How are you behaving?

I want you to turn your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 3 1 Timothy chapter 3 we're going to go backwards uh from last week last week brother John Pastor John did 1 Timothy chapter 4 the first part of it uh since I was sick and so we're going to go back and do the part I was going to fill in in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verses 14- 16 the Bible says these things write I unto thee hoping to come unto thee shortly but if i tar long that thou mightest know how that thou might know how do th thou oughtest behave th myself and House of God which is the Church of the Living God the pillar and the ground of the truth and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness God was manifest In the Flesh

justified in the spirit seen of angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into Glory I titled the message tonight how are you behaving how are you behaving and what Timothy what Paul is writing to Timothy is about is is talking about the church the local church and especially there in verse number 15 but if I tear along that thou mayest know how thou oughtest behave thyself in the house of God and that word ought first of all it's a word that comes from a Greek word which means binding agreement by law and the root of this word means to be tied or chained tied or changed now the way we would understand this word if you've ever just said to somebody's getting

married oh you're going to tie the knot uh that's what this root word comes from this idea of tying the not and and I believe what God is trying to tells here is that that that commitment that we need to have to the local church in Romans 7:2 it says for the woman which hath a husband is bound by law to her husband so long as he liveth but the husband be dead she is loose from the law of her husband and so when a man and woman are married they tie the knot there's a binding agreement a commitment to one another and and God is using that same root word idea here and the word ought to behave thyself you know why why is marriage so important uh in in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse number 25 it

says the Bible says husbands love your wives as who what's the next word there as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it and then it goes on in verse number 28 it says so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies he that loveth his wife love himself for no man yet ever hat his own flesh but nurse and cherish it even as the Lord the church and then verse number 32 this whole passage from about verse number 20 uh 21 all the way down through verse number 32 he's talking about the marriage relationship but at the end in verse 32 he says this is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church and so the reason that that marriage is so important is because marriage is

a picture of our relationship with Jesus Christ and that's why as Christians we need to realize that our marriage is not only important to us together as a couple and to our family but it's also important to our test testimony and and when your marriage is not right together as a couple you are destroying the picture of Christ in the church and and so marriage is very very important God says when you get married you make a commitment to one another a a commitment to love unconditionally and to uh sacrifice and give yourselves one for another as well you know this Saturday we're going to have our uh Valentine's banquet we're going to do picture this and we're going to talk about you know

marriage and and show pictures of a lot of you from back when you were young couples whenever we show the picture from My Wife and I's marriage people always ask well who is your wife marrying there and uh I tell people that's your first husband and uh I look a lot different than I did back then but but we have committed ourselves into our marriage and I want to remind you as couples at Ohana Baptist Church as a couple you have a great responsibility because how you live your marriage is a testimony to those around you of Christ's love for the church and and so we need understand the importance of marriage in many ways and one of them is as a picture of God's love for us now as we commit to

one another God also talks about I believe that we need to commit to a local church look at Acts chapter 2 hold your place in 1 Timothy or put a marker there but look over Acts chapter 2 and verse number 41 Acts chapter 2 and verse number 41 Acts chapter 2 and verse number 41 the Bible says then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added them about 3,000 souls and let's skip down to verse number 47 praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added the church daily such as to be saved and I believe that when you get saved the next step in your journey with the Lord is to join a local church you know some people times people ask me why

is church membership is so important well why is marriage important because marriage is a commitment you can live with one another but when you get married you're making a commitment to one another as well and I believe that wherever you are as a Christian that you need to make that same kind of commitment to the local church where you're at there you see Mar membership is important first of all as a legal entity as a church we're going to a little bit later on uh vote on our business that we presented and do the final vote on that and as a church we have to have who can vote who can make decisions for the church who can act for the church and so the the state the government requires a legal

membership who are the legal members of your church and uh so as a nonprofit organization we have to identify who are members of the church in 1 Peter chapter 2:3 it says submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be the king as Supreme and sometimes people say well the government can't tell us what what to do as a church but they can tell us what to do as a nonprofit corporation uh how are we going to conduct business how are we going to make decisions how are we going to uh spend the money and the finances and all that is important there and so legally we need to have members of the church but more importantly we need to have people that are committed to the

local church the Bible says here in 1 Timothy chapter 4 uh chapter 3 that the church is the pillar and the ground round of the truth in Matthew 16: 18 Jesus said also say also unto thee that thou art Peter and Upon This Rock I will build my church and the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail against it and so as you go through the scriptures you see the importance of the local church the Greek word for the local church is eklesia uh there is a church as far as uh all of us are saved a part of the Church of God but there's always a local church the church in Rome the church Church in Ephesus the church at galatia or wherever else it might be and and the word used there is not about the building

but the word is an eklesia which is a Greek word for a called out group uh you could call any group an eklesia for example the uh we're having the Super Bowl coming up here and that and uh the the people in the in the football uh in the NFL are in eklesia they're a called out group that's called the NFL the football players in the National Football League and you can have an eklesia as far as a club like Boy Scouts are an eklesia it's just a group that is called out based upon what they have in common there and the church is a called out group a local group of Believers that gather together and Jesus said this is the pillar and the ground of the truth this is what I'm going to build my

church on on himself and and so the local church is important and I believe that wherever you go you ought to be a member of the local church the way you join the local church is just as they did back in Acts chapter 2 uh if you get saved you get baptized and you become part of that local church then when you move somewhere else and you become part of a new church you don't have to get baptized again but you join that church and make a commitment those of you in the military uh you're in the Army but you're not just sent over here to Hawaii in the army or the Air Force or navy you're part of a local unit you have a shop that you're assigned to or a squadron or whatever else it might be

called you have position that you're assigned to and that you report to and the same thing is true wherever you go as a church in Hebrews chapter 10 turn over there with me if you would Hebrews chapter 10 and beginning with verse number 23 Hebrews chapter 10 and beginning with verse number 23 the Bible says let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he's faithful the promise and let's consider one another provoke unto love and good works not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see that they approach SE sometimes people say well you know I don't have to be a member of a local

church to be a Christian you don't you're you're saved by grace through faith and it's not by church membership it's not by baptism it's not by the The Works that you do uh for it's by grace through faith and not of Works L any man should boast and that is true but the Bible's telling us here in Hebrews chapter 10 if we're if we're going to hold fast to the profession of our faith then we have to be faithful through the local church is by assembling together and provoking one another into love and good works you know last week I was sick and at home and I'm thankful for be able to watch the service on uh Facebook or YouTube and and I put it on when I was there at home and I was telling

brother John I'm not sure of all what he preached because I was laying on the couch feeling sick and I'm not sure if I passed out for part of it or not and so I had to kind of go we rewind them back again that's one of the things you can't do on YouTube you can't rewind me but you can rewind on YouTube and Sh okay what did he say there and uh check it out uh but you know it's not the same being at home on your couch it is being here in church it's not assembling together it's not being able to encourage and strengthen one another and provoke one another and love and good works uh Proverbs chap 27 and verse number 17 says iron sharpeneth iron so a man sharpen at the counts of his friends and

and I don't know about you but I'm sharpened by being around other Christians I I I'm challenged to be a better Christian uh to have a better walk with the Lord and and that's part of that commitment to a local church in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse number five it talks about love is not easily provoked and it's that same word uh we're provoked onto love and good works we're we're we're kind of prodded and encouraged to be the kind of person that God wants us to be in Psalms 122 and verses 1 and9 uh these verses are vers I love it says in verse number one I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord and and you ought to be glad for every opportunity to come to

church it ought not to be something we have to do it ought to be something you want to do and uh and and to be honest there's times that I don't want to go to church I'm not a morning person you can ask my wife that uh the other morning uh I woke up uh she said she woke up grumpy because she woke me up and uh I'm just not a morning person and and I don't want to always get up and go to church and but I'm always glad that I came when I was when I'm feeling sick I I I don't always want to be here but I'm always glad when I can be here and I miss it when I'm not and it's because we have that opportunity to exhort one another and we ought to be glad but then verse n says because of the house of

the Lord Our God I will seek thy good and so it's not just about coming and receiving but it's about coming and giving as well it's about coming and and and being a blessing to others around us and and so the Bible talks about how you you ought to behave yourself and and the word it uses there is that idea of being bound to one another legally and and and and and morally bound to one another uh just like tying the knot in a marriage and I realize that you know it church is not a marriage and and uh you get married to one person stay married to them but when you move you go to a new local church but there ought to be a commitment wherever you go get into church get committed to that church

and and be a part of that church because that's where you're going to be able to be able to strengthen your walk in the Lord and grow in the Lord and then going back to 1 Timothy chapter three he said there again that if you tear if I tear long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God and and what I want to encourage you is you ought to ought your oughts you ought to ought your oughts now what I mean by that there's many oughts in the Bible and the and the Bible is saying this is what you ought to do this is what you should be doing as part of a local church and and the first one is found in 1 John Chapter 2 and verse number six it says he that saith he

abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked and so we're going to be part of a local church God says we ought to walk and and and being part of a church means we're walking in the same direction we're walking together in the Lord and and and so as a church body as a group of Believers we're we're walking in the Lord and 1 Thessalonians 4:1 it says furthermore then we beseech you Brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as you've received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so you would abound more and more when you when you come to church you're learning how do I walk in the Lord uh we have to go through life all week long and church is a place where we're

come and we're encouraged and we're challenged uh to to keep our walk with the Lord the way it ought to be and and then in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 11 the Bible says beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another so ought number one to walk in the Lord ought number two is to love one another if we're going to behave ourselves as we ought to in church we need to have our walk with the Lord if we're going to behave ourselves as we ought to in church we need to love one another and that means that sometimes we have to resolve problems in Matthew 5 and: 23 and 24 it says therefore if thou bringest bring thy gift to The Altar and there rememberest that thy brother have ought

against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift now this is a different word for a but it's just basically saying if if you come to the altar if you come to God and you realize that your brother hath ought against you they're upset with you they're they're mad at you there's some reason there's a barrier between the two of you then what you ought to do is to immediately go and say listen I want to get this right I I I don't want to have this barrier between us I don't want to have this problem between us and uh and you ought to go to them but also I I if it's the other way around in Mark 11: 25 and 26 it

says and when you stand praying forgive if you have a against any that your father also which is in heaven May forgive your trespasses but if you do not forgive neither will your father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses so whether they have ought against you or whether you have ought against them it doesn't matter in the church God says listen if you're going to behave how you ought to then you don't have oughts against people if there's a problem with somebody you go and say listen I I don't want it to be a problem between us and and and there's something that happened I want to ask your forgiveness or I want to I I want to just bring it to you because this hurt me and I want you

to understand that and and I want us to resolve this and and that's part of how we ought to behave in church we ought to love one another and part of loving one another is resolve our differences as we ought to and then Romans chapter 15 and verse number one the Bible says we then that are strong ought to Bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves you see that's kind of a catchall when when when you can't get that problem resolved or maybe there just personalities conflict with your personality or whatever else it might be he says you know what the stronger Christian ought to to Bear the infirmities of the week and sometimes there's people in church that that are struggling

with things in their lives and are struggling with problems and sometimes that struggle involves you as well and and the Bible says listen when that happens how ought you to behave in church you ought to be the one the the better man the better woman you ought to be the stronger Christian when somebody comes to me say listen I got a problem with so and so and I just can't get along with them then what they're tell me is I'm not the stronger Christian because I need to be willing to Bear some of those infirmities and bear some of those weaknesses and and and put up with that a little bit and and so we ought to be ought to love one another and ought to resolve the problems that are there and

then the third ought we ought to do is we ought to be teachers in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse2 it says from the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles the Oracles of God and become such as the need of milk and not strong meat see there comes a point in your journey with the Lord as you're part of a local church you ought to become involved you ought to start helping out maybe teaching a Sunday school class or maybe uh discipling or maybe helping with Outreach or helping with greeting people or wherever else it might be there's too many people that come to church and are just Place sitters uh they just kind of hold a place at church

and they go home and and and we ought to get involved there and there's a point where we we where you ought to become one of the people teaching and leading and guiding others and not just having to be taught all the time as well and then in Romans 12 in verse number three the Bible says for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according to as God had dealt to every man The Measure of Faith uh we not ought not to think of ourselves too highly uh I'm not necessary to God's plan uh God is necessary I'm not and and some times people will say Pastor look what all you've done there at

Ohana Baptist Church all I've done is doing what God's called me to do and sometimes we we begin to think well I'm doing this and I'm doing that we begin to think of oursel more highly than we ought to and in the church we need to be humble and we need to be willing to serve one another with humility and so the Bible says that we ought to behave ourselves and so I want to challenge you how ought you to behave yourself in church how ought you to behave yourself in church we need people with a walk with the Lord with a testimony for the Lord and and part of that by the way is your marriage again when your marriage is not right you affect the testimony of Christ within the church a and so you

need to get that marriage right and stop being stubborn and saying I don't have to do this and we ought to walk with the Lord and we ought to love one another and that means resolving problems resolving issues and sometimes be willing to Bear the infirmities of the week and we ought to be teachers to get involved what are you doing if if someone were to come to you and say well what do you do at Ohana Baptist Church would you have an answer besides I come and sit and go home we ought to be involved and then we ought not to think of ourselves too highly and so these are the oughts to behave ourselves now going back to 1 Timothy chapter 4 or chapter 3 again I'm sorry 1 Timothy chapter 3 it

says excuse me there still got a little bit that tickle my throat 1 Timothy chap 3 look at verse number nine it says holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience now this is talking about the deacons and we covered that when we through that section of First Timothy but what I want to point out to you that we as a church body are responsible as a body to hold the mystery of faith in a pure conscious that's what the local church is supposed to do and to remember that uh the first thing is why God love me you know what he's reminding here if you look at verse number 16 after he talks about how you ought to behave in church it's a pillar in the ground the truth then it reminds us that

without controversy great is the mystery of godliness God has manifest In the Flesh justified in spirit seen of the Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into Glory he's talking about Jesus and what we need to be reminded of is why God how God loved us begin with John 3:16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and it's just a reminder of the love of God and that's why what we're we're all about what gives us our bond what gives us our Unity it it we're we're so different look around the room different cultures different people from different backgrounds and yet

we have that bond in Christ through the love of Jesus Through what he did when he came to die on the cross for us and it was just a reminder of that and and God has called us to make known that mystery of the faith in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 19 it says and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known The Mystery of the gospel and part of the reason that we are here as a church is not just to be this club that's called out from the world but to go into all the world and preach the gospel I I said this in our Wednesday night bible study and and we've been studying on soteriology the study of Salvation and we're done with that study now and

starting this week on Wednesday night we're going to study a topic that's so dear and near to many of your hearts we're going to be studying harmonology which is the study of sin and some of you actually don't need that study because you're doing very well on your own uh but we're going to study about what sin is and how we can have victory over sin and so come out and join us on Wednesday night or you can join us online as well but when I was there I was talking about the fact why did God leave us here after we get saved the moment we prayed Lord Jesus saved me a sinner why didn't God just take us home to Heaven there's only one reason he left us here to tell others about Jesus to make

known The Mystery of the Gospel we're to go out into all the world and preach the gospel and that's our job as a church and if we're not passing out tracks if we're not inviting people to church if we're not sharing our testimony and and like philli we talked about this morning he he needed to go to Nathaniel and tell him about Jesus you and I need to go into the world and preach that gospel that's why God left us here that's one of the main purposes of the church besides glorifying God and fellowship and preaching is to go into all the world with that mystery of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 7 it says but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery even the hidden wisdom which

God ordained before the world unto our Glory it's we're here for the teaching and preaching of the Mysteries of the word of God you know folks what I love about church is you learn things you you come to church and every Sunday morning every Sunday night every Wednesday night or Bible study that you go to and we have many Bible studies during the week every OPP it's an opportunity to learn more about the mysteries of the word of God I've been saved since I was 14 years old I I I I went been Bible College and preaching since I was 7 since I was 19 years old I started Bible College and and I've been preaching since I was in my 20s and I've been studying the word of God and there's still so

many Mysteries and that's one of the reasons I love having the different preachers on Sunday night because I learned something from Pastor John and pastor answerer and Pastor Peter and and I'm learning the mysteries of the word of God and and that's what's exciting about being a church is learning the mysteries of God's word learning more and more about the word of God together as well and so Timothy is Paul is writing to Timothy as the pastor of the church and say listen you need to teach the people how they ought to behave in church and so I would challenge you that if you're not a part of a local church you should be you need to make that binding commitment to join a local church wherever

you go and and and then as you join that church you need to follow the ODS of behavior and and and loving one another and walking in the Lord and and resolving our different es and all the ODS that God has challenged us with and and then we need to remember that we are the ones that are given that mystery of the Gospel that you're given the the privilege of sharing it with the world around us as well