[Rick Shabi] You know, we live in a troubled world, as we often talk about, a world that just continues to get more and more troubled. It seems like every week has a surprise, and you sometimes sit back and wonder, well, what's happened next, and how does that all fit into the plan? And we've, you know, we know that the still fresh in everyone's mind around the world is this attack on Israel. And I don't even know what Israel's done the last couple days. I haven't bothered listening to the news, but I know there is this prospect of them doing the ground war and that the United States will be brought into that, at least from a financial resource.

And it was a brutal thing. And we were all made aware of the terror and the brutality that is in the world that will only get worse and worse. Sometimes you can't even imagine. Well, most of the time anymore, you can't imagine what goes on in the world when you see the brutality of man. It reminds us of the time in 2 Timothy 3 when it talks about people being without natural affection. We look around and, you know, we see the wars that are there. We have the war that's still going on in Ukraine. And we have now a war in Israel and we have the United States not putting any manpower in it, but a lot of resources in it.

So, you know, Christ talked about wars and rumors of wars. What we have today are wars and proxies of war. Right. That's kind of a new term for us that we have a proxy proxy war with Russia. Looks like we may have a proxy war with Iran as time goes on. So, it is very little doubt when you look at what's going on in the world that there is that we live in the time of the end. And it is comforting to know as we look at what's ahead of us that God does have plans for us and it is time to wake up for those things. People have long been fascinated by the time of the end down through the course of history.

Jesus Christ, His disciples then came and asked Him what's going to be the sign of the coming of the end. And He gave all those things that we're so familiar with in Matthew 24 and He said in the time of the end it's going to be like the days of Noah. People will be giving in marriage and they'll be just going on as if nothing happened right until the time that the whole world just ended. Their society, their civilization just ended. It was so violent and so corrupt that God decided it was going to be no more. And they were just living on in life with oblivion. Even though Noah was preaching, I'm sure, a strong gospel of what was going to happen, they just ignored it.

And He said that there would be a time and it would be like in the days of Lot. And we're very familiar with Sodom and Gomorrah and the sexual depravity and the unspeakable things that went on there in that society, that city became so vile and so corrupt that God just ended it as well, completely obliterated it. Not even ten people in it when Abraham pleaded with Him to save that city. And we look around our world today and here in this society and in our culture we have the sexual depravity and all the things that are going on in the society around us today, things that we, as I often say, couldn't have even imagined four or five years ago.

But they just kind of went on until it was just completely burned up. And Lot and his family were comfortable in that society. They, even though all these things were going on around them, they were just comfortable there. And if you remember, God had to literally drag them out to come out of that society, even though there was all this evil all around them. But the end of that society, the end of that city came very quickly because of the sin that was in it, that God finally said, there is no hope that man is going to turn back to me and repent.

And the Apostles after Jesus Christ was killed, resurrected, and ascended to heaven, they talked about the time of the end because they looked at the area that they lived in and in places like Corinth, there was a pretty depraved society. When you got into the gentile society you saw violence, you saw depravity. And as they were living in the Roman Empire and experiencing the autocratic style of the Roman Empire, that became less and more and more severe as time went on. They thought this must be the time of the end because things just looked like that would be. And they made some comments. If you turn with me to 1 Corinthians 10. One of the ones that we're all aware of and that Paul talked about the times that they lived in and the sense of urgency that he wanted the people at that time to understand.

1 Corinthians 10:11 He says, "All these things happened to them," societies like Noah, societies like Sodom and Gomorrah, "All these things happen to them as examples. And they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come."

The ends of the ages have come upon whom the ends of the ages have come. They thought that as they looked around. We see it today, and we see Matthew 24. We see the events of Revelation. We see the world in a way that it is the time of the end. It's certainly the beginning. We've got things going on as we look over the world situation around us. We see, as a result of some wars that are going on, we see the formation of an eastern power that is talked about in Daniel 11 at the time of end. We look at what's going on in the Middle East, and we see all the furor that's going on over there. We see what could be the beginning of the King of the South that's talked about in Daniel 11 at the time of the end. We know what's going to happen is those forces fight each other. We know there's a King of the North coming. We don't see that yet. That is yet to come, but it will occur when the King of the North is, or they consolidate and march through the King of the South and confront the Kings of the East and the West no longer exists as far as a power.

So we see all those things coming and He says all those things happened to those societies back there upon whom the ends of the ages have come. What did they learn? What can we learn from those upon whom the ends of that age have come? Peter talked about it as well in 2 Peter 3. He talks about the end of the world. And that the time of the return of Jesus Christ will come as a surprise, take people by surprise, just like the end of those ages took them by surprise.

2 Peter 3:10-11 It says, "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, here's the question for the ages. What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?"

Knowing that these things are going to occur, looking at the times that we're in now, seeing the trouble, knowing that it just multiplies itself, what manner of people should we be? What do we need to be doing? Watching, certainly, but also doing some things as we see the time of Christ return nearer, becoming nearer, we need to be doing things and watching things in ourselves so that we're ready for that time so we can stand through that time. Peter actually answers that question in a way if we look at verse 14 of the same chapter.

2 Peter 3:14 He says, "Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things." He thought they would happen in his lifetime, perhaps. We feel more sure when we see all the prophecies and all the elements of Matthew 24 and Revelation right before our eyes. "Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent. Be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot, and blameless."

Don't become like the world. Grow closer and closer to God. Look at your lives more, understand more of God's way, become more and more like Him. Become more without spot and blameless. Those are two things. In peace with one another, in the unity that God wants us to have with one another, without spot and blameless. The very thing that you and I have heard the whole time we've been in the church, that is the goal, become like Him, put sin out of our lives, overcome, as you heard in the sermonette.

2 Peter 3:15 "And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation."

Be patient, wait for Him, keep your eyes on Him, patiently wait. What He says will happen will happen. And dropping down to verse 17.

2 Peter 3:17 He says, "You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked."

Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. Don't buy into the world's arguments. They will be clever. They will look very convincing. Don't fall prey to it. Don't allow that to happen to you. Christ, the very first thing He said is, "Don't be deceived."

2 Peter 3:17-18 "Beware lest you fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And to Him be the glory both now and forever."

All those things, one, two, three, four, I could stop right there and you've got kind of a thing of what we should do, a list of the things that we need to be doing as we are in this time of the end and we see these things happening around us. And as we look forward to those times, there's a lot of things that we need to be aware of and a lot of things that need to be part of our lives. You know, not too long ago we talked about the fear of God, making sure that is part of the foundation of our lives. It keeps us focused. It helps us to remember who God is, what we're here for, and what we do. There's something else that's foundational that we may need to talk about as well. We find it there in the last few words of verse 18. To Him.

2 Peter 3:18 "To Him be the glory forever and ever."

To Him be the glory. You know, bringing glory to God's name is something that you find throughout the Bible, Old Testament to New Testament. Part of what we do is we bring glory to God's name. I'd surprise you if you haven't read it recently that that's part of the reason God created us as a people. To bring glory to Him.

Let's go back to Isaiah 43:7. He's talking here about a time where He will bring Israel back to their promised land. And, of course, we know that God created Israel. It says that in Isaiah and through the miraculous childbirths of that people. And we know that He created us as His special people.

Isaiah 43:7 He says, “Everyone who is called by my name,” that's all of us, right? “Everyone who's called by my name, whom I have created for my glory. Yes, I've formed him. I've made him. Created for God's glory. Bring glory to His name.”

Let's go back to Psalm. Psalm 29. We see David, a man after God's own heart, who certainly brought glory to God's name and praised Him all the time. In Psalm 29 and now I'm going to read intermittently through the first nine verses here, so I'll let you know where I am.

Psalm 29:1-3 It says, “Give unto the Lord, you mighty ones.” That would be, as we have God's Spirit, “Give unto the Lord, you mighty ones, give unto the Lord glory. Give Him glory. And give Him strength. Give him the glory due to His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Give Him glory. Verse 3, “the voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the eternal is powerful. It is full of majesty.”

And he goes through because the God we worship is awesome, wonderful, worthy of being revered and feared, worthy of the glory and praise that we give Him.

Psalm 29:8-9 “The verse of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare, and in his temple everyone says, glory."

Give glory to the Lord. Psalm 22.

Psalm 22:22 "I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you. You who fear the Lord," that should be everyone here, everyone listening, "You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him and fear Him, all you offspring of Israel."

All you descendants, all you people who call yourself Israel or are called by His name, fear Him. Glorify Him. And you don't have to turn to Matthew 6:13. The model prayer that Jesus Christ came the very last part of that, says, "For yours," as you pray to the Father, "For yours is the kingdom, yours is the power, and yours is the glory forever. Amen." Bring glory to His name. How do we do that? Is it just praise? Are there things in the Bible that we can look to that when we encounter them in our lives, say, this would bring glory to our name, or I need to build this into my life so that I am bringing glory to God's name.

Today we're going to look at that. I'm going to give you ten points in a few minutes and that's a lot of points so those of you who like to take notes I'm going to try to be clear on that. And I could have listed a lot more points but I just picked out ten as you go through the Bible on how we glorify God. How we bring glory to His name. But before we go there, let's look and see what happens if we don't glorify God's name, because the Bible is clear when we forget to give God the glory not great things happen. Let's go back to Romans 1. I see a scripture that I was going to go to before, but I'll do that after I turn to Romans here. Romans 1:20, you're very familiar with this chapter. It shows what happened in the Gentile world that was apart from God.

Romans 1:20 It says, "For since the creation of the world, His," that's God's invisible attributes, "are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so they're without excuse."

The only way you can look around the world and not know this is of God when you can look at the sky, is if you simply do not want to believe there's God. You simply want to reject Him. You don't want to know that there's a God because there's no way this world and this earth and everything in it could operate the way it is without a God who is in heaven that is controlling everything.

Our bodies and what we do in life couldn't possibly exist just by accident. It's God. So people are without excuse. They have to know it's God. They simply choose to reject Him just because of the influence of Satan in our lives. So, he says, so they are without excuse.

Romans 1:21-22 “Because although they knew God, they didn't glorify Him as God.” They didn't glorify Him. Hmm. And they weren't thankful either, it says, “nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”

When we forget God. When we don't glorify Him, when we're not thankful, and that isn't part of our ongoing being in our life, to be thankful and grateful and doing the things that would bring glory to God's name, we lose a lot. We become more and more like the world into a state of depravity here that it talks about down through the rest of this chapter, verse 23. They didn't glorify God. They weren't thankful for the things that he did.

Romans 1:23-25 “Professing to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things. And so God gave them up to uncleanness and the lust of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the created rather than the creator.”

And then he goes through and he describes what happened to them. You read through here and it's very much like the state of the world that we live in today and you see this stuff going on in 27 and 28 that's an abomination to God. If we go down to verse 28.

Romans 1:28-32 It says “Even as they didn't like to retain God in their knowledge.” And we have to be honest, the world around us, most of America, doesn't want to retain God in their knowledge. They want to just do things their own way. “Even as they didn't like to retain God in their knowledge, He gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They're whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedience to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

They will flock to the movies and flock to the TV shows that talk about all those things, display all those things, and lead people to astray. A very sick, sick, sick society, like Sodom and Gomorrah, like the time of the earth when Noah was the only one that was found to be blameless in that generation that he lived and God destroyed the rest of it. That's what happens when we don't glorify God, when we don't remember Him and we don't keep Him at the forefront of our mind. And what are we doing? What are we doing to honor Him?

If we go back one book, to the book of Acts. We find just a very interesting little story here, a little account here of something that happened with King Herod of all people. You know, many of the kings of the earth they're just full of pride and they think that everything is about themselves and they take credit for a lot. And every once in a while when you read the Bible you see God showing them what the truth is. That happened to Herod here in this account. Here he is, he's coming to a city and they need him, they think he's the one providing all the stuff that they have.

Acts 12:21-23 It says, "On a set day, Herod, arrayed in royal peril, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people," well they knew, flattery works, flattery works. "The people kept shouting, 'The voice of a god and not of a man.'" And you could probably just see Herod's head just swelling. "Ah, look, they're worshiping me. They think it's all about me." The voice of a god and not of a man. Then it says, verse 23, “Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him because he didn't give glory to God.”

Just out of the blue God sent that angel and because he didn't give glory to God and took all the credit to himself God had him die. And the words ate...the worms ate him. I think God is serious, serious about bringing glory to Him, giving glory to Him. Back in the Old Testament, in Leviticus. In Leviticus 9 we find a similar thing happen. Herod knew who God was, didn't honor Him as God. lost his life because he didn't give God the glory and recognize that He's the source of everything that we have and do. In Leviticus 9:24 we read about this fire. Remember we talked recently about the fire that continually burns. It was supposed to be burning in the temple perpetually that Aaron was charged and is always supposed to be. The congregation was supposed to bring the oil to them. And it was God who ignited that fire. So it was holy fire.

Leviticus 9:24 It says, “fire came out from before the eternal and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.”

Obviously, from God. Here's the fire that started. This is the fire that was never supposed to extinguish. The same type fire that God puts in you and me that we should never let go out. In chapter 10, we see these two young men who are working in the temple and they didn't respect what God had given them. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord. They didn't use the fire that God started, just some other fire, profane fire, not the fire that God had ordained. They didn't use the fire from the Lord which He had... Let me read this.

Leviticus 10:1-3 “And they offered profane fire before the Lord which He had not commanded them.” They probably thought, close enough, fire is fire, what's the big difference, right? “Fire went out from the eternal and devoured them. And they died. Just by doing that one thing. In their mind thought, not a problem, it's fire is fire. What's the big difference? They learned a big lesson. Do it exactly the way God said. Verse 3, “Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke saying, by those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy. And before all the people, I must be glorified.”

I must be glorified. How do we glorify God? So Aaron held his peace. A tough thing to have your sons just instantly die and then be told, "Hold your peace." I must be glorified. They did not glorify me. So, let's talk about it a little bit. Let's go back to, you know, that happened in the Tabernacle there. Let's go back to another point. We're in the tabernacle back in Exodus 39. You remember in the closing chapters of Exodus, God gives specific details of everything that's supposed to go on in the temple. I mean, he tells how every instrument should be crafted. He talks about the colors. He talks about the exact lengths. He wanted things to be done exactly the way that he said. And He recounted those to Moses and twice in the Book of Exodus, it talks about those details. And in Exodus 39:42, we see that the people have completed, that they all work together to build that tabernacle. It says in verse 42.

Exodus 39:42 “According to all that the eternal had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work.”

They did it exactly the way God said. Exactly to His specifications. They didn't substitute anything. They didn't leave anything out. They didn't think that's not important. That's not important. They did it exactly the way he said.

Exodus 39:43 “Moses looked over all the work and indeed they had done it as the eternal had commanded, just so they had done it. And Moses blessed them.”

We move over to chapter 40. Again, God tells him, go ahead and set everything up.

Exodus 40:33-34 It says “He raised up the court all around the Tabernacle and the altar, hung up the screen of the court, and so Moses finished the work.” He finished what had been started at that point. “Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.”

The children of Israel had brought glory to God's name. They did it exactly the way God said to do it. They built that temple, they built that Tabernacle. They paid attention to every detail. Moses looked it over and God looked it over and His glory filled that Tabernacle.

Exodus 40:35 “Moses wasn't even able to enter the Tabernacle because the cloud rested above it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle.”

Did they bring glory to God? Yeah, they did. Yeah, they did. We know the analogy of that physical Tabernacle and physical temple that Israel had. It's not the physical temple that God has us build today. It's the spiritual temple that we're building. And he gives us the specifications of exactly what to do in building that temple. And he expects us to be considering that detail as we build that temple individually and collectively.

In the Minor Prophet Haggai. A third book from the end of the Old Testament. Haggai 1:7. God says something to us as well as to them.

Haggai 1:7 “Consider your ways”. Consider what you're doing. Look and see what are you really up to, what are you about, what are you doing here? What do you see the purpose of your life? “Consider your ways. Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,”

God says. Go out and build it. Bring everything into it and build that temple that I may be glorified, God says. Do it my way. When you do it my way, you bring glory to my name. So point number one on how we bring glory to God's name is to pay attention. Pay attention to the individual and collective temples that God is building in all of us. We have a responsibility of our calling to bring glory to His name. We have a responsibility to each other that we build the temple together so that when Christ returns and He returns to the temple that is built the way He specified, and we have that responsibility to bring that glory to His name as we're building it. do the temple and build it the way he said.

1 Corinthians 3:9-17 “We,” not you and me, everyone listening, everyone who God has called and has responded to His call around the world, “we are God's fellow workers You are God's field, you are God's building. According to the grace of God, which is given to me,” Paul writes, “As a wise master builder I've laid the foundation and another builds on it, but let each one take heed how he builds on it.” Do it to God's glory. Do it the way he said. Pay attention and remember what you're doing and to whom the glory is and the glory that we are to be bringing to him. “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each one's work will become clear for the day,” that day that is coming up, that day when the times before Christ's return come and there will be temptation, there will be persecution, there will be tribulation. What we're made of and what we do with our lives now is we build that temple. The day will reveal it, God says. “The day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test each one's work of what source it is. If anyone's work which is built on it endures, he'll receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he'll suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” And then he reminds us, “don't you know, don't you know, don't you remember that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.”

The only reason we would defile the temple is if we become like the people of Romans 1. That we forget to glorify God. We just kind of get on through life. We just keep doing the things we're doing. We kind of take everything for granted and think things are going to go on like they always have. Or we begin to believe the things of the world or think that Christ has delayed His return and we're not paying attention to what's going on, not paying attention to who we are. If anyone defiles the temple, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy. Which temple you and me are.

So point one, remember what we are doing. We are always building the temple. our own individual temples and the collective temple. We're all part of that building process. We all have the responsibility of bringing glory to God's name by doing it the way He said, which he started and then finishing. Finishing that temple which we have yet to do. Now that leads right into obedience, but that's not the second point. Let's go back to David.

Again, David was a man after God's own heart. He brought glory to God's name and in Psalm 86, he makes mention of the glory of God and he provides us our next three points. Number one, build the temple and bring glory to God as we build the temple. In Psalm 86, we'll get points two, three, and four.

Psalm 86:8-11 David writes, “Among the gods there is none like you, there is none like you, O Lord, nor are there any works like your works, all nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and they shall glorify your name.”

In the kingdom, in the millennium, all nations will glorify God, just like you and I glorify or are to be glorifying God today. “All nations will come and they shall glorify your name, for you are great and you do wondrous things. You alone are God. And then he says in verse 11, teach me. You know, we can always ask God if we don't know something, if we don't understand exactly what he means, just ask Him, teach me. He wants to hear that we want to know. It's always a good prayer. I don't understand what you want me to do. Teach me your way. Teach me how to do this. Teach me how to bring glory to you. How do I do that rather than just saying it? “Teach me your way, oh Lord.” And then he lists three things that'll be numbers two, three, and four in the next few verses.

Psalm 86:12 "I will walk in your truth. Unite my heart to fear your name, and I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify your name forevermore."

So number two is... I will walk in your truth. I will walk in your truth. That we know about truth. We know what truth is. We know that Jesus Christ said, sanctify, set my people apart by truth. Your word, the Bible, the Word of God, is truth. Walk in it. In John 3:21. God says it's those who do the truth that'll be justified. We walk in truth. We learn the truth. We can speak the truth. We live the truth. We must do the truth. We must walk in truth. and be conscious that we are walking in truth. In John 17, Christ speaks of this. Let's just turn to John 17. Because as He's praying to God on that Passover night before He's arrested, He talks about bringing glory to God and how He's glorified God throughout His life. He is the example that we follow of bringing glory to God's name. He did everything exactly the way God said, and there's so many examples of what He gives us. I read verse 17. Let's look at verse 19.

John 17:19-22 "For their sakes," Christ said. That's for the disciples' sakes, your sakes, my sakes. "For their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by truth." I don't ask them to do anything I didn't do. I sanctified, I set myself apart by truth, I set them apart by truth. "I don't pray for these alone, but also for all those who will believe in me through their word. That they may be one, as you Father are in me, and I in you, that they may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me. And the glory which you gave me I've given them that they may be one as we are one."

I've gotten a little bit ahead of myself on that because that actually should have been in point three on the unite, unite my heart. But the point is we walk in truth. We have to know the truth, we have to live the truth, we have to be people of truth. When we speak, live, do, our the truth, we bring glory to God. We bring glory to God when he sees that our hearts are in that, we're not on a fence, we're not kind of wondering what's going on, we absolutely embrace the truth and we stand on it and we stand firm on the truth. That brings glory to God. Go back to John 7 for just a moment. You know, doctrine comes from God. It isn't the church who comes up with the doctrine. The doctrine is in the Bible. And the doctrine comes from God. In John 7, Jesus Christ, who was the Son of God, who is the expressed image of God, who has the mind of God, who is filled with His Holy Spirit and did anything. He made some interesting comments about the truth and the doctrine there.

John 7:16 He said, “My doctrine is not mine, but His who sent me.”

My doctrine is not mine, it's God's. It's not my doctrine, it's not your doctrine, it's God's doctrine. That's what we preach. That's what we live by. That's who we are, and that's what guides our life. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether Christ says, I speak on my own authority. Is it in the Bible? Is it in the Word of God? That's the foundation of truth. That's what we believe. "He who speaks from himself speaks his own glory." And so we have churches in the world and sometimes even people who think, oh, I've got a different idea that's within the Bible. I have this own little idea that I'm going to take out because I think I know a little bit maybe more than Bible says or I've taken it down the road and he says no that's not...that's your doctrine. Doctrine is in the Bible. Doctrine what we preach, what we live by, is there.

John 7:18 “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory.” Jesus Christ wasn't seeking His own glory. He was seeking the glory of God the Father. “But He who seeks the glory of the one who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.”

Jesus Christ spoke and taught exactly what God gave Him. Same thing the Church of God does, should do, boldly, strongly, clearly, the same thing that becomes part of our life. Live by the Bible. Walk in truth. Walk in truth and cling to it. I don't need to turn back to Psalm 86. You remember though the second thing there was unite my heart, David said. So point number two was walk in truth. Walk, live, speak. Do the truth. Unite my heart, David said, and finished that segment with, "And I will glorify your name." When he says, unite my heart, he's talking about bringing me into one focus where you are, singleness of heart. What God wants in you and me is a singleness of heart. And James, he talks about a double-hearted man. We don't want to be double-hearted people. We want to have a single heart. We want to have a united heart before God. We do all the things that we do in our lives. We go to work. We go to school. We deal with our neighborhoods. We engage in commerce. We do the things that we do. We come to work before God, and the work that He has placed us in. Singleness of heart.

Part of that is fear of God. Part of that is everything we do, bringing glory to God, because He is the one who makes it all happen. But doing it with a singleness of heart, a purpose to do His will, to get His job done. That's in our personal lives. That's in our collective lives. That's in our church. I won't take the time, but I'm going to give you a couple verses here to turn to. In 2 Chronicles 30, we all remember a few months ago, probably around Passover time, we talked about King Hezekiah and the Passover that they gave at that time. What happened with the people there in Jerusalem when they were keeping the Passover for the first time, it says specifically, and God was glorified by it, they kept it with singleness of heart. Singleness of heart. We must have that singleness of heart. In Ezekiel 11. Again, talking of the time to come.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 God says, "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new Spirit within them and take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes, keep my judgments and do them, and they will be my people. and I will be their God.”

Serve him with singleness of heart. Do it the way he said. And in Romans 15, let me take it another step, because with singleness of heart, God also is looking for the unity that you and I will have with each other. Let's look at Romans 15 quickly here, Romans 15:6. I'll pick it up where the sentence begins in verse 5,

Romans 15:5-6 “Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another in one accord.” Right? That's one of the things that God, when they're all there on the day of Pentecost, in one place, in one accord, they were united with one another. “May the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” With one mind and one mouth glorify Him. Glorify Him with singleness of heart and united. In unity with one another, in one accord.

When we are that way, we glorify God. And He sees what's in our heart as we work together to become one as we read Christ's words in John 17. And, of course, in Psalm 86:12, it gives us number four. Praise. Praise Him. Praise Him. You know, David, through the last several chapters of the Psalms, it's all about praising God, all about praising Him. We sing songs of praise Him, praise Him, praise Him. And God gives us that praise. When His Holy Spirit is in our hearts, we do have praise that we give Him. We sing those songs to Him. Our minds want to praise Him. Let's look to Psalm 50 real quick.

Psalm 50:23 “Again it's written, whoever offers praise, God says, glorifies me. Whoever offers praise glorifies me.”

Do we stop and praise God? When something happens in our life, healing, something, even little things, do we praise God? Do we stop and think, to God be the glory? To God be the glory for what has happened here. He does know what is best for us. He does watch over us. He does provide. “Whoever offers praise glorifies me, and to him who orders his conduct aright, I will show the salvation of God.” What manner of person should you be? Praise God when some things happen. Take the time to acknowledge Him. "In all your ways, acknowledge him," He said. We go back to the end of the...almost the end of the New Testament

Hebrews 13:15 It says, "Therefore by Him, let us continually..." And you might. underscore or underline that word because the glorifying of God isn't something we do intermittently a few times a year. Continually. "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."

Let us continually offer the fruit of the lips, which is praise to God. Back in Isaiah. Isaiah 57. That talks about that fruit of the lips.

Isaiah 57:19 He says, I create. "I create the fruit of the lips."

Notice how many times the word create is. God created us. He created us for His glory, to glorify Him. He creates the fruit of the lips. Number five, praise God. Or number four, I guess. Number five, the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit in us that creates that praise. Always remember that it's through God's Spirit that we can do any of these things, that we can glorify Him, that we can praise Him, that we can order our conduct aright before Him. If we go back to John 16. Let's read some of the words that Christ said on that last Passover night after they went out from where they were.

John 16:13-15 “However, when the Spirit of truth…” We've talked about truth, walk in truth, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to do that. “However, when the Spirit of truth has come, it will guide you into all truth.” God will lead us to where he wants us to be. We have to let him. “He will guide you into all truth, for it will not speak on its own authority, but whatever the Spirit hears, it will speak, and it will tell you things to come. The Spirit will glorify me.” It will. The Spirit in God, if we are using it, exercising it, conscious of it, using it to deny self and choose to do the things that bring glory to God's name. “It will glorify me, for it will talk of what is mine and declare it to you.”

All things, the mind of Christ in us, as Christ was so we will be too if we let the Holy Spirit guide us and lead us. So that's the Holy Spirit. One chapter back in 15:8, we find how God is glorified. The Spirit will lead us to glorify God, but specifically in John 15:8, we're told what that Spirit in us should do. And this is your point number five.

John 15:8 “By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit. So you will be my disciples.”

Want to glorify God? Develop the fruit of the Spirit. Be conscious of the opportunities to develop agape, joy, peace, unity. Using the self-control that's a part of the Holy Spirit to say no to self and yes to what God wants. Bring glory to God by developing those fruits that are listed all there in Galatians 5:22. If we want to glorify God be cognizant of that. Number six, part of the fruit that we develop is the good works that we do. Let's go back to Matthew 5:16, a verse you know well. Matthew 5:16. But in it we're told another thing that we do that glorifies God.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.”

When they see how you conduct yourself, when they see what you say no to, when they see the principles you stand on, when they see that you stand on principle, no, I will not do that, no, I will not work on that day, no, I will not do whatever it is that someone may lure you to, that they may see your good works when you help someone in need, when you see a need and fill it, all those things that are good works. When they see your good works and you do them, they'll glorify God.

Do we think of that? When the opportunity arises, do we take the opportunity to do those good works. Ephesians 2:10. Those good works, Ephesians 2.10. God uses the word what we were created for, right?

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship.” We are his workmanship. He's working with us, molding us, developing us, building us into who He wants us to become. “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Good works. Do them. take the opportunity, look for the opportunity, ask God to see when that opportunity comes that we would see those good works. And the way we conduct ourselves among people and other things that we may do that show the agape, the care, the concern. the outgoing concern for other people. If we go back to Peter here. In 1 Peter 2. We'll see that Peter addresses this as well. He's the one who said, what manner of person should you be given all these things that are going on? 1 Peter 2:12 he says, "Have your conduct honorable. And then we read verse 11.

1 Peter 2:11-12 “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” Say no. Don't give in. “Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

That they may glorify God in the day of your visitation. Take the opportunity. glorify God through your good works. Think about those things when we see the opportunity to take it, to build the agape, to build the peace, to build the unity, to deny self and to do those things that really leads right into verse 13 here in 1 Peter 2. And it's our point seven.

1 Peter 2:13 “Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, submit yourselves to Christ and to each other.”

You know that it takes humility to submit ourselves. Sometimes that's really hard to do. But we bring glory to God's name when we submit. We follow what His lead is, realizing and recognizing He is in charge and He does what He will. And we do what His will is and choose to follow Him. Submit. Submit, and that includes obey, right? We've talked about obey a couple of times in building the temple and everything like that, but submit yourself to Him. Philippians 2, Paul talks about it as well. Philippians 2:9. Let's pick it up in verse 8, speaking of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:9-11 It says, “Being found in appearance as a man, Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death at the cross.” That's quite a submission, isn't it? Even to the death of the cross, submitted Himself to what God's will is. “Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

Submit to Him. Follow His example. Do things the way He did it. Follow what God said. Follow Him as He followed God and did the things that God wanted.

Philippians 2:12-16 It says, "Therefore, as you have always obeyed, Paul says, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. Hold fast the word of life." Paul says, "So that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain." Do what God said. Follow what He asks to do. Submit yourself to God. Submit yourself to Christ. Follow Him.

Sometimes following Him isn't so pleasant. Sometimes following Him will lead us into persecution and tribulation. We know that He suffered immensely, not just at the end of His life, but throughout His life, He was into persecution or had persecution and people who rejected Him and made all sorts of manner of jeering and everything against Him. If we go back to 1 Peter 1. So number seven was submit yourselves to Christ, number eight we're going to find here.

1 Peter 1:7 "That the genuineness of your faith." What do we believe? How do we trust in God? "That the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

How will we get through or go through the trials we have? How will the persecution be when we're tested by fire? How will we respond? Will we cave? Will we have built the strength during the lives that we have now? That we could stand through those things and bring honor and glory to God's name that we stood right through it all, even if it costs our lives? As Jesus Christ did?

We bring honor, we bring glory to God's name when we stand even in the face of persecution or even possible death. But that takes preparation. That takes God's Spirit. That takes taking the opportunity to follow him no matter where he leads. And looking for the opportunities to build that faith and build that trust today because He will prepare us. He will make us ready for that time. He just won't throw us into it. He'll get us ready if we let Him, if we're conscious of what we do during that time. 1 Peter 4:11, or I'm sorry. Let's look at verse 12. Beloved.

1 Peter 4:12-14 “Beloved, don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may be glad with exceeding joy. If you're reproached, for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part, He's blasphemed, but on your part he's glorified.”

Through persecution, stand with God. Take the time now to be glorifying God, even through those little things that occur. You can mark down Romans 4:19-20. I won't take the time to turn there. You can look at that later. We see some things from Peter who said, what manner of person should you be? Let's just look at a couple things here. Numbers 9 and 10 in Paul's writings. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 6. He has a lot to say about bringing glory to God's name. Certainly through the persecutions that he endured in his life he brought glory to God's name. He went through them all, all those beatings, all those trials he went through, even the stoning, and he just got right back up and kept doing the Word of God. In 1 Corinthians 6:15, after he talks about all these things that were, did mark what some of the members of the Corinthian church were, no longer that but were, he says this in verse 15.

1 Corinthians  6:15-17 He says, "Don't you know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not. Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? 'For the two,' He says, 'shall become one flesh.' But he who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him."

So he's talking here about what could be a tremendous temptation or even part of compromise in the world today as we see the sexual liberty that is all around us. That we may work with people that have that or even in our families see what's going on.

1 Corinthians 6:18-19 "Flee sexual immorality." Glorify God when you flee that, when you remain pure, understanding the marriage and what marriage means, how God brings husband and wife together. And the whole value of that relationship and the way that God ordained it to be. "Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or don't you know,” we might say, don't you remember, “That your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have from God, and you aren't your own?”

He bought and paid for you. You gave yourself to Him. You accepted His sacrifice. Don't, don't defile the temple. Keep it pure. Keep it clean. Live it the way God said.

1 Corinthians 6:20 “But you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”

Number 9. Glorify God in your body. Sexually pure, and then the things that we do as we physically obey God and see what it is that He would have us do. And you can study some of these things on your own and expand on these things. But glorify God in your body. And you can throw the marriage into that as well, because in Ephesians 5:27, it will talk about glow of glory in marriage and doing it right.

And finally, number 10, let's look at 1 Corinthians 10. Like I said, there's so many things. You could do a study yourself through that of what it is to bring glory to God's name. Paul wraps it up pretty well here.

1 Corinthians 10:31 And he says, "Therefore whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God."

Walk in truth. Do the things that he said to do. Be the best employee. Be a good student. Submit to Christ. Submit to those you work with. Do the things of God. Deny self. Choose to be who he wants you to be. Conduct yourselves in the manner that God would have us do that. Say no to self and glorify Him when we do that.

Let's close in Romans 13. You know, we live in a time, as I opened with, time of trouble. It's a time that we will see increasing things go on in the world and as we see these things, it shouldn't scare us, it shouldn't scare us, or it shouldn't paralyze us, it shouldn't panic us. But we should take the opportunity to think I have to look at myself really, really closely here. What am I doing? We need to have those foundational things as part of our being. And one of them is to bring glory to God. And remember, that's what he created us for.

Romans 13:11 He says this, “And do this,” do these things, pay attention to the fact that we are created to bring glory to God's name, that we do the things and we look for the things to bring glory to His name and keep that in our minds as we go through life, no matter what it is we're doing. “Do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light.”

And let us walk properly and let us walk in all things that we do, let's learn and practice and be cognizant to bring glory to God's name.