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Amen, so we're continuing our sermon series on the book Up From Slavery this evening. The first sermon series that we hear, the first sermon on this book, we're looking at biblical lessons from the life or the autobiography of Booker T. Washington. The first sermon that we had on this book was called Gaining Traction, Gaining Traction in Your Christian Life. The second sermon was on Hard Work, Always Working in Your Life, and that kind of builds up. I mean, those sermons are put in a certain order for a reason. We're going to start with some basics, and then we're going to kind of build up into some bigger themes, Christian themes from this book, and tonight we're going to talk about a very special character, a very special man in this book and look at some biblical lessons from that. Tonight's sermon is called The General, and we're going to look at the life of General Samuel C. Armstrong and what we can learn from this man. So I'm going to, if you have your book, I'm going to start off by reading an excerpt from page 26 in the book Up From Slavery, and then we'll talk about who this man was and how that is important to us and what we can learn from this man's life. If you look at paragraph number 2 from page 26, the book reads, I have spoken, this is Booker T. Washington, I have spoken of the impression that was made upon me by the buildings and general appearance of the Hampston Institute, but I have not spoken of that which made the greatest and most lasting impression upon me, and that was a great man, the noblest, rarest human being that has ever been my privilege to meet. I refer to the late General Samuel C. Armstrong. It has been my fortune to meet personally many of what are called great characters, both in Europe and America, but I do not hesitate to say that I never met any man who in my estimation was the equal of General Armstrong. Fresh from the degrading influences of the slave plantation and the coal mines, it was a rare privilege for me to be permitted to come into direct contact with such a character as General Armstrong. Some pretty swelling words that we see from Mr. Washington about this man continuing. I shall always remember that the first time I went into his presence, he made the impression upon me of being a perfect man. I was made to feel that there was something about him that was superhuman. It was my privilege to know the general personally from the time I entered Hampton till he died. It's important to point out as we get into the sermon that the way he speaks about this man and the reputation that this man had was built over many, many years of knowing this man. I knew this man from the time he came to Hampton Institute until this man literally left the earth, and the more I saw of him, the greater he grew in my estimation. One might have removed from Hampton all the buildings, classrooms, teachers, and industries, and given the men and women there the opportunity of coming into daily contact with General Armstrong, and that alone would have been a liberal education. The older I grow, the more I am convinced that there is no education one can get from books and costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be gotten from contact with great men and women. Boy, is that true. Instead of studying books so constantly, how I wish our schools and colleges might learn to study men and things. That's a great statement, and that's part of the reason we're doing a sermon series like this, is to study the lives of great men. Who was this man that somebody with the character of Booker T. Washington would speak such words about? I mean, what made him so great? What could a man do in his life that could make someone write words like that about him? More importantly, what could make somebody so respected is what we're going to look at this evening. Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. Look, he achieved this man, General Samuel C. Armstrong, he achieved something that most men only dream of. To have somebody, you know, lift you up and exalt you in this way, most men could only dream of that. Look at Proverbs chapter 22, and look at verse number 1. Look what the Bible says. The Bible says, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter 7. The Bible says that a good name, a good reputation, a good report, as the Bible would call it in other places, is something that is much sought after. And that, you know, many, I mean, many men, many men, many women, many men especially chase riches, chase gold, chase silver their whole life. And, you know, many, some men, you know, they find that, some don't. But the Bible says a good name is better than that. It is better than all those things. So I mean, your reputation is important, the Bible says. And look, few find this treasure. Few find this treasure of a good name, yet everybody wants it. You won't find anybody that you could go up to and ask the honest question, would you like, you know, everyone to respect you? And you wouldn't find anyone that would answer negatively to that question. Everybody wants it, but few find it. This man found it. So let's do like, let's explore his life and see if we can figure out how that happened. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Even a pastor, even a pastor, the Bible says, should have, you know, respect, should have a good report, as the Bible says. Everybody wants it. Many people, look, many people, they want it so badly, they want this good name so badly, they try to command it. They try to order it. They get in a position of power, whether it be in a business or in an organization or, you know, in a government, and they just try to command respect. But it doesn't work that way. It never does. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 3, even a pastor. I could stand up here and I could say, you must respect me, because I'm the pastor of this church. You know, I could say that, but that's not how you gain people's respect. That's not how you gain a good name. We'll look at that this evening. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 3, moreover, talking about the qualifications for a pastor, which also apply to you, by the way, moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without. Must he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil? He must have a good name. You must have a good name. So this man, the general in this book, Samuel C. Armstrong, he achieved, he achieved this. Let's look at him this evening and see if we can figure out how. And here's another thing that's interesting about him as we look at his life just a little bit at the beginning of the sermon. The life of General Samuel C. Armstrong, he was born in 1839, and he died in 1893. So if you do the math on that, this man lived on this earth about 54 years, and yet he achieved so much more than most men will do in 80 years or 90 years in his life. He was the son. It starts off, we kind of start to see some of the answers right away when you start looking into his life. You say, how could a man have commanded so much respect and done so much, especially for others in his life? He was the son of missionaries to Hawaii. He was born in Hawaii. His parents were missionaries in Hawaii. He graduated college in 1862, so he was a young man, a young 20-something-year-old man in 1862, and if you know what was about to happen or what was happening in 1862, he volunteered shortly after that for the Union Army after the breakout of the Civil War. His Army career is kind of what led him down the path to the rest of what we'll call his life work. He was captured as a POW at Harpers Ferry at the beginning of his Union career in the Army. He was then released and fought at several battles, but he was actually at Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, and Gettysburg was a very famous battle. If you know anything about Gettysburg, it was the second bloodiest battle of the entire Civil War, only to be outranked by the Battle of Antietam. If you ever want to read about a bloody battle, read about that one, but he was at the Battle of Gettysburg. He defended directly against Pickett's Charge, if you know about the Confederate charge across the open field, and of the section that he had at Cemetery Ridge, there was five officers that were in command of the soldiers there, four out of the five were killed, and he was the only one that was remaining. So he was very, he proved his bravery in battle, he raised, he rose through the ranks in the Army, obviously to become a general at the end of the Army, but Armstrong subsequently rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and then was assigned to the 9th Regiment United States Colored Troops in late 1863. So this is where he became a commander, or a leader of ex-slaves fighting in the Civil War. He was then assigned to command of the 8th U.S. Colored Troops, when his previous commander was disabled from wounds. Armstrong's experiences with these regiments aroused his interest in the welfare of black Americans. So it must have been a divine appointment, when you read about the rest of his life, because when Armstrong was assigned to command the USCT, training was conducted at a place called Camp Stanton, near Benedict, Maryland, and while stationed there, he established a school, this is during the war, he established a school to educate the black soldiers, most of whom had no education as former slaves. So here this man is fighting in the Army, he's rising through the ranks, he's proving himself in battle, and then he gets in command of these regiments that are former slaves, and he realizes that there's a problem. He realizes that they're severely disadvantaged, they have zero education. So still during the war, he establishes these schools at the training camps to start teaching these soldiers. Then of course that follows him after the war, and he works with the American Missionary Association to start the Hampston Institute that you're reading about in From Slavery. And that of course was to educate African Americans and Native Americans. And this is where his life and the life of Booker T. Washington intersect, was because of this. But the first point I want to point out here is that you can see in his military career, you can see how that carried over into a civilian career, but General Armstrong never lost the missionary heart. You can see that in his life, whether he was fighting a war, or whether he was just living a civilian life. Turn to Psalm chapter 16. Through war, through hardship, through, I mean, the brutality of the Civil War, he kept a heart for the less fortunate than himself. That's a super important point, and if we look at Psalm chapter 16, you can tell, look, origins matter, folks. Origins matter, folks. You can tell where this man came from by how his life turned out. Think about that, parents, as you think about raising your kids. You want to think about raising your kids on purpose? Think about that. Look at Psalm chapter 16 in verse number 6, and boy, this guy, this guy, you can see that this missionary heart stayed with him throughout his whole adult life. Look at Psalm chapter 16 in verse number 6. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage. The best way to instill values in your children is to live those values, folks. And I can tell, look, there isn't a lot of information on this man's parents. His dad actually died early on in his life, but I know this. I know this from his life. I know this from the heritage that he inherited from his parents. I know that whatever they believed, I know they lived that belief. I know that. Whatever these parents, these parents of this man that became known as the general in this book, they raised a child that dedicated his life to the service of others. So that, from that, I can take that that is how they lived their life. Because that's the heritage that they gave to their son, and that was a goodly heritage. That was a goodly heritage. Number two, I also can tell you this, I also guarantee you that that heritage and that life that his parents gave him, I can guarantee you that that was a positive, joyful experience. You say, how do you know that? How do you know that? I can tell you that because number one, first of all, it was one that he didn't reject. You ought to think about that when you think about how your life, how your Christian life and how you're raising your children in this Christian life, how is that for your kids? Is it a joyful experience for your kids? Because look, I know that it was joyful for him because he instilled this, he instilled this in Booker T. Washington. Go to page 111, 111 of the Up book, of Up from Slavery. On page 111, I can tell that his parents gave him this heritage because he passed this heritage onto Washington himself. Look at the very last paragraph of page 111, the last sentence of the second paragraph. And the book says this, I often say to our students, in the course of my talks to them on Sunday evenings in the chapel, that the longer I live and the more experience I have of the world, the more I am convinced that after all, the one thing that is most worth living for and dying for, if need be, is the opportunity of making someone else more happy and more useful. So look, Booker T. Washington here is telling this culture that he learned from this man, he's talking about, you know, this is what your life should be about, it's about passing joy onto somebody else. And it's through, like, hard work, becoming useful, learning things, getting an education. So really, that's the reason that we talked about hard work last week. Because it's a building block of what we're going to talk about this evening. Because look, before you can start talking about this term called life work, you have to know how to work. You can't have a life work if you don't know how to work in general. Go to page 51, go to page 51. It seems weird just saying a page number, go to, you know, chapter and verse is usually what we do. Go to page 51 and look at the second paragraph. In May 1881, near the close of my first year in teaching the night school, in a way that I had not dared to expect, the opportunity opened for me to begin my what? My life work. Do you think that he could have had a life work if he was not someone who knew how to work? So he had to know how to work, he had to have that basic building block, but he said, to begin my life work, one night in the chapel, after the usual chapel exercises are over, General Armstrong referred to the fact that he had received a letter from some gentleman in Alabama asking him to recommend someone to take charge of what was to be a normal school for the colored people in the little town of Tuskegee in that state. These gentlemen seemed to take it for granted that no colored man suitable for the position could be secured and they were expecting the general to recommend a white man for the place. The next day, General Armstrong sent for me to come to his office and much to my surprise, asked me if I thought I could fill the position in Alabama and that began the life work of Booker T. Washington. But he knew how to work. And do you think that the general, a man of that caliber, would have ever come to him if he didn't have that basic building block? So the point I'm trying to make here is that a life in service to others is a joyful life. So this is what we need. This is what we're learning this evening. We need a work ethic and then we need a life work dedicated to the service of others. That's what you need. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Let's look at the Bible. Let's see if the Bible matches what we're reading from this book, from these two men that were dealing with each other here. So General Armstrong recognized this capability in Booker T. Washington. Look at Philippians chapter 2. And I can tell, and I can tell that Booker T. Washington had this characteristic and I can tell that General Armstrong got this because you can see this traced back. You can see this traced back where Booker T. Washington had this character that he said, you know what? To make, to live a life in service of other people, of other people's joy is what he was saying, is a life worth living. So I can tell where he got that. Look at Philippians chapter 2 and look at verse number 4. Look what the Bible says. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. The Bible is saying here, have this mind in verse number 4 that was the same mind that Jesus had. Jesus came here to do nothing for himself. That's why you must reject all these, and I don't even have to say this to this crowd, but that's why it's such a big deal when people come up with these stupid extra biblical stories about the life of Jesus. Like maybe Jesus was married or maybe Jesus had children or whatever. Look, Jesus came here to do nothing for himself. Jesus came here to serve. Jesus came here to give himself a ransom for the entire world. That's why Jesus came here. Look at verse number 6, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. There's a lot of doctrine in these verses too. But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. Notice how it says in verse number 7, he made himself of no reputation. Now did Jesus have a good reputation? Did Jesus have a good name? Jesus has a name that's above all names. But he made himself of no reputation. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. This is how he treated himself. This is why you can't command respect. You can't get up and say, listen, let me, but this is what the world wants to do today. No, let me tell you how great I am. Let me tell you all the great things I've done. Because look, I want to get up and I want to tell you how great I am and all the great things that I've done so you will think I'm great. But it doesn't work that way. Jesus made himself of no reputation. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So how do you do this? How do you have this, you know, the main point is, look, every man not on his own things in verse number 4, but every man also on the things of others. Look, what does this look like? The Bible here is saying is like focus on the welfare and the well-being of other people and not yourself. So how do you do that? What does a life like that look like? How do you, I mean, what does that look like for us today? I mean for a mom. You know, a mom, it's pretty easy. You know, you're a teacher. You know, your focus is on your children. Your focus is on the things of your children. This is the life work of the Christian mother. Is a Christian education for her children. The men, you know, this could be a trade of some kind, you know, whether you're a businessman or whatever and then, you know, involvement in a ministry where you're actually doing something for the souls of the people around you. It's interesting, you know, for men and women that there's a different combination slightly. With this, you know, women will be heavily focused on the children or men, you know, they'll be focused on both. Maybe if men go into the ministry, they'll be focused more on just the ministry aspect of it. But look, I mean, the women, the life work of the women, think about how important it is. It is them that are giving or have the biggest portion of giving this goodly heritage to the next generation. And that is the very definition of a life work that is focused on others. Look, through the life of General Armstrong, we see this pattern in every single thing that he does. I mean, whether it be his military career where he literally volunteered to go into the Union Army or his life outside the military, his focus was on helping others. With the work of his hands, by the way. Look at page 26 of Up From Slavery. And not just black people, it was all people. Look at page 26 of Up From Slavery. Page 26. General Armstrong, the bottom of page 26, the bottom paragraph. General Armstrong spent two of the last six months of his life in my home at Tuskegee. At the time, he was paralyzed to the extent that he had lost control of his body and voice in a very large degree. Notwithstanding his affliction, he worked almost constantly night and day for the cause to which he had given his life. I never saw, now remember Philippians chapter 2 when you read this. Now this should have just popped in your head, Philippians chapter 2 when you read this sentence right here. I never saw a man who so completely lost sight of himself. I do not believe he ever had a selfish thought. He was just as happy in trying to assist some other institution in the south as he was when working for Hampton. Although he fought the southern white man in the Civil War, I never heard him utter a bitter word against him afterward. Isn't that something? He fought him in the war. And he never uttered a bitter word against him afterward. On the other hand, on the contrary, he says, he was constantly seeking to find ways by which he could be of service to the southern whites. He was just a man who just, look folks, he was just a man who dedicated his life to the service of other people. It's really that simple. And here's, let me just give you one last point on General Samuel C. Armstrong before I make some application on this man's life. But notice it's General Armstrong. General Armstrong. Look, turn to Romans chapter 15. And I want to make this point, because this is a super important point. If you want to apply this lesson in your life tonight, if you don't want to just listen to this sermon, and you want to actually make some application that, I don't know, might actually change the direction that you move in your life, don't miss this point. His strength allowed him to be this blessing to other people. His courage and advancement through the army. Look, if he had just been some coward, if he had just been some mediocre person, if he had been somebody who, you know, didn't really work that hard, wasn't really good at what he did, you know, then, you know what, he wouldn't have been able to accomplish as much as he did for other people. It was his strength that caused him to be able to do so much for other people. Look at Romans chapter 15. It was his reputation. It was his name. You think some missionary association is going to give some big investment to some, just like some guy who's just failed at everything he's ever done, or has been, you know, just a test case for mediocrity in his life? It would never happen. It had to be this man, and it had to be this name, and it had to be him, his reputation. That's why your reputation is important. Look at Romans 15. Look at verse number 1. Look at what the Bible says here. It says, we then ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Look, that's not what the verse says. It says, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Look, the weak cannot bear the infirmities of anyone. You have to be strong first. And that is why this man was able to accomplish what he was. Look, this shows the importance of Christian growth right here. This shows the importance of Christian maturity. You're like, you know what, I'm going to sit in this church for two years and just, ah, whatever, I'll just listen to it and it's kind of a social club and whatever. Look, other people are going to suffer for that. Other people are going to suffer for your lack of growth. It is the strong that bear the infirmities of other people, the weak. That's why we talked about gaining traction in the first sermon. Because you can't sit there and spin your wheels. If you sit there and you spin your wheels, you'll never get strong. You'll just stay weak. And then people will have to bear your infirmities, the strong people. It's better to have a church full of strong people than a church full of weak people. So you've got to gain traction in your life. You've got to get strong and then you can help others. And look, at times when you get really mature and really strong, you can spend your whole life in that work. Then you can spend your life in the work of bearing the infirmities of people that aren't strong. This was the life of General Samuel C. Armstrong. He was an extremely strong man. And, and you know what? Here's another thing. He was an extremely strong man. He had an extremely strong name and you know what he could have done with that? He could have used that, that name and that strength to gain himself wealth and power. Many men do that. Many men do that successfully. Instead, he used that name, he used that reputation to lift others out of weakness and despair. That's what he did. He spent his whole life working in service of the weak and the disadvantaged. That's why Washington described him as the most perfect specimen of a man. Physically, mentally, and spiritually, the most Christ-like that he had ever met. Look, to be selfless is to have the mind of Christ. That's the very definition. Notice how the Bible in Philippians chapter 2 said that Christ, he made himself of no reputation. I'm going to turn back there. Philippians chapter 2. Christ, he made himself of no reputation. Wherefore, in, look at verse number 9. This is the, you know, you see a little bit of the Trinity here. You see two persons of the Trinity in Philippians chapter 2, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. So you see, here you have this person, Jesus, and he makes himself of no reputation. But then you have God, the Father, who highly exalts this Jesus at the same time. So look. This is the lesson of the sermon this evening, is this man's example of his life. But it's really an example that Christ gave us. It's really just an example of somebody living the life that we're supposed to live, according to Philippians chapter 2 and many other places in the Bible. And you know, as far as the application tonight, this is the answer, look, this is how you get joy out of your Christian life, right here. The Christian life, the Christian life should be a life filled with joy. And if you say, like, you know, if you say, I don't have any joy in my Christian life right now, I'm going to explain why, look, it could be very easy to focus on negative things in the Christian life. You say, what about persecution? What about suffering? Turn to 1 Peter chapter 4. What about suffering? I mean, what about all the people that have been killed for their faith? What about all the people that, you know, all the places in the Bible that says, you know, I don't bring peace, I bring the sword, Jesus says. And all the persecution we're going to deal with and that you deal with and that I deal with. Look at 1 Peter chapter 4, 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 13. What about that? Let's deal with that first. And then we'll talk about how we can get joy. And if you don't have joy in your Christian life, I'll explain to you why. But first look at 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 13. The Bible says, but rejoice. You know what rejoice means? It means to be filled and to show great joy. That's what rejoice means. It says, but rejoice. It says, but show great joy in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings. He's saying when you suffer, show great joy. That when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. First chapter 12 verse number 12, I'll just read for you. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer. Look we're to be patient through hard times, knowing the glory that is to come. That should always keep you joyful. Just that one thing right there. But you might need to be patient through hard times. But we can still be rejoicing, we can still be joyful, rejoicing. We can still be joyful. But the real secret to living the joyful Christian life is right here. It's this. And Samuel Armstrong, the general in this book, he demonstrated that with his short 54 year life. The life dedicated to the joy and happiness and betterment of others is a joyful life. Right there. It's going to be a joyful one. More selfish life, more miserable life. More selfless life, more joyful life. That's the spectrum folks. You know the flip side is our flesh tells us the opposite. Our flesh tells us the opposite. It's a lot of people think that you know it's all about what people can do for me. It's all about what people can do for me. And that will make me happy. If I can get a bunch of free stuff, I can convince people to do everything for me. I never have to work, I never have to do anything. Look I can receive assistance constantly. That's a miserable life is what the Bible teaches us. That's going to be a miserable life. And you know what else will happen? And you'll have a bad name. You'll have a bad name. These people have it backwards. But that's what our flesh wants to tell us to do. It's about getting other people to do things for us. The less I can do, isn't this today? The less I can do and the more other people can do for me, the better it is. People brag about this kind of thing today. It's crazy. It used to be a shameful thing. People brag about all the benefits and assistance that they get. Little do they know that it's all coming at the cost of their joy and their reputation. Because joy comes from helping others. It's learn to work hard. That's your building block number one. Then comes the life work. The life work that is spent helping others. Your children. Your family. Your church. And you know what as we go out every week? Your community. Your community. The people in the neighborhood sitting down on the sidewalk fixing their car. That are just constantly thinking, how could I ever get to heaven? And then we come along and we explain it to them. And then they have the best day of their life. You know what? That is a joyful moment for me. You know what I mean? It's like, I mean I wasn't even really in that great of a mood today to be honest with you and I was after that. It's kind of a pick me up. But it's a joyful thing. Look it's not a happy thing. It's joyful. It's joyful. If we go out and we get one person saved, that's the whole thing right there. That's the whole thing. It's worth rejoicing over. It's worth rejoicing every single time. You go out and you say, I haven't gotten anybody saved for a couple weeks. But you know what? That joy is coming. If you just keep working, that joy will be there. Because that's what you're doing. You are going out and you are being a blessing and you are literally living your life for other people. And look, the soul winners in this church that go out, it is not just a, you know what? We do it one hour, once every six months. We're here week in, week out, doing the same thing, doing the same work. It's our life work. It's our life work to serve other people and it is a joyful thing. I don't care what is going on in my life, what's going on in your life, you go out and you give the gospel to somebody and they realize what they've just been given. I mean, you don't get joy from that, something's wrong. You will get joy from that. I mean, that's a promise. That's a promise. And guess what? With all that doing, we're the doers here. You're sitting in this church, we're the doers. With all that doing, you know what? There will come a good name. Go back to Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2. Look at verse number 7. I kind of read this a little bit already. But the Bible says in verse number 7, it says, but made himself of no reputation. But then in verse number 9, it said, God also hath highly exalted him. So notice how Jesus, notice how Jesus, he made himself of no reputation. He never said he was great. He never said anything about himself. All he did was humble himself even to the point of a miserable death on the cross. But God exalted him. God the Father exalted him. It's the same thing we see in this book. Some other man exalted the general. It was others. It was other people that said all these great things about him. This is where everybody goes wrong. You know, everybody thinks, oh, I just did something great. I got to tell everybody about it. I got to tell everybody about how great I am. Look, you can't command it. You know what it takes? It takes time. It takes time. That's why in the beginning statement when he said, I knew him from my first moment at Hampton until his death, that's the time right there. Literally his whole life that he knew him. This is why it's so hard. This is why it's so hard to achieve. Look, it doesn't take two weeks to get a good name. It doesn't take two months to get a good name. It takes years. Look, think of this general. Think of this general. Think of his life. There's a reason I read you the history of his life. From his missionary origins to going and literally fighting one of the worst, the worst wars that our country has ever fought, to living an entire life during that war, after that war, educating and uplifting the less fortunate around him, whether it be white or black. It didn't matter. But it was his whole life. His whole life was focused on the same point and he was driving towards it his whole life. That's why he had such a good name. That's why. This is why most people can't achieve this. That's why you read these statements in this book and you're like, that's amazing that someone would speak of another man with that type of words. Because most people will never achieve that in their life. Because it takes a life. It takes a life of consistency. You want to know why I scream so much about stability and consistency? Because that's what it takes to get a good name. You can't just be, oh you know what, I'm going to be one way to one person and then I'll be the other way to the other person and I'll play this game. You know you can play that game for two months, three months, a year and a half. But I said it once and I'll say it again. People will find out who you are. And then there goes your name. And that's another thing. This reputation is built over years and years and years in a life lost in one day. Lost in one hour. Lost in one decision. It takes a life of consistency. That's what you see in this man. It's a rare thing. It's a rare thing. You know what, we need to read about these people that follow these biblical principles. And we need to look at what they did in their life. Because it's a hard thing to achieve. You can go out and you can push and you can try to achieve riches and gold in this world. But a good name is harder. It's harder to get. It's harder to get and it's super easy to lose. That's why when somebody does it successfully it just pops out to me. It just pops out to me and it's worth talking about. It's worth talking about. It's worth writing about. General Samuel C. Armstrong, a joyful life spent in the service of others. What a blessing to have a life like this to look at and study. And it matches up perfectly with what the Bible says we should do and will come of our lives if we do this. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.