Fruit That Remains | Authentic Weight | Psalm 100:3 | Arik Hayes

Have a seat, beloved. In the presence of the Lord. Yeah. We've been having a good time all day today. Know what I love about this good time? If you've ever been in the world, there were always side effects to their good time. Now we can come and have a party in the Lord and it's edifying to the soul and spirit. No side effects. We have good fun in the Lord. Yes, ma'am. Good Holy Ghost phone. No shame, no condemnation, no bondage, freedom, edification, increased knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is our portion. Amen, beloved. Amen. Welcome to 2819 church. Beloved, my name is Eric Hayes. I'm one of the elders here. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. I love you. Amen. We are a church that is absolutely a house of prayer, presence, and proclamation. I want to welcome our online community, the digital disciples, those that may actually have traveled in. We get at least a couple of you guys that are in the building. Those that are driving us or actually joining us across the chat during the live stream, we want to welcome you. And last but not least, we definitely want to welcome the unbeliever in the building. Clap it up. Why do y'all make a fuss about the unbeliever? Because the gospel is about the unbeliever. God himself is concerned about the unbeliever so much so that he sent his son to die on a raggedy, rugged cross for the sins of the unbeliever. Check this out. Even those who won't believe, he still paid the price. Who wouldn't serve a God like that? This is a place you could absolutely belong before you believe, and we welcome you. This is the time that we customarily give honor to the pastor of this ecclesia, Philip Anthony Mitchell. No pressure, beloved. I just want to give you the opportunity. If that's in your heart, give the opportunity to share that. Amen. For the scripture says we should give honor to whom it is due. I believe if you continue to fight your flesh and bow before the Lord Jesus Christ and steward a revival and love your wife and each one of your children and wring your own sin out and pursue holiness and purity over decades, over decades, I believe that is to be honored. I want to honor him there. As a church today, we're starting a brand new sermon series titled Fruit That Remains.

Fruit That Remains. We walk through all of Matthew over three plus years. We walk through the first two chapters in Acts. This summer we'll be discussing virtues that we think are biblical to expect to see in the lives of believers that walk hand in hand with the Lord. I've been given the assignment and the privilege to deliver the first message of said series today. It's been titled Authentic Weight. Authentic Weight. Please allow me to pray for us one more time as we dive into the word of God. Holy Father, we've seen outpourings all day. God, we already thank you for what you've done in worship. As we transition to the word, we still want to see your glory. Still want to see your grace, God. Help us align with what you've said in your word. Help us be malleable, God, and not be stiff-necked people that we would hear your word and align by the power and privilege of the Holy Ghost living on the inside of us. Right, God? I want to finish this assignment in faithfulness, God, and purpose, for you love your children that are listening now, those that are live here, and those that are streaming. Have your way in me, God. I seek to decrease that you would increase in this moment, that you would continue to have your way. You've already started. We ask that you continue. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. You mind hanging out with me, Frank? I appreciate you. Thank you. If I'm honest, I believe I can talk to you like we family. I usually do. Is that all right? All right. This is easily one of the most difficult preaching assignments I've ever had. Right? I mean, preaching, I think probably in an official sense at this church before when it was Victory Church ATL, I think it was like sometime in like 2000, maybe 17. And this is tough because it's actually easier to talk about what this value or Christian ethic is not. It's easier to look at the opposite or the antonym

because it's much more prevalent in the world and unfortunately the church. Right? Let's discuss it together. Let's reason together. You let me know if it's true. It's easier to see the degradation of people, people being degraded. It's easier to see disobedience. It says in the last days, children will be disobedient to their parents. Have you seen that or have you not? It's easier to see numerous examples of disgrace. And in the world, in politics, state, federal, local, and even in the church, it's easier to see corruption. And it's by a long shot, beloved. Like it's not even close. Like you scrolled, you looked on every screen in your house on your phone, your tablet, or your TV. You see, just turn on the news. Look at any news outlet. It's easier to see those things. Those strings are coming in by the billions. And it makes it harder to come up with an example of the thing we're actually gonna discuss. And what we're gonna discuss today, this Christian ethic is called honor. See, just like there was a murmur, you felt exactly how I felt. I was like, I can barely come up with something

where universally I'm gonna say, hey guys, this is what honor is. Help me preach a couple of times. I'll give a good illustration where I can liken it to, I'll say similarly, and then I'll say here's the natural and here's the spiritual. I am struggling with the natural here. Struggling. There's a couple reasons that's the case. We in the West have thrown out the culture of honor. And adopted the culture wholeheartedly of individualism. Let me say a little further. So we balk and scoff at the general disposition of honor, like that doesn't apply to us. Because we want to give precedence to how we feel about person, place, or thing in the moment. What's that look like, right? We just don't wanna say, I'm gonna honor. We wanna give an opening. So if we don't like it, we don't approve, you don't do what we want, you hurt my feelings. We wanna be in our flesh instead of the spirit as if we really have a choice. As if we have not been bought with a price. And we wanna give the opening to our honor when I feel like it. Told the first experience, man. I was actually fighting with my wife this week. Don't get quiet, man. Y'all fight with your boyfriend, girlfriend?

You fight with your wife? Look at me like that. We know you fight. I do counseling sessions. I know they fight. And I'm not above it, right? Anytime you have two people in a marriage covenant, because he awakens things that are not going to be awakened just in dating, it's another level. Married people in the building, it's another level. And we were discussing things, because I would love to tell you, you're gonna be able to discuss something one time in your marriage, and it's gonna be over. You hear the chuckle? That would be a lie. So we were having a conversation that we've actually been talking about for years, right? Right? And I was upset, right? And then we stopped talking. And then my wife was just like, this thing, this one made me mad. She actually calmed down before I did. Right? So here she is being all sweet. Talking about, he said, go ahead, Nia. Okay, gotcha. Gotcha. Right?

So now she's like, now she got a sweet voice. Hey baby, can we please just talk? I'm like, no, I don't wanna talk. Can you at least hear what I'm, no, I don't wanna talk. No, I don't wanna talk. I'm gonna talk, I'm talked out. No, I want to talk no, I don't want to talk don't feel like talking anybody ever been there Then won't talk Right, but we just finished our spring a cohort of one accord for those that came through Right, right. So that means I was just exposed to the blueprint of marriage and Something in my soul. I will call it the Holy Ghost crept up from right here. It was not my idea and And it came up like the Holy Ghost does and he said See you yelling amen because you didn't have to do it Amen you don't always amen when God tell you to be obedient. Do you I? Got toddlers, I understand my toddlers they throw a tantrum. I'll be doing the same thing. I just don't do it out loud You need to honor her So I called her I'm trying to act like I was all holy hello my love co-heir of the grace of this life Didn't do that. I asked I think I said something like So And The conversation didn't go amazing either Right, but I had a choice to make It's a choice all of us have to do in the West Excuse me all all over the world, but we're we're really bad this in the West because we don't honor We choose to honor our feelings We wake up in the morning and functionally what we do is We bow at the altar of our feelings say feelings Feelings should I go left? All right?

Should I forgive or hold a grudge should I walk in my spirit or walk in the flesh feelings Oh feelings Singing worship songs to your feelings the God of your heart Idolatry even when you put yourself on the throne As we jump into honor honor must first is best When you start out by saying this is going to be the disposition of my heart regardless of how I feel When you choose a head of time to honor I'm gonna honor my spouse I'm gonna honor my children. I'm gonna honor my boss. I'm gonna honor authority. I'm gonna honor the pastor I'm gonna honor that elder. I'm gonna honor the the ministry leader. I'm gonna honor the bus driver Because if we wait until our feelings give a thumbs up we will not have an honorable life And beloved as believers honor is our portion Another tidbit We cannot separate We cannot separate We cannot separate we cannot divorce honoring God and honoring his word Cannot honor God Let's have looked at his word. Well last time you consulted him Last time you prayed to ask his opinion before you make the move instead of God bless this mess You Bibles are some of the dustiest books in houses Even Bible apps are some of the most unused If you got an Apple, I don't know what they do in the other one But if you got up there that wasn't even a shot I'm gonna get back to the Word of God. I literally don't know cuz I ain't got one, right? I don't know what they do on other platforms, but it'll tell you how long you've been dealing with the app You'd be like a productivity calculation Go go look pop it up and now see how long you've been on the Bible app compared to the other ones Can't divorce it man It's the thing so if you heard me preach for five minutes, I'm always talking about my children, right?

I love them, but the reality is God teaches me through my children. What the Lord has given me as a parent, as a father, as a girl dad, as a boy dad, like he's always presenting opportunities to teach me. Right? And I got boy, girl, fraternal twins. They just turned three, May 14th. All right? Amen. We almost out the woods. I said, when they turn four, some of this gray will stop pumping in. All right? This is what I think. Okay? Right? And my son, I noticed about December, we were actually in Columbus, Ohio, my in-laws there. And I noticed this boy had gone a little rogue. Like he's just, he's like all boy. Like he want to jump. He want to flip. He want to slide down. Like he just, he just wants to, even when he hugs you, it's a little aggressive. Like he's wrestling and hugging you at the same time. Like he's all boy. Right? And we don't want to take that out of him.

We just want to shape it. Amen. There's this thing where they're saying there's nothing, there's no difference between the genders. I think that's a lie from hell. You just want boys to sit down between the ages of one and five, crisscross applesauce for 10 hours a day. And they've actually had, little boys actually have surges of testosterone at three years old. Right when he sat down, he has testosterone running through his veins. Go take him out and let him go down the slide 50 times. Then he'll be more apt. It's not going to be perfect to sit down because he's actually burning off energy. Right? But I noticed him. I'm like, he's a little rogue. And this is how I know he's a little rogue. He would look at me in the face. I mean, in the face. He would do this. The funny thing, he looks just like me. He would just look me in the face and I'll say, I'm over there. I would call him to be over there. He would do this. This I know he knew what was going on, right?

I would say, I would call his name, call his name, call his name, call his name. Then I got wise. I said, you need to move on this boy. So then I shortened all that calling his name. I would call his name like once or twice that I would get up. And I found that when I got up, all of a sudden he became more obedient. All of a sudden he understood the King's English. And I love him. And I hug my children. I tell them I love a man and I kiss a man. And I also chasing them because I love them. The same way with your heavenly father. He is love, patience, goodness, grace, and also discipline. That's called a good father. But as we were dealing with this, we started to walk things back and it's gotten considerably better over the last like four or five months, right? Cause we were intentional. But I remember just wrestling like there. So there's love and there's grace. They're like, I love a man. I kiss him and I hug him. We play. But something like when he was just being rebellious, I'm like, hey boy, I made you. For you to look at me in my face,

understand what I'm saying and just go the other way with all your two-year-old wisdom. Who do you think you are? Give me Psalms 100. Psalms 100 verse three reads as such. I'm gonna take my time here. Can I take my time, beloved? All right. All right. Cause I think this is a good little point right here. It says, know that the Lord, he is God. Why'd I read it like that? That's not a period. That's an exclamation. Sometimes some of our trouble would go away if we just recognize that he is God. You need to know who you're dealing with. I'll continue. It says, it is he who made us and we are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. I think this is pregnant with a couple of things because it's really being redundant there. It is he who made us. We are his. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Almost like when Christ in the New Testament says like, truly, truly, and verily, verily, I say unto you. I love the King James version that says, it is he who has made us, not we ourselves.

Who do we think we are? Looking at the command of the living God, not the dead one. Right in the face of the scriptures, closing it and say, I have a better idea. Can I tell you something, beloved? I used to think that rebellion was very loud. I had to learn, my sister, I thought it was very loud. I thought rebellion looked like this. I ain't doing that, God. I ain't doing all that. Nah, man, I ain't doing it like that. No, I'm gonna do it my own way. All of us would label that rebellion, wouldn't we? But you know what's the more common sign of rebellion? It looks more like this. Nah, I'm good. Check me out. You don't even have to say it out loud. A lot of us just say it in our hearts. It looks like this. It looks and sounds like this. Ha! Ha! You know what that's called? Rebellion. Look at me. I'm gonna save you. I'm gonna save you. It's called rebellion. It just looks sweet on the outside.

And because many of us don't live with the honor to God that we should, our lives are a mess. Honor is protection. You know who I've seen that from? This is my second time calling her out. Mrs. Jackson, Rhonda Jackson on the prayer team. You hardly ever see her on stage, but you know what, man? She lives an honorable life. She is real big on, what do my leaders say? What do they say? What do they want me to do? She can have an idea. If she hears something that her leaders say opposite, it's done. Woo! I've never heard her arguing her way with a leader. She may, not even all the time, she may submit her input and we welcome it. But like, she just lives an honorable life. Clap it up. All right. And I've known her for some time. She's actually had gifts. I believe as a result of her being honorable. Right? But some of us want the favor, but we don't kill our flesh. That was so funny. Sister, I'll scratch your head.

I don't know if that was really an itch or if that was conviction, right? But all of us scratch our head like, we want the favor of man, but do we want to live the submitted life? Do we want to live the honorable life? Live the quiet life. And we all have choices to make, beloved. Just like I did with my wife. I had a choice to make. I heard that from the Holy Ghost through my soul. How often do we brush it off? We brush it off and then sometimes we run into things and we shake our fist at God. Where he has given us in many ways through the word of God or a rhema or leaders input into our lives. And we have been rebellious and dishonorable. And now we have calamity. And it's not God's will. Some things you're going through, it's just a test from God. Some stuff you're going through, it's because you're walking in your flesh. And you're in rebellion. You have chosen your own way. And we've been purchased by the precious blood in Emmanuel's veins. And dishonor should not be our portion. Give me Malachi one.

Six through eight. This is actually, this is inserted because our pastor thought it'd be a good idea to teach us right here. So that's what we're doing. All right? Right? Now, everyone talks about Malachi, you think of like tithes and offerings. Set that to the side. All right? Look at the heart of the father here. This God speaking. Verse six, Malachi one, six through eight. A son honors his father. And a servant, his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master and he is where is my fear Says the Lord of hosts to you Oh priest who despised my name, but you say you priests How have we despised your name? by offering polluted food upon my altar But you say how have we polluted you? By saying that the Lord's table may be despised that you allow it to be despised When you offer blind animals in Sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor Will he accept you or show you favor Says the Lord of hosts Look at me if anybody knew the type of sacrifice that God required. It was the priest It was the priest their whole point was inspect the sacrifice. Is this worthy and then I'll take it in and here They are offering up. It says blind animals

Lame or sick animals God says is that not evil? Where is my honor you wouldn't even give that to a man your governor and you offer it to me Now we move from those sacrifice right sacrifices Christ is the ultimate sacrifice but over in Romans 12 It says we should live our lives as a living sacrifice and beloved I'm asking you to inspect what we're giving the Lord Don't clock out don't clock out we in this together all of us Need to inspect the sacrifices that were given unto the Lord And you say hey, this is a danger you can say hey I'm doing pretty good and you may be but my question is are you giving him what he is due? It's really easy for us to make up our own little Rulebook about how we're supposed to deal with God instead of consulting him Can I tell you something that'll mature you instead of going to the Bible and the scriptures with assumptions go asking questions You All right, and this can be a very challenging word because we want to mature you guys This is a Christian ethic that should be in the believers life at least in some capacity Right, but some of you guys because we've been polling we actually do like spiritual formations with different teams and whatnot and We do counseling. I would say a vast majority of you guys have only been with us like less than three years Some of you guys actually had just got baptized just got saved just got brought into the kingdom just Sincerely rededicated your life to the Lord. So some of you guys have never heard a teaching in honor and that's okay This is your introduction Okay, there's grace for that Then some of you guys have actually You've been hurt You've been hurt There was a time you were leaning into the Lord and something came and like hit you at the knees and now you're gunshy I was stepping out on faith and giving him what he is due and It's affected the level of honor that you walk in with the Lord and also everybody else and you need healing and I'm saying beloved don't walk wounded seek him for healing

Some of us actually we we we we more interact with God as servants of God instead of children of God Servants aligned with works Children aligned with grace now both serve in the kingdom Right, but as a servant you're less likely to even think that God wants to heal you You just think he wants you on the battlefield He just wants to be working and he does but as a father to a child he wants you whole Our father wants us whole If you've been just dealing with scars of life Go before him for healing That is his desire There's some of you guys. You just need a reminder. You're walking with honor. You're walking with grace You just need a reminder you're walking with honor You just need a reminder To keep going and then last but not least beloved and we love you. Some of you guys are arrogant and prideful The very thought of actually consulting God before you make a move, you scoff at that. Well, I have a better idea with your two-year-old toddler wisdom. I got my life all planned out, do you? You didn't even make yourself. I know what's supposed to happen. Oh, you formed the worlds, didn't you? All this eternal wisdom. You've been saved 17 months, you just got that, huh? And you refuse to fight your flesh and consult God first before you make a move. And first of all, you probably are just running your head into brick walls. And that's protection.

Last thing you need is a bunch of success at doing that. You'll be gone. And I'll confront you. Quit snubbing your nose at God. Honor him by reading the word. Honor him by being in community. Join a squad when they come open. We working on it, okay? Join a team. They're open now. We do growth track. Go out and do outreach with two or three people on your row. We put these things in place because we love you. And we know you need godly community. But you have to humble yourself. These ain't my type of people. Well, are you saved? Are the people you hanging out with, are they going to heaven? If not, why are those your type of people and not the beloved church of the living God? And not the beloved church of the living God. Sounds like you are identifying more with your flesh than your spirit. All right, we talked about what it's not. We talked about what honor is. Let me give you a couple of definitions there. In the Old Testament, in Hebrew, the word for honor is kabod.

It literally translates to weightiness or heaviness. To honor someone or give or God is to give them weight, importance and significance in your life. Weight. In the New Testament, in Greek, it's tamal. It means to fix a price or value upon something. It signifies holding a person in high regard and treating them as precious. All right, that's what it is. Now, on your way from what it is not to having authentic weight, true honor, in other words, I want to make sure you do not make a very dangerous pit stop. Okay? Go with me to Matthew 15, seven through ninth verse. Matthew 15, verses seven through nine. Love hearing the pages turn, beloved. All right. All right, this is Jesus talking and he's coming in hot. He says, you hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said? Now, slow down. The next part, the next two verses are actually in parentheses because he's actually quoting scripture in Isaiah. It says, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, far from me, far from me. In vain do they worship. In vain do they jump up and down. In vain do they give sacrifices.

In vain with lip service do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Stop. I would call this false honor or fake honor. Don't do this. Even before today, if you notice, and when we honor Pastor Phil, as we do customarily, I say, hey, this is how we honor. If you would like to honor, go ahead and honor him, that's in your heart. No pressure. This is why. There are some people do it, I don't like when they do it, but there are some people get on church stages. And if, If you don't give the response that they think you, you know, that they wanna hear, they get mad and they try to bully you from the pulpit. That's all the honor you got for the man of God? This man come here for that, like, right? Doesn't he deserve more honor? Which may be true, right? But this is the thing, I could use my authority in this place and try to bully you into an expression of honor, which we will not do, but that's the thing, that's cheap honor. 50% of y'all gonna get up just because you don't wanna feel bad. That does not mean that you actually have an honor coming out of your soul.

But check me out, the person with true honor and the person that doesn't look the same. They're both standing and clapping, aren't they? And God only cares about the authentic weight, the true honor. So I'd rather you sit down and trust me, it's not about standing up, I'm not trying to make you do that, I'm trying to get a point, right? I'd rather you sit down for eight months until you get a true revelation of what honor is and then one Sunday you say, show honor to the man of God. God honors that, not the fake stuff. And you can't force real honor. Real honor, authentic weight is a disposition of the soul that has God involved. You with me, beloved? Okay. So as I was thinking, I feel like the Holy Ghost gave this to me. There are two situations, I think, if you have a desire to have more honor or to have honor altogether. I think these situations or just a revelation of these truths will help you, okay? So the first one, we're gonna go to 2 Timothy 4, 7. Before you put that up, I'm actually gonna, you can turn, before you put that up, I'm gonna give you an example, right? I'm not a street dude, never claimed to be.

Not a tough guy, right? The worst I've ever dealt with is traffic court. Never had no sentence, never had no bid. That ain't my testimony, okay? I have testimonies, that ain't it, right? And that's most of us too, by the way, right? But even with traffic court, you ever slid in there with like a super speed or something like that, and all of a sudden, it just kind of arrests your reality. You become keenly aware of who is in charge in that courtroom. You become keenly aware of like the rules. If you got any sense, you dress like you got some sense, you act like you got some sense, you bring some coins together, you order a lawyer, you don't get up and just run up and say, hey man, it's time for my trial. No, you do not. And you've even seen it, like people, you know what I'm saying that have legal trouble, man, and it's a little funny only because we're not in it. Like you've seen the video when they got all the thug in them, don't they? Right, they sitting there, 10 toes down, ain't telling nobody, yeah, yeah, yeah, cool, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever, till they get to that sentencing. And they lay down four 20-year sentences, and you've watched all the thug come right up out of them.

Now check me out, beloved. Not everybody's like that. As a matter of fact, we have brothers and sisters that watch us from the pen, from behind bars. Right, that's not everybody. And they are our brothers and sisters, aren't they? Amen, right? But check me out. Now you get people that have four life sentences and stuff like that, and it's tragic, but that's only earthly. There's an expiration date on that. I don't care if it is 50, 60, 70 years, there is an expiration date on that. You will actually get out, get parole, or you will transition into sleep as a believer, but there's an expiration date on that. All right, let's go to the Scriptures. 2 Timothy 4, chapter seven, verse reads, and I love this verse because it's my, actually it's all of the elders, it's our definition of success. I want to point out something very important. He says, this is Paul speaking. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. There's a crown for us, beloved.

Which the Lord, I'm landing here, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Stop. If you have any sense, you show honor to the earthly judge. He's talking about the righteous judge with a sentence that will last forever. By the way, how do you refer to a judge? Wow. If you feed upon that truth, that regardless of what my emotions are doing this day, this week, this month, this year, there is a date for me in court. And if I am with him, I will be accepted. And my debt, my sentence has already been paid. But if I'm not with him, you will be sentenced to eternal separation from him into the lake of fire forever. See, you don't need to get hyped up. You just need to let the weight of the scripture sit on your soul. And we just did 30, 40 minutes of hype. I'm with it. But there's something about just eating the meat of the word of God and getting the true revelation of the true and righteous judge and what he did so you'll never have to be away from him again.

And he paid a debt that you could not pay. And if you let that sit on your soul enough, the gravity of that, the weight of that, I believe that the natural by-product of that is honor. Honor. You don't need to consult your emotions about that on a day-to-day basis, outside of just thank God that I don't have to go to hell. You made a way of escape. I may got some bill problems, relationship problems, whatever, but I'll always be with him. Beloved, a lot of stuff that's troubling our soul, all of it has an expiration date. Financial problems, expiration date. Right? Even marriage. Stay together, honor the covenant. When we go to heaven, there's no marriage. It's expiration date. Mixed reviews on that, how you feel about it, but expiration date. No expiration date on the eternal God and the eternal sentence. If you let that sit on your soul, I believe you'll have honor. Right? All right, last one, beloved. I believe one of the reasons we don't have a lot of honor or a culture of honor in the West

is because we say a word, but I don't think we really know what it means. And the word is majesty. Majesty. If I called five people right now and I didn't let y'all hear the different explanation, I gave you the mic, I said, explain majesty. Most of us would be nervous. We don't really know what it means. We say a mighty, majestic, matchless name of Jesus, but we really don't know what it means. All right, let's dig into it a little bit. Majesty, the definition. The term majesty in the biblical context refers to the greatness, splendor, and sovereign power of God. It is often used to describe the divine attributes and the awe-inspiring presence of God. The concept of majesty is closely associated with God's kingship, authority, and glory. And even with that explanation, some of y'all, it's not really landing for me. I'm gonna do what I think is gonna help, right? So my wife, she's been talking about it, and I'm not really excited about it, maybe because of this right here. She wants to go on a cruise. Anybody been on a cruise? All right, you happy, all right? Cruise ship, have fun, right?

Well, I'm very excited about it, right? One of the reasons I don't think I'm excited about it is this, they say, when you, at night, you go out there, you know where I'm going, you go out there and you look and it's pitch black. And there is no land. No land, no sides. And it's quiet. And that could be scary. As a matter of fact, I was looking up sometimes, doing some research, where there was a story where a great white shark, they actually believe, and there's different, they actually don't know what happened, but like the great white shark, it's like the apex predator in the ocean, right? Like, it is like the top of the food chain in the ocean. And it's different, you know, I guess, different stories of what happened, but they had put a tracker on one. And then all of a sudden it was going at a certain time, it was going at a certain depth, and then I want to say it actually went down. And then the temperature changed on the tracker. And they didn't see that white shark anymore, right? And it's different, you know, opinions on what happened. Some believe it was eaten. Somebody said it was redone. Maybe it's gotten a fight and maybe the tracker fell off, right? Do you know what the thing is?

You don't know. With all of the different, you don't, you have no idea. You're just guessing. I know you're guessing. With all the man's money, all the research, they still don't know all of what is down in the bottom of the ocean. The sunlight only reaches like a fraction of the ocean. Then it gets pitch black. Even when they send stuff down, if it's not made out of the right material, it'll get crushed by the pressure. And the deeper down it goes, the uglier the creatures get. And y'all, and my wife want me to go out there on a boat and sit out there and what if something happened? Don't sound too fun now, do it. But you know who was not scared? You know who was not scared of the middle of the ocean? God, the omnipotent one, who established the earth upon the seas, who speaks in the wind and waves, obey him. I got two things for you, right? So most of y'all have drank water. Most of you have grabbed like a gallon of water, but water is an extremely heavy substance. Right, I used to hoop back in the day, like I used to have like hoops and like some of them used to like, used to like put concrete in the bottom

so it wouldn't move. Some of them, you could just put water. Look at what happened with the Red Sea. It was split and it stayed. Actually, the most impressive thing about that is they walked over on dry land. There was a storm and Christ was asleep in the bottom of the boat because he is peace. He didn't have to seek peace. He woke up, peace be still. Said, what manner of man is this? That even the wind and the waves obey him. He is majestic. He is not afraid of anything. The demons are afraid of him. If you let that rest on your soul, that there's nobody higher than him, this judge, there is no appeal. And beside him, there is no other. If you let the righteous judge and the majestic one, if you just let those sit and just weigh on your soul, I believe it will increase honor in your life. And you don't need to be hyped to do it. And let me address the elephant in the room because honor, we believe when you have honor, it'll go out free. Again, it'll go up with your leaders, it'll go side in your marriage, in your colleagues, in the ministry. It'll go down to your children, employees,

or anybody under your authority. But I know some of you, some of you thought, well, what if they don't deserve honor? I know I'm in the building, I know somebody thought about it. What if they don't deserve it? But some of you guys have actually been abused. Some of you guys don't have a real happy Mother's Day. You don't reach out to your mom like that. Some of you guys don't think about your father and it's not a good situation. You've been abandoned. Or even if they were there, they just weren't a great parent or bosses. They just, oh man, like, you're just saying they don't deserve honor. We'll give you what the scripture, what God is saying about that. Go to Romans 12, 17 through 19. This should be the believer's response out of honor to God. Romans 12 chapter 17 through 19 verse. Verse 17 reads as such. It says, repay no one evil for evil. No one. It says, but give thought to do what is honorable. In the sight of some. No, no, no, no, no. In the sight of all. Verse 18, if possible, so far as it depends on you,

live peaceably with all. You know what I love about it? The Bible is very practical. Everybody don't want peace. You tried to do peace with somebody and they still got a problem with you. It gives you a caveat. It said, as much as it depends on you, you do your part. And then it calls you beloved. Never avenge yourselves. Don't try to pay back, beloved. Don't do it. I know you're tempted. They may deserve it, but that's not your calling. Amen. I'm not saying what they did was right. In many cases, it was out and out, sin and evil. But don't try to pay them back. That actually weighs on your soul. When you try to do evil, you absorb that evil to even give it out. Now, your soul is tainted by evil and that's not your portion. Your father has another way of dealing with it. He said, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. He's not telling you to go be dishonorable.

He's saying, give it to me. When you get done wrong, when you get done wrong in any relationship, I don't care if it's here. Church hurt, marital hurt, family hurt, economic hurt, business hurt. You know, we should find ourselves on our knees. Amen. The God who sees all and knows all says, give it to me. Come on. Much like anxiety, you weren't built to handle that anyway. You weren't built to handle that anyway. And our faith is in him to just keep moving and the one that sees all and knows all will handle it in his timing, in the way that he chooses to. And I know it ain't a whole lot of claps in this, but this will save you. This will save you many sleepless nights. It can save you hypertension, cortisol going all through your body. It can save you money. It will save you headaches. It will save you stress. It will save you if we just honor God through his word. Now, did I say it was supposed to be easy? Absolutely, but with the spirit of God and grace, it's possible. Even if you gotta keep praying and lay it down, you keep praying and you lay it down.

You don't pick it up and take it into your own bosom. You'll get burned. The honorable life is the life of the believer. Honor is a Christian ethic and virtue that belongs in every believer's life in some capacity. Now, you should be walking in more honor 10 years from now. with the Lord than 10 months. So don't stand up and start comparing. No. You go pray. And you say, God, help me receive the honor that you have given me and help me pour that out into other people. All right. And I'm gonna close, beloved, because I believe in Revelations 5, 11, 14, it's a vision of honor. Metatheme of honor goes from Genesis to Revelation. And I think in this vision, this is a picture of it. Verse 11, and I'm closing. This is a vision of John. He says, Then I looked and I heard around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Verse 13, And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And look where it says, And in the sea and all that is in them everywhere, saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the elders fell down in worship. Honor is our end. Bow your head, let me pray for us. Holy Father, God, I thank you for what you've done today, what you've poured out in worship and word. Help us develop by your spirit and your grace and your power, develop hand in hand with you, authentic weight, true honor from you and to be distributed among everybody that we actually come in contact with, God. Help us do it by the power of your Holy Spirit, God. Help us fight back against a culture in the West that hates honor. Help us shine our light by walking in honor and not picking up vengeance to handle things ourselves. Help us fight our flesh, God, because it's hard. Help us trust you with

the vengeance instead of doing it ourselves. God, I pray that the revelation of the righteous judge and the majestic one would sit on us. God, help it to sit on us as we leave this experience, as we jump in the car, as we go home, as we wake up tomorrow, as we go about our day, God. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, God, help us not forget that there is an eternal sentence given by the righteous judge and the majestic one is full of splendor and might, and for that, we should give you honor. As my pastor often says, and for everything else, I'm not smart enough to pray. God, I pray that you would move for your glory and the love of your children, which is steadfast. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. I love you guys. God bless you.