The disciples who gathered with Jesus on the mountainside that day, listening attentively to his sermon, were few in number, limited in resource and possessing very little in the way of power or influence. Yet Jesus made a stunning declaration: they and they alone were the world’s best hope . And not by somehow laying hold of the world’s levers of power and influence, but rather by simply being who God called them to be and doing what called them to do. That might seem hopelessly naïve and unrealistic in a world of high tech and social media, but it is at the very heart of the truth of the kingdom of heaven. This morning we’ll consider what it means for Christians to be salt and light in the ever increasing secular environment in which we find ourselves, by way of Matthew 5:13-16, in a message entitled “Christian Influence in a Secular World”.