Honoring God

In the morning. I assume you get up in the mornings. What is...

I think that's a fair assumption. When you get up in the mornings, what is the most important outlook you can have upon the day? What's the most important view and approach you can have with it?

What is the most important use that you can put it to?

What should be the prime focus? It's not going to be the only focus of the day. What should be the prime or leading focus? These two words express what I'm going to talk about this morning. And also, in giving the subject, also gives you the title. Honoring God. Honoring God. That should be the central emphasis that each day is lived with. That should be the guiding light throughout the day. That should be the guiding principle of all your thinking and doing. And at the end of each day, ask yourself this question. Have I pleased God this day?

Have I served Him? Have I honored Him in the way that I have done things? Honoring God. What does that really mean? How do you go about it? What is it that you do to honor Him?

Well, does God live life a certain way? In other words, does He think? Does He live? Does He operate a certain way? You know, the greatest honor to God, the greatest worship of Him, just to copy that way. Copy the way He thinks. Copy the way that He lives. Copy the way that He operates. To put your mind, which is a wonderful instrument, and your body, which also is, to that way. Notice with me, please, 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20. 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20. The Apostle Paul here says, he's writing to the Corinthians, writing to the Ecclesia, to the congregation, writing to the body of Christ. He says, here in 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20, what? Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own?

Because you're bought with a price. Now, notice this part here. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is a synonym here for the mind. So, glorify God in your body and in your mind, that's what he's saying, with your gods. That your body and your mind, they're gods. They belong to him. So, what does it mean to glorify, or that is to honor God with your mind and with your body? I'll give you a very simple definition or meaning to that. It simply means to use them in the way and for the purpose for which they were designed. It's that simple. It simply means to use your body and your mind in the way and for the purpose for which they were designed. It means to do it God's way, not the natural carnal human way. It's not complicated.

Let's look at a very clear illustration of that definition of using your mind and your body in the way and for the purpose for which they were designed. Here's a very clear illustration. Let's take first in this chapter here, verses 13-18. Let's look at verses 13-18. Meets for the belly. The belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them because all the material physical is going to pass someday. Yes. He says, Now the body is not for fornication. You have to understand that Corinth was sin city. It was one of the sin cities of that world. It was full of sin. It was full of all kinds of depravity, degeneracies, all kinds of problems and the congregation that existed in Corinth. That's the society that surrounded them. That's the society they came out of. Those were things that many of them had to repent of. It was also a place where it was there like it was in a number of other places where with some of the pagan religions, they had official temple prostitution as part of their religious rights. The body is not for fornication. You have to use your body. If you fornicate, you have to use your body to do that. But the body, which you use for fornication, is not for fornication, but it's for the Lord and the Lord for the body. God has both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his own power. Verse 15, Don't you know that your bodies are the members of Christ? We talk about when somebody is repentant and they're baptized and they're baptized into Christ, that they become part of the bride of Christ. They become part of the body of Christ. Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? You know, through the sexual act? God forbid. What? Don't you know that he which is joined to a harlot? Talk about this sexual relationship is one body. For two says, he shall be one flesh, but he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication, turn your back on it. Have nothing to do with it. Every sin that a man does is without the body, but he that commits fornication stands against his own body. And then he goes on into verse 19 and 20, which we've already read. So here you have the bed of fornication condemned.

He's saying you're taking your body and your mind and you're using it in a way that is totally against God's purposes. God's designed. You are dishonoring the body of Christ.

Okay, I said a clear illustration verses 13 through 18. Now let's look at Hebrews 13 verse 4. Hebrews 13 verse 4. And I do believe that it's the same one who wrote Corinthians that wrote Hebrews. I believe it's the Apostle Paul, but it doesn't matter if it was or it wasn't. It doesn't change the truth or the clarity of this illustration. Here the Apostle Paul says in Hebrews 13 verse 4. Notice what he says. Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled.

Marriage is honorable in what goes on in the marriage bed is undefiled. Using the body in a sexual relationship in marriage, the marriage bed is honorable. Same body, but put to its proper use in marriage. So here you have these two juxtaposed against each other. The bed of fornication condemned. Marriage honorable. The bed undefiled. You have an honoring sexual relationship that honors God, that honors His design, versus a dishonoring one.

Very clear illustration of what it's talking about. How to honor God versus dishonoring. You know, when a person takes the heart, 1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 and 20, and they honor God. That person becomes and is what 2 Timothy 2, 21 speaks of, a vessel unto honor. 2 Timothy 2 verse 21. 2 Timothy 2 verse 21 says, if a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, or that is set apart, and meet, or that is, fitting for the master's use, a vessel to honor, fitting for the master's use, and prepared to every good work.

Set yourself to honor God throughout the day by how you use your time, how you use your energies, by how you operate your life, by what you think and do, by how you think and do, by the uses you put your mind and body to, and life is full of proper uses, more than enough proper uses, for your body and the members of your body and your mind.

Living in an honorable way is the greatest form of worship that you can give God. It's not just one time a week for an hour or two. Living in an honorable way is the greatest form of worship that you can give God that glorifies Him. Matthew 5 and verse 16. Let your light, your light, your light. You know, when I said set yourself, nobody else can do that for you.

Nobody can do it for me. I can't do it for anybody else. You set yourself. And it's interesting that let your light, you can't, so to speak, borrow that light from a brother or sister in Christ. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, how you're using your time, your energies, your mind, your body, what you're doing with them, that they may see your good works and do what glorify or honor your Father, which is in heaven. Yet let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify or honor your Father, which is in heaven.

And you might keep your finger in this area of Matthew. I'll come back here close by in a moment. And your light that shines is the light you receive from Christ, John 1.4. Where does that light that's called your light, the light that is in you and therefore referenced as your light, that shines forth from you through your words, your works, your actions, your thinking, your oppression, where does it come from? John 1.4 says, in him, that is, in Christ was life, and the life was the light of men.

Where do you get that light? You get it from God through Christ. In Christ, you're in Christ. And in him, through him, you have the Father. And in him was life, and the life was the light of men. That's the life that shines as a light. So, in other words, honoring God starts with going to him for the life that is the light in us that shines forth to others. It starts, it begins with going to him for the life that is the light in us that shines forth to others that reflects the glories of God. I start my day with a cup of coffee. Does that surprise anybody?

I start my day with a cup of coffee. I have my first cup of coffee with God every morning. That's how I start my day, my first cup of coffee with God. You know, my knees, because my knees still work well enough that I can't get down on them, they come and say, if I can't get down on my knees, I'll sit. You know, but I go to God.

And included in my prayers is, Father, thank you for my life. Thank you for this day that's stretching ahead of me. Thank you for this particular unit, this particular amount, this particular measure of time and energy called the day. Bless me to use it in a way that honors you and your name. Bless me to use it in a way that honors you and the things that are yours. And there is a focus on honor. There's a focus on honoring. And you know, that focus is how Christ started the prayer outline beginning in Matthew 6, verse 9. You know, that's not the Lord's Prayer. That's the Lord's Prayer outline. Matthew 6, verse 9, begins is the beginning of what Christ gave as the prayer outline. So when you look at Matthew 6 and verse 9, look at the first and foremost emphasis that Christ put right there at the beginning of that outline. He says, after this manner, Matthew 6, 9, after this manner, therefore you pray, our Father, which is in heaven. In other words, you acknowledge that God's in heaven. You're acknowledging that. And then you have an action word. You have to put in an active sense, something to try to put into practice. Hallowed be your name.

Hallowed be your name. That connotes you hallowing. That connotes you treating it in a hallowed way. That connotes action. It connotes a way of thinking and a way of acting to where God's name is hallowed or honored. The word hallowed here, the Greek word for it, and you can find this in Strong's Exhaustive, number 37. In Strong's Exhaustive, number 37. The Greek word is hajiazo. It's spelled H-A-G-I-A-Z-O. Hajiazo. H-A-G-I-A-Z-O. It simply means to make holy, purify, consecrate, venerate, hallow, be holy, sanctify. Again, it just simply means when he says hallowed be your name, may your name be holy, may your name be purified, may your name be consecrated, may your name be venerated, hallowed, holy, sanctified. That's what math, that's what words, that's what thinking, that's what doings, that's what actions should do regarding God's name. But sadly, don't in far too many cases. I get so tired of hearing, oh my, and you can fill in the blank because you hear it all around you, and your preachers say it sometimes. And I don't know how many good, quote, good Christian folks who claim to be Christian will say that. You hear it all the time. And I get so tired of hearing the name Jesus Christ used as an expletive, as an explosive expletive. There is no consecration in God's name doing that. There's no veneration. There's no respect. There's no there's no honor. And of course, as we know, his name gets drug and a whole lot worse than that, but that's bad enough because that's not honoring his name. That's dishonoring. How to be your name? Revelation 4 verse 11. Revelation 4 verse 11.

It says this, Revelation 4, 11, you are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. You're worthy to receive glory and honor and power. For you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created. And then Revelation 7, Revelation 7, verse 12, saying, Amen, or so be it, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. Part of what will be eternal regarding God is honor to him. Webster's defines honor, you know, the short form, the brief form of Webster's is high respect, sense of what is right or do, high respect, sense of what is right or do, and it's to treat with respect, to treat with value or worth.

Too many Protestants today make a false equation. I didn't say all of them, but too many make a false equation and jettison a major portion of the Bible from relevance because the false equation is, they say that the Old Testament and the Old Covenant are one and the same and they are not.

What we call the Old Testament, the divisions of the Bible, the Old Testament, is not the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant incorporates some of what you find in the Old Testament, but it only incorporates certain things that are found in the Old Testament, but they're not synonymous. And when the Old Covenant is superseded by the New Covenant, the Covenant, the Old Covenant, ceased in that sense superseded by the New Covenant, but all the truths of God that are truths of God and eternal in the Old are still truths of God and still eternal. One of the things that was not passed along to the Church, which I'm so thankful for, under the Old Covenant, they had the administration of death. There were certain things, you know, the Church in the wilderness, as it was called, if certain things were done, you could take the person out and stone them. And the Old Covenant, Israel, was the bride of Christ. He was married to them in the Old Covenant, as a marriage-type covenant, and they had the administration of death. In the New Covenant, there is still death, but it comes at the end of the road, the second death, but the Church, the Eclaecia, does not have to carry out the administration of death. That's one of the differences. But do you know, under the Old Covenant, that if you cursed God or blasphemed His name, you were to be taken out and stoned? Your life was to end. One case of that, and I'll just reference it, I'm not going to turn back there, but it's Leviticus 24. But in Leviticus 24, verses 10 through 16, verses 10 through 16, is a case of cursing, blaspheming God's name, and an individual being taken out and stoned to death. So it was very serious business. So, honoring God by honoring His name and the things of God is extremely important. I've always found it very significant that the very first commandment, the very first commandment, God says, you're to have no other gods before me. You're not to have anything that gets between me and you. You cannot have a person. I don't give it your mate, your child, your father, your mother, your friend. You cannot have a person that you will put before me. You can't have a person that will come between us. You can't have a hobby, a career that will come between us. You cannot have another God besides me. I must be first in your life. That first commandment says we're to have no gods before the true God. And the third commandment says we're not to take His name in vain. Both of those have to do, as well as the others for that matter, but they have to do with honoring God. Why does God so emphasize giving honor and glory first and foremost to Him? I mean, think about it just for a moment. Why does He emphasize and so emphasize giving honor and glory first and foremost to Him?

It's a necessity realized by the Luciferian experience of Lucifer taking glory and honor unto Himself and leading the stray one-third of the entire angelic creation of God. That's part of the answer. A necessity realized by what Lucifer did. That's part of the answer. Here's another part of the answer. Those who truly honor God, think about it. Those who truly honor God will be loyal to Him and He will be able to bless them. Those who honor God will be loyal to Him and He will be able to bless them. I'd like you to turn with me back to 1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel chapter 2. See, God wants to bless us. That's the kind of God He is. He wants to bless us. He wants to honor us.

He is truly outgoing. I'm just going to break in on the context here and read verse 30. 1 Samuel 2 and verse 30.

Wherefore the Lord God of Israel said, God said, and He's talking to Eli, the high priest, He said, I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever. But now the Lord says, be it far from me. Notice what He says here. Because God hasn't changed. This speaks to something in His makeup.

That's part of His makeup.

Part of His character. So it doesn't change. For them that honor me, I will honor. Those who honor me, I will honor.

You know this verse, and He goes on to say, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. He says, them that honor me, I will honor. This verse, reading that, only means something to those who truly care about honoring God. I'm a realist. I could go to any number of places and talk about this subject I'm talking about this morning. There are any number of people I could talk to about honoring God. It wouldn't mean anything to them, because they don't really care. They don't care whether God's honored or not. And our society is becoming more and more filled with people who don't care about honoring God. Period.

This verse also serves as a warning that, by the fact that God says, they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. This verse also serves as one that if one doesn't care what God thinks, God isn't going to care what they think. If one sees no reason to honor God, God sees no reason to honor them. And the main thrust of this is not that God is asking us to honor Him just for His sake, but for our sake so that He may honor and bless us. It's like God saying, hey, I'm asking you to honor me not for my sake so much, but for your sakes that I may honor and bless you.

Jesus made this statement in John 12, 26. I'm not going to turn there, but it's in John 12 and verse 26. He said, if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. If any man serve me, and I can't help but think of that Scripture, and again, it's one I'm not going to turn to, but it's Luke 6 46. And I can't help but think of that in light of this verse. I can't help but think of Luke 6 46. Why do you call me Lord, Lord? Why do you say Lord, Lord, but you won't do the things which I say, which is dishonoring, obviously. But here in John 12, 26, if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. It's very simple. You honor God, he will honor you. It's that simple. You honor God, he honor you. So, what's the biggest impediment to honoring God? What is the biggest? Not the second biggest, not the third biggest, but what's the biggest impediment to honoring God? It's the honoring of oneself. It's the honoring of oneself. That's come so naturally, so automatically, and honoring oneself brings cursings, not blessings. Proverbs 12 9 speaks to that. Honoring oneself brings cursings, not blessings. And usually, others share in that lack of blessings, in those cursings. It's interesting the way this is put in the Proverbs. Proverbs 12 verse 9. It says, "...he that is despised..." And who wants to be despised? Nobody wants to be despised. I mean, if we know somebody despises us, doesn't it bother us? That's just normal. "...he that is despised and has a servant." So, he's showing a contrast here. He says, "...he or the person who is despised and has a servant..." So, obviously, if they have a servant, they may be despised, but they're somewhat prosperous or somewhat fairly well-off, materially speaking. "...he that is despised and has a servant is better than he that..." Who's he better than? "...he that honors himself and lacks bread." What's it mean, honors himself and lacks bread? You know, when a man, an able-bodied man, when an able-bodied man goes out and works hard in sweats to provide for his wife and kids, he's honoring God. 1 Timothy 5, 8 speaks to that. He's honoring God.

But when a man honors himself, I knew, for instance, a man years ago, his family did a lot of doing without. It was hard not to go hungry. It was hard not to be cold.

And the root of the problem was this big, strong, able-bodied man honored himself. He was on the job, and the bossman asked him to do something he didn't like, didn't want to do. Or if the bossman gave him an order to do something and didn't say it in the right tone or manner, I don't have to put up with that. I don't have to take that. He can't talk to me like that. He can't... whatever. I'm out of here. He'd walk off the job, quit it. Even though he had three little kids at home who were depending on him and a wife. Now, I very well understand what that means. Honors himself and lacks bread.

Honoring his own self, his own pride, his own ego. It causes loss of jobs. It causes all kinds of lacking. So, I mean, it's easy enough to understand.

Daniel, Book of Daniel, chapter 4, verse 30. Good old Uncle Neb, Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4, in verse 30.

The king spoke.

You can just picture Nebuchadnezzar. He's out there walking in the beauty and the glory and the magnitude and the magnificence of his palace, his city, his hanging gardens, all of this. And he said, and you can just see him out there, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty.

Keep your finger here. I'll come back. I probably should ask you to keep your finger in Proverbs because I'm going to Proverbs for a couple of Proverbs there. Proverbs 25 and 27. Proverbs, chapter 25, in verse 27. It says this, it's not good to eat much honey. Now, honey is a pure food, but you need to use, you know, even balance with that. But a point is being made. So for men to search their own glory is not glory. For men to search their own glory is not glory.

And then Proverbs 27, verse 2. Proverbs 27, verse 2. Let another man praise you. And not your own mouth, a stranger, and not your own lips.

How many of you have seen the movie? It came out, I don't know, 10 years ago, 11, 12, time gets away. How many of you have seen the movie Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe? Am I the only one in here that's seen it? Okay, there's half a dozen. It's a rough movie. You know, it's, I'll just say it's kind of a rough movie. But it was very true to those times. It's very true to human nature. It's very true to certain brutalities, certain Roman rulers. It was very true. Those of you that saw the movie, I don't have to fill in all the gaps for you. But just in brief, for those of you who didn't see it, Russell Crowe plays the role of Maximus, a Spaniard by Nativity, who is part of the Roman legions. He's a general. He leads Roman legions. The ruler of Rome, the Caesar, you know the title, the ruler, he's dying. And he wants Maximus, more or less, to be the one that will succeed him. But he has a very corrupt son, Commodus, who kills his own father in order to get the throne and arranges for Maximus to be arrested and executed. And in a series of events, Maximus escapes the execution and winds up in the Roman arena as a gladiator, as a slave to a gladiator owner, and having to fight for his life in the arena. And Commodus doesn't know it's Maximus, and in a very suspense-filled scene, after a major battle in the arena, Commodus, the Roman ruler, comes down with his bodyguard surrounding him. And that's when he realizes, finds out, that it's Maximus. He makes him take his helmet off, and he realizes it's Maximus. And then he starts taunting him, and gloating, and trying to provoke him, telling Maximus what they did to his wife and to his child in the process of brutally killing them and then killing them and crucifying them. Taunting and gloating, and Maximus holds himself, and he looks at Commodus, and he says, the time of honoring yourself will soon be at an end. It's one of those lines that not only sticks with you, but it speaks so much truth the time of honoring yourself will soon be at an end. The king spoke, Daniel 4.30, and said, is not this great Babylon that I built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? And while the word was in the king's mouth, see, he had been warned one whole entire year previous he had been warned about this. He had had the dream. Daniel had interpreted it by gods of inspiration, and Nebuchadnezzar had been warned. Verse 29, at the end of 12 months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. A whole year had passed. Did the warning fade from his mind? Or what?

So while the word was in the king's mouth, verse 31, their fellow voice from heaven saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from you, and they shall drive you from men. Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you to eat grass as oxen, and seven times seven years shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomsoever he will. And the same hour, the very same hour, was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he was driven from men, did eat grass as oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair was grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the days, at the end of seven years, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the most high. And notice what he says, I blessed the most high and I praised and honored him that lives forever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. I praised and honored him from the highest to the lowest, from the greatest to the smallest. All will eventually have to learn to honor God instead of themselves. When Nebuchadnezzar honored God instead of himself, God honored him by restoring his sanity and his kingdom.

Look around today. Just look around today in our times. Look at our society. Look at our culture. What is reflected? Do we truly see an honoring of God around us? Is that what we see going on? Again, the biggest impediment to honoring God is honoring ourselves. And honoring ourselves is big business. And look at the fruits of honoring ourselves. Sex and violence, the privacy and degeneracy, broken minds and broken homes, broken bodies, broken hearts. We are paying a huge price for people honoring themselves instead of God. Romans 1. Let's read verses in a cursory, quick flowing way. Let's read Romans 1 verses 18 through 32. Romans chapter 1, beginning in verse 18.

It says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men who hold or suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is obvious in them. For God has showed it to them. Because it goes on to say, verse 20, For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly sane, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. There is no excuse for any human being ever to say there is no God.

They are having to practice idiocy to say there is no God. There is a God. God's very creation points to the fact there is a Creator. Now, if somebody says, look, I know there is a God, I just don't know what he is doing or what is going on or where it all ends. There is a lot I don't understand about his plans and purposes, but I know he is there. I know there is a God. Fine, I can understand somebody saying that.

But God says there is no excuse for anybody denying his existence. And, along with that, anybody, knowing there is a God, anybody can read the Bible and see there are certain things you do that honor him and there are certain things you don't do because they dishonor him. That's given because we have minds and we can think and reason and analyze. So, there is a certain amount that we can comprehend and apply or we can choose to reject. Because when they knew God, verse 21, they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible men and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things, wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creation more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause, God gave them up into vile affection. Even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also, the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meat.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, those that honor me I will honor.

God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiser, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. What a mouthful! What is society for?

And the whole attitude that's expressed of these folks in this chapter is captured in the lyrics of a recent pop song. Don't tell you who sings it, but a recent pop song is featured on the MTV Awards.

The lyric goes like this, it's your body, we can do what we like. It's your body, we can do what we like.

No whole spart. It's your body, we can do what we like. That's their mantra, and it's as opposite as it can be from 1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 and 20. God gave us life.

The Apostle Paul told the philosophers at Mars Hill there in Acts 17-28, he made this statement to them in Acts 17 verse 28, he says, for in him, in his living laws and all, in him we live and move and have our being. If it weren't for God, we couldn't even have life.

And what we do with our mind and body either honors or dishonors him. And he's given us more than ample instruction on what honors him and on how to use it. Turn back with me to Proverbs, please. Proverbs 3 this time, chapter 3 and verse 9.

I want to read it and ask a question. Proverbs 3, and verse 9. Proverbs 3 and verse 9, very first word, honor.

And it's not a passive word here, it's an active word. Honor. It's an activity word, it's active. Honor who? Honor the Lord. Actively do that which honors the Lord. Honor the Lord, how? Well, this very first half, I just want to stop and focus on that. Honor the Lord with your substance.

With your substance. What is your substance?

Ask yourself, what is my substance? Is there anyone in this room that this verse doesn't apply to? It applies to me. Is there anyone of us that he doesn't apply to that when we read, honor the Lord with your substance? Well, that doesn't apply to me. I'm not being asked by God to honor him with my substance. It applies to every one of us, doesn't it? And it really applies, and it's going to apply someday, as far as an obligation to all.

Honor the Lord with your substance. Okay, I want to honor the Lord. What is my substance?

Okay, it's your time. If you're out of time, you're dead. No dead person has any time. Time is substance. It's your energy. You know, there was a time in my life when I might still have energy, but it just run out of time. Now I might still have time and run out of energy.

But energy is substance. It's your health. It's your body. You know, what is your life? It's your time and your energy. Your substance is time. It's energy. It's health.

What do you do with your energies? What do you do with your time?

It's your mouth. What do you do with your mouth? It's your hands.

It's the members of your body. What do you do with your mouth? What do you do with your tongue? What do you do with your hands? What do you do with your body? What do you do with the members of your body? It's all substance. It's your talents. It's your gifts. What do you do with them? It's your skills. It's your resources. You could make the list longer if you want to. That's your substance. That's what God's talking about. Honor the Lord with your substance. Your substance are the things you have. It's referencing time. It's referencing energy, its skills, its abilities. When you use your substance in the God-ordained, God-designed way, you are honoring Him. Like I said, an able-bodied man who goes out there and sweats and works hard to provide for his family is honoring God. And I did emphasize able-bodied because not everybody is able-bodied. When you use your substance in the God-ordained, God-designed way, you are honoring Him. When you keep the Sabbath day properly, you are honoring God. I want to read one scripture regarding that, Isaiah 58.13. When you keep the Sabbath day properly, you are honoring God. Isaiah 58.13 said, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, in other words, if you quit treading on the Sabbath, you quit trampling it underfoot, which in and of itself is the dishonoring thing, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day. Well, deer season opens on Saturday morning, and, man, that's the best chance to get a deer. So Saturday morning, I'm going to be sitting in a deer stand. You're doing your own pleasure. It's not in the spirit of the Sabbath. You're honoring yourself. You're not honoring God. Well, if I don't get out there and work my garden Sabbath morning, the weeds are going to take it over. You know, I've got to get out there and weed my garden Sabbath morning. You're honoring yourself. You're not honoring God. I could go on down the line, but there's things that are proper on the Sabbath and things that are not proper, if you're considering honoring God. But if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my... notice, my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, and notice, honorable. And notice this next line, and shall honor Him. You're honoring God. Honor Him. When you properly keep the Sabbath, you're honoring God. When you refuse to put certain things into your mouth, that God says, I did not create these critters to be put in your mouth. I created these critters over here to be put in your mouth. If you want to eat meat, you don't have to eat it, but I mean, if you're going to eat meat, these over here, I created them. They can be consumed by you if you so desire. These over here were never intended to be put in your mouth. When you refuse to put certain things in your mouth that He has said not to, you are honoring Him. And the Bible lays that out. When you render to God the proper tithe that is His, you're honoring Him. But it just simply comes down to what we do with our mouth, our mind, our body, what we do with our skills, our gifts, our talents, what we do with our time, and our energies. It either honors God or it dishonors Him. And we want to honor Him because, and God hasn't changed, God honors those who honor Him. We want to be blessed of God, don't we? And I can tell you, God wants to bless us. Learn to live a life that honors God in your thinking and doing.

You'll get up again in the morning. Start every day with that thought.