WEBVTT 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:04.219 Sharing good news of great joy to all people. 00:00:04.620 --> 00:00:10.119 Elation Church. This is week number two in our 00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:16.620 series, A Call to Honor. The series started as 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:20.539 just being called Honor. And then I had Jeffrey 00:00:20.539 --> 00:00:22.960 change up the artwork just a little bit and change 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:28.359 it to A Call to Honor. Because we are called 00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:32.880 to be people of honor. You might not recognize 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.719 this, you might not know this, but honor is mentioned 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:40.740 in the Bible over 300 times. So if that concept 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:43.299 is mentioned in the Bible over 300 times, how 00:00:43.299 --> 00:00:45.719 many of you think it's probably important that 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:47.820 we know some things about honor if it's in the 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:53.840 Bible that much? So, it's important to God. Honor 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:58.340 is important to God. And Jeffrey and I were talking 00:00:58.340 --> 00:01:00.100 before we even started the series. We've been 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:03.299 talking for months. And he said, Dad, you know 00:01:03.299 --> 00:01:07.060 what? People my age and younger, most of them 00:01:07.060 --> 00:01:11.260 have never been taught what honor is. So how 00:01:11.260 --> 00:01:15.500 can we expect someone to be a person of honor 00:01:15.500 --> 00:01:18.920 when they don't even know what it is and they've 00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:24.140 never been taught about honor? So we're teaching 00:01:24.140 --> 00:01:28.310 on it. I've been preaching for over 30 years, 00:01:28.409 --> 00:01:30.969 and this is the first time I've ever preached 00:01:30.969 --> 00:01:34.730 one message on honor, much less a series on honor. 00:01:35.510 --> 00:01:39.170 But honor is important to God. 1 Samuel 2 .30. 00:01:40.969 --> 00:01:47.590 Everybody say Eli. Eli was the priest, and his 00:01:47.590 --> 00:01:52.250 sons were following him into the priesthood. 00:01:53.769 --> 00:01:55.950 And you know what? His sons were not doing right. 00:01:57.390 --> 00:02:00.549 They were not handling the offerings correctly. 00:02:00.810 --> 00:02:07.609 They weren't handling the people correctly. And 00:02:07.609 --> 00:02:09.590 you know what? Even though they were supposed 00:02:09.590 --> 00:02:13.090 to be in the line of Levi, they were supposed 00:02:13.090 --> 00:02:18.750 to be the priests. God said, you know what? If 00:02:18.750 --> 00:02:21.289 you're not going to honor what I've called you 00:02:21.289 --> 00:02:24.710 to do, Then it's going to be taken away from 00:02:24.710 --> 00:02:32.629 you. So, God spoke to Eli and he said, Eli, you 00:02:32.629 --> 00:02:35.409 have been honoring your sons more than you've 00:02:35.409 --> 00:02:43.370 been honoring me. So, this calling is going to 00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:47.150 be removed from your family line. And here's 00:02:47.150 --> 00:02:49.610 what God said. God said, I will honor those who 00:02:49.610 --> 00:02:54.080 honor me. Let's just think about that a second. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.900 Would anybody in the room like for God to honor 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:03.900 them? About half of you. Some of you are saying, 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:10.159 well, you know, I don't know. I'm reading a Bible 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:13.840 verse, folks. It says God will honor those who 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:19.710 honor him. He'll honor those who honor him. You 00:03:19.710 --> 00:03:21.930 might be saying, well, I'm just unworthy. I don't 00:03:21.930 --> 00:03:24.270 need God to honor me. I'm just so unworthy, you 00:03:24.270 --> 00:03:29.210 know. But God says he will honor those who honor 00:03:29.210 --> 00:03:32.189 him. I will honor those who honor me, and I will 00:03:32.189 --> 00:03:35.349 despise. Everybody say despise. Who wants to 00:03:35.349 --> 00:03:40.969 be despised by God? Raise your hand. I will despise 00:03:40.969 --> 00:03:46.210 those who think lightly of me. Now, in this study, 00:03:46.310 --> 00:03:51.210 we've learned what honor is. All of us come into 00:03:51.210 --> 00:03:53.490 the room with an idea of what we think honor 00:03:53.490 --> 00:03:58.069 is and what despising is. How many of you know 00:03:58.069 --> 00:04:00.189 the Old Testament? The majority of the Old Testament 00:04:00.189 --> 00:04:02.949 was written in Hebrew. And we're just trying 00:04:02.949 --> 00:04:06.610 to translate it into English so that we can understand 00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:10.990 what God said to his people. So that word honor 00:04:10.990 --> 00:04:16.870 in the Hebrew is kavod. And here's what it means, 00:04:16.930 --> 00:04:21.009 to be heavy. Look to the person beside you and 00:04:21.009 --> 00:04:26.569 say, heavy, man, heavy. To be heavy, to make 00:04:26.569 --> 00:04:34.189 weighty, to honor, to glorify. See, sometimes 00:04:34.189 --> 00:04:38.029 when you read glorify in the Old Testament, it 00:04:38.029 --> 00:04:43.470 could also be translated honor. To value. Everybody 00:04:43.470 --> 00:04:46.699 say value. This is what we need to focus on. 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:50.560 When we honor something or someone, it means 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:56.959 that we value it. We highly esteem it. Okay? 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:00.120 So every time you hear the word honor from now 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:03.860 on, I want you to think about value. Because 00:05:03.860 --> 00:05:08.040 it's easier for our minds to grasp. Right? Come 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:10.360 on, somebody help me. It's easier for our minds 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:16.029 to grasp. value in esteeming something than it 00:05:16.029 --> 00:05:18.990 is to just get that word honor. The reason why 00:05:18.990 --> 00:05:26.329 it's heavy or weighty is I want you to think 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:31.930 of a balance scale. And when people would purchase 00:05:31.930 --> 00:05:35.290 things during this time, there wasn't like everybody 00:05:35.290 --> 00:05:39.810 didn't have coins, but people had things of value. 00:05:40.939 --> 00:05:43.540 And then they would put the weight of the value. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.639 Everybody say weight. The person selling the 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.480 item would put the weight of the value on one 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:53.000 side of the scale, and then you would match that 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:57.980 weight on the other side of the scale. Because 00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:00.399 you thought that whatever you were buying was 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:04.879 that valuable for you, that you would put down 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:06.959 that much gold or that much silver or whatever 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:11.810 you're weighing. So to be heavy. And I want to 00:06:11.810 --> 00:06:15.170 ask you this. Has anyone ever been in a time 00:06:15.170 --> 00:06:17.470 of worship with God, whether you're in your car 00:06:17.470 --> 00:06:20.449 or in a worship service, when all of a sudden 00:06:20.449 --> 00:06:27.569 you sense the heaviness, the glory of God? We 00:06:27.569 --> 00:06:31.209 can sense that. Old Testament gives us a lot 00:06:31.209 --> 00:06:35.149 of stories of that, right? God's the same yesterday, 00:06:35.250 --> 00:06:39.819 today, and forever. We can experience. The glory 00:06:39.819 --> 00:06:45.939 of God. You might find this hard to believe, 00:06:46.019 --> 00:06:48.879 but I've experienced the glory of God in my car 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:52.360 driving on I -4 before they even opened up the 00:06:52.360 --> 00:07:01.220 new lane. Just spending time worshiping, thanking 00:07:01.220 --> 00:07:07.579 God, expressing my love for Him. It was... There 00:07:07.579 --> 00:07:09.600 wasn't a cloud in the car, but there could have 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:14.920 been. You know what I'm saying? So that's available 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:19.439 to us still today. But think value. Everybody 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:25.240 say value. Now despise. When God says, I will 00:07:25.240 --> 00:07:27.540 honor those who honor me, and I will despise 00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:31.779 those who think lightly of me. Despise. See, 00:07:31.899 --> 00:07:34.279 you might think, just in our English understanding 00:07:34.279 --> 00:07:36.699 of the word despise, oh, that means you hate 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:40.000 it. If you despise something, that's like another 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:44.800 level of hate. Right? In our English understanding. 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:50.199 But in the Hebrew language, despise is opposite 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:55.339 of honor. So to despise something or someone 00:07:55.339 --> 00:07:59.660 means that you look down on that thing or that 00:07:59.660 --> 00:08:05.250 person with disrespect. That you regard... That 00:08:05.250 --> 00:08:10.110 person or that thing as worthless. Okay? Are 00:08:10.110 --> 00:08:14.750 you with me? So we have value. Everybody say 00:08:14.750 --> 00:08:18.470 value. And then we have regarded as worthless. 00:08:18.730 --> 00:08:21.810 Everybody say worthless. That's the two ends 00:08:21.810 --> 00:08:26.209 of the scale. And then the New Testament, because 00:08:26.209 --> 00:08:28.009 some words we're looking at in the New Testament, 00:08:28.029 --> 00:08:31.990 looking at the word honor, we have a verb and 00:08:31.990 --> 00:08:36.879 a noun and an adjective. Timao is a verb. It 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:42.320 means to prize or to revere. The noun, time, 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:49.559 is a value, valuable to esteem of the highest 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:52.259 degree or esteem in the highest degree. It's 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:55.600 probably better since it's a noun. And then the 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:00.539 adjective, timeos. It means valuable. It means 00:09:00.539 --> 00:09:03.080 costly. It means honored and esteemed. It means 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:08.019 beloved. It means precious. So we need to understand 00:09:08.019 --> 00:09:14.460 what honor is if we're going to honor. The Bible 00:09:14.460 --> 00:09:17.720 tells us that we should honor God. That's what 00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:21.679 we're focusing on today, honoring God. But that's 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:24.980 not all. Last week, if you weren't here last 00:09:24.980 --> 00:09:27.500 week, I encourage you to go to the Elation Church 00:09:27.500 --> 00:09:29.909 podcast. We talked about honor and we talked 00:09:29.909 --> 00:09:32.070 about three things, even though there are more 00:09:32.070 --> 00:09:36.629 than that, to honor the things God honors. We're 00:09:36.629 --> 00:09:40.990 supposed to honor what God honors. Okay? We're 00:09:40.990 --> 00:09:45.250 also supposed to honor everybody. We're supposed 00:09:45.250 --> 00:09:49.590 to honor people. We're supposed to honor those 00:09:49.590 --> 00:09:55.149 in authority. Can you... Can you look at our 00:09:55.149 --> 00:09:57.509 society today and see that there's a lack of 00:09:57.509 --> 00:10:00.289 honor where there should be honor? It's easy 00:10:00.289 --> 00:10:04.610 to see, right? So we need to talk about honor, 00:10:04.769 --> 00:10:08.909 what it means, what it is, because we need to 00:10:08.909 --> 00:10:12.169 be people of honor. When we honor something, 00:10:12.269 --> 00:10:15.950 it's perceiving the value or worth of that person 00:10:15.950 --> 00:10:21.789 or that thing. And it's what we willingly assign 00:10:21.789 --> 00:10:27.159 to. that person or that thing. It's not forced 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:31.759 on us. We willingly assign that value, that weight, 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:35.700 or that honor. That's the way honor works. It's 00:10:35.700 --> 00:10:40.960 a willing thing. Honor includes the ideas of 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:45.679 worth, esteem, dignity, and price, whether used 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.879 of God, of Jesus, of people, or material goods. 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:55.100 Write this down if you're taking notes. I want 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:58.519 you to write this down. Honor always measures 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:06.120 value, and don't miss this part, and calls for 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:12.419 a response proportionate to that value. That's 00:11:12.419 --> 00:11:17.120 why we name this a call to honor because there's 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:25.940 a call for a response. for a response, proportionate 00:11:25.940 --> 00:11:28.240 to the value that you have willingly assigned. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:36.299 It's not just an idea out there that has nothing 00:11:36.299 --> 00:11:42.840 to do with our acting towards. So we're talking 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:44.919 about honoring God. Everybody say, honor God. 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:48.799 What are the demonstrations of honor? How do 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:51.279 we demonstrate honor when we honor God? What 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:55.899 are some ways? biblical ways to honor God. One 00:11:55.899 --> 00:12:00.299 is to praise and to worship him. Another one 00:12:00.299 --> 00:12:06.379 is giving. Another one is respect. Another one 00:12:06.379 --> 00:12:10.259 is obedience. And today we're going to look at 00:12:10.259 --> 00:12:12.500 the word of God and we're going to see practical 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:16.399 applications on how you can honor God. Who wants 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:20.299 to honor God? Who wants to honor God? It's more 00:12:20.299 --> 00:12:25.039 than just Your words. Look to the person beside 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:26.659 you and say, it's more than just your words. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:34.159 Revelation 4 .11. Like I said, I mean, the Bible 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:38.080 has over 300 mentions of honor, and we're just 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:45.740 quickly looking. You are worthy, oh Lord, to 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:52.049 receive glory and honor and power. For you created 00:12:52.049 --> 00:12:56.950 all things. And by your will they exist and were 00:12:56.950 --> 00:13:04.470 created. Is that a reason to praise God? Can 00:13:04.470 --> 00:13:08.629 you say it with me? Can you say it loud and say 00:13:08.629 --> 00:13:14.090 it with me? Okay. Let's do our best third grade 00:13:14.090 --> 00:13:19.250 reading together that we possibly can. But don't 00:13:19.250 --> 00:13:22.200 just read it like... You are worthy, oh Lord. 00:13:22.980 --> 00:13:25.700 Put some passion in it. Look to the person beside 00:13:25.700 --> 00:13:28.059 you and say, put some passion in it. Make the 00:13:28.059 --> 00:13:32.539 word of God your words. You ready? One, two, 00:13:32.580 --> 00:13:36.879 three. You are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory 00:13:36.879 --> 00:13:41.940 and honor and power for you created all things 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:45.919 and by your will they exist and were created. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:52.110 Hallelujah. He is worthy to receive glory and 00:13:52.110 --> 00:13:56.009 honor. Here's another one. Worthy is a lamb that 00:13:56.009 --> 00:14:00.789 was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom 00:14:00.789 --> 00:14:05.009 and strength and honor and glory and blessing. 00:14:06.870 --> 00:14:09.830 Can you say that with me? Say it like you mean 00:14:09.830 --> 00:14:13.750 it. All right, you ready? One, two, three. Worthy 00:14:13.750 --> 00:14:17.129 is the lamb that was slain to receive power. 00:14:17.710 --> 00:14:21.470 and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, 00:14:21.570 --> 00:14:28.610 and glory, and blessing. Bless you, Lord. Bless 00:14:28.610 --> 00:14:35.610 you. Those are just two of many verses. Listen, 00:14:35.730 --> 00:14:40.750 we honor God by praising and worshiping Him. 00:14:41.750 --> 00:14:45.269 And it's not just singing a song. It's not just 00:14:45.269 --> 00:14:50.269 reading a Bible verse. It's only, we did a whole 00:14:50.269 --> 00:14:53.990 series on genuine praise and worship. Listen, 00:14:54.169 --> 00:15:00.289 we do not praise or worship God unless it begins 00:15:00.289 --> 00:15:06.450 in our heart. Because praise and worship is an 00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:12.570 expression of love. It's an expression of thanksgiving. 00:15:12.830 --> 00:15:20.059 It's an expression of honor that rises up. To 00:15:20.059 --> 00:15:26.740 God We honor God by praising him and worshiping 00:15:26.740 --> 00:15:32.399 him genuinely And all of us have gone through 00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:40.080 the motions It's so easy even in corporate worship 00:15:40.080 --> 00:15:41.820 when we're singing together and lifting up the 00:15:41.820 --> 00:15:45.000 name of Jesus it's so easy just to walk into 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:47.200 the room and say, I like that song. Well, I don't 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:48.700 really like that one. I don't know why we're 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:54.340 singing it today. And you just go through. You 00:15:54.340 --> 00:15:56.940 just go through. Why do we sing that old song? 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:06.340 But we need to be worshiping God. Even Jesus 00:16:06.340 --> 00:16:10.320 said in Matthew 15, 8, He said, these people 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.740 honor me with their lips. Everybody say lip service. 00:16:15.139 --> 00:16:17.519 Everybody say honor, because it says honor, right? 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:23.179 These people honor me with their lips, but their 00:16:23.179 --> 00:16:31.120 hearts are far from me. I mean, we can go through 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:33.860 the motions of honoring God and say the words 00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:38.059 to honor God, but if our hearts are not connected, 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:46.490 it's... It's not honor. It's possible to say 00:16:46.490 --> 00:16:48.990 we honor God while not actually honoring Him. 00:16:51.490 --> 00:16:55.529 Honor goes beyond just words. It goes beyond 00:16:55.529 --> 00:16:59.529 words. Let's look at something else. 1 Corinthians 00:16:59.529 --> 00:17:04.549 10 .31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever 00:17:04.549 --> 00:17:09.400 you do, everybody say everything. Whether you 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:13.440 eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:18.920 glory of God. Everybody say glory. Now this isn't 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:24.059 the words that we looked at, but this is the 00:17:24.059 --> 00:17:29.359 word doxa in the Greek. And it's translated glory, 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:39.230 honor, praise, and worship. So this is talking 00:17:39.230 --> 00:17:42.470 about not just using words, not just using the 00:17:42.470 --> 00:17:45.569 tool of words or singing or anything like that. 00:17:45.690 --> 00:17:50.029 It's saying everything we do. Look to the person 00:17:50.029 --> 00:17:53.309 beside you and say everything. Everything we 00:17:53.309 --> 00:18:00.690 do. We're supposed to glory or glorify God in 00:18:00.690 --> 00:18:05.789 everything we do. Just go back to think about 00:18:05.789 --> 00:18:11.690 the things that you've done this week. What have 00:18:11.690 --> 00:18:18.849 you done to glorify God? I know I say this all 00:18:18.849 --> 00:18:24.109 the time. Listen, it's not just about going to 00:18:24.109 --> 00:18:29.329 church on Sunday. Hallelujah that you're here. 00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:33.529 It's awesome. I love to see your smiling face. 00:18:33.609 --> 00:18:35.710 I love it when you're here. I miss you when you're 00:18:35.710 --> 00:18:41.630 not here. But a relationship with God is more 00:18:41.630 --> 00:18:45.069 than just carving out an hour and a half of time 00:18:45.069 --> 00:18:49.609 on Sunday. There's so much more. Look to the 00:18:49.609 --> 00:18:51.029 person beside you and tell them, there's so much 00:18:51.029 --> 00:18:58.170 more. There's so much more. So much more. So 00:18:58.170 --> 00:19:03.049 in everything we do, you might say, well, there's 00:19:03.049 --> 00:19:05.369 some things I do, I don't know if it's possible 00:19:05.369 --> 00:19:08.329 to glorify God in what I do. Well, then you might 00:19:08.329 --> 00:19:15.170 not ought to do it. Well, I had a guy in Charleston 00:19:15.170 --> 00:19:19.869 one time. I was preaching. I was preaching in 00:19:19.869 --> 00:19:24.410 Charleston, South Carolina. And I'm just preaching, 00:19:24.490 --> 00:19:30.910 and all of a sudden, somebody goes, well. I've 00:19:30.910 --> 00:19:34.950 heard amen and things like that. I'd never heard, 00:19:35.029 --> 00:19:41.690 well. He shocked me. I just, I lost my train 00:19:41.690 --> 00:19:45.349 of thought. I lost my place. But I got used to 00:19:45.349 --> 00:19:50.829 it because he said, well, well, about every two 00:19:50.829 --> 00:19:55.430 or three minutes. All week, because I preached. 00:19:56.150 --> 00:19:59.349 So I got used to it. So, hey, you can say well 00:19:59.349 --> 00:20:01.390 instead of saying amen. I'm good with it now. 00:20:01.529 --> 00:20:06.750 It doesn't shock me. Listen. 1 Corinthians 6 00:20:06.750 --> 00:20:13.990 .20, you were bought with a price. Did you know 00:20:13.990 --> 00:20:17.470 you've been purchased? If you're in Christ, you've 00:20:17.470 --> 00:20:21.529 been purchased. God purchased you with the blood 00:20:21.529 --> 00:20:32.109 of Jesus. You were bought with a price. So, so 00:20:32.109 --> 00:20:37.109 because you've been bought with a price, glorify 00:20:37.109 --> 00:20:43.170 God, doxa, God, glorify God in your body and 00:20:43.170 --> 00:20:47.809 in your spirit. I was looking at this verse and 00:20:47.809 --> 00:20:54.589 I'm like, okay, I glorify God in my body. I can 00:20:54.589 --> 00:20:56.609 wrap my brain around that, but what's glorifying 00:20:56.609 --> 00:20:59.809 God in my spirit? Because I'm a spirit being, 00:20:59.950 --> 00:21:10.460 I have a soul, and I live in a body. Now, I don't 00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:12.980 know why I'm chasing this rabbit down, but I'm 00:21:12.980 --> 00:21:16.680 going to chase it down anyway. So how do I honor 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:22.980 God, glorify God in my spirit? My spirit is the 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:24.980 part of me that's been born again, that's been 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:28.059 renewed, that stands right with God. I am the 00:21:28.059 --> 00:21:34.700 righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. So I just 00:21:34.700 --> 00:21:42.380 looked at the word. It's pneuma. Sometimes it's 00:21:42.380 --> 00:21:47.240 translated breath. Sometimes it's translated 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:55.079 wind. Sometimes it's translated spirit. So when 00:21:55.079 --> 00:21:57.680 I thought about me being a spirit being alive 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:01.220 unto God, now my soul might need to glorify God, 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:07.880 right? My mind, my will, my emotions. But I believe 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:11.380 my spirit is always worshiping God. My spirit 00:22:11.380 --> 00:22:15.500 is always honoring God. But I have to get my 00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:22.539 soul on board. Are you with me? So I'm translating 00:22:22.539 --> 00:22:25.799 this breath. Because I can wrap my brain around 00:22:25.799 --> 00:22:32.380 that. Because I breathe quite often. Hello? How 00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:34.019 many of you have breathed? How many of you have 00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:36.180 breathed in the last few minutes? You've taken 00:22:36.180 --> 00:22:41.400 a breath or two. So since I'm supposed to glorify 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:43.940 God in my body, I believe I'm supposed to glorify 00:22:43.940 --> 00:22:46.779 him in my breath. And that just goes right along 00:22:46.779 --> 00:22:49.740 with that other verse saying, hey, everything, 00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:52.519 eating, drinking, whatever, everything, glorify 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:56.420 God. With every breath I breathe, with every 00:22:56.420 --> 00:22:59.460 breath you breathe, we should be honoring God 00:22:59.460 --> 00:23:04.880 and bringing glory to God. Look to the person 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:08.859 beside you and say, that's a challenge. Is it 00:23:08.859 --> 00:23:14.059 a challenge? Look to the other person on the 00:23:14.059 --> 00:23:16.440 other side and say, well, I've got ways to go 00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:18.319 on that one, that I'm honoring God with every 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:25.799 breath that he's given me. Reminds me of that 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:30.059 song, it's your breath in my lungs, right? I 00:23:30.059 --> 00:23:32.579 give you the praise. It's your breath. You're 00:23:32.579 --> 00:23:34.500 the one that gave me breath to glorify you, to 00:23:34.500 --> 00:23:37.119 honor you, to praise you. So I'm going to use 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:39.279 the breath that you've given me to honor you. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:46.839 It's your breath in my lungs. So we honor God 00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:55.039 by living for him. Everything we do, every breath 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:59.789 we take, we honor God by living for him. Him, 00:23:59.849 --> 00:24:06.009 everybody say living for him. I believe when 00:24:06.009 --> 00:24:08.289 we look into the word of God, we should be encouraged 00:24:08.289 --> 00:24:16.450 and we should be challenged. It's okay to be 00:24:16.450 --> 00:24:19.650 challenged a little bit. That's the only way 00:24:19.650 --> 00:24:21.049 we're going to stretch. That's the only way we're 00:24:21.049 --> 00:24:24.529 going to grow. Is to be challenged a little bit. 00:24:25.049 --> 00:24:27.309 So I'm going to ask you a pretty poignant question 00:24:27.309 --> 00:24:31.559 right now. Who are you living for? What are you 00:24:31.559 --> 00:24:37.900 living for? And I want you to really think about 00:24:37.900 --> 00:24:41.779 it. I don't want you to put on, how many of you 00:24:41.779 --> 00:24:43.799 grew up going to Sunday school? I don't want 00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:45.519 you to put on your little Sunday school halo 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:50.140 and give me a Sunday school answer. Well, preacher, 00:24:50.380 --> 00:24:59.670 I always live for God. who are you living for? 00:24:59.750 --> 00:25:03.569 What are you living for? Well, give me a church 00:25:03.569 --> 00:25:11.069 answer. Give me a reality answer. I'm the preacher 00:25:11.069 --> 00:25:19.150 and I need to grow. I love it when people come 00:25:19.150 --> 00:25:21.210 up to me after the service and always say, well, 00:25:21.250 --> 00:25:24.369 you know, I am, I am, they don't put it in words 00:25:24.369 --> 00:25:26.190 like this, but sometimes I hear what they're 00:25:26.190 --> 00:25:28.279 saying. They say, You know what? I've perfected 00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:31.900 what you preached about today. That's the way 00:25:31.900 --> 00:25:33.640 I hear it. That's the way preacher's ears hear 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:36.140 it. Because they come up and they tell me about, 00:25:36.299 --> 00:25:39.660 oh, how, yeah, I've always known that. I've always 00:25:39.660 --> 00:25:49.500 done that. That's just... I'm too kind to say, 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:59.509 well, I doubt it. I mean, I... I just say, well, 00:25:59.529 --> 00:26:06.569 that's awesome. That's awesome. You know what 00:26:06.569 --> 00:26:09.009 people are who do that? They're spiritual teenagers. 00:26:11.069 --> 00:26:13.170 Because a teenager thinks they know everything. 00:26:13.369 --> 00:26:15.529 They done figured out everything. They know everything 00:26:15.529 --> 00:26:17.829 about everything. Nobody can teach them anything. 00:26:18.049 --> 00:26:22.210 They're going to teach the world. And see, here's 00:26:22.210 --> 00:26:24.490 the deal. You can be a spiritual teenager at... 00:26:25.379 --> 00:26:31.519 10 years old or at 95 years old? Look to the 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:36.140 person beside you and say, don't get stuck. I've 00:26:36.140 --> 00:26:38.099 been stuck there for a while. I'll be honest 00:26:38.099 --> 00:26:46.039 with you. I was stuck there for a while. You 00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:47.819 probably never were though, see, because you 00:26:47.819 --> 00:26:53.329 don't. Preacher, I've never been stuck. I've 00:26:53.329 --> 00:26:55.250 never thought I've figured it out and know everything. 00:26:56.430 --> 00:27:00.750 Proverbs 3 .9. We read this before we received 00:27:00.750 --> 00:27:03.089 the offering today. Honor the Lord with your 00:27:03.089 --> 00:27:05.789 wealth and with the first fruits of all your 00:27:05.789 --> 00:27:11.309 crops. So, one of the ways that we honor God 00:27:11.309 --> 00:27:19.609 is through our giving. Through our giving. I'm 00:27:19.609 --> 00:27:25.210 going to ask you. See, we've already received 00:27:25.210 --> 00:27:29.170 the offering. We're not receiving another offering. 00:27:33.750 --> 00:27:38.849 Y 'all are like frowning at me now. I just want 00:27:38.849 --> 00:27:47.009 to ask you a question. Does your giving honor 00:27:47.009 --> 00:28:04.819 God proportionate To your value of God. I mean, 00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:06.660 that wasn't in my notes, and I didn't even plan 00:28:06.660 --> 00:28:09.819 on saying it, but I just... All of a sudden, 00:28:09.819 --> 00:28:11.819 that just rose up in me, and I just had to share 00:28:11.819 --> 00:28:18.059 it. Like I said, we're not receiving another 00:28:18.059 --> 00:28:24.250 offer. Okay? But does the level of your giving, 00:28:24.269 --> 00:28:29.529 is it proportionate with your value of God and 00:28:29.529 --> 00:28:33.430 who God is? And I'm going to go ahead and say 00:28:33.430 --> 00:28:35.890 this. Pull in your toes and your shoes a little 00:28:35.890 --> 00:28:38.109 bit. Pull them back just a little bit. Because 00:28:38.109 --> 00:28:42.390 I don't want to break anybody's toes. I'm going 00:28:42.390 --> 00:28:51.779 to go ahead and tell you that it is. It is. Your 00:28:51.779 --> 00:28:58.019 giving is proportionate. What you're giving is 00:28:58.019 --> 00:29:02.200 proportionate to your perceived value of who 00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:12.140 God is. Yes, sir. Come here. Come here. Just 00:29:12.140 --> 00:29:14.839 so you're not testifying it. You know what? Dean 00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:18.380 don't know what he's talking about. Not at all. 00:29:19.339 --> 00:29:21.880 I've been laboring with this for two weeks. Last 00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:25.259 week when he spoke, one of the scriptures that 00:29:25.259 --> 00:29:28.059 you had up there that you didn't have today specifically 00:29:28.059 --> 00:29:31.019 used the word resources when it was talking about 00:29:31.019 --> 00:29:36.019 our giving. And when you said what you said here, 00:29:36.259 --> 00:29:39.819 I'm not the guy that wants to just get up in 00:29:39.819 --> 00:29:41.480 front of everybody all the time and talk. And 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:43.500 the Lord's been hitting me with the fact that 00:29:43.500 --> 00:29:46.700 our resources beyond money, most of the time 00:29:46.700 --> 00:29:49.680 what we look at is when we hear, The pastor talking 00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:53.059 about the money. Honestly, it takes money. We 00:29:53.059 --> 00:29:55.339 all know that it requires currency of some sort 00:29:55.339 --> 00:29:59.279 to do what we do here. Building costs, people 00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:02.420 costs, all of those things. And I've been running 00:30:02.420 --> 00:30:06.039 a business for many, many years. And throughout 00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:09.480 that time, I have noticed, and this is not a 00:30:09.480 --> 00:30:13.720 testimony of one specific instance. There are 00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:18.579 many instances across the years. Being faithful 00:30:18.579 --> 00:30:21.880 with those resources, honoring God through our 00:30:21.880 --> 00:30:25.240 giving, not just our money, but our time, our 00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:28.839 talent, the treasure that we have that he has 00:30:28.839 --> 00:30:30.880 entrusted us with, that we are stewards of. We 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.500 are stewards of our time. We are stewards of 00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:36.400 the things that, if God has put a talent inside 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:42.019 of you that is for his glory, that needs to be 00:30:42.019 --> 00:30:46.599 used for his glory within the church. And God 00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:49.240 has given us as a family, we have had a number 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:51.160 of people throughout our lives stay in our home 00:30:51.160 --> 00:30:55.099 for years. We've had family members, we've had 00:30:55.099 --> 00:30:57.640 friends, we've had other people that we have 00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:01.980 given of our resources, not just the money. We've 00:31:01.980 --> 00:31:04.720 given, we consistently give to church through 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:08.680 COVID when what I do is decimated, literally 00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:12.170 like... imagine somebody shutting off the switch 00:31:12.170 --> 00:31:14.109 to your income. You lose your job. You don't 00:31:14.109 --> 00:31:15.269 know what you're going to do. You don't know 00:31:15.269 --> 00:31:16.650 how you're going to pay your bills. You don't 00:31:16.650 --> 00:31:18.789 know what's going to happen. When COVID happened 00:31:18.789 --> 00:31:25.049 five years ago, we had no idea. Literally owed 00:31:25.049 --> 00:31:27.890 people hundreds of thousands of dollars that 00:31:27.890 --> 00:31:30.970 I didn't know how I was going to pay. No idea. 00:31:32.750 --> 00:31:36.430 But through the process of, one thing that we 00:31:36.430 --> 00:31:40.849 never stopped doing is giving. Of our time, of 00:31:40.849 --> 00:31:43.670 our talent, of our treasure. My CFO asked me 00:31:43.670 --> 00:31:46.869 three weeks ago, he said, you know, cash flow 00:31:46.869 --> 00:31:49.130 is a challenge, managing cash flow. We were trying 00:31:49.130 --> 00:31:50.690 to talk about how to manage it. He said, well, 00:31:50.710 --> 00:31:52.869 there's this one line item here that I see where 00:31:52.869 --> 00:31:55.789 you guys are giving. And, you know, if we stop 00:31:55.789 --> 00:31:58.509 doing that, then we could help cash flow. And 00:31:58.509 --> 00:32:02.029 I said, that is the one non -negotiable. It's 00:32:02.029 --> 00:32:06.509 the one non -negotiable. Because I have seen, 00:32:06.690 --> 00:32:11.680 and I may start crying. You have no idea the 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:15.200 resources that we have, that God has given us, 00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:21.460 that we squander every single day. And we are 00:32:21.460 --> 00:32:27.180 here because he has been so faithful to give 00:32:27.180 --> 00:32:31.740 us time. You have a bank account that you don't 00:32:31.740 --> 00:32:33.539 even know how much is in it. It's called your 00:32:33.539 --> 00:32:41.420 time. And, man. You don't know how much is left 00:32:41.420 --> 00:32:43.980 in that bank account. You have no idea. None 00:32:43.980 --> 00:32:47.079 of us do. God says we do not know when our last 00:32:47.079 --> 00:32:52.599 day will be. And yes, we all waste time. I waste 00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:54.359 time. I wasted time this morning. I promised 00:32:54.359 --> 00:32:56.039 my wife that I was going to be done at 8 o 'clock 00:32:56.039 --> 00:32:57.619 working out this morning. She comes out at 8 00:32:57.619 --> 00:33:01.319 .20 and says, hey, you told me 8 o 'clock. And 00:33:01.319 --> 00:33:03.980 you know what? I didn't keep my word. And that's 00:33:03.980 --> 00:33:06.500 on me. And that's something that I have to fix. 00:33:09.710 --> 00:33:14.150 When we give, God has never let me down. Not 00:33:14.150 --> 00:33:22.289 once. And, you know, we, 10 years ago, we brought 00:33:22.289 --> 00:33:24.750 her family, my wife's family, into our house. 00:33:24.769 --> 00:33:26.910 And my father -in -law had a terminal illness. 00:33:27.069 --> 00:33:29.950 And at some point in time, he will die from that. 00:33:30.910 --> 00:33:33.769 And we believed that it was the right thing. 00:33:33.829 --> 00:33:36.710 And so for over a year, they lived with us. And 00:33:36.710 --> 00:33:38.930 through that time, I saw God do things that, 00:33:40.559 --> 00:33:44.819 that I can't describe, I can't tell you what 00:33:44.819 --> 00:33:46.779 the Lord has done, but through repairing our 00:33:46.779 --> 00:33:50.420 marriage, repairing our family over the last 00:33:50.420 --> 00:33:52.440 10 years and just watching all the things that 00:33:52.440 --> 00:33:54.259 he's done and taking our time. You know, when 00:33:54.259 --> 00:33:57.740 we left Colorado, we came here not knowing what 00:33:57.740 --> 00:34:01.440 God had for us. But when I recount the things 00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:03.799 that he's done through us for the people, it's 00:34:03.799 --> 00:34:07.579 not about me, it's not about... but the people 00:34:07.579 --> 00:34:09.280 that have impacted, the people that have moved 00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:11.699 to Florida after we got here, and we've seen 00:34:11.699 --> 00:34:14.099 them restore families, we've seen them restore 00:34:14.099 --> 00:34:16.019 people, we've seen them restore relationships, 00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:19.500 we've seen him change lives, we've seen people 00:34:19.500 --> 00:34:22.300 come to know the Lord, we've seen, like, literally, 00:34:22.460 --> 00:34:25.460 take time to recount that in your life. If you 00:34:25.460 --> 00:34:30.739 don't, you'll forget. So... I want to encourage 00:34:30.739 --> 00:34:32.760 you that when we talk about giving, when Pastor 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:35.480 Dean talks about giving, like those are non -negotiable 00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:37.440 things, but God says honor with your giving. 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:40.579 And when you give, you don't know what the long 00:34:40.579 --> 00:34:42.380 -term effect is going to be. You don't know what's 00:34:42.380 --> 00:34:44.579 going to happen. But I can promise you this, 00:34:44.599 --> 00:34:46.039 that when you turn back and you look on your 00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:48.880 life, if you have given faithfully without any 00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:54.280 hope of getting anything back, he will continue 00:34:54.280 --> 00:34:59.119 to give. And give and give. And it may not look 00:34:59.119 --> 00:35:01.480 like what you expect it to look like. It may 00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:05.500 not look like what you want it to be. But when 00:35:05.500 --> 00:35:10.059 you recognize what he's doing, the blessing of 00:35:10.059 --> 00:35:13.000 what he will continue to do will continue far 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:17.000 beyond even your life. That bank account that 00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:22.079 you don't know how much is left. Don't miss out 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:26.820 on the opportunities. to give when you have the 00:35:26.820 --> 00:35:29.500 ability, the opportunity, and the resources to 00:35:29.500 --> 00:35:31.460 do so. Because there may come a day that you 00:35:31.460 --> 00:35:34.099 don't have those resources anymore. And you're 00:35:34.099 --> 00:35:35.880 going to look back and say, man, I wish I would 00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:38.880 have. We don't want the shoulda, coulda, wouldas. 00:35:40.619 --> 00:35:44.659 We want the I did. Because that's how we honor 00:35:44.659 --> 00:35:53.860 the Lord. Thank you. Look to the person beside 00:35:53.860 --> 00:35:57.739 you and say, listen fast. We honor God through 00:35:57.739 --> 00:36:03.960 giving. Let's continue. John 12, 26. Whoever 00:36:03.960 --> 00:36:09.300 serves me must follow me. And where I am, my 00:36:09.300 --> 00:36:13.380 servant also will be. Listen to what it says. 00:36:13.500 --> 00:36:17.559 My father, Jesus said this, my father will honor 00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:24.389 the one who serves me. So we honor God through 00:36:24.389 --> 00:36:29.969 serving God and following God. It's another way 00:36:29.969 --> 00:36:35.769 we demonstrate our honor to God. I've got some 00:36:35.769 --> 00:36:39.570 stories to go along with this, serving and following. 00:36:40.769 --> 00:36:45.190 Matthew 25, verse 14. Jesus is sharing a parable. 00:36:45.190 --> 00:36:49.409 Again, the kingdom of heaven. Can be illustrated 00:36:49.409 --> 00:36:54.510 by the story of a man going on a long trip He 00:36:54.510 --> 00:36:57.030 called together his servants and entrusted his 00:36:57.030 --> 00:37:00.929 money to them while he was gone He gave five 00:37:00.929 --> 00:37:04.170 bags of silver to one two bags of silver to another 00:37:04.170 --> 00:37:08.909 and one bag of silver to the last Dividing it 00:37:08.909 --> 00:37:13.909 in proportion to their abilities Don't miss out 00:37:15.980 --> 00:37:19.179 He divided it in proportion to their abilities. 00:37:21.860 --> 00:37:26.360 Right? He then left on his trip. The servant 00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:29.179 who received five bags of silver began to invest 00:37:29.179 --> 00:37:32.780 some money and earn five more. The servant with 00:37:32.780 --> 00:37:35.800 two bags of silver also went to work and earned 00:37:35.800 --> 00:37:38.860 two more. But the servant who received the one 00:37:38.860 --> 00:37:43.400 bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid 00:37:43.400 --> 00:37:47.780 the master's money. After a long time, everybody 00:37:47.780 --> 00:37:50.480 say a long time. After a long time, their master 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:53.480 returned from his trip and called them to give 00:37:53.480 --> 00:37:57.920 an account of how they used his money. The servant 00:37:57.920 --> 00:38:01.239 to whom had entrusted the five bags of silver 00:38:01.239 --> 00:38:03.980 came forward with five more and said, Master, 00:38:04.139 --> 00:38:07.860 you gave me five bags of silver to invest and 00:38:07.860 --> 00:38:11.000 I've earned five more. The master was full of 00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:14.300 praise. Well done, my good and faithful servant. 00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:18.599 You have been faithful in handling this small 00:38:18.599 --> 00:38:23.019 amount. So now I will give you many more responsibilities. 00:38:24.300 --> 00:38:28.300 Let's celebrate together. The servant who had 00:38:28.300 --> 00:38:30.679 received the two bags of silver came forward 00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:34.119 and said, Master, you gave me two bags of silver 00:38:34.119 --> 00:38:39.519 to invest, and I have earned two more. The master 00:38:39.519 --> 00:38:42.440 said, Well done, my good and faithful servant. 00:38:42.500 --> 00:38:44.639 You have been faithful in handling this small 00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:47.960 amount. So now I will give you many more responsibilities. 00:38:49.380 --> 00:38:53.219 Let's celebrate together. Then the servant with 00:38:53.219 --> 00:38:56.019 the one bag of silver came and said, Master, 00:38:56.199 --> 00:39:00.460 I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops 00:39:00.460 --> 00:39:03.599 you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't 00:39:03.599 --> 00:39:07.780 cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:11.739 so I hid it in the earth. Look, here's your money 00:39:11.739 --> 00:39:16.320 back. I didn't. Spend it on myself or lose it, 00:39:16.400 --> 00:39:20.239 so here's back what you gave me. But the master 00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:25.380 replied, you wicked and lazy servant. If you 00:39:25.380 --> 00:39:27.539 knew I harvested crops I didn't plant and gathered 00:39:27.539 --> 00:39:30.199 crops I didn't cultivate, why didn't you deposit 00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:32.440 my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten 00:39:32.440 --> 00:39:38.639 some interest on it. Then he ordered, take the 00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:41.519 money from this servant and give it to the one 00:39:41.519 --> 00:39:48.849 with the ten bags of silver. To those who use 00:39:48.849 --> 00:39:54.150 well what they are given, listen, even more will 00:39:54.150 --> 00:39:58.909 be given. And they will have an abundance. But 00:39:58.909 --> 00:40:02.769 from those who do nothing, even what little they 00:40:02.769 --> 00:40:12.789 have will be taken away. Now, Jordan talked about 00:40:12.789 --> 00:40:18.429 where I was going. Where I was going. I know 00:40:18.429 --> 00:40:20.949 this uses bags of silver, but this is talking 00:40:20.949 --> 00:40:23.030 about way more than bags of silver. And Jesus 00:40:23.030 --> 00:40:25.329 is talking about the kingdom of God is like this. 00:40:25.889 --> 00:40:31.230 Whatever God has given us. Whatever he's given 00:40:31.230 --> 00:40:39.110 us. Whatever talent he's given us. Whatever resource 00:40:39.110 --> 00:40:41.469 he's given us. Like Jordan was talking about 00:40:41.469 --> 00:40:46.750 his home being a resource. Whatever God has given 00:40:46.750 --> 00:40:55.300 us. He expects us to be faithful with Him. To 00:40:55.300 --> 00:41:01.480 be faithful, to use it for His glory, not for 00:41:01.480 --> 00:41:06.619 our own, but for His glory and His honor. So 00:41:06.619 --> 00:41:10.900 another way we honor God is through serving Him. 00:41:12.619 --> 00:41:18.210 How many of you want God to say one day, When 00:41:18.210 --> 00:41:20.289 you breathe your last breath here and you stand 00:41:20.289 --> 00:41:23.449 in front of him, how many of you want to hear 00:41:23.449 --> 00:41:29.289 the words, well done, my good and faithful servant? 00:41:30.449 --> 00:41:37.949 Well done. You took the things, the resources, 00:41:38.150 --> 00:41:40.650 everything I've given you, you took those things 00:41:40.650 --> 00:41:46.030 and you honored me with those things. You valued 00:41:46.030 --> 00:41:50.179 me. You demonstrated the value that you've put 00:41:50.179 --> 00:41:52.639 on me by the way you live, by the way you serve, 00:41:52.900 --> 00:41:56.039 by what you did for me and my kingdom in this 00:41:56.039 --> 00:42:03.820 earth. So we honor him by serving him. And when 00:42:03.820 --> 00:42:12.199 we don't honor what God entrusts to us, we might 00:42:12.199 --> 00:42:16.099 wind up losing it. Now, those are harsh words. 00:42:18.119 --> 00:42:22.900 But we need to understand that. Because didn't 00:42:22.900 --> 00:42:28.260 God say, I'll disdain those who think lightly 00:42:28.260 --> 00:42:31.639 of me or demonstrate lightly? They don't honor 00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:34.559 me, so I'm not going to honor them. They think 00:42:34.559 --> 00:42:41.460 I'm worthless, right? So when we don't honor 00:42:41.460 --> 00:42:46.380 what God has entrusted to us, we might lose it. 00:42:47.340 --> 00:42:50.920 Because we're not using it for his kingdom, for 00:42:50.920 --> 00:42:55.780 his glory, for his honor. Here's another story, 00:42:55.900 --> 00:43:01.059 Luke 18, verses 18 through 23. Once a religious 00:43:01.059 --> 00:43:04.059 leader asked Jesus this question, good teacher, 00:43:04.239 --> 00:43:11.460 what should I do to inherit eternal life? Everybody 00:43:11.460 --> 00:43:17.389 say, what should I do? Well, the deal is, you 00:43:17.389 --> 00:43:21.010 know, it's by grace through faith. It's not by 00:43:21.010 --> 00:43:25.909 works. But Jesus says, why do you call me good? 00:43:26.369 --> 00:43:32.210 Jesus asked him. Only God is truly good. But 00:43:32.210 --> 00:43:35.230 to answer your question, you know the commandments. 00:43:37.210 --> 00:43:39.269 How many of you know we can't be right with God 00:43:39.269 --> 00:43:43.070 by keeping commandments? Did anybody raise their 00:43:43.070 --> 00:43:47.659 hand? Three people? We don't earn righteousness. 00:43:50.840 --> 00:43:53.219 Because if it was all up to us to earn it, none 00:43:53.219 --> 00:43:57.199 of us would have it. Because our righteousness 00:43:57.199 --> 00:44:02.679 is like filthy rags, the Bible says. But to answer 00:44:02.679 --> 00:44:05.079 your question, you know the commandments. You 00:44:05.079 --> 00:44:07.480 must not commit adultery. You must not murder. 00:44:08.739 --> 00:44:13.139 You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. 00:44:15.639 --> 00:44:19.480 Honor your father and mother. We'll talk about 00:44:19.480 --> 00:44:22.480 that next week a little bit more. The man replied, 00:44:22.840 --> 00:44:28.159 I've obeyed all these commandments since I was 00:44:28.159 --> 00:44:34.380 young. Somebody go, ha, ha, ha. Yeah, really? 00:44:36.539 --> 00:44:39.500 Really? The law was to show us that we couldn't 00:44:39.500 --> 00:44:41.820 keep it, but I guess he was dealing with some 00:44:41.820 --> 00:44:44.309 pride, and he said, well, you know what? I've 00:44:44.309 --> 00:44:49.110 kept the law. Have you ever met anybody who's 00:44:49.110 --> 00:44:53.909 always honored their parents? Have you ever met 00:44:53.909 --> 00:44:57.949 anyone who's never told a lie? Have you ever 00:44:57.949 --> 00:45:00.789 met just one person? I mean, I'm talking about 00:45:00.789 --> 00:45:02.489 in their whole life. I'm not talking about somebody 00:45:02.489 --> 00:45:09.269 who's a liar. I'm talking about... I've obeyed 00:45:09.269 --> 00:45:11.610 all these commandments since I was young. Maybe 00:45:11.610 --> 00:45:18.460 I hadn't murdered anybody. When Jesus heard his 00:45:18.460 --> 00:45:23.500 answer, here's what Jesus said. There's still 00:45:23.500 --> 00:45:26.260 one thing. Everybody say one thing. There's probably 00:45:26.260 --> 00:45:29.559 more than that, but there's one thing I'm going 00:45:29.559 --> 00:45:39.019 to put my finger on one thing. He said, there's 00:45:39.019 --> 00:45:42.079 still one thing you haven't done. He said, sell 00:45:42.079 --> 00:45:44.760 all your possessions, give the money to the poor, 00:45:44.900 --> 00:45:49.460 and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come 00:45:49.460 --> 00:45:58.199 follow me. But when the man heard this, he became 00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:06.280 very sad, for he was very rich. So what did Jesus 00:46:06.280 --> 00:46:14.260 put his finger on? He was supposed to love God 00:46:14.260 --> 00:46:16.000 with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of 00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:20.329 our mind, right? Supposed to love God above all 00:46:20.329 --> 00:46:23.650 things. No other gods before him. Our worship 00:46:23.650 --> 00:46:28.289 and our love. God is worthy, right? God's number 00:46:28.289 --> 00:46:33.929 one. Not for that guy. Jesus put his finger right 00:46:33.929 --> 00:46:36.570 on it, didn't he? Put his finger right on it. 00:46:38.469 --> 00:46:44.389 Just think. I'll throw this out there. Do you 00:46:44.389 --> 00:46:47.329 think Jesus was trying to get rid of all of his 00:46:47.329 --> 00:46:50.480 stuff? So that he could be, you know, a poor 00:46:50.480 --> 00:46:54.760 beggar the rest of his life? You think Jesus 00:46:54.760 --> 00:46:56.659 was wanting to take it all from him so that, 00:46:56.780 --> 00:46:58.900 you know, he would have to sit on the side of 00:46:58.900 --> 00:47:02.039 the road and ask people for a hamburger or whatever? 00:47:02.179 --> 00:47:06.179 I mean, do you think? That's not what Jesus was 00:47:06.179 --> 00:47:09.059 after. He wasn't after bankruptcy for the guy. 00:47:10.519 --> 00:47:19.949 Right? But Jesus was exposing his heart. Exposing 00:47:19.949 --> 00:47:28.730 his heart. He said this. The man said, you know, 00:47:28.730 --> 00:47:35.250 he dropped his head, walked away, saying, I can't 00:47:35.250 --> 00:47:38.789 give away my stuff. My stuff's really important 00:47:38.789 --> 00:47:40.510 to me. I've worked really hard for my stuff. 00:47:42.250 --> 00:47:50.820 I'm not going to give that away. This is a true 00:47:50.820 --> 00:47:54.360 story that happened. But again, I don't want 00:47:54.360 --> 00:47:55.940 you to think that everything we're talking about 00:47:55.940 --> 00:48:02.980 is money. It's about your heart. This has more 00:48:02.980 --> 00:48:09.119 to do with valuing God more than it has to do 00:48:09.119 --> 00:48:12.760 with stuff. Are you with me? Come on, somebody. 00:48:13.000 --> 00:48:20.150 Act like you're still in the room. Did he really 00:48:20.150 --> 00:48:22.670 value Jesus? He called him good teacher, but 00:48:22.670 --> 00:48:30.030 how much did he value Jesus? Well, he valued 00:48:30.030 --> 00:48:34.590 his stuff more than he valued Jesus. Listen, 00:48:34.670 --> 00:48:38.750 Jesus knew that there was going to be a need 00:48:38.750 --> 00:48:46.289 for another disciple, another apostle. Have you 00:48:46.289 --> 00:48:49.460 ever taken into consideration? Because Jesus 00:48:49.460 --> 00:48:51.340 looked at him, he said the same thing he said 00:48:51.340 --> 00:48:55.539 to everybody else. He said, come follow me. Come 00:48:55.539 --> 00:49:01.579 follow me. Just think about what this guy turned 00:49:01.579 --> 00:49:06.880 down. The life that he turned down. The blessing 00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:17.409 that he turned down. Hello? By... valuing or 00:49:17.409 --> 00:49:22.949 honoring what he had accumulated more than he 00:49:22.949 --> 00:49:35.250 valued or honored Jesus. We honor God by following 00:49:35.250 --> 00:49:41.170 him. And again, I want to ask you another hard 00:49:41.170 --> 00:49:50.730 question. Who or what Are you following? We're 00:49:50.730 --> 00:49:54.170 all following something or we're all following 00:49:54.170 --> 00:50:10.230 someone. Who or what are you following? Everybody 00:50:10.230 --> 00:50:14.559 say one more. Say he's about done. Look to the 00:50:14.559 --> 00:50:17.380 person beside you and say, he's about done. Mark 00:50:17.380 --> 00:50:24.179 6, 4. Jesus told them, a prophet is honored everywhere 00:50:24.179 --> 00:50:29.780 except in his own hometown and among his relatives 00:50:29.780 --> 00:50:33.719 and his own family. Now, we've looked at this 00:50:33.719 --> 00:50:36.239 text before, but we've never focused in on honored. 00:50:36.380 --> 00:50:39.900 Everybody say honored. Jesus said, a prophet 00:50:39.900 --> 00:50:43.300 is honored. He said, look. Everybody is honoring 00:50:43.300 --> 00:50:50.820 me except the people in Nazareth. That's what's 00:50:50.820 --> 00:50:55.300 going on right here. And the Bible tells us that 00:50:55.300 --> 00:50:58.519 because of the lack of honor, everybody say lack 00:50:58.519 --> 00:51:02.880 of honor, because of the lack of honor, Jesus 00:51:02.880 --> 00:51:08.380 was not able to do. Everything he wanted to do. 00:51:08.460 --> 00:51:10.780 The miracles that he wanted to do. Jesus was 00:51:10.780 --> 00:51:14.860 not able. Now you might say, Jesus is God. He 00:51:14.860 --> 00:51:18.679 can do whatever he wants to. But because of their 00:51:18.679 --> 00:51:26.000 lack of honor and their lack of faith. See, lack 00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:28.340 of honor and lack of faith will hinder the work 00:51:28.340 --> 00:51:36.139 of God in your life. Look at me. God wants to 00:51:36.139 --> 00:51:38.619 do some amazing, wonderful, great things in your 00:51:38.619 --> 00:51:44.000 life and through you. I mean, it's more than 00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:49.579 you could ever imagine. Through everybody in 00:51:49.579 --> 00:51:57.159 this room. But our lack of honor and our lack 00:51:57.159 --> 00:52:04.460 of faith can keep God from doing what he wants 00:52:04.460 --> 00:52:09.780 to do in our lives. This is serious. That's why 00:52:09.780 --> 00:52:13.300 honor is so serious, right? One of the reasons. 00:52:16.019 --> 00:52:20.739 Because honor puts us in position to receive 00:52:20.739 --> 00:52:31.679 what God desires to do for us. I'll say it again. 00:52:33.130 --> 00:52:34.889 I know you've read it and I've said it, but I'm 00:52:34.889 --> 00:52:39.070 going to say it again. Honor puts you in position. 00:52:39.769 --> 00:52:43.469 Your honor of God puts you in position to receive 00:52:43.469 --> 00:52:49.230 what God desires to do for you. And with a lack 00:52:49.230 --> 00:52:56.309 of honor, God will be hindered from doing what 00:52:56.309 --> 00:53:02.199 he wants to do in your life. When your honor 00:53:02.199 --> 00:53:05.960 of God increases, this is the last slide. Everybody 00:53:05.960 --> 00:53:09.039 say last slide, he's done. Hallelujah, he's finally 00:53:09.039 --> 00:53:14.199 done. I could preach all day, but I know you 00:53:14.199 --> 00:53:16.639 couldn't listen much more than you've listened 00:53:16.639 --> 00:53:21.039 already. But when your, listen, when your honor 00:53:21.039 --> 00:53:25.139 of God increases, you will begin to see more 00:53:25.139 --> 00:53:28.480 evidence of his honor towards you. He said, I 00:53:28.480 --> 00:53:35.849 will honor those who honor me. He tells us to 00:53:35.849 --> 00:53:39.650 believe that he is a rewarder of those who diligently 00:53:39.650 --> 00:53:48.030 seek him. Right? So when your honor of God increases, 00:53:48.309 --> 00:53:54.650 when you value him more and more and more and 00:53:54.650 --> 00:53:58.869 more, when you value him and esteem him the highest, 00:54:01.840 --> 00:54:04.400 You'll begin to see more evidence. I'm not saying 00:54:04.400 --> 00:54:07.019 he's not doing anything in your life now, but 00:54:07.019 --> 00:54:10.280 as your honor increases, you will see more evidence 00:54:10.280 --> 00:54:15.260 of his honor towards you. This online worship 00:54:15.260 --> 00:54:17.760 experience was brought to you by the friends 00:54:17.760 --> 00:54:19.320 and partners of Elation Church.