How to Glorify God in Everything You Do

[0:00] I have one simple message for you tonight. Glorify God. Glorify Him. Glorify God means that we declare and make God's glory known.

[0:15] ! We give God the honour and the majesty that He is due. We lift Him up for who He is with our praises. And really it's our purpose. It ought to be our manifest life purpose to glorify God.

[0:33] We see that in this telling verse here in 1 Corinthians 10, 31. And I like to say from time to time, really, you should write all of them on your fridge, but this would be a good one to write on your fridge, wouldn't it?

[0:47] Honestly, it would be a good one to write on your heart, to write on the tablet of your heart and write it where you can read it and re-read it and chew it over. The Word of God, 1 Corinthians 10, 31. Let's read it all together.

[1:01] Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Let's say it again. Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

[1:17] The Word of God says that we should glorify God. Glorify God all the time, every day, all day, all day long. His glory should be that which preoccupies us. We glorify Him. We glorify Him.

[1:33] I like to kind of demonstrate it, if you like, as like a flashlight. Now, this looks like I need a new battery. But we look at it as a light that would shine. That would shine and put glory, put light upon another object.

[1:50] And that's what we're meant to do with our Lord. We're meant to shine the light upon our Lord. And we're going to look at some ways to do that. How can we shine the light? How can we shine the spotlight?

[2:02] We glorify Him as we shine the light on Him, so to speak. What is it that we shine our light upon? Now, some would glorify poor power. They would glorify the crows. Some would glorify themselves.

[2:21] Some would glorify maybe some pet doctrine. Maybe their job. They've got a job that's got a steam and they get inflated with the pridefulness of them. The pridefulness of it. The esteem of it. The elevation of it. What will we give glory to?

[2:38] Will we put the spotlight on our Lord? Will we put the spotlight on Christ? What's our focus, our priority? Will we glorify God?

[2:50] Really, all aspects of our lives should reflect God's glory. Now, I did a little search on ChatGPT and I asked it to answer the question to give me a list of ways that we can glorify God.

[3:05] And it gives you 20 at a time. And I kept saying more, more, like regenerate. It gives you the option to keep adding to that list. And there was like 110 different ways that we could glorify God that I came up with. I posted it on Facebook.

[3:21] And you can see different ways you can glorify God. Of course, there's some that started to repeat some of them or they were somewhat alike. But when you think of it, there's loads and loads of ways that we can glorify God. That's the point.

[3:34] And I think that's true. As much as I'm not saying rely on ChatGPT, it's thus saith the Lord. There's lots of ways we can glorify God. And we can think about that. We can put our mind to that.

[3:45] So we're going to tease out some of those thoughts today. So is glorifying God our priority? This is the point of this verse, isn't it? Whether you eat, drink, whatsoever you do, it's all encompassing.

[3:58] All aspects of our lives should reflect God's glory. And the purpose of God's creation is to glorify Him. It's really our mission in life. It's why we're here. It's why He's made us to glorify God.

[4:12] And here really is the paramount consideration for all of our decision making. Am I glorifying God? Do all to the glory of God. So really the purpose of your life, of mine, is to glorify God.

[4:30] It's to shine the spotlight upon Him. It's the purpose of all that we do to glorify God. It ought to be. And the purpose of the church is to glorify our Lord God.

[4:43] How do we do that? How? Here's how we can fulfill God's purpose for our life. Whatever we do. And look, sometimes we have like a holy compartment.

[4:54] Oh, it's Sunday at 6, Sunday between 6 and 7. I've got to be holy. I'm in church. We've got the God compartment of our life. And then, oh, 7 o'clock I can switch that off and go back to how I normally am.

[5:06] But that's not how it's meant to be, is it? It's 24-7 by 365. Whatever we do in our work, Monday morning, in our career, in our relationships with family, with friends, with enemies, our relationships.

[5:22] Are we glorifying God with them in our leisure, in our entertainment, in our life and service? We exist to glorify God. So how do we? How do we give God's glory? How do we give Him the glory?

[5:37] Here's some various practical things that we can do. And I would put to you like really number one, we can glorify God by our worship.

[5:48] That's what we're doing tonight. We've been singing His praises. Amen. We've been singing hallelujah, singing to Jesus. Here's the scepter. Here's the throne. We've been giving Him glory. You can glorify God by your worship. And look, you don't have to constrain your worship to a Sunday too.

[6:06] You can worship in the car driving to work, can't you? You can worship as you're going about your day by day. You can put ear pods in these days. You can have worship music. You can continue to worship.

[6:21] And your worship can be through the whole week, every day. Revelation 4 verse 11 tells us that all creation exists to glorify God. It reads there, Revelation 4 verse 11 of the praises, God is worthy to be praised.

[6:49] And we have been created to give God glory. So glorifying God ought to be central. It ought to be that we've got that God dimension, that God interface going on that we worship Him.

[7:02] That we have a worship. We have a worship that's going on, a worshipful heart that is continuous. We've been designed that way. We've been designed to glorify and worship our God.

[7:14] So engage in worship. It says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory. Glory. And we see Psalm 50 verse 23, it reads, Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.

[7:27] And to him that ordereth his conversation, aright, so it's your whole way of living, will I show the salvation of God. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.

[7:39] So fellowship regularly. I'm preaching to the converted tonight. Because you're here. Now fellowship. Take the time to sing, to praise Him. To give, to thank Him, to love Him, to worship, to honour Him in every aspect.

[7:55] To study God's word. To meditate upon it. To memorise it. To apply it to your life. Will we set aside other things that He might be glorified? Will we set aside other things and set our hearts and minds fully upon our Lord that He would be glorified?

[8:11] Will we receive His word? Will we be such that we've got soft hearts and sensitive hearts that His word can be planted there? That we can develop a consistent prayer life.

[8:23] Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me. Give Him. Give Him your praise. Glorify God in your worship. Number one. A second one we could think of is God wants us to glorify Him in our thoughts.

[8:38] Glorify God in your thoughts, in your attitude. How is your attitude? How is that space between the ears? How is that thought life, that attitude?

[8:51] How is that? Is your desire to glorify God? Of course, sometimes other things cloud our minds, don't they? And distract and take away from that heart's desire.

[9:03] But can we, God helping us cultivate that godly attitude, that godly perspective on life, on relationships, on our day by day.

[9:15] God truly knows our minds and our hearts. He searches them. And we can know God's will in our thinking. Can we extend patience and kindness and compassion to others?

[9:29] How's your attitude? Sometimes we can be just as self-willed as the next door neighbour who doesn't know the Lord, can't we? Love your neighbour.

[9:40] There's a lot in that, isn't there? You know, Julie was saying, if you can't love your neighbour, move. But it's not that simple sometimes, is it? Love your neighbour. Sometimes the neighbour you've got is the one God's helping you to, you know, to develop that love in you, isn't it?

[9:56] Can we ask, how can I be more like Jesus? How can I be more like him? Do we think on these things? We think of this scripture, which has just got such a rich fabric of how to think.

[10:08] And it's such a touching collection of things to think about. In Philippians 4 verse 8, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report.

[10:32] If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. There's a lot there, isn't there? We could spend a lot of time just unpacking that, thinking about that.

[10:44] Do we glorify God in our thinking? It's our attitude, isn't it? It's how we relate to others, how we relate to God, our actions of practical living. Do we keep humble?

[10:55] Do we rejoice in the Lord always? Even in the difficult times. Your joy can be a testimony for God's glory, can't it? Of his goodness to you.

[11:06] Think of it, you know, sometimes, maybe the joy that is in our hearts should show on our face occasionally. Why do we do the things that we do? Why do we sing?

[11:18] Why do we go to work? Why do we dress the way we do? Why do we talk the way we do? Why do we eat? Why do we sleep? Why do we do the things that we do? Really, underlining all that we do is we ought to glorify God in every department, in every aspect, in every dimension of really our conduct, our conversation as it talked about, our way of living.

[11:42] But in every facet of our life, we give him glory. We give him glory because we love him. And we love him and because he tells us how to think and what to think about, God helping us, that's how we're going to determine that we're going to think.

[12:00] That he would train us to think this way. He would train us to think such thoughts. That we can cultivate an attitude of gratitude. That we can cultivate that thankfulness, that submission to God.

[12:11] So, brothers, sisters, think about it. Glorify God in your worship. Glorify God in your thoughts, in your thinking. Glorify God also in your words.

[12:23] Now, we do speak a lot of words every day. I'm told that women speak more than men. But nevertheless, we all speak some words. Do our words glorify God?

[12:34] That's the point, isn't it? We can say many things. And I know it's been said like our words are like toothpaste. You know, you squeeze it out the tube and you just can't put it back in.

[12:46] You can't retract the words that you say. The words that you say are said words. Whether they were words that were hurtful, words that were unwise, words that were critical, words that were hurtful, curse words, crass words, using God's name in vain words.

[13:01] It's so common now, isn't it? The text OMG. They just lightly throw away the name of God.

[13:13] Throw away the blessed name of God. We shouldn't treat it so vainly, so flippantly, so carelessly. We can utter our words so carelessly, can't we?

[13:25] And they just pour out like a stream. Are we speaking words that will glorify God? Think before you speak.

[13:38] Engage brain before mouth. Zip the lip. You know, there's lots of ways we could say, actually, I'm going to, God helping me, I'm going to control my words rather than just pour it out and not care who I hurt, what I say.

[13:53] Are we speaking evil? That can be a big thing. You know, we can easily start to, oh, did you know, whisper, whisper, whisper. Did you know so-and-so said this? Have you heard the latest goss?

[14:06] You know, it's that kind of damaging words. When sometimes they're ill-founded. Gossiping. Words that will damage. Words that will character assassinate. Words that we say without thinking, do we?

[14:21] So let's use rather, let's use words that will encourage. Let's use words that will uplift. And speak the truth in love. So that the words that we say are words that will build up people, not pull them down, not hurt or damage.

[14:36] Let's avoid harsh and hurtful words. And we could think of that, especially in relationships, husbands and wives. Let's avoid those kind of words that we think, oh, I should, I just wish I'd never said that.

[14:49] We can say it so thoughtlessly and we can't retract it. We can apologise for it and we ought to. But let's avoid such words. Let's rather encourage one another with our words.

[15:02] So glorify God with your words. Here's another one. Glorify God in your deeds. It's back to that shining the light again, isn't it? What are we shining the light on?

[15:14] Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Now, of course, we preach that we're saved by faith, not of works.

[15:31] But that's not to discount that we ought to have good works. We could maybe get the point a little lost that we, and of course we do emphasise salvation is entirely and totally and completely by faith.

[15:46] But we're created in Christ Jesus unto good works. And God wants you to be displaying good works. He wants people to see it. So no action or decision is too small to involve God.

[16:00] All of our deeds, our works, whether we eat, drink or sleep or whatever we do, nothing that we do is without impact. So live your life with integrity.

[16:11] Make an effort to discern and follow God's will for your life. God helping you live with kindness, live with forgiveness. Now we're talking in this morning in a kind of somewhat tongue in cheek way about a burial service.

[16:28] We're buried with him in baptism. There's a thought that we are to die with him, to die with Christ, to be crucified with Christ, to die to self, and then to be risen with Christ.

[16:40] Now think of the things that we could bury. We could bury unforgiveness, couldn't we? I meant to mention that this morning. When we, as it were, we're burying the old life. What about unforgiveness?

[16:52] Are there people in our lives that we've not forgiven? There's something not dealt with there. There's some, some unfinished business there. Where we ought to reach out, make the call.

[17:08] Even when you get to your car after the service, if this is speaking to you, if this is speaking to you, get your phone out and dial that number. And say, hey, look, I know God's been working on my life and he's helping me to change.

[17:25] He's helping me to sort things out. I think there's some things I've not sorted out with you. I'm sorry. You know, I'm doing my, on my part, I'm saying I'm sorry for what I've done, what I said.

[17:38] And I just want to, on my part, to make it right with you. And you know, they may not receive that. Sometimes you extend an apology, you seek forgiveness, but it's not received, it's not reciprocated.

[17:51] But nevertheless, do your part, amen? It'll just free you up. It'll set you free. It'll just, wow, I just feel free. Even though they said, even though they might, blah, hang up on you.

[18:03] It doesn't matter. You've done your part to say, hey, I'm sorry. Forgive me. Even though you, even though the fault might be even theirs. Forgive me that our friendship, our relationship has been damaged.

[18:17] I'm sorry that that happened. Let's, let's start again. Let's rebuild. Let's rebuild. And it's, it's about our deeds, isn't it? That's, that's a big one. Forgiveness. And to live with that, to live with kindness, to live with grace.

[18:30] Our deeds should be a reflection of Christ. When people see what you do, they, they ought to see Christ in your actions. And wherever we go, whatever we do, we are a full-time ambassador, a representative of the kingdom of God.

[18:47] You see these people in Canberra, you know, the ambassador for Kuwait or the ambassador for, I don't know, some obscure country. They, they're a full-time representative of their country in Australia.

[19:00] But what about you? You're a full-time representative of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. So it's like, wow, we should act like we are actually a, a diplomat.

[19:11] We're an ambassador. We're, we're somebody that represents someone important. More than this world could ever know. Higher than any king, queen, president, prime minister.

[19:24] You're a full-time ambassador for the kingdom of God, a representative. So, wouldn't we rather then, to consider that, glorify God in our deeds?

[19:35] To be a good steward of our time, our talents, our resources, our lifestyle choices, whether it's in our thoughts, words or actions, that God's glory, God's glory, should be our ultimate aim.

[19:46] That should be that which dictates how we act, how we live, how we go about our everyday lives. Because we represent him full-time.

[19:57] It's not like you switch off being an ambassador. You're always at the call of your king, of your country, of the kingdom. And so, use your talents, your resources.

[20:09] Use it wisely for the kingdom of God. Glorify God. Glorify God in your deeds. Glorify God in your body. You've got a body and it's your body.

[20:21] You're the only one that's got it. So, you're 100% responsible for your body. And 1 Corinthians 6 verse 20 tells us, For ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God.

[20:34] Glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. So, in other words, look after yourself. Look after yourself. This old body is, I don't know about your old body.

[20:46] You might have a new body. But this old body of mine is not at peak performance anymore. I think it's going downhill. I think I'm over the hill.

[20:57] I'm going down the other side. But we should be a good steward of our body. Amen? Young people, young people, think about your body. Look after it. And it behoves us to think about, what are we taking in?

[21:11] Are we over indulging? You know, we can have a bit too much ice cream or whatever it be. We can have a bit too much of all the candy and the chocolate. My desire is to have it, but I know it's not good for me.

[21:23] I mean, this can be in lots of ways too. I'm kind of talking light-heartedly. But, you know, we can be careless with our body. And it's not going to go the distance.

[21:34] Amen? It's not going to go the distance. So, be a good steward of your body. And we could think also in more serious terms about maintaining purity in your relationships.

[21:46] You know, follow biblical principles of love, of family, of marriage, of commitment. You know, keep yourself pure. God helping you.

[21:57] That you'll save yourself for the spouse one day when you marry. That you won't have any regret. Because you've glorified God. You've glorified God in your body.

[22:09] Because impurity, it doesn't glorify God. You know, present yourself in a manner that glorifies God. And, you know, for men, for women. For all of us. There's modesty.

[22:20] That we should glorify God in not being fleshly or careless. Unhealthy eating habits. You know, we can all consider there's lots of addictions.

[22:34] You name it. There's a smorgasbord. Alcohol, drugs. There's so many things. We've got to be guarded. We've got to be careful. Rather, err on the side of being strict than being the other side.

[22:47] Not living to satisfy the flesh. It doesn't glorify God. You know, we can make those choices and we'll look back. And I know there's been testimonies of people here that God's delivered them.

[23:00] They were, you know, they were really addicted to marijuana. And we've had really telling stories. And I know it's very, very challenging when someone comes from that lifestyle and God sets them free.

[23:13] What a testimony. Glory to God. You've given glory to God for doing that. You that I'm talking to that have done that. But would it be even more glory to God if you hadn't touched it?

[23:25] You know, and you know, fasting may help. I know Peter's preached on fasting before. You know, I'm not really, I can't say I'm very practiced in fasting.

[23:36] But I think it is a good principle that we would do well to consider. Because the Bible talks about it. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus fasted our Lord, then maybe there's an appropriate place for me to fast.

[23:51] And you know, as you get convicted, as the Lord leads in that department, it's a Bible thing. And it's a New Testament thing too. It's not just Old Testament. So glorify God in your body.

[24:02] Another thing, glorify God in the good times and the bad times. Now it's easy to glorify God when everything's going really well, isn't it? What about in the day of trouble?

[24:14] The day of trouble. What about those times that you're suffering, that you're afflicted, that there's a struggle, there's needs that you can't seem to find what you need.

[24:26] It's in these moments that you can even glorify God even more. Now you might say, preacher, it's easy for you to say, you don't know what I'm going through right now.

[24:38] Well, God says, in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. The proviso call upon me.

[24:51] Call upon me. In the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. That's the word of God. Everybody can relate to times of heartache, tragedy, trial.

[25:06] Some more than others. Some get more struggles. These are the moments when glorifying God means so much. It means so much, and it's even more a testimony.

[25:17] What matters is how we give God the glory, the most glory, because our struggles are for this purpose, to give glory to God. Some of you are going through it, I know. I get to hear all the horror stories, and the heartaches, and I'm burdened because I can't meet those needs personally.

[25:34] And I feel for people going through trials and suffering. I can only urge you to trust. Trust. Rely on his strength to see you through, to endure with grace.

[25:49] God will be glorified when people see you put your trust in God. God will be glorified in your time of struggles, that it will be a testimony, that your test will be a testimony.

[26:01] That God will be glorified when you suffer for righteousness sake. You know, you do something for God, and then out of left field, oh, someone's complained about you at work, about what you're saying, about blah, blah, blah.

[26:14] You're under a warning. You know, your job's under threat. You know, you've got such and such a warning. Now, there's times where that's come close for me.

[26:25] God will be glorified when you do right. God will be glorified when people see how you trust God through the trials and the tests. When people see your faith in spite of your circumstances, God will be glorified.

[26:40] Call upon me, he says, in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Your trials and struggles, your problems, are there to give God the glory. We see in the times of our Lord's ministry, you know, the blind man was for the glory of God.

[26:56] He didn't know that, but God knew that, that the very affliction he had was for the glory of God. We see in 2 Corinthians 4, 17, Paul tells us, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

[27:15] Are people strengthened because of your struggles? They can be. It's how you face those things. It's how you face those times that you give glory to God, even in your trials. Those light afflictions, poof, just for a moment, in the scheme of things, it's an eye blink. Compared to eternity, there's a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

[27:33] Are people strengthened because of your struggles? They can be. It's how you face those things. It's how you face those times that you give glory to God, even in your trials.

[27:45] Glorify God. Glorify God. Glorify God. Glorify God. In the good times and the bad. In your struggle. In your affliction. Glorify God. Job did. He had some moments where he struggled too.

[27:59] He's human. And the Bible tells it warts and all, but Job got through it, didn't he? And you'll get through it too, as you glorify God.

[28:10] What does he say? My Redeemer liveth. He shall stand at the latter day. He gave God the glory, didn't he?

[28:23] What did he say? And I shall see him. And I shall see him. I shall see him. Amen. I shall be changed. Amen. He had that eternal view, didn't he? Even in the midst of all of the chaos and the hurt that he was in, the physical pain that he was in.

[28:40] Glorify God in your good times and bad. Glorify God in your work. Our work ethic should reveal God's glory. How can we serve? You know, when I know in the workplace, as I've been in the workplace, everybody's looking at you.

[28:56] You're under scrutiny all the time, aren't you? As a Christian. Amen. Who can identify with that? They say, oh, he's a Christian. Look at what he's up to. They're watching you like a hawk, aren't they?

[29:09] And so I know in my last job, like years and years of service, I hardly took a sick day.

[29:20] Because people look on that. I'm not saying, if you're sick, take a sick day, please. Especially these days. You don't want to infect people. But people that take sickies all the time, there's no testimony, is there?

[29:32] How do you give God the glory when you act like that? You just... Work ethic. It should reveal God's glory. They should look at you and say, wow, he's got months of sick leave that he's never taken when he finishes his job.

[29:47] There's a work ethic there that's saying something about you, your character, isn't it? How can we serve? Glorify God in your work, in the day-by-day living, in your day-by-day job, so that your employer says, yes, this is one I can count on to do the job, to do it well, to not be a slacker.

[30:04] How well do you do the things that you do? Colossians 3, it says, and whatsoever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

[30:17] You know, be a good testimony in your job, for your employer. Because how you work, they're looking at you. You're a Christian. They're going to look at you. Are you fair dinkin'?

[30:30] We think of Daniel as an example of how to work. Daniel was commended as having an excellent spirit in him. Daniel served five kings.

[30:43] Five secular kings. One, two, three, four, five. He had a track record of excellence. An excellent spirit was found in him.

[30:55] Think of Joseph. He had multiple people that he was thrown down and then lifted up, wasn't he? Was it three times?

[31:06] From the pit to the palace. He was commended. They could see he was genuine. His work gave glory to God.

[31:17] They knew that they could put Daniel and Joseph in positions of authority, in positions of responsibility. See, King Josiah, he served well.

[31:28] There's many others we could name. But how do we live in the day by day? In the job. In the job field, whatever it is that we're in. And look, I've worked in factories. I've worked as a cleaner, picking up grease from dirty machines and working in factory cleaning toilets.

[31:46] It doesn't matter what kind of level of job you have. Do it well. Do it for the glory of God. You can clean toilets for the glory of God. You can do the most menial tasks. And others might discount such jobs as a process worker, as I was, as a factory worker, working in dirty, degrading jobs.

[32:08] You can give glory to God wherever you work, however you work, whatever you do. Give glory to God. Glorify God in your play. Glorify God in your play.

[32:19] This includes our entertainment and our use of time. In these days, how easy it is to fritz the time away. Look, I'm guilty. I'm guilty as charged. Consuming our minds with things that, wow, that's just wasted all of that time.

[32:34] Just gone. Poof! Where did the meal go? Where did that afternoon go? Whether it's through TV shows or screens, movies, books, music, social media.

[32:45] Are we glorifying God with our entertainment? Let's be honest. Are we discerning about the media, the entertainment that we consume? Does it align with our Christian values?

[32:57] You know, some people, some people in this church have told me they struggle with the pokies. They get money and they think, oh, the pokies. Something, boom, it just takes them there.

[33:11] It's in all of us. I can't say I've got any interest in the pokies myself. But for some, it gets a hold of them. It grabs a hold of them and it pulls them in like a vortex, like a whirlpool.

[33:26] And they can't stop until it's gone. And their wallet's empty. Gaming is another thing, isn't it, too? Especially these days, young people. I know, again, I've never, mind you, I've seen some of these games these days, these war games, and you just see a little video clip of them.

[33:44] You think it's enthralling. It's so enthralling. It's just, it's captivating. Because they're such high quality and it's so engaging. And look, I've got to ask God to help me not even look at such video clips of such games.

[34:00] But we know for some, they're gaming all day long, night and day. And it becomes a total control of their lives, of their minds. Are we glorifying God in our play?

[34:12] It's all. Whether we eat, drink, whatsoever we do. Glorify God, too, in your witness. As we said before, we're a representative, we're witnesses.

[34:23] Share your faith with others. Share the gospel with kindness, with compassion, like the Lord Jesus did. When we go witnessing, we're not there to win an argument, to demolish some false doctrine or false cult.

[34:37] We're there to witness for Christ. We're there to give them the gospel as clearly and as soundly and as lovingly as we can do, with mercy and fear. Are you giving a sound testimony? Are you being a good witness?

[34:49] That's not just when you have an organised witnessing session. That's when you're down at the shops and you get a moment where you could say something. That moment that you could say something. Are you being that witness?

[35:00] The Bible calls us living letters. It's saying that here where Paul says, you are declared to be the epistle, the letter of Christ. Written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God.

[35:13] It's saying here that we are like living letters, living epistles. You are living, a living walking signboard. It's as if you're walking around with a sandwich board on.

[35:24] Jesus saves. That's in effect, isn't it? That's what you are. You're a living walking signboard. You may not realise that sometimes. It's like one day I was on the train and I saw some students on the train once and they went to some Christian Catholic kind of school and they had these uniforms emblazoned and had a cross on and had some Christian kind of slogan on their school uniform, the school logo, this motto.

[35:50] And people judge that school by that. People judge that school by the way that those children dress, their hair cut, their language, their actions. And they would judge that school by that.

[36:03] They may wear some blazer with a cross with a Christian sounding motto, but it's what they act like that shows where they're at. It's the same with you and me, isn't it? We can say, say, blah, blah, blah, be a big mouth Christian.

[36:16] And then we're a shirk at work. We don't pull our weight. We use words we shouldn't say. We say things we shouldn't say. We act in ungodly, fleshly ways.

[36:27] We're just as worldly thinking and worldly talking and worldly acting as the next man. And we can either glorify or trash the name of our Lord. It's real, people. It's real.

[36:38] May we determine to glorify his name at every opportunity. Rather, stop and think before you say something. Our witness to the world is every moment of our lives. It truly is.

[36:49] It's not when you're at church. It's when you're out there. It's when you're in the world. Before this watching world, our actions reflect on God's glory, don't they? Our witness to the world is every moment of our lives.

[37:01] Our actions, our words, either lift up or tear down. Our testimony, determine, determine. I pray I'm saying this lovingly and I'm saying this compassionately, urging you as Christ would exhort you to glorify God.

[37:20] And think how you can help others grow. Others to grow in their faith journey. You that are older, you should be teachers by now, the Bible says. For us older ones, doesn't it say that?

[37:32] You should be teachers by now. Friends, we that know more, we should be teachers by now. We shouldn't be holding back. You've got so much knowledge.

[37:44] It's like some people, they say they're like the Dead Sea, isn't it? Dead Sea Christians. It's all in, in, in, but it never flows out. We get all the knowledge in, in, in, but it never flows out.

[37:56] God wants us to be a river. He wants us to be flowing out. Not like the Dead Sea where it's all going in and it just stays there. So I pray this is exhorting you to think.

[38:09] Glorify God. Glorify God in your relationships. How do you treat people? Isn't it easy to treat people in a way that is not fitting?

[38:20] How do we treat our families, our friends? Is it how Christ treated people? Can we build healthy relationships with people? Even if they're doing the wrong thing.

[38:31] Even if they're, they're doing the wrong thing, we can do the right thing. Can we nurture spiritual growth within our family, our children? God helping us. God helping us.

[38:42] You know, my, my experience is I could have done better as a father. I could have done better. Can we raise our children in the ways of our Lord in biblical principles?

[38:53] Can we teach them and model the principles we want them to know? Can we glorify God in our relationships? What about practicing hospitality? What about showing love and compassion and kindness?

[39:05] What about loving your enemies? Forgive those who have wronged you. Our lives are meant to reflect his glory. Pray that these thoughts might, might stimulate some thinking in you of how you can glorify God.

[39:17] Don't waste any opportunity to glorify God, to give him the glory. We're coming, coming to the last couple of pages here. Think of our relationships, you know, are we glorifying God?

[39:28] And we think, as the word of God tells us that we're going to be changed into the same image. As we're beholding, as in a glass, like in a mirror, the glory of the Lord.

[39:40] We are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Our glorifying God should be an unfolding, an increasing, a going on from glory to glory.

[39:54] What's stopping us from glorifying God? We ought to wake up every morning and think, God, how can my life give you the most glory today? I love how some people, they send me things every morning and they've got a Bible verse on their heart and they love to share it.

[40:10] They're giving glory to God. They're saying, you know, here's a scripture for you, pastor. Here's a scripture for you, friend. And they're sharing it because they want to give God the glory every day. Friends, it says that, as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

[40:26] When you get some success, do you attribute it to God? Sometimes we have something good happen, we don't even thank him. It's like those ten lepers, isn't it? None of them couldn't care less.

[40:37] Oh, something good has happened. Only one of them went back and said, thank you, Lord. Only one of them went back. Do we give God the glory for what he's given to us? When God gives us something good, do we say, thank you, Lord, when we get something good happen?

[40:50] We thank God for what he's given us. Declare his glory. Glorify God in everything. Romans 11, 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things.

[41:01] To whom be glory forever. Amen. Think of the glory of God. It's forever, isn't it? One day we're going to be in the glory. One day the one we glorify, the one we give glory to, we're going to be in the glory.

[41:15] We're going to be in that glorious presence of the glory of God. His very presence. And it will be forever. Think of it, it's to him that should be the glory forever.

[41:27] Sometimes we just have these glasses on that just look at life as in the present tense. Life in the earthly sense. I think we need to take those glasses off and put some heavenly glasses on.

[41:40] And have a perspective of eternity. That God's glory is going to be forever. And one day you're going to be there, brother. One day you're going to be there, sister, in glory forever. Can we look at the life that we're living now through that lens?

[41:53] And have that forever filter on what we do. So, will it matter in eternity how I have lived my life? Think of it. Our life can be gone so quickly.

[42:04] Will it matter what I've done on this earth in eternity? When we look back and think, okay, I've done something for the glory of God. God helping me despite all my failings.

[42:15] I've done something for God. Something to glorify God. It's your purpose. You're created for his glory. Glorify God in your worship. Take time to worship.

[42:26] Make time to worship. Glorify God in your worship. Glorify God in your attitude. In your attitude. In your thinking. In your words. What you say. How you say it. Who you say it to. Say good words.

[42:37] Say words you're not going to be ashamed of. Say words that give glory to God, not trash his name. Glorify God in your deeds. In your body. Look after it. You've only got one.

[42:48] Make it last. Glorify God in the good times, the bad times, in the struggles. Glorify God in your work such that you're a model employee. You're the employee of the month, of the year.

[43:01] That you're such that there's an excellent spirit found in you because you're a testimony for the glory of God, for the grace of God. And you'll see benefits from that as you work to the glory of God.

[43:18] And glorify God in your play. So you think about, oh, should I download that app? Should I download that game? Should I watch that video?

[43:30] Glorify God in your play. Because it's whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do. Glorify God in your witness. And that's not just when you have some organised time of witnessing.

[43:43] That's your day by day. That's who you are 24-7. You're a witness. You're an ambassador 24-7. And glorify God in your relationships. Your family, your friends, who you relate with, how you relate, what you say to people, how you act with people.

[43:58] They are judging you. It's like me judging those school students with the name of their school. Oh, that's what they're like in that school because of how they acted. People are going to say, oh, oh, there's church for you people.

[44:12] Hopefully not. They'll say, yeah, they're a testimony. They're glorifying God. Amen. We can glorify God. That's what matters.

[44:23] Not you, not me, not any of us. It's all glory to God, isn't it? Whatever you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

[44:34] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you are due all the glory. And one day we'll be with you in glory. Lord, we know that we're seated in heavenly places in the sense that we're already heavenly people.

[44:46] Lord, we already have a heavenly dimension on this earth that we're already saved. We're already your children, children of God. We're already representing the kingdom of God because we're sons and daughters of the living God.

[45:00] We're heirs and we are recipients of your gift of salvation. We pray that each one might know that, firmly know that. And Lord, that we might have that heavenly dimension such that we'll have that forever lens on our thinking, on our living, on our lives.

[45:19] Lord, that we'll have that dimension of glory. And how can we glorify you in all of those ways that we've talked about today, in our worship, in our living, in our witness, in our words, in our work, in our play, in our relationships?

[45:33] Lord, help us, Lord, to not switch off from that thought. And whatsoever we do, in whatsoever we do, we want to give you the glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

[45:44] Amen.