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The title of this message this morning is, Have a Good Testimony. We've heard this said before, right? Having good testimonies as Christians is important, right? What is a testimony? The definition of the dictionary simply says, a formal written or spoken statement, especially one given in a court of law. The second definition would be evidence of proof provided by the existence or appearance of something. Basically, when we talk about a Christian setting, a testimony is usually someone's background, someone's upbringing, someone's history and their walk into Christianity or how they became saved or where they came from in the past. We believe here at Shur Foundation Baptist Church, it is very important that we start our lives off with a good testimony. Now understand this, we are born into our family and we can't pick our family, right? God in his foreknowledge ordained that we are born into certain families and there are people that have different upbringings and different backgrounds and are from different parts of the world and different regions and religions and all sorts of things, but we as Christians today here in Oahu should remember the importance as it's said in the book of Joshua, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. The healing of our children and a good testimony for them for the future is of utmost importance today, probably more than it ever has been. Obviously, always it's been good to have good testimonies as Christians to have always been in a good family serving God from the youth, but that's not always the case. There are lots of people and I fall under this category of people who have came to Christ later on in their life. Now living in 2021 America in Hawaii, you got to remember a lot of people profess to be a Christian, right? When they go to the DMV or they go to these places and they mark off they're a Christian, that doesn't mean they are saved. There's a difference between being saved and being called a Christian, right? But not only that, you could be legitimately saved and your parents are legitimately saved and I'm not necessarily saying that this always happens, but raise your hand if you know a legitimate saved family of Christians that aren't serving God. I know lots of them. I know lots of legitimate, bona fide, certified, saved believers that are on their way to heaven, but are they living a life of sanctification? Are they, as we saying earlier, trust and obeying? They may be trusting and they may be on their way to heaven, but they're not living a life that is gratifying to the Lord or themselves because they see the things of this world of utmost importance. The Bible talks about with the parable of the sower and I mention this a lot because this is a really good concept that we should have as Christians to understand the different states of Christianity, that there are some that are sown on good ground. They understand the things of God. They know what's bestowed upon them. The Bible says unto whom much is given of him should much be required and they realize the severity of what's going on, the world, salvation, heaven, hell, the Lord Jesus Christ and all these things. But then there are people that are sown on thorny ground and they're saved, they believe, but they are not doing anything for the furtherance of the kingdom of heaven. They're living for self. They're trying to take it upon themselves to be successful in the world's perspective, you know, be financially stable, be popular, fill in the blank, whatever it is that they're trying to achieve that this world has to offer, not what God has to offer. So there are examples, turn if you would to 1 Samuel, actually stay here in Job, let me point out this one thing first. Job was a man who had a good testimony. For crying out loud, this is like one of the most influential characters of the Bible, Job. If you could narrow probably five to 10 characters of the Old Testament, Job's going to fall in there because Job, as you see, was a perfect man. Now understand this, perfect in the Bible doesn't mean sinless, no sin, without sin. Perfect just means complete or full or has a good dynamic of his walk with God. So think about one of the qualifications for a pastor or a bishop says that they need to have a good report of them that are without, right? And that they need to, you know, have no glaring problem in their life. You could look at Job and say, this is a man that is serving God and has served God. And for that we know of his whole life, it doesn't talk about his earlier years. For sure we know from when he came to Christ to this present time in this story, he was one who was called a perfect man by who? The Holy Ghost, the narrator of the Bible, God himself said that Job was a perfect man. Let's look down at verse one. It says there was a man in the land of us whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright. And notice the next verse or the next part, it says, and one that feared God and what is skewed evil. So the Bible's telling us that if you want to be perfect, you want to be complete in your Christianity, you must be afraid of God. It's not enough just to respect God, though that is important, but you must fear God. You must be afraid of him and you must askew evil or hate every wicked way. The Bible says that the Lord hates every wicked way. So why would we, the children of God, not hate every wicked way? We understand that as born again believers, we have sins in our life. I have sinned in my life. You have sinned in your life. We all have problems. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. But when we sin, it is no longer us that do it, but sin that dwelleth in us. And we need to hate our sin. It's not enough just to be like, it's bad. I don't like it. You must hate your sin. And there is a difference between being called a servant of God and just being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because if you want to be called a servant, Jesus Christ himself says, you must hate yourself. You must hate father and mother and lands and children for my name's sake in the gospel. But in this world and in the world to come, we'll gain, you know, fourfold and things like that because you're willing to deny yourself, pick up your cross daily and follow after him. David have lots of things that I want to do, right? I want to go surfing. I want to go hiking. I want to make money and do all sorts of things. But I have to be willing to deny what I David want. The sinful David, the old man, deny what he wants and hate the things of this world. If a man loves the world, the love of the father is not in him clearly. You can't have your pie and eat it too in this subject. Job understood this. Job was one that feared God and hated evil. Let's us have that same testimony. You know, the world and other false Christians at short foundation Baptist church, Oahu has a hate group. And you know what I say to that? Amen. I hate sin. Do you hate sin? I hate false prophets. I hate every false religion. I hate the devil. I hate the children of the devil. I have hate in my life. But there's a difference. The Bible says that there's a place for hate. I don't hate the unsaved. I don't hate people who are doing me wrong, David. I don't hate my enemy. I love my enemy. So we need to make sure the world and false Christianity around us sees that there's a healthy place for hate. And it's the things that the Lord hates that we must hate. And it goes on to read in verse two. And there was born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels and five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred shias in a very great household. So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. His sons also went and feasted in their houses every one his day and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually pause really quickly. So understand this, parents, your children are stupid. They make stupid decisions. I made stupid decisions when I was a kid. But remember, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And we need to remember that foolishness is bound into the heart of a child, right? So when children you make mistakes, you've got to understand your parents correction is for the bettering of you to make you guys realize that you have to be above reproach. You are held to a higher standard because let alone are you children of your parents and your parents want you to have a good testimony around others around you, but you are also children of God. The people of this world don't realize the severity of what's bestowed upon them being called a son or daughter of God. And Job wanted to make sure that just in case my children did something sinful and I don't know about it, I'm going to make a sacrifice and sanctify it for their parents. We should be praying for our children. When they make mistakes and you don't see it, look, children make a lot of dumb decisions that you don't catch, do you? There's a lot of things that they end up doing that gets past your radar, so to say, and you need to pray for them that they'd be willing, that God would be willing to bring them closer to having a good testimony with him. Because I know that in my life, a lot of the mistakes I made when I was a kid, I regretted and wish I'd never done. And you know, that's a whole nother subject in and of itself because what are we talking about? We're talking about having a good testimony, starting your life off on the service of Lord after you're saved because some people get saved at a young age, but it's not enough just to trust, but to obey. And it goes on to read in verse six, now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it, pause. You know, this is a good secondary note just to understand that our adversary, Satan, is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Some people don't think Satan is gunning after him. Some people don't think Satan is a hindrance to them. Some people think Satan is currently in hell. The Bible says that Satan has never seen hell as of this point. He will have an eternity in hell, and he will be tossed into the lake of fire. But as of this moment, Satan is going up and down from heaven to earth, just doing as he pleases, so to say, to deceive people's hearts. And God allows this for a reason, because we need to have, as God has showed us, free will to pick him. Side note, but that's an important doctrine for us to understand that Satan is currently destroying the hearts of people in this world, because he's going up and down to and from heaven and the earth. And it goes on to read, And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth? What a great testimony. What a great thing that the creator of the universe, God himself, has said that there is none like my servant Job, at least at that time that we know of. For all we know, people have had better testimonies or better walks with God, you know, after him. But as of this point, God has said, No one is like my servant Job. And it goes on to read, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth? A perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and iskeweth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Had not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Pause. Don't you want God's blessing on you? So what do you have to do? The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, This is the whole duty of man. Fear God and keep his commandments. If you're afraid of God, and you do what he says, if you hate evil, you'll be blessed. The Bible says Satan himself is talking to God and saying, Job's only doing this because you've blessed him. Well, why did God bless Job? Because Job was faithful. He had a good testimony. He was a perfect and upright man. So don't you want that same testimony, kids? Don't you want to be one that people look to and say, That's a good person. That's a good kid. That's a child that we can associate to, to being a Christian, to being one who fears God and hates evil. And it goes on to read, But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And I'm not going to go into the whole entire story. So we know what happens to Job. Job, God allows Satan to destroy his life. And there's so many problems that happens all in one day. And you know, we think we got problems, right? You know, getting let go from a job, you know, someone cutting you off on traffic, you know, we think we got problems. Try losing every all your children in a day, your business, your finance, everything all at once. Like Job was having a bad day and had every reason to be upset to be angry. But you know what? What does the Bible say about Job? Let's look down if you would at verse 21. What was Job's response to this actually look at verse 20, then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground. And what worshipped God? He's not wallowing in his misery. He yes, put a mantle upon him. Yes, he cut his hair and he's depressed. That's fine. It's okay to be depressed when things happen. But he worshipped God. And what did he say? One of the most famous passages in the Bible and said, naked came out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord in all this Job said not nor charged God foolishly for crying out loud in the midst of this problem and these issues in our lives. Do you find yourselves saying bless God, bless God for his righteous deeds. If I get something taken from me, if I get something that's not bestowed upon me when I asked for the promotion and I don't get it, do I say praise the Lord? Do you say praise the Lord when you're trying to go in your life getting things done and it's not going your way? Do you say, you know what, praise be the Lord because he's still in heaven and he's still a righteous God. You should be because Job is our example of how it is we can have a good testimony, how it is that we can in our lives when opposition and problems occur that we can still stop in the midst of a crazy world and say, naked came I in and naked I'll return for the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. What a great testimony to have. So like I was saying, have a good testimony in our lives. Not everyone comes from a good background. Not everyone comes from a good godly Christian home. But if you do realize what's really given you and it's hard to see hindsight 2020 unless you experience that. But like I know that our church and churches like ours, people look at and they're kind of very bitter towards because it's like you are holding children to too high of a standard. You are dressing them a certain way. You're making sure they speak a certain way. You bring them to church three times a week. That's a little overkill. Like you have them, you know, get homeschooled. This is all like too much, but you know what? You kids need to realize that all this is for your bettering. One day you will look back and be so thankful that your parents thought of utmost importance to number one, get you saved, share with you the gospel, show you the saving plan of salvation through faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. But after that chose to show you how to live a life of servitude and be willing to be selfless and to go out and preach the gospel to the lost, to educate you and all these things. You will one day look back and thank your parents for it in the process. So just cause you have a good upbringing, just cause you have, as the world would say, you're fed with the silver spoon and you come from money. Look, Job's kids came from money. Job was considered one of the wealthiest men in the East of his time. I don't have beef with kids that are raised in a golden spoon family or silver spoon family. I don't, why would we not like someone because of their social status or their economic class? They didn't choose that. They were born into a family where their parents gained wealth. And look, we understand as Christians that every good gift comes from above. If God bestows on a person money and security and all these things, then that's a great blessing. I used to be bitter against rich people and I can sometimes still am in ways, but obviously, you know, rich people are just people like you and me. They put their pants on one leg at a time. They, you know, have problems. I mean, if you're crying out loud, the saying goes with more money comes more problems and more stress and more anxiety. And we don't lay up for ourselves riches upon earth where moth and rust and the death corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but rather we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust death corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. But can't the Lord choose in his foreknowledge to bless you as well? When we see characters like Job, when we see characters who understand what's bestowed upon them, wealth, finances, Abraham was known as a wealthy man. Zacchaeus was a wealthy person and there are people that we can look to in the Bible who are wealthy that chose to serve God with their life. And their children get to reap the benefits of that because they were in a household where they can be, you know, cared for and emotionally and spiritually and all these things. So don't get down on people if they come from money or wealth or a spiritually strong household. What a great testimony that can be. But kids remember this unto whom much is given of him should much be required. I know maybe it's hard for you to see today right now. Like when your parents yell at you or spank you when you're being bad that like, ah, there's so many rules and it's so hard. Look, the Bible says no chastening for the moment seemeth to be joyous yet afterward had yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness that they may grow thereby. You know, this is all for your bettering. And like I said, growing up in Hawaii, there's a lot of poverty going on here. I came from poverty. I was raised in a family of six and, you know, there are lots of people who have big families and I guess poverty can be subjective because one man's trash is another man's treasure and your comfortability levels are different. But truly broke people used to look at us and be like, man, those guys are broke. You know how like nowadays, when you like go to the store, like these like hip coffee shops or something, you get like a glass mug to drink out of. There was a time when if you were drinking out of a glass mug, you look like a poor person and my mother used to salvage spaghetti can, you know, the glass spaghetti cans that you get or a spaghetti pasta and would clean it out and my friends would be like, oh, can I get some water? And I'd be like embarrassed handing them this glass mug that like says pasta on it. I'm like here. And they're like, oh man, uh, that's all right. I'm fine. And it's just like, you know, people come from poverty here in Hawaii and in lots of ways it's self-inflicted, but Jesus Christ, when he came under the scene, he said, I've not come to the righteous, but I've not come to, yeah, the righteous, but sinners. He's come to the people who needed him. And we, as poverty people, people who were less fortunate, people who are living in the slums are more likely to come to God. Why? Because we have problems because we have hard backgrounds and things like that, but for a precautionary tale for you who are raised in a good godly home, and you do have lots of things bestowed upon you, you need to look at a person like Saul turn, if you would, to first Samuel chapter 15. Another person who had a good testimony in the Bible that we can look to is Timothy. It says in second Timothy one, three, you don't need to turn there just simply says, I thank God. And this is Paul to Timothy, right? I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing, I have remembrance of the Timothy in my prayers, night and day, greatly desiring to see thee being mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with joy. And I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois and thy mother Eunice. And I am persuaded and in thee also, wherefore I put thee a remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. So Paul is telling Timothy, like, you know, I'm so thankful that of the people I've went around and labored with, you know, the scriptures, you were raised by your grandmother, but your mother who knew God, who knew salvation. And now I need to put in your remembrance what's bestowed you. You need to Timothy, take it upon yourself to go out and preach the gospel as it says, wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hand. So Paul bestowed upon Timothy, you know, the Holy Ghost to be filled with the Holy Ghost so he can go out and preach the gospel. And kids, you need to realize that it is your job, it is your responsibility to share the gospel with your loved ones, friends, the neighbor kids, and so on and so forth. Why? Because your parents thought it important to give you the gospel and there are kids around who don't know the gospel, so it's your responsibility. God wants you to share your faith with others so that they can be saved as well. What a good testimony to have. But turn, if you would, or you're at a first Samuel 15, look down at your Bible at verse 12. Here's a guy who came from a good background, but then chose to squander what he had. He chose to be an idiot. He chose to not serve God. And this is what his, what happens to him. Look at verse 12. It says, and when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel saying Saul came to Carmel and behold, he set him up a place and is gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal. And Samuel came to Saul and Saul said unto him, blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord. Pause. Samuel gives Saul a commandment from God, kill, destroy the Amalekites completely, everything, animal, man, woman, boy, girl, destroy them. Kill them. God had a reason for this. Saul did not do that. Let's see what happens. And Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleeding, which is like screaming of an animal, of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen, which I hear. And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Pause. Now notice he's immediately trying to have an excuse. The people decided to hold on to these animals. Who was Saul? Saul was the king of Israel. God had told the prophet Samuel to tell the king to destroy these people, the king refusing to follow the commandment of God chose to let the people tell him what's up. Let's see what happens. It goes on to read. In verse 16, then Samuel said unto Saul, stay and I will tell thee what the Lord had said to me this night. And he said unto him, stay on. And Samuel said, so, you know, it's funny. Just to stay on. I think Saul was probably thinking like Samuel is going to be like, Hey, good job. You did great. God's blessed. God's happy with you. Let's see the real response. And Samuel said, when thou was little in thine own sight, was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel and the Lord anointed the king over Israel? Pause. He says, when you were little in your own sight, when you were humble, when you were realizing what was bestowed upon you, when you were a simple, humble servant, did not God exalt thee to be king? So kids, you need to listen because today you're a child because today you don't have a lot of responsibility. It doesn't mean tomorrow you can't be something great because God wants you to have this and you got to realize the Bible says we are kings and priests as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible wants you kids to know that if you have a humble upbringing, if you come from a family of people who have bestowed upon you the scriptures once again unto whom much is given of him should much be required. Who knows what the Lord has for you one day, but you need to stay humble in the process. And why is that? Well, let's see what the Bible says. It says in verse 17, and Samuel said, when thou was little in thine own sight was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel and the Lord anointed the king over Israel. And the Lord sent thee on a journey and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the Lord. And Saul said unto Samuel, yeah, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me and have brought Agag the king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. Well, Lord, I did. I brought the king of Amalek. I destroyed all the people, but my, you know, underlings decided to keep the animals to make a sacrifice. Isn't that great? No. Why? Because it says in verse 22, and Samuel said, hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than sacrifice to hearken than the fat of rans for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as the iniquity of idolatry because thou has rejected the word of the Lord. He has also rejected thee from being king. Samuel is looking at Saul like you idiot. God gave you a clear commandment, a statement to do this thing. Why? For his purpose, for his reason to bring him more honor and glory. He had his reasons. Saul thought he knew better. He thought he was going to work the system and figure out a way to have his pie and eat it too. I'm going to kill everyone, but I also want to be pleasing to the people. So I'm going to give them what they want. What happened with Aaron? Remember on Mount, uh, the, the Mount where he got the, uh, Moses gets the 10 commandments, right? And then Aaron, you know, is told to watch the people. And then they say, give us gods that we may serve them. Aaron's like, Hey, do whatever you want. And then they make these idols and they worship him. The Lord's like, Moses, you want me to smoke these guys? You want me to take everyone out and make a great nation out of you? Moses in picturing Christ was saying, no, no, no, Lord, have mercy on the mass sympathy on them that the other nations don't look at this event and say, the Lord couldn't deliver them. So obviously there are too many examples of men of God trying to please the world and a please God at the same time, the Bible says, have we yet seek to please men? We should not be called the servants of Christ. Saul was a King of Israel told to utterly destroy these people chose not to do it. And what was the outcome? God says, I will make sure you are not the King of Israel. Kids, do you need to realize that if you have a good upbringing, you're, you're from a family that is financially stable, you're a Christian, you're saved, you're on your way to heaven. You are bestowed upon the scriptures. If you choose not to obey the commandments, if you choose not to fear God and not to obey his commandments, he can destroy your life. And I don't think you hear this enough. Now you may think it's a small thing today, but tomorrow you'll realize that God tells you these things for a reason for your bettering, not because he's trying to rain on your parade and make things hard on you. He wants you to have a better, longer lasting life. The Bible says to honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with promise. There are, there are things that your parents give you that aren't in the Bible, right? I mean, I had things that my parents told me that aren't from the Bible. I listened to them because I want to live long on the, on the earth. I don't know about you. So we see that the Bible says it's better to obey than to sacrifice. God's not telling you kids to offer up what you have, offer up your things, offer up stuff for him. Just do what you are told. Go and be a good child. Don't lie, don't steal, you know, preach the gospel to your friends and these things that read your Bible, listen to your parents and whatever you see, the Bible teaches you when the preacher shares with you something, maybe you should listen and realize he's telling you this for your bettering. And that's the first point I wanted to get into is that when having a good testimony as a child, you were raised in the faith, you were brought in a, in a good financially stable home, you are held to a higher standard. And if you choose to live a life of stupidity and degeneracy, God will destroy your life. Think about the parable of the child who decided to, um, you know, the, the, the prodigal son, he decided to, you know, get all his inheritance now and then live the life of stupidity. But here's the thing, you can always come back if you're willing to deny yourself, if you're willing to do the things that are pleasing unto God, God wants you to come to him, but you can still go and live a life of stupidity. The parable of the prodigal son is telling us that the one who left destroyed his life, but the one who stayed lived a longer life of servitude to God. But what about those who were not raised in a good godly home, who were not raised in a family that was financially stable, that came from poverty, that, that is from another, you know, third world country that doesn't even have a church near them and things like that. What about them? Well, turn if you would to Philippians chapter three. The apostle Paul is an example of a man that we can look to and say he was not raised in a good godly home. Now he was raised a Pharisee and a Sadducee, right? The Bible paints a very clear picture of the Pharisees and Sadducees that they didn't know the things of God. They taught for the commandments of men rather than the teachings of the Bible. They took it upon themselves to have extra biblical revelation and all these other things. So just because, let me get there myself, actually Philippians chapter three, Paul maybe wasn't a degenerate or he wasn't just this bad derelict doesn't mean he didn't have a good upbringing or he did have a good upbringing because we could see an example right here. Look at verse one, Philippians chapter three, verse one. The Bible reads, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Right off the bat, he's saying, everything that I'm about to mention, it's not like, I don't, I'm not grieving giving this to you. Like it's good that you know these things and even any preacher needs to realize that, you know, we are fundamentalist Baptist, right? We teach fundamentals of the faith and if you guys think that it's getting repetitive or like things are like, yeah, we get it. Don't lie. Don't steal. Get baptized in these things. Okay. Those are easy doctrines. You know, Paul says it's safe that you know these things and then any, you know, preacher who's going to learn to serve God and become a preacher. I always say this, stick to the fundamentals, stick to the easy understanding of things. Don't go into deep, complicated doctrines, you know, eschatology and differences in like theology to stick to the fundamentals because any and everywhere you go, people can use simple truths because the Bible says right here from the apostle Paul to write the same thing to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. So right off the bat of like, here's a fundamental truth. The first thing he says is be careful of dogs. Be careful of evil, wicked people. Remember Job says he feared God and he is skewed evil. So what the Bible's telling us is a fundamental truth that you guys need to know because you must fear God and hate evil, the evil workers of iniquity, the sons of Satan and so on and so forth. But it goes on to read, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath, where he might trust in the flesh, I more. So he's about to say, oh, you think you're great? You think you had a good upbringing? You think you know these things? Let me tell you my testimony, so to say. It goes on to read, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews, that's touching the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal persecuted the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. So pause. He's basically saying, oh, you think you're great? You think you had this great upbringing? I got circumcised the eighth day, as it says in the law, says I'm from the tribe of Benjamin. I can prove my lineage. I'm a Pharisee. I'm following the religious practices of Judaism and as concerning the church, he says, I persecuted the church. So he's basically trying to like ramp up his testimony, right? But what he doesn't realize is that is a bad testimony. He doesn't know, as the Bible elsewhere talks about, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. We can have a lot of mistakes in our lives that God will one day use for the bettering of others around you. So for you who are not raised in a good godly home, who have bad backgrounds, who didn't understand the things of God for a long time, which I fall in that camp. And there are lots of people who fall in that camp, which is a blessing, but just like the one who was raised in a good godly home, you know, you got to realize we need to take heed lest we fall. At any moment, the problem with someone who has a bad upbringing, you are more likely to fall back into sin than the one who has not. For crying out loud, for children who have never done drugs and then grow up, it's statistically proven that they're less likely to do drugs growing up. Why? Because they have no desire for it. But children who use drugs and alcohol growing up and get sober when they then go on in their life, they have a opportunity to always backslide into drugs and alcohol, and they're more likely to get involved into it. But here's the thing, the Bible says I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. If you keep to remembrance those things which He has commanded unto you, it could be used to the greatest of your ability, even though you've had a bad testimony. And once again, it is better, mind my French, better to have a good testimony. But we don't want to downplay those who have had bad backgrounds, because here's the thing, the Apostle Paul had a bad background, he was raised as a Pharisee, he persecuted the Church of God. But guess who wrote 14 books of the New Testament? The Apostle Paul, who is arguably the greatest Christian of all time, outside of Jesus Christ himself. The Apostle Paul, when you look to a person in the Bible, who as Paul himself has said, I labored more than they all abundantly. It's the Apostle Paul, I mean the story, I think it's Mary Magdalene, right? And she's crying on Jesus's feet, cleaning his feet with her hairs, right? With her hair. The Pharisees that are around Jesus at that time, they're like, if they only knew who was washing his feet, this sinner, he would have nothing to do with her. He then looks over at Peter and says, Peter, who will the Lord forgive? Those who owed him a lot or those who owed him a little? And he forgave their dead. He's like, well, those who owe a lot will be more thankful. He says, this woman, though her sins be many, she's forgiven much. So when you have a bad background and you've come from a life of degeneracy and stupidity, you're in ways more zealous to do more for God, because you realize the bad upbringing that you have, and you don't want to make sure anyone else experiences those things because you want to make sure that people serve God. It is the better road. Jesus Christ says, my burden is light. It is the way of transgressors is hard. You want to live a hard life or an easy life? I know as the saying goes, some people need to learn things the hard way, but you don't have to. I don't have to. No one has to. We have 66 books that tell us, you know what the Bible is by and large as a whole on top of being the word of God, the seed that bestows faith in us being everything that we need is in this book, right? It's a precautionary tale for sin constantly. It's just telling us, don't do this because this pisses me off from God himself. I want you to do this. This makes me happy to be saved from your sins. All you need to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but once you're saved, you need to continue a life of servitude, not to maintain your salvation, but to be pleasing unto God so you don't get chased into as children so you don't destroy your lives. And for those who come from a bad background, we can look at the passages and realize like, yeah, I get it. I understand why he says, don't lie, don't steal, go to church, read the Bible, meditate on these words. Because when you realize these things, then you're more zealous to share it with others. That's not to say that if you live the life of servitude your whole life, you can't do more. As a matter of fact, mathematically, it makes more sense that if you started as a kid and went soul winning once a week, from a child to an adult, you're going to get more people saved. If you read the Bible from a child to an adult, you're going to read more Bible. But there's a difference. The Bible says it's not enough just to be a hearer of the word, but a doer. We must do, we must trust and obey. That is constantly what the Bible is telling us. Let's have a good testimony, you guys. Let us, as this church, raise up a new generation of Christian children that the world can look to and say, there is a godly family. There is a church that is serving God. These are children that will one day be the future of Christianity, be the spearhead to move forward into the future and serve God greater than even we are today. Because you guys don't realize, you kids here today, you are the future. What you do today matters and you, obviously today, are living a life of fun and I want you to have fun. Remember, what did we talk about last week, right? Let's put fun in fundamentalism. It's okay to have fun. It's okay to have enlightenment and have a laugh from time to time. But realize one day you will be an adult and when you're an adult, unto whom much is given of him should much be required. But for you who, you know, aren't from a good Christian background, don't glory in the old days. Don't glory in sin. I mean, for crying out loud, so many Christian churches will take the crack kid, degenerate, jail, convict, idiot who lived a stupid life and got saved and praise the Lord he saved. Praise God that he found Christ, put his faith in him. But then they like dramatize his testimony to the church, hey, brother John, who used to be a drug dealer, a gang banger, come and tell the church your life of all your mistakes and they're glorying in this. You know, I used to glory in my sin before I realized that the Bible says that it's a shame to speak of those, we need to forget those things which are behind and press towards the mark of the high calling, which is in Christ Jesus. As it says, actually look down if you would at verse 13, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, forget those things which are behind. What did Paul say? He calls it in verse eight, yet doubtless, I counted all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, I do count them but dung that I may win Christ. Paul saying all those things, the stupidities that I've done, they're stupid, it's crap, it's worthless, it's irrelevant, because I failed in my task, I didn't know these things, but now you know, now you can serve God. Today is the day of salvation, today is the day you can choose to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow after Christ. Don't try to glory in your past, don't try to share with kids like, oh yeah, how it's so tough, how you should kill people, how you should be a bully, who's a beat up guys, do drugs, hang out with females, fornicate, adulterize, and all these things, don't glory in that. That's a shameful thing to speak of those things. Like that's why unfortunately, in the state of some Christian churches, when they glorify that, what do you think the kids doing? They're sitting there thinking that that's cool, kids it's not cool, it's stupid, okay, I'm sure you figured that out by now, but one day, you're going to hear, I hope one day you hear this sermon a long time from now, and you're like, I was there, I remember that sermon, and my goal is to get you guys to realize, let's have a good testimony, let us make sure to realize what's bestowed upon us, let's bring up the next generation to show the world how to truly serve God. Ecclesiastes 7 says this, better, 7, 8, better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. So the Bible is telling us that the latter end of our life, the ending of something is better than the beginning. Now obviously, we want a good ride the whole way, we want a good beginning, middle, end, the whole process, we want a good ride, but you could fail in your beginning and succeed in your end, because you came from poverty, you came from a third world country, you came from drug abuse, you came from problems, you came from these things, but then you saw the importance of getting saved and serving God. Or you could be like King Saul and do the opposite, you could be saved on your way to heaven, think about Solomon, Solomon was the wisest man in the world outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then chose to follow his wives and destroy his life. And because of what he's done, the kingdom of Israel is split in two. So he destroyed the latter end of his life. It makes more sense that you had a bad beginning and you had a better end, but it's better to have a good beginning and a good end. Better is the end of a thing than the beginning. And actually, the last place I'll have you turn is Proverbs chapter 24. Turn if you went to Proverbs chapter 24. This is the last passage we'll look at. Okay, David, I'll have a good testimony. I'll stop speaking about the past and the stupidities that I've done. Or for you kids, don't even think about it. Realize what's bestowed upon you and the importance of it, and how much your family loves you so much to bring you to a church like this, to let you know the importance that you could have gone to a fun concert, fun center, church that doesn't touch ever on sin or problems, and just eats animal cookies and paints Noah's Ark 50 million times and knows nothing about the Bible. Your parents could have done that because it's a babysitting program. They want you guys to know these truths. They want you to know that service and knowledge and these things, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. But notice what it says in verse 15, Proverbs 24 verse 15. If you make a mistake, this is for you. Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous. Spoil not his resting place, for a just man falleth seven times and rises up again. But the wicked shall fall into mischief, rejoice not. Now the first part was this in verse 16, you guys, a righteous man will fall and get up. It's not when you, it's not if you fall, it's when you fall. Look, the Bible says there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sineth not. And we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. The thought of foolishness is sin. So the Bible is telling us, it's not if you fall, it's when you fall. Remember to get up. I mean, for crying out loud, anything, if you want to play basketball, if you want to go surfing, if you want to skate, go hiking, in life, you can look at these examples of when you try to do a kick flip and you fall, get up, fall, get up, eventually you're going to land it, aren't you? And you're going to realize where to put yourself so that you don't keep falling. And inevitably you need to learn from your mistakes, but this is for you. Notice what it says in verse 17, rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and lend not thine heart be glad when he stumblest, lest the Lord see it and it displease him and he turned away his wrath from him. Do you want God's wrath on you? I don't want God's wrath on me. And I understand that when my enemy does me dirty, when someone does me dirty, and they hurt themselves, they did something a mess, do you think I'm laughing? Do you think I'm leaping for joy? I'll pray for that person. I'll make sure that person realizes, oh, try to help him. Let's say an enemy of mine takes it upon themselves to make fun of me, to try to like, do me dirty. And then next thing you know, he's financially destitute. I'm going to take it upon myself to try to help him because I have problems and I can make a mistake and I can fall. I need to take heed lest I fall. So when my fellow enemy or neighbor falls, I'm not going to leap for joy. I'm going to take it upon myself to have a good testimony because the Bible says, when you have these good deeds, when you have these righteous actions, they're going to look at you and glorify your father, which is in heaven. They're going to realize that you're different. You're willing to not, you know, kick me while I'm down, but rather you're trying to extend your hand of grace to help me up. The unsaved, they don't get this. When we go out soul winning, preaching the gospel, they slam the door in your face, they get upset with you, that you're there to share with them the gospel. You don't need to like take it upon yourself like, forget this guy. Pray, make a quick prayer, say, God, please soften his heart for the next soul winner to give him the gospel. Please take it upon yourself to send him another soul winner. Let's us be above reproach. Let's us a good testimony. If you come from a good background, stay the course, keep the faith all the way. If you came from a bad background, don't look to the past, press towards the mark of the high calling, which is in Christ Jesus, bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word, thank you so much for those who are raised in a good godly home that can show others how to live a good godly life and have a good godly family. Please help those who have come from bad backgrounds to not go back to, you know, their vomit as the Bible says, as a dog returns to his vomit, to help them to not glory in the old days or in the past, but to forget those things and press towards the mark of the high calling. Help us today to show the world what it means to truly be a Christian, to love you, fear you, and hate evil. And in Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen.