Are You Striving to Please God as a Christian?

But, you know, there are many kinds of cards that you carry around these days. Have you ever noticed that everywhere you go, somebody wants to give you a card? I asked my wife for my wallet, by the way, and I wanted to see what kind of cards I have in my wallet. And I want to share that with you today.

For instance, I have here with me a Car Wash Club card. And if I get five Car Washes, I get a free one. But I don't have any Car Washes on this right now. But I just got a free one not long ago. And I have another card here. It's called My Smilage. And it's from Menchie's. Now, this is a good one to have, by the way.

Very good. Because if you eat enough yogurt, you get to actually give you rewards. And you can have free yogurt. And anybody loves free yogurt. I mean, I do. Here's another one. This is one of these Quickie Stop type places. And if you give them this card, you'll qualify for little rewards. Like you get a free drink, or a free cup of coffee, or something like that. So I got that in my wallet. I just wanted you to know these things, by the way.

You need to know about your pastor, what he carries around in his wallet. Now, here's another one. It's an American Express. Citibank. I got fooled into getting this one, by the way. And I thought I would really do well with rewards. But it's like all of them. I find out with these credit cards, you don't really get very much a reward. But anyway, be that as it may, we accumulated a lot of points on this little card.

And we've used it when we go to Hawaii. You know, we rent a car, or we use it in whatever we can to save money in different ways. But so anyway, you get points, and they call thank you points. And I really appreciate them when I use them. But I, you know, it takes a lot of money to put to do a thank you point. Here's another one. I like this one, but it doesn't have any immediate benefits. It's cash rewards. Now, I say immediate. I mean, you may get a nickel here or there. That's what I'm talking about.

You don't get very much, but it accumulates. My wife likes this card, by the way. She has this. She encourages me. But I don't use it very much. I'll be honest with you right yet. Now, here's one. I bought. I got British Airways. And I'm going to cancel this card pretty soon. But I got talked into getting this one by Sherry Ellis in Hawaii, because she and Brad had just gone on a trip to Italy, and they got to go free. And I thought I'd get to go free somewhere. But not so. You know, my little padawan.

Doesn't work out for me that way, because as soon as we got the points to do something, you know what? Now they charge you. The taxes are almost as high as the tickets would have been. But nonetheless, I've got these points, and you've got to use them. And in spite of that, I'm going to have to pay the taxes, I guess.

But anyway, those are the cards in my wallet. What's in your wallet? You heard that advertisement. What's in your wallet? You know, there are many types of reward programs today, and our wallets and our purses are filled with cards of one kind or another.

It used to be in business that one could have, in fact, the more credit cards you had that were of a different type. It showed who you were. You remember when it was? If you had a gold American Express, I mean, you were somebody. I mean, remember O.J. Simpson? He turned out to be somebody, didn't he? He ended up in prison. But anyway, all these people were somebody.

And then, when I got my gold American Express, by the way, not because I was somebody, because after that, they came out with the platinum ones. So they increased it. And platinum became the highest caliber. If you had the platinum card, I mean, everybody thought you were the Caspinal.

Because you were a better customer. You spent more money with them, and you got more rewards. And then, of course, it went from you had the platinum, then you have the gold that has fewer rewards, and then you have the silver card, which most of us probably have. And even if you didn't, you could be anybody who could get a bronze card. You could do bronze. Anybody had that, because it had very little rewards.

In fact, you almost have to pay them money for the bronze one. But, brethren, did you know in one sense, God has such a program? He has a platinum club. He has a gold club. And he goes all the way down to the bronze. And I suppose you could go down to the wood club, you know, if you wanted to. But God has such a program. Now, most people, I would say, are in the bronze category that are in the world. Everybody in the world is in the bronze category. By the mere fact that we're all sons of God. Everybody is a son of God that is upon this planet, this world that's spinning around.

And there are limited rewards for being human. You know, there are rewards. For instance, you get to have dominion over the earth. That right now, you can rule over animals. And I remember when I our boys were younger, you know, they wanted pets so they could have somebody to boss around. So, but anyway, you know, as humans we can have dominion over the earth. And there are limited rewards. However, if you're just a bronze member, you're just a physical human being, like every Tom, Dick, or Harry that's walking the streets, remember you're not going to get all the big rewards, the really big rewards that I'm talking about. No first resurrection. You get to be in the big resurrection. You get to be in the general resurrection. No kingship. You don't get to be a king. And no easy access to God. Remember, God does not hear sinners. That's what the Bible talks about. But nonetheless, God does hear people in general if they pray in earnest to Him.

But limited access to God. Well, what category, brethren, would you think God's people would be in?

In God's method of giving rewards. I would think we would all be in the platinum category, the very top category when it comes to what God does or the gold category. However, you might want to look at it because we have the maximum rewards that you can earn, that you can have in being in this world that we're living right now. We receive the maximum rewards. However, in order to be in this special category, the platinum category, the gold category, it's necessary for us to realize that in no way can you earn salvation. It's important for us to know that. And if you're in the platinum category, you know that. By the way, if you're in the bronze category, you may not know that. You wouldn't be aware of that. You wouldn't have any cognizance of those important truths. But, you know, what it again is, again, important that we do not earn salvation. What we're talking about today is rewards. Rewards both now and in the future. Rewards of what God is going to give you and bless you with now in this life that you're living now and in the world to come. What's going to be given to you. You know, we will not have earned it, so to speak, but God's going to give us a reward that far, in fact, outshines what anything we may have done in this lifetime. And also, it's important for us, rather than know something else in order to be in the highest category. God expects more of us than as His children than He expects of the world. And His children, you might say, in the world that are out here in this society. And doing this, also, we must know that serving God is more than keeping the commandments. If you're in the platinum category, by the way, and you're one of God's special children that is going to be in that first resurrection, you know, you should know, at least, that being a child of God now is more than keeping merely the commandments of God. That is a given. You would expect that of God's children. You know, true children, they're His special children to be keeping the commandments of God.

And, brethren, I want to ask you, what are you doing in your walk with God besides keeping the Sabbath, besides observing the Holy Days, besides faithfully tithing, besides abstaining from meats that should not be eaten, that God considers to be unclaimed, besides these physical things that oftentimes we, of course, are confronted with because we are physical? What are you doing, brethren, besides obeying God's laws, which I said is a given? Then what I'm saying may sound funny, brethren, but it really isn't. And why is that? Because, brethren, you and I are not just automatons down here upon the earth. They're sort of like machines, you know, walking around, and you know, you keep the law perfectly. In other words, we're not automatons, brethren, here upon the earth. We are to have relationships with one another as a family, and we are to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and the Father in heaven. And, in fact, to know the Father and the Son is to have. In fact, in John 17 says to have eternal life. If we are walking with God, we have a relationship with the Father and His Son. And, as in any family, brethren, we should desire, then, to do as our Father instructs us, or we should strive to please God. We should strive to please God as God's people. When I was growing up, I wanted to please my father, and I did a lot of things to please my dad. I really did. When I was growing up, I bucked hay with my father, probably for two or three summers, by the way, to please my father. I didn't get paid anything, by the way, the whole time I was working with my father. I just did it because I wanted to help him. I remember he did tell me that, son, we want to do this so that we can put naughty pine in the living room. And I thought, well, that sounds like a worthy goal. I know you may not know what naughty pine is. How many of you know what naughty pine is? Okay, well, you do. And those that don't, you can tell them, okay? What naughty pine is. It has knots in it, you know, and it looks, it's pine. Pine sort of used to be a paneling that you would put in living rooms or more rustic looking type of thing. Well, I worked again for two summers, and it was good for me. I mean, bucking hay, I mean, I got, you know, ripped in that period of time. I mean, when you buck a hundred pound, 150 pound alfalfa bales, by the way, it's easy to buck the hay, you know, the light kind of hay. But when they bale up that alfalfa, which is when it's wet, 150 pounds, and you buck it up and put that on the, and we didn't have any conveyor belts, by the way. This was done by hand. We did everything on a pickup by hand. And like I say, you get ripped. Now, I didn't know what the word ripped mean back then, but that's, you know, what you would call it. But, and I was just being a teenager. And by the way, I think I was maybe 14, 15, somewhere around there. Because when I was 16, I remember I had to go get a job. But anyway, I wanted to please my father. And I tried all I could do and different things when I was a boy to do that. And I think my father was pleased with what I did.

But let's go to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 22. You know, sometimes, brethren, when we we're praying, we're kneeling down and we're talking to God. And it seems like the prayers are sort of bouncing off the ceiling and come right back to us. And all we can maybe hear is our voice reverberating in a room. And it doesn't seem like the prayers are getting through.

Maybe there's a reason for that. But in 1 John 3 verse 21, it says, Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. Now, that is a very important scripture right there because it tells us, brethren, that when we go before God, you know, we have to have it's like we have to have clean hands, so to speak, you know, a clean heart. In other words, we're not harboring sin in our lives. We're not trying to hang on anything, you know, sin-wise in our lives. We're not trying to fool God. You can't fool God.

But we're coming clean with God and we're striving to keep clean before God. We're trying to keep our noses clean, so to speak. And if your heart doesn't condemn you, then you have a great deal of confidence when you go and you talk to God. But notice verse 22, and whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

In other words, that is what we're doing, brethren. We're doing those things that are pleasing in His sight. We want answered prayers, brethren. We have to be pleasing God. I remember Mr. Armstrong saying many, many times, he would remember a thunder out. He said, when we please God, God will bless us. He used to say that about the church. When our ways pleased God, he talked about the income, that God would bless us. And God, at times, and when He was alive, there were times when we had dips, and then there were times when we had a time of plenty. So we can receive of God, brethren, God's rewards here upon the earth now and in the future, brethren, if we're doing those things that are pleasing in God's sight. And, of course, like I say, keeping the commandments is a given. And it's important for us to, again, go before God with clean hands, clean hearts, so that our heart is not condemning us. Because, brethren, if it condemns us, what do you think God is thinking? What do you think He's considering? And if we're going to come and ask for a favor, if we've broken His law and expect that we're going to get a blessing, I think we probably don't remember what it was like when we were kids growing up and dealing with our own parents. If you wanted a reward from your mother or your father, after you had committed a major infraction, and he came and he said, Mom or Dad, could I do this?

What were the chances of you doing that? What was going to happen, was it? Well, God, of course, is much more loving, certainly, but He's not stupid. Your parents are not stupid.

And God certainly is not. And God is all-knowing and all-wise. Omniscient. You know, and He's all-powerful as well. And He could give us everything, but He does not. He will not give us everything. So, brethren, are you truly striving to please Almighty God?

Are you trying to do that in your life? Are you striving to please your Creator, your Creator, as a Christian, as you walk in this life? Now, the question then is, is what is pleasing in the sight of God? What really pleases God? Well, brethren, in the remainder of the sermon, let's explore that question. What's pleasing to God? What pleases our great Creator God? Because it's so very important, brethren, to the richness of your lives, both physically and spiritually, for us to please God. You want a rich life? Christ said, I came that you would have life and that you would have it more abundantly. That we would have an abundant life. Well, brethren, if somehow you feel like that the blessings are simply not there, maybe you need to rethink. And I'm sure you've been blessed. I have no question about that. You wouldn't be here if you hadn't been blessed. But the richness that comes from God's blessings physically and spiritually, it's important for us to know what pleases God. Let me give you an example. On any acts, or most acts, sometimes you have a double-headed action. We'll have blade on both sides. I remember we used to cut wood with that kind of an axe, and it cuts both ways, you know. And when one side dulls and you flip it over and you start chopping with it, the other side. And so it lasted twice as long. But some axes have on one side, you have the blade, and the other side, you just have a sort of a mallet, a big mallet. And you can hammer things with it. But you know what? If you take that mallet size, that hammer size, and you start trying to chop a tree down, it is, I mean, what happens? You're like Wylie Coyote. You take that axe handle and you hit it against the tree and it's boring and you're like that. You know, it's not going to do you any good at all. It benefits you all. You're not going to cut that tree down. You're just going to bruise it. And, you know, so it's important for us to make sure we turn the axe around and use the blade that really works. That's intended for cutting a tree down. Well, brethren, neither are we going to be blessed of God if we simply keep the commandments. We simply are not going to be blessed of God, just by keeping the commandments. It's more than that. I'm not saying to you, brethren, don't keep the commandments. Obviously, that would be foolish. But we're not going to be blessed of God if we simply keep the commandments. If that's all you're striving to do, to keep the commandments. You know what you do, brethren, if you're just keeping the commandments, you get up on the Sabbath and you drudge to the coffee pot, and you get your coffee, and you sit down and you say, well, I better get ready. I've got to go to church today. I've got to go to church. I've got to go. I don't want to go, but I've got to go. And you get your clothes on, and you drag yourself down, and you come to church, and you sit there.

Now I've got to listen to him for however long he's going to talk today. And then you say, I've got to endure it through this. Well, he did say something. I was a little interested. He's talking about that car, and I used to have a car like that. And then at the end of it, it's over. You go home. That's not what pleases God, brethren. What pleases God is for us to appreciate what God's instructed us to do. What pleases God is for us to appreciate the keeping of the laws of God. In other words, we're not automatons, brethren. We're human beings. We have relationships. God wants us to be his law. He doesn't want us just to keep the law. He wants us to be the law, because that's what God is. God is the law. The law you... I mean, this book, this is Jesus Christ right here. This book expresses Jesus Christ to us. And Christ is a real person. He's a real being. And the Father is a real being as well.

So it's more, brethren, it's more than just keeping the law, like I said. It is going beyond that in order to please God in our lives. And, brethren, we ought to be seeking to please God and not man. The Bible tells us that our goal should be not to please man specifically, but to please God. And I've also been to you, brethren, that in the world of religion, very often people are involved in what they're doing, namely to please men.

And they do what they do to please men. Now, sometimes you can please God, and you can please men, too. Jesus Christ grew in favor with both man and God, the Bible says. So, yes, we can please men, but on the other hand, that's not what we do. When certainly something that God instructs us to do comes in contradiction with what man wants us to do, we can't do that. We can't carry through and do that. Now, to understand what pleases God, brethren, let's go back to the time of ancient Israel. You remember when the the twelve tribes were sent in to the land of Canaan, to the land of promise? Remember, you know, God had told them, I'm going to take you into a land flowing with milk and honey. This is a beautiful land. A land you don't have to water, even. You don't have to have water wheels, and you don't have to haul your water here and there. It's because the rain is going to come down out of the heaven. Water, everything. It's going to be a beautiful place, not like Egypt, you know, where they had come from. And so, God sent the twelve spies, Moses, of course, sent them into the Canaan. You remember the story? They went in there, and they came back, and only the two brought back a good report. And the other ten that had gone, they said, you know, it is a rich land, but, you know, the people are giants there. You've never seen anybody so big as these people!

And, you know, the other fellows, I'm sure Joshua and Caleb said, yeah, they're pretty big.

And the land is, you know, a beautiful land, like God said. But, you know what? We can take these guys with God's help. You know, they knew that it could be done, and it could be accomplished.

Let me tell you, brethren, Joshua and Caleb had something special before they ever went into that land of Canaan. And it is this that they believed God, what God said. They believed God.

Let's go over to Hebrews 11 and verse 6. If you and I want to please God, brethren, if we want to do something in our lives to please God, this is where it begins, right here. And it's hard to do this in a world that we're living in, because nobody believes God. I think less and less, I see a trend. Is it less? Fewer and fewer men actually believe God. You know, we have more women now that respond to the truth than men. Very few men. You know, it's like you see this pattern of de-evolution in the world. You know, it used to be we have families coming to the church. Now, it's rare to find a family to ever come into the church. It used to be you'd have men that would come into the church, and women sort of an equal dispensation there. But now you very rarely see a man who wants to obey God. Well, men, you're important into the church. Those of you who do believe are very important, because you are few and far between. All of us need to be very much, again, willing to obey God, and I'm talking about the world in general. But it seems that among human beings, women do better than men. I know Mr. Armstrong used to say, if we could ordain women as elders, we'd have plenty of elders. And I think that's true. Sometimes the women are sharper, you know, and more capable.

But God has, again, given that responsibility to the men. And the reason, of course, is God wants men to have that experience, and He's given women a different role. Men have a different role than women do. But in Hebrews 11, verse 6, let's start this here. This is a very interesting chapter to go through this whole chapter. But in verse 6 is where it all begins, brethren, and where it began and was with Joshua and Caleb. But without faith, it's impossible to please Him. Talking about God.

For He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. If you want to please God, it begins with faith. Brethren, do you have faith? Do you have confidence? Do you have belief?

Or are you with the ten who had no confidence in what God had said and were afraid of big people that were there in the land of Canaan? Or are you like Joshua and Caleb that believe God?

I'll tell you what, brethren, if you don't have a lot of confidence in yourself, join the club.

I don't have a lot of confidence in me either.

So all of us, I think, should feel that way when we realize how little power we have.

But surely, brethren, we can believe God, can't we? Do you have any confidence in God? Do you have faith in God? Without faith, Joshua and Caleb would have been like the other spies who brought back a bad report because they were different because they believed God and what God had said. And this entire chapter, by the way, it doesn't talk about one solitary person as being going to be in the kingdom of God, by the way, who lacked faith.

All of them here. The Bible says they died in the faith. They died and they looked for something that was much, much bigger for the future. But not one of them lacked faith. That's why this chapter is called the faith chapter. So, brethren, this is where it begins. Do you believe God?

And because if you don't believe God, you won't tithe faithfully. You may tithe, but you won't do it faithfully. If you don't believe God, you won't go to the feast if it gets tough.

If you don't have faith in God, you won't do it. You'll find if something will come up, it will be keep you from going. I'm not talking about, brethren, severe health problems. I'm talking about things that really shouldn't weigh what we lay as from obeying God. Without faith, brethren, there's a lot of things we simply will fall by the wayside. We won't do.

Now, let's go to Romans 12. We see another place that is important for us to be pleasing to our Creator God. Our children, by the way, we loved our little boys when they were babies. They were just as cute as could be. Remember, one time we took one of our boys into a Mexican restaurant, and we thought he was just really super cute. And the waiter did, too. And he spent a little too much time adoring his cuteness. But one of the kids had jowls, big jowls. And they were cute. You know, it looked like, who's that guy that was on the mafia show? You know, that had cotton. Was it Marlon Brando? Was it he had cotton? Well, that's the way he looked. But the waiter was just bouncing the fast, you know, and he got irritating to me. But, you know, they were just as cute as could be. But you know what? When they got to be 10 and 12, I wouldn't want to see that baby fat on them. You know, you don't want baby fat on kids when they're 20 years old or 18. You want them to mature, and you want them to change, don't you? You want them to grow and develop and change. But here in Romans 12, let's notice here, it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body's a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And it says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And so, brethren, if you want to please God, grow up. Grow up. Transform. Transform, brethren. In order to please God, you have to change. You have to transform in your life.

You know, and I pointed out many, many times, brethren, how that, in fact, when people come into the Church of God, they tend to, you know, before they're not able to do a lot. I mentioned the first time I ever went to church, and that was down in Arkansas, that, you know, man was giving sermonettes from the pulpit. It looked like he would have been more comfortable behind a tractor. But here he was, transforming, changing. And, you know, of course, that's not the only thing that we can do or within the Church to change, to get up and speak. But, you know, it's wonderful. It's like Teresa up here playing the piano and singing and others who do that kind of thing. Challenge yourself to do different things. You know, we need others who can play the piano. That's great to be able to do that. Use those talents. We need people that can go and can greet people. You know, Andrea would love to have somebody come and help her to do that. To be there. What is hard about saying, welcome to someone? I would think everybody in the Church ought to be out there in line trying to put in your time to help out. Not just putting your time in, of course, but to have your opportunity, I suppose, is a better way of expressing it. But are we changing and are we transforming? You know, the Bible talks about that if we are living by the flesh, we're going to perish. But if we live by the Spirit, we're going to live.

You know, you can look at that a couple of ways. One way you could look at it is if you live by the Spirit, you're going to have eternal life. Okay? That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it, brethren, number two, if you want a second way to look at it, is that if you are not living by the Spirit, brethren, you're not going to have life. Now, I'm talking about the abundant life that God wants you to have is now. Break out, brethren, of your shell. If you're in a shell. You know, one of the things I remember when I went from Northeastern State University, you know, I was in pre-medicine. I've mentioned that a number of times, but it tends to be sort of a... you try to get into this white coat type of mentality when you're working toward, you know, being a physician. But, you know, and I can always see myself as sort of a lab-type person.

Working in a lab, being a scientist or whatever else. But, you know, after cracking the books for, you know, there at Northeastern. And I filled out an application to go to Ambassador College, and I said, God, if you want me to go, I'll get accepted. If you don't want me to go, then I won't bother with ambassadors. So I applied to ambassador. I got accepted. I promised myself, when I went to ambassador, though, that I was going to, you know, break the mold that I had at Northeastern. That I was going to do things that I hadn't done, you know, at Northeastern.

And when I went to ambassador, by the way, it wasn't what I wanted to do. Really, it's what I know I needed to do. I signed up for the choir. You know, and I... the last thing I wanted to do is be in the choir, quite frankly. I mean, I can't see myself being a choir guy, you know, a choir boy, you know, but, you know, I did enjoy it, and it helped me. It really helped me.

Of course, I became a part of the club, and I did... you just try to do everything you can do at ambassador to break the mold, to transform, to change, to overcome. I'm sure I lacked a lot. But, you know, we need to understand and be aware of the fact, brethren, that God wants us to mature. He wants us to grow. He wants us to develop. He wants us to change our lives. And if we are not transforming, if we're not changing, brethren, we could lose out in the end. Lose out in the end. Every time I talk to ministers, you know, we don't give sermons just for one person. Certainly, that doesn't happen. But sometimes, you know, you can't help but as a minister to be observant in a congregation. And there's a reason to talk about topic. You know, in other words, we're not going to... we don't think in a week, well, now, what has nothing to do with nobody in the church, anyone in the church? No, we try to think what can help somebody in a church. And we hope God will bring it to us. But inevitably, I'll talk to the minister and they'll say, you know, the person I thought could have benefited the most from that message wasn't at services. Now, who do you think is responsible for that?

I think you know. It's Satan. Satan is... and so that's why we've got to be faithful in what we do. But, you know, we need to mature up, brethren. We need to mature up, take responsibility in life, and because if we don't, we can lose out in the end. And if we're not changing and transforming, we're not maturing.

And, you know, just because, brethren, the other shoe hasn't dropped, and just because, you know, all hell hasn't broken loose in your life, you know, just realize that God may be giving you and me an opportunity to turn around and to make some real changes. The Bible says, the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slack this, but He's long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And, you know what? Oftentimes, we think, yes, yes, yes, but God wants everybody out there to repent.

There's another way to look at this, brethren. There's another way. You know what? Who needs to repent? Moi! That's right. I need to repent. I need to change. I need to transform. And, brethren, I think that you do, too. And we will until, in fact, the very end. And if God delays, brethren, He's giving us, in the meantime, opportunity to repent, to change, and to transform. If you want to please Him, always be doing this.

You know, what parent wants to see their kids while away the time, waste their time?

Nobody does, do they? Well, God, the Father is no different. He wants to see us doing something with our time. Now, another thing that pleases God, brethren, is that we know the truth and the Word of God. I'm not going to go to 2 Timothy 2 and verse 15, but you should know the Scripture over there. But it talks about how we need to be approved of God over there, rightly dividing. The Word of Truth. In other words, we know what this this book says.

We paid attention in class and we know what the book says, and we studied ourselves.

So, God's pleased, brethren, if we know the truth. And, brethren, just because you read the Bible for, you know, I don't care if you read it 15 times, 100 times, you and I always need to continue to grow in understanding the truth. God is pleased with its children when they stay focused on His Word.

And they don't have, you know, attention deficit disorder. In other words, we've got a short attention span. We can't listen very long. In the world today, you know, the attention span gets shorter and shorter. I saw the, I told you we don't have regular television anymore, but we tap into the Internet. And we hook it up to our television, and it's like you're watching the news, but when we watch it. But I saw a commercial. 15 seconds. 15 seconds. Is that the attention span the average person? I think so. I think so. You know, it's like with the news, they don't really report the news anymore. It's like they jump from one thing to another. And then they give you these little sentences, and they're teasers. But you never hear the real story. You never hear the real news. Another thing that God is pleased with, brethren, is God is pleased with your personal integrity. What kind of person are you? Is your word your bond? I mean, if you made a promise to God when you were baptized, and you're not keeping that, maybe there's a reason to be rebaptized if you're not keeping your bond with God that you made. But what about your bond with others? You promise people you're going to do something? Are you going to carry through and do it?

How about your speech? How do you speak? And, you know, are you keeping your language free of euphemisms? Certainly curse words. Are you trying to also develop your language and your speech?

How about your mind? Are you continuing to learn and grow in knowledge?

And how loyal are you, brethren, to God? And how loyal are you to His church? You know, we need to be loyal people. Joshua and Caleb were loyal to Moses.

Remember the story of Miriam and Aaron? And when they criticized Moses, God was upset with them.

Because Moses was the one God had given the responsibility to, and they were critical of Moses. Go through, brethren, do a study on loyalty. And you study about Daniel, you study about Joshua. Joshua, you know, I should say Joseph. Joseph rose to preeminence in Egypt because he was a loyal servant. He was a loyal servant. How about us, brethren? Are we loyal?

That is a good and important part of integrity, being loyal.

You know, unfortunately today we have people in the church.

There's no loyalty to anybody. And I'm talking about the church of God in general. You know, there are some people that hop from one group to another, and they're not going to serve in any one place because they're never in one place at one time. You know, enough to do it, to get to know anybody and anybody to get to know them. I had one man one time that, you know, was attending with us, and he wanted to give sermonettes. And when he couldn't give sermonettes, he moved to another group where they would let him do that. Well, brethren, when we have somebody stand up here before you, we want them to be able to, first of all, teach the truth, and second of all, to have a little of your confidence, you know, to know you, in other words. And, you know, if they've been faithful, that's why, part of the reason why they're up speaking before you. We just don't let anybody stand up here. We don't even let anybody, just anybody, stand up here and lead songs, for that matter, or do a prayer. But if somebody's proven to be faithful and loyal, that is one of the reasons. But this is a part of integrity, brethren, as God's people. There's many parts of again what would please God in terms of ourselves as human beings and as Christians. Another thing that pleases God, brethren, is that we are of the same mind and the same spirit with one another.

No, that goes along with loyalty, doesn't it? How could you be of the same mind and spirit if we're not loyal? It's not a part of our integrity. You know, over Philippians chapter 2 and verses 1 through 2, over here, I'll quickly read this. It says, Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind.

That pleases God, brethren, for us to be of one mind.

God wants us to work together in love.

One thing God hates, though, we must be aware of this and is carping, complaining, and murmuring. God doesn't mind us asking questions, by the way. He doesn't mind that, but it's the tone of our question. You know, he doesn't like carping and complain. I'm not going to go to 1 Corinthians 10, verses 10 through 11, but you can read it later about what God was displeased with Israel because of their carping and their complaining. And God said, you know, the reason why, Paul said, the reason why this is in the Word of God is for those upon whom the ends of the world have come. That admonition is for us, brethren, not to be of that frame of mind.

And, you know, one of the favorite scriptures, I think, Paul, all of us have in the Bible is, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.

What a wonderful thing that is. People come together and they love each other. Psalm 133, verse 1.

Another thing that God is pleased with, brethren, is humility.

That we be humble and that we tremble at the Word of God. Here in Philippians 2 and verse 3, let's notice this. It says, Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in the lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. Got a different attitude in other. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

That is the approach, a humble approach, that we should have, brethren.

That we should not think of ourselves too highly as God's people.

In other words, none of us should be on a high horse.

Look at him. He's a minister or he's a deacon.

You know, God doesn't want any flesh to glory in his presence. You know, God doesn't want us to have that mentality. He wants us to realize we all have jobs to do.

And just because somebody laid hands on someone doesn't mean that they should get on some high horse. You know, they have a job to do, even more so when somebody puts hands on you.

They do that job well because, in a way, when hands are laid on a person, you know, that is between you and God from that point on.

You know, what a minister does, God will hold him accountable, laying his hands on to begin with. But what you do with that, then afterwards, then, you know, that is between you and God. Humility is the word, brethren, that God is pleased with that. And it says in the Bible, you know, God says in Isaiah 66, verse 2, But on this one will I look on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. It's another way, again, of saying that God wants us to be humble before him. Another, brethren, important way to please God, and we couldn't overemphasize this, is bringing up children in the nurture and the admonition of the Eternal. God's pleased with that.

Remember, the purpose of marriage, you can read it back in Malachi 2.15, is that God would produce, you know, that we would produce a godly offspring.

And it's important that one generation engender another generation of those who are going to obey God, you know, or else you're in this vicious cycle, you call the world today in society.

The cosmos is going to perish out there, but those who are the seed of God, the offspring of God, will go on. I'm not going to go to Genesis 18, verse 19, but remember, God was going to go, remember God had appeared to Abraham on the plains of Mamre. He was going to go in, send in his angel to destroy Sada and Gomorrah. Remember what he said about Abraham?

He said, I know that Abraham will teach his children so that I can bring upon him all that I've said about him. All that I, you know, all that was prophesied about, you know, that God said was going to happen to Abraham. He could bring it about because he would teach his children. Now, think about that, brother. Meditate on that, what that means.

Without Abraham's faithfulness and Sarah's faithfulness in teaching their children, there would have been no Isaac. And without Isaac teaching his son and, you know, Rebecca teaching their son, Jacob, there would have been no Israel, as we know it at least, had been something else. We don't know what it would have been, but perhaps God would have done it another way. But he said, I know he would teach him so I can bring it to pass what I've said.

Well, brother, does he know that about you and me? Does he know that?

Are we going to teach our children, bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord?

Now, why is it God gave them instructions in Deuteronomy 6? We told them about teaching their children when they get up in the morning, when they go to bed at night. In other words, they're teaching God's way. The important thing was to do a generational thing, in other words. So, bring up our children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Unfortunately, brethren, I'm going to be just honest with you. Sometimes I see parents doing things that are not going to result in their children being a part of the church in the future. I've seen it too many times. And, you know, it begins when a child is born. Prior to that, but I mean, let's say a child is born. If a parent is not teaching their child from the time, I'm talking about the time they begin to nurse. If they're not doing it, you know, the child is going to have a wrong outcome in their lives. And, you know, I want to talk more about that in the weeks ahead. About more about child-rearing, about teaching our children. You know, when we teach our children, we need to teach them to be quiet at services so that we can bring them in, lay them on a pallet, let them sleep, and we can listen to the sermon ourselves. Because, no mothers, you need the messages that are given every single week. But often, what happens to parents, you know what, is that as soon as the child is born, the wife goes into hibernation. And for, until maybe a child is 10, or however old the child would be before they can sit and be quiet, and a lot of times it doesn't happen at 10. Because kids have, you know, they, well, you know, what do I say? There's a lot of reasons for it, but we have a lot of kids that are just so hyperactive they can't sit still for five minutes. But rather than we need to teach our children for the very time that they're little kids. But bringing up our children in the nurturing the Abolition, you know, of the Lord begins there, and it did with Isaac, it did with Jacob, it did with these boys that were instructed. And, brethren, it should with us as well, so that God can bring upon us what He said about us. So He can give to us what He's promised to us. So, brethren, these are things that please God, and there are a whole lot more that please God. You can go to Galatians 5 over there. It talks about the fruits of the Spirit. All those fruits please God. Love, joy, faith, long-suffering, all those things please God.

And if you want to find out what doesn't please God, read Galatians 5, verses 17 through 21. And the first things that God mentions is fornication, adultery, and when you do away with fornication and adultery, you have, if the world can extract that from it, by the way, out there, if you can extract fornication and adultery, you do away with the entire advertising industry.

And the entire movie industry, for that matter. But in Galatians 5, 22, and 23, you have a whole garden of things that can be found that we can focus on that will please God. Now, we've merely touched on, brethren, the surface of this topic today. I encourage you to study this. Go to Corinne's and look up the word please, or please, or whatever. Go through the whole Bible of what pleases God. Look for those scriptures that please God. I encourage you, brethren, to study this out more. And I'll leave you with this, brethren. Christ said this. He said, do not fear, little flock, for what is going to please God, he said, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And, brethren, if we're pleasing God, that'll make him, you know, even more happy that, brethren, he can give us his wonderful kingdom in the future.