Honor and Respect, Part 1- January 3rd, Wed, 1996

January 3rd, Wed, 1996

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Romans chapter 13. Last few services we talked about our Lord and about uh the throne and hope you've pondered it. I'm still trying to figure out what those wheels are. Romans chapter 13, if you would. Romans 13. This message tonight will not be earth-shattering to you. But I think uh as we talk about the first part of the year, sometimes we we need to uh go back and work a little bit on a subject that I would just term as character. Nothing wrong with talking about a little character. Look at Romans chapter 13. I'm gonna read to you seven verses. I want you to follow along with me if you would. Romans chapter 13. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. And by the way, God is not the author of confusion, amen. He knows exactly what he's doing. Even though we look at some things and say, man, how did he believe me, God knows what he's doing, amen? We don't have to understand it, just trust him, amen? Verse 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. But he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore, because of those first four verses, wherefore, ye must needs be what? Subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience' sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also. For they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render, therefore, to all their dues. Tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear. And would you say the next four words with me? Ready? Begin. Honor to whom honor. I want to talk to you tonight a little bit about honor to whom honor. Honor is uh all through the Bible. Uh, for example, one of the commandments. Honor who? Thy father and thy mother. And it's a commandment that keeps a promise also. There's different promises that go along with that scripture. It's a first commandment with promise. Uh, wives, the Bible says that you're supposed to uh reverence your husband. Was that a married man that said that? Most of the time it's not. Most of the time, when those comments come out, it's not a married guy. Amen. I didn't hear who it was. Was that Marcello? I thought I recognized his voice. Amen. So the idea is a woman, a wife, is supposed to reverence, which is a form of honor or husband. But in return, the husband is supposed to honor the wife. Amen? You you think on down. Uh there's uh, well, look at Leviticus 19, and I know we're not under the law, but uh notice a little scripture here, and you'll you'll see this theme throughout the whole Bible. And I was taught this uh as a young boy, um, and then it was reaffirmed in the military, and it's not something I'm trying to put anybody under the law, but it was just a cultural thing, basically, that I learned. Leviticus chapter 19, and notice if you would uh verse 32. Verse 32 in the way of honor. Thou shalt rise up before the what? What's the hoary head? Gray haired. And honor the face of the old man. Now that doesn't mean military, amen. And fear thy God, I am the Lord. What are you saying? When an elderly person walks in the room, there ought to be respect. That's what it's talking about. There ought to be honor. And by the way, you say we're not under the law. I understand, but you'll see that in the book of Proverbs. You'll see that all the way through, and there ought to be a certain amount of honor with someone who's uh lived their life on this earth and has come to a place where they pass through some stages, and uh maybe they're not as strong as they used to be physically and everything, and maybe even as they get older and older and older, uh maybe they're even losing some of their mental uh facilities in some of those ways, but there should still should be honor. And if God tarries, such will be us. Amen. That ought to be honor. Uh when I was growing up, grandpa and grandma was well respected. You don't talk back to them. Amen. That man, that that was a that was a punishable offense. Amen. So uh that's why I still have a little bit of a problem with this punk culture. I, you know, I have a real problem with some of that. You say that's because you're old Fuddy Duddy. No, I got saved. And then I started reading my Bible and I thought, this doesn't, this doesn't compute. This isn't the same. Uh we're supposed to honor widows who are widows indeed. There's a lot of scriptures that talk about who we should honor. Look, if you would at 1 Timothy chapter 5, please. Honor, render honor to whom honor is due, if you would. Render those due things, honor to honor, wives to husband, husband to wives, honor the parents. Honor, if you would, the the elderly, the widow who's a widow indeed. Stay with me. Look at 1 Timothy, uh, what I give you, chapter what? Chapter 5. Let's look at chapter uh 6 first. 1 Timothy chapter 6. That's just one chapter over. 1 Timothy chapter 6. Look at verse 1. Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor. Let the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemy. You say, well, how do you think that should be applied today? Uh, you could apply it however you want, but I think there shouldn't be a certain amount of honor rendered between employees and employers. Amen. The employee should render some honor to the employer. And it shouldn't be the employer should not be the constant conversational topic of gossip in the lunchroom, and Christians shouldn't be a part of that. Amen. Amen. Amen. Uh, I've been in I've been in the business world, spent two or three years in the business world, and it always went out in our lunchroom and everything, and every once in a while there'd be a conversation going on, and I just start feeling uncomfortable about it, even if I agreed. Sometimes I got into conversations where I did agree, and I felt, you know, my conscience bugged me later on that I got in that conversation and gotten involved with some conversations about the management and everything. And I'm saying it happens, but it ought to not be a matter of habit. Why? Because there ought to be a certain amount of honor. Amen? That's all about our heads. I'm just kidding. Uh look if you would at uh 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5. And if you would, uh one verse of scripture here. Notice, if you would, um verse 17. Verse 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor. It's talking about leadership, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. The idea is rendering honor to whom honor is due is vitally important. Now look at Romans chapter 12 and Philippians 2, please. Romans 12 and Philippians 2. Thank you for turning there. Romans chapter 12 and Philippians chapter 2. Honor to honor. Let me tell you why it's important. Romans chapter 12. And if you would, uh we'll start in verse number 9. Verse number 9. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Look at verse 10. Be kindly affectionate to who? One to another. With brotherly love. In what? Honor. Preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patience in tribulation. So the idea between the brethren is that there should be a certain kind of love, it's affection. And I don't think that's talking about impurity. And there ought to be some honor even among the brethren. Would you agree with that? One other scripture, look at Philippians chapter 2, and let me get specific in just a moment. Philippians chapter 2. And thank you for turning there. Look at verse number 3. Verse number 3. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. But in lowliness of mind, let each what? Esteem. Would you agree that esteem, honor, high regards, or the concept of respect all fit hand in hand? Lowliness of mind, let each steem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. The idea is with the concept of respect. Now I'm going to make a statement. If we as a church, if you as a family, if you and your friendships are going to continue to grow and be productive for our Lord Jesus Christ, if your ministry and our church is going to continue to be what it's supposed to be, the concept of respect among each other needs to get stronger and stronger and stronger. The concept of honoring each other needs to become stronger and stronger. If your marriage is going to be strong, respect has to be a major part of that. If our church is going to be strong, respect and honor has to be a major part of that. Why? Because this honor, if you would, I believe, and my thinking about respect, the foundation to that whole thing, before you could ever build a building of respect, the foundation has to be trust. If there's no trust, there is no respect. You mark it down. The person that you don't know if you trust, you don't let your respect go out towards them. Would you agree with that? If you have a hard time trusting your boss, you have a hard time honoring him. Or her. Amen? If a husband has a hard time trusting a wife, he has a hard time honoring her. If a wife has a hard time trusting a husband, she has a hard time respecting him. Would you agree with that? Hey, let's go between me and you. If you don't trust me as a pastor, you're going to have a hard time respecting me. Amen? I mean, that's a concept of leadership and followship in whatever level. If a child, if you would, uh, does not trust their parents, they may not respect their parents, even though they carry the title of dad and mom. Amen? For example, I I've counseled people before who were abused growing up in their childhood, and even though dad and mom were dad and mom and they're supposed to honor their parents, if dad was abusive in some way, shape, or form, and that that child, if you would, that that daughter maybe didn't trust him, it was hard to honor him. Now you say, well, you ought to just look at the title and that ought to be it, and honor ought to be there. But it's built upon trust. Let's face it, amen. And if that trust is shaken, I'm not saying they shouldn't still be had in honor, but I'm saying on a practical basis, it's difficult. Come on. Now, there's so many examples about that in here when you talk about honor and everything, but let me say this. When there's the proper honor and respect that's supposed to be rendered one to the other, then I would say this: there's one accord. There's harmony, there's unity. And the Holy Spirit's not grieved. I submit to you, though, when there's a mistrust because of a dishonoring situation or a dishonoring type of attitude, what can begin to happen is there's discord. There's not one accord, and the Holy Spirit can become to be grieved because he sees that there's a distrust and a dishonor going on in that unit, whatever it may be. Are you with me or are you kind of going? If we as a church are going to do what God wants us to do and be effectively productive as a church, if you as a family, that idea of honor has to be guarded and walked around and if you would that, there needs to be times when we reflect and saying, okay, what's going on in my home, what's going on in my friendships, what's going on in my conversations, what's going on in my ministry, what's going on in my business, what am I thinking on? What am I dwelling on? For example, uh, honor forgives. Would you agree? Honor forgives. When when there's respect, there's forgiveness. Uh honor forbears. You can res someone you respect, you can forbear them. If you lose respect, chances are you might lose forbearance. Now, now are you thinking, or are you just kind of like you're kind of kind of looking like going? Hmm, I know all that. You see, brethren, if we're not careful, the topics of our conversation can begin to create a dishonor. Every once in a while we need to listen to what's going on at our table and what's going on in our living room and what's going on in our cars and what's going on in our offices. And if it's a conversation that's dishonorable. Now you say, now, wait a minute, preacher, uh, let me give you the other side. I believe man and men and even churches can take this idea of honor too far. Now, I don't I won't go into it much tonight. I think I'm going to say that for next week, but it is, it is possible for a church to take the concept of honor well too far. And put people on pedestals to the place where you just think they can do no wrong, and when they do do something wrong, everybody's afraid to say something. Now you've gone too far, amen. Not you, but somebody. I don't think we have that problem here. In fact, I've tried for now the time that I've been pastored to make sure that in my position that it doesn't come to the place where you don't feel like you, oh, you know, the pastor's, you know, you. Well, you can't approach him. Man, I've been approached numbers of times. And I don't mind it at all because it's good to be correctable. Well, somebody says, I don't think so. I think there just ought to be that honor and everything, and you just don't say anything wrong. Well, tell that to Nathan when he approached David. And he came up to David, and David was the king, anointed. And he'd come up to him, led by God, and said, Thou art the man. He didn't just let it go, amen. So there is a time when this concept of honor uh it would be dishonorable to God to let something like that go on and not correct it. Hey, you're afraid to say amen, aren't you? It's okay. So the idea in this concept of honor, uh, when, for example, if I if I have respect towards my wife and she has respect towards me, you know what we have a tendency to be able to do? Look past each other's shortcomings. Look past each other's faults. Look past each other's failures. Why? Because we respect each other. We've got our faults, we've got our failures, we've got our shortcomings. But if there's respect in the marriage, we can forbear that. My experience in watching situations and marriages over 12 years is when that respect begins to deplete, then all kinds of failures and all kinds of shortcomings starts to be highlighted and the benefit of the doubt is taken away. Amen? So the concept here that I want to talk to you about just a little bit is this concept of honor. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 10. And if you know Ecclesiastes 10, you already know where I'm going. Ecclesiastes chapter 10, and look at also Ephesians chapter 5. Ecclesiastes chapter 10. And Ephesians chapter 5. Now, an interesting scripture, and you've read it over, and some of you have probably taught about it and preached on it. But you may have read this over before and said, Well, I don't know if I get that one or not. It's kind of an interesting analogy. Ecclesiastes 10. I teach this every year in my third-year Bible Institute class, and uh I also just talked to some of the young men that are uh studying uh the uh uh for to be leaders, if you would, at 4:30 or 5 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, and I gave them a little message on this. Ecclesiastes 10, look at verse 1. Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savor. Now, do you understand that? Now you say, now I don't get it. I don't get dead flies, and what's that's got that to do with the ointment and the apothecary? What's the apothecary? There's different ways of pronouncing it, but the apothecary, if you go back, it was uh an art, if you would, in the Old Testament, where they would either use that to make this sweet incense that had to be pure, or it dealed with it dealt with pharmaceutical, if you would, the apothecary, the medicine cabin. And the idea is uh have you ever seen uh dead flies on a windowsill? Is that a concept beyond some of y'all? You know, dead flies on a windowsill. Have you ever have you ever been to a dry, arid place where the flies were just piled up on the windowsill? The idea of dead flies is kind of a gross, disgusting uh little thought. So dead flies cause the appointment. If the dead flies fall into this ointment, it, if you would, contaminates this ointment and it sends forth a stinking savour. Why? Nobody wants to use it. Is that right? And he likens that to this. So doth a little folly, him, that is in reputation for wisdom and honor. The dead flies, look at it, point to the little folly. The dead flies are like the little folly. The reputation is the apothecary, if you would, for wisdom and honor. And the idea is a little folly to someone that's supposed to be in reputation will begin to contaminate the reputation that he has and that he had when he was held in wisdom and honor. Does that make sense? Uh, for example, when you think of Solomon, did he have any dead flies? Started out great. But he picked up some dead flies along the way. What were they? Outlandish women, is that right? Don't be offended. I didn't say women, I said outlandish women. Nehemiah, amen. There were dead flies in his ointment. They were dead flies, there was a little folly. I'm going to say maybe just a more than a little, but there was folly in his reputation, and as we think of him, we think of him as a wise man, but the end we think of him with his reputation tainted. If he would, he stuck his foot in the bucket. You say, I don't get that. I heard a preacher one time down in Texas say, you know, some preachers, and this guy, man, he'd been preaching for years and years and years and years. He said, some preachers, they just can't keep the foot out of the bucket when they get older. He says, I used to have an old cow, and that old cow she'd give the sweetest milk, but every time at the end, when I was about ready to be finished with milking that cow, she'd lift up her foot and stick it right in the bucket. Ruin that milk. He said, Some of you preachers better be careful that you don't stick your foot in the bucket. I never forgot that. Never. Man, you could have a ministry for years and years and years and get to the end and stick your foot in the bucket. That's what you'll be remembered for. Amen. That's what a dead fly is. A little folly to him that is held in reputation for wisdom and honor. Let me make a statement. Uh the wisdom in an honor position may be a father, maybe a mother, maybe a wife, maybe a husband, maybe a ministry leader, maybe a business executive. But the keeper, the idea here is those dead flies, that little bit of folly. For example, um I had a I had a uh business uh leader one time. He was a manager over me, and uh I just uh I wanted to respect him, and I respected him for the position, but his uh his folly caused me to find it hard to respect him. You say, what was his folly? Constantly flirting with the secretaries, constantly trying to, I'll use the word pick up on them, and then coming in and telling everybody about his activities. Well, after a while that started stinking to me. And his reputation, as far as I was concerned, I wasn't impressed. To him, it was manliness. To me, it was folly. Especially in an office setting. Amen? Do you understand? Or you say, well, you shouldn't respect him anyways. I was trying to. I just walked away when he started talking about it. Why? Because it didn't do much for me. I wanted to rebuke him. I I I I almost one time said, Well, let me ask you something. Did you ask the father's permission? I mean, you know, he was in his 30s. I'm sure she was, I don't know what age or anything like that. I never asked a woman her age. And uh I I I wouldn't go to him and said, Have you checked with her dad? No, he would have said, What? What planet did you get off of? Heaven! I don't know because a little father. Folly, brethren. Even a little folly in the church can bring to can begin to bring dishonor. And that dishonor can bring distrust. And that distrust means discord. And that discord grieves the Holy Spirit. And it was just a little folly. But it can happen. Alright, look at Ephesians chapter 5. Stay with me. Ephesians chapter 5. I don't, you say, well, something going on, preacher? Not that I know of. Ephesians chapter 5. This gets a little tight in on us. Ephesians chapter 5. And notice what he says in, we'll start in verse 1. Be therefore followers of God as dear children. Walking in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering, a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. Verse 3. But fornication. No uncleanness or covetousness. Let it not be once named among you as becometh saints. You know, that's a tough scripture to dwell upon. I mean, fornication, that shouldn't be much of a problem. Uncleanness, covetousness. Let it not be once named among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not what? Convenient. That's uh jokes that would hurt someone. Amen? It's jesting that's just not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. The idea is there's a certain amount of respect and honor that goes into this type of attitude if we're careful about talking about fornication and uncleanness and covetousness, and we don't name that, and we're careful about the filthiness and the foolish talking and the jesting that's not convenient, but rather the giving of thanks. For example, I and I was thinking about this, and and usually when I teach this to the third year, I I harp on this pretty hard on the uh on the on the third year men that are in my class. I tell them, you know, uh uh pretty heavy about the idea of flirtation. I I see I see that as being something that would bring much dishonor, especially for a leader. And you say, well, what's flirtation? What are you talking about? I'm talking about between a man and a woman that are not married with the concept of this familiarity beyond purity. Beyond the judgment of what purity is. Now, uh, I'm gonna say this, and I I've thought about this, and I thought, man, I'm I'm setting myself up here possibly. I'm gonna say it anyways. I've been in this church 15 years now, uh, 12 years as a pastor. And uh I I if any woman ever accused me of flirting with them in the 15 years that I've been here, and any woman ever did, I I I would just be shocked. I would be absolutely shocked. I mean that. I mean that wholeheartedly. I'm not, and you know what? I shouldn't get an award or a medal for that. That ought to not be whoa, whoa, whoa, what character? That ought to be normal. That'll be what goes without saying, preacher.

unknown 25:02

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

I mean, really. Now, I I I thought to myself, oh, I can just see tomorrow two ladies getting together saying, I saw he made eyes at me seven years ago. My contacts were off that day, but wait a minute, I'm not trying to be unkind, but it's nice when you can talk about it. I've got no fears of someone coming. If they did, I'm clear with God. I I don't uh and don't take this wrong, and again, it's not heroics. It should be normal among the men of our church to treat the women with purity. And the women to the men the same. Amen, amen, amen. Why? Because something outside of that will bring dishonor, and dishonor can bring distrust, and distrust can bring discord, and discord can grieve the Holy Spirit. I'm talking too about uh singles, uh teams, uh uh courtships, uh, just just no matter what it is, I'm talking about married couples. Keep your eyes in your own boat, amen. I'm comfortable saying all this. Hey, I you know what? I'd rather have the ladies in our church say, you know, he's kind of distant. Rather than saying, man, he gets too close, he gets in my space. I'd rather have ladies feel like, you know, I don't know, it's hard to get close to the pastor. He's kind of aloof. I don't know if he likes me. Now, I don't want to go that far, but I'd rather have it leaning that way than, you know what, what do you what would you know one of the ladies going to the associate pastor and say, What should I do? I think the pastor's got, you know, some problems. Uh he's he's uh, you know, he keeps, you know, you know, he comes over and you know, he puts his hand on my shoulder and my arm and and talks to me and gets real close. And how do I tell him without offending him? Back on so you got counsel tonight, amen? If I ever get that close, whack me. I've not been whacked in 15 years, though, baby. And I'm not planning on getting in that close. I'm not gonna come by young huggy preacher. I hug my wife and my daughters, and that's just about the extent of it. My mom when she's around, amen. Hugged my sister when I saw her last, and I hugged my sister-in-law. Felt a little uncomfortable with that, but I did it. Every once in a while I get hugged at the back door. You know, some some gals come in from a little bit more charismatic leaning church, and they'll come up, you know, and they'll say, Great message, preacher. I'm going, kumbaya, amen. That's close enough for me, amen. Why? Because I feel uncomfortable with it. It's the appearance of evil, and I don't like it. That's just, you say, Well, I do it. Well, that's up to you, but just be careful. It's not the appearance of dishonor. That's not perceived the wrong way. Well, who's watching? Our teams are watching. Our young people are watching. They're watching. Our young adults are watching. They're watching. Amen. Hey, there don't want to be a peer pressure in our church amongst adults and amongst teams that flirting is not accepted. You say, well, how would everybody get to know each other? Impurity. Seems like we're doing okay with it. I mean, we got people that are getting to know each other. We do have marriages once in a while. Looking at Jason and Anna, you guys did okay, right? Hey, you know what's interesting? Now, true story. Don't move. True story. This is a true story. If you look, I'm not trying to embarrass it. If you look at Jason and Anna now, they never sat that close together before they got married. Never. Jason and Anna, right there. You say it, don't point them out. I'm going to. They're part of our church. I always saw space between them when they sat together. Always. When they were in their engagement period, now that they're married, they're a little closer now. That's acceptable. That's the way it should be. There ought to be purity, and there ought to be within the congregation a peer pressure. You say, what's a peer pressure? A pressure with amongst ourselves that keeps that purity. Sure. And when somebody doesn't keep it, it ought to be shameful. It ought to be embarrassing. I'm not saying you stand up and publicize it and shout at it from the housetops and all that and gossip about it. But in some way, shape, or form, biblically, and there's biblical ways to do things, there ought to be shame brought. So it stops. Amen? Hey, it's a good thing we're not living in the Old Testament, we'd rock them, amen. I'm sorry, stone them. Is that right? Yes or no? Hey, if anybody's getting uncomfortable about this, maybe we ought to render honor to whom honor is due. Well, how are we supposed to do it? Hey, as a man, any younger woman in this church, I'm supposed to treat her as a sister. The older woman as a mother. The younger man as a brother. The older man as a father. Quality? With all purity. Is that right? Sure. And you know what that does? It makes everybody secure. You know what? If a wolf ever comes in here and starts wolfing around with our ladies, and we find out about them, believe me, he will be visited. We have a couple of guys that are anxiously awaiting for that to happen. So they can vent some righteous indignation. But you know what that does? It makes our ladies feel safe. Well then how am I ever gonna get listen? God will bring together what he once brought together. You don't have to worry about that. He's been doing it for years. He's capable. We don't have to worry about that. Just the ones that you have to be careful as they come in, they don't know the rules, and they don't know the standards, they don't know some of the things. And you know what? Hey, you've got to give people a little grace, both male and female. You really do. They come in, they get saved. They don't know anything. Man, they'll they'll they'll just so overjoyed with something, and they're just so used to habits and everything. They don't know. I mean, that's one thing ignorance. Sure. It's another thing to knowingly be kind of flirtatious. We okay with that? Why? Because it brings what? Dishonor. And dishonor breaks down trust. When trust is broken, there can be discord. And discord brings about disharmony, and disharmony hinders what we can do together. I'll guarantee you. Hey, brother, where do jealousies come from? You know what? If my wife was the jealous type or something like that with me, I would never say uh something to her about another woman and how nice she looks and how she does this and how she does that, and and and didn't she look nice today? And you know, why would I do that? Amen. You know what? Even if she wasn't the jealous type, I don't go home and say, hey, did you see so-and-so today? She had a new dress on. Didn't she look nice? You know what? I don't know who has a new dress and who doesn't. I don't observe that stuff. I got a new tie on, I know that. What do you think? Just don't lust after it. I'm just kidding. The idea though is I'm not going to do that with my wife. Why? Because I'm supposed to, she's supposed to be the apple of my eye. She's supposed to be the center of my attention. Be careful, ladies. This is not the time to go like that. Amen? Be careful. You'll damage his ego tremendously. But but but the idea of what I'm talking about and the idea of this thing is flirtation. By the way, brother, we ought to be able to talk about this, nobody will go away offended. And what am I doing? I'm just, every once in a while, I think it's good as we're beginning a new year and everything. Just re-establish a few things that ought to not be offensive in any way, shape, or form. Purity is purity. I think the ladies in our church and the young uh women in our church and everything, you say, Well, what about the men? Don't shouldn't they be protected? Oh, yeah, they should be protected. Normally we don't have to worry about that too much. But if it goes on, we'll take care of that too. I don't know what you would call a uh a female wolf, a wolfus, or a or a Jezebel. But but the idea is it goes both ways. And you know what? A man shouldn't set himself up in that position to be set up in a position where he's openly uh available for flirting. Say that ten times. You say, well, what do you mean? I'm saying, uh, guys, you ought to put barriers up and you ought to have the type of reputation that's not got dead flies in it. I guess I hid that long enough. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

unknown 34:41

No, no, sir.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Just re-establishing some things. Why? Why? So we have trust. Why do we want trust? So there's one accord. Why do we want one accord? So there's harmony. Why do we want harmony? So the power of the Holy Spirit can work in our lives, in our marriages, in our families, in our homes. Honor to whom honor is due. That's all. Well, I'm gonna let you out early. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5. The reason I'm letting you out early is because in a couple of weeks from now you've got some missionaries, and they might not. So when you're sitting there going, when are they gonna get us out? You can say, Well, Pastor already gave me 15 minutes the week before, and 15 minutes the week before that. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5, real quick. Stay with me now. 1 Thessalonians 5. And I'm not saying anything here tonight I didn't plan on saying, so you don't have to worry about whether I'm, you know, just shooting off the cuff. I've I've thought about this quite a bit. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. I'll tell you why it's important. Now, please look up here. There are so many biblical examples, which we may get into a little bit more next week, but you think about this. Uh, dishonor. Korah, Dathan, a Byron. What happened? They somewhere stopped rendering honor to Moses. Now you can say that with recognition, you could you could recognize that with children to parents, husband to wife, wife to husband, uh, business, church leaders, whatever. It doesn't matter how you how you apply that. The idea is they began to dishonor Moses wrongfully. They began to accuse him of something that wasn't true. They gathered other people around that began to agree with that accusing. God wasn't pleased with that. Honor was not rendered. I'll tell you a situation where there was complete honor, Jonathan and David. You talk about a team, Jonathan and David were strong. Why? Because they respected each other. How did they learn respect for each other? By their actions. Is that right? Hey, statement. Titles always do not lend themselves to true respect. Just to have a title doesn't mean the person is automatically, on a practical basis, respected. It's something that maybe initially, for example, I think Saul lost respect of many. King Saul? Even though he had the title of king, and even though David still rendered him honor. I think he lost that respect, even still he had the title. Well, somebody says, Well, I'm I'm this title, so I should be respected. Well, that's a good start, but you've got to earn it. And you have to maintain it. Amen. And it shouldn't be that way. And by the way, there shouldn't be a hero worship and a medal pinned on for normal character.

unknown 37:30

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

I mean, it shouldn't be normal for a pastor to have one wife and keep faithful to that one wife all the way through and never be accused of anything. That ought to be normal. That ought to not be so our pastor. I just want you to know who's been 30 years pastoring us and he's been faithful to his wife, and oh man, I just glory to God, and that's what he's supposed to be. He's an unprofitable servant. He did what you was commanded to do. You know why it's such a big deal now? Because it's becoming more and more a novelty. And it shouldn't be in our church.

unknown 38:17

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Amen. I thought that church down there said old-fashioned. What does old-fashioned mean? It means we all have some old-fashioned purity. Means that we have some old-fashioned honor and some old-fashioned respect. Means when a lady needs a chair, we let her sit down. Means when an elderly person walks in, they don't say, Hey, Grandpa, how you doing today? Now, unless you know him real well. Better watch, you smash your teeth in in Christian love, amen. Just kidding. I heard that laugh. I knew who that was. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Stay with me. Look at verse 12. Please, verse 12. And we beseech you, brethren. We're begging you to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and monish you. Now, a lot of times this scripture over you in the Lord, somebody immediately thinks, you know, Pastor. But there's a few people over different people in the Lord. And I understand as you read this over, for example, don't take this wrong, uh, ladies, but a husband is over a wife in the Lord. That should not be anything that goes, maybe said that. Study your book. That's that's normal. Uh, parents are over children in the Lord. Amen? So uh you could take this and apply it to a lot of things and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly for their position's sake. It doesn't say that. It says to esteem them very highly in love for their what? Their work's sake. You mean you mean it depends too on what they do? Well, I think position and title are important, certainly, in some respect, in some shape or form. I think we ought to honor father and mother. But uh, when you get right down to it, uh you also look at their actions and their activities. Now, don't take this wrong, and some of you may, and I'm not trying to be unkind. My father, earthly father, was a drunk. I watched my dad beat my mother up. I watched my dad throw my mother across the room when I was eight years old. I watched my mother throw things at my dad. Did I still honor them? They're my parents. Did I lose a little trust for them? A little bit. You say, well, that was a problem. Well, it was a problem. My dad was a different man when he got drunk. It was hard. He squeezed my arm. My first tasted beer. I'm told it was when I was a baby. He put uh one of those rubber uh, what do you call them on the end of a bottle? A nipple. He put one of those on a beer bottle, shoved it in my mouth. I remember thinking it was a manly thing to do when I was three or four years old. I'd sneak over beside his chair and drink a little bit of his booze. And he'd laugh at me. You say you're still supposed to honor him. I still have honor in my heart for it. But on a practical basis. When I watched him throw my mom across the room and against the wall, you gotta understand. It had an impact. You say I don't think it should have. I can't help it, but it did. Because why, his work in that area? They fought two or three times a week. I'm not crying as a victim. I'm a new creature in Christ. Old things have passed away. I've got a heavenly father that never did anything wrong to his bride. Never did anything wrong to me as he was a child. But I'm saying it did affect my esteem a little bit. You say, well, I don't think it should. I'm just telling you on a practical basis it did. Why? It's their work, you say. If you heard tomorrow that I went out and got drunk tonight and was out with a hooker and got caught and put in jail, don't tell me that wouldn't affect your thoughts about me, even though my title is past. Why? Because my work would have been the wrong example. Therefore, brethren, there's some responsibility on us as leader, as husband, as wife, as honoring widows, as honoring elderly, as honoring leaders, as honoring business, as honoring whatever you want to put in honoring. There's some responsibility on us to do some work to maintain that honor. And if you would, don't take it wrong, that reputation. Now you say, well, Jesus made himself of no reputation. But it talks about reputation ecclesiastes. I should be careful about my testimony. You'd be hard pressed to find the woman that I've ever had in my car alone. You say, I know one. Well, yeah, my wife. And probably one of my daughters. But you'd be hard pressed to find another woman after I got saved that I've ever had my car alone. There's always somebody that you can take with you. I've had to go out and pick up ladies on the freeways that were that were broke down or something like that, but you could always find someone to go with you. Why? Just appearance. That's all. You say, well, I just don't believe that. And I'm not, I'm not, look, please let me just say this and I'll close. I'm not trying to establish this as church doctrine. All I have is influence. I'm not going to follow you around and control you. All I have is influence. And I only have influence as long as you come here. I'm not going to check up on you. I'm not going to say if you do, you say, well, I don't think that's any big deal, having a woman in the car. What's the big deal about that? That's your own judgment. We're not going to excommunicate you over that. I'm just saying for me as a leader. Why should I just live in this area as far as in that gray area? Man, I'm going to live way over whatever left or right that's pure. I don't want to get close to it. I don't want to get close to the line. If I'm in a hotel room, a maid does not come in there while I'm there. I do not open the door and say, come on and clean up and I stay in there. I've had some who come and said, I gotta clean right now. I said, Listen, then let me get out of here and let me get a couple minutes away, then you come in and clean. Why? Because I'm not gonna mess around with it. Normally, and don't take this wrong, I don't want to see the maid if I'm there for three days. I'll get my own towels, I'll make my own bed, I'll do my own stuff. Why? I don't want her in there. Why? Because I'm gonna stay aloof. I don't want to know her name. I'll leave her gospel track when I leave. Why? I just I just don't want to give anybody an occasion to say something that would influence and impact my ability to do the work of God. It's too important. Don't take this wrong. There's no woman in this world worth my ministry. I got a wife. There's no woman worth giving up this ministry. None. You couldn't make her. And that ought to be the heart and mind of every married man in this church.

unknown 46:31

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Why? Honor. Respect. Reverence. High regards. It ought to be something that's important in our, look up here, in our church culture. And it ought to not be a big medal pinned on. It ought to be normal. Normal. Now, next week come back because you may be thinking, well, boy, you know, what about there's some other sides to this thing. I know, but I want to give you at least five or ten minutes so when the missionary is long, then you can say, Oh, yeah, I remember my pastor. Boy, I'm holding him in honor tonight. Tonight, brethren, I just want you to think about this in closing. We need to check out our conversation once in a while, myself included. We need to, please look up here. We need to check out our activities once in a while. We need to check out our actions once in a while. We need to say, is this something that's displaying honor? Is this something that's displaying respect and esteem? Or, man, is my conscience bothering me a little bit? Maybe I need to back off from that just a little bit. I want to say this one more time because I'll go home and think about it and say, boy, I wonder if that came across okay. I'm not trying to tell you how you live your life. All I can do is give you a little influence. And a lot of this stuff is judgment call. But I would say this: when in doubt, salute. When in doubt, do it the pure way. If you feel a little uncomfortable with it, then count that as the Holy Spirit saying, be uncomfortable. Amen. I've been asked by ladies before, what do you do when a guy gets a little close into your space? I tell him, Well, move away. Well, what if he gets a just move away. Just keep moving away. He'll get the hint. You know, walk out the door. Throw your handbag over it or something. I don't know. I mean, you know what? I would have no problem if somebody came up and grab my wife's arm and she felt uncomfortable with it for her to go like this. I don't have a problem with that. What is that sin? That sin's a body language of don't do that again, please. Why? Because she hates him? No. Just she feels uncomfortable with a guy grabbing her outside of her husband.

unknown 48:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Amen?

unknown 48:59

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 49:01

I don't think there's no wrong teaching daughters that, too. And by the way, if any of my sons, as they grow up, ever get too friendly or close or accused of anything, I'll take care of them. I'll put them in their room. I'll slip food through the door. I'm just kidding. You know what? Right now, I'll give you this illustration, I'll close. Second closing. I know a church right now, not in this state, not in any surrounding state in this area. I know a church right now, nobody would know about, probably, that it's being destroyed, and segments of it are breaking off because of some things that are going on right now in the church that's not being handled. And church and families are losing trust. And they're breaking off. And they're not, they're not throwing rocks, they're just breaking off. And the church is fragmenting. Because something happened a while back and it was supposedly handled, now it's happened again, it's not being taken care of, and now the church is fragmenting. And the thing was going real well, and now it's fragmenting and breaking apart. You know what it deals with? Honor. And respect and trust. I know a church right now where people are probably crying and teary eyed tonight because the church is having that kind of problem. Brethren, we've got a lot to do for the Lord. We don't need to have those kind of problems. We just need to decide that we're going to render honor to whom honor is due. Respect, high regard, esteem. And by the way, brethren, that's annoying. Christianity. That's all stamped.