Are you ready for Jesus Christ to come back? Are you ready to face Him and know where you stand with Him? That's an important thought. I'm going to lead in with my introduction today. I was going to ask you, do you remember what the angels said when Jesus was born? They praised God. They said what? What's the phrase? Glory to God in the highest. The idea of glorifying God. How does that work? What does that mean? Well, just as a side note, free sermon on the side. In Luke it says, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men. Is there peace on earth? Is there good will? I think if you look at the words actually in that text, it's peace, and goodwill toward men in whom God is pleased. It's the idea that those who receive Him will get peace. Those who receive Him will be able to have goodwill toward their fellow man. And that speaks right to the passage today as we find Paul before Festus. Paul is being called in and being tried for his faith, really. But it comes down to His character. And truly, I believe that we can glorify God in our bodies. We can bring glory to God. What does it mean to glorify God? It means that when people meet you and find out that you believe in God, their impression of God is raised because of their impression of you. Oh, that's pretty strong. Yeah. It's a responsibility that every one of us who name the name of Christ need to be aware of every day. That we may be Jesus to someone else. So that they might see Him in us and say, I want to know more about this Jesus because I didn't think much of Him until I met you. Now I realize I need to investigate. That's glorifying God in our lives. Paul was excellent at that. Today, if you would, turn with me to 2 Acts, chapter 25. And as you may have noticed in your notes, and if you haven't taken your notes out, you might want to do that, because it's going to be a little different sermon today. Usually three points, and then three sub points, and then three points, and then who knows what else. A couple of rabbit trails and a few other things thrown in. But today, it's going to be just simply five ways that we're going to talk about later. Five ways that we can be a people that the angels were describing when they said, glory to God in the highest, peace and goodwill toward men. That we can be like Paul. That others might take another look at God and say, there might be something to this. That during the season, that we always think of, glory to God in the highest, that we might actually be doing that. Wouldn't that be cool? That we could be part of that. Look with me at Acts chapter 25. Paul is now before Festus. And I can't help it, but every time I hear of Festus, I think of who? Hunsmoe. Dylan. Yeah, Matt Dylan. I think of that. And I think of the one One where Festus talks about wanting to maybe invest in some land. And he tells Matt, he says, I think I'm going to buy a little lot. Matt says, how can you? That's a little lot. I thought that was mutually exclusive. How can you have a little and a lot at the same time? But anyway, I remember that. That's my favorite Gunsmoke episode. Now you know. It has nothing to do with the message today. So you had a free sermon already. And now you have, I don't know what that was. Let's move on. Acts chapter 25. Paul before Festus. He has made it here to Caesarea. When was the last time he was in Caesarea? He's been there a couple of years now. But it was just a few weeks between the time, a couple of weeks, from the time that he was finishing the third missionary journey, and all his friends at Caesarea, you remember that? It's kind of a sea coast town where he landed there. And all the disciples gathered around and said, please don't go to Jerusalem. Because if you go, let me show you what it's going to look like. And one of them actually strapped him up in a girdle, it says, and said, you're going to be like this. arrested. And sure enough, a couple weeks later, he's in the temple, he's dragged out, he's arrested, okay? He's in Jerusalem, arrested, and finds out through his nephew, they find out that some people, 40 Jews, I'm sorry, not 40 Jews, is that right? 40 Jews? How many was it? I have my brain. 40 Jews made a pact together and said, we will not, what? Eat or drink until we kill Paul. Now, the passage we're in now is over two years later. Those are some hungry fellas. Paul's still alive, but what had happened was, even though he went from Caesarea to Jerusalem, he was arrested, he was shipped out in the middle of the night with several hundred people as his escort. He gets to Caesarea again. He's there, sitting in prison for a couple years because Felix is kind of a procrastinator. And then Festus shows up. Festus is now the new guy who is taking over for Felix. So Festus decides in verse 1 that he might should check out the situation. So he goes down to Jerusalem or goes up to Jerusalem and starts asking people how things are going. Well, at that time there was a lot of unrest. So there was a lot of complaining, a lot of griping, a lot of murmuring and disputing. And as he gets his fill of it, one group comes up to him in particular, and look what it says in verse 2. It says they informed him against Paul. I love that. That's like almost Christian-ese. Well, I'm not gossiping. I'm just informing you about something. Oh yeah, alright. Everything you're saying is negative, so it's either slander or gossip. Which one do you want? So we have to be careful. We don't want to be like these Jews. Look, it goes from informing them against Paul. Verse 3, it says, they desired favor against him. So, it's negative, right? Laying weight to kill him. Verse 5, now it gets really truthful. It says, let them therefore, among you who are able, go down with me. That's the saying to the Jews. And accuse this man. See, that's what, they weren't informing. They were accusing. Which is very close to slander. Because if you don't have the facts. And I think Festus had some idea that maybe they didn't have the facts. Why? Because it says, accuse this man if, that's a big word, if there be any wickedness in him. I think Festus had the same opinion that Felix did, which was, I don't see the big deal. I don't understand why you guys are so upset with Paul. But if you want to do this, we have to do this right. So I credit Festus for that and think that's very good. In fact, history seems to indicate that Festus was much better a ruler than Felix. Much more diligent, much more upstanding, but he still had some issues. Still a person in need of Christ. We find the next day, after he gets back, he brings Paul before these accusers. It says the Jews that came down, verse 7, stood around about him and they laid... What kind of complaints? Scurrilous. Yeah. What's that? Too good. Yeah. Too good words there. Many. But you don't have to describe that. And then grievous. OK? Really, really serious charges and not just one of them. Which most of us, if we heard it on the news, kind of like we heard about this Illinois governor. Have you heard about that? The first time I heard that, I said, he's done. Wouldn't you have thought that? He's still in office. Well, I'm not going to go there. But I know this. That's the type of charges that strong to where everyone said, that man's dead. If any of this is true, he's gone. But it says in the little bitty phrase after that, verse 7, the last few words, it says, which they could not prove. Let me encourage you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, who say you love the Lord Jesus Christ, let us never be guilty. of bringing many damaging reports about somebody. Unless we can prove it. Otherwise, keep your mouth closed. Because what can you accomplish except a lot of bad things? And not honoring to God. Not glorifying to God. In verse 8 it says, he answered for himself. Wow! Can you imagine Paul hearing all this? And then he didn't say, can I get a lawyer? That's where we would be, right? But Paul answered for himself. Why? Because he felt like he was innocent, he knew he was innocent, and he also, God, I believe, gave him special boldness. Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet anything against Caesar have I offended anything at all. Well, that is a very clear denial, isn't it? Don't you just hate it when they ask someone, were you involved in doing any of this? And a politician often times will say, and they'll answer a whole different question. I didn't drive a red car. I wasn't talking about cars. I'm asking you, did you steal some of this money? Well, I was in my office yesterday. I'm not asking you that. I'm asking you, did you take some of that money? And all they do is say yes or no, and they won't. Oftentimes, because there may be, what? Some guilt. But Paul had no problem saying, I didn't do anything. At all. I'm innocent. It's great to hear a flat out refusal saying, no, I didn't do it. And I'll stay behind that. so clean and so refreshing. Festus willing to do the Jews a pleasure, realizing this whole thing's falling apart and the Jews are not going to be happy because a man denying it like that and they don't have any proof. We've got to dismiss this case. So Festus, here's where his integrity kind of bends a little. He's more concerned about the crowd than he is about the Lord, about what's right. and about what's good for Paul. Here we see that Festus wants to be a people pleaser. And as I said before, it's really a misnomer. Because people pleaser is a general statement. Person pleaser, maybe. You can please one person, but anytime you go out to please somebody, you're going to displease somebody else. And here, he's not a people pleaser because he doesn't care what Paul thinks. Okay? He's a Jew pleaser right now. This group of Jews. And it says that, hey, well, Paul, if you feel so strongly about it, why don't you come on back to Jerusalem and answer for these things. The whole time, Paul knowing, I had to be shipped out by night because they were going to kill me. There's 40 guys that are starving to death and won't eat a Big Mac and can't get one until they kill me. Paul's no dummy. And sometimes I think we Christians think that we need to be, yes, harmless as doves, but stupid. OK? We don't have to be stupid. We don't have to be anybody's floor mat. You know, we need to say what is right. And because God has made us so precious in His sight and our life is precious, we ought to stand up for life. We ought to stand up for our own life as well. And Paul does. Then said, Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be judged. He says, everything's like it ought to be. I don't mind going to court. I don't mind being accountable. I don't mind answering for my actions. Well, that's different than the rest of us, isn't it? In America today, there's nobody that wants to say, well, yeah, maybe I shouldn't have got that loan on that house because I couldn't afford it. Well, maybe I shouldn't have done that, but now I've got to pay the fine. I imagine if we could have Steve up here, he could share tons of funny things that people say why they were speeding. Because it couldn't have been their fault, right? some goofy things that we come up with because we do not want to take responsibility and we don't want to be held accountable. But yet, to glorify God, I truly believe we must be people who embrace accountability. We must start saying, yes, it's okay. I know it's kind of distasteful for the moment, but it's good for the long run. And if we don't, we're just playing games with God. We've got to say, hey, here I am, Lord. Whatever you see that's wicked in me, as the psalmist said, just touch it. Take it out. I want it out of me because I want to please you in everything that I do. Paul was that kind of man. I have done no wrong, as you all very well know it. For if I be an offender and have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die. Well, that's taking responsibility, wouldn't it? I don't mind dying for wrongdoing, but I'm not going to be ambushed out here just because some people want what they want. than Festus when he had conferred with the council. I love that. Festus is in charge. He knows the facts. He already knows he's innocent. He turns around and says, can Paul do this? Can this guy really appeal to Caesar? And how is this going to work exactly? Can you imagine how Caesar is going to respond to how Festus is doing? Festus' review is not going to be good. Well, why didn't you deal with this? You don't have any proof. Why didn't you bring him to me? You see? And Festus kind of started getting a twinkling of this and realizing, I'm kind of between a rock and a hard place. And so he confers with the council and the council gives him bad counsel. They basically say, send him to Caesar. Let him go. Get him out of here. And so he does. You may say, Pastor, how does this have anything to do with me? Paul was in a pickle. Paul was feeling the heat. Paul knew that he was innocent, though, because his life was upright. Paul's life glorified God from the point of salvation, it seems like, all the way through to his death. What a wonderful testimony that is. Don't you want to be that kind of believer? That every day, every year, from now to the time you see the Lord face to face, you're glorifying God. I truly believe that you can. I believe that God wants us to and has provided for that. And He has done that by saying to us, there are some things that are unique about people who glorify me. And you can just draw them out of Paul's personality. There's a parallel passage in Philippians 2, and you may have noticed that on the notes where Philippians 2 is all sprinkled through there. But it's amazing how this kind of parallels. I won't be going back and forth, but you sure are welcome to do that. But would you turn with me right now to Philippians chapter 2. In Philippians 2, verse 12, it starts with the word wherefore. And when you see that, you have to ask, why did they put that there? Well, because it's based on something else. Well, what is it based on? Verses 9-11. Starting in verse 9 of chapter 2 of Philippians says, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, speaking of Jesus, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things in earth, things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Oh, what is the subject? The subject is a couple of things. OK. Confessing Jesus as Lord. First point. Second one is to give glory to God the Father. Bringing glory to God the Father and to confess that Jesus is Lord. Those are the reasons why the next passage is written. Don't you want to do that with your life? Confess that Jesus is Lord to the world by your behavior, and to bring glory to God. If so, you have to follow the instructions that are following. Here they come. Verse 12, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have also obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And the fear and trembling there is basically what you see. It's the idea of reverence. It's the awesomeness. The thing that we hear in the special music that he's singing about the hair on your arm standing up in the presence of God, realizing you're in the presence of God all the time? For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may be blameless and harmless as sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. is a description of the believer who is bringing glory to God and putting Christ out in front, confessing Him as Lord. How can you do that? Well, very quickly, I'd like to go through these slides. I have five C's, hopefully you can remember. And even though they all start with con, it's not a con job. If I can find my notes, we'll start. The first one is, I think we find that God wants us to bring glory to Him by being consistent. Secondly, we find that we can bring glory to God by being confident. Thirdly, by being content. Fourthly, by being conscientious. And fifth, by being consecrated. Let's look at these words very quickly together. Consistent. What does that mean? That means someone who lives their faith, not just talks one thing and does another, but actually lives what you say you believe. If you believe that all life is precious to God, then you will not consider having an abortion. That is living your faith, right? If you believe the Bible is true and literal, then when the Bible says it is wrong to do something, whatever it might be, then you will not do it. When someone calls you on that, you will say, you're right, I'm wrong. The Bible is correct. Tough to do. A lot of us won't do that. Not playing games with God is what it means to be consistent. Not bargaining with God. Well, God, I was good yesterday, so can I be bad today? There's actually a church, a denomination, that actually was selling their rights to play games with God. Yes. Oh, if you give this money, then you can go out and sin this much. That's pretty sad to think. I call that inconsistent. I call that playing games with God. That does not bring glory to God. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say. Saying what you mean and meaning what you say. That should be the way it is, right? As a Christian, more than ever. Paul was that way. He said, this is how I was. You can check it out. I stand behind it. I hope you can do the same. The idea of working out your salvation that we saw in Philippians. It's the idea, work is the opposite of play. Which means, now I'm going to say, I'm going to show you, after I've told you what I believe, now I'm going to show you what I believe. Kind of the James aspect. It doesn't mean we work for our salvation. It means we work out our salvation, which means it's the same idea of going to the gym and working out. I don't become someone different. I become someone working out. The same person. Secondly, we need to be also confident. Paul was very confident. And too often, Christians are not confident. Well, you say, Pastor, why should I be confident? Because we can do all things. Why? Through Christ who strengthens us. You should be pretty confident if you can do all things. You know? I always thought it would be neat to be Superman. Have you ever thought about Superman? Some of you may be Spiderman or Batman. But whatever, you think, wow, they can do some amazing things. God can do more amazing things. Greater things. And he says to you, I can do all things in and through you. In the power of Christ. We have God living in us. Thus, we have abilities that we will never, ever touch. Because we do not surrender that to God. Being confident in someone who rests in God. Believing that God has a plan. God has a plan. When I see Paul getting ready to be shipped to Rome. being faced with these guys who have pledged not to eat until they kill him, having a guy that's totally incompetent with Felix, and then coming to another guy that's just semi-incompetent for a judge, he could really be nervous. Have you ever gone to court and felt like the judge was incompetent? Or the lawyer that you hired? Very frustrating feeling. But yet we know that Christ is competent. So we rest in Him, not in our abilities, but in His. God is the one who calls us, and He will also do it. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 24, I believe it is. Great verse that says that very same thing. So we should be confident, not in our own work, but in what God can do and what He is doing. He's got a plan. Thirdly, we should be content. We should be content. Someone who is content is someone that truly trusts God. Someone who's discontent is someone who doesn't trust God. If you're going around complaining all the time, what you're basically saying is, God, you don't know how to take care of your children. And if you were a good father, I'd have more stuff. Wow, can you imagine? Being such a sniveling little kid before God and saying, God, you're just not a good daddy. You don't take good care of me. But that's what we do when we are discontent. That's what the devil attacked Adam and Eve, saying, oh, you know, God's not all that good to you. If He was really good to you, He'd let you eat this, and then you could be smart as He is, and wow, you'd be something. And they started thinking, oh, yeah, well, maybe. Yeah, that looks good to eat. Yeah, I don't know why God said not that. God must not know what He's doing. He must not care for me and love me like I really thought He did. And so we become discontent. Contentment is not doubting God's goodness. It comes down to that. Is God good? Is God good? Oh, that's weak. Is God good? How often? All the time He is. God is good all the time. And that will lead to contentment if you can just keep that in the forefront of your thoughts. Is God good all the time? In him, there's no darkness. There's no evil. There's no intent to harm us. Wow, then I should be content. Yeah, I should sit back and relax. Things are good. God has not failed to provide for me, and he will not fail to provide for me in the future. Boy, that'd be contentment. That's great contentment. Let's move on. Just slide through this. Conscientious. being conscientious. For some reason, believers sometimes feel as though we have a license because God gives us grace that we can be sloppy about whatever we want to be. One thing that breaks my heart, to be right honest with you, is people who volunteer to do things at church and don't give 100%. Now, I'm not aiming at anybody. Don't get mad at me, please, for this. But the reality is, if you give 90% on the job, You'd be an outstanding employee. You ought to give 100% when you come to church. Because this is for God. Yeah, your work is for God too, so you ought to give 100% there too. But you shouldn't go down in quality. If anything, go up. Are you conscientious? Would you say you're a conscientious person? Would you say you're a conscientious Christian? How do you know? Well, as Paul was willing to be held accountable, are you willing to put yourself accountable to someone else? I truly believe this is the reason that many believers do not join churches. They argue the Bible doesn't say you have to be a member, you know, go through paperwork. But the problem is, the Bible does say there is leadership that God ordains for a church. You can read about it. It's called Ellarine Dakins. There's clarifications and all that. God ordained that. Why? So that the people can be orderly. And that we would submit to that authority in our eyes. And we find it all the way through Hebrews and other places. We should submit. Because they watch for our souls, it says. And what we do is we hold back our souls so they can't see them. And thus they can't watch for us. And then we complain because we feel like no one's watching out for us. But we don't submit ourselves to that accountability. We're not such conscientious folk. Someone who embraces accountability is a conscientious person. Someone who does not cling to any evil whatsoever. Cling to no evil whatsoever. This is someone who basically says, I don't want any. This is the idea in Philippians that's blameless and harmless. The concept that I'm not going to harbor or hold on to anything that is evil in my life. And as soon as someone points it out, it's gone. Do you know of some evil in your life that you need to take care of? Well, today with the Lord's Supper is a great opportunity. I want you to sweep out the room. Get rid of it. And if you are going to be a conscientious Christian who before the Lord wants to glorify God, then you need to go ahead and sweep out the room. You need to take care of that today. And this is a great opportunity. That's what the Lord's Supper is for. It kind of helps us. Hey, if no other time, do it now. Take care of it here. God is concerned. And you need to think about this. Whether you believe this or not, God is concerned about every part of your life. What I mean by that is, you know, whether you go to school, at work, at home, at church, at play, every last entity of your life, God is concerned about. I was always shocked by some of the responses I got from teenagers when I was teaching high school. And I was teaching at a Christian school for a while, and I'd say, look, you know, you guys are doing things that God's not pleased with. This is sin. And they turned to me and said, well, it can't be sin because school is not real life. So I'm saying you can do whatever you want at school. Pretty much. I'm like, wow, you need to work on that, because I believe God is really concerned with every aspect of your life, even school. But to them, it's like a parallel universe. And I guess all of a sudden you want to do is free. But yet, we can be like those high school students, and we think there's a little niche in our life, whatever it is, a little slice of time in our day, a little day in our week, that we decide, that's my day. And God shouldn't worry about that. Don't look at it. Don't touch it. That's mine. And God said, that's the very place I'd like to talk about. That's the one I want more than any other. And that's why we don't see blessing and glorification of God in our lives, because we hold that back from Him. Fifthly, I want to talk about being consecrated. And this is the last one, but I'd like to hit it just really quickly with you. What does consecrated mean? It means sanctified, set apart, holy, blessed. The ability to glorify. The ability to brighten. Think about that. To brighten. Well, what do we use if it's dark outside and we need to see something? We use a A flashlight. Excellent. A flashlight. And Steve, you got a flashlight back there? All right. Does that flashlight work? Oh, my goodness. What is the reason why a flashlight would not work? What's one reason? Batteries. It doesn't got no power. Sorry about that English. It won't. It doesn't have any power. And you know, we cannot brighten the corner where we are if we are not connected to the power source. If you struggle with trying to have a life that pleases God, it starts by knowing God. You have to come to a place where you realize that in you, your heart is dark. The Bible says it's darkened. It's deceitful. It's desperately wicked. That even our best works are like filthy rags to God. So how can we take that kind of light and brighten any place? We cannot. Without Christ in our life, we do not have the light to reflect to others. So let me encourage you today, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ, today, get connected by trusting Christ as Savior. So do you have some batteries you can put in that thing? Okay, well, he's got batteries, he's got power. What's another reason that it might... Listen, see if it'll work here. Well, turn it on. All right. Oh, I see some light, but it's not working very good. Could you bring that up here? You know, I need that. Now, what kind of place, what kind of place needs a flashlight? A dark place. And oh, my goodness, look, there's something in the way of the light coming out. It's cataracts. Spiritual cataracts. That's right. That's very good. I appreciate that. I got some black tape on here. And It impedes the light. You see, there's some light getting through, right Gary? There's a little light getting through, but it's not near as bright as it ought to be. There's batteries because he's connected. This could be a Christian who has a relationship with God and there's some power in his life because God, wherever he's at, there's power. And even when we're doing the worst we're doing in our whole lives, God's still spurting a little light out because he's just like that. He could use us and our rotten, filthy estate as a believer to help someone else come to Christ. And I think to myself, wow, God, you are powerful. But that doesn't mean it's the right way. Because if I really wanted to do it the right way, I'd take away these black strips on the Well, the light comes out so that everyone can see the light. And I get more and more light. So now when I go to a dark place, I can dispel the light in a great way. Many of us have sin in our lives that we allow to cloud the glory of God in our life. And people can't see that light. Why? Because of our sin. Won't you take care of that sin? Won't you give yourself to God? God, whatever it is, please take it away. Because I believe that you're calling me to give my life to you. Being consecrated means saying, I realize that God has given me a light. And now God wants to use this light without sin to take it someplace that's really dark. I'm wrong place, sorry. And shine the light. Are you shining the light in a dark place? Some of us complain. We murmur and grumble because why? Because I don't know why I got this stupid job. Well, you know what? Probably because it's a dark place, right? If you're in a dark place, praise God. Because He thinks you have enough light to lighten that dark place. Because He's not going to send a light to a bright place. Right? He goes into a dark place, right? So being consecrated means that we are willing to go. Well, I see Paul in this story today, and I'll wrap it up very quickly with this. Paul says, I appeal to Caesar. Okay, then you're going to go see Caesar. Oh good! Paul's okay with that. Rome's a dark place. Why could Paul stand so confidently because he was consecrated. He gave his life to God. Use it how you want. Send me where you want me to go. And Paul had an inkling about this already, right? How do I know that? Well, we could look at 21.12-14. No time. 21.4 in Acts. 20.16. But turn with me back to 19.21. This is what? Six chapters back. This is Paul. Chapter 19 and verse 21. Let's look first at verse 20. We find in Acts 19.20, it says, So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. Oh, that sounds like light to me, right? After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the Spirit. That's consecration. Okay. When he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem. He did that. Got arrested. Saying, after I have been there, I must also see where? Rome. He's got his ride. He's going to the dark place. He knew he was going to go there. He was looking forward to it six chapters ago. How about you? Do you realize that God's going to send you to a dark place? Or are you going to wait till he gets here and be shook? And be upset about it? Well, God, I don't know why you do. Why do you send me to dark places? Well, maybe because your light's starting to shine. And he wants to use that light in somebody's life. Won't you give your life to God, once you've committed to God, God wants to send you to dark places to light them up. But only if we know Him and if we're dealing with sin in our life and being conscientious before Him. We have an opportunity to glorify God in this body. Let's not wait until we get to heaven and sing those praises. Let's do it now. And we can do it by being these things. We can be consistent, confident, content, conscientious and consecrated. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the reality that we can bring glory to you in the highest. We thank you for the peace and the goodwill toward men that you have given us as we seek to serve you and to know you better. Father, I pray that there be someone here that has never trusted Jesus Christ. Today might be the day of salvation for them. for the believers who are struggling with issues in their life.