands ♪

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He chooses people who will give him all, no matter how small. You all may seem to you, oh yes, because little becomes much as you place it in the master's hands. And you know, we all know the story about that little lad

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who gave Jesus all he had. How the multitude was fed with fish and loaves of bread. So what you have may not be much, but when you yield it to the touch of the master's loving

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hands, then you will understand how your life can never be the same. Just ordinary people. God uses plain, ordinary people.

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He uses people just like you and me, ♪ To a willing to do as his will command ♪ ♪ He chooses people who will give him all ♪ ♪ No matter how small your all may seem to you ♪

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♪ Oh yes, because little becomes much ♪ ♪ As you place it in the master's hands ♪ ♪ Place it in the master's hands ♪ ♪ Oh, little becomes much ♪

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♪ As you place it in the master's hands ♪ ♪ In the master's hands ♪ Subject of the message this morning, speech seasoned with salt. Speech seasoned with salt.

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In Colossians the fourth chapter and the sixth verse are these words, "Let your speech be seasoned with salt so that you may know

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how you ought to answer everyone." Communication is of utmost importance. It is the way we make contact with one another. Scientific discoveries, technological inventions

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have shortened the distances between us. Our gadgets make it possible for us to sit in our living room and observe what is taking place at that very moment in the most remote, remote, remote parts of the earth. The telephone makes it possible for us to talk with people on any continent. Science and technology have brought us

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within close proximity of each other, we can communicate, whether it be by telephone or telegraph, by television or radio, newspaper or mail, we can communicate. With all that we have at our disposal, the many avenues available for us to say what we have to say, the question is, what do we have to say?

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Is what we have to say worth saying? There are those who tell us that they have something to say, but they seem never to get around to saying it. Do you have something to say? That's the question. What do you have to say? Paul says, what you have to say, say it with salt. This

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is his word of advice to the Colossians, "Let your speech be seasoned with salt." I've heard salt used in connection with speech in a very different kind of context, when I was a teenager and we would refer to someone's speech as being salty, we meant that it was very unpleasant. But this is not what is meant

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by this word of advice that Paul gives us, "Let your speech be seasoned with salt." For in the world of the Bible, salt was a very valuable possession. A bag of salt was considered as valuable as a man's life. Salt was used in payment of taxes.

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Salt is indispensable to life. It is absolutely essential to our well-being. There's a story concerning a king whose three daughters expressed their love to him

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by various statements that they made. One of them said, "I love you more than silver." Another said, "I love you more than gold." And the king was very pleased with these statements.

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The other daughter said, "I love you better than salt." And he was not too happy with that. The cook overheard it, and so the next morning she prepared his breakfast without any salt in it. And the king immediately got the point.

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That really what she meant is that I love you so much that nothing is good without you. I love you better than salt. I don't know exactly why Paul found it fitting to write these words, "Let your speech be seasoned with salt in this particular occasion as he writes to the Christians in Colossae.

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Now you see the words are addressed to church people, persons who are labeled as disciples of Jesus Christ. They exist in an environment where there are hostile forces, corrupt forces, organized hindrances. Paul is saying that we ought to be careful as to how we communicate with each other. Let your speech be

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seasoned with salt. We ought to be cautious as to what we say. Someone has said that the medium is the message. We need to be careful as to what we say and And we need also to be careful about how we say what we say. It's a little song we sing, especially to children.

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Oh, be careful little tongue what you say. Oh, be careful little tongue what you say. While the father up above is looking down in tender love. Oh, be careful little tongue what you say.

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Some people don't seem to care what they say or how they say it. So probably, probably, it just may have been that Paul was addressing these words to people in the congregation who had loose lips, who were reckless with their tongues, people who did not care what they said or how they said it. So to them this word is addressed, let your speech be seasoned

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with salt. Well when we consider these words in the light of our own day there lot of people who would say let your speech be seasoned with pepper because when they find themselves in a hostile environment when they find people saying some things that they don't want them to say well they they have some rather hot

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words that they can address some choice words of profanity they have way of seasoning up their speech with pepper. And there are many who feel that this is a way of livening up conversation, but that isn't really what the Apostle is saying here. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. In other words he's saying let

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your speech be useful. Oh you know how commonplace salt is, we have a salt shaker on the table, we have it to season our food, it's a rather common thing. It was common in those days, it's common in our day. Let your speech be useful. Oh how easy it is to engage in idle chatter, to have a lot of yakety yak yak about

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nothing. It's easy to engage in tasteless talk, talk that is meaningless, that serves no useful purpose, talk that is dull and uninteresting that's insipid. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. Maybe there were those in the Colossian congregation who were inclined to be malicious gossipers, who were quick to

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lay hold on any rumor which would ruin another's reputation or character. They did not want to check it out. They didn't want to see whether it was true or not. They only wanted to help circulate malicious mail so they could tear down rather than build up. To them this word is addressed, let your speech be seasoned

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with salt. Oh how many people are discouraged from coming to church, how many people are discouraged from having a right relationship with Jesus Christ because of something that someone says. And so often what is said by someone who claims to be rightly identified is that which is not encouraging, something that

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is not helpful at all. The talk serves no useful purpose, it's meaningless, it's malicious, and so maybe, maybe, maybe this word is addressed to people who are guilty of this kind of behavior. So here comes that word. It's a word that is meaningful and helpful. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. Do not have your

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mouth open saying something when you have nothing to say. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. Don't be a silly talker. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. Your speech ought to be useful. Your speech tells others who you are. Remember the damsel said to Peter when he was trying to conceal his identity?

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She said, "Oh yes, I know who you are. You're one of his disciples because your speech tells who you are, your speech betrays you. Salt is available, it's familiar, it's useful for seasoning food and in order for the food of life to be properly seasoned it must have salt, the body must have salt. In order for our life to be

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useful in order for our life to be meaningful it must be seasoned with the salt of usefulness. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. This is a warning against unnecessary talk, idle chatter, malicious gossip. Yes salt is useful. Secondly, salt is helpful. It is a means of making food palatable. This helps us,

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this word, helps us to deal with taunts. You know, so often people say to us that which they ought not to say. Certain circumstances are really designed to taunt or to tease us and human existence has its bitter experiences. Many people who may be at the right place but for the wrong reason. I can remember when I

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I was a Sunday school lad in some of the classes that the students were there, many older persons, were there not for really understanding the Bible and learning more about the Bible, but they were there to try to ask the Sunday school teacher a question they thought the Sunday school teacher would be

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unable to answer and that was supposed to be smart. And all of the time the one the teacher was trying to unravel the meaning of the lesson the person would be sitting there trying to ask a question that they couldn't answer they thought and when the teacher was able to answer the question they still would try

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to explain that this was not really the answer because they were there for no good purpose. So there are those persons who touch our lives that don't have any good purpose. They're really trying to upset us. They're trying to tease us. They're trying to disturb us and there were many people there in the

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surrounding community where the Christians in Colossae lived who were like that. They weren't Christians and they were just there to tease and taunt those who claim to be disciples of this Jesus. And so Paul said now remember in the midst of that atmosphere and let your speech be seasoned with salt. People

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will say things to deliberately hurt our feelings. They will ask questions designed to humiliate us. They will say things for the purpose of embarrassing us, but let your speech be seasoned with salt." So you can accept the bitterness of life, the bitter circumstances, the taunts, the jizz, when you are able to practice this word

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of advice. Elisha had a group of the band of prophets to come to him as they were stationed down by the city of Jericho. They said to him, "Master, this water, the stream that's here is bitter. The waters are naughty. The location is very pleasant but the waters are naughty. And Elisha said bring me some salt and he

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sprinkled the salt into the waters and they were sweetened. And then really when we are able to sprinkle some goodness in into our speech and when our purposes are good we are able somehow to change the circumstances, Paul says, "Let your speech be seasoned with salt. Let it be useful. Let it be helpful." It is made to be

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helpful, that's the purpose of salt, not to hurt. So we ought to be respectful of others, we ought to be helpful regardless of the intentions of others. So they taught us, though they create for us bitter circumstances, let your speech be seasoned with salt. Salt stops things from going bad. It prevents corruption,

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keeps food from spoiling. Yes this is a helpful word for those who engage in personal evangelism. So many of us don't say anything to anybody about becoming a Christian. We don't say anything to them about their relationship to Christ and the church. We don't say anything about them coming to Sunday school. We don't

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say anything about them coming to church because we are afraid of what they may say to us. They may say something, and I hear this all the time, they may say something, Reverend, that hurts my feelings and so I'm not gonna say anything to them. Or I would say something to so-and-so but you don't

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know what so-and-so would say. So Paul is really saying this for those who ought to engaged in personal evangelistic work. Let your speech be seasoned with salt no matter what they say you be prepared that your speech might be like salt that you might be helpful to those who come to you as inquirers for this is a word

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that helps you to meet all challenges. Let your speech be seasoned with soul. Yes, we need this word of advice that tells us what to say and how to say it. Let your conversation be pleasant.

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Practice courtesy and conversation. Let your speech be flavored with wisdom. Speak the appropriate word to everyone. Let your speech be seasoned with salt.

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Next place, salt is zestful. When we have salt, salt has a way of not only flavoring food, but salt edifies. It means let your speech be designed in such a way that it is attractive. Let your speech be designed in such a way that it beautifies and edifies.

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of speech which is well-meaning, kind of speech which stimulates the appetite so that people will somehow enjoy being around you and in engaging in conversation with you. In order for speech to be seasoned with salt we've got to have salt in us. Speech as a way of expressing what is in us. We don't

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know what a person is thinking until he begins talking. It's a matter of letting others know what is inside you and what is in comes out. So if it is not in us it cannot come out of us. Jesus said on one occasion to his disciples let there be salt in you or have salt in yourselves and so Paul says let your speech be

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seasoned with salt. So if we do what Jesus says, have salt in ourselves, then our speech will be seasoned with salt. And this can only happen where there is loyalty to Jesus Christ, for Jesus you see is the Word. He is that good Word for every occasion. So for our speech to be seasoned with salt, we have to have the

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word Jesus Christ in us and with us at all times. That's the way, that's the way we are to live from day to day. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. That's the good word. A minister reports that he was on his way to conduct a revival and he was driving on a lonely road one night and he saw a man in the road just waving

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his hand waving his hand and he drove on by and as he drove on the farther he got down the road he thought he said I ought to go back I ought to go back and the thought just kept haunting him, I ought to go back, I ought to go back. And he turned around and he went back. And he went back and the man said, "Oh mister, I'm so glad

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you came back." He said, "That bridge down the road is washed out and some 20 cars have plunged to their death in the waters there." He said, "I'm so glad you came back. I'm so glad you turned around. I'm just standing here trying to stop all who are coming this way to warn them of the danger that's there. I'm so glad you came

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back. He was just there, just there with the right word for the right time and it was so good that the man turned around and listened to that word. And that's what God has said to us. God has a word for us. God has spoken unto us and he has spoken unto us through his Son. He has given us his word that God who in sundry times and in

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divers manners spoke to the prophets of old, hath in the last days spoken unto us through Jesus Christ who is his word. God has something to say to us and he says it with salt. He says it with the salt of usefulness in Jesus Christ. He says it with the salt of helpfulness in Jesus Christ. He says it in the salt of redemption through Jesus Christ. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. I know of a floral company who has the

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slogan, "Say it with flowers." God has said it with salt, said it with redemptive love, he said it with redeeming forgiveness, he said it in a very strong and meaningful way. The same God says to us through this apostle, through this word to every one of us, let your speech be seasoned with solidity. Oh I know that

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there are temptations all around you. I know that there are corrupt influences surrounding you. I know that there are hindrances. I know that there are difficulties, but here is the word. Yield not to that temptation, but let your speech be seasoned with salt. So the invitation is extended. The response is

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yours as we come now to the hymn. The time of commitment, of decision, of dedication. If you would respond to this word, if you would be rightly related to Christ and his church, we extend to you the invitation to come now while the choir sings "Lead, Yield Not to Temptation." We invite you to respond to the

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the blessed invitation of Jesus Christ to come. ♪ Here comes the temptation ♪ ♪ For healing and sin ♪ ♪ Peace which we will have here ♪

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♪ From all hell to heaven ♪ ♪ Find that holy owner ♪ ♪ Our passions can be used ♪ ♪ Lord have mercy ♪

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♪ Teach us missionary rules ♪ ♪ Ask the Savior to help you ♪ ♪ On the strength that He's used ♪ ♪ He is willing to heal you ♪

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♪ He is there for you too ♪ ♪ Shun evil compassion ♪ ♪ And my business stay ♪ ♪ God made worlds in three parts ♪

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♪ Four take it in place ♪ ♪ People go and learn ♪ ♪ Kind, hardy, and true ♪ ♪ Go there unto Jesus ♪

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♪ Here at you ♪ ♪ I'm a singer to have you ♪ ♪ On the string and key ♪ [ Silence ]