Keeping a Culture of Honor
by Dan MacLeod
December 11, 2024 · New Life Terre Haute (New Life Fellowship)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Hebrews 2:6-7, 1 Timothy 1:17, Proverbs 3:9, Revelation 4:11, Exodus 20:12, 1 Peter 3:7, Ephesians 5:33, Ephesians 6:4, Romans 12:10, 1 Thessalonians 4:4, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 Samuel 2:30, Romans 13:7, 1 Timothy 5:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:13, Matthew 13, Proverbs 30:17, Proverbs 29:18

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dan-macleod--keeping-a-culture-of-honor
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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The biblical values, it will undermine the Lord's effort and the spiritual leadership we have in our lives. And so on the topic of honor tonight, which is a prominent theme through all of Scripture, it merits our consideration. And so we're going to lay a little groundwork and then I'm going to give you 10 areas of life that the Scripture admonishes us to live or practice honor. The first thing in regards to creating a culture of honor is this. It requires a couple things. The first is a code of honor. Now I understand this language is not exactly what may be common to us in the context of church, but the topic of honor is something well written of even in the secular world. Psychologists, sociologists have studied the practice of honor in civilizations and people groups for many, many years. And there is agreement on this fact that if you're going to have a collective culture of honor, there has to be a

code of honor. Now, as Christians, as the church, and as New Life Fellowship, we don't have any secret document. There's no, you know, there's no secret handshake. There's no special code that you have to sign with the thumbprint or the bloodletting. We don't need your signature. This is our code right here. This is the code of honor. The second thing you need is you have to have what they call an honor group. Now, again, when this is not, there's no little select group of people within New Life Fellowship that comprise this group. The honor group in the context of the church is just that. It's the church. It's the believers. And so what this means is in order to have a culture of honor, there has to be an established rule, a law. This is the scripture that defines to us what honor is, what does honor look like. Because to practice honor means that it imposes upon your preference and your conduct,

and it changes how you speak. It determines what you say and what you don't say. It determines how you treat others, what you do and what you don't do. And it determines to who you do that. That's the group. And what we're going to find tonight is the scripture has much to say about this. Now, I don't want to go way down this road tonight, but I think you would be in agreement with me that collectively our world has, and is, suffering a loss of honor. It seems like everywhere you go, the rhetoric, the narrative, the tone, the behavior of the collective whole of culture is infiltrated with dishonor. And honor becomes an increasingly foreign thing in our society. And in my reading and research, many psychologists and sociologists, so these are people that study, you know, the development of human society and culture as a whole or a psychologist that may look at the individual behavior of an individual or perhaps a

family. And this is what they talk about in great length. It is urbanization and amenity. You say, what's this have to do with honor? Well, if we were going to go back just a few years to 1790, now I know that doesn't seem like a few years, but it helps us all feel young. In 1790, 95% of Americans lived in small rural communities. By 1990, three out of every four American citizens made their home in what they considered urbanized areas. I want you to think about this. My wife would often laugh at me in our early years of marriage because I had this like innate desire. If I passed it like a police car or something was happening, I had to know. And that's just a symptom of growing up in a small town. Because in a small town, you know, you know, my dad would sit in his chair with his little scanner going, you'd hear everything that was happening. And

then my younger brother became a police officer. And if I wanted to know, I knew who to call. And it's just that is a behavior conditioned by a small town upbringing. Because in a small town, everybody knows everybody. You don't have to know them personally or have any relationship with them, but you know about them. And if they sell their house, you're going to find out. And if they get in a car accident, you're going to know this is how a small town works. Everybody knows everybody and everybody knows everything. But as culture began to change and urbanization took over, what happened is people move into cities and suburbs and those relationships tend to be more impersonal and people become accustomed to living anonymously. You could ask any city dweller who has experienced this kind of sensation. They're in a in a city surrounded by millions of people. I was in a big city just a couple weeks ago and I was driving

down the road thinking this is crazy. There are as many people on this street as there are in the city of Terre Haute. But you can be surrounded by millions of people and feel like you're all by yourself. And now, you know, everyone's got a garage and everyone's got a fence. They pull into their into their driveway and pull in their you don't ever see your neighbor. You don't ever talk to your neighbor. You don't know your neighbor. What is this? It's the result of a sociological development that was called urbanization and it contributed to the depersonalization of relationships and people become accustomed to living anonymously. It's the reality. I wouldn't advocate it's healthy, but it's the reality. So in large populations, you can live out your entire life without anyone checking up on you, knowing what you're doing. And while you may pride yourself in that element of independence and you may like that to a degree, here is the reality when

we consider this in the context of honor. Now in your anonymous state, nobody is judging what you do. Your reputation is largely unknown whether honorable or dishonorable. Now the whole standard of honor is more difficult to uphold. And with this, they talk about the loss of a shared code. Because remember, a culture of honor requires that there be an agreed upon code that determines what is honorable and what is dishonorable. Well, with the development of great cities and many schools of thoughts and the merging of worldviews and cultures, there is a loss of a shared code. Everyone has an idea. The struggle with this way of living, if you're desiring a culture of honor, a collective work, is that the shared code exists so each member of the honor group can understand the standards that must be kept to attain honor. If we desire as New Life Fellowship to have a culture of honor, there must be a shared code, a mutual understanding

of how we must live. What is the acceptable standard of behavior in order for we to have a culture of honor? This requires all of us to come out of the anonymous lifestyle. I know you think we're in terrible hope. We're just in this building here. Yes, but I would tell you if we were to consider even the development, the growth of New Life Fellowship from that campus to this campus and that sanctuary to this sanctuary, some of you that have been here for the last 25 years could testify to this fact that it is much easier now for somebody to come in the building and still be hidden than it was back then. When you've got 40 people in a sanctuary, nobody's hiding, but now when you've got 1,300 seats and you sit here and they come in and go to that, it's easy even though there's several hundred people in the building. It's easy while there's a crowd to still

feel hidden or unseen, but the development of a culture of honor requires that we all embrace the call to come out of hiding, embrace community, develop personal relationships that are guided by this shared code of the scripture that tells us what is honorable and what is not. Now, as hard as it may seem, the scripture doesn't just tell us what to do, it tells us what not to do, because honor can be lost. And if it cannot be lost, then it's not true honor. There is a right and there is a wrong. And as a group of people with the desire to have a collective culture of honor, the reality is that there is a measure of exclusivity or what we might call inclusion by submission. We choose by our participation in the body to submit to the shared code to the scripture. When I come into the family, my preference becomes secondary to what the scripture says is necessary for a collective

culture of honor. Now, this is important because you may have been raised a certain way and I may have been raised a certain way and she may have been raised a certain way and he may have been raised a certain way and you're from this culture and they did it that way and I'm from this culture and they did it that way. But when we come into the family, there is this merging of cultures and mindsets and worldviews. Well, how is it that we can do this and maintain the unity of the spirit by submitting to the shared code, the scripture, by letting what the scripture speaks concerning a culture of honor to give us restraint, to give us direction, to give us understanding. Now, biblical honor because our template for honor is not the world. Biblical honor generally will go beyond the cultural norm. So we don't look to the world and say, well, they've maintained a semblance of honor in this

area as our template. No, I thank God that they have, but our template is not the world. Our template is the scripture. So if we look to the New Testament, there's a couple of examples here. Paul speaks to Timothy and tells him, honor the widows. He is telling Timothy, the leader of the church to do this in a culture that has no regard for a widow. Or what about when the church is being persecuted for their faith? Paul tells the believers, you are to honor the governors in a time when they are most unlikely to feel the desire to give honor. This is the one making their life miserable. Paul says, hey, honor them. Why? Because the mandate to the believer is that the discipline of honor will always, for the believer, it will always go beyond the cultural norm. So we're not looking to the culture to validate ourselves or to approve where we are. We look to the scripture and the

difficult thing we have to wrestle through is the scripture, I've said this before, it speaks with no consideration to our opinion. And now the responsibility is on us to make the changes that are necessary in order that we may keep the culture of honor that God desires. So think with me, just things like dignity, respect, decorum, honor, what it means to be proper. These are things that we hear of often. Pastor and Sister Tammy embody this. They teach it. They example it. But to our world at large, these are becoming increasingly foreign things. And of concern is the message that is propagated by modern media. Many of today's cultural icons are disrespectful and dishonorable. You hear the language of movie stars and athletes and pop stars and social media influencers that really have no qualification and have never done anything, but they've used their looks or their money or their influence to garner a following. And as I was saying to the church,

I was in California last night, I was telling them, you do realize that anything you use that's free, you're the product. You know why Mark Zuckerberg's building an island, a mansion on an island off the West Coast worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Because we're all on Facebook. That's why. Anything you use that's free, you're the product. He's making money off your time, your attention. And all of these avenues of media are filled with messages that fuel dishonor. Things like moral values. They're touted as outdated. That's old. That's the way it used to be. No, that's the way the Bible said it should be. You look at modern media, so many of the songs, TV shows and movies, the actions of honorable men and women are disregarded. What the Bible would portray as a godly man or a godly woman or a moral family in modern media is just, it's shamed. It's mocked. Why is this? Because the world seeks to take the

honor out of the things that God has put honor on. And so I'm gonna, we're gonna work through ten of these tonight. Quickly, the origin of honor. Hebrews two and six. They're just gonna highlight verse number seven to you. It's in your hand out here. It says this, thou crownedest him with glory and honor. It's in response to the question, what is man that thou art mindful of him? Who are we? What's so great about us? Well, nothing except for the fact that God has chosen to put honor on us. So this is the origin of honor. Honor did not start with, with Pastor Harpole. Honor did not start with the President of the United States. Honor started with God. And God in his wisdom put honor upon humanity. This means God is saying, I value humanity. And the mandate for us is if God has put honor on it, we must put honor on it. If God says, I esteem this, and

I value this, then by God's action and by God's word, we too are bound to do the exact same thing. So the origin of honor is God. But what do we do with honor? Ten things we're going to work through tonight. The first is probably obvious. We honor God, 1 Timothy 1 and 17. Now under the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever. We honor God. We honor God with our words. We honor God with our worship. We honor God with our lifestyle, with our decisions, with our submission. We honor God in many, many ways. Proverbs 3, I put the reference there, talks about honoring God with all of your substance and the first fruits of all your increase. We honor God with our finances. Revelation 4 and 11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor. God is worthy of it. So we're talking about honor tonight. The first and the foundation of all

things that we must consider is God himself is worthy of honor. Our words, our actions, all that we do, our lives exist to honor God. Everything, every decision, we, what we do, who we are exists to honor him. Number two is family. Exodus 20 and 12. Paul called this in the New Testament the first commandment with promise. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. You want a life that God blesses? We want to be part of a church that the blessing of the Lord will rest upon? We've got to keep this. There must be a culture of honor surrounding family. Honor thy father and thy mother. The admonition was to the child, but this is not age dependent. This is speaking to the structure of the family. Whether that child is five years old or 50 years old, the scripture admonishes us that we are to honor our

father and our mother. Why would God say this? Because this, this was the authority structure that God began the world with. This is where it all began. This was God's plan for population. This was God's plan for dominion. This was God's plan for humanity. So is it any surprise today that marriage is under attack, that family is under attack? These are the institutions that God by his word and by his blessing has put honor upon. And if God has honored it, we must honor it. And so the question tonight is, do I honor my father? Do I honor my mother? Perhaps you have parents that have passed from this life. You can honor them by their memory. The words you speak, the stories you share can honor them. I would tell you tonight that even if you had parents that did not know this truth, perhaps were never baptized in Jesus' name, didn't know about the Holy Ghost, maybe you are first generation,

even still, you can speak in a way that honors them. You can honor them, their life, their memory. If we, if we lose this, we will eventually lose everything. This takes us to point number three, marriage. First Peter three and seven, likewise you husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered. I'm sure you've heard it, but it merits repeating. Weaker vessel does not mean of less value. It does not mean of less significance, of less importance, absolutely not. But there is a divine order. 1 Corinthians 11 speaks to us of the headship. There is, there is divine order instituted by God and even beyond that there is a biological reality to this. There are some things genetically that men are just made differently than women. And there is, now I know in 2024 culture is going to push

back on this, but we've got thousands of years of history and testimony that would prove this true and any honest scientist would probably agree with it too. And so what is the scripture saying? There is a responsibility upon the husband to give honor unto the wife. The scripture says that he is to love his wife as Christ loved the church and that she was to submit to him. Well listen, submission to a husband that will give his life for you is an easy thing. And so it's many times he, culture wants to pit these against each other. Why? Because it tries to put dishonor where God puts honor. But the scripture speaks clearly. The husband is to give honor unto the wife. How do you do this? Well, how do you treat her? How do you speak to her? What is your tone? Do you practice restraint when you need to? Can you apologize when you need to? Do you have honor as

unto the weaker vessel? And the conclusion of this verse is somewhat troubling but quite powerful. The scripture says do this so your prayers be not hindered. To think now that you could come to church, go through the protocol of a worship service, hear the preaching, spend time in prayer, and God not answer because you didn't honor your wife. That's Bible. Hard to swallow but truth. There is a mandate to every man, to every husband, to give honor unto the wife. But the scripture also speaks to the wife, Ephesians 5 and 33. The wife see that she reverence her husband. What's this about? It's about honor on the marriage, honor in the home. Now, think with me, is a child ever going to know what it is to live in an honorable household if a man can't honor his wife and a wife can't honor her husband? So if the enemy is watching the church and tarot in Indiana and he's thinking, you know

what? I want to do everything I can to deconstruct the vision for a generational church. I'll tell you what he do, he play the long game. If I can just get mom and dad arguing all the time and speaking to each other dishonorably with no respect and no love and no peace and no joy, if I can cause this to be a marriage absent of honor, and these kids inevitably will continue the drift in that direction. What is, this is the institution that God began the world with. Adam and Eve and sons, Cain and Abel. It was a family. This is God's plan for the world. And so is it any wonder that in the fall there seems to be this space of separation between Adam and Eve and then the next generation, one brother is killing another brother? What is this? It was the enemy using dishonor to deconstruct God's institution of authority that he had put on the earth. It's the

attack of marriage and the attack of family. If we are going to have a culture of honor, if we are going to keep the culture of honor, these are things we must fight to protect. We must fight to protect our marriage, fight to protect our homes. We must model what it is to give honor. How do we do this by what we say, by what we do, by how we serve, by how we treat others? And it starts in the home. Now, number four, staying in the thought of family is children. Exodus 20 speaks to the admonition is to the child toward the parent. Point number three, marriage is between the parents themselves, between husband and wife, but point number four speaks to us of the parent towards the child. Ephesians 6 and 4, I want to read this from the amplified version. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. Do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that

are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive, nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them, but bring them up tenderly with loving kindness in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. If any of these three elements is out of balance or neglected, the rhythm of the family will be disrupted. It's necessary for a husband and wife to be on the same page. It is necessary for that child to honor their parents, but it is also necessary for that parent to honor the child. Now, I fully understand. I have three sons. I fully understand. They need to go whooping sometimes. They need discipline. Kids need corrected, but the responsibility, the admonition of the scripture, if we want a culture, a collective culture of honor, is that we are doing this in a way that honors them, that we are doing it in the interest of who they will become, the man or the woman that God is growing them to be. I

told one of my boys last week in a moment of corrective conversation that my job is not to raise you. And he responded because he's heard it before. I know you're trying to train us. That's correct. I've heard it said maybe you have as well. You raise chickens, but you train kids. But when I'm doing this, I'm doing it with an end goal in mind. I'm not just trying to raise a five-year-old kid or a 10-year-old kid or a 13-year-old kid. I'm thinking 10 and 15 years down the road and 20 years down the road. What kind of principles and values do I want to govern his life? And so, as I'm correcting him and as I'm instructing him, it's imperative I do it in an honoring way. Otherwise, my influence will be cut off. I had a friend of mine tell me many years ago, when we were just new parents, Aaron Bounds, pastor in Ohio,

he said, your job, your job as a dad is to break their will, not their spirit. You don't want to wound them. But you do have to break their will. My dad had Belgian draft horses as a childhood. I can't tell you how many times I remember running through the yard as a kid and watching dad with those young colts walking through the field, you know, got a little harness and a whip. What are you doing? Why don't we have the sleigh out? Why aren't we going on the wagon? Well, they got to break it first. Well, what do you mean break it? I've got to teach this animal that's a whole lot bigger than I am who's in charge. Well, how do you do that? You break the will. A broken will is called submission. Even though that animal is more powerful and much larger and could easily throw my father around in the field, if in the infancy of that animal,

you can teach it, you can break its will, you can teach it to submit to you, then what can you do? You can inform its behavior. This is parenting. I'm not trying to crush the child. I don't want to destroy their self-esteem. I don't want to ruin their self-image, but I do need to treat them in a way that they understand I am correcting you. I am instructing you in the interest of what God is going to allow you to become. And so as parents, it's imperative that we honor our children. Now, I wish that it was just that the attack on honor was just in the world. But I think if we're honest, we could all call to memory some things that perhaps we have experienced or witnessed where we could recognize that sometimes even among the church, these are not things that happen naturally. This will not happen by chance. If you will have an honorable marriage, it will

be the result of intentional action. If you will have a healthy family, if you will have a healthy marriage and you have kids that honor parents and parents that honor kids, it will be the result of intentional action. It will not happen accidentally. Number five is relationships. This speaks to us of any personal conduct outside of the family structure. Romans 12 and 10, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one another. Who does this speak to? It speaks to everyone about anyone, to the person walking behind you into the church on Wednesday night, to the lady who awaited on you at the restaurant, to the person who's at the cash register when you're at the grocery store, to your coworker, to your family, to your neighbor, to the person you meet at the park. This scripture governs every human interaction. We are to be kind and affectionate one towards another. And in honor, what's that? I'm putting value

on you. I'm esteeming you as greater than myself and I show it by preferring you over me. It's simple things like holding the door and letting them go ahead of you. When, you know, when you walk out and, you know, you get to the checkout line at the same time and you've got five things in your car and they have 25 and you're thinking, I don't want to wait behind them. But the Bible says that you're supposed to prefer them ahead of you. Even in those things, yes, in everything. But you know that that's not natural to our human instinct. And so it is imperative that if we want this culture of honor, that we allow the scripture to inform our thoughts and our behavior, I would challenge us tonight to consider maybe even over the next couple of weeks in this holiday season, what can you do? What can you do? Now, I know you can't probably do it for everybody, but

could you find one person? Could you do for one? What you cannot do for everyone? And what could you do to show somebody that you prefer them? You honor them. Number six, elders. You say, does this really need its own distinction? I think so, because the scripture says so. Would not elders be covered in point number five? Yes, but this is the scripture, that shall rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man and fear thy God. I am the Lord. There needs to be a collective culture of honor towards our elders. My ministry began as a 21-year-old church planner. This is what I can tell you about starting a church. There ain't no elders, because to get an elder, they've got to live a while, and this is their value. You know, maybe you're an elder in this house tonight and you think, well, I don't really contribute much. I'm not musical. I don't sing.

I don't ever preach. I've never taught. I don't pray for anybody. Listen, let me tell you what you contribute. You contribute the gift of stability to the body. You're just here. You're here, and you've been here for a long time. You know what that tells me? You know what that tells all these young people? That there is a strength to stand when things get hard. That when you feel overwhelmed and uncertain and there's trials, and you don't know where to turn or what to do, you can just kind of turn your head and, oh, there's an elder. Surely they've walked through some things. They've been here a long time. I've heard Pastor Anter talk about his father. His father spoke here in our Thanksgiving Tuesday service. Thank God for elders. This is what I can tell you about Brother Fisher. You're going to have to look for him if you want to find him. He ain't going to be in the spotlight. He

probably had to twist his arm to get him up here. Well, maybe there were some people who didn't even know who he was. That's Pastor Anter's dad. That's Brother Zach's dad. Thank God for elders. Why? Because the only way you get him is by lived experience, time, and for that reason, for years of faithfulness, for just a steady hand, a consistent example. The scripture says you should rise up and honor the face of the old man. Now, don't ask me what old is because I'm not putting a number on it. I just know that the Bible says that we are to honor our elders. Number seven, this one may seem a little bit unusual, but again, this is the scripture. I'm offering you where we must practice the discipline of honor. And number seven is your body. First, 1 Thessalonians 4 and 4, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. The NIV says it

like this, that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable. Now, this is a vast subject. We don't really have time tonight, nor is it my intention to give you a list or to go down a great detail, but I would tell you that this is a broad subject. It speaks to everything from morality, which is not just, I know when we use the word morality, we are thinking of sexual things or relationship. And the Bible has a great deal to say about that. In fact, Romans chapter one speaks about that, which is unnatural and how it is dishonorable. Why? Because it brings dishonor. It is against what God has put honor on. But it's not just that. If you're going to honor your body, if you will control your body in a way that is holy and honorable, this means that the scripture must inform many things about my life. I've heard

pastors say it here before. How many times have we prayed for miracles for a situation that perhaps could have been otherwise prevented if we would have practiced more discipline in a particular area of our lives? I know you don't hear much preaching in a spirit-filled church about eating healthy and being healthy and being considered of these things, but I would tell you tonight, it matters. It matters. Now, I'm not saying that you have to go to the gym five days a week and you have to eat all that, but I do think it would be wise of us, it is prudent to have some level of consideration or awareness about how we live. I don't want to check out prematurely because of my poor discipline. I just turned 36 a week before last, and I told somebody I'm on my climb down the mountain. Because the Bible says three score and 10 are by reason of strength, 80. So, you know, I'm

over halfway to 70, but I'm not finishing at 70. When I get down the mount, I'm going to hang out for 20 or 30 years and enjoy, well, you know, the climb. But the scripture bestows upon us this responsibility to care for our body, but it's not just your health. This also speaks to what do you wear? How do you conduct yourself? Are you a modest person? The scripture speaks to this because if we want a collective culture of honor, these are the areas that must be taken into consideration, 1 Corinthians 6 and 20. You were bought with the price, and so you should honor God with your bodies. Our body, the scripture says, is a temple of the Holy Ghost. And so, while much could be said, I just want to emphasize this point tonight that it is necessary for us to consider what the scripture would speak concerning the decisions and the conduct of our bodies because the Bible says we

are to live our lives with honor towards our bodies. And this is what Romans chapter one is about. They worship the creation more than the Creator, and they fell into a degenerative cycle of sin where they began to do something with their own body that was dishonorable to God. If you go read Romans chapter one, Paul uses animals to describe it. And if you look at the animals and the order he lists them, each animal is an animal that has less and less mobility. First it's a bird, a foul of the air, then a four-legged creature, and then a thing that crawls upon the earth. What's he doing? He's telling you how sin works. Oh, it's fun for a season. You feel like you're flying like a free bird, but then all of a sudden it becomes more restrictive, and more restrictive, and more restrictive. What is it? It's sin, but specifically in Romans one he's talking about sin against the body.

Dishonor towards your own body. There was no consideration of how they lived, the morality that governed their decisions. And so we must have honor towards our body. Number eight, employers. Someone says, oh no, I don't like my boss. Well, this is what the Bible says. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. If you are working or serving in some kind of structure, I promise you, if not already, there will come a point in your life. When somebody above you rubs you the wrong way, you're irritated and you're angry, and you've got something to say, and well, so does the Bible. Servants, be subject to your masters. Why? Because the discipline of work is not a result of the curse. Adam was working before the curse. Now he will work with pain, but God has always intended his people to work. The idea of work, the institution, the structures of

employment and work, I would tell you, is given by God. And the danger with all these things I present to you tonight is, you've probably heard it said, you know, you give the devil an inch, he'll take a mile. Sin will keep you longer than you wanted to stay, take you farther than you wanted to go, cost you more than you wanted to pay. Well, this is how it works. The enemy looks for one area of your life to introduce dishonor, but it never stays in that one area. I learned a long time ago when I was still in secular employment. This is what I learned. If I make my boss's life better, my life gets better. I was the only one in the building who got way more vacation than I was supposed to. Two weeks, vacation a year. I probably got like 10. It was for ministry, but God gave me such favor. Why? Because I knew, now you think, well,

isn't your job to deal with the guests and manage these people? Yes, but I'm only doing that as delegated by the one that I'm serving. And so if I can make their life better, my life will get better. So what is it? It's about honoring. I can't tell you how many times I have people say things in my ear out of frustration. I don't like that they did this. I don't like they make me do that. Why doesn't someone else do that? I shouldn't have to clean this. I shouldn't have to do that. You do you. This is what I know. If I'll just submit and I'll serve, if I will conduct myself in a way that blesses them and honors the one above me, this is biblical. 1 Samuel 2, God's talking to the young prophet concerning the house of Eli the priest, the sin of his sons, and the Lord told him in 1 Samuel 2 and 30, the scripture says

that if you will honor me, God said I will honor you. This is how honor works. It's not something to be demanded unless you're God, which we're not. It's something to be given, but when you give it, you get it back. And so if you find yourself in an employment scenario that isn't favorable and isn't pleasurable and there's circumstances you don't like, submit, serve. Your circumstance may not change tomorrow, but your attitude good. And if that changes, you might just find that your boss changes towards you too. And so if we're going to have honor, that, I know this may seem unusual because aren't we talking about the church? Yes, but I would tell you what we do outside of these four walls has great impact on what happens inside these four walls. We don't compartmentalize spirituality. Who we are at work tomorrow morning is who we are right now. And who we are Friday night is who will be Sunday morning. And

so it's imperative that we have honor towards employers. Number nine is all secular authority. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities. Skipping down to Romans 13 and 7, this is the NIV. It says give to everyone what you owe them. If you owe taxes, pay taxes. If revenue, then revenue. If respect, then respect. If honor, then honor. Now I'll be honest with you. I think this is a hard one for some people because we all see things in the world of secular authority and politics and government leadership that we don't like. I'm gonna caution you tonight. Be careful. Be careful that you don't allow your opinion to come from an attitude of dishonor. I taught a class at academy some time ago. I think it was the conclusion of last year if my memory is correct. On the back of the wall, they have pictures of all the presidents of the United States. One of the kids thought it would be funny

to draw a little face on President Biden. And I had heard that Sister Tammy had some things to say about that. And I know if someone may think, well, I don't like him anyway, and I don't like his politics, and I don't like this, and I don't like that. Well, that's fine. You're entitled to your opinion. No one said you had to agree with every policy. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is a disagreement concerning policy or values or ideals is not permission to conduct ourselves dishonorably towards them. This is what the Bible says, that they're in authority because God put them there. I just choose to trust because some things I can't make sense of. But when I can't make sense of it, I must still submit because the scripture speaks. And I would caution us tonight because in my life and my experience, I've watched people become very flippant in this area of their life. Practice, talk about

regard. They've had no regard. Say what they want. Now, I think there's a way that you can speak respectfully. You can communicate a difference of opinion you can explain your position, but I mean, you can go watch a debate. We don't even do that anymore. It's just bickering one back and forth. Why? Because dishonorable has become acceptable in our culture. But I say it cannot be acceptable in the church. And number 10, the last one is spiritual leadership. Let the elders that rule well, 1 Timothy 5, be counted worthy of double honor. 1 Thessalonians 5 and 13, talking about those that labor among you, it says, esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. I thank God. I think we do this well. Let me give you an example of a way that we try to teach this and model this in our home. Now, I've got sons that are good friends with the Fisher boys. And so there were times

when my son would refer to Pastor Andrew as brother Andrew or brother Fisher. And I stopped him. I said, Carson, that's Pastor Andrew. Why are you doing that? Because by the delegation and the appointment of the leadership of this church, he holds a role in this body. So what are you doing? I'm teaching my kids that we're going to put double honor where the scripture says put double honor. He ain't going to get in trouble if he says brother, but there's going to be just a little general reminder. And I think he's got it pretty good now. I've not heard no slip-ups lately. Why are you doing that? Because I'm trying to solidify. I'm trying to keep this culture of honor where we honor spiritual leadership. This is important. And this is why and this is where we'll end. Because I want to show you what happens when honor is withheld. Matthew 13, when Jesus was coming to his own country, he

taught them in their synagogue and so much that they were astonished and said, whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Where did he get this? Is not this the carpenter's son? It's not his mother called Mary? He is the brother of James and Simon and Judas and his sisters. Aren't they all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things and they were offended in him? And Jesus says, a prophet is not without honor saving his own country and his own house. Look at verse 58. This scares me. He did not many mighty works because of their unbelief. Now I know we would read that with the idea of unbelief. They just didn't think he was able. No, this is not it. They had already watched him do all kinds of things. They knew he was able. It was not an unbelief of ability. It was an unbelief of identity. They wanted to make him common. Oh, this is,

this is, this is Joseph's boy. This is the carpenter. Yeah, his mother's Mary. Yeah, I know him. It was the tendency of our flesh to treat as familiar what God said we should honor. And here in this moment, because of their response or their attitude towards him, because the absence of honor, the Bible says Jesus did not many mighty works. How does this happen? Well, it's not because a lack of honor changes God. It's because a lack of honor changes you. Our ability to receive is diminished without honor. You will not receive from whom you do not honor. And to think, we may never know everything that God intended to do that day. Who knows what miracles might have happened, what lives could have been changed, what testimonies might have been recorded in Matthew chapter 13 if somebody would have rose up and said, no, I'm going to fight to preserve a culture of honor. Well, you know, listen, I've had people say

things like traveling. Oh, where you live? Well, Terre Haute. Oh, what church? New Life Fellowship. Is that, is that, that, that, that guy used to sing? Yes, Pastor Harpole. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He used to sing. And it's like their recollection of him is, is some Bible quizter from 40 years ago or a singer from 30 years ago. So what do I do? Well, I take the opportunity to tell the story of New Life Fellowship and put honor on him. Why? Because it's the mandate of Scripture. And someone could see him and say, well, that's, that's just their son. That's just this. No, no, no, no, no. What could have happened that day if somebody would have rose up and say, Hey, yes, Joseph is his father. Yes, Mary's his mother. Yeah, those are his siblings, but he's anointed by God. The problem was they allowed familiarity, which I must caution us, is the tendency of every human being. I'm not advocating we make

people gods, but I am advocating we keep, we are diligent in preserving the culture of honor that I think has allowed New Life to become what it is today. And it's not just, it's not just for the pastor, though that is one of the 10 areas I would speak to tonight. It's, it's, it's for the door greeter. It's for the person working the cafe. They're the, for the one watching your kid tonight, the one who's going to teach them on Sunday. I died, you know, brother coffee shook my hand when I came in tonight and I told him, he said, you know, I haven't, he said, I haven't been to a midweek in eight and a half years. I said, well, you're working and we appreciate it because listen, maybe your kids are angels, but there's, there've been a couple of Wednesday nights. My kids have probably given them a run for their money. What are you doing? Honor. In fact, this is

what the Bible says that, that you're to put honor on the weaker member, the less honorable member. You know why it says that? Because it is the tendency of our flesh to honor the one that's in the spotlight. And if that's all you do, you will breed division in the body. So Jesus said, no, here's what I want you to do. Paul wrote it. Put honor on, on the less honorable member. Thank God for door greeters. Thank God for people in the cafe. Thank God that people are here cleaning the building before we ever show up. Honor, stand with me. Consider this now. Honor, all that God desired to do may never be discovered if there's not honor. I leave you with these two scriptures to convey this point, Proverbs 30 and 17. The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagle shall eat it. You

say, that's gross. I know it's the Bible. But here's the principle for you. Dishonor destroys vision. If there's no honor, he said that that raven, the bird that feasts on dead flesh, that's going to pluck the eye out. This is the principle for you. There's no vision if there's dishonor. And Proverbs 29, 18 says, where there is no vision, the people perish. So dishonor destroys vision and without vision, the people perish, which leads me to this final point for you. Honor is essential to the harvest. A pastor's been up here saying it for a long time, thousand soul revival. We're going to keep baptizing every week. I need a hundred Bible study teachers. That's the vision. That's the vision. But the only way the vision becomes a reality is that there is a culture of honor to support it. Honor is essential. Dishonor destroys vision and without vision, the people perish. So I know if we were to ask a question tonight, what

is necessary for us to have a thousand soul revival? We're going to hear things like prayer, yes. Fasting, yes. Preaching, yes. Evangelism, yes. Bible studies, yes. All of these things are necessary. So is honor and not just honor in one area, honor in all these areas because who we are out there determines what happens in here and how we live at home really determines the strength of this house that we call home. And so my challenge tonight is for us to do what the scripture says and examine ourselves to look at our life, to measure our attitude concerning these areas, to consider our behavior, how we speak, what we speak, our tone, the words we use to ask ourselves, am I contributing to the building up or the tearing down of honor in my church? Because I believe in a thousand soul revival. I believe we can have a hundred Bible study teachers but as critical as miracle signs and wonders are, so

is honor. And I don't ever want it to be said of us or New Life Fellowship that Jesus did not do any mighty works because there was a lack of honor. I want to make a plane here. A lack of honor in any of the 10 areas I have presented to you tonight will stop the work of God's spirit in your life and our church. Yes, yes. Your relationship with your boss can impact what happens here on Sunday. Yes, yes. How you talk to your spouse and your kids and how your kids talk to you. Yes, it can determine the measure of freedom that we feel in here on Sunday. Yes, the attitude that you have towards the brothers and sisters in the body, it matters. I'm preaching to you one of the most critical and overlooked things. Listen, I've been a lot of places, a lot of churches. Everybody wants to grow. Everybody wants miracles. Everybody wants power. Everybody wants this. There's

a vision. It's not a vision issue. Many of times it's a culture issue because while we preach and while we pray and while we believe for a great outpouring of the Holy Ghost, it's these real life things. It's real world issues. It's an honor problem. And so my challenge tonight is that God would raise us up as a people who will fight for the preservation of a culture of honor. Amen. Let's lift our hands to the Lord. Father, I love you. God, I thank you for this great church family. I thank you for elders. I thank you for godly couples. I thank you for young couples and older couples. I thank you for men and women that are raising their kid in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for a generational church. Thank you for godly leadership. Thank you for kingdom-minded people that give and work tirelessly and serve, that love one another. I pray tonight, Father, that

your word would not return void, that you would help us to be godly people, godly homes, godly marriages. I pray that new life would be a shining light of what a culture of honor is. Let it be seen from afar. God let this house be a testimony to the city of what a godly family looks like, of what a godly marriage looks like. We're going to thank you, give you the praise, and we honor you, Lord, for every good and perfect gift that you have poured into our lives in this church. We thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.