 Amen. Alright, 2 Kings chapter 5, we hear the story of Alashia and his servant and this morning what I want to talk about is the subject and the importance of trustworthiness. My brain is still starting this morning so you have to bear with me. But basically I want to talk about trustworthiness this morning and you say why not, you know, are you mean trust? You know, I'm talking about trustworthiness because the trustworthiness has two parts to it. When you think about it, the servant this morning is two parts. It's basically, you know, the importance of being trustworthy yourself, number one, and then the importance of knowing who is trustworthy. It is the story, you know, this morning that we hear from 2 Kings chapter 5, you know, is focused on that. I mean basically, you know, trustworthiness will make such a big difference in your life in these two parts. Number one, if you are trustworthy and number two, you know, if you don't know who is trustworthy, you know, you're going to get in trouble with both of those different scenarios. So look, Alashia in this story here and throughout the story of Alashia, he had this servant, this servant named Gahazi. And look, Alashia, if you go back to 2 Kings chapter 5, look at verse number 20, he had this servant and the problem that he had here was that he delegated a lot of things to this servant, to this servant Gahazi. Let's look at verse number 20 real quickly and read a few verses into this. But Gahazi, the Bible says in verse 20, the servant of Alashia, the man of God said, Behold, my master has spared name in this Syrian in not receiving at his hands that he brought, but as the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat of him. So here in Naaman, he brought all this silver and this gold and also changes of clothes, which shows you that, you know, clothing was a really valuable thing. You know, it's right there with gold and silver. But basically, he brings all this stuff and Alashia doesn't want any of it. And Gahazi says, you know, I like how he spiritualizes what he's doing, right? First of all, people always spiritualize, you know, the things that they're doing wrong. You know, he says, As the Lord liveth, I'll run after him and take somewhat of him. So Gahazi wants some of this stuff. He's like, look, we've got some credibility here. Remember, I mean, even in verse number 10, it was Gahazi that went and told Naaman, you know, Naaman, you know, didn't get the order to go wash him the Jordan seven times from Alashia. He also delegated that to Gahazi. Gahazi went and he was the messenger that told Naaman wash him the Jordan seven times. So here's Gahazi. He's like, you know, I told this guy how to get, I'm gonna get some of this stuff is what he wants. And look at verse 20, 21. So Gahazi followed after Naaman and when Naaman saw him running after him, he let it down from the chariot to meet him and said, It is all well. And he said, All is well, my master has sent me saying, Behold, even now there come to me from Mount Ephraim, two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and two changes of garments. And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him and bound two talents of silver and two bags, two changes of garments and laid them upon his two of his servants. And they bear them before him. When he came to the tower, he took them from their hand and bestowed them in the house. And he let the men go and departed. But he went in and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, When's come as thou, Gahazi? And he said, Thy servant went nowhere. He's like, he says that, you know, Elisha says, Where have you been? He's like nowhere. Basically, what he said. So he lies to Elisha as well. And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee. It is a time to receive is it a time to receive money and to receive garments and all. So Elisha knows what he did. All right. And then the Bible says that, you know, Elisha curses him with leprosy here and the leprosy therefore of name and shall cleave unto thee into thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence as a leper, a leper as white as snow. So look, turn back to Second Kings chapter four. This isn't a new thing with Gahazi, by the way. It's just something that Elisha has just found out. So Gahazi has kind of always been this way. But Elisha in Second Kings chapter five, it just realizes it for the first time. And that's kind of sad because Gahazi has been with him for a while. Look at Second Kings chapter four in verse number 25. I mean, Elisha just had, he had this servant Gahazi and he was just delegating all these things to him. And we see that even in Second Kings chapter four, he was delegating not only was Gahazi somebody that shouldn't have anyone, anything delegated to him at all. But you see that he was delegating things they shouldn't have been delegating to Gahazi. Look at Second Kings chapter four. So this is talking about the Shunamite woman. So the, you know, Elisha has met this Shunamite woman. She made us place in her house for him. And she and her husband because her husband was old, they couldn't have children. And Elisha blesses her and, you know, prophesies that she will have a child and she has this son. So she has a son and then the son in a field farming accident is wounded in the head and is died. So this woman is devastated. She runs to the prophet Elisha to tell him what has happened. And we see in Second Kings chapter four how the story plays out. Look at verse 25. So she went and came under the man of God to Mount Carmel. She's coming. Her son has died. And she's coming to Elisha. And it came to pass. When the man of God saw her afar off that he said to Gehazi, his servant, behold, Yonder is that Shunamite. Run now, I pray thee to meet her and say unto her, is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with thy child? And she answered it as well. So he tells Gehazi, look, there's a lot here. He tells Gehazi, go see what's wrong. That woman is coming after us. Go see what's wrong. He delegates to Gehazi. It's like, go find out what is wrong with her. And, you know, she sees Gehazi and she says everything's fine to Gehazi. Is everything fine with this woman? She didn't look. She didn't trust Gehazi. She didn't want to tell Gehazi what was wrong with her son, her husband, or her life. And you know, she she didn't trust him. I mean, she knew his heart. But Elisha did not. And that's the problem in this story. Look at verse 27. And when she came to the man of God, so she says to Gehazi, there's nothing wrong. And she continues on and she meets Elisha. And she comes to the man of God to the hill. She caught him by the feet. So she comes to Elisha and she just grabs around his feet and just, you know, drops down in front of Elisha. But Gehazi came near to thrust her away. And the man of God said, let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her. And the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me. So look, he still doesn't recognize the problem with Gehazi. So this woman, obviously she tells Gehazi everything's fine. And then she runs to the man of God and just drops at his feet and grabs his feet. Then she said, did I desire a son of my Lord? And did I not say, do not deceive me? Then he said to Gehazi, gird up thy loins and take my staff in thine hand and go thy way. If thou meet any man, salute him not. And if any salute thee, answer him not again and lay thy staff upon the face of the child. So look, she tells him that my child has died. And then again, he sends Gehazi to do the work, to raise the child from the dead. And he goes and he, of course, lays the staff on the child and nothing happens. And it has to be Elisha that goes and does it. So Elisha shouldn't have delegated that task to Gehazi. We see that. But even at this point, Elisha does not realize who Gehazi is. Okay, even though other people did realize it, which is interesting. Okay, so look, one chapter later, with the story of Naaman, Elisha finally figures out, you know, what this Gehazi is about. You know, Gehazi, look, this guy was no good. He was, he was serving Elisha for a long time and he was just no good. He was somebody that shouldn't have had anything delegated for him at all, to him at all. But look, this is why it is so important that we are worthy of people's trust and also that we know who we can trust in our lives, especially, especially for people like Elisha, for people in leadership positions who, who delegate things to others. I mean, we see that, you know, another lesson is, you know, some things just shouldn't be delegated. Some things should just be done by the leader. Not everything should be delegated. But look, that's another sermon for a different time. But the bottom line is in leadership positions like Elisha, you can't do everything yourself. Look at Moses. You know, I mean, he was told, look, you just can't handle all this yourself. You must delegate judgment. So it things must be delegated. So for a leader, especially, you better know who you can delegate to and have those things, you know, be done faithfully. Alright, so look, this morning, we're going to talk about some do's and don'ts of trustworthiness. How you can know who's trustworthy and how you can be trustworthy yourself. Turn to Luke chapter 16. This is the verse of the week. Luke chapter 16. And, or just look at the front of your bulletin. Luke chapter 16. Look at verse number 10. Now this is an interesting verse in the Bible. And I'll explain why, but let's read it together. Look at Luke 16 and verse number 10. The Bible says, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. So this is an interesting, I think this is a unique verse in the Bible because let me ask you something. Does everyone believe the Bible? Does everyone, number one, know what the Bible says? No, of course not. It's actually shocking the lack of knowledge of the Bible today. But not only does everyone not know the Bible, but even if you told people what the Bible says in certain areas, many people today would just not believe it at all. And it would be like whatever. But this is an interesting verse because saved or unsaved, Bible believing or not, this is a verse that everyone seems to know and operate by. Which is interesting because it's really, you know, if you're not faithful in small things, people just aren't going to trust you not only in small things, but even in bigger things. Everybody operates that way. The world operates that way. And you know, obviously, you know, a business person would operate that way in protection of his own business and his own interests and things like that. But look, that's a unique Bible verse where it's just basically a truth is what it is. It's basically a Bible verse that's just showing a truth here. And people in the world along with Christians have realized this truth and they operate it by it. So, I mean, the point here is don't be a flake. I mean, that's the point. That's the boil down, you know, point. Don't be this person that is just constantly forgetting things, you know, things that, I mean, look, forgetting things, being late to things. These are things that show people that you don't care about those things. It is what you're showing people. You know, they'll have a hard time trusting you. Is the bottom line. You know, you say, well, but why? It's not that big of a deal that I'm five minutes late to something. You know, that's what you say. But look, he that is unjust in the least is also unjust also in much, the Bible says. So, somebody you can't rely on for small things, people are going to realize they can't rely on you for bigger things. Okay. So, look, that's why in the parable of the talents, by the way, that we just talked about that the servants that it increased the most, they got their talents from the person that did nothing. It's not that they just got more talents. You know, we didn't print talents. We actually took those talents. The master took those talents from the people that did nothing with them. They were unfaithful with those talents. They were unreliable. So, he gave to the people that were reliable. I mean, why in the world would you want to give resources to someone who is unreliable with those resources? I mean, it makes no sense. I mean, think about this from the perspective of, you know, a marriage. Think about, you know, wives. You know, your husband asked you to do something. Your husband wants something a certain way and you just won't do it. And it's just complaining and just resisting and just excuses. And I mean, look, he's just, not only is that wrong because you are supposed to submit to your husband, but look, he's not going to trust you. He's not going to trust you. If he can't trust you with small things, he's not going to trust you with big things. You see, I mean, this works both ways, by the way. Husbands. I mean, somebody, Ms. Clarice told a joke the other day. It was actually really funny. You know, a husband says to his wife, let me see if I can get this right. A husband says to his wife, I'm so reliable that there is no need for you to remind me about it every six months. Boeck, you say, I'm in charge. My wife doesn't tell me anything. Well, I mean, good for you. But if your wife needs you to do something and you never do it, she's just, she's not going to have the trust in you that you will take care of things is the bottom line. And if your wife can't trust you to hang a picture that she would like to see hung. And you know, I mean, there's just like everyone's laughing right now. I have pictures laying in my house for weeks. I shouldn't do that. Like if your wife can't trust you with small things, you know, it's going to be harder for her to trust you with bigger things. Like I want my wife to trust me. I'm in charge of my home. My wife doesn't order me around. But when my wife makes a kind, respectful, nice request, I mean, I should, you know, handle those things for her is the bottom line. Okay. So look, in 21 years of marriage, I'm also at 21. But in 21 years of marriage, I feel like I'm getting better at this. You know, I wasn't as good at the beginning, and I'm getting better and better at this. Alright. Look, work, same thing. If you weren't reliable at work, you'll go nowhere. I mean, if you're not even reliable with small things, not only will you never get any more responsibility at work, but you may get fired. Well, you probably won't get fired because nobody gets fired anymore. You know, it's so hard to find somebody who's like, you know, will show up every day breathing that it's difficult. Right. But look, the small things matter. When you're given, you know, direction at work, even if it's a small thing, you should make sure that you understand that direction clearly. And if you don't find out so you can understand that direction clearly, and then be reliable and do exactly what you are supposed to do. That's the bottom line. I mean, that's how to be successful at work. And then guess what? You'll be known as someone who's reliable with small things. And look, people, they hire people because they want people to do things for them. They want people to accomplish things for them. There's big things wherever you work, there's big things that need to be accomplished. But no one's going to give anybody those big things unless they can trust them with the small things first, because they don't want something messed up. They don't want something destroyed. They don't want something, you know, anyone hurt or whatever. So you must prove yourself to be the small things. Look, this is the I've said this before, but this is why I don't like starting new jobs. Because no matter who you are, or where you come from, or what kind of job you go into, you always have to start proving yourself with the small things. So you may have worked some more 10 years and you're up to the big things. They're trusting you with the big things. You start a new job, they've got to test you with the small things first. They're not just going to hand you a bunch of big things because you've got a resume that said whatever. Because people make stuff up all the time. I mean, it applies at church. The small things and big things, I mean, are you reliable? I mean, are you reliable? I mean, look, no one's working for the church here. But are you reliable? I mean, the probably the most important thing you could do at a church to show that you're reliable is show up on time. Number one, show up and show up on time. Being late, look, being late is like a super pet peeve of mine. I don't know why anyone would ever be late. Think about it this way. If you had to pay $100 every time you were late, would you ever be late to anything? No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't, right? So look, basically if you had to pay money every time you were late somewhere, you would magically be on time. So what you're saying when you're late to things, whether it's a job interview, whether it's to meet somebody somewhere, whether it's to pick up your family or whatever it is, come to church, you're saying that I don't care about that thing. That's what you are portraying to people. All right? So look, just be reliable. I mean, say, say what you're going to do and do that thing. All right? The second thing from, you know, being reliable, if you want people to look at you as a trustworthy person is this one. And you think this is easy, right? Turn back to 2 Kings chapter 5. It's this. It's be honest. Be honest. You say, man, these are easy ones. Well, then why does no one trust you? I mean, in your life, I mean, think about it. I mean, do people trust you with big things in your life? If they don't, there's a problem somewhere. Look at 2 Kings chapter 5. Look at Gahazi. Look, Gahazi basically lied to everybody. He lied to both sides. Look at verse 22. Look what he says to Naaman. When Naaman first meets him, where he goes out to chase after Naaman, and he said, all is well. My Master hath sent me, saying, behold, now there come to me from Mount Ephraim, two young men, the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray, that ye a talent of silver and two changes of garments. He tells Naaman that Elisha sent him. Why? Look at verse 25. Then he comes back, but he went in and stood before his Master. And Elisha said to him, whence cometh thou Gahazi? And he said, thy servant went no wither. So he lies to Elisha. Now, look, God at this point, in some way, he showed Elisha what was going on with Gahazi. Whether that was somebody told Elisha where Gahazi went. Elisha was wise to what happened at this point. And he just lies right to his face. I mean, he lied to everyone. Think about the trustworthiness on this. Look, it's a long road to get to trustworthiness. It's a long road to get there where someone trusts you. And there now, I mean, you've already gone through, as we just talked about, you've gone through the small things that you're reliable and you're trustworthy in. You've got to the little bit bigger things. And you got to the medium things. And then, all sudden, they're trusting you with big things. I mean, now you're in a position where you're being trusted with big things. You know, even just a little lie can just knock all that down. That's the thing. You know, you have to, because I mean, even a little lie, they end up having to cover and then cover and then cover. Look, Gahazi's trust was completely gone at this point. And I mean, he had a bad heart and there was a lot of things wrong for him. But look, the point is, is that it's going to be a long time to get it back. If ever. If ever. If ever. And look, lying, lying is a big sin. Look, Elisha struck Gahazi and his children with leprosy for the rest of their lives. You say, that's harsh. Well, that shows you the importance of being honest and being, you know, above board, which is basically the way you need to be. You need to be above board with everything. Secrets are always bad. Secrets are always bad. I mean, if there is some thing that you can tell some people that you can't tell other people, I mean, that should be a red flag to you in your life. I mean, you need to ask yourself when you're in conversations with groups of people or maybe one person or whatever. I mean, you need to ask yourself, hey, could everyone hear this conversation right now? And would that be okay? You know, if there's things that I do, that I keep from other people or things that are behind the back of others, this will always catch up to you. Always. I mean, you just don't have enough shells to cover up where this is going to take you. And look, here's the funny thing. It doesn't even necessarily have to be anything bad. You know, it would be a shame to lose trust over something that was small. You know, if you're just like doing things that, oh, I just rather not say this comment around this person and then they find, I mean, it's just people just are going to just be like, I don't know what's going on there, but they're just not going to trust you. It's that simple. You know, I mean, a simple example for a work environment, you know, is you call a, you call a meeting amongst people in your group or whatever it is or your department and, you know, you don't invite the boss. And you have a meeting and it was nothing bad. You're maybe you're just sharing an idea that you had or whatever. And, you know, it's all good. Maybe it was even good for the boss and good for his bottom line and good for the department or good for the business or whatever. And then, but, you know, you don't loop him in on it or you don't, you know, I mean, I've seen this before. It's so stupid that people do this. And usually it's just because they want the preeminence. People want the preeminence. You know, they don't want the, because you get a lot of bosses out there that, you know, they just want, they'll take everybody's idea. They'll just steal the idea and say it was mine. So you get all these people, they do all this stuff and, but look, then the boss doesn't trust them. I mean, even if it was harmless and it was something that was for the good of the company, the boss is like, what's going on there? What was happening there? And they always find out. So I mean, you know, why wasn't I told? Why wasn't I invited to the meeting? They just lose trust in that person and that's it. So it's a shame. It's a shame to lose, you know, that trust that, you know, you've probably, if you have the trust, you've spent a lot of time building it. There's been a long road to get to that point of trustworthiness and then to lose it over something dumb is just not worth it. The third thing, turn to Matthew chapter 5. And this is a big one and people, people burn themselves on this one too. And I'm not sure why, but I actually am sure why, but this is a big one. The big, this one is this. The third point is this. Matthew chapter 5, look at verse 37. The Bible says, but let your communication be yay, yay, nay, nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Here's the thing. In your communication, be straightforward. Be straightforward in your communication. Look, if you want people to trust you, be straightforward in your communication with them. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Okay, look, the opposite of this is, turn to Genesis chapter 3. The opposite of this is being subtle. The opposite of speaking and communicating in a straightforward manner is being a subtle person. And subtlety in the Bible is, you know, you may think of the word subtlety and just think, oh, subtle is, is, is being, you know, just light and just kind of lightly talking about, no, but subtlety in the Bible is bad. Being subtle in the Bible is bad. Look at the first point of subtlety in the Bible in Genesis chapter 3. The Bible says in Genesis 3.1, now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field the Lord God had made. And he said, I mean, so what does that mean? So we know, okay, the Satan here is, is being subtle. He's being subtle. So what does that mean? And he said to the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Look, he's being subtle. He's just, he's asking questions that he knows the answer to. That's subtle. He's doing it to inject doubt to a situation. Subtly, he's trying to turn to Acts chapter 13. He's trying to use this subtlety, this light asking of a question. Look, he didn't come out and say, God didn't say that. God didn't say, you can eat that. He didn't just come out and just directly contradict God. He just injected doubt through a question that he already knew the answer to. He's trying and why? Because he's trying to influence a situation. He's trying to lightly influence a situation. Look at Acts 13. We'll look at another instance of subtlety in the Bible. And when they had gone through the Isle and Apaphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, which was within the deputy, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul in desire to hear the word of God. But Elimus, the sorcerer, this is another name for Bar-Jesus, excuse me, first, so his name is by interpretation, withstood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. And he said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord. So first of all, a couple of things here. Now, this is the second sorcerer in Acts that we hear. There's two sorcerers in Acts. There's Simon and then there's this guy. Now, Simon gets saved. The first one gets saved. So what's the difference? Well, the difference is this guy is actively trying to stop the word of God from being preached. He wasn't just, you know, in something, in error. OK, and look, sorcery is a wicked thing. Sorcery's witchcraft is a wicked thing. The Bible says, thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. It's a big sin, right? But the bottom line is, this guy, his Paul knew that this guy was wicked because he was actually trying to stop somebody from getting saved. OK, so that's the first thing. And what did he use? So he calls him a child of the devil, but he was using what? He was using subtlety. He was using subtlety to cast doubt into what Paul and Barnabas were saying to the surges Paulist trying to get this guy saved. And look, so look, being subtle is never good in the Bible. So why would you ever be subtle? Why would you ever be a subtle person? You know, you say, well, being subtle is, you know, it's just a polite way for me to get my point across to people. But look, this is a huge mistake that people make. Right? If you're this kind of person that can't come out and just say things and so you just hint at things and you do these little subtle things and you make these little comments, the problem is, is that, you know, it's a method. What you're doing, you're saying, well, I'm just trying to, you know, get this point across and this point's a good point. But the bottom line is you're using a method that's used by evil people. And seasoned mature individuals are going to recognize that method. So don't be subtle because people, then they may question your intent. So think of it this way. You're using a method. You're using a method that is used by evil people in the Bible, that's used by the devil in the Bible. And the method is that it could be taken, you're throwing out little subtle things and little hints at things. And those hints could be taken in good or bad ways. But to you, maybe, you wanted it to be taken in a good way. But to the person receiving it, they know that, oh, you're using a method that's not, it's not good. It could be taken in any way by the person receiving it. So you need to, we need to run from subtlety as Christians, OK? Look, someone who's being subtle is not being clear. You could be misunderstood. And you're like, well, I just hope people just give me the benefit of the doubt every time. They're not going to trust you. It's that simple. OK, because basically, you could be mistaken for a manipulator. Someone trying to influence people, manipulate people, you know, trying to affect change through subtlety, just like Satan was doing. He was trying to affect change through subtlety. Don't use the method. Even if your, your intent is always good. Don't use this method. So you say, well, I don't like things a certain way. How do I get my point across? Well, I'm going to, I'm going to tell you. Turn to Proverbs 17. If you're in a situation, whether that be at work, you know, in your family, you know, wives, you know, you, you don't like the way things are being run, you know, by your husband or whatever, you know, and maybe, you know, you've got a situation at work that you think could go a different way and it shouldn't be done the way it is. Look, you have two choices. If you're in a situation where you want to see something changed, you have two choices. The first choice is this. Look at Proverbs 17, 28. The Bible says, even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise. And he that shuddereth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. So look, your first choice, if you are in any situation that you would like to see changed, your first choice is you can always do nothing. You can always say nothing. Look, that's an option. I mean, that's an option. Look, holding your peace, not speaking is, that's an option. It's always an option. As a matter of fact, it's an option that wherever I'm in a situation, out in the world especially, and I'm not sure what to say, I just don't say anything and it always works out well. When you don't know what to say, don't say anything. I mean, the Bible says that right here in Proverbs 17, 28. Look, here's what you want to be. You want to be that person that when they do speak, everyone just, I mean, do you know this person? That person that when they open their mouth, everyone stops and just like hangs on every word that they say. That's who you want to be. You want to be that person. And that's the person that's just not constantly just blathering out everything that comes to mind. I mean, even this type of person that like every single thing that I have to say that I ever think about just comes out of my mouth no matter what, I just sit here and I inject my opinion into everything. Look, when you open your mouth, people are gonna be like, oh, it's just him talking again. Telling us how it is again. I mean, look, you want to be this person that when you speak, everyone listens. Right, you say, well, it's a big problem. Doing nothing is just not gonna be an option. It's a problem that I just must bring up. Well, then the bottom line is when you do bring it up, you let your yay be yay. Just like the Bible says, you need to turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5. You need to be direct. You need to be direct and why? So you're not misunderstood. You need to be direct and you say, well, if I'm direct, isn't that rude? But there's a catch, okay? Look at 1 Timothy chapter 5 in verse number one. And the Bible explains this catch to us. 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse number one says, we're but not an elder. But in treat him as a father, the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters with all purities, talking to you on how to address people. So we should be direct, but we should be respectful even to your brothers and sisters in Christ. You're to be direct, but you're to treat him as a brother. Treat him as a sister. You're to be very respectful and polite. So look, I mean, and the elders, I mean, look, you need to be careful how you bring things up to the pastor of the church. If there's something that you need to bring up to the pastor of the church, look, you just need to be respectful on how you talk to him. I mean, look, I've seen maybe a small handful of people in my life lecture their pastor, or even worse, his wife. And it just never works out well, I'm telling you. So look, there's nothing wrong with bringing things up, but you just need to make sure that you're respectful and cause like lecturing, your pastor is something that's tough to come back from. All right. Look, as far as I'm concerned here, I want you to bring things up. If you have concerns about something, I want to hear those concerns. I mean, that's who I am. I want to know your concerns, but please be respectful about it. You know, I mean, no matter the outcome, my rule of thumb at work is this, if I see something that needs to be changed, like if I'm working for somebody, cause look, everybody works for somebody. If I'm working for somebody and I see something that I would like to see changed, number one, the older I get, and the more experience I get, the more times I choose option one, which is say nothing. But if I, it really needs to be brought up, because here, look, honestly, at work, you're ultimately responsible for your own actions. So if somebody asks you to do something unethical, I mean, Romans 13, you're higher powers, God. So that's an easy one. So if somebody's doing something a different way than I would do it, most times I'm just like, that's just the way they want to do it. I'm gonna try to help them be successful in that way. But if it's something where I feel like, you know, really, you know, something could really be changed for the better, I'll bring it up one time. In a nice, respectful way. Look, just be ready, folks. Most times it's not gonna change. Most times it's not going to change. So be ready for that. Then you just accept that, you move on, and that's it. But like, look, I don't nitpick. I don't nitpick. And you know, I don't wanna be that guy either. That just nitpicks every little thing at every little job that I go to. And you know, I bring it up once in a nice and clear way. I don't go and throw all these hints and you know, throw shade on the way things are going. Well, you know, do you really think that we should do it that way? Well, wouldn't it? Or go to people in the department and be like, yeah, you know, I think that, you know, plant little seeds and be subtle. That's gonna go bad for you. All right, look, you bring it up to the authority in a clear way, nice and respectful, it can't be misunderstood. And you know, then you just, whatever. Most times it doesn't change. I mean, just get ready for that. Which makes you learn to just deal with things, by the way. You know, you just deal with things and that's it. I mean, if it's intolerable, no one's forcing you to work there. That's why I mean, people that have problems in churches. Okay, bring it up once in a nice way. I mean, it's probably already, you know, it's probably running that way for a reason. So it's probably not gonna change. But look, if it's something, this just blows my mind. Because look, here's the thing. No one's forcing you to come to this church. I mean, I didn't call Brother Trevor this morning to say, you better be here, buddy, or I'm coming over tomorrow. And you know, no one's forcing you to come here. So there's something that's intolerable that you just can't handle. And it's not gonna, you know, if you bring it up in a clear way, you don't do all the subtlety stuff. And then, you know, I mean, you're in control of your family. You just go to a different church. You don't even get these people, they don't like the way something's going. And they just, you know, they leave the church and they gotta blow up everything. They gotta blow the church up. They, I mean, they gotta plant all kinds of bombs everywhere. They gotta be calling everybody and their brother and all this kind of stuff. Just leave. It's okay. Just leave in a nice, respectful way. No one's forcing, I mean, it's the same thing at your job. You don't like the way, I mean, you bring something up to the boss in a nice, respectful way. Look, no one's forcing you to work there. Welcome to America. You can quit. You can go get another job. I mean, it's a free country for the most part, maybe not so much anymore. How's that for a sentence? But I mean, look, no one's forcing you to be places. I mean, just bring it up once. If it doesn't change, there's no reason to have all this bitterness and just, I mean, because look, you're hurting your own testimony is what you're doing. You're proving that you're not trustworthy. You're just destroying all that. I mean, even if it's something, even if it's something where, you know, people don't agree with the reason that you wanna leave that job or leave that church or whatever it is and you leave in a respectful way, you'll still have people's respect. Is he like, okay, well, he just has that conviction about that thing or whatever and at least he did it in a nice, respectful way and look, you still will be a trustworthy person. That's it. So look, in conclusion, if you wanna be someone that people can trust, you just must behave in a certain way. If people don't trust you, it's not them, it's you, like every time. If you're somebody that you're just like, I just, I'm not getting any more responsibilities at work. You know, I don't know. It's just no one trusts me in my life. You know, my wife has no faith in me. My husband has no faith in me. I don't understand. I mean, look, it's you. It's you. It's something that it's, it's not, you know, the rules are tough. It's hard to earn easy to lose. Tough to get back. Turn to John 21. The Bible gives us a story of somebody who did get it back, by the way. Like Peter is a rare story of somebody who lost trust, but got it back. But look, you'll see, you'll see that it was a long road for Peter. It was a long road for Peter. Look at John chapter 21 and look at verse 15. John 21 and verse 15. Now I'm gonna give you my, you know, my opinion on this passage. It's just my opinion. My wife and I discussed it this week. You know, I know there's a lot of different opinions on this, I'll just give you mine. Maybe it's right. Maybe it's not. But look at John 21 and verse 15. This is when Jesus, so remember, we're gonna talk about this. I don't wanna give it away because we're gonna talk about it in Matthew 26. But you know, Jesus basically told Peter, you're gonna deny me. And Peter told me, never. Peter told Jesus, never, I'll never deny you. He's like, you're gonna deny me tonight before the sun even comes up. Before the cock crows. He's like, you'll deny me three times. And Peter's like, never, I'll never do that. Right, but look at John chapter 21 and verse 15. This is where Jesus has resurrected and he's going and he's meeting with Peter, who by the way, not only denied Jesus, but basically quit the ministry and took a bunch of guys within fishing and just like, I'm out of this thing. This isn't going out, going well. And Jesus is talking to Peter here and he says in verse 15, so when they had dined, Jesus said unto Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these. He saith unto him, ye Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me. He saith unto him, ye Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He said unto him, feed my sheep. Look at verse 17. He said unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me, Peter was grieved at this point. He keeps asking the same question, again and again and again. He's like, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? He's like, yes! At the very end, he's like, yes I do. Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me. Peter was grieved because he's like, he's not believing me. That's why he's grieved. He's like, I've told him twice and he still doesn't believe me. He's still asking me the same question. What doesn't he trust me? Is what Peter's thinking. That's why he's grieved. And he saith unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. That's a good answer. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. He says the exact same answer to him. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest wither thou wouldest, but when thou shall be old, thou shall stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee where thou wouldest not. He's telling him how he's gonna die. There, but look, the bottom line is, Jesus is just grilling Peter. He asked him three times if you love me. And I think he asked him three times because how many times did Peter deny Jesus? He denied him three times. So it makes sense, you know, Jesus is making a point here. He's just saying, look, he's like, you know, do you really mean it this time? Is what he's saying to Peter. Okay, are you sure this time? And look, obviously Peter went on to have a great ministry and he died for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I mean, Peter gained that trust back from Jesus. But look, he lost it at the beginning. So there's another interesting thing. So look, it can be gotten back, but was Peter's life great and nice and wonderful? No, he went through a lot of work and a lot of suffering and ultimately all the way to his death. And I mean, he proved that he was trustworthy. He proved it again. Now here's another interesting thing about Gahazi. So look, it's hard to get easy to lose, very difficult to get back. So you wanna get it, keep it when you have it is the point I'm making there. But here's another thing. Here's the thing about Gahazi. Others realized it, but Elisha did not. I mean, you remember the Shunamite woman? I mean, she didn't trust him. I mean, she comes to him and she's like, everything's fine. Where's the man of God? Everything's fine. Her son had just died. We know that things weren't fine. But look, Elisha trusted this guy with everything. He trusted him with too much. We know that. We know this looking back at the story. So look, something shouldn't be delegated is the first thing. But God clearly wanted Elisha to go raise this boy from the dead, not Gahazi, okay? But really, the main point I wanna make about Gahazi is it shows the importance of having trustworthy people around you. If Elisha would, especially people in leadership roles, if you're in a leadership role, you need to have trustworthy people around you. Why? Well, to stop the Gahazis from getting in. You see? There would have been people that, it would have been nice if somebody could have given Elisha a heads up. If somebody could have gone to Elisha and said, hey, something's wrong with this Gahazi guy. And it was somebody, see, the Shunamite woman, she didn't feel like she was qualified. She didn't feel like it was her place. I'm sure, I mean, think about it. He's the man of God. She's like, I'm not gonna go and cause all that trouble. But look, if Gahazi, if Elisha would have had people around him immediately that he would trust, they would have stopped Gahazis from getting in in the first place. So look, it's protection for leadership is really what it is. So like, look, if you're in a church, you could be that person. You could be a trustworthy person that literally helps protect the church. That literally helps, you know, hey, something's not right in a situation like this, and you could bring those situations to leadership and stop Gahazi-type situations from happening. I mean, I bet you can think of some recent Gahazi-type situations in the last few years that you've heard of in church life. I mean, it happens, right? So look, Elisha could have been protected if he would have had that, right? He could have been protected from this type of person. So look, you should strive to be trustworthy. You know, people need you. I mean, leadership needs you to be trustworthy. So you say, you know, oh, you know, you're being late, or just the small things, not being right, look, it's a big thing. People need trustworthy people to be around them. And look, when you are found being trustworthy, as when you will start seeing leaps and bounds in your marriage, in, you know, your church life, in your work life, in just life in general. If you're just making leaps and bounds, and people are just giving you more responsibility in all these different areas, and your wife just has nothing but faith and trust in you, and you know, your husband just knows that when he says, hey, I need something to be like this, it's just done immediately. Look, this is when you know that you're getting trustworthy. If you're in a rut, and no one's giving you any more responsibility, and you're like, I don't know, I haven't been promoted in 15 years. Well, you know, there's a problem somebody doesn't trust you is the bottom line. You're like, well, you know, my wife just she doubts, you know, everything that if she asks if something's gonna get done, or you know, I leave this broken for, look, if you leave something broken that you can fix for a year, you're just gonna lose trust. It's the bottom line. You're gonna lose trust of the people that you're leading. They're not gonna trust that you're gonna do things. It's a big deal. So it's easy to recognize. Think about it. Think about it today. Think about, hey, am I making leaps and bounds in these areas of my life? If not, it's probably because people don't trust you. It's probably because you're not reliable. It's probably because you're not communicating effectively. So, but if you are, then you need to protect that trust. You need to make sure that you're operating in a way that keeps that trust. Because look, bottom line is like, people need people to trust. Especially in a world that we live in today. That's just, you know, lying is no big deal anymore. I mean, it's crazy. It's crazy. You get out in the secular world and people just think it's okay to lie. They think it's okay to go and just talk smack behind people's back and all this kind of stuff. Look, it's not okay. It's not how we should operate. People aren't gonna trust you. So let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Trustworthyness.