They'll they'll get here. They have to collect their their things there. Ashley, you're too old for children's church. Alright. So first Peter chapter two, if you wanna go ahead and turn there.

We'll be reading from there again in just a few minutes. First Peter chapter two. The as I mentioned earlier, we've been we've read our church covenant a few weeks ago, which we hadn't done in a while and seemed to be an opportune time to cover some of the things we are encouraged to keep in mind from our church covenant as members of Missouri Avenue Baptist Church, but more importantly, as members of the body of Christ. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have responsibilities as children of God. Salvation is a gift given to us by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ based upon his work on Calvary's Cross.

And praise the Lord, it's a gift because if it wasn't, none of us would make it. However, having become a child of God, having received God's gift, and having become his child, we do have some responsibilities. And so we've been looking at some of those the past few weeks particularly as it relates to the church. Here we read in Acts two forty six and forty seven. We started back in verse 42 earlier.

We worked up to this point today, Acts two forty six and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking of bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved And so we see the church publicly as well as privately served the Lord, honored the Lord, praised the Lord, and others saw it. And as they saw the difference that the Lord had made in the lives of the early church, more and more people came to know Christ as the gospel was preached. And so we see that here at Matthew five sixteen. It says this, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. We're not saved by good works, but we're saved that we might do good works and bring glory to the one who has saved us and changed us and is changing us into the image of Jesus Christ, day by day.

And as others observe that, they give glory to who? They give glory to God as should be. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear heavenly Father, thank you Lord for this day. Thank you for your word.

Thank you for all that you have done for us, all that you've given us in Christ Jesus. And Lord, I pray out of a heart of gratitude and love that we would, in turn, love you, serve you, and consider your testimony and your glory before this world that you have placed us in to minister and to bring glory to your name. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the opportunity to praise your son, Jesus Christ, today together in this place, and may you be truly honored in all we say and do. In Jesus' name we do pray.

Amen. As we discussed briefly earlier, the church represents the interest and the character of its head. And who is the head of the church? Not the pastor. The head of the church is who?

Is Jesus Christ. That's right. God looks on the heart, the Bible says, but man looks on the what? The outward appearance. Now, as God said that to Samuel in first Samuel 16, God was saying, now Samuel, you're looking at these guys and they're big and they're strong and they look kingly, but but there's another one that I want because I look on the what?

I look on the heart. But the fact of the matter is we do make judgments as human beings based upon what we we see. And so does the world around us. That that is human nature. Likewise, and as you probably noticed, for better or for worse, people also judge God by what they see in professing Christians.

I used to sing a song a long time ago. It says, you're the only Jesus that some will ever see. You're the only words of life that some will ever read. So let them see in you the one in whom is all they'll ever need because you're the only Jesus that some will ever see. Some will never pick up the word of God and read it.

Some neighbor, some coworker, They judge Jesus by you. And what they understand about Jesus, they understand from from you. And they judge God by what they see in professing Christians. People in this community will make judgments concerning the character and nature of our God and most definitely of our gospel based on what they see in us. If they perceive us to be hypocrites, they will think that our gospel and our God is a phony.

If they perceive us to be prejudiced and unjust, they will think the same of our God. If they perceive us to be unloving and unkind, they will think that God is loving, unloving, and unkind. If they perceive us to be angry, depressed, or unhappy, they will think the same of our faith and of our God. No. They may not say it, but their actions often demonstrate it.

And God is rightly concerned about what other thing others think about him by what they see in who, what they see in us. That that is why this section in our our covenant is it just simply says before the world. Before the world. Our testimony before the world is very important as Missouri Avenue Baptist Church. Too many people lack interest in God today because of what they see in God's children.

Sadly, it may be that more people are turned away from God at times than are brought to him. A lot of sad testimony. But we must not allow ourselves to be those people to but but to be those that point people to Jesus by those who bring glory bring glory to his name by what others see in us. Paul wrote in first Corinthians ten thirty one, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the what? To the glory of God.

Do all not only to give glory to God, but do all that others might rightly and accurately see the glory of God in us. In advancing the testimony of the church and our community among our acquaintances, we also advance the testimony and kingdom of the Lord. It is our joy and our privilege to show others who Jesus is and how we live before the world. Our testimony as Missouri Avenue Baptist Church, our testimony as children of God. If you look back in second p in first Peter chapter two eleven and twelve, I don't have it up on the screen.

So first Peter two eleven and twelve. Peter writes, dearly beloved, dearly beloved. That's a he's trying to get their attention. He's he's he's he's drawing up close to them and saying, kind of a pleading voice, dearly beloved, this is important, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. What does he mean by that?

What he means by that is this world is not our what? Our home. We're just passing through. Our home is in heaven prepared for us by our savior, Jesus Christ. Understanding that this world is not our final home.

This is not our final reward. As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having your conversation, that word conversation in King James means conduct or behavior, lifestyle. Having your conduct honest among or before the what? The Gentiles.

By Gentiles, me he means the unbelievers. Those who do not know Christ. Having your conduct on us before the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, as the world often does of Christians, that by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. While they may seek to to insult and slander you and call you evildoers, you by your good works, you by your faithfulness, you by doing the things that bring glory to God will shut their mouths. And on the day of visitation, on the day of judgment, they will not have anything to say because they they saw Jesus in us and maybe maybe they came to know Jesus because of that.

Let's take a quick look at some specific areas of our testimony in the church. There were four that I read from the covenant this morning. The first is this, we are to walk circumspectly in the world. Now how many of you you used the word circumspectly this week? Probably not.

Ephesians five fifteen and sixteen. See then, she walks circumspectly not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. See then based upon your relationship with God through faith in Jesus, we're seeing you are the redeemed in Christ Jesus, all these things that precede this in the book of Ephesians. Seeing then see then that ye walk circumspectly, that you live in such a way, not as fools but as wise, being careful to rightly use the time that God has given us, it is it is short. To walk circumspectly means to conduct our lives in a cautious, careful, thoughtful manner with our eyes wide open, our minds and our hearts in gear, for the time is short and we better not take it for granted.

In Peter, Peter puts it this way. First Peter one thirteen through 16 says, wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So get your mind in gear. Okay? Eternity's coming.

Your reward is coming. Jesus is coming. And as obedient children, fashioning yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance, that's before you knew Christ, not not going back to that way, but as he which hath called you as holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation or conduct because it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. We need to be careful not to fall back into worldly patterns of thought and actions like the unsaved world around us. The former ways before we met who?

Before we met Jesus. There's no reason to go back there. Now, there's a lot of that going on around us. We're reminded by Paul in Romans twelve two, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need to walk circumspectly in that.

We need to live for who? We need to live for Jesus. We need to live according to what? In the power of who? The holy holy spirit that God has given to us.

We need to be set apart under Christ in all we do, so also set apart from sin in unholy or worldly ways. What does John say? Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. The world loves its ways. They celebrate it, especially in entertainment today.

It's celebrated. But we're not of the world. We're strangers and what? Pilgrims in this world. Our home is a heavenly home.

Our our our our leader, our savior, our father is in heaven and he has changed us. He has received us. And now he asks us to show the world who Jesus is. As individual believers and as Missouri Avenue Baptist Church. We must strive daily to be like our savior, holy in every aspect of our life that we might bring glory to our God.

As Jesus said in Matthew sixteen twenty four, then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. As we learn in Sunday school, we have a new nature in Christ Jesus. But the old nature is still hanging around. It gets in the way. And if we are to follow the Lord, we need to get victory over the flesh.

We need to deny it and follow who? And follow Jesus. Listen to the Holy Spirit. We often make devastating errors when we are flying by the seat of our pants, reacting to the stimuli around us based on how we what? How do most people make their decisions?

Based on how they Feel. Feel. Yeah. And feel usually is more the flesh than it is the what? The spirit.

Be careful not to make your decisions all the time based on how you feel. There's a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of what? Death. Rather, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.

K? The world has plenty of the way that seems right unto a man. The world has plenty of following their feelings. We need to follow the savior. We need to take up our cross and follow him.

We need to live principled lives with our minds in gear and our eyes open that we might bring glory to God in the short time that God has given us that others might see Jesus. Remember, others are watching and thinking and think about what you are doing and what message you are sending. They're watching. Your children are watching. Your friends are watching.

Your fellow church members are watching. Your coworkers and your neighbors who are likely unsaved, they're watching. It's not only about what we say, but it's about also what we do. And others need to see Jesus in us. One of the things that made Jesus' ministry so powerful is his actions matched up with his what?

With his words. When nobody else would go and talk to the Samaritans, Jesus made a beeline through the middle of Samaria because he had an appointment at a woman with a woman at a well who everybody in that neighborhood knew was a sinner. She had had five husbands. The man she was living with was not her husband. But rather than Jesus avoiding her, he went right to her with the good news.

He, the Messiah, had come. He could give her what? Living water. She had tried different kind of water with five men and who knows what else in her life and it hadn't what? It hadn't satisfied.

But the living water that Jesus has to give salvation through faith in him is one that truly satisfied. When everybody in the crowd everybody else in the crowd was telling blind Bartimaeus to be quiet and leave him alone, who walked over to him? Jesus did. Jesus did. When everybody else was doing their own will, Jesus said, I've come to do the will of who?

My father. And when when everything was on the line and Jesus knowing that he was about to go to the cross, Luke says he's wet as it were great drops of blood. He said, not my will, but what? But thine be done. That is the kind of savior we serve, and it's the kind of holy spirit that lives inside of our heart.

As children of God, before the world that is watching us as they were watching him, we need to walk circumspectly and think about what we're doing. Does it bring honor to the Lord? Does it truly? Or are we living by our feelings? So we need to walk circumspectly.

Number two, we need to be just in our dealings. Just in our dealings. Let every soul be subject under the higher powers for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. For for this cause, pay ye tribute also.

What do we call tribute today? Taxes. Oh, that terrible word. For this cost, pay ye tribute also. For they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing.

Render therefore to all their dues, tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. We as children of God should be upstanding citizens. We, as children of God, should have consideration for the needs of others. We shouldn't be the person going down the road always cutting somebody off and making them slam on their brakes.

We shouldn't be the person who is jamming with our music even be it so Christian music so loud that the neighbors can't think. We shouldn't be the ones that the government has to come after because we didn't pay our what? Our taxes. We shouldn't be the one, who was cheating. We shouldn't be the one who doesn't pay back our what?

Our debts. We should be just in our dealings. Obey God's ordained authorities. Don't cheat or steal from others. Pay back your debts.

Treat others fairly. Give them what they deserve, and sometimes more than they deserve. After all, has God given us what we deserve or more than we deserve? More than we deserve. In Matthew chapter five, beginning in verse 39, Jesus said to his disciples, but I say unto you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

If any man will sue thee at law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain or two. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn thou not away. What is Jesus saying? He's saying, don't just give people what they deserve.

Go the extra what? Literally, go the extra mile. The Roman soldiers could compel a a a citizen, a person, to carry their armor for a mile. Jesus said, if they have you do that, you carry it for what? You carry it for two miles.

They may not deserve it, but as several times in scripture, it says, do it as unto who? As unto the Lord. Do it as unto him because he deserves it. His testimony before the world deserves it. I remember I was I was in college, I think, and it was over the summer.

And there was an amusement park called King's Dominion that was about five hours from where I grew up. And so I and some of my friends from high school decided we'd take off one day and we would go drive over there to Kings Dominion, you know, enjoy the amusement park for a day. So we got there and we parked. And we went in the amusement park, came back out at the end of the day. And my friend John and his nephew, who was probably about, I don't know, 10, 11 years old, somewhere that, They were throwing pebbles at each other in the parking lot.

Okay? Now what do you think happened? Okay. It had been 90 degrees all day in that in that parking lot. And they're throwing one of those little pebbles, and I mean, they were pebbles.

They weren't big gravel. One of those little pebbles hit the back window of somebody's minivan. Think. And guess what happened? The whole thing just, you know, just disintegrated and fell to the ground.

And so, what do you think my friend John's nephew wanted to do? Yeah. Run away. Let's get out of here. But but we couldn't do that.

Couldn't do that. So we hung around in the parking lot for, I don't know, thirty, forty five minutes till the people came back out who had the minivan and then we had to deal with we had to deal with that. We shouldn't be the person that when you come back to your car that you see a dent in your side door, a scrape on your back bumper and wonder, oh, I wonder how that got there. It shouldn't be us that did it. We should be honest enough to own up to our failures and to be just in all of our dealings.

And then number three, be faithful in our engagements. What does first Corinthians four two say? As required in stewards that a man be found, what? Faithful. The world is looking for faithful people.

Proverbs 20 verse six says, most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness. Is that true? Yeah. Most everybody. Yeah.

I'm a good person. But a faithful man, who can find? Who can find one who's truly, you know, honest and person of integrity and faithful to do what they say they're gonna do. Those are few and hard between. Second Tim first Timothy two two says, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.

Faithful. Faithful people. God is looking for faithful people. As a matter of fact, churches and pastors are looking for faithful people too. People who are trustworthy, people who who keep their commitments, people who are faithful in in every aspect of their life.

Because your lack of faithfulness at home or at work, it's going to affect your testimony before the Lord and the testimony of your church even though you're not at church at the moment. My dad is not perfect, but my dad was real and my dad was faithful. He took us to church. He went to church, and the same person he was at church was the same person he was at home and the same person he was at work, and he had a good testimony. He wasn't a hypocrite.

And I'm afraid there are too many hypocrites in the church today and people in the world know it because they see that the person we are at church is not the same person we are at home and is not the same person we are at work. And your children know it, and your coworkers know it, and your neighbors know it. God is looking for faithful people who are the real thing at home, at work, and at church. And then finally, exemplary in deportment. Exemplary in there's another word we use every day, deportment.

Deportment is a reference to our public behavior, which should be as Christians always proper, appropriate, and under control. A pattern for others to what? A pattern for others to follow our conduct before the world. Our actions, our words, our appearance should be appropriate. There are some actions, words, and things that are never appropriate.

There are some that are appropriate to one situation but not to another. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, if you're out cleaning out the horse stall in the barn, you might not be dressed like you are for church this morning. Why is that? Well, it's just it's not appropriate for you to wear a suit in your best dress shoes waiting around in the stuff in the horse stall, but it is more appropriate to be maybe dressed up a little bit in honor of who?

In honor of the Lord when you come to church. And then there are some appearances, things we do, which, well, this the world does that are are never appropriate because we ought to be modest, discreet in whatever we do. That goes not only with our appearance but with what we we say and what we do. Modesty isn't just about what you wear. Modesty is about who you are and who you project yourself to be.

Are you the one that has to have everybody's attention when you walk into the room? Are you the person who would rather draw everybody's attention to Christ? Which is If you look in Titus chapter one, I've there's a few verses there that I wanna read, you'll have to turn if you wanna follow along. Titus chapter two. Titus two and verses one through eight.

Hopefully, you'll find it quicker than I am. Alright. Here we go. Titus two one through eight. Tide Paul writes to Titus as he's given him instructions on how to instruct others in his church.

He says, but speak the things which become sound doctrine, that aged men be sober, grave, that's what, you know, appropriately serious, temperate, which means self controlled, sound in faith and charity and love and patience. The aged women likewise that they be in behaviors become with holiness, not false accusers, not gossipers, not given too much wine, teachers of good things that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet or modest, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men, likewise, exhort to be sober minded in all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you. See how this goes right with first Peter chapter two? Before the world with what others see, we want them to see we want them to see Jesus in us.

We want God to be glorified. We want his testimony to be strengthened and not the other way around. Before those in our congregation and before the what? The world. So as they try to find fault with us, instead, they'll have to admit that the God we serve really does make a difference in the lives of his children in each aspect of our lives.

Remember Daniel in the book of Daniel? Some of the other leaders, the other senators or whatever their title was, they were jealous of Daniel because the king was raising him up above the others. And so said they said, Daniel six, we gotta figure out how to knock this guy down a peg because he has taken over everything, and they couldn't find anything. Now our politicians today, they're so honest and they're so clean, and we don't have you know, it no. It's sadly, there's a lot of skeletons and a lot of closets.

But there shouldn't be a lot of skeletons in whose closet? Ours. The world should have a difficult time and not an easy time finding wherewith to use against us, And they couldn't against Daniel. So the only thing they figured out they could do was use his faithfulness to God against him. And so that's what they did.

In the end, when they refused to glorify the God of Daniel, it wasn't Daniel that faced a difficulty. It was them. It is not our responsibility to make others do this or that. It is simply our responsibility to serve who? To serve God and to live by God's grace the best we can to bring glory to our Lord in heaven.

Whether it be by our appearance or by our words to draw attention to the Lord, to show a difference between the holy and the profane or the unholy in what we say and do. I think the the the running of of Christians to dress like the world and to to cover their bodies in tattoos and have studs sticking out of, I don't think it sends the right what? The right message. Sadly, I look at somebody and they've got tattoos half the side of their face and on their neck. I think what have they suffered?

What have they been through in life that they've got to do that to themselves? They they need something better. We need to show them there is a what? A better there is hope. I don't have to stick needles in my body and have I don't have to be on drugs and I don't have to there's something better, Jesus Christ.

And I can have joy, and I can have fun, and I can have fulfillment in life that that they don't know and they're searching for, And they need to see that in everything I do, in our deportment, our language, our attentiveness, our appropriateness, not rude or coarse or vulgar or dismissive or arrogant. But loving and kind, patient to be exemplary in our deportment before the world because that is not only what our savior expects, but that is what our savior deserves. And that is what this world needs and something I think we have put down the list of priorities too low as we should. We will continue next week with four specific areas of deportment mentioned in our covenant. But for this week, let's be reminded of this verse.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. How is your light shining? Brightly and clearly or is it faint? Are we allowed the things of the world to dim our light, to obscure it? The light is not really our light, it's whose light.

It's God light. It's Jesus light that he wants to shine through us. Are we walking circumspectly or by our feelings? Are we walking in the spirit or by the lust of the what? Lust of the flesh.

Are we honest and just in our dealings with others? Are we considerate? Are we loving? Are we kind? Are we trustworthy and faithful?

Are we real and people see that? And do we send the right testimony in what we say and where we go and even how we dress, that it all matters to who? All matters to God. But you say God looks on the heart, and so that's all that matters. Did you get the verses we read?

Does it matter to God what others see? Yes. It does. Are you responsible for what they do? No.

But you are responsible for what you do. We are responsible for the message we sent. How are you doing today? If God has put a finger on something, maybe now would be a good time to say, Lord, yeah, I understand I'm coming up short a little here. Forgive me and help me to be a better testimony for my savior in this world.

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for Jesus Christ, our savior. Thank you for coming and going to the cross for us. Lord, for putting yourself out, for going way beyond the call of duty for us out of your love.

Thank you for your grace and mercy wherewith you called the woman at the well, the Philippian jailer, and us to salvation in Jesus Christ. Lord, if there be one here today that is yet to receive the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, yet to receive the gift of eternal life in Jesus, Lord, I pray they'd come this morning. We might show them how they can be saved and know it. And Lord, I pray, we who are your children, that we might be reminded today to consider our testimony before the world, which is not just ours, but is also yours. And I pray, Lord, that if there be any wicked way in us, Lord, that we would be willing to confess that before you today.

Even before we leave this place. In Jesus' name, we do pray. Amen.