["Pomp and Circumstance"]
bring you one on the front is our bible memory passage of the week we're in verse number seven
this week of galatians chapter one keep working hard on the bible memorization passage there
service times are on the left on the inside there sunday mornings at 10 30 sunday evenings
at 4 30 p.m and our wednesday evening bible study through first samuel and we're getting
towards the end of that book there soul winning times are listed all those meet here at the church
building and our nursing home ministry schedules below that next week is brother cameron hall
preaching we do have our year-to-date statistics for soul winning just make sure if you have any
salvations to report those numbers there uh please be in prayer for miss whitney reed for her
pregnancy also march 9th coming up in a couple weeks we're gonna have another men's preaching
night and there will be a sign-up sheet for that soon and just like last time we're gonna have a
potluck afterwards so please bring a dish or dessert or both to share for that march 15th is
the baby shower for mrs whitney reed and there's some information on the back of the bulletin
if you want to know more about that april 19th is a soul winning marathon on easter weekend that's
going to be on a saturday may 16th through the 18th is the king james conference in vancouver
washington may 31st durant oklahoma soul winning marathon with steadfast baptist church june 28th
tinker air force base air show august 27th through 31st fire breathing baptist fellowship
and october 6th through the 11th is our bahamas missions trip so just some reminders about those
events coming up also on the bottom there is a qr code if you'd like to give online
or you can always do so by check as well and on the back very importantly please do not forget
to pray for the members here that have prayer requests it's one of the great things about
actually coming to church is knowing people that could be there for you and pray for you
and depend on you so make sure you pray for each other there if you have any new requests
do email that to the church i'd be happy to add that for you that's going to be it for
announcements this evening we'll go and go to our third song
all right for our third song if you would turn in your hymnals to him number 139
i know whom i have believed him number 139
we'll go ahead and start there right on the first i know not why god's one
redeem me for his own
and then persuaded that he is able
faith
and then persuaded that he is able to keep
him
revealing jesus
believe it and then persuaded that he is able to keep
for me
golden
that he is able
my
persuaded that he is able to
Good singing.
As the offering plates are being passed around, turn in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter number
22.
Proverbs chapter number 22.
Good evening, Proverbs 22, the Bible reads.
A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver
and gold.
The rich and poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all.
A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.
By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor in life.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward.
He that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
Try not by child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.
The rich ruleth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender.
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity and the rod of his anger shall fail.
He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
Cast out the scorner and contention shall go out, yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
He that loveth pureness of heart for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge and he overthroweth the words of the transgressors.
The slothful man sayeth there is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit.
He that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein.
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far
from him.
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches and he that giveth to the rich shall
surely come to want.
Bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto my knowledge,
for it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, they shall withal be fitted in
thy lips.
That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee,
have not I written to thee excellent things and counsels in knowledge.
But I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth that thou mightest answer
the words of truth to them that send unto thee.
Rob not the poor because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate, for the
Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou
learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul, be not thou one of them that strike hands
or of them that are sureties for debts.
If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set, seest thou a man diligent
in his business?
He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you for keeping us all safe out soul winning.
We love you.
We thank you for our church and our pastor and we ask that you fill in with the Holy Spirit
and that you help us keep your other church and our Lord and do us any prayer. Amen.
In verse one, the Bible says, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and
loving favor rather than silver and gold.
So the Bible here is saying that to have a good name, which is talking about your reputation,
have a good reputation is more valuable and more important even than having a lot of money.
Right?
And even if you have money problems, but you're a good person and you've taken care of other
people and you've invested in other people, if you have a good name, then people could
have your back when you have needs and they could help you in that area.
But also it's just very important to have a good name.
Other importantly than just the benefits you could reap from that is the fact that
all of us who are here, who are saved are ambassadors of Jesus Christ.
And so that's why it's very important to have a good name, have a good reputation because
we are representing Jesus.
And so the title of my sermon this evening is how to have a good name, how to have a
good name.
Now turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 10, Ecclesiastes chapter 10.
And while you're turning there, I'm going to read for you Deuteronomy 28, 37, the Bible
says, and thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations
whither the Lord shall lead thee.
See, the opposite of having a good name or the opposite of having a good reputation is
someone who becomes a byword, right?
Where your name is associated with some sort of negative character trait or you know, sometimes
we could think of this in other ways too, but think of some names or some titles that
are kind of have become a byword.
How about Jew?
Right?
Hey, don't be a Jew, man.
Tip the waitress.
Don't be a Jew because that kind of has become a byword for someone who's stingy or cheap
or think about this Judas, don't be a Judas, right?
Saying be faithful, be loyal, don't be someone that stabs someone in the back.
What about Napoleon?
If I say that someone has a Napoleon complex, what do I mean by that?
Someone shout it out.
Come on, man.
What?
Yeah, it's like you're being arrogant.
What's that?
God complex.
Yeah, that could kind of fit for Napoleon.
Pharaoh, right?
That's someone that's really prideful or a Scrooge, someone that doesn't like Christmas,
right?
A Scrooge.
What about Romeo?
He's a romantic.
Someone is a Romeo.
Okay.
Saul.
We've been studying 1 Samuel.
If someone's a Saul, right?
Someone who's very arrogant, someone who's super backslidden, right?
But look at Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 1.
The Bible says, dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking
savor.
So doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor.
Here's the truth about your reputation, about building a good name for yourself is that
it's very hard to do.
It takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of diligence and faithfulness, but it's very
easy to destroy.
You can destroy your reputation very quickly.
You know, businesses can do this.
You know, businesses could have a reputation and, you know, at risk of being unalived.
I'm going to say a company name here, Boeing, Boeing in times past has had a great reputation
for just being a great airplane company.
And it's like, you can't beat a Boeing.
Now Boeing is starting to ruin their reputation through, you know, the whistleblowers that
have been exposing their safety standards, being compromised and all sorts of different
safety issues that Boeing's have been having.
You know, Boeing has kind of, you know, ruined their reputation a little bit and it's very
easy to do.
It doesn't take much.
I mean, when you start having airplanes falling out of the sky, you're going to start losing
your reputation.
And it's the same thing for anyone.
You know, you could be someone who's spent your life being diligent, doing what's right,
building a name for yourself, having a good reputation, but you could ruin that in an
instant.
Just like how to make this sort of ointment of the apothecary, I'm sure that took a lot
of time and effort and energy and skill.
I don't know how to make that, but you know, all it takes is just a couple of dead flies
in that thing to ruin it.
And it's like you, you had this great ointment that was going to be used for something and
now it's ruined because of those flies.
And that is what could happen to us.
That's what could happen to any of us.
And again, it's not just that I want you to build a good name just for your own pride
or for your own self.
It's the fact that we are representatives of Christ.
And for that reason, we should care about our reputation.
So how to build a good name, how to have a good name, go to Titus chapter two, Titus
chapter two, we're looking at what the Bible teaches on this.
And number one, to have a good name, you must be a serious person.
You must be a serious person.
When I think of people who have good reputations, men that I respect, men that I look up to,
it's men that are serious, serious about life, serious about serving God, serious about
their job and their family, just serious in general.
And look at Titus two, it says this, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
Young men likewise exhort to be noticed sober minded in all things, showing thyself a pattern
of good works in doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.
So twice in this list, the idea of being serious comes up, being sober minded and being
grave, both have to do with someone being very serious.
And I think it's interesting that this list here is directed towards young men, because
the truth is, you know, you start building your reputation in your youth that goes for
men and women.
The Bible talks about how even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be right
and whether it be pure.
So even in your youth, you know, rather than just wasting your youth and just playing games
and being silly, you should learn to become a person that is serious, where life is not
some big joke, where everything's not some sort of game.
Yes, there's fun and games in life.
We want to enjoy life, but you know what?
Life should be taken seriously.
And one way you could do this is by learning to fear the Lord.
Go to Proverbs chapter number nine, fearing the Lord.
And you know, this kind of ties in with this morning sermon that, you know, if you want
your kids to grow up and be serious and be sober and be grave, you've got to teach them
to fear God.
And, you know, discipline is a big aspect of that.
We talked about that this morning.
But notice what it says in Proverbs nine, verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding for by me, thy days shall be
multiplied and the years of thy life shall be increased.
You know, many people today are not sober about life.
Many people today are not even sober or grave or serious minded about their own salvation.
And at the end of the day, why is it that someone's not serious about these things?
What's the root cause?
The root cause is that they don't fear God.
You know, someone who gets saved is someone who fears God, right?
They find out about the terror of the Lord.
They find out about the terror of hell and they say, hey, I want to get saved.
What must I do to get saved?
That's someone that at least has some part of them in life that wants to be serious.
There's some serious things in this life and even beyond salvation.
Why is it that some people are just living carelessly, not taking life seriously, not
thinking about the future, not thinking about things that are spiritual.
It comes down to not fearing the Lord.
Go to Proverbs chapter eight, flip the page there, Proverbs chapter eight, you say, how
do I fear the Lord?
Well, here's one way.
Verse 13, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way
and the froward mouth do I hate.
If you want to be someone that has a reputation of being a serious person, you need to fear
God and you know how you do that?
You do that by hating evil.
You want to know why so many churches say and why Christianity just in general to the
world's perspective or to some false religions perspective, they view Christianity as a religion
that has ruined its reputation.
They view Christianity as a weak religion and it's because many churches just don't
hate evil.
Many preachers don't call out the evil of our world and people are going to church and
they're never hearing about serious topics.
You know, church in these new evangelical style churches, it's not very serious.
It's all just, you know, appealing to your flesh, appealing to, you know, the big donors
of the city or whatever.
You know, you wouldn't really hear a lot of sermons where they're hating evil, but that
is what the Bible says actually fearing God is.
Fearing God is hating evil.
So if you want to be a serious person, you need to hate evil.
Go to Psalm 34, Psalm 34.
We need to learn to be serious people.
Psalm 34, 11 says, come ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the
Lord.
You know what a serious person does?
Someone who's sober, someone who's grave is they open up the Bible and read it every day
because the Bible here is saying, I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
How is it that someone gets the fear of God?
It's from reading the Bible.
You know, that's what the King was instructed to do is to read there in all the days of
his life so that he would fear God and so that his heart would not be lifted up above
his brethren.
And I'm here to tell you that reading the Bible has a big effect on who you are.
And don't ever take this for granted.
Don't ever look over this.
Don't ever think like you could arrive to a certain point of your life where you could
just throttle back on reading the Bible.
You could just stop reading the Bible cover to cover every year.
No, you need to be someone who's serious and sober about the word of God and read there
in every single day.
And you know, there's tons of reasons for this, but even like we talked about this morning,
we don't realize how susceptible we are to false doctrine, to worldly ideology, to people's
opinions when we're not reading the scripture.
You know, because everyone likes to think that they're such a free thinker and they're
such a leader, they're such a visionary, but it's just, it's not true because people who
don't read the Bible all think the same way.
They all think the same worldly way.
And you know what?
Your mind is not special.
We need it.
Our minds to be renewed with the word of God.
Go to first Corinthians chapter 13, first Corinthians chapter 13.
You know, when I think about someone being sober, I think about them fearing God.
I think about them reading the word of God.
I think about them putting away childish things, putting away childish things in life.
First Corinthians 13 verse 11 says, when I was a child, I speak as a child.
I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish
things.
You know what children care about?
They only care about having fun.
They only care about enjoyment.
They only care about pleasing themselves and pleasing their flesh.
But someone who is sober is not just thinking about the here and now.
You know, because if you just wanted to live your life, max pleasure, just maximum pleasure
of what you want to do, you probably would not get a lot done for God.
You probably would not get a lot done in your job because whatever your favorite hobby is,
that's what you would just be sticking to.
When you become a man, when you become someone who's sober and who's serious, and by the
way, this is not related to age.
Someone could be very young and very mature.
Someone could be a 60-year-old playing video games every night.
It's not about age.
It's about maturity.
It's about putting away childish things.
Go to Proverbs chapter 29, Proverbs chapter number 29, and look, people, when they bring
up this verse, they almost always bring up video games, and I don't believe that video
games are inherently sinful, but you know what?
I do believe that you should not live to play video games.
Like that should not be your thing in life.
What you care about, what you wake up to do, what really gets you going in life is that
you could just play video games.
That's not a sober person.
That's not a serious person, right?
A serious person is thinking about the spiritual as their primary mission in life.
Proverbs 29 verse 18 says, where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that
keepeth the law, happy is he.
You know, a serious person has a vision for their life.
We talked about on Wednesday, how is it that someone becomes wise?
How is it that someone finds themselves serving God for decades, doing great works for God?
It's never by accident.
It's through desire, a man having separated himself, right?
How does someone get a big vision accomplished?
How does someone do a great work for God?
How does someone get to the end of their life and they've won hundreds or thousands or tens
of thousands of people to Christ?
Let me tell you where that came from.
It came from a vision when they were young.
It came from someone who decided, I'm not just going to wake up every day and play video
games and just kind of coast through life and see what happens in life.
It came from a person who said, I have a plan.
I have a goal.
I have a vision.
You know, the most important vision you should have is a spiritual one.
You should have a big vision in your life to get lots of people saved, to be a blessing
to your church, to reach people for the kingdom of God and not just think small, but think
big.
You know, I had someone telling me recently that they wanted to in several years be an
evangelist and maybe go to another country.
Hey, praise God.
Have a big vision.
Have a big dream.
I think that's great when people are thinking way out into the future like that.
I can honestly say that when I got saved in 2013, I was already thinking about wanting
to be a pastor.
And that vision happened over a decade ago.
And you know, you've got to be thinking big into the future, not just kind of coasting
through your life.
Go to Ephesians chapter number five, Ephesians chapter number five.
Also when I think about just being serious, being sober, the obvious that comes to mind
is don't be a person that's just joking around all the time.
Someone that just can't take anything seriously.
Someone who's just always has to have a sarcastic comment that gets old really fast.
That's not someone who is sober.
Look at Ephesians chapter five, verse three, but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness,
let it not be once named among you as become a saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking
nor jesting.
That's talking about joking around, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
You know, there's like a disease in our culture now where everything is a joke.
Everything is funny.
Everything has to be made into a meme or some sort of video.
And look, I love memes.
I love laughs.
There's a time and a place to laugh.
I'm not saying, you know, never have fun or anything like that, but you ought to be able
to switch that off and on, you know, you ought to be able to turn on work mode.
You ought to be able to turn on church mode.
You ought to be able to sit through a church service without scrolling memes on Instagram
or something.
Like if you're doing that, you have a serious addiction.
You have a problem.
You need help.
Call some sort of 1-800 phone number, like you need to get help.
Okay.
Not everything is you just don't need to be addicted to this kind of stuff.
Go to Genesis chapter 19.
And I remember when I first started going to a new IFB church back when it was Verity
Baptist Church Vancouver in 2017.
I remember going through Pastor Jimenez's spiritual leadership program.
I remember he said like, hey, if you want to be a pastor someday, why don't you start
dressing like a pastor and acting like a pastor right now?
And I was like, wow, that's, that's a pretty interesting thought, you know, because you
always think about, oh, I want to do these things someday, someday way down the road.
But he was saying like, wherever you are right now, start acting like that now.
And you know, that's, that's a good idea.
That's a good idea in your workplace.
If you want to progress, you know, if you want to be the boss someday, how does the
boss dress right now?
How does he talk to people?
How does he address people?
How does he carry himself?
You know, is he always joking around?
Is he always being, you know, a dork?
Maybe he is.
Maybe you work in that field and he is like that.
But a lot of times your boss is serious.
A lot of times your boss means business.
Here's a saved person who was not taken seriously.
Lot.
Let's read verse 14.
And Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up,
get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city.
Notice this, but he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law.
You know, here's the problem.
If you're a person that just everything is a joke, everything's funny, is that one time
that you want to be serious, that one time you want to be taken seriously, everyone thinks
you're a big joke.
Everyone can't take you seriously.
And here's Lot, he's been living a really wicked life, and it's a time where he's like
trying to be serious.
Hey, God's going to destroy this city.
You guys need to listen to me.
And they're like, oh, Lot's just joking around again.
Oh, Lot's just, you know, he's this one that mocked.
Lot's just playing around again.
But yet he was serious, but he wasn't taken seriously because he wasn't living his life
in a sober way.
Go to Job 29.
Job is kind of the opposite of Lot, where he was a man that was taken seriously.
He was a man that demanded respect.
And you know, I just don't imagine Job being the type of guy that's just constantly being
sarcastic and constantly joking around.
He was a serious person.
Why do I think that?
Look at Job 29, verse 8.
Job said this, and he's talking about the things that he misses before he experienced,
you know, the horrible tragedies in his life.
Verse 8 says, the young men saw me and hid themselves.
The aged arose and stood up.
The princes refrained talking and laid their hand on their mouth.
So everyone that Job encountered respected him very highly, whether it was the young
people, they're running away, they're just scared of him, right?
The aged, even the old people, they stand up, you know, standing up before someone is
a sign of respect.
And usually that's what you would do to the aged.
But Job was such a respected person, he was such a righteous person, that the aged stood
up before him.
You know, I think that's kind of an interesting picture of Jesus Christ, how he died as a
very young man, but yet, young, old, doesn't matter, we're all going to give Jesus Christ
the respect and honor that he deserves because of his righteousness.
And even princes, government officials, they refrained talking, you know, they wouldn't
interrupt Job if Job spoke, they were going to listen.
Verse 10, the nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their
mouth.
When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to
me.
You know, have you ever been around someone in your life, whether church or just your
personal life, where if they're a part of a conversation, if they say something, everyone's
wanting to listen to this guy, right?
Because they're just a person that has a reputation of wisdom and honor.
And they've built that reputation by being a serious person.
Notice what it says in verse 12, because I delivered the poor that cried and the fatherless
and him that had none to help him, the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon
me.
And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness and it clothed me.
My judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame.
I was a father to the poor and the cause which I knew not, I searched out and I break
the jaws of the wicked and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
Sounds like Job was a serious person.
Job was a person that feared God.
Job was a person that hated evil.
He esteemed the word of God.
And because of that, he had this great reputation about him.
And here's why we should desire this as Christians is because of this thing called soul winning.
Is because of this thing that we have called the gospel of Jesus Christ that we want people
to listen to, right?
We want to make sure that people are hearing the gospel and getting a chance to get saved.
And when you have a good reputation, when you're someone who's wise and honorable and
someone that's sober, not just joking around all the time, you know, it makes someone want
to listen to you.
It makes someone realize you're serious.
This is why I think it's good to dress professionally when you go out soul winning, because we're
there with a serious message.
We're there with a joyous message, but it's a serious one, right?
Because if you miss this free gift, if you don't take this free gift, you're going to
spend eternity in hell.
You know, so I would recommend being someone who's sober, out soul winning, not joking
around too much, dressing nice, being an ambassador of Christ, because we want people to listen
to the gospel.
Go back to Titus chapter two, Titus chapter number two, and you can keep your place there
throughout the sermon.
Because this list that it gives us, it's kind of explaining how this young man here could
have a good reputation.
Number two, have a pattern of good works.
Let's read again verse one.
It says, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
Young men, likewise, exhort to be sober minded, notice this, in all things, showing thyself
a pattern of good works, right?
So the Bible saying, young man, you want to grow up and be someone that's respected,
have a good reputation.
You need to have a pattern, a consistency about you in all things, right?
You don't want to be one person at work, where maybe, you know, at work, you don't really
give it all you got.
You're not really working hard.
You're not doing your job as a Christian, you're not being a good testimony.
But then at church, you put on a show, right?
At church, you're on time, you're working, you're helping, you're volunteering.
You want to have a pattern of good works in all things.
In your home life, in your work life, in your church life, all things.
Go to Proverbs 22, Proverbs chapter number 22.
Proverbs 22 verse 29.
The Bible says, see as thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings,
he shall not stand before mean men.
And this word diligent, I think is kind of picking up this idea of having a pattern of
good works.
The word diligent means constant in effort to accomplish something, attentive and persistent
in doing anything, right?
So you don't want to just, well, sometimes he works really hard, you know, on some projects,
he's reliable and he works really hard, but then other times he doesn't, other times he
doesn't care, other times he's unreliable.
No, you want to be a person who's constantly putting in as much effort as you can, right?
You know, don't be one of these people.
This drives me nuts.
One of these people that just calls in sick all the time, even when you're not sick.
You know, that's not being a person who's diligent.
That's not being someone who's just have a reputation of always having a pattern of good
works.
Look, call sick when you're sick.
Call sick when you really, you know, you got doctor's appointments, you got stuff going
on like that.
You don't want to be this person that's perceived by your boss as unreliable, you know, because
that's not going to lead to promotion, but a man who's diligent in his business, he shall
stand before kings.
When you have a good reputation, you have a higher chance of being promoted in the workplace,
but you get to decide how to build that reputation.
Go to Proverbs 20, Proverbs 20, I mentioned this verse earlier, but it's worth looking
at Proverbs 20 verse 11 says, even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be
pure and whether it be right, do not wait until later in life to start learning how
to work hard.
You know, us as parents, we need to help our children with this, that even kids can develop
a reputation for themselves.
And, you know, I'll call out my friend, brother, Jason West and steadfast his, his young boy.
I think about how he's, he's got to be like 10 or 11 years old, but like that kid has
a reputation, even though he's a child, some of you even in this room know who I'm talking
about right now, because he's just such a respectful young man and he holds the door
open for everyone.
And anytime he sees anyone have a need, he's ready to carry something.
He's ready to assist.
He's ready to be a blessing.
He's a young child.
That kid is going places.
That kid is not going to stand before mean men because he's diligent in his business.
Even as a child.
So we don't want to just write off children and be like, Oh, they'll figure that out when
they're 18, they'll figure out how to work hard once they have to provide for a wife
and kids.
No, let's not wait.
Then let's teach them now at whatever age they're at, to learn, to work hard, to put
their nose down and get a task done without whining or dragging their feet or making excuses,
but actually being diligent, a child that learns that, I mean, they have the golden
ticket in life.
They are going to be successful.
It doesn't matter what career they pick, doesn't matter what skill they get, because it's the
character that they have that's going to cause them to be successful.
Go to Genesis chapter 30, Genesis chapter number 30, you know, when I think of a man
who was like this, who was diligent in his business, who was someone who had a pattern
of good works, I think of Jacob, because when Jacob quit his job, something really interesting
happened.
Verse 30, verse 25.
So we know that, of course, Jacob was working for Laban and he had worked for him for years
and years, and he wants to do his own thing now.
And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry.
So he tries to quit and he's saying, stay, this is what I want you to do, don't quit
your job, stay, for I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.
What a great testimony that when you try to quit your job, your boss is like, please don't
quit, please stay.
There's plenty of people who quit their job and their boss is thinking, thank God, because
I couldn't go through all the HR hoops and I didn't have enough evidence and I couldn't
get everything done, right?
But sometimes people quit and they're just like, oh, thank you, Lord.
Other times someone quits, he's like, tarry, stay.
And notice what he says in verse 28, and he said, appoint me thy wages and I will give
it.
How would you like your boss to say, hey, name your price.
You want to raise, just name your price, tell me your wages, I'm going to give it to you,
I want you to stay.
And he said unto him, thou knowest how I have served thee and how thy cattle was with me.
And notice the result of Jacob's work for it was little, which thou hadst before I came
and it is now increased unto a multitude and the Lord had blessed thee since my coming.
And now when shall I provide for mine own house also, Jacob produced results for his
boss.
And when you actually produce results, when you actually get things done, you are going
to build a good reputation at work because your boss does not necessarily, maybe sometimes,
your boss does not necessarily care about what church you go to and all your views and
whether or not your pastor has ever been on the news.
Most of the time your boss cares about, are you making the company money?
Are you harming the company's reputation?
Are you helping it?
Are you good customer service or are you hurting people?
Are you not giving good customer service?
Like those are the bottom lines that your boss cares about.
And Jacob's saying, look, I had little before I, or you had little before I came, now you
have much.
And you know, this is also how you become very valuable in the kingdom of God and how
if you want God to promote you, you want God to bless you.
Well, hey, how much profit are you bringing to the kingdom of God?
Is there little people that you're getting saved in your life or are you getting lots
of people saved?
And look, a position or a title has nothing to do with how effective you could be as a
soul winner.
You could be a grandma and have tons and tons of people saved every year.
You could be a child and get tons and tons of people saved and you could be like Jacob
where it's like, hey, we started with little, but at the end of the year, there was much
people saved and you could be an effective worker for God.
Go to Titus 2, Titus chapter 2.
You know, it's fine if people think like, yeah, you know, this guy has some extreme
views, but man, is he a great worker?
You know, that's fine if people have that reputation of you, but you don't want to have
a reputation of being lazy.
You don't want to have a reputation of being someone who's stealing time from the company
or just stealing money or products from the company or lying to your customers or being
someone that just doesn't show up when they said that they're going to be there.
You know, 1 Peter 4, 14, you can stay there.
I'll read for you.
It says, if you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, right?
Hey, rejoice if you're persecuted for the name of Christ.
I know people who have lost their jobs because of sermons that they preached.
You know what?
It's not because they're a bad worker.
It's because they're a great Christian.
Hey, happy are those people.
Blessed are those people.
For the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.
On their part, he is evil spoken of, but on your part, he is glorified.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evil doer or as a busy
body in other men's matters.
So it's like, hey, it's okay if you're suffering as long as you're suffering for being righteous,
not suffering for being a jerk, for being a bad worker.
You know, I saw this post one time on Facebook where this guy got up and he said, hey, please
pray for me.
Please pray that I get a better job.
You know, my boss gave me a work review today, a negative work review, and I ripped it up
in his face and threw it all over his office and quit.
Can you please pray that God will bless me with another job?
And it's like, no, you idiot.
What's wrong with you?
You're supposed to submit yourselves to your boss.
You're supposed to be respectful to your authority, not sit there and rip up some paper in his
face and throw it over his office.
You really think God wants to bless you with a better job when you're a terrible employee
at the company that you're at?
I'm not going to pray that prayer for you.
I'm going to tell you to learn how to work hard.
That's what you need.
You need someone to tell you to respect your boss and obey your boss and do your job well.
That's what you need.
You don't need God to give you another job because you're just going to do the same thing
there, being a terrible worker.
Okay.
That's a bad testimony for Jesus Christ.
How to build a good name.
Number three, have good doctrine.
Have good doctrine.
Titus 2 verse 1 says, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded in all things, showing thyself a pattern
of good works.
Notice in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity.
We live in a time where especially just the mainstream style of church is really de-emphasizing
doctrine.
And I think it's causing the reputation of Christianity to be a little tainted where
it's like we as Christians, we should be constantly fighting for doctrine, for beliefs
of the Bible.
But sometimes people have this weird mentality about Christianity where it's like, well,
I love Jesus.
I love God, but I'm just not that into doctrine.
You know, I don't want to sit here and argue about doctrine.
Let me tell you something.
Doctrine is how you know God.
Doctrine is how you have a relationship with God is knowing what the Bible says.
Knowing the word of God is how you know Jesus because Jesus is the word of God.
You know, so we don't want to have this idea of like de-emphasizing doctrine, de-emphasizing
the scripture.
If anything, the Bible teaches the opposite.
Go to Matthew chapter 7, Matthew 7.
And you know, even in other churches, like we're talking about, there's this, there's
this idea of preachers not preaching doctrine, but getting up and just preaching their opinion.
You know, that is going to hurt someone's reputation as a man of God who's been instructed
specifically to preach the word and you're getting up and you're just constantly preaching
your opinion over and over and over again.
You know, that's annoying to listen to.
That rubs me the wrong way.
I'm sure it rubs people in the pews the wrong way.
When pastors just get up and preach their opinion constantly, especially when they don't
tell you it's their opinion, especially when they sit there and act like their opinion
is doctrine where they're just dogmatic about it.
No, let's actually fight for doctrine and leave our opinions at the door.
You know, out soul winning today, there was this woman who was like a holiness, Pentecostal,
holy ruler, and she was just, she would not let me get a word in about the gospel.
She's just telling me, you got to repent of your sins.
You can't just live however you want.
And I finally, she slowed down.
I finally said, well, here's the truth, ma'am, is that your opinion and my opinion does not
matter at all.
But can I just show you from the Bible what Jesus Christ said about eternal security?
And she just freaked out, it yelled at me.
And then she went in the door, she went inside and slammed the door and me and brother Alex
heard her go, just like some demon possessed, what am I telling the truth?
Yeah.
Just some demon possessed woman.
But it's like, look, I care about doctrine.
Why?
I love Jesus.
I want to know what he said.
I don't care what my opinion is.
I don't care what your opinion is.
What matters is the truth is what Jesus said.
And guess what?
That's what Jesus also said about himself.
Look at Matthew seven, verse 24.
Therefore, whosoever heareth these, notice, sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken
him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.
And the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house
and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock.
Who are you going to listen today to?
Who are you going to build your life upon today?
Is it going to be your own ideas, your own worldly philosophy, the psychology books,
educators, you know, whatever, all the different sources that are out there?
Or is it going to be the sayings of Jesus Christ?
That's a decision you have to make.
And I know what I'm going to choose.
It's going to be the word of God.
Why?
Because when the rain comes, when the storm comes, you know, your worldly philosophy is
not going to stand against the storms of this life.
You know, your marriage is not going to stand.
Your child rearing is not going to stand.
This church's vision is not going to stand.
If we're doing things based on our own wisdom and own opinion, we have to get anchored into
the rock and make sure that we're fighting for doctrine.
And that is how you're going to have a good name.
Not someone that's known as, Oh, that guy preaches false doctrine.
Oh, that guy preached damnable heresy.
Talk about ruining your reputation really fast as a man of God, it's preaching heresy.
We need to make sure that we are anchored to the rock verse 26 and everyone that hear
these sayings of mine and do it them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, which
built his house upon the sand, you know?
So when you hear the words of God and you decide, I'm not going to listen to that, I'm
not going to do what the Bible says, I'm going to trust in my own heart, I'm going to do
what I think is right.
I'm going to do what I heard from this woman pastor or this book or whatever source it
is that doesn't match the Bible.
That's like building a house on sand.
You don't have to know much about construction to know that's a really bad idea.
That's going to be a really unsure foundation.
You need the sure foundation verse 27 and the rain descended and the floods came and
the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it.
That is the story of any institution, any person who's not based on good doctrine from
the word of God is failure.
Go to first Timothy chapter number four, first Timothy chapter number four, having good
doctrine, is so important.
First Timothy 4-12 says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers
in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, till I come give attendance
to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, right?
So the young pastor here is being told, look, don't let anyone despise your youth, but you
need to give attendance to, you need to pay attention to and give yourself wholly to doctrine.
And you know how you get doctrine, you get it from reading the word of God.
You know, it's great to listen to sermons.
I think if you listen to sermons, that's totally fine.
That's great.
There's a lot of great pastors you can go listen to.
And I'm a hundred percent for that, but I'm telling you if you're doing that, but you're
not reading the Bible, you are not going to understand doctrine on the level of someone
who actually reads the Bible.
You can learn things, you can learn facts, but it's kind of a danger that is kind of
new to our society with the internet and YouTube and stuff like this is that you could open
up the rumble app or the YouTube app, and you could just start watching sermons and
you can start downloading so much information into your brain really quickly.
And you, you could even fool yourself to think like, wow, I really know a lot.
Wow.
You know, I'm really growing super fast, but if you're not actually reading the Bible and
cementing these doctrines into your heart and making them your own beliefs, not just
something that you repeat, because I've noticed sometimes, you know, people when they're actually,
when they actually have to explain a doctrine, it's just repeating exact quotes from someone
because they often don't actually understand it themselves.
You know, I'm sure it's like this maybe in other professions, maybe like the legal profession
too, or maybe people don't actually understand the law, but they kind of just repeat things
that they've heard.
Separation of church and state, separation of church and state is like, they don't even
know what they're talking about when they say things like that.
You know, it's the same thing spiritually oftentimes where people think that they know
the Bible, but let me tell you something.
If you've never read the Bible cover to cover, you don't know anything.
Okay.
And if you've read it cover to cover once, you're just barely getting started.
And what's funny is I've read the Bible cover to cover over 20 times.
And I was like, when I became a pastor, I was just like, man, I don't even know if 20 is enough.
Maybe I should do like 30 because the more and more times you read the Bible, the more
you realize that there's a ton left to learn.
There's a ton of doctrines that you don't fully have your mind wrapped around.
And that's still the case with me today.
And that's why I need to give attendance to doctrine, to reading the word of God.
Go to, if you would Titus number two, Titus number two, number four, when it comes to
building a good name, having a good reputation, this one's very important.
Number four, be sincere, be a real person, be sincere.
Titus two verse one.
Notice what it says again, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
Young men, likewise, exhort to be sober minded in all things, showing thyself a pattern of
good works in doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, man, there's nothing that
One of my biggest pet peeves, one of just something that just hits the hot button for
me is when I find out that someone is untrustworthy, you know, the same thing at work.
Like if I find out that someone at work made a mistake, but they're honest with me, no
problem.
We all make mistakes or even in church life, stuff like that.
But the moment I find out that someone's lying to my face or someone is acting like I'm so
great and then I'm your friend and I like you and you know, I'm so happy you move here,
whatever the situation is, and then I find out that behind my back, they're talking crap,
that just hits my hot button.
I just don't like people that are insincere and here's the thing.
If you don't like someone, if you're not someone's biggest fan, you don't necessarily have to
go to that person's face and tell them I hate you, you're terrible, okay?
But at the same time, you also shouldn't flatter and lie.
You know, you could just say nothing.
You know, you don't have to go out of your way to be a jerk to someone and you also shouldn't
go out of your way to lie and just make all these things way over the top.
I had someone tell me one time in church, they said like, that was the best sermon I've
ever heard on this topic and then they were gone a week later and it's just like, wow,
you know, why would you quit on someone that just preached the best sermon ever on that
topic, right?
And of course I did not preach the best sermon ever on that topic.
That's the point.
It's flattery.
Insincere.
And you want to ruin your reputation very quickly is start lying.
Start being a flatterer.
Start being insincere.
Man, that is hard to come back from.
That is hard to rebuild your reputation for because most people can tolerate mistakes,
you know, lapses of judgment, even just straight up sins.
But when it comes to just being completely dishonest and completely duplicitous and being
a fake and being a phony, that's something that's hard to overlook, you know, that you
have no trust anymore.
Go to Romans chapter number 12, Romans chapter number 12.
And look, it's okay.
Be sincere.
I want people to be in the church that they like.
I want people to be under the pastor that they like.
That's not me.
It's someone else.
Praise the Lord.
There's no problem with that.
But the point is just be sincere.
Go to a church where you could sincerely back the pastor.
Go to church where you can sincerely get on board with the program of the church.
Romans 12 9 says, let love be without dissimulation, right?
That's being fake, abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.
So there is a love out there that is feigned or faked or simulated.
And the Bible's telling us, don't be that way.
Don't let your love be with this simulation.
And one of the ways that people do that, it says, Hey, make sure you abhor that which
is evil.
And I'm going back to the point about being serious and fearing God, abhorring that which
is evil, cleaving to that which is good.
You know, when people, when you start seeing people love evil, love railers, love liars,
hang out with super wicked people that are known slanderers and liars, I can tell you
that they don't love that their love is simulated, right?
To have real love, we have to abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.
Go to Proverbs 27, Proverbs chapter number 27, Proverbs 27, verse five.
The Bible says, open rebuke is better than secret love.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Look, it's better to even rebuke your friend or say something that could possibly hurt
their feelings.
But you're being honest and upfront and sincere with that person than to be someone who has
secret love, or even worse, going behind people's back and slandering them and talking crap
about them.
You know, we want to be people that are open and honest with each other, where we have
the ability to communicate freely and not have like a fear culture where we can't talk
to each other.
Never correct each other or anything like that.
Open rebuke is better than secret love.
Psalm 15, go to Psalm chapter number 15.
I love this Psalm and we sing it often here.
Psalm 15, notice what it says in verse one, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
And I always kind of like to think of this Psalm as like, who is it that's going to stick
with church?
Who is it that's going to stick with serving God in their life?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backbiteth, not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up
a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is contempt.
But he honoreth them that fear the Lord, he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth
not.
So notice it lists all these things that a type of person will need to do or not do to
be one that abides in the house of God, that abides in the tabernacle of the Lord, talks
about people that don't backbite with their tongue.
That is a common sin that we just need to have the maturity to just grow out of that
childish pedantic activity of going behind people's back and talking crap about them.
The Bible says the words of a tale bearer are as wounds, right?
You hear that phrase, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.
And I understand the sentiment behind that of being tough and being thick skinned.
But the Bible literally says that the words of a tale bearer are as wounds.
How are they as wounds?
How are they like wounds?
Well, because they hurt.
That's why.
Like a wound hurts you.
The words of a tale bearer hurt you.
And you know, it's annoying.
It's frustrating when people just go behind your back.
And usually when they're going behind their back, you know what they're doing?
They're lying about you.
They're railing about you.
They're making up stories about you.
You know, I've seen a lot of that in the last couple of months and it just, it's annoying.
It's frustrating.
It's not spiritual behavior.
It's not the way that Christians should be acting.
And it's not the way that someone should be acting if they want to have a good reputation,
right?
It's going to ruin your reputation if someone knows, oh, this person will talk crap about
you.
You can't trust this person.
You can't have this person too close to your life because they will go talk crap about
you behind your back.
You know, you are hurting yourself when you're a tale bearer.
You're hurting other people and you're hurting yourself.
You're hurting your own reputation.
Let's see.
Go to Titus chapter two, Titus chapter number two.
Last one we'll talk about this evening of how to have a good name is have sound speech.
Have sound speech.
Titus two verse one, the Bible says, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded in all things, showing thyself a pattern of
good works in doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech.
Here's why that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed
having no evil thing to say of you.
You know, men of God and Christians are going to have enemies, are going to have haters,
are going to have gainsayers that want to speak against and criticize you.
And so that's why it's so important to fear God, have good doctrine, have all these things
that we're talking about.
And additionally, having sound speech so that he that is of the contrary part has no evil
thing to say of you.
You know, I want my, you know, hater YouTube comments to be full of people lying and railing
about me rather than leveling things that are actually true against me.
Like, Hey, here, here's this minute marker where Pastor Oz preached false doctrine.
Like I would be ashamed of that.
I would have to correct that issue and I'd have to change.
But you know, if someone's just leaving stupid hater comments where they're lying about me,
I could say, well, Hey, at least it's a lie.
Yeah.
They're lying about me.
Yeah.
That hurts.
Yeah.
That sucks.
But at least it's not true.
At least they don't have anything to say against the sermon.
Or if they do have something to say, it's like, yeah, I read the comment, but you're still
wrong.
And I'm right because I have the Bible on my side.
You know, that's why you need to have sound speech.
And this isn't just for the pastor.
This is for all of God's people need to have sound speech that cannot be condemned.
How can, what are some ways we could have sound speech?
Go to Proverbs chapter 15, Proverbs chapter number 15, Proverbs 15, verse four.
Notice what it says.
A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
You know, it kind of reminds me of the verse that talks about how the fruit of the righteous
is a tree of life and he that win of souls is wise.
Someone that has sound speech or someone that has a wholesome tongue, you know what they
are?
They're a soul winner.
That is having sound speech.
The most sound speech you could possibly ever have is when you're speaking the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
That is a way to have a good reputation is being someone that preaches the gospel.
You know, I want to encourage everyone in this church and I will always encourage this.
And if you're tired of hearing about soul winning, you will never stop hearing about
it.
I want to encourage everyone in this church to become a soul winner.
And look, even if you're just a silent partner, folks, I'm not expecting everyone to just
be a talker right away without training or anything like that.
I don't even care if you remain a silent partner for the rest of your life.
I just want you to go soul winning.
I want you to help us in our efforts.
I want you to be a part of earning spiritual rewards and doing something for God and the
more silent partners we have.
I can't tell you how many Saturdays when we're pairing up three soul winners together because
we don't have that extra fourth person.
Whereas if we just had one more silent partner, we would literally double our efforts.
And you know what doubling our efforts means?
It means doubling salvations.
It means doubling the amount of people going to heaven when they die by you showing up
and just standing there at the door with someone.
I'm not asking a lot.
I'm not asking everyone to know how to preach the gospel super effectively without doing
it, without getting training and learning.
But everyone can be a silent partner.
Everyone can do that.
And that is something that Jesus Christ expects of you.
I'm not I'm not saying this is my rule.
This is me.
Jesus said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
That was Jesus's commandment.
That is why our church exists, is to fulfill the Great Commission, to reach people, to
bring them in, baptize them and teach them all things that Christ commanded.
And you know what?
We need to make sure that we as Christians have sound speech.
How do we do that?
We do that by preaching the gospel primarily.
That's the most sound speech you could possibly have.
Here's some other verses on that Ephesians chapter four, we're almost done this evening.
Ephesians chapter number four, if you'll turn there.
Ephesians chapter number four says in verse twenty nine, let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may
minister grace unto the hearers.
You know what's edifying is the word of God.
You know what's edifying is truth.
You know what's not sound speech.
You know what can be condemned is preaching lies, preaching false doctrine.
See a lot of times people look at this verse and they'll say, oh, this means that you can't
say hell or damn or piss or bastard, even though those are all Bible words that I just
said.
No, I didn't just cuss.
Those are Bible words.
Guess what?
Cussing doesn't exist in the Bible.
This is a manmade construct that does not exist.
And people will be like, oh, yeah, you know, corrupt communication.
That's talking about cussing.
You know, I'm way more concerned about someone preaching false doctrine than I am if someone's
ever said a bad word in their life.
And I would rather listen to a pastor that said a bad word, but is edifying his congregation
by preaching the truth, preaching hard against sin than the nicest, sweetest, most kind little
liar from behind the pulpit.
Little slanderer from behind the pulpit, the guy.
I'm just so great.
You know, let's go back to our pastor.
If you could just be as wonderful and as holy as me and just never say a potty word.
Yeah.
As you're preaching sucks.
Yeah.
As you're preaching false doctrine.
Yeah.
You're saying a slanderer can sometimes be true.
You retard.
I don't want to listen to that.
That's not edifying.
That's corrupt communication.
That's right.
Oh, you said damn and piss and bastard and hell.
Those are Bible words.
Oh, you said the word faggot.
You know, I never want our church to be so nice and shiny and wonderful that if I ever
said the word faggot from behind the pulpit, that all of a sudden the whole church gets
up and leaves.
You know, I want to keep a little bit of a rugged spirit to our church.
I want to keep a little bit of hardness to our church.
And hey, I hope that God blesses our church and we grow and I hope someday we have a nice
building.
But you know what?
The preaching should never change.
The preaching should never be corrupt by getting soft or starting and teaching lies.
No, I want to keep the same culture where no matter how big we are or how small we are,
I can get up here and say all the words of God and edify the congregation with the truth
regardless if it's something that's popular or not in our society.
Corrupt communication is lying, railing, preaching false doctrine, blaspheming, talking about
things that are sinful, making a mock of sin.
This is corrupt communication.
But you know what?
Every word of God is pure and you're never going to convince me that a Bible word is
a bad word.
And by the way, when Peter denied Christ and he was cursing and swearing, he wasn't saying
four-letter words.
He wasn't saying like, I bleep and don't believe in bleeping Jesus.
That's not what he was saying.
He was saying like, may God curse me, may God strike me dead if I know him, I swear
that I don't know him.
That's what cursing and swearing means.
I've heard this preach and it drives me nuts.
That's not what Peter was doing.
James chapter number one, James chapter number one, have a good reputation.
And you know what?
Way beyond just having a good reputation.
Who am I primarily concerned with having a good reputation with is God, right?
So if I preach something that's true, that's biblical, that's edifying and the world gets
upset and they say it's mean, they say it's hateful, but God approves it, then good reputation,
right?
If spirit-filled Christians approve it, good reputations.
If the world hates you for the words of Jesus Christ, good reputation.
But if the world hates you for being a liar, bad reputation.
The world hates you for being a thief, bad, adulterer, bad, railer, bad, right?
But if the world hates you for preaching the words of Jesus Christ, I could live with that
all day long.
I'm fine with that.
James 1 verse 19, wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
slow to wrath, for the wrath of God, I'm sorry, the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
of God.
If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth
his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
When it comes to having sound speech, sometimes we need to control that by just saying nothing
at all or be people who are slow to speak, slow to wrath.
Oftentimes in our life, when we say things that are not sound speech, the things in our
life that we look back on and we say, I regret saying that, it was often when we were quick
to respond, not really sitting and thinking things through, just blowing off at the mouth.
If you want to have sound speech, be someone that doesn't just blow off your mouth.
Be someone that you could sit and consider and think and ponder before responding.
That'll help you have a better reputation when it comes to the things that you say.
Because we all think dumb things.
If we're honest with each other, we have foolish thoughts, that's a sin, but it's reality.
We have foolish thoughts.
We may think things sometimes that you're like, I'm glad that my boss doesn't hear what
I'm thinking right now and Lord forgive me, I got to change my heart, but don't be the
person that actually says those things, right?
Make sure that you're thinking and pondering things and being filled with the spirit so
you don't say things that are not sound speech.
We'll close in Proverbs 22, if you'll turn there one more time, Proverbs chapter number
22.
Proverbs 22 verse one, the Bible says, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches
and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
We should value our testimony as Christians.
We should value the reputation that we hold as Christians, not so that the world could
think we're cool and so that everyone can like us, but so that we can be honoring to
God.
That's why we should worry about our reputation because oftentimes God's reputation is tied
in with our reputation.
I mean, if you go soul winning, how many times have you heard?
I don't go to church because this bad pastor, this bad church had this bad experience and
God's name sometimes is being dragged through the mud through our actions and our reputation.
We have to realize that we carry a very important title as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, and
we need to safeguard and build our reputation as Christians.
How are we going to do that?
Number one, be serious.
Number two, have a pattern of good works.
Number three, have good doctrine.
Number four, be sincere.
Number five, have sound speech.
Let's have a word of prayer, Lord.
We do thank you for the word of God and all the instruction therein.
I pray that all of us would take very seriously the fact that we are ambassadors of Jesus
Christ, that you've entrusted us with the great commission.
I pray that we would work on building a good reputation by applying these things to our
lives, not for our own glory, Lord, but so that we can give you the honor and glory that
you deserve.
We love you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Sing one last song to conclude the service.
If you would, take your hymnals at this time and turn to hymn number 140.
We have an anchor.
Sing it nice and loud, hymn number 140.
We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life When the clouds unfold their wings of strife
When the strong tides lift and the cables strain
Will your anchor drift or firm remain We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll Fastened to the rock which cannot move
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love
It is safely poured, fill the storm with sand Force is well secured by the Savior's hand
Though the tempest rains and the wild winds blow
Not an angry wave shall our mark nor flow We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll Fastened to the rock which cannot move
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love
In our eyes behold, through the gathering night The city of gold, our harbor bright
We shall anchor fast by the heavenly shore With the storms all past forever born
We have an anchor that keeps the soul Steadfast and sure while the billows roll
Fastened to the rock which cannot move Grounded firm and deep in the Savior's love