Worthy of Double Honor

Now, before we finish up tonight, I know it's been a long evening with the patch prayer club and everything, but I wanted to finish up as I mentioned this morning. Um my mentor your grandfather uh passed away this last week and pastor Anger is a working person I worked under for 5 years before starting ohana and he taught me everything I know and had much patience with me and I would not be here today if it weren't for his mentorship and his influence in my life and that makes him your spiritual grandfather and this morning we had a video that we showed to let let Mrs. anger and the family know that they've got a lot of spiritual grandchildren here at Ohana and uh we're thankful for their influence in our lives and I wanted to they've asked me if I would share a video uh for the funeral and I wanted to share it with you as well if you don't mind.

If you look at 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse number 17. 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse number 17. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5:17, it says, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in word and doctrine." And pastor Anger was a man that was well worthy of double honor and by his position and by his uh person as well. Uh he had a good name. Proverbs 22:1 says, "A good name is rather be chosen in great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold." And uh his name was Pastor Anger. And that's kind of a a strange name for a pastor to have, but you know what?

He never lived up to his name. In Ephesians 4 26 is, "Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath." And he had many opportunities to get angry with me, a young youth pastor who had made a lot of mistakes, but he was so patient and so kind. Uh I'm thankful for that. Uh I learned a lot from him. In Proverbs chapter 22 24 and 25 it says make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to the soul. In this case it was exception. I learned a lot from an angry man. Pastor anger um uh he taught me a lot in my life.

Uh he had such a meek and quiet spirit. In Numbers 12:3, the Bible talks about the man Moses was very meek and that describes pastor anger and I'm so thankful for his influence in my life. Uh he was my spiritual father. Uh Orlando talked in the videos about having a father figure and I didn't have that growing up either. And um and he was my spiritual father. Paul wrote to Timothy and said, "Grace and mercy to his son in the faith." And and I was his spiritual son as well. He was my mentor and my friend. In 2 Timothy 1:5-7 it says, "When I call remembrance thee, see on vain faith is in thee, which well first thy grandmother Lois, thy mother Ununas, and I persuaded thee also.

Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind." I was saved, but when I got here, he in many ways laid his hands in my life and and helped me become the man of God and the spiritual leader that God has made me today and helped me to be able to do the work that we've done here at Ohana for the last 38 years. And not only was he a a father to me, he was a grandfather to my children. Uh I think they've got some pictures they can show you of him in Deuteronomy 4:9.

says, "Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, unless they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, but teach them thy sons and thy son's sons." And I've said this many times, but can I emphasize it again? This church would not be here if it weren't for your spiritual grandfather. And we need to appreciate the heritage that we have in providing what we have today. and and I'm so thankful for what he did in order to make this possible and for many of you to get saved here at Ohana, many of you for your lives to be changed here at Ohana and and for God to bless you in this church.

It He is your spiritual grandfather. I I wish I I could be there with them at the funeral, but I'm not going to be able to get out there. But I want to share with you in just closing this out in Isaiah uh chap 42 and:es 8-2. Isaiah chapter 42 and verses 8-12. Pastor Anger was here in the islands for many many years. Established a work with both the military and the local population. And he loved the islands. In Isaiah 42:8, it says, "I am the Lord. That is my name. And my glory will I not give to another. Neither my praise to graven images. Behold the former things that come to pass and new things do I declare.

Before thy they spring forth, I tell you of them. Sing unto the Lord a new song. and his praise from the end of the earth. Ye that go down to the sea and all that is therein, the isisles and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice and the villages that Kedar doth inhabit. Let the inhabitants of the of the rock sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord and declare his praise in the islands. And um Pastor Anger, he always would tell me he couldn't sing very well. He actually had a good voice, but he was like me.

Couldn't carry a tune very well. And and uh and and yet he always declared the praise of God. In Hebrews chapter 13:15, it says, "By him let therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continue that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name." He taught me how to praise God. He taught me how to worship God. He taught me how to love God. And he would praise God here in the islands. You know, the the word islands here in the Hebrew language, the root word of the word islands is the word wish. And when I first discovered that, I thought, well, why would the the name islands, why would that come from a root word mean wish?

And then I thought about it. You know, the sailors of old would be out there at sea without GPS and all the things we have today. And they would be trying to find this little island in the middle of nowhere. And I would imagine every day they would wake up and look over the horizon and say, "I I I wish we would find it today." and and just looking out there wishing for that land, that little spot of land, and to find it. You know, in 1 Corinthians 2:9, it says, "But as is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered in the heart of man the things which God had prepared for them that love him."

You know, you folks know I have a a good imagination, but I could not have imagined back in 1980 when actually in 1979 we came here in the missionary apprentichip program. And then he asked me to come back and be his assistant pastor in 1980. I could not have imagined what God did in those five years at a coal Baptist church and then the 38 years years here at Ohana Baptist Church. And and God has done that and more. And and that's what the blessing of God is. You don't know what God is going to do in and through your lives in the years to come. And uh you could take the boy out of Hawaii. You can't take away other boy.

And Pastor Anger will always be a Hawaiian boy. He'll always be a part of what we have here. And he'll always be a part of each one of us. And I hope that you will know that. And I hope that those watching by video will understand what a great man of God he was. In 1 Tim 2 Timothy 4:6 through8, it says, "For I am now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but also unto them that love him.

Every time I talked to pastoring at the phone, he would tell me how proud he was of me, how thankful he was for what God had done here at Ohana. And you know really it's the reverse. Anything that I am is by the grace of God and by the mentorship of men like that. And I hope each one of you will have somebody like that in your life as well. Let's bow for prayer. Father, we thank you for this man of God that loved you, influenced my life, and in many ways changed the life of those sitting here today. And we know that it all comes down to the grace of God. And he would be the first to tell us this is God's work.

And it truly is. But God since the beginning of time has used men to influence and change lives. And this is one of those men. I pray that you bless his family. Thank you for them. And thank you for what they mean to me. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Appreciate you being here tonight. Appreciate your patience with me to share that as well. And as we close, I'm going to sh I want to share one other testimony with you. When I was on the mainland of Minnesota, we got to see a for remember. His name is Gary Kelly. Gary was stationed here in the military back in the '9s and he got he found us through signwaving.

We were out sign waving. He saw slammed on his brake. I remember he almost caused an accident. He said, "Where are you? I'm looking for a church." He came to church. He got his life right with the Lord. His son got saved here at Ohana Baptized. He left here, went to Florida. Couple years later, I got a letter from Gary. He said, "Pastor, I'm so thankful for Ohana because my son got saved there, and this last week, he was killed by a drunk driver, and I know that he's going to be in heaven, and I'll see him again." And he thanked me for this church. That's as much as I knew about the story until we saw him last week.

We went to his house. He told us about the story again. He says, "But the rest of the story is this. Two years after my son was killed, I was an angry man at that man for killing him. But then God convicted my heart and said I had to forgive him." I arranged with their lawyer to go by the prison and talk to him. And I told him, "I forgive you." He got to lead that man to the Lord. That man was in prison for 10 years and today he's out of prison and he's one of Gary's best friends. That's the grace of God. Only God can do that for us. And so, think about that as you meditate this week and the influence you could have in somebody's life. Maybe you can be a mentor to somebody or maybe you need to find a mentor that can help you in your walk with the Lord. And realize that every day you have an opportunity to reach out to somebody and maybe make a difference in their life in years to come that you don't even know.