Good or Evil

And your Bible and I hope you do go and make your way to 3rd John

first, second, third John. Today we complete our series in

the New Testament letters of John before next week turning

our attention to the story of Christmas and by the way, what a

great Sunday next Sunday would be.

If you've been thinking about inviting someone and they say

that 18,000,000 Americans would have attended church on any

given Sunday had they only received a invitation, and the

opportunity awaits and we're going to be diving in right into

the Christmas story. It's a great time of the year to

just open up the Bible in your home as a couple, as a family

with kids or grandkids and just spend some time in the evenings,

even if you can't do it every day of the week.

But to just open up and read about what the season is all

about, reminding your family and allowing that the word of God to

be heard in your home and celebrating that together.

Let me encourage you to do that. Third John is one of the

shortest and most overlooked books in the Bible.

Anybody heard a sermon on 3rd John?

Now, you're a preacher, man. That didn't count.

So, yeah, maybe a few. All right, we're about to change

that. Amen.

At least I pray it's a sermon. Hopefully we'll see.

So one of the most overlooked books in the Testament, The the

reason why Third John is written is because of a specific

problem. And that problem is a person.

Anybody ever had a person caused them problems in life?

Some of you just lied. You didn't raise your hand in

church. Come on now.

We've all experienced problems. And guess what?

Our problems tend to be caused by people because we create

problems as people. We experience problems as people

and we can, we can certainly project those those problems on

other people. That that the lessons of third

John, y'all are not doctrinal. They're very personal and very

practical. We're about to read the letter

in a second. We're going to read all of it.

It's a short letter. We're going to hear what the

word of God has to say and process through it.

And the lesson is going to be this.

Each one of us has incredible potential for a great good or

great harm. And the examples that we're

going to see are going to, they're going to push us toward

imitating good and not evil so that we can use the potential

God's given us for good and not for harm.

Listen to the Word of God out of third John the Elder, to the

beloved Gaius, whom I love. In truth, beloved, I pray that

all may go well with you, and that you may be in good health,

as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the

brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are

walking in the truth. I have no greater joy, John

says, than to hear that my children are walking in the

truth. Beloved, it is a fateful thing

you do and all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as

they are, who testified to your love before the church, You will

do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of

God, for they've gone out for the sake of the name, accepting

nothing from Gentiles. Therefore, we ought to support

people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

I have written something to the church, but Diotrophies, who

likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.

So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked

nonsense against us. And not content with that, he

refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want

to, who want to, and puts them out of the church.

Beloved, do not imitate evil, but imitate good.

Whoever does good is from God. Whoever does evil has not seen

God. Demetrius has received a good

testimony from everyone and from the truth itself.

We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is

true. I had much to write to you, but

I would rather not write with pen and ink.

I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

Peace be to you. The friends greet you Greet the

friends each by name. Imitate good, not evil, John

writes. Imitate good and not evil.

Again, the lessons here of Third John are not doctrinal, but very

personal and very practical. John refers to himself here as

the elder, again writing to a man that we don't know much

about by the name of Gaius. Here he says about him to the

beloved guys whom I love. In truth, this is John's way of

writing about a friend who has a friend in Jesus.

You can have a lot of friends, but there's no friends like

friends who are your friends in Jesus, followers of Christ, part

of the family of God. You ever met somebody you don't

even know they're a Christian that bear like I think this

person's a Jesus follower. I can just tell by the way, when

you run into somebody like that, you literally share the same

Holy Spirit inhabiting you both. No wonder there's a connection

before you even know this specific reality.

Our brothers and sisters in Christ, we may have nothing else

in common with them outside of Jesus and we got everything we

need in common with them because we're going to share heaven

together with them. And these are people, right,

that have acknowledged their sin, that their sin separates

them from God, that only Jesus, the way the truth and the life

who's died and paid for sin, can offer salvation from that sin.

There's come a point in time in their life and they've called on

Jesus to save them. They've received salvation,

they've been born again, they've been made alive, and now they're

joined in Jesus. They know the truth.

John says Gaius is such a man. I love this guy.

He's a friend of mine in Christ that he's writing to.

Gaius was as common a name as Michael or Bill was an ancient

Asia Minor. We don't know really anything

definitively about Gaius's life except what we learned in this

letter. But what we do know is wonderful

because it shows us that Gaius was a man who's worthy of

imitation. The whole goal here is imitate

good, not evil. So we're going to name each of

these three characters we come across.

I felt like I was nicknaming all week long.

The first one is Good Gaius. Good Gaius, you could call him.

What's so good about Gaius? Well, John tells us three things

about this man that are worthy of our imitation as Christ's

followers. Here's the first one.

Gaius is growing spiritually. He's growing spiritual.

How do we know that? Because John here says he's

praying for his physical health, that it may go well with him

physically as it is going well with him spiritually.

He's essentially saying, hey, may it go as well with you

physically, Gaius, as it's going well with you spiritually.

Obviously Gaius is facing some physical challenges to his

health to some degree or another.

And yet John is saying, I'm praying for those Gaius that

you, which is a wonderful prayer request when we have physical

needs or physical illness or fighting for our health.

A wonderful example here of praying for physical health.

But he's also reminding Gaius that even more importantly, that

he's praying that his physical health follows the health of his

spiritual health. Here's the deal.

As wonderful a thing as physical health is, this is a good place

to remind ourselves that compared to our spiritual

health, our physical health cannot compare in value to the

value of our spiritual health. It would be interesting to apply

this test. What if on the outside

physically, you were projecting a picture through your physical

health of your spiritual health? What would you look like if your

spiritual health was obvious on the outside through your

physical health? What would you look like?

Strong, healthy, fit and active or out of shape?

Fighting disease? Unhealthy.

If your physical shape showed your spiritual shape, what would

you look like? I'm not sure there's ever been a

time. Maybe there has been.

I just don't know about it. When physical health, the

pursuit of physical health has ever been more in vogue?

Would you all agree with me? I kind of sat down and write out

some things that came to mind about our culture and its

pursuit of physical health. We are cold plunging sauna,

sitting, cross fitting cortisol, eliminating greens, drinking

vitamin, supplementing gluten, avoiding an organic eating,

trying to get healthy, all that's wonderful.

I love that. I love some of that stuff, by

the way. But none of that is near as

important as our spiritual health.

And here's the deal. If you're elevating your

physical health above your spiritual health, you got things

backwards. Can I be even more specific?

If there's a day you exercise or take vitamins or supplements or

seek to eat healthy and you don't get in the word of God,

you're doing life backwards. You're more concerned about that

which will not last versus that which will.

My believing says physical training is of some value.

It's of some value, but it doesn't compare with the value

of godliness and the training that lasts forever.

Which one are you prioritizing more?

Gaius was a man who might have had some physical health issues,

but he's a man who's spiritually strong.

Let me just talk to you about if you're going to be spiritually

strong, here's going to have to be some things that are

realities in your life. You can just mark it down.

You ready? Let me just be very practical

here. Number one, if you're going to

have a healthy soul and be healthy spiritually, your soul

must be saved. It needs to be rescued from the

sin you have committed, that it's going to separate your soul

from its Maker forever. Unless there comes a time when

you realize Jesus died for your sin as the way, the truth, and

the life. He offers the only way of rescue

from your sin. And there comes a point in time

in your life and you trust Him as Savior.

You call on Him as Lord. You're born again, you're made

alive. You're snatched from the Kingdom

of darkness and transferred to the Kingdom of light of God's

one and only Son. How's that happened in your

life? If not, there's nothing else you

can do for your soul until you get saved.

Do you need to be saved and trust Jesus #2?

If you're going to have a healthy soul, you need to daily

feed on the Word of God. If your soul doesn't eat, it's

going to starve. It can't be healthy without

daily eating on the Word of God. Your soul's not going to be

healthy unless you're in daily fellowship with God in prayer.

The one and only one that can that leads you to grow and, and,

and give you the strength for every day and the one you need

the presence of God and being in communication with him.

And, and fourthly, let me say this, A healthy soul is one

that's going to be in close contact with other brothers and

sisters in Christ in a local church.

You can't live on an island spiritually as a Christian and

be spiritually healthy. Just like physically, you can

choose to live homeless if you want to and survive.

It's just not healthy. The same is true spiritually.

You can choose to live homeless if you want to.

It's just not spiritually healthy.

So the first good we see in Gaius is that is what's worthy

of imitation. He's a man who's growing spirit.

Let me ask you, are you growing spiritually?

Do you, do you need the reminder that there's actually no sitting

still in the Christian life? You're either growing

spiritually or you are reverting in your spiritual health.

It's one of the other. Second, Gaius is walking

faithfully. Notice the word of God says you

are walking. John says in the truth.

What does that mean? It means he's putting his faith

into practice. His talk is also his walk.

Let me just be very practical on what it means to be walking

faithfully #1 it means to be seeking to eliminate sin in your

life. Now, some of us get to the point

where we think we're really not struggling against sin, and

that's false. In fact, if you're not actively

fighting sin in your life, you're not doing the Christian

life right. I just finished doing a fall

semester long mentorship by Zoom with a pastor, retired pastor by

the name of Bill Ella. If you've heard him preach here,

perhaps he's done our ministry staff retreat Monday afternoons

about every other week. Pastors from around the country

just trying to pour into us as younger leaders.

One of the things Bill told me that I tried, it was actually

super convicting. I want to challenge you to think

about because it opened up my eyes, he said.

Kyle, one of the things I'll do and I just feel like my soul is

struggling and I need to be fighting sin.

I don't even know where to start The fight is I'll make myself a

sin list like sin that I'm struggling with that I knows in

my life and I'm just going to write and specify them down.

So I, I did one recently and it was not encouraging because it

was quite comprehensive. I wrote things down like pride

and selfishness and anger and unkindness, and I could name you

examples where I've done all those things in the flesh and

not the spirit. But you know, it's hard to fight

an enemy you're not naming, that you're not identifying, you're

not fighting sin you don't know about.

So it might be that you might just need to be reminded by

making a little sinless God, what is it that I need to be

actively fighting in my life right now?

Putting to death what is to put it to death?

It means to say no to it by the power of God, to walk away from

it and walk by the power of God, saying yes to the righteousness

of God that comes by putting into practice what the Word of

God says. So walking faithfully means

dying to sin, and it means embracing the righteousness of

the way of the word of God, which again, you're not going to

know unless you're in daily. So Gaius is growing spiritually.

He's walking faithfully. There's a third thing he's doing

we ought to imitate. He's living missionally.

Look at verse 5 again, beloved. It is a faithful thing you do

and all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are.

What in the world does that mean?

Gaius and the church there that he's in that John's writing to

has received this group of men that are obviously traveling

missionaries, preachers or evangelists and teachers

somehow. They probably were actually

trained by the apostle John, known by John, but they're not

known by Gaius. They were strangers when they

showed up. But Gaius has gone out of his

way to minister to these men, to provide for them, to perhaps

welcome them, to show them hospitality, to lead in the

prayer for them and the financial support of them, maybe

even their lodging and all their care so they could do the

ministry that they've been sent to do.

So this is how he's living missionally.

It says about these men, by the way, that they've gone out.

They've left home, house, family, way of living, and

everything that's comfortable to go out in response to the call

of God on their lives. Notice again that they'd gone

out for the sake of the name. Why have they left house and

home, family and fields and ways of living and what's

comfortable? Why?

So they can spread the name of Jesus on mission because they've

been called by Him to do so. And then further, they're

accepting nothing and from the Gentiles, that means they didn't

look for support to anyone or on the unbelievers to support

because they were the people they were trying to reach.

We don't know their names, but they too, like Gaius, I want you

to note, are worthy of imitation.

What does that mean? I actually believe with all my

heart, God's calling people in our church to go and leave house

and to leave home and to leave family and to leave friends and

what's comfortable and the way of living.

Perhaps you think you're going to do or are doing because he's

calling you to go short term or long term for the sake of his

name and spreading the gospel somewhere on the planet that

you're not there yet. I believe that in fact, God is

always calling, calling out from his bride.

Those are willing to say here I am what?

Send me. If that's you, you know who you

are. Are you listening?

Are you willing to imitate these and respond to God's call on

your life, no matter what your age is or what your

qualifications are or are not? Are you willing to heed the call

of God? If that's you, I pray God would

call dozens and dozens out of our church to go to be those,

whether they go short term, long term, to go near or far for the

sake of the name and the Kingdom of God.

Notice what Gaius hears from John.

He says, therefore we ought to support people like these, like

these men that have gone forth, that we may be fellow workers

for the truth. They've just said yes to God by

going. Now, John de Gaia says we ought

to say yes to God by giving. By doing so, he says, we become

partners together in God's mission for the Great

Commission. You see, by serving and

supporting these missionaries, Gaius has become a partner with

them. He wasn't the one going, but he

linked his life to the mission by serving them and giving

towards them and making sure they had everything they need

for the journey. Here's the deal.

Every Christian is called to the Great Commission.

Every Christian, every Christian is called to make disciples.

Let me say it like this, Every Christian is called to ministry.

That might not be ministry, might not be what pays your

bills, but it doesn't mean you're not called to it, and it

doesn't mean whatever your calling is any is any less

worthy. I know so many of you that do so

many different things and what you do put you on the front

lines of contact with lost people.

You are in the ministry. You might serve them through

law. You might serve them through

teaching. You might serve them through

engineering or manufacturing or a chemical plant or a grocery

store, but you're on the front lines delivering things,

counseling. You're on the front lines of

ministry, contacting lost people every day.

You are, you are. And if you're there, you realize

God has already sent me here. And I'm always listening to God

if he's sending me elsewhere, but I know he's sent me here.

So I want to live on mission here, telling and showing and

displaying the love of Christ for the lost world to see.

Living on mission. And God's going to call all of

us to go somewhere, even if it's across the street.

But we also ought to be like Gaius giving, which is by the

way, why this envelopes in your worship God, remember last week

we kicked off a week long prayer for our international

missionaries, those that God has called out to go permanently

somewhere around the world. We as a church have a goal of

$100,000 to give, to support, to provide dollars that go directly

to them. The Bible says we ought to

support people like what? Like these that have given up

everything to go, literally sold their stuff, moved away,

planning their lives. If you followed the week long

prayer guide of where our missionaries are embedded around

the world, y'all by the way, we have the largest missionary

force in the world as the collective of 50,000 Southern

Baptist churches and we ought to give extravagantly, generously

to serve our missionaries extravagantly.

I pray God would lead you to decide what he'd have you do

sacrificially this year. This doesn't go to me, doesn't

go to us. It goes to them, it goes to

them. What would God have you do?

We ought to link our lives to the Great Commission by living

mission. We can't all go, but we can all

give. Let me ask you, are you growing

spiritually? Are you walking faithfully?

Are you living missionally? Imitate good, not not evil,

right #2 there's good Gaius. But unfortunately, next is

destructive diotrophes. I got real creative here.

Y'all like that? Destructive diotrophes

Unfortunately, the history of the church all the way back to

the 1st century contains more examples than we would like to

admit, both on the leadership side and church member side of

destructive men and women. Just like diotrophies.

Diotrophies is a perfect example of what any single one of us are

capable of, even as Christians, if we do not.

Actively seek to kill, sin in our lives and live daily and

surrender to the Holy Spirit. Satan's most effective weapons

against the Bride of Christ are not outsiders.

They are insiders. People just like diotrophies.

We don't know if he was the pastor, we don't know if he was

an elder or a Deacon or just a church member.

You can have a bad apple in any of those seats.

And unfortunately the church, even all the way back to the 1st

century, contains examples of them.

The atrophy is to be specific as a We name things what not to

imitate #1 diatrophy is acting selfishly.

He's acting selfishly. Look what John says.

Diotrophies likes to put himself first.

Did you know that nobody has to pay you to be selfish?

It comes standard in the human life.

Every single one of us likes to be first in some form or some

fashion. We may not all struggle with it

in the exact same way, but all of us love ourselves in ways

that cause us to naturally, selfishly to seek to be first.

Diotrophies. Let's be specific.

He obviously loves his way diotrophies, loves to be in

charge, he loves control, he loves authority, he loves

position. He is full of himself,

diotrophies and loves himself. Some diotrophies.

I heard a preacher say some people are so proud they can

strut sitting down. I've seen some preachers that

can strut sitting down. But anyway, the root of

selfishness is pride. Let me give you some reminders

on pride, which is thinking more highly of ourselves than we all.

That's what pride is. The worm of pride is ever

threatening to eat into the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your

life. If there's any fruit of the Holy

Spirit, the worm of pride wants to get in it.

Pride has been called the hound of hell that can only be

defeated by the hound of Heaven, which is the Holy Spirit.

Seek to make humility the spouse of your soul to whom you've

wedded yourself forever. I love this next one.

Even the donkey that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on knew the

applause wasn't for him. If you ever get too big for your

britches, don't be surprised if God gives you a smaller pair to

wear. John Stott pretty, pretty

accurately I think, says this. He says personal vanity still

lies at the root of most dissensions in every local

church today. In other words, he says you got

a problem in your church, Trace it back and the problem is

probably personal vanity. Somebody thinks of themselves

more highly, they ought. Somebody wants to be 1st instead

of adopting the mind of Christ that saw others before himself.

The question is right. This is the negative diotrophes

is acting selfishly. Are you acting selfishly in any

area of your life, bringing destruction with it?

In your home, in your marriage, in your parenting, in your

family, in your neighborhood, in your office, in your work, on

your team, in your class, in your church?

Are you acting selfishly in any way #2 diotrophies is rebelling

against godly authority. Did you know that authority

exists because God exists and because God is good, His godly

authority is good. And because we as mankind are

made in the image of God, God has designed us to operate with

authority that He's entrusted to us, and then under authority

under which He's put us. And yet the original move of the

devil was to rebel against what godly authority?

That's the original move. It's the move of any sinful

move. It's always the rejection of

godly authority. Deotrophies is rejecting the

godly authority of the apostle John.

And by the way, every single pastor and every single leader,

many of you are leaders, by the way, a leader, someone who

influences other people, all of you are leaders in some way.

Some of you might have official capacities of leadership, but if

you're in leadership in any way, guess what?

You're going to face everybody going to like you and your

leadership. No, ma'am, right.

You're going to face opposition. And guess what?

It doesn't matter how godly you are.

And by the way, none of us are perfect.

So we all going to have some rightful criticism of our

leadership. But even how matter God if

you're the apostle John this this brings comfort to me that

in the Bible John had somebody reacting and rebelling against

his authority. If if John had it, guess who

everybody else following seeking to do godly leadership is going

to exemplify going to experience right.

And yet Can you imagine being the guy who rebelling against

the guy who walked with Jesus? But who does diotrophes think he

is? I mean, you know what I'm

saying. I can't imagine.

And yet people do this, right? And yet when authority is abused

or misused or done sinfully, mark it down.

We ought to stand against it, mark it down.

But that's not the case here. What we have a case here of, of

selfishness, then wanting to be first in rejecting godly

authority. Pride will make you do and say

crazy things, just like diotrophies is doing.

He's rejecting godly authority #3 diotrophies is talking

destructively. How do people rebel against

godly authority? How do they start?

What do they use? They start with their tongue.

They'll talk destructively. They'll attack suddenly.

They will question maliciously, they will criticize constantly.

Most of the time it's completely made-up nonsense.

Like John says here, diotrophies is doing it's things they've

assumed. It's things that they have

misinterpreted. It's things that they have fit,

mis misread or twisted to fit their narrative.

I came across some words of another preacher.

He says this. I think this is true.

There is entirely too much idle, foolish talk, too much

unprofitable talk, too much backbiting in the church today.

If we could get church members to talk on their knees to God as

much as they talk or text on their phone or across the fence

to their neighbors about their brothers and sisters in the

church, we would have revival. That would run the devil out of

our country. I think that's true.

Notice John says how he's going to handle it, and if I come,

I'll bring up what he's doing. That's not what you really

expected to read in the New Testament, right?

John says he's doing this publicly.

Guess what I'm going to do if I come Church, get ready, I'm

going to bring it up publicly. John says that's interesting.

But you see, when sin emerges in the life of a local church, in

reproof and rebuke are what's called for, It isn't Christian

to refrain. It's cowardice, failure to act.

When action is called for, it's not an expression of Christian

love, it's a expression of cowardice #4 Diotrophies is

refusing hospitality instead of welcoming those that have gone

out for the sake of the name, spreading the name of Jesus in

the gospel. Diotrophies doesn't like anybody

else getting any attention and he's refusing hospitality.

Notice what he's doing next. Number 5, He is hindering

ministry. Hindering ministry.

He's not content to just personally refuse hospitality

himself. He's actually going out of his

way to stop anybody else from doing it.

He's hindering the ministry of the church.

Number six diotrophes is truly abusing the bride of Christ.

Because of pride, because he wants to be first, because he's

jealous of John, because he likes attention and he likes

himself. Some diotrophes he is abusing

the bride of Christ. Pride will make you do and say

crazy things. Specifically is abusing the body

by attacking anyone who opposes him and seeks to put them out of

the church. And by the way, there is a

process in Matthew 18 when somebody who's in sin like

diotrophies and refuses to repent, no matter how many times

they've been lovingly pursued to repent and refuses to repent for

them to actually be separated or put out or away from the body of

Christ so that sin doesn't continually infect the body of

Christ. But that's not what we have

going on here. Diotrophes is using this in a

twisted, evil, malicious way to actually abuse the body for his

own good and selfishness. But let's be clear about

something. Let's rewind to the 1st century

and say, hey, what if we could talk to Diotrophes?

How would it go? Can I tell you how it'd probably

go? We would approach the atrophies

in love, bring up these six things, and he'd likely deny

them all. Likely he'd have a reason to

justify his actions. He'd have some good sounding

reasons. Potentially his pride and

jealousy would not be one of them.

He wouldn't actually name. The real problem being his

selfishness. He'd have some very smooth

sounding, maybe godly sounding excuses.

He'd have a good story. And yet that's how deceptive sin

is, right? It never comes out and says,

hey, I'm jealous of John. I'm going to talk destructively,

I'm going to hinder ministry, I'm going to try to make myself

look good, and I'm going to abuse the bride of Christ if I

have to. You ever heard anybody do it

like that? Nope.

That's how deceptive sin is. But you can be sure when someone

likes position, being in charge, their way, the limelight, and

doesn't have the mind and humility of Christ, you can mark

it for what it is. You can mark it for what it is.

It's a desire to be first and this is what brings destruction.

Verse 11, Beloved, John says this is the essence of the

letter. Do not imitate evil, but imitate

good. Whoever does good is from God.

Whoever does evil is not seen. God imitate good, not evil.

If for no other reason then this statement right here that

explains John's comment after that, that who you imitate

illuminates your origin. Who you imitate consistently and

habitually illuminates who you're who you know, whether you

know God or not, whether you're from God or don't know God, as

John says, as if you potentially never seen God.

Who you imitate illuminates your origin.

You've got good Gaius. We've got destructive

diotrophies. We've got one more guy.

We're going to call him dependable, Dependable

Demetrius. Dependable Demetrius, this guy

is establishing a faithful testimony A3 fold one with

church members, with the truth itself, the word of God, and

with church leaders like John and others.

And John says, unlike diotrophies, Demetrius is a man

you can trust. He's a man of the truth.

Let me tell you some things that obviously Demetrius is doing in

his life. Listen to these Demetrius has

obviously placed himself under godly authority.

Demetrius is obviously serving Christ and the Church humbly.

Demetrius is obviously not looking for position,

prominence, or recognition. Demetrius is obviously living

for the glory of who? Demetrius or Christ?

Christ, and not worried if anybody gets his name or not.

Imitate good and not evil. Good Gaius, destructive

diotrophies, dependable Demetrius.

Young people, I think I've said this before in a sermon, but

I'll say it again. Speaking of who you imitate,

it's been well said. You ought to lodge this in your

brain. Show me your friends and I'll

show you your future. The character of people you

choose to surround yourself in, especially your closest circle.

You're probably not going to arise above the character of the

closest companions in your life. I'm going to say that again.

You're probably not going to rise above the character of the

closest companions in your life. Show me your friends and I'll

show you your future. Imitate good, not evil.

Let me close with some final comments out of verse 13 and 15.

He says here, greet the friends each by name.

John tells Gaius those in the church to greet them from him by

name and I think he says that because John knew their knew

their names. Remember, the church is met in

houses back then. We're not talking about a large

number of people. Most likely John the Apostle

knew these people. But could you imagine being

greeted by name by the apostle John in the middle of a sermon

shared? I had to make one feel pretty

special, right? That he would know know your

name. This is not from a Christian

perspective, but this is true especially when put into a

Christian context. Dale Carnegie was right when he

said that if we want to win friends and influence people,

which by the way, we're wanting to do something much higher than

that, which is when people too Jesus and make disciples, but

that does involve making friends and seeking to influence people

with the gospel. He says if we want to win

friends and influence people, we should remember that a person's

name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language

to him or her. When you remember someone's

name, you pay him or her a subtle compliment.

What do we say though, right? I'm not good with and it was

loud. We say, well, I'm not good with

names. That's kind of a little cultural

expression, which honestly, we really just use as an excuse, do

we not? I'm not sure what you said,

Brad, but when you get old, that may be a better excuse.

It's amazing what happens, though, when we're called by our

name, is it not? And sometimes the deal is, yes,

where's age? And yes, there's other things,

but often times we don't know a name because we've never tried.

We've really just never cared enough to really, really try.

What if you had the challenge to say what?

On any given Sunday, I want to walk away from worship with one

new name I didn't know before. On my Rd. where I sit, somebody

I pass in the hallway, somebody in our adult Bible Fellowship.

Why? It's just a way of not putting

yourself 1st and putting somebody else 1st and you've

prioritized loving them enough to give them the compliment of

knowing their their name. It's just a way of living that

gets you outside of you first and somebody else first.

Just these simple ways to show the love of Christ.

Let me challenge you with these questions before John and praise

team come up. Listen to this.

Imitate good and not evil and our invitation.

In just a moment, I want you to think about how God might have

you respond to one of these. Do you need to start growing

spiritually? Do you need to start walking

faithfully? Do you need to go home and make

a sin list and then commit to getting God's word to find out

what direction God would have me go in walking in truth?

Do you need to make a shift to live missionally, either going

because God is calling you to go or giving because God you know

has called you to give in some way, some form or some fashion

linking your life to the Great Commission?

Do you need to grow spiritually, walk faithfully, live missionly?

Are are you living destructively in any way that you need to

stop, that you need to stop by God's help you can.

If you ask, let me ask, is your testimony for Jesus growing like

it is in Demetrius life? People in your church see you

growing as Jesus? Is the word of God being more

faithfully implemented in your life?

Would the leaders in your local church see the progress you're

making as you seek to follow Jesus?

Is anything holding you back from growing in your testimony

to your Savior? I'm going to stand right here

because you might need to step out and say, Kyle, my soul needs

to be saved and I can't save you, only Jesus can.

But I can talk to you about it. You can just come and kneel.

You can come talk to me. You could get on your knees

about wanting to grow spiritually or living missionly

or having something in your life that's destructive, that needs

to stop. You need to lay at the altar

today and not take home. But you need to respond in

whatever way that is. I want you to respond unashamed

and faithfully to Jesus. I'm going to pray.

We're going to stand. I'm going to invite you to come

and you respond as the Lord lead you.

Heavenly Father, that I pray for us as a family, a church family,

that today you would make us people that put you first, that

aren't people seeking to live selfishly but unselfishly, that

are not destructive but constructive.

Father, that are edifying and building up for the Kingdom of

God. That I pray that the mind of

Christ would be ours, Lord, that we would live that at home and

in our offices and workplaces and here in the life of our

church and our families and beyond.

You got to pray. If anyone is here and needs to

trust you by fate, today would be the day and that you would

work in our lives to imitate good and not evil, all for your

glory. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Would you stand with me? Let's worship, let's sing, and

you come as God leads you this morning.