Pleasing God, Part 7

The Bible says in Psalm 116, verse number 12, What shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits toward me? In other words, God has been so good to me What do I do? The answer: Revelation:, to do what you were created for That is, to give pleasure to God, to please His holy name And that's been our topic since we have begun this new year How do we live a life pleasing to God? How do we bring honor to his name so that one day we hear those words, well done, thou good and faithful? Servant And so we're looking at what it means to please God

We're taking some time to go through this. I wanted to do it in one week, but I really can't do that It's just too much information to give in one week Couldn't do it in two, didn't do it in three, and I'm not going to do it in four So it's going to take a little bit longer than what I had anticipated, but I need you to get the whole kit and cabood together To understand all that God wants for us And then I'm going to do a series called God's Call for the Purity of the Church because the elders have asked me to speak up on that So, I'm going to do that

So, sometime in February, we'll get back to the Gospel of Luke But there's a method to my madness We've been in Luke for eight years And so we're taking a break so that you'll beg me to get back into Luke again Okay, because sometimes you, well, you been in Luke for so long When are you going to finish? Well, maybe Before the Lord returns, we'll finish But if not, it doesn't make any difference You're going to know it all anyway And so we need to go through the scriptures, understand what God has for us That we might live a life that's pleasing to Him

And so we're looking at the word pleasing and using that as an acrostic to understand what the Bible says when it speaks specifically about Pleasing God And number one, it's proclaiming the message of the cross. 1 Corinthians 1, verses 18 to 23 talks about the fact That when we proclaim that message, which is foolishness to the world, but is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe, we are preaching that message of the cross The message that Christ wants us to preach We had an individual last week give me a Christmas card I thought was rather unique

It reads this way: In humility and love for us all, Jesus came down to earth knowing that he was born to utter three Little words that would forever change the course of human history The words, it is finish This is a great card This is the best Christmas card I've ever read It is a Christ card It centers on the purpose for why Christ came He came to utter those words, it is fin And so, you know, I told you during the Christmas season that Christmas is to be celebrated throughout the year, not just in the month of December

If you celebrate Christmas only in December, you have no idea what Christmas is about You've got to re what Christmas is in your life to understand the reason Christ came And when you begin to understand that, Christmas is a lifel celebration of the redemption of God For man, you need to understand that We need to grasp that We need to stop celebrating Christmas during the month of December and celebrate it all throughout the year Because then we understand the significance of the birth of the Messiah Why did he come? Why is he going to come again? You see, everything about Christ is about

Christmas, Christ We need to grasp that And when you proclaim the message of the cross, you understand Christmas And so that's the first avenue through which we please the Lord Number two, living a life of faith Hebrews 11, verse number 6 Without faith, it is impossible to please God So to please Him, you live a life of faith You live a life believing in what God has already said The book of Hebrews is all about that, Hebrews 11, that great hall of faith Over in Psalm 145, these words are recorded God does not delight in the strength of the horse He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man

The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, those who wait For his loving kind Translation: God doesn't take pleasure in those who have faith in their own self-resources God takes pleasure in those who trust in Him, who fear His name, and believe in Him Wait and trust in His loving kindness That brings great pleasure to God So we walk by faith and not by sight So we proclaim the message of the cross That's number one Number two, living a life of faith pleases him And number three, exalting Jesus Christ, the Son of God, brings great pleasure to God

How do we know that? Matthew 3, verse number 17 says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased God was well pleased with the Son Why? Colossians 1, verses 15 to 19, or 15 to 17, speak of the fact that God was pleased that in his Son all the fullness of the Godhead would dwell So, when we honor the Son, we honor the Father John: It says, if you do not honor the Son, you do not honor the Father who sent the Son So, to honor him, to lift him up, to elevate him, to glorify him, is to exalt Jesus Christ the Son When you exalt the Son, you exalt the Father

When you magnify the Son, you magnify the Father When you glorify the Son, you glorify the Father So, how is it we exalt him? How is it we bring glory to His name? We covered the first two last week Salvation from our idolatry Ephesians 1, verses 4 to 6 Speak of the fact that it's the praise of his glory when we are born again Number two, confession of my iniquity Joshua chapter seven Joshua told Achan, give glory to God and conf your sin Confession of iniquity brings glory to God Salvation from my idolatry brings glory to God

Number three, this is where we left off last week: demonstration of my spirituality brings glory to God John 15, verse number 8, records these words: By this is my Father glorified This is how he is exalted This is how he is magnified This is how he is lifted up That you bear much fruit and so prove To be my dis. A demonstration of my spirituality magnifies and glorifies my God How do I do that? By bearing fruit Matthew 7, verse number 16 says, by their fruits you shall know them Okay, we are identified by the fruit that we produce And so we are to produce a life that's characterized of Christ

Galatians 5:2 talk about the fruit of the Spirit It 's not the fruits of the Spirit, plural, it's singular The fruit Of the Spirit That fruit has nine characteristics that describe it Those nine characteristics describe the character and nature of our God Fruit bearing is Christ-likeness When you bear fruit, you demonstrate the life of Christ And that is how God Himself is glorified He's lifted up He is honored And that's the way we live our lives Look at Psalm 1 with me for a moment, a very familiar Psalm Psalm 1, verse number 1

It reads as follows: How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers Be careful where you stroll, be careful where you stand, be careful where you sit Then it says, But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night And he will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers The godly man is a fruit-bearing man He bears fruit

Now, listen, you're going to bear fruit It's inevitable Why? Because in the parable of the sower and the soils, there are four types of soils Only one of those soils produces fruit, brings forth fruit That's the only soil that's truly saved Okay? And it bears forth fruit some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred Okay? Now, remember in Israel, if you bring forth fruit tenfold, that is what they call a bumper crop You had an abundant year if you bring forth fruit just tenfold But the parable is designed to show you that when the person's born again, he bears forth fruit not some tenfold

Not some 20-fold, but it begins with 30-fold, then 60-fold, then a hundred-fold In other words, you don't have to be a fruit inspector to know whether or not someone's saved It's a complete and utter, total picture of truthfulness and fruit It's all over the place It cannot be denied That's why I've always told you: if you have to ask, I wonder whether or not they're saved, they're not If you wonder, they're not Because you know You know somebody who's saved They bear fruit The Bible says, In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit

In other words, you are prod the kind of life that exemplifies Christ in a Magnanimous kind of way And so that's the way we're to live our lives We are to bear fruit for the glory and honor of God The Bible says in Psalm 1 that the plan For God, for you is that you produce fruit The godly man does that That's what marks him as a godly man If you go throughout the Bible in Galatians 5, it talks about the fruit of the Spirit That's just simply the character and attitude of Christ Himself being demonstrated through the life of the believer In Hebrews:, when you give

Praise to God, it is well pleasing to Him And part of our fruit-bearing is giving praise to God In Philippians chapter 4 verse number 17 When you contribute to those in need, it brings forth fruit So, whenever you take care of somebody in need, It produces fruit for the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 14:1 When you communicate any form of spiritual truth, it produces Fruit Over in Colossians 1, verse number 10, doing good works is a byproduct of fruit producing First Corinthians 6 Talks about leading, or excuse me, 16, verse number 15

When you lead others to Christ, it's an example of bearing fruit In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit You want to live a life that's pleasing to God? You exalt the Son of God You magnify and glorify the name of God When you do that, it's demonstrated by the fact That there's a demonstration of my spirituality, there's been a confession of my iniquity, and there has been salvation from my idolatry Number four How do you know you are exalting Christ when there is a submission to his sovereignty? A submission to his sovereignty Turn me in your Bible to John chapter 21

John chapter 21 When there's a submission to his sovereignty, you are exalting the Son of God When you are exalting the Son of God, you are pleasing God Listen, when we grow up as children, we want to live lives pleasing to our parents We want to hear those words Good job Great job We want to see the smile on the face of our parents As a believer, as a child of God, you want to see the sm of God And it comes to exalting Christ When you submit to the sovereignty of God, you exalt God Thus bring great pleasure to God John 21 is a story about the recommissioning of Peter

Christ comes, asks him three times, Peter, do you love me? It speaks to the supremacy Of Peter's love It speaks to the singularity of Peter's love It speaks to the sincerity of Peter's love He says, Peter, I want your love for me to be unparalleled. I want it to be undivided, and I want it to be unhypocritical And then he says these words in verse number 18: Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go

In other words, Peter, when you were younger, you just kind of did your own thing You kind of went where you wanted to go You kind of did what you wanted to do But I want to let you know, from here on out, as you grow older, something's going to happen to you Somebody's going to stretch forth your hands and they're going to gird you It's a terminology that signifies crucifixion Okay? And you're going to experience something you don't necessarily want to experience, that is death through crucifixion And then it says, verse 19

Now, this he said, signifying by what kind of death he would listen, gl God By this death, you're going to magnify, you're going to exalt God, you're going to lift up the name of God, you're going to demonstrate God by the kind of death Peter, you're going to experience And when he had spoken this, he said to him, follow me Follow me, Peter Now, Peter was a little reluctant

He wanted to know what about John? Is John going to follow you? Is he going to die too? Is he going to be crucified too? Or is it just me going to be crucified? And Christ would go on and say, Peter, it doesn't make any difference what's going to happen to John Even if you list I come again, you follow me What did Peter do? Read the book of Acts He followed Christ Submission to a sovereignty See, Peter knew how he was going to die You know But Peter knew Peter knew that if he followed Christ, he was going to experience a crucifixion He knew that He didn't know when

But he knew he would experience the crucifixion Church history tells us that's exactly what happened to Peter And so he knew how he was going to die He didn't know when, but he knew how You don't know when, and you don't know how But Peter was submissive to the sovereign plan and purposes of God in his life How about you? You want to bring pleasure to God? You submit to His plan for you right now What's your plan? What's his plan for you today? What's his plan for you this year? We have no idea what his plan is for you this year, do we? You don't? I don't

But you know what? One of the true marks of a godly man is to be able to say, Lord, I don't understand the situation. I don't know why I'm in this situation. I don't even like this situation But this is your plan for me at this time, and I am willing to submit to your sovereign providential control over my life That is a godly man And that's what submission is all about Submitting to a plan that you don't necessarily like or would not have for your own self

But because God is perfect, and God does not have an imperfect plan for your life, but a perfect one, so that He would be glorified, magnified, exalted You bring pleasure to God when you submit to the sovereignty He has over your life Being home this past week with my mother and father, I flew through the night on Sunday and arrived early, early on Monday morning And my mom drove to the airport to pick me up along with my father And as soon as I saw my father, I knew that from October to January, things had changed drastically in his life

And he is slowly but surely disintegrating before my mother's eyes And so, you know, I drove back with him, we talked, and all that kind of stuff My father does not speak Harley at all anymore, can't So he speaks through what is called i on his iPad, and he can type those words in, but not very fast because my father, he can't button his shirts So I I'm buttoning my father's shirts. I mean, talk about a a whole reversal change When I was a child, my my father would button my shirts and and s my pants and tie my shoes

Well, now I'm doing that for my father because he can't move his fingers enough to grab the buttons to button them on his cuffs or on his shirt And so I find myself doing for him what he did for me all those early years when I was just a child And as I sat with my mom and dad this past week, my mom said to me, she says, You need to know, Lance, that your father never complains about his situation From the day he's been diagnosed with ALS, he has never once said why He has never once gotten angry He has never once gotten mad at God He has accepted God's plan for his life

It doesn't mean he likes the plan, it doesn't mean he appreciates the plan But he does submit to the plan So on Tuesday we went and we took him to the hospital and he had a surgical procedure where they would put a feeding tube in him Because he can't swallow very well, and so now we have to feed him through this tube And until we get a machine that does it for us, we have to do it manually That was an experience teaching my mother how to inject this nutrition through this tube And there my father sat

And the very first time we did it, the syringe came out of the tube and we spilled it all over him And all he did was laugh You know? He never got angry, never got upset, he just laughed And we cleaned it up and you know, he was having some pain and so we went from there about an hour later to inject some some Tylenol through a syringe for him And we spilled that too. I thought, I'm a boron, man. I't even do this right You know what I'm saying? And we spilled that And so we had this red Tylenol all over his stomach and everything But Just laughed, never got upset

You know, see, it's a whole new experience for him, my mother, me, my sister It's all new for us But my father's attitude is critical to my mother's well-being And my father has a great attitude. I would pray and hope that if the Lord afflicts me with that disease, I would have that kind of attitude Because it slowly but surely is dis or he is slowly but surely disintegrating before our eyes as he is able to do less and less with each passing day But he has submitted to God's plan for his life He knows now how he is going to die Because God has demonstrated to him that this is his future

And so, as we go through life, as we embark on a new year, what's our attitude? You know, we get a little upset when things don't go good at work You know? Oh, my boss is just too nasty and too mean Okay? Peggy, don't say anything, okay? Now, I'm a boss But, you know, he just, I don't get along with my boss So what? Is it that bad, really? Come on Because God has placed you there, He's placed your boss over you for a specific purpose We get upset at so many things, you know, myself included Instead of realizing, you know, Lord, you're in charge of this, I'm just a servant in your kingdom

And I want to be used by you and on you. I want to submit to your sovereignty in my life You know, some of us can't handle that our business is failing You know what? Maybe that's what God wants for you That you move on and do something else My father's dealing with the fact that he has to realize that he can't do what he used to do He needs to retire He doesn't want to, but he knows he has to because he can no longer do what he used to do That's tough for him. A man who's lived with his voice all these years and his whole job has been around his voice his whole life Now he can't do that

Now, what does he do? See? And so sometimes we have to come to grips with the fact that, you know, my God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases He does what he pleases And my job, my responsibility, is to live a life that's pleasing to my God who does whatever he pleases When we begin to swallow that pill and understand what that means, 2014 will be a better year for you Because you'll understand that God's in complete charge of everything Everything So, see, I told you I just couldn't do it in one week It takes some time

Whether it's salvation from my idolatry, confession of my iniquity, demonstration of my spirituality, or submission to my sovereignty, all of that exalts and glorifies the name of Christ, and that is pleasing to God Let me give you another one Particip in our ministry gives glory to God and is pleasing to His name Participation in a ministry Turn me in your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4 This is important for all of us today, not just some of us Participation in our ministry. 1 Peter 4:7 says, The end of all things is at hand In other words, it's coming to an end

Okay? It's all going to be over Therefore, in light of that, be of sound judgment, sober spirit for the purpose of prayer Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins Be hospitable to one another without complaint As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God Whoever speaks, let him speak as it were the utterances of God Whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified

Exalted, honored, magnified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever Amen In other words, when you exercise your giftedness, when you participate in the ministry of your local church, exercising your giftedness, it brings glory to God God Is pleased with your partic Folks, this is important You see, your identity is wrapped up in the fact that you are a spiritually gifted person Note this Your identity is wrapped up in several ways One, you're a saved person If you're a saved person, you're a special person. 1 Peter 2:9 says that we are a chosen generation

Special people, okay? A saved people, a special people If you're a special people, you are a supernatural people Acts chapter 1, verse number 8, because he has clothed us with power from on high He has infused us with the Spirit because we are saved, because we are special, because of that, He now in Infuses us with his spirit, so now we become a supernatural people That's all a part of our identity We also are a servant people because we are servants in the kingdom Of God On top of that, we are a spiritually gifted people God has given us a gift

And you need to be exercising your gift in the local body We have a class that's going on right now, right now as I speak, that speaks to the people of our church about spiritual gifts Most people don't even know where spiritual gifts are mentioned in the Bible Well, if you go to the class, you'll know they're in Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4, Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12 Most people don't even know what the gifts are They don't know there are special gifts, speaking gifts, support gifts, and sign gifts But there are

And in Peter's account, he doesn't deal with the signed gifts because the signed gifts were given to endorse the sovereignty of God He doesn't speak about the special gifts because the special gifts are designed to equip the saints But he does speak about the speaking gifts and the support gifts because the speaking gifts explain scripture and the support gifts enable service in the church He says, if you have a speaking gift, then you need to make sure that when you Have and exercise that gift, you speak the utterances of God

In other words, if you have a speaking gift, you must use the Word of God in your giftedness People say, well, what's a speaking gift? Well, there are five of them If you go to the class, you'll learn what those five are and how they operate in the church There's a gift called word of wisdom, another one called word of knowledge There's also a gift called prophecy Also, a gift called teaching, and also a gift called exhortation Those are the five speaking gifts If you don't know anything about those, you should probably be a part of that class

Because if you have a speaking gift, you have to speak forth the utterances of God You need to understand what a speaking gift is Do I have the gift that's a word of wisdom, that's a word of knowledge? If so, I'm a writer. I write Books about theology. I help people understand the truth of God by writing books more so than necessarily speaking forth the word Utter it through the writing of the word If I have a prophetic gift, if I have a teaching gift, if I have the gift of exhortation, I need to know how it is that is used in the church By the way, there is no gift of counseling

Just in case you wanted to know that Okay? There is no gift of counseling because how you counsel people is uttered through the gift of exhortation, which is a speaking gift And so, whenever you counsel people, you exhort them, you come alongside them, explain to them the truth of God and how it applies to their specific need It's called the gift of exhortation There is no gift of counseling in the scriptures So, you need to understand those kinds of things You see, that's why you need to understand participation in the ministry

Do I have a support gift? If I do, I need to serve it as if I'm serving God, Peter says That support gift, that gift of service, that gift of helps, that gift of faith, that gift of showing mercy, that gift of giving, that gift of discerning Spirits, those kinds of gifts need to be served Because they enable the service of the body, they enable the body to function Do you have that gift? You see, we need to understand our giftedness because it's part of our identity

Listen, if you're in the church today, And you're not exercising your gift in the church by participating in the ministry, you have an identity crisis You don't understand who you are in Christ and what God has for you Each and every one of you is absolutely essential to the function of the body of Christ Every one of you is And you need to understand how God has specifically chosen you, how He has saved you, and how He has spiritually gifted you to be a part of the body for the The building up of the body That's why God gives special gifts

Special gifts are located in Ephesians chapter 4, and they are defined as apostles, prophets Pastor teachers, pastors and teachers And they're gifted men given to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry And so they do that, and as they equip the church for the work of ministry, then those with the teaching gifts, those with the serving gifts, by the way, leadership and administration to specifically define Gifts in scripture are support gifts in the church We think of leadership as an oversight gift

Let me tell you something, leadership is a support gift in the church as designed by God in the purpose of the church So, you need to understand those kind of things Folks, this is crucial to our health as a body This is what makes us as great as we are or as bad as we are Because, as each and every one of you is used by God to exercise your gift, you are building up those round about you That's crucial And so that's why we have a class that we teach throughout the year that you could come to grips with what that spiritual gift is

How do you best participate in this ministry so that you can be used by God to build His church at this location here in West Covina? See that? And that, more importantly, brings pleasure to God You were created to bring pleasure to him And one of the ways you do that is through the exercise of your spiritual gifts, by participating in the ministry that God has given to you And when you do, boy, I tell you, God is well pleased And don't you want God to be well pleased with your life? Sure, you do Find out what your spiritual gift is Understand where they're located in Scripture

Understand what they mean and how they're used by God Throughout the body of Christ, that you might be used in that capacity for the glory of the Son, for the praise of the Father Next Oh yeah Through the contribution of your money, God is well pleased Got throw that in there That's what the Bible says. 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'm sorry. 2 Corinthians chapter Listen to what it says Verse 12

For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God because the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ And for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all In other words, when you are involved in giving your contributions to the church, You are glorifying God You are magnifying You are exalting Christ You are lifting Him up on high When you do that, it's pleasing to God

So when I am contributing my money, the money that God gave me to the effective service of the church, God is well pleased See, we don't talk about money because we want you to give money We don't We talk about money because we want you to please God Now, if you don't want to please God, that's your business But I would want to live a life that's pleasing to God. I would have wanted to live a life that honors His name And so it talks about those in Corinth who, through the liberality of their contributions, okay? It wasn't through their minimal contributions that God was glorified

It was through the liberality of the contribution that God was glorified That God was honored, that God was lifted up See, God was put on display Why is that? See, when we give When we give, what's our time or talents or our treasures? Whatever we give, God's put on display because God is a giver He's a giver That's what he does For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son He came not to be served, he came not to get, came to give See? God's a giver So, whenever you give, guess what? God is exalted God is lifted up because God is put on display because God's a giver

People see God through your giving patterns Whether it's your money, your talents, your treasures, your time, whatever it is, God is well pleased Next Through the sanctification of my body, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 It says these words in verse number 18 Flee immorality Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body But the immoral man sins against his own body Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For ye have been bought with a price Therefore, glorify God in your body

Through the sanctification of my body, setting my body, the members of my body, apart for God's purpose Glorifies his name We sang about this morning through the songs that were sung about the holiness and the purity of God And Paul uses the illustration about immorality because he says very simply that every sin one commits is committed outside the body, but there's one sin and one sin only that affects the body The inside, the internal part of man There are many sins that we can commit, but there's only one sin that affects the internal part of a man That's sexual sin

It has effects that no other sin has No other sin does Because it affects one emotionally, spiritually, relation, socially Physically, it affects him in every way possible Now, all sin affects us, but only one sin affects the inside of your body And so there's through the sanctification of my body, by setting it apart for God's purposes, I will glorify Him. I will exalt the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I will put Him on display Because our God is a holy God, He is a pure God, He is so pure, He doesn't even look upon evil Therefore, when we live a life of purity and holiness unto Him

He is lifted up because he is a holy God That's why he said, Be holy, for I am holy Next Through the proclamation of our authority, God is well pleased How do we know that? Acts chapter 13, verse number 48 Says, and when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed in the word of the Lord Was being spread through the whole region Paul talking about turning the gospel to the Gentiles, they believing in that word that was preached, the authority of God's word

When you proclaim the authority of God's word, God is glorified, the Son is exalted, God is well pleased We need to be proclaimers of the truth Now, you let's go back to the whole participation in the ministry thing about the gift of teaching Maybe you don't have the gift of teaching Maybe you don't have the gift of exhortation, or word of wis Or word of knowledge, or the gift of prophecy, or the gift of teaching But that does not preclude the fact that you should be proclaiming the authority of God, the truth of God's word

Speaking the gospel to people that they would come to saving faith because that brings glory to God, and that which brings glory to God exalts the Son, and that which exalts the Son is well-ple to the Father And that's how we should live our lives Next, to the manifestation of my responsibility, Matthew 5, verse 16: I am to let my light shine So that my Father in heaven is glorified You have a responsibility to shake and to shine You're the salt of the earth, you're the light of the world You don't become light, you are light You don't become salt, you are salt

And therefore, when we manifest our responsibility to shake and to shine for the glory of Christ, Guess what? God's put on display Salt retards corruption Light reveals truth And when we manifest that responsibility to shake and to shine for the glory of Christ, then what happens? Is that God is put on display, Jesus Christ is exalted, and the Father in heaven is well pleased And you were created to bring pleasure to the Father You do that through the manifestation of your responsibility to shake and to shine for the glory of Christ Ph 2 talks to us about the adoration of his majesty

Philippians 2 says these words Philippians 2, verses 9 to 11 It says, Therefore also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord To the glory of God the Father through the ad of His Majesty, when you bow before the sovereign King of the universe and lift Him up as Lord of all It exalts the Son It's well pleasing to the Father, and that's why you were created

Two more. A preservation of our unity, a preservation of our unity brings glory to God, exalts the Son And it is well pleasing, well pleasing to the Father Romans 15 Romans 15, verse number 5 says this Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus That with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ One mind, in one accord, with one voice The book of Ephesians tells us, Ephesians chapter 4, that we are to be diligent

To pres the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Let me tell you something about unity Unity is never developed Unity can only be destroyed Why do I say that? Because when we become Christians, we are all one in the same body We are unified The Bible never says, hey, you know what? Work on your unity Get your unity up Become more one No, you are one body You've been baptized by one Spirit, by one Lord, with one baptism You are one Now, you don't develop unity, but you sure can destroy that unity

So Paul comes along in Ephesians 4 says, end to keep The unity of the spirit and the bond of peace In other words, you work diligently You do all you can to make sure you don't tear down what Jesus Christ died for You are one in the spirit And through your gossip, through your slander, through your anger, through those kind of sins that rip apart Relationships, you begin to tear down the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace So we are to preserve that unity

And when there's been a preservation of that unity, when I do all I can to make sure that my life is clean before God, That my words are pure before him. I'm not slandering my brother. I'm not ripping up my brother. I'm not speaking to others about my brother. I'm doing the things that bring honor to his name. I'm serving my brother. I'm loving my brother. I'm praying for my brother. I'm fulfilling the 32 different one and others in scripture that I am doing those things. I am preserving the unity of the spirit In the bond of peace that exalts the sun It brings pleasure to God

And that's why I was created. I exist for that purpose It's good stuff. I don't know what you think, but I think it's pretty good Now, when there's been salvation from my idolatry Confession of my iniquity, a demonstration of my spirituality, submission to a sovereignty, partic in our ministry, a contribution of my money. A sanctification of my body, a proclamation of my authority, a manifestation of my responsibility, an adoration of His Majesty, and a preservation of our unity There will be persecution for your testimony And that is well pleasing to God

You ever think about that? Over in First Peter chapter four Peter says this: After speaking to those people who are already suffering great pain as it is, physical pain, talking to them about their relationships and their marriages The relationships to those they work with, living in honor and fear of the king who was Nero at the time, and Living lives that bring glory to God He says, Beloved, do not be surprised, verse 12 of chapter 4, at the fiery ordeal among you which comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you

But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing So that also at the revelation of his glory You may rejoice with exaltation If you are, or since you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed Because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you If you are reviled for the name of Christ, in other words, if you are doing those things that exalt the Son, we listed them for you You are bringing pleasure to God You will suffer persecution Don't think it's strange that people revile you, that people speak against you

That people treat you maliciously because you're suffering for the sake of Christ You're doing God's work, and you will inevitably suffer Because of that, but you share in the glory of God, and you will rejoice with exaltation Why will you rejoice? Because this is what pleases God Because it exalts the sun, and if you exalt the sun, it brings pleasure to God, and when you bring pleasure to God, you do exact what you were created for, and all God's people said.