HOW would you want to be remembered?

Happy Sabbath, everybody! Hope you had a good week and recovered from last week's partying that we had. Of course, we had a wonderful talent show. It is amazing how much talent we do have in the local church. God seemed to put that talent in the church so that all the areas can be served that need to be served within the church. And we're really, really thankful about that. When I mention to you Charles Manson, John Dillinger, or Lizzie Borden, what do you associate them with?

Now, just think about it. You don't have to answer it. When I mention the name Bernie Murdoff, Ivan Boesky, you know if they have a good reputation in the financial world. And of course, the answer is no, they do not. Of course, the names of the first that I gave of Charles Manson, John Dillinger, Lizzie Borden. Lizzie Borden sounded like she makes cookies or something like that, but she was an axe murderer. And of course, as were Charles Manson, Manson was a killer, and so was John Dillinger noted for that.

And the latter that I mentioned are thieves, you might say, that were on Wall Street, and probably are just a few that got caught. Many others should have probably gotten caught in even the last round of things that we had that went on in the financial world. How about when I mention Lindsay Lohan and Charlie Sheen?

You know, they have trashed their own names by their reckless and unadbanded lifestyle. It is amazing what they have done to their own names. And you know, when I began to think about what people do in this day and age that we live in, and I'm sure people have done it since man was upon the earth, they have basically trashed their names, ruined their lives, up one side and down another. I asked myself this question, how do I want to be remembered in this life? I guess these people chose, you know, the way that they wanted to be remembered and that they have gone down in history.

Some of them, at least, have gone down in history for the kind of lifestyles that they have. And question I want to ask you today and maybe go into a little more in depth as we go through this message here today is how do you want to be remembered in this life? You know, some people like, you know, have made the statement, I think it was Woody Allen that made the statement.

He said, I don't want to be immortalized by my work. He says, I want to be immortalized by continuing to live. Well, I'm sure we would all like to do that. And, you know, going the path that some people in this world take, they obviously are not going on the path that is going to lead to immortality. But certainly, we as God's people should be on that path to immortality, the time when we will live forever and, you know, that eternity will be ahead of us. When I mention the name Judas, what do you think about?

Well, I think we instantly think here was someone who was a betrayer, someone who betrayed Christ and, of course, went down in history as a betrayer of Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus Christ had asked the disciples to prepare the Passover for him.

Let's go to Matthew chapter 26 here to begin, in Matthew chapter 26 down in verse 19. And it says, So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

And when evening had come, he sat down with the twelve. And so here he was all with all of the disciples here in that evening. We'll be having the Passover not too far from now in the evening on the 14th, as we normally do, but this is where they were at the time.

And now, as it says, when they were eating, he says, Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. You know, he must have had great stirrings within himself when he made that statement there before the other disciples that were before him. And it says, And each of them began to say to him, Lord, is it I? You know, is it me? You know, surely, I'm not the one that's going to betray you. And in verse 23, he answered, and he said, He who has dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me.

And it says, The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he had never been born. Do you imagine God saying something like that about any human being? But he said that about Judas. He said, It would have been better for this man if he had never, ever been born. You know, when I read this recently, it made me wonder what will be the status of Judas in the future.

You know, will God have mercy upon him? Will he be in the Second Resurrection? I don't know that we can really say that he's going to be in that Second Resurrection. Knowing God's mercy, probably so, but I don't think we can say with any kind of authority. And it says, And then Judas, who was betraying him, answered and said, Rabbi, is it I? Is it me? And he said to him, You have said it. And so here indeed was the greatest betrayal of all time, and of course, remembered throughout history, and will never be forgotten. And you know what happened after this event here? Christ did administer the emblems of the bread and the wine, and they sang a hymn, as it says, and then they went out to the Garden of Gethsemane. And the disciples were really tired, and he took a couple of the disciples with him. He wanted to pray alone, and so he went a little further and dropped down and began to pray before God. You know, Christ, of course, prayed if this cup could pass from him, that it would pass from him. But he knew, another thing that Jesus Christ knew that night, is that Judas was going to betray him. Now, think about Judas when he was called of Jesus Christ, along with the rest of the apostles. You know, at the beginning, you remember when Christ called James and John and the others, and he said, come and follow me, and they did?

These were young men, fairly young men, robust men. Judas was one of those. He was told, come and follow me. And Judas was like all of the other apostles. He was like all the other disciples.

And in one sense, you know, if I look back at what happened to Judas here that day, he was sitting on top of the world. Now, think about the fact that here he was one of the twelve that Jesus Christ chose. You know, the two sons of Ebony wanted to be in the right hand and the left hand, but frankly, they should have been all very thankful that they were named the twelve that God had called. And so here was Judas, that he was sitting on top of the world, and each of these men were being trained with the greatest calling that could ever be given. They were going to be given the great responsibility of spreading the gospel of the kingdom and announcing a new government that was going to be set up upon the earth. And each of them were promised to be kings, ruling over the tribes of Israel, each one of them. And when the kingdom is set up, that's what's going to happen. Imagine, again, if one of the disciples is over Manasseh, you know, look at Manasseh today, what Manasseh is today. Or somebody is over Ephraim. Britain, of course, is Ephraim, and some of the other countries. So we're talking about a massive job that these men are going to have in the world of Maro. And yet, in the end, Judas only qualified himself for becoming the son of perdition. That's what he qualified himself for. And Jesus Christ had said, offenses will come, but woe to him through whom they come. And Judas became the man who betrayed Christ. You know, what would have happened if Judas had not betrayed Christ? You know, we will never know. We will never know, because he wasted his opportunity. And when we read about Peter and James and John and the others of the apostles, they indeed did spread the gospel to the kingdom of the kingdom of God to the world. But Judas had nothing to do with this great work that went forward. Now, Brother, what about us? What about you and me? In our job, where we are, in our calling? Do we realize what our opportunity is right now in the church with our calling? What God has handed over to us? Is it great enough for us? It certainly was great enough for the apostles, at least in hindsight. It would be great enough when they enter into the kingdom and they're given the opportunities that they're going to have. Do we, though, realize where we are, the opportunities that we have right now in the church with our calling? Let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I know this is a little bit of a different subject than I might normally give, but I think it has a bearing, brethren, on the success we may have in the future if we can recognize these things. In 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 1, it says, Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all of our fathers were under the cloud. We talked about Israel, all passed through the sea, all baptized into Moses. It says, And all ate the same spiritual drink, and all drank the same spiritual drink. He says, For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. And so he's just merely here telling us through 1 Corinthians 10 here that they also drank of Christ. You know, they ate of Jesus Christ. And we're, of course, doing that now. We are to pray, give us our daily bread, and when we pray each day. And the cheap bread we need, brethren, is Christ. So we need to eat of Jesus Christ. But it says in verse 5, But most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters, as were some of them, as it had written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. And it says, Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day 23,000 fell. That's a lot of people here. You know, I think that certainly in our day and age, it would be a whole lot more if God made a judgment about sexual immorality. And it says, Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents. Nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. And it says, Now all these things happen to them as examples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.

And so let's again do that, brethren. Let's take heed. God forbid that we would become a Judas, who was a betrayer, and who was a thief, and who knows what else Judas was. Maybe that's just the tip of the iceberg of what we know about Judas. We must take heed, brethren, lest we fall. The one thing we recognize, or should recognize, as it says in Romans 8, 14, in order to be a Son of God, we must be led by the Holy Spirit in our lives. We must allow God's Spirit to lead us. And as I mentioned in the sermon last week, I talked about agape love, and talking about how that makes us sons of God as well. It's just a matter of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives, the action that is performed by that Spirit working with us, with willing minds, to produce that agape love. But that Spirit of God should produce agape love and the other fruits of the Holy Spirit in us. Of course, God's Spirit does not push us.

I think sometimes when people feel like they've been slain in the Spirit, they fall backward, as you've seen sometimes in the Pentecostal groups. Sometimes the Spirit seizes them. Brethren, we need to realize this is not the Spirit that you and I want, ever.

You don't want a Spirit just dragging you along, or pushing you along, and shoving you around.

You call that Spirit when that happens is a demon. That's not, of course, the Spirit of God.

But the Spirit of God does lead us. It gently leads us. But we have to have a willingness, brethren, to follow it, to allow the Spirit to lead us. Like, for instance, you may hear a message by one of our elders. You may read an article that is showing you a better way to be as a person, as a human being. And you need to, again, follow that lead that the Holy Spirit is allowing you to see. God will not make us do good works, but He will help us, certainly, to be led in the direction of good works. And we need to have the attitude and willingness to do good works. And we do so because we're thankful for what the Father and Jesus Christ have done for us. That's why we do the good works. We recognize what God has done for us. That is what the Spirit, which we must follow, allow to lead us, does, brethren. That's what it does for us. Let's go over to Luke 9. Luke 9. God's Spirit, sometimes people will ask the question, well, you know, how do I know I got God's Spirit? How do I know the Spirit of God is working in me?

Well, I always tell people, first of all, have you grown in knowledge? You know any better now than you did when you were first called. And, you know, most people say, well, sure, I have. I've grown immensely at knowledge. You know, if, frankly, if I knew back then when I was first called what I know now, I would have probably run out of there in holy terror because of what I know God would expect of me. But, so, knowledge is not the issue. But then you've got to look at, again, the fruits of that Spirit. Are those fruits in your life? But let's notice here in Luke 9. We'll talk a little bit more about that. In Luke 9 in verse 51, and it says, now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up. So, he was not very far from the time when his ministry, earthly ministry at least, would be finished, his part in it. And it says that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. You know, that was where Christ knew he was going to be crucified on a tree, as we know. In verse 52, and sent messengers before his face, and as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for him. And so, they had a few people to go forward, ahead of him, to prepare for his arrival, you know, in this city or village of Samaritans.

And in verse 53, and it says, they did not receive him. They didn't want to receive Jesus Christ, because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. He was headed to Jerusalem. And, you know, so they did not want to be hospitable to Jesus Christ. And remember, the Samaritans believed that Mount Gerizim was the place where the temple should be.

That was the place, remember, when Christ was talking to the woman at the well. And he said, you don't know what you're worshiping, because they worshiped at Mount Gerizim.

And, of course, the Jews believe it should be Jerusalem. And so, they did not receive him, because he had set his face for the journey to Jerusalem. And on down here, you know, we see the reaction that took place. Now, I think it's important for us to mention here that James and John wanted those high spots in the kingdom. And also, not just James and John, but the other disciples wanted high spots and probably were angry at James and John for their desire to be on the right and left hand of Christ. And their attitudes simply were not right.

They were not correct. Frankly, Peter's attitude was not right before Christ was even crucified.

I mean, he denied Christ and cussed up one side and down the other denying Jesus Christ, his attitude was not right. And, of course, ours wouldn't have been either, probably, if we were in their place. But James and John saw an opportunity here to take charge. Yeah, let's take charge here. So, this was sort of the attitude that they had. And they were probably going through at this particular time. And it says in verse 54, and when his disciples, James and John, it says, saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? No, so imagine this, the Jews and the Samaritans were arguing about whether Christ should go to Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim. And the disciples, you know, are out of the wrong attitude, are saying, do you want us to command fire to come down out of heaven? You know, it was, in a way, it was almost like bedlam and chaos here in this particular case. And he turned, it says, and he rebuked them and said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of. You just don't know what manner of spirit that you're of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them. That is the desire of Jesus Christ to come and save mankind, to make salvation possible to mankind. So, brethren, there was, at that time, another spirit working in James and John and probably others that were there, you know, that day. And it was not God's spirit that was working in them. And they said the sayings that they said.

Let's go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Here Paul expresses to the Corinthians in chapter 11 verse 1. He says, O that you would bear with me in a little folly, and indeed you do bear with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Now, so he was very jealous over the Corinthian brethren. He loved the brethren a great deal. I think that's quite obvious for the things that he endured from them and also the things he endured for the church. But it says in verse 3, But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, and of course there is another Jesus, there's a Jesus that's not in the Bible. I think we're all aware of that, whom we have not preached. Or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received. Or different gospel, so there can be a different spirit, there can be a different gospel, which you have not accepted. You may well put up with it. You know, so there are different gospels, different spirits, as it mentions here, that are in the world. And one of the things I think that I think is quite obvious when the demons were cast down, there were some of the demons that, you know, they're bad, but they don't want to be all bad, if I can put it that way. They want to be religious and bad.

If you can imagine, people can be that way, you know. If you recent some of the histories of the Catholic Church, you can see how sometimes people can be quite wicked in their ways, even though they try to appear to be righteous. You know, it's just the way it is. Even say, the devil wants to appear as an angel of righteousness. You know, and he puts himself forward in that way. Frankly, if you saw a minister of God and a minister of Satan, you would probably choose a minister of Satan, because he would probably, you know, caress you more. You know, in this world and society, there are men who have incredible abilities, you know, convincing abilities, and it is really something a person has to be aware of. And when the Antichrist comes on the scene, I think he's going to do just that with the whole world.

And he will be working as a result of the power of the devil at that particular time. So, brethren, there's a real danger for us to make sure that we're of the right spirit.

You know, any of us, by the way, can get in a wrong spirit by allowing our anger to go unbounded by not constraining ourselves. You know, that's when Satan can enter in and begin to make people do things that they ordinarily would not do. You know, people have, in fact, murdered other people who have never had a history before that allowed themselves for their anger just to be completely uncontrolled. And, of course, I'm not saying that you're going to do that, but I'm saying that people do things that they ordinary wouldn't say, wouldn't do.

You know, and that's very important for us to make sure that we can keep control of, again, our anger that is within us, because it has the problem of attracting a different spirit.

Now, I want to point out the fact that Jesus Christ did not come depicted as a lion.

He came being depicted as a lamb led to the slaughter. So, he was a different individual.

Next time, of course, he will come and he will make war. But he, of course, is always in control of what he does. And his anger that he has is a righteous indignation. And let's be honest, brethren, sometimes our anger that we have is not. You know, we may think it is, but it's not.

You know, but we need to be very careful. So, I want to give you three points, brethren, now in conjunction with how do you want to be remembered.

Number one, are you, are we, of a right spirit? Are we of a right spirit?

You know, it's a terrible thing, brethren, to think that you are in a right spirit and to find that you are not. And, you know, I don't know if you've ever gotten to the point where you had an attitude problem, and this is what I mean by being in a wrong spirit and caught yourself and realized that your attitude just was not right and that you needed to be in a better spirit, a better attitude. And it gets spiritual, though. It's more than just an attitude. It can get spiritual and it can get out of control. Now, how do we know, though, if we're in a right spirit? How do we know that? I think that that is a very important question to answer. Well, you know, we have been covering this right along in the sermons, but let's go to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John chapter 4 over here, because we should become people that are very agile at telling what a right spirit is. I'm not sure that we always are that way, but we should be.

All of us should be. And I'm sure Jesus Christ probably would be disappointed that we have all of us grown more than we have. But 1 John chapter 4 in verse 1, it says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And so we are charged by the apostle John to test the spirits, whether they are of God, because he says there are many false teachers that have gone out in the world. Again, how do you test the spirits? What do we do in order to find out, again, whether the spirits are of God or not? And what does the Bible say in terms of instructions? Well, John goes on. He gives us instructions about what that spirit of God is really like. In verse 7, it says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Now, again, I talked extensively about that last week, but this is a barometer, again, of whether a spirit is right or not. And so we should love one another. Love has to be the overall litmus test of the whole thing. And in verse 8, it says, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. And, you know, we know, or should know, when we love and when we don't love. And when we say to somebody, I love you, but we really hate them in our hearts. Don't we know that? I think we should. We know the difference. And if we hate somebody in our heart or we despise them, and we do the things that Matthew 5 talked about, we were Christ talked about that we should pray for those that despitefully use us, that, you know, we should be able to identify that as a wrong attitude, a wrong spirit. And we need to, again, turn away from that. Now, let's go over to Galatians. Galatians 5. Galatians chapter 5.

Now, maybe I'm talking to a group of people that don't need this instruction.

Do I have the wrong group here? I don't think so. Now, I think we all rather need to really think about these things. Galatians 5 and down in verse 14, it says, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So, again, we should know whether we love our neighbor. I used to know a man who had a neighbor, and it was not me. At least I know his neighbor hated him. I think he was trying to love his neighbor. He was having a hard time with it, because his neighbor was not a very lovable person and did all kinds of things. I guess people can get into a real, almost a, you know, kind of a Kentucky-style family standoff, the Hatfills and the McCoys, between them. But he had a situation where at least one of the other was the Hatfiller of the McCoy. He was trying to be a Christian. But anyway, it says that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, as we read here. And going on, but if you bite and devour one another, which is an expression, of course, showing a person is not showing love, beware lest you be consumed by one another. You know, you're going to eat one another up, in other words. And down in verse 16, going on, it says, I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

And so we need to be walking in the Spirit. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. I think what Paul is saying here, brethren, in verse 17, is get off the fence. Don't pit, you know, the Spirit against the flesh. Get off the fence.

Choose whether you're going to walk in the Spirit, or choose where you're going to walk in the lust of the flesh. I think far too many, again, sit on that fence. We got to get off the fence and on the side of walking in the Spirit. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness. I have those listed on the chart that you have, by the way, there next to the fruits of the Spirit, the nine fruits of the Spirit. Also, definitions of each of those words in the Greek for us to help further understand what those fruits really are. And also, we have on there, Ben Franklin's 13 virtues. He, at the end, by the way, for humility, said that he wanted to imitate Christ in Socrates. Forgive me for editing that out. But you shouldn't not follow Socrates, certainly. But we see again here the works, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions.

When there are arguments that go on, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, rivalries, and the like of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in the times past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So, when we see this kind of thing, there's a wrong spirit.

There's a wrong spirit. I mean, it's just as simple as that. Where there's envy, there's a wrong spirit. You know, where there are contentions and jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, there's a wrong spirit rather. Somebody's, again, allowing the flesh to lead them around, and this is like a playground for the spirits of the world, the demonic spirits of the world. But in verse 22, let's go on down through here.

Again, we want to know what the spirit of God is like, and how to know if we're in the right spirit. But the fruit of the spirit is love. Here's the first one, is love. That is agape. Joy.

Again, look at the chart that you have and see what that means in the Greek, and there should be an exuberance in us, rather. And sometimes people will come thinking, well, I don't feel joyful today. Well, my point would be, why don't you try it?

Try a little joy. Try to be joyful. And I had one woman tell me one time, well, I feel so fake.

Well, I think you need to feel fake about it. You need to apply it and try it. Peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness. You ever had anybody that, when they dealt with you, were so gentle and careful, hoping that they could treat you in a right manner? How good that feels when people are that way? That's a right spirit. That's a right attitude. Self-control. Against such, there is no law. And, you know, we can go through those fruits of the Spirit and really examine them. This is supposed to be our inside character, brother, right here. It's what God's character is. It's what our character ought to be. So, brother, we should again test the spirits. You know, are they of God? Do we have a right spirit, brethren? Because we want to be remembered for people as being people had the right attitude.

Hopefully, Jesus Christ would not have to say to us, get behind me, Satan, like you said to Peter.

You have no idea what is working in you. You know, we need to, as God's people, again, have God's spirit working within us. And we'll see that evidence in our lives by how we deal with each other. You know, it's just very important, brethren, for us to learn to look for these fruits.

Number two point I wanted to share with you as well, brethren, is do you, do you seek your own?

Do you seek your own? Or do we, if we include all of ourselves, brethren, do we seek our own?

And what do I mean by that? Seek our own. Let me show you an example in 2 Kings, over here in chapter 5, of what I mean by this. I suppose I could explain it even from the world standpoint. When the world economy, when the U.S. economy was going down the toilet, I think that I could probably say that, and the government was printing billions upon billions of dollars, and certain people in Wall Street walked off with the biggest earnings ever.

That's what I mean by seeking your own. You know, I don't care about anybody else, I just care about me. I just care about how I'm going to fare. It's like I had a buddy when I was at a master college, and he liked to sing the song, and I think he made it up. He would sing the song, What the World Needs Now is Me, Me, Me. Thankfully, though, by the way, he was a young man, and I hope he matured out of that, and he changed. Although, knowing the man, I don't think he did, but maybe he did. Second Kings, though, chapter 5, it says, Malnaiman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master. And because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria, he was also a mighty man of valor but a leper. Now, here this man was struck with leprosy, and Syria was, you know, a country that was ruling over Israel. And Meyaman happened to go to the king of Syria, and because a captive young girl had told him that he might be able to be healed of his leprosy, if he could somehow find the prophet who was in Siberia. And so Meyaman goes to Syria and says, I want to go down there. I want to go down and see this man. And, you know, of course, when that happened, the king of Syria went ahead and sent Meyaman. This is down in verse 5 here. He said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he departed and took with him ten pounds of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, of course, basically said, Look, Nehem, and my servant has come down that you might heal him of this leprosy. And when this happened, of course, the king of Israel, when he read the letter tore his clothes, he said, Am I God? Can I do this? Of course, he was under tribute to Syria at this time. You know, how am I going to heal him of this leprosy? But here in verse 8 it says, So it was when Elijah, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, and, saying, Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. And then Nehem went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. Of course, you know the story about how Nehem got upset. He said, You mean you want me to come down here, all the way down here, and to wash myself seven times in that dinky little river you call the Jordan, when we had mighty rivers back in Syria, much greater?

Well, you know, one of his servants, verse 13, came near and spoke to him and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, wash and be clean? And so he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the stain of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Tremendous lesson there in itself, but that's not the lesson I want to point out here in this story, in this account. And he returned to the man of God, and he and his aides came and stood before him and said, Indeed, now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.

And Elisha says, As the Lord lives, before whom I stand I will receive nothing. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. And so Neaman said, Then if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth, for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or or sacrifices to other gods, but to the eternal. And so anyway, he says to go in peace down in verse 19. Verse 20 is the story I want to show. But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, said, Look, my master has spared Neaman the Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought. But as the eternal list, I will run after him and take something from him. And so Gehazi pursued Neaman, and when Neaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, It is all well. And he said, All is well, my master sent me, saying, Indeed, just now two men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mounds of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments. So Neaman said, Please take two talents. And he urged them, and he bound the two talents of silver into two bags and two changes of garments and handed them to two of the servants, and they carried them on ahead of him. And when he came to the centidole, this was, of course, where the place where Elisha lived, which was on a hill, and he took, it says, from their hand. So Gehazi took them and stored them away in the house. And then he let the men go, and they departed. And now he went in and stood before his master. Elijah said to him, Where did you go, Gehazi? And he said, Your servant did not go anywhere.

And then he said to him, Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves, vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Neaman shall clean to you and your descendants forever. And he went out from his present leprosy as white as snow. The lesson, brethren, here is he sought his own. He sought his own.

Brethren, do we seek our own? What if Jesus Christ did it this way? What if this was the way Christ was? He came to seek his own. No, he didn't come to seek his own. Let's go to Philippians 2. No far too many seek their own.

I think that it's applicable what Elisha said to Gehazi. Is this the time to receive vineyards and all those things now? You know, are the ministers of the church in the position to do those things now? I would say absolutely not. Absolutely not. You know, we're here to serve. We're here to be servants in helping the churches and helping to further the gospel.

And brethren, all of us have that responsibility. Philippians 2 and verse 3. Here it says, Let nothing be done, Paul said, through selfish ambition or conceit, but in loneliness of mind. Let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interests of others.

You know, Jesus did not seek his own in his life, but he sought to help others. He did not think about himself, but those he came to save. He made himself of no reputation, which means he emptied himself to come in the form of a servant, as it says.

You know, Christ, you remember, did not need to be saved.

You think about God, brethren, the way God is. He's not too hot. He's not too cold. He's just right.

He doesn't need anybody. You know, the Word didn't need anybody, and yet they came. The Father gave his Son, and Jesus Christ came, and came to do what he came to do, and that is to offer salvation. Paul did not seek his own. He laid his life down for the church. He experienced stonings. He was shipwrecked. He was snake bit. He was thrown in prison, and finally he was beheaded. He did not seek his own. David was a man after God's own heart. He set an example, brethren, of not seeking his own either. We know he fell down like people do, and it's recording the Bible for us, what David did. But David was a very decent man. He was the kind of man that, in fact, we are admonished to be brethren when Christ tells us to be like the Father in heaven. He was the kind of man who prayed for his enemies. He was the kind of man who hoped that his enemies would turn around. In fact, that was one of the ways and means that he did talk to God about those who were against them. He hoped that there would be suddenly ashamed such that they would turn back. He did not, of course, wish it will upon them only as a fruit of their labor, only as a fruit of what they did.

It's like, in fact, even Paul said, may God reward you for your works, and he surely will, won't he?

All of us are going to be rewarded for our works no matter what we think.

So we need to be humble before God. We need to be humble before one another.

The path to glory is the road of humility. We need to get rid of our self-righteousness.

Our righteousness, the Bible says, is this filthy rags.

And if we abase ourselves, brethren, God will lift us up.

And brethren, learn always, as we've talked about recently much, seek God's will.

Matthew 7, 21 tells us that.

You know, I'm not going to have you turn to it, but in Philippians 2, you can read along if you're there, but in Philippians 2, 19, Paul says, But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state, for I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state. In verse 21, it says, For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. All seek their own. But you know his proven character, that as a son with a father, he served with me in the gospel. That's interesting. He said, all seek their own and not the things which are of Christ. Now, we certainly could say that about the world in general, couldn't we? The world is that way. And unfortunately, far too many of us in the church are that way, and we don't seek the things of Christ. So Paul had confidence that he, in Timothy, you know, he had that confidence that Timothy would put Jesus Christ, he would put the brethren and their needs ahead of all things, even his own needs.

So brethren, do we seek our own? A third point, brethren, is are you really of the church?

Are you really of the church? You know, is your involvement in the church something which is important to you? Are you a part of the body of believers who are attached to one another, as with a physical body? When one member suffers, do you suffer? Or when one rejoices, do you rejoice? Are you a part of the spiritual body? You know, in the early first century church, there were numerous problems that took place. And when problems occurred, very often people would leave. And let's notice what John the Apostle said over here. Oh, by the way, I didn't write this in the book. John did. In 1 John 2, verse 19, here John says, They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, it says, that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. Again, that's what John says. But it says, you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. And down in verse 28, And now little children abide in him, that when he appears we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him. And so, are you really of the church? And I have a final fourth point. I think I mentioned I had three, but a fourth point. Are we here to serve God and one another?

You know, we ought to be helping one another, brethren, each and every week.

We should be iron, sharpening iron, you know, sparking one person to grow, or another, spiritually speaking. You know, God has called all of us, brethren, not to break us, but to make us, every one of us. And we have a part in all this, brethren. And all of us have the job of locking arms together to help each other and be determined to grow and move forward to the Kingdom. You know, our job is not done until our calling is over, and it's not over, brethren. Some day we will see the fruits of what we have done for each other. You know, when the resurrection takes place, we're going to rise to meet Christ in the air. And finally, we will realize that everything we've done has been worth it. You know, we have all a part of it, all of us have a part in helping each other. And sometimes, frankly, we fail. We don't do our jobs the way that we should.

This past week, a movie came to my mind. It's an old movie, I think, from 1954. Some of you probably have never heard of it, but it's called On the Waterfront.

And it's a story about a man named Terry, played by Marlon Brando, and a brother by the name of Charlie, who was played by Rod Steiger. Well, in the movie, Terry is a boxer.

And Charlie is his manager. And Charlie had Terry, or Marlon Brando in this case, who was in a fight, a title, a type fight. And he had him throw a fight so that a big union boss, who was a boss down on the docks, could make money on a weaker opponent. And in the movie, Brando came to himself. He began to realize what had happened to him.

That it was not the union boss that had hurt him. It was his brother.

And there's a scene that's very, very wonderful that is in the movie, if you have a chance, just look on YouTube. I don't know if I can read it or not.

But Terry says it wasn't him, Charlie. It was you.

He says, remember the night in the garden you came down to my dressing room, and you said, kid, this ain't your night. We're going for the price for Wilson.

You remember that. This ain't your night. My night. He says, I could have taken Wilson apart.

So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors in the ballpark. And what do I get?

A one-way ticket to Palookaville. You was my brother, Charlie.

Well, you may have to see that.

But he told him at the end, he said, I could have been a contender. I could have been somebody.

But let's face it, Charlie, it was you.

Maybe I ought to end there.

Forgive me. I guess it's what happens the older you get, isn't it?

I thought I had control of myself on that one. But you know, these things do hit home to us, because in real life it's true. It really is. That's just a movie. But in real life it's true.

We're supposed to help each other, brethren.

And that's what we should be about the business of doing.

Each of us needs to walk the walk and talk the talk. And each of us needs to be known for good works. I'm not going to have you turn to these verses, but I'd like you to write them down.

Proverbs 22, verse 1, says, Proverbs 20, verse 11, I often heard the book of Acts, brethren, does not have an amen at the end of it because it is not finished.

Well, brethren, if this is so, someday, perhaps, someone will add stories about you and me in the future. How do you want to be remembered? History is a graveyard of people with reputations.

History makes monuments to those decent people who have strived to do good things in the world.

We aren't shooting for the stars, brethren, or to have monuments, but we're humbly seeking a place in the family of God and to be the sons of God forevermore.