Biblical Honor | Pastor Aaron Hlavin

♪ Holy Spirit you are welcome here ♪ ♪ Say come flood this place and fill it ♪ If you want more of God, declare. ♪ Your glory God is what you've become ♪ Say. ♪ To be your glory God is what you've become ♪ Come on, with all your heart, with hands lifted high, say. ♪ Holy Spirit you are welcome here ♪ ♪ Come flood this place and fill it ♪ ♪ Say your glory God, your glory God is what you've become ♪ That's it. Somebody declare. ♪ To be your glory God is what you've become ♪ If you want more of him, if you want more of his spirit, shout that, say. ♪ Holy Spirit you are welcome here ♪ ♪ Come flood this place and fill it ♪ Go ahead, stir it up today, stir it up. ♪ Your glory God is what you've become ♪ To be overcome. ♪ To be overcome by your presence Lord ♪ Sing. ♪ Let us become more aware of your presence ♪ ♪ Let us experience the glory of your goodness ♪ ♪ Let us become more aware of your presence ♪ Thank you, Jesus. Spirit of God, we know you are here right now and we invite you, not in just this room, but in our hearts today, in our minds. Spirit of your life, let us sing.

That's it, if you want more, shout it out, say. ♪ Let us become more aware of your presence ♪ ♪ Let us experience the glory of your goodness ♪ ♪ Let us become, let us become more aware of your presence ♪ Let us experience. ♪ Let us experience the glory of your goodness ♪ ♪ Let us become more aware of your presence ♪ ♪ Let us experience the glory of your goodness ♪ ♪ We want you more and more, more and more ♪ Shout it, we want you. ♪ More and more, more and more ♪ If you want more, say. We want you. ♪ More and more, more and more ♪ We want you more. We need you more. We want. We want you. ♪ More and more, more and more ♪ Yay, we want you, sing. We want you. ♪ More and more, more and more ♪ Oh, sing it with all your heart. We want you. ♪ More and more, more and more ♪ If you need more of it today, if you desire for His presence to fill your heart, to fill your mind. ♪ More and more, more and more ♪ We want you more and more, say.

We want you more and more, more and more. Sing, Holy Spirit. ♪ Holy Spirit, you are welcome here ♪ Shout it today. ♪ Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere ♪ Let's sing your glory. ♪ Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for ♪ Sing. ♪ To be overcome by your presence, Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ And what a day it must have been ♪ ♪ Anticipation, expectation, just waiting on Him ♪ ♪ His arrival, longed for, told ♪ ♪ From His Spirit now revealed, feeling young and old ♪ ♪ Here comes the wind, it's rushing in ♪ ♪ He filled that room back then, into this room now ♪ ♪ Do it once again, from heaven down to here, to hear us ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit now consume, just like the upper room ♪ ♪ We want you more and more, more and more ♪ ♪ We want you more and more, more and more ♪ ♪ What a life, that I get to live ♪ ♪ I walk in power, blessing power, to raise you from the dead ♪ ♪ Until I breathe my last breath, I know your plans, I know your plans are good for me ♪ ♪ And you're not finished with me yet, here comes the wind, it's rushing in, it's rushing in ♪ ♪ He filled that room, He filled that room back then, and He'll do it once again, from heaven down to here, to hear us all, to hear us all ♪ ♪ Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit now consume, just like the upper room ♪ ♪ We want you more and more, more and more ♪ ♪ We want you more and more, more and more ♪ ♪ We want you more, we want you more and more, more and more, we want you, we want you more and more ♪ Sing

Firefall, firefall down Spirit to move Firefall, firefall down We want to know you Say Firefall In this room In our hearts In our lives We want to know you Firefall, firefall down Spirit to move Firefall, firefall We want to know you We want to know you Say Firefall, firefall In this room Firefall, firefall We want to know you We want to know you Firefall, firefall down Spirit to move Firefall, firefall down We want to know you We want to know you Firefall, firefall In this room Firefall, firefall We want to know you

We want to know you It's a rain It's rushing Can you feel the room Can you feel the room And it's gonna do it again And it's gonna do it again From heaven down Do you hear the sound Do you hear the sound Holy Spirit Holy Spirit now come to us Say Let's rise beyond the world We want you More and more We want you We need you We want you We want you We want you Come on if you want more of them Just cry out for a church We want you We need you We want you I know a name That can silence roaring waves I know a name That can empty out a grave

I know a name Say It's the And it's worthy And it's worthy of all praise I call you Jesus I call you Jesus Lift your praise! Empower! Every time, say! Every time I call you Jesus I call you my Holy Savior Worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave That's it, say! Every time I call you Lift your praise! I have a King With dominion over death With dominion over death Say! He holds the keys Hey! In His holiness scarlet He is a healer That's crushed the serpentine That's crushed the serpentine That's it, say!

Our resurrected Great I Am I call you Jesus I call you, I call you healer In prison and renegade power Something comes out of the grave Every time I call you Jesus I call you, I call you Savior That's it! You're worthy of glory forever Something comes out of the grave Every time! Every time I call you Say! Chains break Trials weigh Every time I call your name Say! The gates of hell shake Somebody shout it! With all your heart, say! Chains break Trials weigh Every time I call your name The gates of hell shake Every time I call your name Somebody lift up Freedom Sound! Every time I call your name Every time I call your name Somebody shout this with me, say! Where all death is now your sting

And where all grace your reward Say, where all death is now your sting Where all death is now your sting And where all grace your reward Where all death is now your sting And where all grace your reward Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Let loose your praise In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive I call you Jesus I call you my Holy Name You risen and reigning Something comes out of nowhere Every time I call you Jesus I call you, I call you Savior, worthy of glory forever Something comes out of nowhere Every time I call you

Shades break, tribals wake The gates of hell shake Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Dead things come alive Dead things come alive Dead things come alive In the name of Jesus Thank you, thank you so very much. What an honor to be here. How many know Jesus is alive? You know, if you didn't get excited and fired up about Jesus during that worship set, something's wrong with you. Dead things come alive. And we're so honored to be here today. My wife, Jamie, and my daughters, Kayla and Karis. Karis, my youngest, will be a North Point student starting in September. And we're excited for her to be here and be a part of what God is doing. Pastor Sam and Brenda, listen, when you have capable leaders, you're blessed as a church. When you have spirit-filled capable leaders, you are really blessed as a church. When you have character-filled, spirit-filled, capable, quality, normal leaders, you have Sam and Brenda.

They are incredibly humble, yet they lead an incredible church. You are an amazing church. Just want to encourage you. Pastor Brenda and Pastor Sam, they serve churches in ways. Your church helps smaller churches in ways that oftentimes are not ever explained or shared. But your pastors care about other churches, not just your church. And that's why God is blessing Grand Rapids first is because you care about churches and you care about churches outside of yourself. A selfless church represents the heart of Jesus best. And that's what you are in your missions giving and your support of other churches, even your prayer for other churches this morning. And by the way, in addition to your amazing lead pastors and our dear friends, Sam and Brenda, you have an incredible staff. In fact, I was telling my daughters, yeah, let's celebrate your staff for a moment. I was telling my daughters, probably of all the staffs around the state, I probably know more of your staff, celebrate more of your staff, spend more time with more of your staff than probably any staff in the entire state. You have an incredible team from everybody, from musicians to those who serve behind the scenes.

Just so you know, I think you have assembled, Pastor Sam, Pastor Brenda, I think you have assembled, Pastor Sam and Brenda, and the team here, Doug and Tim and so on, have assembled one of the greatest teams you could ever want in a local church. So thank you for being an amazing church that people wanna serve at. Today I wanna share with you about biblical honor. How many know honor is difficult to find these days? We live in a time where dishonoring attitudes seem to be prevalent in unprecedented ways. There seems to be almost a certain joy about being negative. I say it this way, people don't wanna hear your opinion, they wanna hear their opinion come out of your mouth. And if they don't, then you become the enemy. Critics are everywhere. Can I say this about criticism? Criticism is the lowest form of communication. Criticism requires you not to think, not to have maturity, not to hold back. Criticism doesn't have, it doesn't make you challenge your perspective. Criticism is a feeling of angst expressed in a moment of immaturity. The highest level of communication is what the Bible talks about in Matthew 18 and other biblical references about how to do that one to another with the benefit of mutual connection and restoration.

All of us in this room understand that the perspectives that people carry challenge the nature of human dignity that often is ascribed to in a moment of an opinion apart from the creative nature of God. In other words, how many know every human on earth is created by God in his image and has intrinsic value because they exist? Not because you approve, not because you like, not because of any other reason other than the fact that they exist, because God loves them. Now, disagreements are not dishonorable, but most people have become disagreeable. People don't, they've lowered their theology. In other words, we know who God is. Watch this, we know who God is, we know what the Bible teaches, and then we have our reality. The reality is where we live every single day. Let me give you an example. How many of you have had a moment when your car goes flat on the road? On the way to work, your tire goes flat on your car. On the way to work, you show up late, something goes wrong, and you say, God, where are you? Can I tell you why your refrigerator breaks on a day when you have the day before Thanksgiving and it ruins your turkey? It's because they don't make things anymore,

that are good anymore. It's not the devil in your refrigerator. And sometimes we have a theology of who God is, and we say, this is who God is. This is who I know him to be. This is what the word says about my God. And then our reality is where we live. And the gap between our theology, our understanding of God, and the reality that we live in, this is where angst and anxiety gets created. And what we're doing in the American church is instead of raising our reality to match our theology, we've been lowering our theology to match our reality, and we wonder why God isn't doing what he should be doing. Come on. And so we're walking in an anemic kind of faith way too often, and we've lost the very honor that we even ascribe to God, and it's shown by the way we don't honor each other. The reflection of humanity's dishonorable nature is a reflection of misaligned honor towards our heavenly father. When I started in this role, I discovered a lot. I came from an incredible church. Actually, Pastor Drew was our worship pastor right before he came here. We had an incredible church, incredible team, an incredibly growing church, a church that had 60% of our congregation were new converts over a 10-year period of time.

I had a wonderful experience. Then I stepped into this role, and I discovered that people elect you because they like you enough, and then the minute you're elected, they don't like you. And then the minute you're elected, they don't like you. Immediately, they start not trusting you because of a title that gets attached to your name. The truth is that for you in work. If you've been in work, and you've been a coworker, and you get the promotion, guess what? They feel the same way about you. It's the way we are. See, in America, we love to build people up, and then we enjoy even more tearing them down. Just try to be the Red Wings goalie or the quarterback of the Lions. Oh. Scripture shows us that uncontrolled anger, rash words, a hot spirit, literally can get in the way of wisdom operating in the life of a believer. But as the church, we're called to be better, amen? We should set the example to the world of how to live in an honorable way and an honoring way. We should not be the rarity. In fact, most of the criticisms that exist about Christians were created by Christians' bad behavior. We try to blame the world, and we say, oh, the world hates Christianity.

Maybe Christianity didn't do a good job of representing Christ, and we're reaping the benefits or the cause or the effect of what we sow. You should be the greatest worker in your job, rather you get overtime or not, why? Because you do it unto the Lord. You should be the greatest parent and husband or wife that you can be, because you do it unto the Lord. We should set the example. And in our modern-day culture, who's right tends to be more important than what's right. But in the biblical view of honor, what's right is always more important than who's right. And I wanna talk about biblical honor for a moment, and the first point I wanna share with you is, there is an honor, biblical honor is chosen. It is a literal choice you make. It is not contingent upon human understanding of a situation or what someone did for me lately. Now, certainly there are scriptures that remind us that we should just be giving honor. How about Proverbs 27, two, let another praise you, not your own mouth. By the way, how many know, you shouldn't be your greatest cheerleader? If you live your life right, others will praise you. If you feel the need to tell everyone how great you are, no one else is gonna believe you. And he says, someone else, not your own lips. Proverbs 11, 25 says, a generous man will prosper.

He who refreshes others will himself be. Refreshed. But biblical honor is even deeper than just being a nice person and honoring others and not honoring yourself. When we talk about it, the way we honor speaks more of that depth of understanding of who God is in our lives. Think about the 10 commandments. The first part of it is how do we love God right? The second part is how do we love and work with humanity well? And here's what I've learned. When you love God most, you'll love people best. When God is your number one, I remember when our kids were little, my oldest came to me and she said, "'Dad, got a question.'" I said, "'Yeah?' She says, "'Do you love God more or Mom?'' And I said, "'God.'" She goes, "'Ooh, I'm telling her!' She runs up the stairs. I hear her say, "'Mom, do you love Dad best or God best?' And she says, "'God.'" And she goes, "'What?'' And I remember hearing my wife say, "'Honey, when I love God with all my heart, "'I love your dad better.'" Is it possible that the reason we don't love humanity, because if people aren't on your hearts,

they'll be on your nerves. Come on. Come on. Is it possible that the reason we don't love people well is because we don't have something right between us and God? What does Jesus remind us? The greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. It's a consistent thread all through scripture from the very beginning of time when God made a commitment to Abraham. You will be blessed so you can be a blessing. Through this whole process, it's always been about when we get our relationship with God right, we will love people right. But sometimes it's hard. And I'm gonna give you all a break for a minute. How many know people can be jerks? And how many know you're a people? It's true. But sometimes you have to choose to honor even when the person isn't honorable or deserving of it. How do we know this? Exodus 20 verse 12. Honor your mother and father that your days will be long in the land and that the Lord your God is giving you. That sounds great. Honoring your mother and father sounds great

unless you have terrible parents. But notice it doesn't say honor your mother and father because they're good. What it's saying here is there is a choice that we have to make. The word there describes heaviness or weightiness. It is to give weight or significance to someone or something else that sometimes we choose to honor even when it's hard to do. The way you give honor, giving honor means you give gravity to something. You give significance. The opposite would be to dishonor means you devalue something. And I don't know about you, but he is God and I am not. And he has never told me I have the right to devalue his creation. I don't have to disagree with all his creation. I don't have to validate certain behaviors that people have in his creation. But I still have to honor his creation. And this is so important because it's about grace. Grace gives us the power to honor. Jesus gave us grace through the cross and grace given empowers us to give grace to others to recognize that humanity is flawed inherently due to the sinful world we live in, but humanity is all in a process of overcoming

to be more like Jesus. And if you want grace given to you, you better be really good, baby, at giving grace to everybody around you. You know what drives me crazy? I don't know, Pastor Doug, if I'm allowed to say this, but I will. What drives me crazy is people in the world who are Christians who expect everybody else to give grace to them, but they refuse to give grace to anyone else. That's called self-centeredism. That's called selfishness. Grace received from God requires us to be grace givers to those around us. The second time the 10 commandments are given in scripture is in Deuteronomy 5, verse 16. It says, honor your mother and father as the Lord your God has commanded you so that you may live long and it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. I want you to get what he's saying here. Keep that on the screen for just a moment. I want you to get what he's saying there. He's saying there, don't expect me to bless you if you don't get this right. Listen to this, honor your mother and father. No strings attached. As the Lord your God has commanded you, it's an order. So, the result is you may live long

and it may go well with you. You know what drives me crazy? We were in a life group and when we were leading it as pastors and a lady was drinking a gigantic, super double, triple, quadruple, big gulp full of Mountain Dew. And she literally put this prayer request out there. Would you all pray for my diabetes? I was like. True story, my wife was there. She can witness it. All of us in the room were mature enough to be like, well, except one guy. He goes, no. He says, I'm not praying for that while you drink your sugar water. I had a lady at church one time came up to me and she said, pastor, I tried tithing and it didn't work. I said, it didn't work? She goes, I gave a tithe and I didn't get a check in the mail. See, in Christianity, we've created an internal formula that says this. If I go to church, I give and I serve, I should have a perfect life. That is not promised anywhere in the Bible. And sometimes, that was aggressive. That was a balcony person. Balcony people are the wild people in a church.

You need to know. You think you sit up there on purpose? You don't. We channel you there so that you can't make it up here. The balcony people are, how many love the balcony people? Come on, balcony people. Come on now. We choose to honor you today. Amen. He says this. Don't expect me to pour out my blessing to you if you can't be a blessing to your mother and father. In other words, if you can't honor what I've created, don't ask for more of it. I'm not obligated as God to bless something that doesn't know how to honor what I've already created. You know, the most blessed people I know in life are the people who honor people selflessly and choose it on a regular basis. Second part of this is you honor by presence and commitment. How many know an honoring spirit remains gentle, kind, keeps others centered? When honor is absent, you often find the result of division, bitterness, and the pride can get a foothold. The Greek term here for honor gives value, worth, or esteem. It's the idea of assigning dignity to other people. Honor means you treat people with the same value God gives. But I've also learned Christians who make it

rarely do it alone. They have mentors and peers, people who are willing to come alongside like Barnabas was to Paul, and Paul was to Timothy, and Silas. Isolation in ministry and life and in serving as a Christian is a dangerous, dangerous way to live. The more you withdraw from humanity around you, the worse it gets for you. Listen, the devil works best in isolation. God always works best in community. Always. How many know the story of Ruth and Naomi? I wanna share something with you that's on my heart with this. Ruth honors Naomi with her presence and her commitment. And you know the story, you've all heard this before. Naomi and her husband and two sons leave their homeland during a famine. They arrive in another town in Moab. Her husband dies, their sons get married, their sons die. She's left with two daughter-in-laws. And if you read chapter one, Naomi wants rid of these two. She does everything she can do to get rid of both of them. Go away, I don't want you here, I don't want you here. one of them leaves, but Ruth chooses not to do that. She chooses to honor, she chooses to honor with her time and commitment.

Watch it, with her presence and commitment. Watch this, verse 16 through 18. But Ruth replied to Naomi, don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me. How many know she's drawing a line and saying, I'm choosing to honor you with presence and commitment. And listen to the result. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. Ruth says, I'm with you. In verse 19 it says, so the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem, their original, Naomi's original home. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, can this be Naomi? She comes back beat up. She is low in her spirit, she is low in her life. Everything in her society, her lineage, her heritage, her homeland, everything was gone. She would have been considered somewhat of a cursed individual to lose so many people. They don't recognize her, partly because I don't think she recognizes herself.

She blames God and she says things like, the Lord has done this to me, the Lord has abandoned me. She is at the lowest point of her life. Now we know how the story ends, but she doesn't. Right behind her is this wonderful Ruth. And this act of honor does something amazing. Listen to me. Honor was the key that led to future Ruth working the field. The field is where she meets Boaz, who she ends up marrying. He's known as the kinsman redeemer. Boaz not only marries Ruth, but reestablishes all of Naomi's lineage, her family life. He literally rescues her whole family heritage. Eventually a child would be born, and the house she returns to that is empty with no husband and no sons, eventually will have the sound of a child running through the halls. This will lead to King David's lineage, which will lead to King Jesus' lineage. Here's the question I have for you. What if honor is the foundation of a revival in a future kingdom that we don't often see? What if honor with presence and commitment is the platform for a future move we don't yet see? God uses Ruth's commitment to presence to change a nation and us today. We are a result of Ruth's honoring of Naomi. And by the way, when she returns, I want you to see how God works. Check this out, Ruth chapter one, verse 22.

Terrible first chapter. Don't read it on a day like tomorrow when it could be 20 in Michigan after a 70 degree day. You might have snow here on the West Coast, I'm just telling you. Listen to what it says. Terrible first chapter, but the writer writes this last statement in Ruth 1, 22. So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by Ruth, the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving at Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Can I just tell you, honoring somebody with presence and commitment by choice tends to intersect at the exact same time God has already done something amazing. God has already planted, Naomi left during a famine and she's returning to a harvest. She left during a famine and had tragedy and difficulty along the way. But she returns at a season when the seed had been planted and God allowed the sun to come out and the water to fall and she's returning to a harvest and she obtains it because of honor. Can I just tell you, you might be walking down a difficult season. May God send someone like a Ruth alongside your life to honor you with commitment and presence long enough that it intersects with God's harvest that has already been done. be there. Why? Because I think it's barley harvest time for America. I think God has

put a harvest ready for us to reap. I think honor is the key to unlocking what God wants to do next. That's why your church is blessed. Your church honors missions and people. It honors me by the opportunity to fill one of the greatest preachers you're ever going to hear on earth and Pastor Sam. I do not have the preaching ability of Sam nor the personality of Pastor Brenda. How many loved it the one day I was here visiting she got up and Sam says I'm really hot up here. She gets up and goes yes you are. And then she looks at me and says it's okay superintendent we're married. I said my word. You didn't just say it once you stepped right into that. What if the next revival could be triggered by honoring God by honoring each other? What if we get it right in this room? What would that do to Wyoming and Granville and Grand Rapids? If every time they encountered someone from GR first they encountered someone full of joy and honor. What would that spark in a world that is hostile and critical and negative? Wouldn't it be so counter cultural that people might stop and say my goodness I want to know what they've got. And the third and final part is this. We honor people by time and words. The Apostle Paul took three missionary journeys over the course of his lifetime. One of them and I'll tell this quick. One of them he arrives in Corinth. Let's say this is Corinth over here. And Corinth is here and as he arrives in Corinth he's a tent maker. He runs into a couple who have been expelled from Rome named Aquila and Priscilla. Paul lives with them in their house for one and a half years. Can you imagine the conversations they have? Jewish people expelled from Rome because of the conflict that was happening and the Roman Empire wanted all the Jewish people out so there wasn't more conflict that was occurring. And he sits at the table and he probably explained to them about his conversion along the road. Maybe standing there while he watched Stephen get stoned to death. That sounded like a drug reference right there for a moment. Some of you who are new Christians are like what's going on in the Bible? No he was stoned to death. He sits at the table and he gives them time. We see this in Acts 18. Oh let me back up before we get to that. After some time there Paul starts. He plants a church. He ministers a church. He leaves there and when he leaves he says you guys are coming with me to Ephesus. So they go to Ephesus and we would expect the camera to stay on Paul as Paul then leaves for Syria. But what happens is the scripture stays focused on Aquila and Priscilla. A year and a half with Paul in Corinth they arrive at Ephesus

and here is what happens in chapter 18 verse 24. Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos a native of Alexandria came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and he had spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately. This is a good Bible teacher. He is sharing the goodness of God and he is doing a very good job. He says this in the way of the Lord and spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately though he only knew the baptism of John. Apollos doesn't know about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He has only heard about the water baptism with John the Baptist. Aquila and Priscilla who had time spent with Paul in Corinth where Paul poured into them now move from the ones who receive to the ones who are givers. How many know that is discipleship in a nutshell? By the way discipleship doesn't happen from a stage it happens across tables. You can disciple to a point from the stage. You can grow and hear something and go that is a good point. Do you know where the best discipleship happens? Sitting in someone's family room. Sitting at a coffee shop. How many know as Christians we love to eat. It is biblical. It is discipleship. Aquila and Priscilla become the teachers because the time and presence and words that Paul gives them they now ascribe that to Apollos. Listen to verse 26. He began to speak boldly in the synagogues when Priscilla and Aquila met. Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more accurately. The table in Corinth that once was Paul and Aquila and Priscilla now has moved to Ephesus. And now Aquila and Priscilla are now giving time and presence and words to Apollos. Can I just tell you something? In this modern day and era, I've realized something. Time is kingdom currency. I've realized as I've traveled, the greatest thing you can give someone is time. The greatest moments of growth in your life will almost always be tied to somebody who gave you time.

You might not remember this sermon or any sermon, maybe one or two over the course of your life, but you always will know the person who spent time with you when you needed it most, who showed up when there was a death in your family, who showed care for you, who called you when you didn't even tell them you were discouraged, but they said, hey, God put you on my heart. And you realize God really puts you on someone's heart. Time is the currency. Think about it. God even sent Jesus and gave him time on earth that the preciousness of Jesus' coming outside of salvation through the cross was that he gave time to his disciples. He took them into circles, small groups, hung out with them, restores Peter after Peter's failing on the beach by making him breakfast. Time has an incredible honoring factor. To give someone your time is to say I value you. Even one step further. It's to say I value you beyond myself. And I want you to see the result of this. What starts with Paul giving time and words in Corinth, look what happens. They travel to Ephesus. They begin to sow into Apollos. And then look what happens back in Rome. Paul writes a book to the church in Rome.

And here's what he says. They've gone back home now. Once were being trained at a table by time and words are now being celebrated by Paul. Listen to what he says in Romans 16, verse three through four. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, notice the words next, my coworkers in Christ Jesus. Something has happened along the way that they have now elevated to be what Paul describes as equal servants in the kingdom. We're a team now. I met you when we made tents and you didn't know much. Now we are coworkers in the kingdom. And then he says they risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles, remember Aquila and Priscilla were Jewish people. This means they were able to reach across cultures, across different kinds of people groups. And the Gentiles are grateful to them. Can I just tell you something? What Paul is saying here is that what he sowed into them, he had no idea what honor would be reaped back to him down the road. Paul is saying the time I spent with you turned into honor where it saved my life. You risked your life for me. I had no intention of that. I just wanted to sow into your life. I wanted to honor you with my time. And honor has this amazing way to come back around.

That those who honor others often receive honor back. I don't think he had any clue this was gonna come his way. And then he says this great statement. And by the way, in verse five, greet also the church that meets at their house. They are now pastors. Because somebody chose honor and words that spoke life and gave them time. I've learned this over the course of my life. Calling always outlasts criticism. And the calling of my life is not to be a leader. It's not to be in charge. It's not to be a preacher. The calling of my life is to honor people. I told our network when I was elected, over 900 ministers as you heard. My goal is to be the best unseen associate, pastor, and most consistent friend to every credential holder I can be. If you don't know me, so you haven't followed, but your staff, I think, would say, if they follow me on Facebook and they see the way we've reshaped things, everything we do is to honor other people. We have very little that we want attention for. I do not exist to be a leader. I exist to be one who honors people. And you know the result of that has been? Our neighborhood started inviting themselves to church years ago because we spent time

with our neighbors on the back deck. I remember one day, he said to me, my daughter's having nightmares. He's not a Christian, not even close. I mean, not even close. Not even really close. Not even far away close. And he says, my daughter's having nightmares. What do I do? And I said, well, why don't you pray with her before bed? He goes, no one's ever taught me how to pray. And I said, well, here's how you pray. He comes running to me two days later, and he says, what kind of voodoo was that? She slept for two days. And I said, well, it was the Lord. And he says, I'm coming to church Sunday. And he invites his whole family to church. Why? Why did that happen? It happened because we gave them time. We became friends with our neighbors. We didn't say it's on our time. We didn't make the goal of coming to church the goal. We made the goal of coming to Christ the goal. And that doesn't happen in a moment. That happens over time. Now, I joined the fantasy football league in our neighborhood, and I would always drink my Diet Pepsi,

and they were always drinking other things. And I found out years later, when new people would move to our neighborhood, they'd say, hey, do you want a beer? And they'd say, no, no, he drinks Diet Pepsi. And I was like, what's going on? They thought I was a recovering alcoholic, and they were all like celebrating me. One guy's like, how long you been sober? I'm like, my whole life. And they're like, well, what's this Diet Pepsi? I said, I just don't drink. Oh, and guys are going. I was a legend in that neighborhood. It was amazing, for something I didn't even do. Wrapping this up, here's what I've learned. Biblical honor is always sown before it's reaped. If you want honor in your life, sow it. You want your kids to honor you, honor them. We're in that transition phase, where my daughters are now adults by age. They're not fully functioning yet until they're off my payroll. My dad used to call that viable adults versus adults. But I'm shifting my role. Conversations when they were little were being, here's what dad thinks you should do. Now my role is, here's a couple thoughts. What do you think you should do? I'm shifting, because by the way,

you don't raise kids, you raise adults. And I'm shifting from the primary to an advisory role. What I don't know if they understand is, it's me giving them honor. Because someday, I'm not gonna be able to honor them. I'm gonna be young. And it's not that I do it for this goal, but I hope one day the honor I sow into their life comes back to me in my old age, where they can honor their mother and father. Because honor has been sown, honor will be reaped. It's not the goal, it's not why I do it, but how many know, how many want some people to honor you in life? Then start going crazy with honoring other people. Listen, you say as church people, well, you know, I do that. No, listen, we're more rigid than we think. You all sit in the exact same area of the sanctuary every single Sunday. That's how Pastor Sam knows when you're not here. The staff looks around and goes, there's a hole right there. Where's Bob and Jill? We're more routine because we come to church and we find our pocket of friends who tend to sit in the same section and we become friends with them. And then an announcement comes, hey, if you see somebody with a blue bag,

make sure you greet them. And you go, boy, I sure hope someone does that. Instead of saying, where's the blue bag? Because it's not the bag, it's the person holding the bag that has the value. The bag and the gift means almost nothing outside of the fact it's an identifying of somebody that we're trying to value at GR First. There's gonna be some crazy heroes in this place who are gonna make their mission every Sunday to sit in a new section to find the person near you with the blue bag and make that your. primary goal, and actually invite them to go out to lunch and pay for it, because you're gonna honor somebody with choice, whether they deserve it or not, because you don't know them, and you're gonna speak words of honor, and give them time, and give them commitment, and give them your presence. See, honor is something we steward. Honor is a gift given by God to us to be able to do something with. Romans 12 10 says, love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. It's almost like, it's not, but it's almost like a game, a challenge. I'm gonna try to out honor Taylor. I'm gonna try to out honor Eric. I'm gonna try to out honor Doug. I'm gonna try to out honor Meredith. I'm gonna try to out honor Drew. I'm gonna try to out honor Dane. How many know, when you live with that, it's not a competition, but it's a joy. Hey, we're gonna be the most honoring group of people that have ever existed on the face of the earth, and because we pour our life out, we represent God well. First Thessalonians says this, and I'm at the very end here. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you, who are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. Listen, the way you honor those in authority, I'm not just talking in church, I'm talking on the workplace. Could you be the different one that goes out to

lunch at your engineering firm, and when everybody wants to talk about your manager, you're the one who doesn't? That you could show honor because that person is in a position of honor? Students, that you honor a teacher, rather that teacher is a good teacher or a terrible human being, that you have honor because of the title? Because you're a Christian? Proverbs 11 25 says, the generous will prosper. Those who are fresh, others will be refreshed. Romans 10 12, love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. That's a different translation of that same verse. I'm just convinced, in my final thought, I'm just convinced that God is about to pour out a revival across America, and it's going to be different than any other kind in the past. I think it's going to start when God can look at his church and say, because you honor well, I'm going to honor you. I made you to be a blessing, so be blessed.