Disciples that Honor | Elder Rosalind

You're listening to a message to go from ax Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Are you a person who seeks recognition and honor? Oh? Yo, straightway?

Then yes, yes, thank you for responding to me by

very being very honest and lifting your hands. And I

think it's true all of us, right, whether you know

from your campus days, all of you you're working so

hot to get your degree and you're hoping to at

least graduate with honors, true or not? Right? And then

after that you go into the working force. And I

believe you. I scan around. There are many working adults

you know, and you work hard. You know you want

to get promoted because you want the honor and the recognition, right,

and so to to I want us to think about that. Yes,

I think our lives we want, we seek that, we

desire recognition and honor. But I'm gonna ask you the

next question then is this the question is the next

let will ask you? Are you then a person who honors? Right?

We want to be honored. But the question tonight is

not tonight? Whit say it tonight? This morning? Maybe I'm

hoping this night tire reda so that I can sleep

the question is are you a person that honors if

you think about it? And I think it's a question

to ask us because the reason I say that is

because honor is dead. Honor is data. And I speak

it on a general basis, but I also speak it

on behalf of the church that this, this whole word

and principle of honor is very lacking in our lives,

all right. So then the next question asks is who

then do you honor? Right? So we say, yes, we honor,

we honor, But then the question is who do you honor?

And if you think about it, there are probably people

that you honor more and there are people that you

don't want to honor, true or not true one and

true one because it's like be real a right that

this son you cannot lah, cannot la jo, you know,

cannot honor. And then the next question is then how

do we honor? All right? And so we want to

go into the Word of God and understanding this principle

of honor because part of being a disciple, right, and

so a theme for this year's disciple first is knowing

that when we apply this principle of honor, God honors us. Right,

So we want to know what it is like to honor. Okay,

Now some things to think about, right, I'm just gonna

give you some statements. Honor is not about agreeing with someone.

Sometimes we think like yo, but I don't agree with you,

Therefore I cannot honor you. Okay, think about that. Honor

is not about liking someone, huh. Okay, So we always

equate it, right, I don't like you, la, therefore I

cannot I cannot respect you, bro, I can't because I

don't like you. I don't honor you. But I wanted

I want us to think about honor as valuing someone

simply because God values that person. That is what true

honor is. Okay. Now, you know if you go into

a Bible, right, you go into the Bible, there's an

Old Testament and a New Testament, and we're gonna go

to the next light. And so the Hebrew word for

honor is covote. Right. Literally, it means weight or heaviness.

It means substance. Write something of substance, la, Okay, God, wait,

one something important as honor, respect, glory. You understand these words, right, So,

so it means there's something heavy that you put on someone.

There is the Greek part of the word, which is dosa,

It means honor, your honor, you know, And usually the

word is about you know, divine quality. Right, divine quality

is something of God great splendor, all right. And another

word in Greek is tim a. Can you say tim a?

Tim ay? Right? It's is to honor, to value, to respect,

whole in high esteem. Now for this, I'm just gonna

invite shir Lean to come up and be my model

for a while. She's why you put me on the spot. Now,

you give other people a chance, and never my if

was here there, I would use her, so in her

state I would usually instead. Now do you know in

this world we recognize honor? How do we recognize honor?

So I'm sure you are very familiar with some like this. Yeah, yeah,

you think about it. Right, It's it's a piece of

ribbon with a metal. And yet why do we play

so much value in this? Right? If you are running

in the Olympic sports, for example, you win goal, right,

and then the honor that is placed upon the winner,

please give her our class because she's running running the

race of faithfulness, right, champion, Okay, I purposily find a

goal one? Okay, go go extra heavy? Actually is this

heavy a bit? Right? I mean it's before this got

way got wait? Okay, so do you know that when

we honor someone, we are recognizing who they are? Firstly,

we have to acknowledge, right, acknowledge something of that person.

And then do you see that it's a very visible

thing that I just did. And what it does is

it adds weight to that person. Can you imagine if

I put a hundred of this onto you, then you

think you'll be you'll be holding on, But will it

be heavy? You'll be heavy? Right? I mean one piece

is like okay, a little bit a we actually this

is quite weighty, right, but can you imagine if there's

one hundred of it? Right? So when you think about

it now, when you honor someone, are you adding weight

to that person? Or is it just empty words that

just fly off and it's like no significance, right, no significance.

And when I think about this, actually, our words carry

a lot of weight. Did do you recognize that our

word carries a lot of weight? And whether we like

it or not, when it lands on that person, the

person will probably feel Okay, you know it's just one

of those words that you just have to give it

out or it's something that really adds to you. Okay,

I want you to think about honor in that concept.

I'll be okay so far. Okay, So let me give

you another more real example. Okay, So, how many are

you celebrating your birthdays this week? Birthday? Birthday? Anyone? Anyone

ex kids, someone in X kids. Okay. Now, if you

have a phone, and you know that on your birthday,

you're the busiest person, right because you're answering all your

what's that messages? Happy but day, Happy Boday, happy birthday,

right right right right? Happy but day? After one hundred

happy birthdays, and then and then you get one message

that says, Shirlen, thank you so much. You know that

you have been serving faithfully next you rats since the

day you were here. Thank you for since the day

you came lived You weren't part were you part of

the founding team? No? Okay, But she's faithfully serving and

you have risen to a place, you know where you

may not have wanted yourself, but we recognize your sacrifice.

And I just wanna bless you on your birthday and

say God will be with you. You know God's gonna

strengthen you. God's gonna go before you, and He's gonna

make you to be the salt and lie of the earth.

Is gonna make you the hit and not the tail.

And I bless you on your birthday. Amen. Now you

compare the hundred messages of happy birthdays with that one message.

Can you feel the difference? You do? Right now? Tell

me what made that difference? The genuine the genuineness of it.

So sincerity is one of it. Great? What else? The recognition? Right?

There was a lot of thought put into it. Do

you know what it was? Not just like a customary

happy birthday because you just like obligated a lot better

wish have people day and you just get it out

of the way. Do you see that? Okay? What else

made it different? The words? What about the words? Do

you think that it was? You know you it was

just easy to write something like that. No, no, right,

because you have to take time, You have to take

time to think about it, you have to take time

to type it out, and then you come from a

place of sincerity, right okay, and then when you send it,

even though it's just words are and by the way,

do you know WhatsApp is free those days, okay, my days.

Right when you send sms, you need to pay you

all ten cents fifteen cents, so it actually costs you something.

Nowadays it costs you nothing, all right. And the very

fact that you took time to do a public recognition

of someone, to honor that person, you have added weight

not only to this person, you have added weight to

this person in the eyes of everyone else. Do you

know that when you read that kind of message, how

do you feel you feel cared for? Right? Like? Like, okay,

let's say you are not the recipient of that message.

Charlene was the recipient of the message. And we have

the group what sept right and all of you just

say happy but the happy birthday, and then she received

that message right from me? How would that make you feel? Wow? Why? Wow?

You want that too exactly. You want that kind of recognition,

that kind of honor, and you appreciate it, right, something

that will stick with you, Okay, stick with you for

a long Okay, So thank you Cherlene for being my mother.

You can sit down now, thank you. Can we give

it around flaws? So basically I want to tell you

that when we think about this, what honor can it

be seen, right, honor? You can just say, yeah, I

honor people. Yeah I don't say bad things about them. Maybe,

but can it be seen through your life? Can other

people who look at you as a disciple of Jesus

Christ say that this is a disciple who knows how

to honor? Okay? And I tell you this because the

what honor in the Old Testament, right, it comes from

this what glory? Do you know what glory is? Okay,

let's go to the Let's go to Exodus chapter thirty three.

Are we okay, let's go to Exodus chapter thirty three. Now,

so thinking about honor and thinking about the tangibleness of

what honor is. So this is the account where Moses

was with the Lord. Yes, right, Moses was with the Lord,

and God had chosen Moses to go and lead the

people into the promise. And of course God says, you

know you're the chosen man man. Moses says, I'm not

the chosen man to someone else. But after a lot

ding dong ding don, Moses says, okay, I will do

this right. Uh. And so there's this account where God

said the children of Israel has seen so much I

don't want to go with them anymore. You know enough,

enough is enough. And Moses says, no, Lord, if you

do not go, I will not go, because your presence

is the most important thing. Right. And so because of

that interaction and the intimate relationship that Moses has with

the Lord, and so now Moses very quite bolder, quite bold. Okay,

let's go. And this is what the exchange he has

with the Lord in verse eighteen. Okay, okay, So because okay,

let me read to you in verse I give you

the context. Now, okay, Moses said to me my presence, Okay,

let's go from verse fourteen. Okay. Verse fourteen in Exodus

chapter ter three says this, and he said, this is

what God said. My presence will go with you, and

I will give you rest. Okay. This is God's promise

to Moses. And then he said to him, Moses said,

to the Lord, if your presence does not go with us,

do not bring us up from here.

Right.

So the context that I gave you earlier verse sixteen,

For how then will it be known that your people

and I have found grace in your site except you

go with us. So we shall be separate your people

and I from all the people who are upon the

face of the earth. So the Lord said to Moses,

I will also do this thing that you have spoken for.

You have found grace in my sight, and I know

you by name. Amen. Wow, so good, right, God is say, hey, extraras,

I know each one of you by name, even our

latest newcomer. Right, we have a little baby in our mates. Welcome, welcome. Yeah,

God knows her by name, even though I've forgotten. Sorry

ha ha, Adelia is Adelia. Wow? Yes, that's right, Adelia,

beautiful name. Okay. And God says in verse eighteen, Okay. So,

so God says, I know you by name. And this

is what Moses asked of the Lord. Moses says this,

and he said, please show me your cabote. Please show

me your glory. Some of your translations will say that,

but it also means please show me the honor. Okay,

the same what now, cabote, honor, glory okay. And this

is what the Lord said to him. And he said,

I will make all my goodness to pass before you,

and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.

I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,

and I will have compassion on whom I will have

compassion verse twenty. But if you cannot, but you cannot

see my face, for no man shall see me and live.

And the Lord said, here is a place by me,

and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall

be while my covote passes by, that I will put

you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover

you with my hand while I pass by. And then

I will take away my hand, and you shall see

my back, and my face shall not be seen. Amen.

So this word glory is very intertwined with the word honor. Right,

So remember again the crux of honor is we see

people as God sees them. Amen. Okay, just think about it,

that glory. Okay. Now another verse. If you know that

this is the vision of X church, do you know

what is the vision of X church? That is our mission?

Helping people believe is our mission. That's great, That's what

we try to do, helping all of you believe in

what I'm trying to say, all right, in what God

is saying right right. So it's from Habakuk two fourteen.

Habakuk two fourteen. This is the vision. If you don't

know why we exist as a church is from Habakuk

two fourteen. It says is for the earth will be

filled with the knowledge of the covote of the Lord,

as the water covers the sea. So, if you think

about the whole reason why you are living today, the

whole reason is we want to bring covote to the

Lord by how making sure that the whole ends of

the earth, the whole part of Churus, will be filled

with the covote that God, God deserves. Amen, glory of

the Lord as the water covers the sea. If you

think about it, everything that we do, we want to

bring covote to the Lord. Amen. Are you with me

so far? Okay? So now let's go into some principles

of honor. Of who and how do we honor? Is that? Okay?

We're gonna be very practical with this. Now. First of all,

who is the one who deserves the highest honor and glory?

It's God. Why let's go to Psalms twenty seven. What

does some twenty seven say? Some twenty seven says this,

give unto the Lord, Oh, you mighty ones, give what

give unto the Lord? Covot and your strength give unto

the Lord the covert due to his name, worship the

Lord in the beauty of holiness. So do you know

what this honor is? Something that belongs to God. It

is to him, right, and so let's be very practical. Now, okay,

how do we show God honor? Tell me how do

we actually show God honor? Because the Bible says, give

honor to God, right, give him the glory? So how

do we convote unto the Lord? So give me some examples.

We thank God. I heard the word appreciate. Do you

know that when you thank God, when you actually utter God,

thank you for this day, Lord, thank you for this morning, Lord,

thank you for this body. Lord, thank you for breath,

thank you for life. You are firstly acknowledging that it's

Him who gives you life and all that. Right, you

acknowledge that He is good. Right, and so this way,

what are you doing when you thank God? You are

adding weight? Did you see that? Now? When you thank someone? Right,

like just now, when I thank the extremist, you know

what we did? We actually added weight. Can you imagine

if I had like a medal, I will put one

on everyone who's serving, because when we thank them, we

added weight to them. Do you do that on a

daily basis? Do we do that like once a year

or when we remember? But do you see? This is

how I think most importantly is do you thank God

every day of your life? I think that's important. Even

though you may be going through the worst crisis of

your life. Can you still honor God? Think about it? Right?

Can do you still honor God? And this is a

principal friends, Can I tell you when you live by

God's principles, you will be blessed. I will show you.

A versely, say okay, and you say where God? Where God? God? God?

Is there in the Word of God that says that

when you honor Him, he will honor you. So don't

pardon our young brother here, he says, very enthusiastic, Okay,

the Lord heal you? Amen? Right? So yeah, you know

that that's one way we honor God. Why do we

Why do we honor him? Let's go to other verses

that says all honor is due to Him in Romans

chapter eleven, verse thirty six, For it says for of

Him and true him, and to him are all things

to whom be covote forever. Do you see that? Now?

Every time you see the word glory, somethings the think like,

what is this Gloria. It means God deserves to be honored.

God deserves to be honored. Amen. Revelations, Chapter four of

US eleven says that you are worthy, o, Lord, to

receive cavote and honor and power, for you created all things,

and by your your will they exists and were created.

Do you believe this, friends? Do you believe this with

all your heart? Do you come with God with that

kind of awe and reverence that go wow when we

come before the Lord, right, it's just like wow, God,

you are so majestic, You're so big, You're so deserving

of my honor. And I come humbly with my little offering,

with my meager strength to honor you. It's not about

you know. When God is looking at us right with

our offering, He's not like wah, sister Lisa, your offering

is better than ben beny. God's not looking at the

size of your giving. He's looking at the size of

your spirit. He's looking at the size of your heart

because a man wise right, God doesn't care. He's looking

at what attitude? What posture are you giving that out from?

That is more important to God. Do you know that

for someone who really honest God, do you know that

when someone really honests you and someone who doesn't, you

know what? Right you would know it? And God also

knows it. Although everyone here is seated looking the same

to me, you know, and later you know as you

give and all that, as you whatever that you do

unto the Lord, as you worship him, God can see

all in your heart. We can just see the external. Allow, Okay,

we can just see the external, But no one knows

the heart except the Lord. Because God knows. And that's

why he would say, right, some kind of worship right,

he despises you know. I think that's quite scary that

you can't think that you're doing a lot of sacrifices.

You're doing a lot of things for the Lord, and

God says this kind of sacrifice right, I don't like

because it's coming from a place where you're seeking honor

for yourself, not because of me. Amen. So let let's

not begin to switch our mindset to think God, when

whatever it is that I do for you, who is

it for? Who is it for? Is it for me?

For recognition? Is that why I'm serving? So that people

can thank me and recognize me? No, And there's a

verse that says, everything that you do, you do it

unto the Lord. Right, so it doesn't matter then if

nobody thanks you, sola, because you're just doing it unto

the Lord joyfully. Amen. God deserves our glory. Amen. Amen. Now,

so this is where we come to when it says

God's word comes with a promise. All right, let's go

first Samuel chapter two, verse thirty. Therefore the Lord, God

of Israel says, I said indeed that your house and

the house of your father would walk before me forever.

But now the Lord says, far be from me. For

those who honor me, I will honor, and those who

despise me shall be lightly esteem. Have we been despising

the Lord? We can say we honor, but in our hearts,

in our action. Do you know that when we talk

about honor, it's all about action. You know. You can

pay a lot of lip service. Yeah, I love God.

You know.

I can sing, you know, and I was Lord, I

give you my life, you know the song Lord, I

offer my life to you. You know, everything I do,

we can sing all this, But God, it's like, where

is the action? You pay me lip service? But it's

more than lip service. I see this, I see this

in your life, in your decision making. And God says

those who have paid the price to honor me? And

God says, I'm waiting, honey, I'm waiting to pour out

such a blessing upon your life, Nick that you can't

have room to contain it. Amen. Do you see? God

is a god who has so much more than we

can ever imagine, you know? And sometimes we also calculative?

Right?

Hello, friends, I'm an accountant by training. I'm very calculative. Okay,

everything to the sand one, all right, I do this

for you? Do you do this for me? Card? Is

that our relationship with the Lord? Do we calculate?

You know?

Okay? Can I confess? I'm very honest. I've been in

extra for twenty years. Ready, and in the earlier days,

you know, I'm very calculative, calculative in nature. And you

know it came to a point right where I actually

counted how many hours I serve the Lord? Wow, prayer

service two hours plus traffic three hours Sunday easily five hours? Okay,

that's eight hours. Then you got your homes two hours

plus traffic okay, another three hours? Right like that? Right

then you're like, wow, God, I give so much hours

unto you. You know, then you feel good like you're like, oh, actually,

I'm serving the Lord. Until one day, one day the

Lord had to convict my heart and says, who gave

you your day? Who gave you your time? Who gave you

the energy? Ah? So relatable, right yeah? And then I

began to have a mind shift to say, God, Wow,

you mean everything that I have now is from you.

That's why it says, right, romans, if everything came from you,

and so why do we cockolate and say, God, you

know I want to take as much as I can

from you? Actually, right, you know this is the power

of the height meaning right, if you want to really

live by that principle, it's just saying that God, there's

some things in my life that I cannot touch, which

is for you and you alone. Meaning if you have

twenty four hours in a day, what is ten percent

of that? What is ten percent of twenty four? You're

mets okay, not hello? You have twenty five hours in

a day? Is it? Sorry? Sorry? Keep you awake? Some

of you're sleeping already. I'm trying to keep you awake, okay.

Twenty four hours. What is ten percent of that two

point four yes? Okay, are mets are working? If we

are mething now? Okay, so then let me ask you

a question. Do you set a site two point four

hours a day for the Lord? Yeah? Some of us

who have learned the principle. Well, I'm I'm not knocking anyone.

Can I tell you that I was not always here?

I started with, like I said, calculating before the lort,

like whoa, God, I give you so much of my

time right until God had to check my heart. And

then now it's like, well two point four hours? You

mean what I have to like pray for two point

four hours? Some of us right two point four minutes?

Like God? Okay, enough? Really, thank you Lord for the

food breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That's why I give the law.

Never mind, start there? Can I say start there? Can

you start there and just say I think I can

give more maybe five minutes, la, okay, go a bit

into a lengthier prayer. Then pray for your brothers and sisters.

We lea ken, not camera on. You know, it's just learning.

Can I tell you it's it's a journey. This ypership

is a journey. It's a process. We're not saying, Wow,

you gotta be like that, Well, then you've got to

pray twenty four seven. Men, you're like what No So said?

There is an art right into saying. Everything that I do,

whether I eat or I drink, remember that verse. Whatever

that I dotter, I eat a drink, I do it

all unto the glory of the Lord. You know that.

That's where we want to get to. It doesn't matter what.

You can be driving and you can still be doing

that unto God's glory. How drive cathulila true or not.

Don't be a monster, you know on the traffic honking

people everywhere? So good, so good? Right, so think about it.

How do we bring honor and glory unto the Lord

and to me? After all that is said? Right, okay,

I want to just go to one more verse. Sometimes

we say, this concept of glory and honor is very abstract, Right,

how do we see God's glory? Like just now Moses

wanted to see the glory of God. God says, you

cannot see me, for whoever sees me will die. Right,

but we thank God that that's not the full stop.

In fact, that it was a comma because after that.

In John one, verse fourteen, he says this, and the

word became flash and dwelt among us, and we be

Hell his glory and the glory the covert as the

only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Now honor covote has been made evident. It's no longer

just you cannot see God's glory. It has become full

in Christ, embodied in Jesus Christ. Amen, because you know what,

sometimes the word covot, honor and glory seems so far

from us. Right, and God says, no, I want to

bring this near to you. And do you know that

Jesus coming down to earth is God's expression of saying,

I'm coming near to you. I want to show you,

I want to walk with you, I want to eat

with you, I want to live with you. Right. That

is the God that we serve. Amen, How do we

honor God? So we can say we can say it's

it's serving, we can say it's sacrificed, we can say

it's giving financially, our time, talent, and treasure. But I

think the best way to sum up how we can

honor God is this work called obedience. Do you agree?

In Exodus chapter twenty, verse three. You know there is

this this part about honoring God, right, and you know

the Old Testament? Right? Do You're like the Old Testament

so hard? Thank you for the honesty. Yeah, it's so

long and it's so removed from our contacts and culture

that we are like, ah, it's quite hard, right, And

so you know what is the first come? I'm gonna

ask the back. Yeah, engage with y'all a little bit. So, Matilda,

what is the first commandment in the ten Commandments of

the Lord? If you remember Old Testament? Yeah, Old Testament?

What is the first commandment that God gave to the

children of Israel? You have no idols? You should have

no other God than Me? Right, So, yes, that is

the first commandment and that part of it, right, God

is trying to tell us that there is no other

person who deserves the honor that I do anything else

that robs that puts God in second place. It means

you have this honored God and this can be can

I can? I be very honest with you, This can

be good things. But good things are not God. What

are some of the examples of good things like our handphone?

What are some of the good things like our family,

our children, our marriage. These are good things which God

has granted us. Right, But the moment we put it

above God, then guess where where is God? If you

put all these other things as first place, then where

is God? Hopefully second place? I don't know, or at

least some of us will be the tenth place. Right.

But do you think God is happy with second place? No?

He is so jealous for his people that he's like,

I want to always be first place. You know why?

Because we are first place in him? Did you see

that that God puts us first place? Why do you

think He designed the earth for you and me? Why

do you think he bothered to send Jesus Christ? Did

he need to? Okay, okay, let me ask you a

real question. Do you think God needed to send Jesus

or no? Was it necessary for his part? What did

he gain from it? Nothing? Right? If you think about it, Father, God,

Jesus' Son, Holy Spirit, happy communion? Did did? Did the

Holy Trinity need to do anything for humanity? What's in

it for them? I tell you what's in it for them? Criticism, betrayal,

spitefulness and forgiveness and girl wrath. This is what they

received in return. This is what God received. Do you

know how God led the children of Israel? True for

the years of others? Right? What did they get? Any? Thanks? No, complaints? Yes,

thank you very much, complaints, bitterness, grumbling, accusations. Why did

you bring us out here to die? Did you see that?

And many times our lives are like that? So did

God need to do it? He didn't, But he did

it because he knew that we needed this savior, a man,

and so for that we And if you can come

to that knowledge now, then you know that what is

the response? What is the right response? What is the

right response from us to someone, to God who loves

and cares and sacrifices for us? What is then actual response?

It's gratitude, it's thankfulness, is a wholeheartedness of one thing

to serve God and to please him. Yeah, yeah, that's

what it is. Now, so you know that how we

honor God is It comes in many expressions and form,

but the greatest is the one that is marked by obedience. Amen. Amen?

Now who else do we honor? So this honor principle, right,

it's everywhere in the world of God. Now, the next

category of honor would be parents, Can I see a

show of parents here? Yeah, Actually, there's quite a number

of you, at least forty percent of you who are parents.

So children, listen up. By the way, if you're a parent,

you're also children, okay, because you can't get to where

you are without first being born. What this Exodus twenty

twelve says. It says, honor your father and your mother

so that you may live long in the land. The Lord,

your God is giving you amen. Do you agree with

this or not? Well, you don't have to agree with me.

You just have to agree with the word of God.

All right. God's word says you know, this is out

of the tank commandments. This is the first commandment that

God gay that came with a promise. This is how

much God wants us to learn honor. Is that? Okay,

try and capture can you try and capture God's heart?

God's heart is He wants us to learn this principle

of honor right, And he says, honor your parents so

that you can live long in the land. Okay, give

you a new testament. Ephesian six want the three says, children, children,

obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

He didn't say Obey your parents when they are smart.

Obey your parents when they do the right thing. Well, yes,

they should do the right thing. Obey your parents, you

know when they gives up. It just says obey your

parents in the Lord for this is the right thing

to do. And twenty three twenty two says this, listen

to your father who gave you life. And do not

despise your mother when she is old. Right, So let's

be practical. What are some examples that we can do? Remember,

our honor is shown, Okay, it has to be expressed.

What are some way of the ways that we can

do to express honor to our parents? Can you share

it me? Marc Macandurian. Is that how you got your voice? Yeah? Oh,

because you love doing Yes, right, there's so many things

in that meaning you you do something that you know

the other person likes. Your parents like you're gonna spend time,

You're gonna spend money during it's not cheap, right. Yes, Uh,

that's one way we honor parents. Show them that we care, right,

show them that we know what they like. Do you

know what your parents like? You know? Right? So can

you have you done anything about it? Right? Knowing is

one thing, you know, but have you shown the honor?

Have you expressed your know? What other ways do you

can you express honor to your parents? Bring them for

a medical checkup? Yes, it's very practical, right, very practical,

even though they are like, you know, parents are right,

I've seen that also. You know, it's like it's okay,

I'm okay, I'm okay, don't want to go for a checkout, right,

just bring them Okay. That's one way we show care

and honor. What else? What else? How else can we

show honor? Share with them? Okay? So there's this part

of communicating with our parents. You know a lot of

parents that really want to know what's going on in

your life, but we all just keep everything to ourselves, right,

like a mom you don't know lives? Okay, I tell you. Also,

you'd be like, huh, then you ask me ten thousand questions,

I go no time to answer you.

Right?

Do you know that your parents are really invested in

your life? You are their children, you know, and so

sometimes it's just making that time and space to just say, yes,

you know, I want to let you know what's going

on with my life. That's how we show honor to them. Right,

why more practical? Wait, come on, listen, Wow, thank you.

Oh your parents might be so proud of you. Ha ha. Listen.

Do you listen to your parents? Do you hear what

they're saying? Right? You know? Man times in communication with parents, right,

we can. I be very honest with you, and we

get very frustrated with your parents. You get annoyed and

they are like asking you so many different things. Right,

You're like, oh, don't you get it? Earry. I live

with my mom in law and I have had many

times where she will ask things which I'm like, it's

a no brainer question. Right. It's like, you know, I'm dressed, right,

I took the keys. Oh you're going out? Ah? You know.

We can respond in either you cannot see me, tron on,

can't you see I'm dressed? It's like duh. Or you

can just say yes, I'm going out right now? Two response,

two response, right, And it happens just like that. And

you know, because when you live together, you know it, Yeah,

it can. When you're busy, you got ten million things

on your mind, right, and sometimes all these kind of

questions come at you and you can choose to respond

in a way that honors them, or you can choose

in a way that lightly esteems them, like can't you

see no Eisa, Oh, let's not go there. Okay, but

you know, I say as a joke, but just watch

your response. You think about it. You watch your response

to your your next interaction with your parents, and you

see whether you have added weight to them in a

way that honors God or you have taken it off

from them. Think about it in our honor parents. Now

let's move on to another category of people that God

desires us to honor. And I will say this because

I'm not the direct leader over your hahaha, but please

honor your leaders, okay. Romans thirteen, verses one to seven

says this, Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities.

The one in authority is God's service for your good. Okay.

So who are the governing authorities in our life? Right now?

Can you tell me? Right now? Right here in Malaysia?

The government? Sorry, I'm not you brain him? Do you

pray for him or not? I do know? Are you surprised?

Are you surprised that we should be praying for our

prime minister? The Word of God says, pray for your leaders?

Right So I obey the Lord's You know, that's how

I honor God. Right, I honor God by obeying what

he says, which is heres. So do you know that

it becomes very practical. Do you know God's what's very practical.

And it's not like I don't understand what's God's will

for my life. Pray for your leaders. That's already honoring

God God, because there's this word. Remember I told you

the crux of honor is obedience. So when you read

the word of God, you just obey la. It's not

whether you like it or not. It's not whether you

like him or not. No, Remember I said, honor is

not about liking that person. It's about doing what God

has commanded us to do. Right, it says, pray for

your leaders. Let everyone be subject, honor everyone, love the brotherhood,

Fear God, honor the Emperor. We got no emperor, but

we have a leader, a prime minister. Right, So that's

what we can do to show honor to everyone. Okay,

let's move on. I like this first Timothy, Yeah, first Timothy. Okay,

this one talks about the elders, the elders who direct

the affairs of the church. Well, well, are worthy of

double honor, Oh, double honor? Okay? Not I say one? Okay,

not I say it's the word of God? All right?

So can we learn to express that kind of honor?

All right? Titus three one to two sass remind them.

So I'm reminding you to be subject to rulers and authorities,

to obey, and to be ready for every good work,

to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle,

showing humility to all men. Wow. Can we make it

an ambition to live like this? If you want to say, oh,

how do I live a successful Christian life? You obela?

Can you be subject to your rulers and your authority,

submit to your home leaders, submit to your CBC, your

church gland coordinator, the leaders ACPC, be ready to obey.

Are you ready for every good work to speak evil

of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, to show all

humility to all men? Wow? High calling? Yeah, is really

high calling. But this is what the lot wants for us. Okay,

I'm gonna go to the final category and it says this.

It really is about honoring everyone, honest, honoring others. Okay,

Romans twelve ten, So I hope you're taking notes that.

How can you show honor, be kindly affectionate to one

another with brotherly love, in honor, give preference to one another? Wow?

Do you know that most of the conflicts in this

world is due to selfishness and preference? I'm looking at

all my married couple, your married couples here, ah, yes,

husband and wife. All your major world conflict? Right, the

wars in your marriage is usually boiling down to selfishness.

I want it my way, ah, put the two paste,

kept on it this way, No purn it the other

way around? You fight because of that? Okay, tell it's true,

because that's that happened with me. I'm hoping. Oh right,

it's preference, selfishness. You want things your own way, and

your preference for doing things a certain way. Right? And

and what does the world? God tell us very practical advice.

He says, give preference to the other person, give in lah.

So what if your two paste is upside down or whatnot?

Will you kill you or not? Ah? Ah? Bennie's like

a so, so you know what we can do with

the world of God? We say, Hey, God's would say,

show preference to each other, show me that preference. But

how we should take it is I should show you

the preference, because what does it say in yeah? Later on?

You know there's one in Philippines. Way's my Philippines verse.

God is there a Philippines verse? Ah ah ah see,

he says, let nothing be done true, selfish, ambition or conceit,

but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem others better

than himself. WHOA are you able to do this or not?

I struggle with this. I struggle with this, but I'm

reminded that this is the word of God for us,

and I strive to live by meaning I will think

of someone better than myself. It's hard when there's a

lot of pride in you, la, Can I tell you

that because you're like, I know the way it did,

I know the truth. You know everything I say is correct.

But to take on a position of humility, and you know,

the Philippines verse is just Jesus saying he was fully God,

but he stripped himself of his divinity and he took

on the form of a man. And he even obeys

See Christ, if we say we are true disciples of

Jesus Christ, we follow Christ? Right, So what does that

mean Christ himself obey to the point of death, even

death on the cross. And then it says, in loneliness

of mind, let us esteem others better than ourselves. Oh

your heart, lightest one. This is a hot one, okay,

But by the grace of God, we will learn. We

will learn the way of humility if you really want

to follow Christ. Right, he was a man marked by suffering,

but he was also man marked by humility. First cointence,

it says, those parts of the body that we think

are less honorable, we treat with special honor. I don't know.

In church, right, sometimes we glorify the front stage. Yeah,

I mean it is real. We talk about this and

people want to be front stage. You know, we want

to be the one that everyone can see to receive

the honor. But do you know that the very same

person who is shaking hand down at the cup up

cannot so much be seen, right, The one that is

doing X kids all hidden behind a room you cannot see.

Some of them stay up until two am making the

X kids craft for your kids. The sacrifices that they've paid,

those we want to treat with more honor, those you

cannot see. The one who painstakingly make sure all the

chairs are in a straight corner? Do you know that

our chairs are quite straight? Right? Someone had to come

and do it. You know, you think everything is ready

easily like that. Someone had to come and set up

the sound system. We don't see. We take it for granted.

So what can we do at least when thank them

and thank you for serving? Do you know the very

least we can do to honor those parts that we

don't usually see is to at least say thank you, la?

You know why? Because when you remember, honor is seeing

the value in that person as God sees that value,

and we are part. Do you know it's a privilege.

It's a privilege to be able to honor someone and

say I'm adding weight to you. I'm adding weight to

you because God says, when you show me honor, I

will honor. Do you know what when you give weight

to someone, right, God is saying, come, my child, I

want to give weight to you. God is waiting to

give you honor when you learn how to honor others. Okay,

I love this verse. Okay, I love this verse. The

next one rite about honoring others? How many can I can?

I see? How many competitive people do we have here?

In church, like you, you know, your competitive la sports

all must be known. Oh I need to honest people.

The rest of you maybe not so competitive, flaw. I

am very competitive. Okay, you wanna play captain ball with

me and you watch out? Okay, ah, okay, I'm super competitive.

I just want to win. So yesterday we went for

a parenting workshop by doctor go Chilong. Did you know

that that was? It was so good? Guys, you missed

out big time. So so good the parenting workshop. There

was so much value that he gave us. You know,

he extended half an hour. You're like, we want more,

we want more. It was so good, very practical, very

helpful for us to raise resilient children right generation. But anyway,

he said this one one statement, he said this thing.

He says, do you know whoever said to you life

is a competitive sport? Whoever said to you that parenting

is a competitive sport? You know? And we have this

mindset right like parents right come together, right, they're gathering,

gathering together, and it said, oh, my children can speak

fire languages. Or then the other parents said, oh do

you know my my children can play golf, hockey, football,

can play gucchen can play piano and guitar. And then

the next parents say, oh, my child can go you know,

has gone to Australia, New Zealand, Tim back to China. Yeah,

so parenting now becomes a competitive sport. But God never

asks us to play in that competition. And life is

not a competition. But I can tell you there's one

competitive thing that you can do. This not a lot

on not this on sanction by the Lord. Okay, sanction

by the Lord. And this is taken from Romans, Chapter twelve,

Verse ten. Romans. Okay, it says right. In the NKJV version,

it says, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love,

in honor, giving preference to one another. Right, we say this,

But I like the ESV version. ES version says this,

love one another with brotherly love. I'll do one another

in showing honor. Wow, if you want to be competitive

in anything in Liva, make it your ambition to say,

I'm going to show you honor. I'm going to be

the best person that will learn how to show others honor.

It says, right, I'll do each other in showing honor.

It's not like something that I coin up right. It

it's in the world of God. So I'm gonna end. No,

I'm gonna end soon. I want to say this that finally, finally,

after all sit and then we know that it's the

word of God. Yeah, we know that honor must be express,

it must be seen, it must be shown, all right,

it must be spoken as well. Sometimes the spoken word

it's just so powerful, right, even like, you know, one

way we can honor our parents is just to tell them, mom,

and that I really love you. Sure, come on, I

know Chinese culture very piss you know, we never see

these kind of things when I never mind bull those

through your culture and your piss us and just say Mom,

I really love you. How about taking another step late further,

God really loves you. How about that to say God, mom,

and that I love you so much. I honor you

so much that I must tell you that God loves

you more than I can ever love you. Right. Isn't

that part of why we believe, you know, why we

exist is to show God's love to others and to

obey his will in making disciples. I mean, it's all

part and parcel of it. Right. You remember the parable

of the this. You know there was a parable a

quick one. The father had two sons, right, and then

the father asked him to do something, and one of

the sons that, yes, father, I will do it, and

he goes away and forget, like ersenah, I'll do it,

but never for we forget. And then there was the

other son who say, I won't do it, You're not

good ozula. But then at the end he did it.

Who's the one who showed the parent honor the second one?

So I want us to go beyond just lip service

just to say it, you know, because it sounds good,

but to express it, show it in our lives, because

you know, your action counts more than your words. Finally,

and a final thought to leave with you is I

want to say that honor is a choice. You agree,

it's you know, as in everything in life, God is

so gracious to us. Honor is a choice, you know,

And unlike you know, we can go into a whole

debate about respect. You know, what's the difference between respect

and honor? Many of us would think respect your if

you earn the respect, then I give you respect. But

honor is not like that. Honor is I simply do

it because I'm in obedience to what God has commanded

me I honor. It is because it's a principle right,

And finally, it's because you choose. It's a choice. Can

I tell you it's a choice, Like all of us

can just leave this place later and have chosen not

to honor one another. But if you make it a

point to say, I'm going to choose honor in my life.

If there's one value in my life that I want

to learn how to express and live the rest of

my life, it is this choice to honor. And it's

not honoring just those above you, it's honoring those under you,

under your care. Do you know that you need to

honor your you need to also learn to express care

for those under your care, your children. There's a different

dynamics that are children. Honor your parents. Fathers. Do not

exasperate your children. There's the different forms of expression of

honor for one another. But this is what God desires

of us, to have a healthy relationship. A man with

Him and also with others. Amen, a man, Amen, Come,

let's pray. I'm gonna just invite the worship team to

be on and let's just make a commitment to the

Lord this morning in what way so now this is

a personal challenge to all of us. Two things, Uh,

in what way am I choosing to honor God more

in the coming days? And in what way am I

choosing to honor others in a way that honors Him? Amen? Hallelujah. Come,

let's just close our eyes and just let us be

ministered to by the Holy Spirit, and just let him

speak to us. Who is the person that he's reminding

bringing to your mind? I'm sure there's someone. God is

very practical and he doesn't just give us principles without

the practice, because it is in the practice that the

principles come to life. Would you choose honor as one

of the mark in your own life? How would you

choose it? How would you live it?

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as church Org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week, a

hit for you. God bless