NC Family Staff | November 23, 2016 | SHARE: 
As we officially start a holiday season that includes a time of Thanksgiving, the celebration of the birth of Christ, and preparations for a New Year, it’s a good reminder: Our highest goal is to know Him well. May we all seek to be so filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ within us that love and joy cannot help but spill out onto our families, friends, neighbors, and into everything we say and do. We at NC Family pray that the love of Christ will spill out of all of our lives like a fountain of joy in this coming holiday season and all of the lives that we ‘splash’ into would be encouraged and enriched.
Be encouraged by this video of NC Family Pastor Outreach Director Thomas Graham, as he introduced a time of prayer and praise during the recent NC Family Dinner in Winston Salem. Please pause and enjoy this short video above and be blessed!
I invite you to consider with me this thought: That every movement we make in response to God has a ripple effect, touching the lives of our families, touching the lives of our friends, neighbors, communities, and even in many instances, expanding beyond that to touching states and nations. And I believe the principle reason for why this is true is that the life of Jesus Christ, that we are blessed to experience on the inside, simply cannot be contained
I like to call it this ‘spilling out quality’ of the life of Jesus Christ resident within the hearts of His people. And I believe this accounts, not only for our own joy and happiness as we contemplate and think about the remarkable story that is Jesus Christ and as we seek to share that with others, but I also believe this ‘spilling out quality’ is responsible for any good thing that occurs on this Earth that has a positive outcome and a positive effect on the human condition here.
I believe all of this is summarized best in Jesus’ own words, when one day He gathered on a Mount, we know it as ‘The Sermon on the Mount.’ Multitudes of people came and were impressed with this young man from Galilee who spoke so eloquently and he gave this wonderful sermon. But in that sermon, he used salt and light metaphors and he spoke this way to the people in that day. I know you’re familiar with these verses out of the King James translation or out of the NIV. I’m coming tonight to share with you out of Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible. I found his use of the vocabulary that we use today to be so enriching. So here’s, through the words of Eugene Peterson as he translates those marvelous words of Christ, how Christ would have addressed those people:
Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:13-16 (MSG)
