A Good Name - [Proverbs 22:1]

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Tonight's message is not going to be expositional. It is going to deal with the subject of biblical character, of virtue, and what that means.
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And you always try to think, how am I going to begin speaking of this topic? What great thing can
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I pull out of my mind as far as some introduction? And I was thinking, when
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I was a young child, I remember I grew up in Westboro, Massachusetts. And downtown, there were a couple of stores, but one of them was better than the other.
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They had a penny candy area of the store. And with a dollar, you could go a long way than what you can today.
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And you get behind that counter, you get right behind it. You could go, and you could begin to pick and fill your bag with all the things that you'd like.
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And as a kid, of course, you'd go for the three for a penny and two for a penny. You get a huge, huge bag.
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We graduate from that, don't we? And we just go on to just give up those things as far as just going after the little things.
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And of course, we don't, because now we can just point and click online and get what we want. We can go to the mall, search the store and get whatever it is that we're desiring to get or go and drive or whatever, catalogs, the things that we go after.
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And sometimes, you think about it, if you go to the mall, you're going after something that you might need for clothing, you go some electronic store for something for the house.
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But is there such a thing as a reputation store? So I can go someplace and turn with me, if you would, to Proverbs 22.
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I can go get what the scripture says here in Proverbs 22. How do I choose this?
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Or where do I go to find what is mentioned here in this verse? Proverbs 22, since there's no clock on the back,
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I'm gonna try to set up my watch here so I can see it. I'm not usually all that great when it comes to time, but I'll try to be good tonight.
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Proverbs 22, in verse one, the scripture says, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
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A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
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And the day in which we live, it is few and far between where we hear of or we talk with people who are seeking after a good name, who are desirous of an impeccable character in their lives or a testimony that shines for the grace of God.
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You see, the world would say when it comes to this about being good or having a good name, you just wanna be able to live a life to where at the end of your days, you've just been a good old boy.
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That's who you are. Or maybe you might hear it as those who would say you wanna achieve some great feat or invent something or do some great philanthropic work and leave behind your legacy because of what you did.
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Why these, I'm leaning towards, by saying these, I'm leaning towards the wrong motive of wanting to be recognized by men.
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Wanting to be recognized for what you have accomplished rather than for who you are and what your life is all about.
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Charles Bridges wrote, a good name is gained by godly consistency.
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And I desire to speak of godly character, true virtue, and that character that stands out in the fallen world in which we live.
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This was evident in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ as we hear of his account recorded by Luke in chapter two, verse 52, where he said,
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Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
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Increased in favor with God and man. But this is not a trait just for the
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Lord Jesus alone for we see the similar words describing the young prophet
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Samuel in first Samuel chapter two, verse 26, and the young child Samuel grew and was in favor both with the
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Lord and also with men. And it doesn't end with Samuel. If you consider the lives of other men in scripture, other people in scripture, what about Moses?
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What about Joseph? You think of their, as you think of these men and you think of the struggles and the trials and the temptations that they came their way and the decisions that they made.
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Moses, Joseph, Joshua, Daniel, and even in the Apostle Paul, just to name a few.
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And we'll get into some of the details of those as the message continues on. What was it that God had worked or wrought in the lives of men such as these to set them apart from others?
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What was it that God had done? A great work in their life, yes. And I will not take and exclude this or separate this from the work of salvation in the life of the believer.
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That must occur first. It must be that we're visited from on high. It must be that God breaks in upon our life.
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And as Skogol wrote, that we must possess the life of God within our souls. And that comes from the wonderful gift of salvation in Christ.
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But salvation that comes to us is not alone. Salvation is life -changing. And one of the things that it does in our lives, one is it does is it gives us a different will.
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It gives us a different volition for choosing. And here in this verse, it speaks to us of something that we ought to choose above riches, above wealth, above that which we could possess physically.
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And that is a good name and loving favor, but a good name. And I believe that God's work of divine grace in the life of the believer is something that so changes us that we become a people of character.
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It is so much easier for me. And I've talked to my wife about this over the years. It's so much easier for me to do this than to teach it.
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It's so much easier to live it than to preach it, to be able to put it in words. And how do you describe to a person that which
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God has done to you over decades, what God has done to mold and shape you and change you and give you different passions and give you different desires and changing in your want -tos and your wishes in the way that you step one foot in front of the other.
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But I will attempt by the grace of God to at least teach this in a way. So hopefully, as our brother
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Steve said this morning, maybe we'll go away knowing what brother Dave was preaching about. Sometimes my wife tells me, you keep saying the same thing over and over and over again.
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Well, I do that because I need to hear it over and over and over again so that I get it. And if I need it, maybe there's one or two others in the room that will need the same thing over and over and over again.
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So please bear with me. Now, in contrast to the person that brother Steve preached on this morning, the fool in Psalm 14.
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I don't know if you pick this up, but one of the things brother Steve said was that when you think of a foolish person, there is a life that demonstrates the absence of godliness.
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That phrase just blew open to me this morning. In the life of a foolish person, it is a demonstration of a life that is absent of godliness.
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Well, the man or woman, the boy or girl who has a good name, who has a reputation.
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Yes, this is all umbrellaed under the great and wonderful working of God in the life of the soul. But the person who has a good name is a person where godliness is present, where character is present, where virtue is present, where right living or righteousness is present.
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Christians are people, yes, that are saved by the grace of God, saved from the penalty of sin and saved from the power of sin and saved out of their sins and out of a life of sin.
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And they are a people who pursue holiness. And that is something that the grace of God teaches us.
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They are people who desire to possess biblical character or they have a drive to do that which is right.
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They wanna live right. They wanna choose for right. They want to fight for that which is right. They want to be right.
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They want to act right and think right and do right. In essence, they want to be righteous people, possessing a testimony of a good name.
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Proverbs 22, one again, the good name is to be sought after more than riches, more than what the world says is important.
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In Proverbs 23, if you'll look over there just across maybe your page, in Proverbs 23, notice what it says about these riches.
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Why pursue a good name over riches? What is it that is characteristic of riches? Well, Proverbs 23, five says, wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
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For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an eagle toward heaven. And for some, it flies a whole lot quicker and a whole lot higher than others.
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But what an empty grasp to try to choose riches, to get our arms and our lives around that which is vanity, that which will fly away, that which we cannot take with us.
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Naked came we into the world and naked we shall leave this world. We'll leave it with nothing, for we came in that way.
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What is more important? Proverbs 10, you don't have to turn there, but Proverbs 10, well, how about this? A good name, a good name leaves an indelible mark upon people.
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Riches fly away and they're just temporary and fleeting, but a good name leaves a mark.
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It's an indelible mark upon others. And in Proverbs 10, in verse seven, it says, the memory of the righteous is blessed.
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The memory of the righteous is blessed. And you talk about legacies. You always hear about the presidents who are going out and they've got to do one last thing to leave a legacy.
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And I'm not saying legacies are bad. I'm not saying that some of these things we have to live with, even with riches and money and the things that, but what about our priorities?
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And what are our motives? And what is it that we set our hearts upon? And when it comes to our name, when it comes to our testimony, when it comes to our reputation, is that something that is a priority to us?
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That's the message for this evening. Is that something that is important to us? Or can we say that in my life, my legacy will be of what
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I possessed. My life is what I have. My life is all wrapped up in what
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I could get with my checkbook, what I could get from what was in the bank, what I could get from the mall, what I could get from the store, what
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I could get from online, or is my life one that exhibited characters?
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A character can be defined as doing that which is right because it is right.
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If you turn with me, and you can hold your place in Proverbs because we're gonna come back here. In the Psalm chapter 37,
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I think Brother Lewis visited this Psalm not too long ago. And I just wanna show you a couple of verses out of there that just struck me this week as I was thinking about this text and this topic.
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In Psalm 37, I'll just throw, I have more verses, but we'll just do a few for the sake of time.
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Notice Psalm 37 three, trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shall be fed.
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Now, there's a lot of promises in here for those who would obey the principles of the word of God.
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Apply these principles and apply these precepts in your own life. And here, it says that we ought to trust and do good.
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Kind of reminds you of the hymn, trust and obey, right? For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.
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No other way to be blessed of God. And that's what it says here. And verily thou shall be fed and you will dwell in the land.
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Notice in this chapter, verse 27, depart from evil again and do good and dwell forevermore.
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A person who has a reputation of leaving evil, shunning evil, running from evil, reminds you of Joseph, doesn't it?
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Depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore. But in particular, one of the verses that really stood out to me was verse 37.
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Mark the perfect man or mark the blameless man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace.
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And the word there, mark the blameless man or mark the perfect man is to look at that person in such a way that you want to do what he's doing or what he or she is doing.
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You know what that infers to us is that people are watching us. I just talked to a sister here this morning at the door over there and she was saying of another
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Christian in this church, she was saying, I wonder if that Christian actually really realizes how many of the little ones in the church are watching them because they make such an impact because they are, because I know that they are because my daughter is watching this person as they were talking to me.
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And there are littler girls in the church that are watching my daughter. And people are looking at us and people are taking note of our lives.
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And we are an influence and we are an example to other people. And we need to take care and be careful in the way in which we order our lives.
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The steps of a good man in this Psalm verse 23 are ordered by the
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Lord and he delights in his way. Though we fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. Verse 24, for the
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Lord upholds him with his hand. We are, we ought to be very careful of what it is that we're doing when it comes to living and thinking and moving about in our lives because people are watching us and we are leaving a name behind.
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Is it going to be a good name or is it going to be a bad name? Is it going to be a poor reputation or is it going to be a good one?
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In order for a person to do that which is right, we first got to lay some groundwork and agree on a couple of things.
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And the first thing I think we need to agree on is that when it comes to the life of a person who is going to do right, there has to be an absolute standard by which we define right and wrong.
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People of character don't make up their own rules as they go along. I know we have some folks in here that are really great at board games.
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I know one time we were playing a board game called Risk with a family member. And it was the first time for some of us and this family member knew how to play this game.
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And as we were going along, of course, we got all the ground rules, we got all, you know, this is the major rules as you go on.
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This is the whole purpose of this game. And some of us weren't faring quite well.
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And this family member was doing really good. And we couldn't quite figure it out until about halfway through the game, we were told, oh, yes, if you want something about getting around the world, you could come around this way through this country or something.
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I can't remember what it was, but it was a great enlightenment and it really helped out if you wanted to be strategic and win this game.
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But when it comes to living the Christian life, we don't make the rules up and we don't change them as we go along.
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We are acquainted with the absolute standards of God. We don't go along with the world who will ask, well, what's right for me?
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Or what's right for the situation in which I'm facing? I mean, you know, we live in a modern day and we have just different situations and different circumstances.
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The problem is that the heart of man has not changed and the problem of man has not changed and God has not changed and His standard has not changed and He desires of His people that we be holy, a peculiar people, separated unto
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God, just like when Moses went before Pharaoh and God gave him the message to tell
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Moses to tell Pharaoh, let my people go so that we can just go in the wilderness and have a great time and frolic in the wilderness and just kind of hang out and go by the nice pools and build sand castles and whatever.
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No, it was let my people go so that they might serve me. And we're to be a holy people, a different people, living unto
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God with a testimony that shines for the grace of God. So we don't say, you know, with the world like what's right now or what's right for the circumstance.
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No, we ask what is right and what is the mind of God for this matter? We know that there's one standard for everyone and everywhere and for all times.
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And we know that everyone is responsible and accountable to God to keep
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His Word. And anyone who knows the Lord knows they are accountable to God's standard revealed to us in the pages of God's Word because God is immutable and He's unchangeable and His absolute standards never change.
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He's always desired to have a people for Himself. And He's always desired that those people have a pursuit of holiness and seeking
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God and loving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and that they live differently, that they live as it were in the
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Old Testament. There were things that we heard about just last Sunday evening that set Israel apart from all the other nations.
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There were things that they were supposed to do in their customs and their dress and all that made them different than others.
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And there's things that God would have His people do today, Christians, to be and how they ought to act and how they ought to behave to set us apart from this world, not to be unequally yoked with this world, not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them, to shine as lights in this dark, dark world.
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You see, because men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, but we ought to shine like a city set up on a hill, shine for the
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Lord and have a great testimony. And we ought to be where trophies of grace set upon display for the world to see that that is what a
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Christian is, that is what God... That is the way they breathe, that is the way they think, that is what they pursue, that is their heart's desire, that's how they treat each other, that's how they treat the world, that's how they work, that's how they play, that's what they do as far as the forms of entertainment or reading or whatever it is it has to do in their lives.
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Our reputation and our character is vitally important.
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Secondly, for us to be able to do what is right, we presuppose the ability and willingness to obey.
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Agreeing with the rules of the game is one thing, but playing by those rules is a totally different thing.
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I've mentioned board games before, but I've played ball games, different kinds of situations in the past where right in the middle of the whole thing,
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I mean, playing pool or ping pong or whatever, somebody just throws this rule in. You know, it's like, where did that come from?
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And it kind of messes up the whole thing. I mean, how can you know what we're shooting at here, what the goal is if it keeps changing all the time?
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I remember at work last fourth quarter of last year, the state of Massachusetts was mandating some insurance regulations and they hit us with this like 60 or 80 page document that we were supposed to comply to.
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Well, the problem was is the document kept changing and it was a moving target and we had all these people focused on these projects, but there was no way they were gonna be able to hit this target because the state kept changing their mind or what it was that they wanted to mandate at any given time.
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And it was very, it was almost like virtual unreality when it came to trying to hit the mark here.
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Well, when it comes to the Christian life, it is not something that is questionable.
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It's not something that's variable. It is the rock solid foundation of the word of God. It is God's word that is the lamp unto our feet and the light unto our path.
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It is that which we are to love, that which we are to embrace, that which we are to meditate upon, memorize, live by and call our very own in the walk and the way of it.
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And men and women of character, not only have agreed that God's word is the code for us, it is the code of ethics and of morality for us.
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We live it and desire to live by it. Psalm 119 .34, give me understanding and I shall keep by law.
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We're asking the prayer there is, God, give me understanding and I will keep by law. Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
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You see, Christians are those who trust in the Lord and they do good, Psalm 37 .3 as we read. They do that which is right at all times, no matter what's going on around them, no matter what people think about them, no matter what people say, no matter what distraction comes their way, no matter what temptation comes, whatever the fiery doubts of dart might be, they hold up the shield of faith and they believe
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God because let God be true and every man a liar. They want to do what's right before God.
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And they want to do what's right, even if it hurts. I believe Brother Steve read
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Psalm 15 this morning and there's a little phrase in one of those verses that says that the person who is going to be close with God, the person who is going to be able to dwell in his tent, dwell close by God and have fellowship with God and walk with God, is a person who, one of the things it says, that they swear even to their own hurt.
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That means that they may make a promise even if it hurts. How can I put some flesh on that one?
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Well, let's say you make a promise, parents, to your children that you're going to be there on Tuesday at five o 'clock to take your child to go do something.
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And at two o 'clock, you're at work and one of the folks that you work with comes up and says, I got some free tickets to the
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Red Sox game or whatever it is that really floats your boat for that evening at six o 'clock.
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And all of a sudden, you got to make the decision. Am I going to do that which is right? Or am
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I going to do that which pleases me? Because you've made a promise. And that's just a little promise.
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I mean, that's just a little example of what I'm talking about. But it is absolutely incredible, even in Christian realms, how little a person's word is worth.
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And I believe that our word ought to be our bond. And I believe that if we do make a promise that we ought to keep that promise as much as is humanly possible unless providentially hindered.
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I mean, we're laid up in bed or something. If we have a choice between two things and one of them is for us and one of them is to keep the promise that we make, we ought to go ahead and keep that promise.
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We want to do that which is right. That's an example of biblical character. Now, let's examine this subject by looking comparatively with an eye toward the unbelieving world and what their pursuit is.
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What is the pursuit of those that are outside of Christ? Well, you can go and think of all different types of things, but I kind of focused on this.
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I think we could all agree that it is a focus and a drive for personal achievement, for personal satisfaction, and for personal fulfillment.
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Now, although men and women of character are not opposed to personal fulfillment, we ought to at least have different priorities.
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Our affections should be set upon things above and not upon the things of the earth.
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And they ought to be set upon things above as we know that God's kingdom is more than food and drink.
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It is more than riches. It is more than silver and gold. Because a good name is rather to be chosen.
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It's better to be chosen. It excels over that which we could choose when we come to the silver and gold.
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A good name is important. For us to demonstrate true character, personal obedience has a greater priority than personal achievement.
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Self -control is more important than self -fulfillment. Personal righteousness is a more valuable commodity than personal satisfaction.
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Just two days ago, I was speaking to a Christian brother. And they told me that this is somebody that we know here.
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I was speaking to this brother. And he said that he had had some dealings with another
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Christian not too long ago. And this Christian promised to fulfill a commitment that they had made to him.
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And sure enough, he had tried over and over again. But this commitment kept falling through. And the person would not do what they promised that they said they would do.
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And it was very troubling to this Christian brother. I was trying to help him through it, just kind of encourage him what he should do, give the benefit of the doubt, try over again.
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Love covers a multitude of sins. But eventually, this other Christian would not comply, would not keep the promise.
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And of course, he had to deal with this other person in a way because they were unreliable.
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They did not have a sense of the importance of what it meant when they made a promise, when they made a commitment.
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And why do you think friendships break up? Why do you think marriages are in a mess? Why do you think the church is in a mess, or churches, if we hear about it?
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We have people who come here week after week because there are things that are going on in churches that ought not to be named.
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There are things that ought not to be done in the testimony, in the life of a New Testament church.
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They are coming because they desire to go someplace where the word of God is preached, where Christ is exalted, and where people will just do what the
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Bible says and to live right before God. I mean, we're not perfect. And we never said we were. But we do desire with all of our hearts to make it a matter of priority that we will focus on a reputation.
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We will focus not for the reputation of men, per se, just so that we can get patted on the back, but just so that people can look at us and say, my,
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God does do a good work when He saves somebody. Isn't it amazing what
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God does when He changes the heart of a sinner and makes them a holy saint and a child of God, and they begin to live and to walk and to breathe and to act and to speak and to think and to decide differently?
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You see, if you were to ask around, most people would not be opposed to character. They would say character is important.
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People aren't opposed to that. But only a few will make it, the pursuit of it, to find favor, to find this loving favor in the sight of God and of man, so that God gets the glory in it.
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That's the difference. Not that we get to toot our horn, but that God would get the glory in it. In Proverbs 20, if you'll turn there, you're in 22, you could just turn back to Proverbs 20.
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Notice what it says. There's this piercing, probing question in Proverbs 20 in verse 6.
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Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find.
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And wouldn't you, just by the grace of God, want to put your name in there just saying, I want to be that type of person?
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I would desire for God to make me that type of person to where I would be considered faithful.
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I would be considered reliable. I would be considered a person of integrity. I would be a person who would do what they promised.
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And even when it comes to integrity, I mean, there's no distinction between what
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I say and do. That's what basically integrity means, complete. It just means we get the word integer, one, from it.
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When you integrate things, you put them together, they become one, and our life is one. It's complete in that what we say and what we do, there's no distinction between the two of those.
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They're exactly the same. And that's why I said it's sometimes easier for me to actually live this than to teach this.
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It's sometimes hard because you don't want to get up and you don't want to brag, of course. If we're going to brag, we're going to brag on the
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Lord. This is the goodness of God, to be able to work this in the life of anybody. And when it comes to integrity, just think about this.
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I mean, what kind of integrity, what type of character would there be if, let's say, on our job, we are a person who rebels against the boss, speaks about the boss, listens to all the bad stories about the boss, gossips with our coworkers.
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We produce a shabby product. I mean, it's just worthless, what we put out. It's crummy work.
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We just, we do that. And then at the end of the day, we want to go over to somebody and hand them a gospel track and say, smile,
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God loves you, and God has a great plan for your life or whatever. However, how it is that we want to talk to them, and of course, that's not the gospel presentation.
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I'm just kind of using that in a way that we're trying to come across as being something that we're not.
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The opposite of integrity is hypocrisy. If we don't have character, if we don't have integrity, if we're not this one that we're a people who are hypocrites.
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I mean, I heard of a story once where there was a person who had gone to a restaurant, a
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Christian, and they rode the waitress the whole time. I mean, nothing was right.
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There weren't even enough ice cubes in the glass. I mean, nothing. I mean, absolutely nothing. The way she held the plate, you name it.
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Everything was just terrible and got after this waitress. And then at the end of it, they wanted to leave their gospel track and a subpar tip because the waitress didn't do a good thing.
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That just doesn't go together. That isn't integrity. I mean, when you have that kind of raw disposition, that just judgmental spirit, and just that disregard for other people and treat them in such a way, and then try to come back and say, well,
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I'm a Christian. You see the bad name that that is, the poor testimony that that is?
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And maybe I'll try to give a couple of examples later as we go on. A faithful man, who can find?
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Faithful Christians who possess character. What a rare jewel in our churches today. People without character are quick to compromise their standards and violate their consciences.
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If that's what it will take to get ahead or get to what they want for gratifying themselves. And today, sadly, it is not very important what you are on the inside because the concentration is what you are on the outside.
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That's the society in which we live. Spurgeon said that character is what a man is in the dark.
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And I heard someone else say that character is what a man is when no one else is looking.
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You tell me, is that not a piercing statement? Character is what a man is when no one else is looking.
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And when no one else is looking, what is it that we're doing? What is it that we're thinking?
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What is it that we're consumed by? What is it that we're looking at? That's what character is.
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Webster defines character as a person's pattern of behavior or personality.
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Their moral constitution, their moral strength. It is a person's reputation. So character is what we are really made of.
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Dr. William Mitchell wrote this little thing. I thought it was just very eye -opening.
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He said, watch your thoughts. They become your words. Watch your words.
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They become your actions. Watch your actions. They become your habits. And watch your habits because they become your character.
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And watch your character because it becomes your destiny. And I'm not saying that.
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I know he wasn't saying that based upon, you know, it's a work salvation. But it does say something about even
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Jesus as was mentioned this morning, Matthew chapter seven. You look at a tree and you know what kind of fruit is growing on that tree and it tells you what kind of tree it is.
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A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. The good tree does not bring forth corrupt fruit.
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And it's so vital what kind of fruit, what kind of life that we're living. What is it that comes forth out of our lives?
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So this is a very, very important subject. There aren't too many places that you can go nowadays to help out in the area of your character.
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We have lots of places that we can go on to improve the outer man, don't we? Because that's the emphasis, as I said earlier, in our society.
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I mean, the people we rub shoulders with are consumed with the outside, with the exterior, with the hair and the clothing and the skin tone and complexion and the muscles and the lack thereof or the cellulite and the lack thereof and the accessories and the perfume and the clones and possessions and so on.
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And we can come up with a long list of places that you can go to get help in these areas like beauty shops and tanning centers and malls and health clubs and specialty shops.
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And we are bombarded every day with advertisements to improve our external look, aren't we? But there's not a long list when it comes to the places that we can go to develop good character other than the church, other than the home of a godly
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Christian brother or sister in Christ who would encourage us, other than going to the Word of God and seeing what
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God has to say. There's not many places that we can go to nowadays. I mean, we were told this morning that even when it comes to the so -called
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Christian bookstore, you can have that little shelf over here. I mean, why pay the big rent, right, brother?
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Just have that little kiosk, you know, save a lot of money. I mean, it is appalling what is in the
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Christian stores today. I mean, I get so grieved almost to tears when
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I look at just the t -shirts, the sayings that are on there, trying to equate the things of a holy
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God in the infinite truth of God and trying to match it up with some product like Coca -Cola or toothpaste or something else.
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I don't think... I would find it very hard to be a
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Christian bookstore owner with all the books that are in those stores today and try to maintain a godly
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Christian character. It would just be difficult for me, anyways. I believe that this is an important subject.
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I believe that this is something that we should pursue. And yet the problem in our nation that we have, as I said earlier, the problem with society is that it is totally committed to the outer person and neglects the inner man.
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And that is the problem with our nation. It stems from a lack of character among our leaders and its citizens.
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And developing inner character is essential to godliness. It will take a sacrifice for us to pursue and develop character in our lives.
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And I believe that it would be right for us to be called upon as Christians today, this evening, to be a people who pursue biblical character.
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We're people who are pressing on to higher ground, are we not? And I believe that there's something every believer should be known for.
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And that is good, godly, Christian virtue and character. What are you known for? We're in Proverbs 20,
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I believe, where we ended up, look in verse 11, even a child, and I'm glad that on Sunday evenings that children come, not as many tonight as others, but it's important for us all of all ages to hear the word of God, Proverbs 20, verse 11, even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right.
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And if a child's character, if a child's virtue is known by their behavior, and it is, it's true for adults too, and it's true for Christians too, no matter what your age is, no matter where you are, no matter what part of time of life that you're in, it is important for us to be known to have a good reputation.
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Here's some practical tips to help us develop a character. First, we need to be people who will fully submit ourselves to God's word, fully submit ourselves to God's word.
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Paul put it this way, let the word of Christ rule in your hearts. The word of Christ rule there, not our opinion and not that which the world sets up as its standards, but the word of God.
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We must agree with God that his ways are always right. Trust in the Lord and do good,
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Psalm 37 .3, very simple. Trust and obey, there's no other way. That is it, to trust what
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God says, to believe by faith that what God says, as far as there is standards in his word, and we resolve that they are right for us, whether we understand them or don't understand them or misunderstand them.
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Someone wrote this phrase here. He said, Lord, before you even tell me what the right thing to do is in my particular situation,
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I want you to know that I believe that you are right. You realize that if you approach the word of God that way, it is so much easier to just submit to it rather than coming and saying, well,
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I'm gonna hear what it says, and then I'm gonna judge whether I like it or not, whether it sounds right or it doesn't sound right, and then
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I'll go ahead and do it. But no, if we take the position to where we put ourselves under the authority of the word of God, what is that?
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That is under the Lordship of Christ. We're going to do what he says, not just to talk about it, not just to think about it, because you can talk and think and plan all you would like when it comes to the word of God and what it says.
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Maybe God has put something in the word upon your heart and convicted you of an area in your life, and you've been unwilling to touch that area, unwilling to do anything about it.
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What is it that you've done? You might have made great plans. You might have great aspirations to walk in that, but that is not what
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God is looking for. What God desires to see in the life of his children are those who will do what he says, who obey him in every area and every aspect of their life.
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So we need to first submit ourselves to the word of God and resolve to be always willing to do
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God's will when it comes to his absolute standards of behavior. We've been called to live in a higher plane when it comes to our thoughts and our words and our deeds.
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And secondly, we must follow through. This is not just a one -time shot. It's not like I just do this great thing and I just excel for a short period of time.
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But this is for the long haul. This is for our lives. We've given our all to him.
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Let me take my life and let it be consecrated unto me. Not take a couple of decades and then
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I'll just do what I like to do. Or take my Sunday and maybe one of the other days of the week and the rest of them are mine.
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Take my life. Take my hands. Take my feet. Take my will. Take my silver and my gold.
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Take everything that there is about me and Lord, use it for your pleasure. And use it for your glory.
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And follow through as the people of God. Purpose to do what's right. Why? Why purpose to do what is right?
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Because it'll make us look good, right? Not. Not all the time.
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Because there are people who are gonna look at us and say, you are fools. You are crazy. I can't believe that you would give that up or do that or order your house that way or order your marriage that way or use your money that way.
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Given all that money, just think of what you could do. The bigger house or the second car or third car or whatever.
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Just, I mean, you're absolutely crazy. I mean, we'll probably be mocked at times for doing that which is right, but it's always right to do right.
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Maybe we should do this because it's what we really want to do, right? I mean, just think about it.
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How many times have you gotten in the car or even before you got in the car, you're thinking about going to that church service one more time?
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I mean, I gotta get the kids ready if you had kids to get ready. I gotta get me ready. I looked in the mirror and it's not doing too good.
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And I'm thinking about my body as years go on and it's not, it hurts, you know?
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And we were listening to a message on the way in, in the car, about a young man who had heard of those even in college, at the master's college, who had fallen away, even in the short period of time that he had been at the college, eight years, that there were those who were plugged in, those who were serving
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God, loving Christ, and then apostatized, just go away. Not have anything.
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And one of the things he said, it was because of apathy, because we grow cold in the things of God, because it's just another church service.
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I just gotta go. Do you ever just, I mean, just, I love to put the positive spin on stuff.
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Not positive thinking, but just think right, biblically, you know, when it comes to the Word of God. I mean, we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, right?
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As the manner of some is. But exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Hebrews 10 .25, we're not to forsake this.
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I think of it this way, and I said it to somebody this morning. We are one Lord's day closer to heaven.
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I mean, we're one day, when we put our heads in our pillows tonight, we sleep this night, we are one day closer to the
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Lord Jesus, and seeing Him face to face, and being in the place that He promised that He prepared for us.
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I mean, it is far, it is just a small sacrifice for us to come to a church service, isn't it?
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Just to come, I mean, and think of the benefit of it, and the blessing of it, to be able to encourage each other, and to strengthen each other, and to be example to each other, and to pray for each other, and just to be there for each other, and of course, more than anything, we get to worship the true and the living
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God who has called us unto Himself. So we don't do it because, you know, we really want to, because our flesh at times will oppose us.
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How about this? Do we do it because it'll, we just do it because it'll just keep us off the streets, and keep us out of trouble.
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No, we can't run from our troubles because, I don't know who the author was, but they said something, we've seen the enemy, and the enemy is ourselves.
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I mean, our hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and we're in this body, the
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Roman seven struggle continues to go on, and we don't do it to keep us out of trouble.
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We don't do it because it will make life easier either. We don't think it's some type of a, you know, a formula that we're going to do, and it's gonna just work, make everything work out well for us.
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People of character do what's right, because it's right to do it, and it pleases
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God for us to live so. I mean, you think of men like Moses, where it says in number 16, and in verse 15,
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I believe it is, he could say, I have not taken one donkey from the people, nor hurt anyone.
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How about Samuel's testimony, in 1 Samuel 12, verses one through five?
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That's when they picked king, and they rejected Samuel, and he said, I have not defrauded the people, nor oppressed them in any way, nor stolen from any man.
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How about Daniel, in Daniel chapter six? I mean, these are men who God had moved wonderfully, marvelously in their lives to make them who they were.
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In Daniel chapter six, you have all of the other leaders who are jealous of Daniel's position, and authority that he's been given, and it says they scoured the land to try to find some skeletons in Daniel's closet, and they could find none occasion.
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They could find no fault in that man. There was nothing. It was an impeccable character.
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I mean, they asked relatives. They asked everybody, friends, whoever they could get their hands on, what is it that Daniel has done so that we can bring an accusation against him?
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Has he bribed anybody? No. Has he shirked his responsibility? No. Has he been unfaithful in discharging his stewardship in his position?
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Absolutely not. Not one. The only way they could get him, do you remember, was according to his
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God. That was how they were going to try to catch him. And even in doing that, God vindicated the man because he was a man of impeccable character.
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Paul, in 1 Thessalonians chapter two, he said to them, folks there, he says, you know how wholly, and how blamelessly, and how justly
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I have acted in front of you. Do you remember how careful he was when it came to the gifts that he was going to receive?
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There were times when he did not want to receive anything from anybody because he didn't want to think that they thought that he was holding it over them, or as an apostle, that he should get this because he deserved it, or he could exact it from them.
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He worked with his own hands so that he would be blameless before them. Nobody could bring any type of reproach before him.
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There was a time when the churches, the remote churches, were going to send money to Jerusalem for the saints that were in need, and they gathered up.
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And he sends three men together so that there would be absolutely no question about the handling of that money, and it would all be above board.
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And it was very important to live a life that was blameless. He wrote that to the church at Philippi.
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He says that you should be a blameless people, that you should be above reproach, that you should not, as he wrote to the
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Corinthian church, he said he did not want to give offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed.
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Second Corinthians 6 .3. He didn't want to give an offense in any single thing whatsoever, small and big, it was important for him.
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We want to do that which is right. One step of obedience to God's word followed by another step of obedience.
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Well, in the closing minutes, I'm just going to give you some real good examples here, hopefully, that will just kind of close this up.
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At work, in our business transactions, at home, ministry, wherever, in our neighborhoods, we need to be people who are diligent.
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Peter wrote this in 2 Peter 3 .14. He says, seeing that you look for such things, the coming of the
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Lord, the new heaven and the new earth, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless.
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Wouldn't that be our desire? For when the Lord comes, he finds us without spot, and he finds us blameless.
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Being a people who are faithful, being a people who are honest. Romans 12 .17, provide things honest in the sight of all men.
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Being careful in everything that we do when it comes to relationships with others. When it comes with our time, not stealing time.
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Where would we do that? We could do that at the workplace, not stealing time. When it comes to money, exercising care, especially when it's someone else's.
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Paying our taxes. If you go to the store and they give you too much change, turn around and give it back to them.
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I heard the story of a pastor who got on a bus in London, England, and the bus driver gave him purposely too much change.
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The pastor went, sat down in his chair, and of course, what can cross your mind? Ooh, I can maybe pay in a couple extra bills or get my free lunch today, right?
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No. He got up from his seat, walked up to the bus driver and said, you gave me too much change.
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And the bus driver said, yeah, I knew I did. And he said, I know who you are. You're the pastor of that church down there. I just wanted to see if you walked the talk.
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I just wanted to see if it was real. And that's what it's all about. Do you think people aren't watching this? They are.
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They want to know if what we've got is real. And your family, you know what I'm talking about. You go to meet with your family around the holidays and we love our families and we pray for them.
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Sometimes though, there is a button pushing contest going on. You see what they can do to make that Christianity just explode and go away.
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Just to kind of prove that it's not genuine, that it's not real. And we're in a struggle at times and we need to maintain and be faithful in all that we do so that we stay steadfast and unmovable and always abounding in the work of the
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Lord, knowing that the labor that we do in the Lord is not in vain. When it comes to business transactions, doesn't the
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Proverbs say that a false balance is an abomination to the Lord? You're doing a business transaction with someone else and you've got a scale that's off.
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You're going to get more money than from what you're selling, vegetables or whatever it is, or whatever it might be. It's an abomination in the sight of the
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Lord. How about this one? A child might be sent to the store by their parents to pick up something and they'll keep some of the change, thinking that, well,
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I won't show them the receipt. I mean, have we ever done something like that in our lives? Have we ever considered doing something like that?
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Just kind of cover it up, just kind of, that would be a definite demonstration of not being a people of character.
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When you borrow something from someone, if it breaks, you fix it. If you return it in better shape than what you got it, you treat it better than your own.
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And I've done this with hand tools. I've done it with lawnmowers. I've done it with vehicles and I've done it with houses.
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I mean, you get something that is lent to you and it's just, I can't think of any other word than ratty.
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It is just bad. And you just take it and use it and you're thankful that you have it and you clean it up and it looks new and you give it back to them.
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Now, you try to return it in better shape than you got it. Sometimes we bring kids into our house and try to take care of them and open the house and be a hospital and give them back to their parents.
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And we try to give them back in better shape, maybe teaching them something, showing them something. And it just affects all the areas of our lives.
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Be a person who is consistent and can be consistently counted upon to keep your word and get the job done.
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Be on time. Like I said earlier, Spurgeon once said that being late is one of the greatest sins.
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And he said, the reason for that is, is that not only are you late and not only has your time been wasted, but you've wasted the time of all the other people that are waiting for you.
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And time is precious and time is valuable. And it just shows that you don't have the care and you don't have the concern that you ought to have.
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You know, we heard just a little while ago when MacArthur was talking to the young graduates, he said, you know, get to work, right?
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And get to work, be there, arrive on time and just do what you're told and do it with a great attitude.
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These are just simple things when it comes to our reputation, but they're great things that go a great way when it talks about and when it lends itself to giving glory to the
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Lord. Because when we say that God has saved us, he saved us to be different people, peculiar people, and a people who ought to be striving after a good name.
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Well, what are some of the other examples? Joseph was a goodly man and well -favored. He performed his stewardship at Potiphar's house with such great exactness and care as unto the
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Lord, so much so that Potiphar didn't even know what the checkbook balance was. He had no clue what it was.
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He trusted Joseph. Can you be a person trusted like that at your job or in your family? Be a person who is counted upon to always do a good job.
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I have people that work for me who when I ask them to do something, I don't even have to blink an eye.
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I know that on time it will be and it's gonna be signed, sealed and delivered and it's gonna be a good job.
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And if people who are outside of Christ can do that, I am confident that those whom
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God has begun a good work in and given us such the work of God in salvation in the indwelling of the
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Holy Spirit with such desires that we have to live the word of God out that we can do the same.
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Don't cut corners. Don't do a job halfway. Don't cheat, don't steal, don't cover up anything.
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If you break something, tell people about it. If you mess up, I did that once on a job.
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I thought I was shutting off a series of power switches that was gonna affect some little light on the wall at a job that I had once as a computer operator and I shut down the disk drives.
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I mean, half the bank of disk drives just went down just like that. What did I do? Whoops, flip it on and run away.
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Gotta go on break, see you later, bye. No, I went straight to my boss and said, look, this is what I did. I messed up and I stuck it out and I stayed there for two and a half hours.
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It took for us to recover and I owned up to it and I did that which was right before the
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Lord. Work hard at what we do.
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Earn our paychecks. Do a good job. Don't be slothful in business.
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Leave a legacy of having a good reputation, of having a good name.
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The way to do this, I believe, is that someone said if you aim at nothing, you're bound to hit it and we need to set at times goals or at least put our hearts upon something, things that we're praying about in our lives.
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Character goals are good to put on that list too. Maybe yours might be, I always want to be on time. I want to keep my word or my promise.
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I do not want to ever cover up anything. I want to always do the best job that I can.
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I want to be honest in every transaction. I want to be more mindful of God's presence of my life and fear
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God so that I become a person who grows in this area of my life of personal character and virtue.
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Hunger to be a person of character, to be known as someone who walked and talked with God.
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When your life is over, people look back upon you. I remember there was the gravestone of a man who it said it all, here lies an honest man.
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I mean, hard to find today, isn't it? And you hear of all the scheming and conniving. Here lies an honest man.
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Be a radiant testimony for Christ. Maybe that's what you want to be known for. A bold ambassador, a faithful servant, a man or a woman of God.
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Or he or she always told the truth, or you could count on them for everything. They were always there for me.
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A man or a woman of the Word of God. A prayer warrior, someone who prayed and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
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A consistent friend, willing to sacrifice yourself for others. A faithful helper. You treated people fair and decently.
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You walked as Jesus walked, going about doing good. You memorized God's Word and became a man or a woman, you were faithful in your church attendance and service.
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You were a rock solid character, Christian with integrity, dependability, honesty, faithfulness, trustworthiness, and a person of honor.
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A consistent servant of Jesus Christ. Well, there you have it. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, I do not know, I do not know where you all are.
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And I know where I am. And I know where I faltered and I know where I failed over the years.
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I know that I have not done things, I have not been able to, or did not uphold promises when
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I said that I was gonna be there for somebody or do something, or maybe I chose something for myself when
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I should have chosen for other people. But God forgives. And I've been able to go on and I've seen the grace of God in my life as far as what
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He's allowed me to be able to do and the change and the desire, that pursuit for character.
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And I desire the same for you. I desire that you, at the end of your days, and even in your days, you'd be able to be a person who, even if they hate what you stand for, and they do, they hate
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Christ and they don't wanna be a Christian and sometimes you just rub them wrong. I mean, you're like sandpaper to them.
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They can look at you and they can say, that is a person of impeccable character. That is a person who can be counted upon and trusted.
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I'm gonna leave you with a one story I just remembered, an account of a man. There was a man named, I believe his last name was
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Stanton. And Abraham Lincoln was the president. And he needed to select his cabinet.
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And this man, Stanton, hated Lincoln. So much so, that he mocked him and he would speak publicly against him.
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Actually, come into the place, I mean, you ever seen one of the sketches of Lincoln? I mean, he wouldn't be on the
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Vogue magazine. He's not, wasn't the greatest looking of all guys, right? Grew the beard to cover the chin and all of that.
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Stanton called him a gorilla, basically. I mean, he just got after him.
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When it came time for Lincoln to choose his secretary of war,
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I believe it was, he chose Stanton. And other people were up in arms and said, why did you choose this man? And he said, because he's the best man for the job.
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He knows his business when it comes to defense, when it comes to the war and he'll do a good job.
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And he did, as I understand it. And when Lincoln was assassinated and he was lying in his bed dying,
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Stanton was at his bed, as I remember, and weeping. And he said, here lies the greatest man that ever lived.
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Because he looked at Lincoln's life and he knew that Lincoln was something different than what he had thought when he just characterized him.
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Lincoln was a man of great character and integrity. And he walked his talk and he lived.
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And he lived right before this man and he had nothing to say against him other than, there lies the greatest man that ever lived.
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And I'm not saying this for us as far as the message tonight, for us to be able to, again, for our horns to be tooted, for us to get the pat on the back, but wouldn't it be something that by the grace of God, we could pursue godliness, we could pursue living right before God so that the people who, when they look at our lives, they will look at us and say, there's something different about that person, so far different than me,
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God must be doing something in their life and I wanna know about it and I wanna find out about it. We might have an influence and make a difference in the lives of other people.
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And when our body is buried in the ground and the gravestone is put up, maybe they could say, there lies an honest man or a woman.
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There lies someone who has great integrity. There lies someone who has kept their promises and lived right before God.
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And they were a great testimony of the goodness and of the grace of God and salvation. That's my heart's desire for you and for me and for this church, that we would be a people who would brag on God that way by our lives or just be those that when people look at us as trophies of grace, it would just reflect back upon God that he has done a wonderful work in our lives.
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Let's pray. Father, your word says that a good name is to be rather chosen than riches and wealth.
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And if we'd be honest with ourselves, many times we focus in the wrong place. We live in a society that just puts it in our face all the time, that you gotta have this or that and possessions define us.
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Or they are that which is important or they are that which satisfies and only can satisfy. But you by your grace and work in our lives when you visited us, you by the work of the
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Holy Spirit convicted us of our sins and showed us that our only hope was
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Jesus Christ, your son, who died on Calvary for us, lifted up and became sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
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Lord, you marvelously saved us and you have done an exceptionally good work, a good and gracious God doing a good work to make us a people who are righteous and who desire and seek after a good name.
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We know, Lord, that it is Christ alone that can satisfy. As the songwriter said, now none but Christ can satisfy.
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None other name for me as love and life and lasting joy,
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Lord Jesus found in me. And may that be our motto. Lord, may
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Christ be our all in all and may we desire so to live that he receives such great praise for the good work of God in our lives.
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Pray your protection upon us, that you keep us through this week and that you give us grace that we could in some way live out these simple words, yet probing and profound as they are and challenging as they are to us.
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Thank you, thank you, Lord, for all that you've done in our lives and for what you've made us to be. Thank you for calling us to be your very people.
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And we are just in awe and amazed of your great loving kindness to us, to rescue us and to call us your very own.
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And we are privileged to be the children of the Most High and the servants of our great