JavaScript

Transcript

Well, greetings, brethren. You know, we’re just a few days out from one of the most special times of the year for God’s people, and that’s the Feast of Tabernacles, and so my message today is, I think what you’ll find is a timely one. We know where we are prophetically, and how close, and how much we want the kingdom to come. So again, my message hopefully will have, in the short term and whatever time remains, the impact that I desire it to have.

Several years ago, I gave a Bible study titled, Be Profitable unto God. And I began that study by turning to Job chapter twenty-two, and I’d like to do that again. Let’s turn to Job chapter twenty-two to begin. Now, most of us are familiar with Job’s story. To test Job and his commitment to God, God allowed Satan to strip Job of everything he had amassed in a single day. Job lost all of his material wealth. His net worth was so high that he was called the greatest of all men of the East. The question, we could ask, was his spiritual net worth or profit toward God as high?

Now, most of the chapters of Job are the back and forth between him and his friends. They speculate and debate why all these things were happening to him, why he had lost all of that wealth. And then we come to chapter twenty-two. Chapter twenty-two of Job. One of Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, asked an interesting question, and this was the question that, again, in that Bible study years ago, I had posed. And we only looked at, really, the first part of the question. And I asked how many of us had noticed this before.

So Job twenty-two and verse two, Eliphaz asks, “Can a man be profitable unto God?” And I stopped there, essentially, and went on to say yes. Yes, a man or a woman can be profitable unto God, or the question would have never been asked. If God’s going to pose a question in the Bible, it’s because there is an answer to it in the affirmative or the negative. And many scriptures show us, and that was a large part of the Bible study, was the importance of profitability when it comes to what God wants from us.

But I want to address the second part of the question. Because we went on and on and talked about what profitability looks like, how we can go above and beyond, and then I thought to myself as I was meditating on that, thinking back to that, I said, “Wait a second.” First things first, let’s go to the second part of that verse. He continued the question, “Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?” Brethren, let me ask it this way. Are we profit-able? Not profitable. Do we have the ability to generate profit for God? Again, let me ask it this way, are we profit-able towards God?

Now, over the many years I worked at various jobs, starting in, really, you know, as a young boy I delivered newspapers to different homes, but when I went to the university, my parents couldn’t afford paying for our college tuition. So even during football season, I would carry sometimes one, two jobs just to help put myself through college. I worked in the mailroom all four years and delivered mail to the various departments on the college campus here in Northeast Ohio, one of the colleges here, universities. I also worked in a pharmacy. I worked in a butcher shop. You name it, I pretty much worked it.

I worked later on as I was getting out of... moving into my senior year, I got hired for an internship at Frito-Lay. I worked at a national franchise pizza shop that was located near campus, just to show you what the quality of the workforce was back then. Within a short period of time, I was promoted to night manager at twenty-one years of age. So that’s an indication of what the quality of workforce was back then.

But I went on and I studied business, ultimately was hired by a multinational after working overseas for many years. And over those years, the most complicated concept I had to learn, what professors and managers tried teaching me was profitability. Profitability. Whether it was making a pizza, unloading a truck, rotating bags of chips from the back of the shelf to the front of the shelf so that we were always giving clients the chips or the snacks that were already there before offering the fresher items. That would sound counterintuitive. You want to give them the freshest items. But why would we do it that way? I had to figure all of these things out.

Whether I was managing operations in Washington DC, and then traveling over to Europe, and doing some work at a project in India over the course of two years, whatever it was that I did, I learned that it was not about the revenue we generated. It wasn’t about the expenses we incurred, but how much profit we made at the end of the day. And here’s the secret. Here’s what I’ve discovered over all of those years, and I’m going to share it with each and every one of you, some of you that may be studying business.

Here’s the secret. Profitability in any organization begins with each individual employee. Profitability begins with the janitors or the maintenance supervisor. Profitability, the success and achieving profitability begins with the mail sorter, with the groundskeeper, the bookkeepers, the accountants. Profitability begins with the secretaries, with the managers, the directors, the vice presidents, not just with the CEO, not just with the stockholders. Every one of these individuals that I named, each and every one of them must condition themselves to contribute to the bottom line.

The most successful companies remove positions and fire people if they don’t do that. If they don’t contribute to profitability, if they don’t condition themselves or are trained and exercise profitable actions so that the company can be ultimately financially successful. Now that may seem harsh, that it’s always the bottom line, but when you think about it, God is no different. Everyone who works in the Father’s business must develop these profit-making skills.

So what does the Bible tell us about becoming profit-able servants, not just profitable servants? God wants profit-generating people with the talents that He’s given us. So what does the Bible say about it? Let’s turn to Matthew twenty-five. Matthew twenty-five, because we’re going to answer that question. We’re going to look at scriptures that tell us how we can become profit-able, profit-generating Christians. Because you can’t do more than enough until you learn to do enough, if that makes sense. You can’t go above and beyond until you do what’s basic and necessary.

And so Matthew twenty-five, an account we’re very familiar with, and we’re going to turn to a verse that I didn’t read during that Bible study. Matthew twenty-five, verse fourteen. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods.” And we know where this account falls in the prophetic picture, but we can learn lessons, brethren, that apply to us. We’re very familiar with this account.

Beginning in verse fifteen, if you read there, one servant receives five talents, another receives two talents, and the third one takes one from his master, and God gave each one according to his abilities. So we all have God-given talents. We all have skills that can be used by God. We’re not talking about the talents here today, brethren. We’re talking about how we can use those talents most efficiently or in a profitable way.

In verse sixteen, the first servant took the five talents and made five. Similarly, the second servant took his two talents and doubled his. But we know what happened with the third. He took his one talent, he buried it. And here’s what happens next, verse nineteen, “and after a long time, the Lord of those servants comes and reckons with them. To the first one in verse twenty-one, the Lord said, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you rule over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

To the second in verse twenty-three, “The Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you rule over many things. Enter you into the joy of your Lord.” And then verse twenty-four, “He who received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you. You are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown.” Think about that. God describing Himself. And the servant knew him and knew this about him. “...reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not strawed. I was afraid and went and hid your talent, the talent that you gave me, in the earth, in my life.”

And I would say at least he had enough sense to know that there were God-given talents or it was a God-given talent that he received. It wasn’t something that he developed. We all have, again, God-given talents, whether it’s one or many. It’s a great starting point to recognize that God gives us talents. And he says here, “Have what is yours.” And he gave back only what he had received. And Christ called him the following, wicked, slothful, and an unprofitable servant. He then had him thrown into outer darkness.

But I want you to notice something just before that happens. There’s more to this parable rather than meets the eye. It’s not just about multiplying our talents, developing our skills, or money. It’s not mentioned directly, but Christ alludes to it. Verse twenty-seven, “You ought, therefore, to have given my money to the exchangers,” not servants, “...to exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received my own with interest, usury.”

Now, what skills did the exchangers, brethren, have that maybe this one servant lacked? Did you ever think about that? He’s actually recommending that if you would have given this talent that I gave you to the money exchangers, who aren’t really my servants, they have certain skills that would have generated enough to probably pay their livelihood, pay their salaries, maybe anyone who else worked for them, and also on top of that give interest. And I’m sure the money exchangers weren’t in business to lose money. They would have given interest to that master and had some profit afterwards.

Now I’ve regularly dealt with, and I regularly deal with the banks that the church uses. And very rarely, we negotiate certain things, bank loans, those types of things, and on occasion when the negotiations got a little bit sticky and a little bit tough, I had to remind them that their salaries, the cost of operating, and their profits all come from, they’re paid for, they’re made from the funds we deposit into their institutions. And it just had to stop them for a second. So he gets it.

Without our money, they couldn’t do all that. They couldn’t pay their salaries, couldn’t cover the cost of operations, couldn’t generate profit without the money, and also pay us interest before they generated that profit. Any banker worth his weight, if he doesn’t have the skills necessary to generate profit, the banks fail. Bankers can possess all the talents in the world. I’m sure some of you, if you met a banker, you say, “Wow, that’s a talented individual.” But if that individual doesn’t have the skills and the ability to make profit, in other words, if they aren’t trained and conditioned themselves to make not just enough, but more than enough, they fail too.

Anything in life, likewise, brethren, with God’s servants. We must first learn to do enough, which readies us, prepares us to do more than enough. And here the unprofitable servant didn’t do enough, let alone more than enough. And his end speaks to that. You go back and read it and think about it from that perspective. He never became profit-able. He never developed the ability to make profit. And he was rejected.

So what about us? What it is to become profit-able servants.

Isaiah forty-eight and verse seventeen. “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to,” what? “...to profit.” “I teach you to profit,” says God. “Who leads you the way you should go.” Brethren, that is the difference between us and who we were before or the rest of the world. We have the greatest CEO on the planet, in the universe.

He is willing to teach you and me individually, regardless of our background, regardless of the number of talents we have. He’s willing to teach you personally, you personally, you personally, and you personally, how to profit. Not just for Him, but for yourself. Only God can teach us to become profit-able. So we, in turn, can be profitable toward Him. Remember Job, like wise men, where does wisdom come from? God. Where does the knowledge and the understanding of how to become profit-able servants come from? The same source that wisdom comes from, God.

And the Apostle Paul, and this was the inspiration of this message, explained it to Timothy and Titus. He told them what they needed before they could begin to profit God. And that’s what we’re going to be looking at. So let’s turn to second Timothy chapter three and see what the Apostle Paul told Timothy in terms of becoming profit-able. Second Timothy chapter three.

Now, Paul tells Timothy here that in the face of all the evil in this world, you can read it from verse one all the way down. In verse fourteen he says this, “Continue in the things you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them.” And when we just determined that if we’re going to be talking about profitability, and again there’s instruments that God uses, but ultimately the teacher of profitability is God. So I read it as, “Continue in the things you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them,” which is God, “...and that from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation.”

Now hold for a second there. Some of you remember when parents and grandparents would tell their children, “Make something of yourself.” I remember my parents saying that. “Son, make something of yourself.” I don’t know if they say that anymore. It’s not the focus nowadays. But Paul reminds Timothy that a contributing factor to him becoming an evangelist was because the scriptures helped him, taught him how to become one. It made him wise. The scriptures made him wise, which again contributed to him becoming an evangelist.

Now, if the Apostle Paul would have only added something about the scriptures helping him become profit-able unto himself, that would have been a great help to us, right? That’s why I stopped you. Hopefully, you didn’t read ahead. Verse sixteen, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.” Now we can skip over for the moment for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, and we can read it this way, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable that the man of God may be perfect,” or complete. “...thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Now follow that term, good works, for a moment. God gives us scripture, the Bible, brethren, to enable us to profit for Him. How does it make us profitable, like the servants who multiplied their talents? How do the scriptures do that? Well, then we can go back and insert doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. Unless we allow God to instruct and condition us through His word, through His scriptures, we cannot develop and ultimately become profitable servants.

Now that may seem like a simple concept, but if you sit back and we’re going to go through some examples, you’re going to see how powerful what I just said is for each and every one of our lives. It was what made Christ so successful, the most profitable servant that has ever existed, that existed, and that will ever exist. He was no exception. Now that word profitable is ōphelimos in the Strongs, and it’s used only eight times in the New Testament. Excuse me, four times.

The word profitable is found eight times in the scriptures, but profitable is used in other ways, like I believe Paul told Timothy to bring Mark, who is useful to him. Not profitable, above and beyond, but useful. So they use the word profitable to translate useful in the Greek. But here it’s used four times, this particular word. And it comes from ophelos, meaning to heap up, it’s important. That is to accumulate, to benefit, to gain, to gain an advantage, and ultimately profit.

There’s a difference between being useful, there are a lot of useful people out there in the world, there’s no doubt about it, but those individuals, although they are useful for certain things, are not profit-able toward God. So that word is very critical. It means to, again, heap up, accumulate, to benefit, to gain, advantage, to profit. So, brethren, when we heap up and accumulate God’s Word in our lives, what we’re doing is allowing it to be advantageous towards us, to benefit us, so that we can ultimately benefit and gain for God.

Now, think about the Feast of Tabernacles. What other time of year do we have this concentrated, encapsulated dose of God’s Word, of the Scriptures? Brethren, that’s why it’s important that we take in every service, what we’re hearing through the messages. Maybe you’re speaking to a minister during the feast, and he’s giving you counsel out of the Word of God. All of that is to condition you to become profit-able, or profit-able servants.

Brethren, we can only go beyond what’s written in this book when we first obey what’s written in this book. How can we go above and beyond what’s in this book? Well, first, let’s just focus on doing what is written in this book. Let’s do enough so that we can do more than enough. And brethren, doctrine is what God, as a minimum, requires. It differentiates truth from falsehood. The Scriptures produce doctrine. It reveals the true Church. It anchors us from drifting out to sea in a world of false teaching.

There’s this groundswell of “Christianity” because of the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But that groundswell is a false Christianity. It’s not based on true doctrine. And therefore, we know that none of that will produce profitable servants toward God. Think about reproof. Reproof simply means when someone points out where you’re wrong. Brethren, we need to embrace reproof when someone points out something I’ve done wrong. Why would I want someone to hide or keep from me when I’m doing something wrong?

Now, ask me, several years ago, before I came into the truth, I didn’t want to hear anybody’s criticism or pointing out my defects, whether it be my wife or my children. I didn’t want anybody calling me out, as we would say. But reproof is valuable. They’re telling you where you’re wrong. You made a mistake. And all of that comes from Scriptures. It starts with the Scriptures.

Correction. Correction is simply not just telling you what you did wrong, but is guiding you back to doing it right. And instruction in righteousness is just giving you the power to do what you’ve been corrected on. To do what’s right. It’s that simple. Christianity, in its base or its foundation, is very simple. Hard to apply, but very simple. And instruction in righteousness, think of it this way. It’s the church materials. The booklets. In any area of our lives. The books, counsel, messages, even advice that we give to one another. Instruction in righteousness helps us do what is right.

Brethren, all of that is produced by the Word of God. Keeping up. We have to keep up, accumulate doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness to begin even trying to profit God. All of those things make us profit-able. God’s law, brethren, let me just say it very simply. His commandments, His statutes, His judgments are the foundation of these. Of these four things. Christ knew this and He lived it. And He taught it.

Let’s turn to Matthew five. Matthew five. Sermon on the mount. And we’ll go to verse seventeen. One of my favorite portions of scripture. “Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the law until all be fulfilled.”

He goes on to say, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness exceeds profitability, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by any means, there’s no way, shape or form that you will enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Those aren’t my words. Those are Christ’s words.

That word exceeds, speaks to what God ultimately wants more than what is required or commanded. Christ knew this. That is what this entire chapter talks about. It talks about doing more than required, going above and beyond and being profitable. That was a big part of the Bible study that I gave. But let’s not miss something important. The scribes and Pharisees did not use God’s law to profit God, just themselves. They didn’t go on to that next level. That’s why Paul, who was a Pharisee himself, said God’s law must be used to go above and beyond the minimum God requires. So we know this all so well.

So to avoid getting angry with one another for no reason, which is what it says in verses twenty-one through twenty-six, we must first agree that we should not kill. “Well, Mr. Houck, that’s easy.” I didn’t say agreeing with thou shalt not kill is hard. If we want to avoid lusting after someone, which is covered in verses twenty-seven through thirty, we must first believe adultery and fornication are wrong. Easy but maybe not so easy for some.

But it’s hard to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, or pray for anyone who uses us if we don’t obey the command to love our neighbor as ourselves. You have to believe that. You have to commit to that before you can do all of those other things. We have to love one another and believe that that’s a commandment before we can go on to love our enemies, which is more than enough.

See, enough is to love one another. Are we making ourselves profit-able? In other words, are we conditioning ourselves by loving one another each and every day? And I think the answer is yes, we can grow and develop in this area. But if we don’t do that, brethren, you understand the minimum? We don’t do that, how could we possibly begin to fulfill the above-and-beyond part of what Christianity is about and love our enemies?

Think of it this way. The basis for all these above-and-beyond examples in verses seventeen and nineteen is where you’ll see it. That’s where the basis is. Everything starts with obeying God’s commandments, His law. It’s impossible to exceed what God requires until we learn and apply the basics of God’s word in our lives. Take for example, keeping the Sabbath. We cannot keep the Sabbath as God wants unless we agree that the Sabbath should not be broken. Very simple.

We cannot be generous towards others if we don’t first agree not to take what is not ours, or in other words, steal from someone. Thou shalt not steal. If you agree with that, that is the basis and the foundation by which then you can become an individual who is generous, who lives the give way of life. There’s nothing in the commandment that says thou shalt not steal. There’s nothing about the give way of life. It’s just you’ve got to avoid the take-way of life before you can start to live the give-way of life.

Think of it this way again, extra credit. Think of extra credit. Extra credit, when I was growing up and in school, only applies after completing my homework assignments and doing my quizzes and my tests. Can you imagine? My one daughter, she’s a teacher in an elementary school. Imagine one of the students coming up, “Miss. Houk, I answered the two extra credit questions.”

“Great, but you didn’t fill out the test. Your grade is two points above zero. I’ll be sure to note that on your report card when you take it home to your parents, right beside the F that you got.” Not only will the professor not give you extra credit, young folks, if you’re going to college, but you end up having to repeat the class if it’s a core element of your major, of your studies.

What about at work? We generally complete tasks in our job description before we go, “Look boss, I think this Ford motor car, this vehicle is going to run a lot better and a lot comfortable for the individuals.” And you’re on the assembly line and you forgot to put the nuts and bolts of the radio in. There goes the car with this bell and whistle, but the radio’s not there or the transmission’s missing.

Brethren, we have to do the basics before we can offer profitability or more efficient ways to do things. Just do your job. And when you learn to do your job, you’re conditioning yourself over time to become profitable, whether it’s for your teacher, your professor, your husband, your wife, your children, the work. As servants of God, brethren, doing extra credit or work for God does not count if we don’t first do what is required.

The scriptures help us meet and maintain the minimum. And as we heap up scriptures in our lives, as we study doctrine, as we open ourselves to being made aware of our mistakes and correction and counsel or instruction on righteousness, we become more and more profit-able children towards God. But we can’t do any of that. I could go... let’s turn to Ephesians chapter six.

Ephesians chapter six, verse one, a very simple one. This applies to all of us. This isn’t just the young folks that are listening in here. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right,” verse one. “Honor your father and mother, which is the fifth commandment, but the first with a promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

“Well, Mr. Houk, I want my parents to be happy and cared for.” I do too. But I ask, “Really?” “Yes, I always pick out the best Father’s Day and Mother’s Day cards.” And my question is, “Well, if you do that, if you pick out the best Father’s Day and Mother’s Day card, do you always pick up after yourself at home? When you dirty a plate, do you clean it? Do you pick up after yourself in your room that you could leave your door open and anybody passing by would say, ‘Oh, that’s a young man who’s doing what’s required in the house.’”

What about the fifth commandment? You ask some young folks or even adults, and they’ll go, “What’s the fifth commandment?” How can you be profitable towards your parents if you don’t even know what the fifth commandment is? Do we speak and treat our parents or in-laws, because they count too, honorably. That’s the minimum. We should keep the cards and money if we don’t honor them. Because the extra credit doesn’t count.

I could give my parents every Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and on the anniversary a hundred dollars or two hundred dollars for them to enjoy themselves. But if I’m not honoring them every day in accordance with what the commandments, what the scriptures say, if I’m not doing the basic, I’m not generating profit toward God or towards my parents for that matter. God wants us to obey our parents in the little things. You know why? Because it trains us to become profitable. Why would God want us to do that? Well, it could be a good indication on how we will treat Him as a Father. It all ties back to Him.

Let’s go to Luke chapter two because I said I wanted to point to Christ and see if He’s an example of what we’re talking about. Luke chapter two. We know Christ never sinned or we wouldn’t have a Savior. Christ grew up in a household with parents who lived according to the law of the Lord. It says so in Luke two verse thirty-nine because they were obeying the command to keep the holy day. And you could surmise that Christ’s relationship with them as a young boy was conditioning Him to become profit-able, a profit-able servant toward His Father in heaven.

Luke chapter two and verse forty-one. We know this account. “Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve, they went up to Jerusalem after custom of the feast.” Now we know what happens. Joseph and Mary leave. They travel a day’s journey, realize Jesus is not with them, and then they take a day’s journey back to Jerusalem. So that’s two days. Their young twelve-year-old is lost in a major city at that time. Can you imagine that? Joseph and Mary eventually found Him after the third day, it says.

And I can hear His respectful voice saying meekly, seeing that they were panicked and concerned that their twelve-year-old boy was “lost”. And He says in verse forty-nine, “How is it that you were looking for Me? I have been in the temple attending to My Father’s business.” In other words, “Don’t worry, Mom and Dad. I’m safe. I was attending to the Father you’ve taught me about all of my youth.” And I don’t know if that gave them a sense of relief, maybe more the dad, “It’s my boy, three days in Jerusalem on his own in a major city.” And Mom’s going, “Please don’t do that to me again.” It’s all nice and wonderful.

Why would Luke go out of his way to record this, brethren? Here’s what it says. “And He returned with His parents to Nazareth and was subject to them.” Christ already had knowledge of His true Father. But He also had knowledge of the commandment that that Father gave Him, which was to honor His father and mother. Christ honored His parents according to the fifth commandment. That was the minimum. But did He ever go above and beyond? Yes. John chapter nineteen. Christ conditioned Himself again and again to be profit-able when it comes to honoring His Father and mother because He knew the Father demanded, required profit.

He read it in Job, I’m sure, as a young boy. He read Isaiah forty-eight at the age of twelve. Let that be instructive for you young people. John nineteen, did Christ go above and beyond? Did He condition Himself by subjecting Himself to His parents, as it says here, to the extent that He went above and beyond? That the Father said, “I didn’t require that, but wow,” if I could put it that way.

Verse twenty-five, “Now there stood by the cross or the stake of Jesus’ mother.” There she is. “And His mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus saw His mother and the disciple,” referring to Himself, John, He loved standing by. “He said to His mother, Woman, behold, your son. Then He said to John, Behold, your mother. And from that hour, from that instant, that disciple took her to his own home.”

Now, I searched, not extensively, I’m fairly familiar with the Scriptures. I cannot find anywhere in the Scriptures where God commanded Christ that He had to arrange for His mother’s care after His death. Christ conditioned Himself so much and so often to honor His mother, that despite hanging on the stake, despite the pain and agony, despite approaching His final breaths, brethren, Christ’s life was not just about fulfilling what the Scripture said about Him. Christ perfectly developed profit-enabling mind or mindset that shone, that was brilliant at that very last moment. One final time, He gave more than enough, more than what God required.

Christ was the epitome of doing more, but He didn’t get that way magically, if I could put it that way. He conditioned Himself to obeying the fifth commandment again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. And don’t miss this, John did not hesitate either. He did not have to take Mary in, and he didn’t just do it until he could find better arrangements. “I’ll do it for this week, but I’m going to find, you know, maybe a better solution.”

In other words, the Apostle John’s three years with Christ, his time with Christ, by the Word, the Word, his three years with the Word, had conditioned him to not only obey Exodus twenty-two, twenty-two through twenty-three, which says, “You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If you afflict them in any way, and they cry to Me, I will surely hear their cry.” John knew that. That was basic Scripture that he lived by. I’m sure he learned it from Christ.

In Isaiah one, seventeen, “Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” John did the minimum, but John didn’t just plead for Mary, which would have been the minimum required according to the Scriptures, which is what God instructs because He’s the teacher of profitability. He did something above and beyond what is required. He took her in.

Brethren, if we, like John, condition ourselves daily with profit-enabling Scriptures, we can do more than required, no matter what. Regardless of how tired we feel, God will give us the strength and power. However, that’s God’s Word. Remember, it’s profitable. All Scripture is profitable, that a man of God may be complete. But God’s Word isn’t enough to make us capable of generating profit for God.

First Timothy chapter four. First Timothy four. Let the Scriptures condition you to become profit-able by obeying it every day. And then you’re going to go further than you ever thought you could to the depths that Matthew five talks about. But you’re going to need something else if you want to become a profit-able servant. First Timothy chapter four, verse eight, “For bodily exercise profits little.” That’s the fourth time that you’ll see that word in the New Testament. Same word. “But godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of the life that is to come.” I could say it this way, but godliness is profit-enabling for all things or through all things.

We can all agree that there isn’t an area of our lives that doesn’t fall within the framework of God’s Word. The same can be said about godliness. Now, what is godliness? It’s kind of this lofty term. You don’t ever hear that. You can hear about Scriptures. You can hear about the Bible. You can hear about the Word of God. You’ll hear those things said. But godliness, who talks about godliness? What is godliness?

Here’s a simple way of doing it. If you would bear with me a moment. If you could write down the following, okay? This is how I keep in mind what godliness is to me. Write down G-O-D-L-I, the first part of it, G-O-D-L-I. Okay? G-O-D-L-I. And then I’d like you to leave a space and then write N-E-S-S. So you have “godli,” you have space, and you have “ness.” Here’s, what I want you to do is just insert the two letters, following two letters, K and E. Put a K and E in there. Now, what does it say? Godlikeness. That’s how you take this lofty concept of godliness and just distill it down to a level that you can understand, we can easily comprehend. Godlikeness, by definition, it can be defined as resembling or having the qualities of God. Without resembling God, without having the qualities of God, brethren, we cannot go on to generate profit for Him. This is the minimum required. Godliness, there’s a minimum element to godliness.

Second Peter chapter one. Second Peter one. If you remember in Genesis, God said, “Let us make man in Our image and Our likeness.” And I can say with a level of confidence that God wasn’t just referring to the physical attributes that we have, the eyes, the nose, ears, hands, legs, feet. I’m sure He was referring to also His character. Not just resembling Him physically, but spiritually.

Second Peter chapter one, verse one. “Simon Peter, a servant.” Oh, there you go. This is the chief apostle leading with his own description of himself, not with apostle, but servant first. So he considered himself a servant first, and then it says, “...and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” It’s instructive there. “To them that have obtained precious faith like us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. According as His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him,” which comes from the scriptures, “...that has called us to glory and virtue.”

Brethren, think about the power and the impact that having the knowledge of God that will one day fill the entire earth has on an individual. The more you know God, the more you can be godlike in your conduct and your way of thinking, because that’s what godlikeness is. It’s the combination of godlike thinking and godlike conduct. And that’s a minimum requirement because it says godliness is profit-enabling in all things. Peter sets up this powerful truth about godliness, again, calling himself a servant.

He didn’t want to be like the unprofitable servant. He wanted to be like the profitable servants, and far better in terms of knowledge and skills and developing the ability to generate profit than the money exchangers. Probably wasn’t even in his thinking. He then says something extraordinary. God gives us everything we need for life and godliness through His divine power, and that’s the Holy Spirit, brethren. Verse four, ‘Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises that by these,” godliness included, “...you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the world’s corruption through lust.”

Brethren, it takes God’s Spirit, which is essentially the essence, or who God is, in us to be able to resemble God and to act with the qualities that God also has. What a gift God has given us through the Holy Spirit. You see what happened recently with the assassination of the American conservative activist, Charlie Kirk. You know, there’s three types of people when it comes to godliness. You have three alternatives as a human being, if I could put it in these simple terms.

You can be ungodly and look ungodly, and you can see that through the assassin who perpetrated that evil on this gentleman, or you can see it in his transgender lover, which the media, the mainstream media, promoted as some kind of poetic love act, and trying to defend his perverse transgender lover. So you have ungodly people who look and act ungodly, but then you also see this ground swelling of thousands, tens of thousands of people in a stadium that are well-intended, I’m not questioning their intent, as they’re raising their hands and praising a false Jesus and giving their lives to Jesus, but I ask myself, “Will these individuals and the millions who are watching, will they stop coveting? Will they stop being prideful, unholy, or having unnatural affection?” Because I’m sure those individuals were in the crowd there.

Will those who stand for Kirk stop sinning, seek God, pursue righteousness, not covet, and love God more than what pleases them? See, this is what Paul said is even more dangerous, “Perilous times will come, because they have a form of godliness...” that’s the second option, “... but are still ungodly.” They have no godliness. They do good things and nice things, but they don’t have godliness. So that’s your second option. You have the first, which is ungodly people who look and talk, and you can see they’re ungodly, and then there are those who have a form of godliness, but their conduct is equally ungodly in many ways, but then there’s the third one, brethren.

There are godlike people, and that’s you and me. Godlike people who resemble and have the qualities of God. Romans is very clear. I don’t know how people skip over that part of the Bible, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness,” not “some ungodliness,” all ungodliness. Whether you look godly or not has nothing to do with it. God brings His wrath, will bring His wrath at the right time for all ungodliness, whether you look like it or you don’t. But, brethren, we’re grateful that we have been given God’s spirit so that we can be godlike, which is, again, a minimum.

Brethren, if we want to be godly, here are two things that we need to focus on. Second Timothy chapter two. Second Timothy chapter two. These are two things relative to godliness that meet the minimum for being godly among our families, among our co-workers, among our classmates, and friends. Even you, young people, the Holy Spirit is working with you. Those who are baptized, we have God’s Spirit in us. Second Timothy chapter two, verse fourteen, “Of these things put them...,” as the elect that’s mentioned up in verse ten, “... in remembrance.” So, “These things, put them...,” the elect, us, “... in remembrance, charging them...,” charging us, “... before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit.”

There’s a word there, again, about profitability. It’s not useful, “... but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show yourself approved...,” still talking to Timothy, there’s the scriptures.

“Study yourself still...,” he’s still talking to Timothy, the evangelist and the elect as well, not just him, “... approved...,” in other words, profitable unto God, “... a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase into more ungodliness.” Now, if you think about that, that’s powerful. A minimum requirement for being godlike is to shun profane and vain babblings, and if we don’t, it says they will increase into more ungodliness. Brethren, even in our conversations, whether it’s after services, before services, maybe you have a connection with someone in particular that you talk regularly throughout the week, particularly at the Feast of Tabernacles, brethren, we’re going to be seen by many, and we’re going to be seen by each other at a level that we don’t normally experience throughout the year.

Well, it says to ‘avoid’ or ‘shun.’ Not only is worldly, empty conversation ungodly, but ungodliness from our mouths can increase into more ungodliness. You know, my parents would say, “Watch your mouth.” I don’t think they actually understood what they were saying, or at least the extent of what they were saying. What they were essentially telling me, without knowing it, is, “If you don’t watch what your mouth says, your actions will follow closely behind.”

Brethren, if we don’t watch and be careful that ungodliness or vain babblings come out of our mouth, it says it will increase and grow into other areas of our lives. So when we talk to one another, we want to be careful. Ungodly thoughts, ungodly speech, we must have godly thinking and godly actions. So, at a minimum, we must shun ungodly speech in our lives. That’s the minimum. That’s before we can go above and beyond with our godliness. Let’s turn to Titus two. Titus two.

The second thing we should do is not just be careful or shun ungodly speech in our lives, and we know, out of the abundance of our heart, the mouth speaks, so ungodliness starts in the heart. Titus two says the following, and the context here is sound doctrine. In verse one, sound doctrine, again, going back to the word.

Verse twelve, “Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.”

So not only should we shun ungodly speech, we should absolutely deny ungodliness, and that word ‘deny’ is more forceful than it appears. It’s even more forceful than ‘shun’ in Second Timothy two. Now, maybe Titus needed to hear it in stronger terms than Timothy did. We can’t say for certain, but he certainly used a stronger word here when he told him, “Deny ungodliness.” And I think it’s worth reading the definition of that, ‘deny,’ to have the full impact of what we’re talking about when it comes to ungodliness. God’s Word doctrine teaches us that, at a minimum, our lives must contradict ungodliness.

It must disavow ungodliness. It must reject ungodliness, and it says, the definition, ‘abnegate’ ungodliness. Utterly reject it. So the second thing we must do to condition ourselves in godliness and become prophet-able servants in all areas is rejecting ungodliness of any sort. Brethren, shun and deny ungodly things in our life, like worldly chatter, and exercise godliness, is a minimum requirement by God. And when we exercise God’s Spirit, because that’s where we get our divine nature from, we’ve already made that connection, we are actually exercising godlikeness or godliness. That’s why it’s such a valuable tool in the five tools of Christian growth.

When we exercise the Holy Spirit in our lives, we’re exercising godlikeness, and if we suffer persecutions for it, brethren, good. Good. It’s like weight training. You can’t... if you’re a bodybuilder, you can’t expect to have big biceps and big pecs and big quads unless you apply resistance, and God allows resistance when we try to live godlike in our lives, whether you’re at school or in the workplace or at the grocery store or at the Feast of Tabernacles. If you’re getting resistance or persecution because you’re wearing a suit or a dress every day of the week, good.

That’s the resistance that God wants because He wants you to build up, accumulate godliness in your life. When you can be godlike despite resistance, you get bigger and stronger just like God, and now you can do things more than you could ever imagine. You understand the analogy? If you begin to lift weights, over time, you’re going to lift weight that you never did before in your life. When you exercise godliness or exercise God’s Spirit and shun vain babblings or ungodly speech, and when you deny and reject, utterly, ungodliness in your life despite persecution, despite resistance from everyone around you, you’re going to get stronger and you’re going to get bigger and you’re going to get more godlike.

Nobody achieved this more than Christ. Just like the example we did about him obeying the fifth commandment to condition himself to go above and beyond at a critical moment in His final moments of life, Christ also did it in the area of godliness. John twelve, verse forty-nine. This is Christ speaking of the last day, and it says Jesus is crying out to clamor, to almost scream at the top of his lungs. That’s what that word means there. Think about that, that scene, and seeing maybe the veins or the arteries in his neck as He’s shouting this out with great passion and conviction, “For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak.” What He said was godlike, brethren. What He said was godly, godliness, and that’s what He shouted to the people.

“I have not spoken of myself, but the Father, which sent me.” He gave me a commandment. He taught me and has taught me to profit. He taught me what I should say. He taught me what I should speak. We know what Christ told Philip, who asked to see the Father, “He that has seen me has seen the Father.” Now look what it says up four verses in verse forty-five here in John twelve, “And He that sees me sees Him that sent me.” Brethren, that’s our ultimate goal. We make the invisible God visible by our godlikeness, and we do that by exercising God’s Spirit.

Christ perfectly combined godlike thinking and godlike conduct. So I want to close with a third way. That was the second way. Godliness makes us profit-able servants. The Scriptures make us profit-able servants, and those two go hand-in-glove. However, this third one has no meaning without the first two, Scriptures and godliness, but without this one, the other two have little meaning to none. Think about that. What? I could have obedience to the Scriptures and I could exercise God’s Spirit, but if I don’t have this third one, does it mean that I may not have the other two right or have little meaning?

Titus chapter three. I told you that Paul spoke to Timothy and Titus about ways to become profit-able servants. And verse eight. Titus three, verse eight. “This is a faithful saying, and these things...,” and he’s referring to up above, being subject to authorities, “... I want you to affirm constantly that they who have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.” Why? Why does he want them to be careful to maintain good works? If you believe in God, he’s saying, Titus, and tell these, tell all the saints, they believe in God and they believe in the things that he was just told about obeying authorities and all of that, why would he tell them to be careful about good works?

Why? Because these things are good and profit-able or prophet-enabling unto men. Just as God gave us scriptures and guidelines to condition ourselves to become prophet-able servants, he also gave us good works. Ephesians chapter two. Without good works, brethren, the other two have little to no meaning. Ephesians chapter two, another one of my favorite verses. If I ever... and if you worked at headquarters, you don’t have a chance to think this very often, but if I’m ever thinking about, “What can I do? I don’t know what I should do. I have nothing to do.”

That doesn’t happen very often around here, but if it ever crosses your mind, “What can I do? What’s my purpose? I have these talents. I have these skills.” Ephesians two, chapter eight, “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus...,” for what purpose? What is our purpose? One of our main purposes of being created in Christ Jesus? For good works.

You want a purpose-driven life? Figure out what the good works are that God has placed in your life because that’s exactly what it says, “Because these things are good and...,” excuse me, “... which God has before ordained, He prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them.” Now I’m sure you’ve probably thought of this before, but maybe some of you haven’t. God actually, we were called or we were chosen before the foundation of the world, and it says that God beforehand ordained or made or set in place good works that we would walk in them in the future after we’ve been called. That’s powerful.

God gave us good works, and those are the minimum required. God gave us good works to practice and practice and practice that will lead us to be profit-able servants. Think about being law-abiding citizens, paying taxes, following traffic laws on your way to the feast and returning from the feast, on the way to services or returning from services, respecting authorities, fairness and integrity at work, doing your job responsibly, keeping your word, not cutting corners, being polite to coworkers. Those are all good works. Those are required. You can read them in the Scriptures. I could go... I could turn to one after the other after the other.

Respecting and being kind to your neighbors, helping out your elderly neighbor, providing for your family. Husbands, wives, fulfilling your roles. Those are the good works that were beforehand ordained that you would walk in them on a daily basis, and that’s the minimum. That’s not the above and beyond we’re talking about. Doing your part at home, children, at the feast. We must first agree that attending all the services and activities is a requirement. That it’s a good work. Fellowshipping, that, brethren, is a requirement.

Attending all the activities, I did say, right? That’s a requirement. Those are traditions that were put in place. Absent of being sick, which a good work, would be to take care of yourself, and as we heard in the sermonette, not quantity, but quality, so that you can be at services and experience. All of those are minimum good works that God... Now we’re positioned, brethren, to have what we heard earlier, a superior feast by going above and beyond.

‘Superior’ means going above and beyond, but we have to do the minimum and practice it day after day, and Christ, again, is the example of using basic profit-enabling good works to become the greatest at exceeding what God required. Christ is our example. John twenty-one. John twenty-one. Just a scripture or two as we close. John twenty-one and verse twenty-four. This is how the Apostle John wraps up the gospel, his gospel, and I think it’s appropriate that it’s the last of the four, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, so these are the very last words written in the gospels.

“This is the disciple who testifies of these things and wrote these things...,” verse twenty-four, “... and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things that Jesus...,” what? “... did, which if each were written, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.”

Amen. So be it. Not just with Him, but with us. We don’t shout ‘amen’ during services like they do in maybe Pentecostal or Baptist church, but in your heart and in your mind, you should be saying, “So be it with me.” Christ fulfilled everything prophesied about Him in the scriptures. Not one prophecy written in the scriptures did Christ not fulfill, but there is no doubt in my mind that He did more, and He did it every day. No one before, during, or after exceeded, exceeds, or will exceed the good works of Jesus Christ. Consider, where was it written that Christ had to heal every sick and diseased person in all the villages and cities?

Where does it say that? He conditioned himself to do the good works as a young boy and into His adolescence and into His young adulthood, so much so that when the time came, He wanted to go above and beyond because He knew the Father wanted profit. Where do we read that Christ had to stop what He was doing to bless the children? Did God require Christ to feed the five thousand or four thousand? They weren’t dying. They could have dispersed, but He fed them, and God honored it with miraculous power.

Did God require, for mankind’s eternal salvation, that Christ had to cleanse the lepers by touching them? Talk about going above and beyond. There was no obligation for Christ to stop and raise the widow’s son from the dead, or Jairus’ daughter, or Lazarus, but He did. What about healing a blind man on the Sabbath by spitting and making clay? What about the Gentile woman who refused to leave until Jesus freed her daughter from being grievously vexed by a demon? A Gentile woman.

Christ said He was there to go to the lost House of Israel, but He decided He was going to do above and beyond. We know that turning water into wine at the wedding wasn’t required. “Woman, it’s not my time yet, but I’m going to honor you...,” fifth commandment, “... and I’m going to show that honor by doing something above and beyond what’s required.” I could go on and on and on. How and why did Christ do all this? Christ conditioned himself to be profitable, a prophet-able servant of God.

As we look to the days ahead, whatever time remains, how much more do the words of the Apostle James mean to us? One final verse. We’ve read this time and time again, but hopefully it hits your ears and your hearts and your minds a little differently, a little bit more deeply, powerfully than what it has in the past. James chapter two, verse fourteen, “What does it profit...,” how can we think, I could put it this way, we are prophet-able servants or able to generate profit for God, my brethren, if we say we have faith and have not works? Can faith save him? Can the Scripture save us? Can God’s Spirit save us?

What? “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body, what does it profit?” Brethren, how can we profit God this way if we don’t condition ourselves by doing the basic good works God requires? The unprofitable servant had nothing to show for himself, and I would argue that he did nothing in terms of doing the minimum, or not enough in terms of doing the minimum of obeying God’s law, His Scriptures, seeking and pursuing and practicing godliness every day of his life by shunning ungodly words and denying and rejecting utterly the ungodliness that’s all around us, and he certainly didn’t do and condition himself through good works.

He was slack in obeying God’s Word, slack in striving to be like God, and slack in doing God’s ordained works. He never conditioned himself, trained himself to become a profit-able servant. The profitable servants did, brethren, and that’s us. Here’s what Christ heard about being a profitable servant, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” This is what Christ, I imagine, heard from the Father. “You were faithful over not just the few things I required, my law reflecting me and good works, but you exceeded all that I required and were profitable to me. I will make you ruler over not just a few or many things, but you will be ruler over all things for all eternity.”

God is looking for profitable servants who follow Christ’s example. He has given us His Scriptures, His Holy Spirit, His divine, godly nature, and good works to become profit-able servants. As we look forward, brethren, to the days ahead, let’s condition ourselves daily to obey God’s law, be godlike, and do the basic good works He’s ordained. If we do, we will be ready, willing, and able to literally go above and beyond.