your Bible 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. I want to bring a message that I simply entitle, What Are You Famous For? What Are You Famous For? And we'll read just a few passages, a few verses of If you will there in 2nd Corinthians and chapter 8 Let's stand together as we read verse 15 through 18 2nd Corinthians Chapter 8 As beginning in verse 15 the Bible says as it is written that He that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack. But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted the exhortation, But being more forward of his own account, he went unto you. And then my text verse. And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches. Now, Father, bless, I pray, in the next few moments, Lord, that you would use your Word, and by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, that you would speak to our hearts, me first. Pray, Father, that you would help our understanding. I pray, Father, that you would make us truly thankful for the Word of God, and the salvation which we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Thank you for this place. Thank you for this church, these families, this community. that you'd be honored and glorified. Fill me with your power, the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Lord, we need you today as always. In Jesus' name I pray and for His sake alone, amen. Thank you. You may be seated. It's good to be back at Elkdale Baptist Church. And as we, as I set in many different ways in Sunday school, had a wonderful trip to Kenya, now nearly 1,000 people saved in the last six months since June. Four churches have been charted, two churches have been, their buildings have been completed. Many properties, a half a dozen different properties have been donated. God has given us favor among the government and among the leaders of the Western Kenya communities. And everything, not only for the Lord's sake, but by Him and His power and because of Him and not because of us. So thank you so much for praying. Thank you so much for giving. And we count you as dear family. We count you as friends. We count you as partners in ministry. we mean that from the bottom of our hearts. And I want you to meet Brother Boyd Collins at some point who is now our GLBM Kenya Director. He's from a good church in West Virginia. And God is using him both here and has been in the ministry a long time. And now on the continent of Africa. Pastors are coming to us not only from Kenya but Pentecostal Church of God pastors, charismatic pastors who are sick and tired of that movement, who have found it to be false, and false doctrine are coming to us not only from all over western Kenya, but they're coming to us from Uganda, and from Tanzania. And we believe that God may open up an entire movement in East Africa, and who knows after that. And so we're very grateful, very, very grateful. In the meantime pastors in old Burma in the midst of Civil War, and daily power outages where their families, where their churches, their church buildings have power two to four hours a day. And sometimes not at all, where soldiers come in and they don't knock on the door, they break the door down. In the middle of the night Pastor Tong Lien four times now has been visited by dozens of soldiers that have come in and ransacked the place, and interrogated everyone for hours. Came in at 1 o'clock in the morning and beat the pastor, Pastor Tong who is my hero, a man of God that is so much better than me. And a man of faith who has paid a price for the Gospel of Christ. But in the midst of all of that and everything that's going on where battles are being fought, and bombs are going off, and and the diseases, and all the poverty, and everything that defines old Burma, now called Myanmar. Souls are being saved. Churches are being established. And we have now the Gospel booklet that I wrote, page full-color glossy booklet based on the testimony of one of our converted Buddhist monks, full of Scripture. We have printed our first million. Tens of thousands have been saved. We've baptized now our 13th monk who was converted to Christ. And we are getting ready despite the military coup, the Civil War, and all that is going on there we are getting ready to pull the trigger on our second million copies of that booklet. That booklet is going also across America as Burmese communities and even Muslim communities around the country are requesting that book. Pastors from all over the south and the Midwest and even out to California are ordering that book through Bible Tracts Incorporated. Some are calling us at GLBM and we're sending them around the country as people, pastors here in America are trying to reach Buddhists and Muslims for Christ using that booklet to was made for Burma, but now it's being used in America. And so a lot of things are happening. You know we look at the world, we look at America, we look at politics and our leaders, and sometimes we get discouraged, and sometimes we wonder what in the world is going on, and we think Jesus is coming soon, and He may, and I hope He does. But in the midst of all of that things are happening, and people are getting saved. And in Burma, in the midst of all of that violence of war there. There is a hunger, a hunger for the Word of God, a hunger for truth and for Jesus Christ, for the Gospel of Christ in that country. And I am beginning to see, preacher, a little thirst, a little hunger among American people. They're sick and tired of lies, they want truth. And the truth is in this book. so we are seeing people saved even in America. And that, my friends, is what the Christian life is really all about, is shining the light. If we were to sing another hymn, I had it open right there on the seats, The Light of the World is Jesus. And so he has put that light in us, and not just us missionaries, not just preachers and pastors, but church members, Christians, born-again people, just like us, just like you and me. And we have been born again to shine the light of the gospel. Now, in 2 Corinthians 8, it says, Paul said to the Corinthian church, He said, thanks be to God, verse 16, which put the same earnest care. He said, I took care of you, but now Titus, because of the heart of a volunteer, because he just wanted to, because he had a compassion for you, because he had a love for you, because he wanted to, because God put something in the heart of Titus for you folks in Corinth to Titus has given himself to you like I wanted to give myself to you, Paul says. And then verse 18, and we have sent with Titus, we have sent with him, that preacher, we have sent with him the brother. Who is he talking about? We don't know. doesn't tell us people say well it could be Luke and then some people think it was Barnabas and they have reasons for that but the Bible doesn't tell us who this brother was and it doesn't really matter because we are not from we are not here promoting ourselves we are promoting Jesus Christ yes or no We are not in this Baptist church. We have not come to church today because we want to be seen and because we want to be heard. We have come to this Baptist church because of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, because we want to be faithful to the one who is the lover of our soul. And we want others to see Jesus in us. And they're going to see Jesus in us if we're faithful. They're gonna see Jesus in us if we love the brethren. They're going to see Jesus in us if we, yes, if we come to church. They're gonna see Jesus in us if we read and study our Bibles, if we're faithful to the word of God. The people out there are going to see Jesus in us if we allow the love of Christ to constrain us and govern our lives and help us to be faithful. And so there was a brother, and he's nameless. He has a name, and it seems to me, Brother McDonald, that the people in that day and the people in Corinth, they knew exactly who Paul was talking about. They knew, but it wasn't important for us to know. Paul had a thorn in the flesh, and it doesn't tell us what it was, and for a good reason. If we knew what it was and we had the same thing, we would make ourselves equal and we would compare ourselves to the great apostle, yes or no. But because we don't know what it was, excuse me, because of that, when he says it was just a light affliction, because he kept going, because he didn't let it stop him. The truth of that applies to all of us and not just a few. And it's the same way with this brother. We don't know who it was. We don't know what his name was. We don't know what his job was. We don't know what his responsibility. We don't know if he was married. We don't know if he had a family, but he was famous. He had a reputation. Lord for that. Paul said, we have sent with Titus the brother. And then it tells us why this man is famous. He says, the brother whose praise is in the Gospel. His praise is in the Gospel. His reputation, the reason people know His name, the reason people hold Him up, the reason people respect Him, it's in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know if He was a full-time preacher. I don't know if he was even a deacon. I don't know what he was. I know that he was a believer. He was a brother. He was a member of the family, if you will. He was a member of the body of Christ and the assembly of the firstborn. He was like us. He was just like me and just like you. But he had a reputation, and his reputation went before him because of his faithfulness to the gospel. you this morning as we get ready to live through another year waiting for Jesus Christ to come. What are you famous for? What are you famous for? Some people are famous for money. Some people are famous because they have the gift of oratory. Some people are famous because they can play a horn. You know, you watch, you look at YouTube. How many like YouTube? Nobody will admit it. One, two, three. You like YouTube. You know, I find some things on there that are pretty entertaining. And you see some people that you see a little girl playing a violin. She's only 10 years old. She's on the street or she's inside of a big shopping mall, but she can play the violin like an absolute professional. You know, she's already made her reputation on YouTube. Well, I don't know about YouTube, but God promotes. God is the one who lifts up. And so, what are you famous for? Some people are famous for their mechanics. I know people that, man, they can fix a car like nobody else. And if I hit a deer and I need a body shop, I know in Horseheads, New York, exactly who to go to. I'm not going to anybody else because that man has a reputation. He does really, really good work. He's conscientious. He's respectable. He's responsible. And I want my car to look brand new, so you know what? I'm going to take it to him because he has a reputation. He's famous for that. Some people, there are preachers, they have a reputation for bling. They have a reputation because they are just such wonderful, amazing dressers. You know, a guy comes out of a hotel room and the people in the lobby of the hotel, they say, you're looking really tackled today. You know, well, I want to look good for the Lord. I don't know about you, and I've come to the house of God this morning, so I'm going to do my best to honor not myself, but to honor Him. But there are some preachers that are famous, they're famous for different things, but some are famous just because of what they wear. I remember in the scriptures, Jezebel, she had a reputation, did she not? She was famous, wasn't she? I don't know that she was famous for a good thing. How about Ahab? He had a reputation. He was famous. And he had power. He had influence. He had, he made an impact on his society. But he wasn't famous for a good thing. How about Samson? Everybody knows about Samson. He had a reputation. He was famous. Why? Because he was strong. Yes? But yes, he was more famous because he compromised and he had a weak character. I don't want to be famous for that. I want to be famous for holding the line. I want to be famous for being faithful. I want to be famous for the gospel. Solomon, King Solomon, nobody was rich like King Solomon, but why is he famous? Well, he had a thousand wives, but those wives took his heart away from the Lord. Then there was Abraham. What is Abraham famous for? Well, he's famous for faith, right? But you know what? He didn't always have that faith. And when you think about Abraham, one of the things that you think about is not so much that he had great faith, but he lied several times about Sarah, his wife. And I don't think he was lying because he was trying to protect her. He was trying to protect himself. Thank God he got over that and became famous for faith rather than being a liar. I want to be famous for the right things. So I need to let God change me and allow me to be famous for the right things. How about about Adoniram Judson? He was famous because not only did he go to the mission field and lose two wives, and many children, and grandchildren on the mission field, but he also translated the Scriptures into the Burmese language. And anyone who knows anything about Baptist missions over the last 200 years in the foreign missions movement starting with the Haystack Prayer Meeting in 1809 there in Massachusetts. They know the name Adoniram Judson. He was famous for the Gospel. There was a man named Carl Hatch, he's dead now, Hatch was one of the greatest soul winners that the Baptist world in America has ever known. He never, he never entered a building without witnessing for Christ. He never let a day go by without, without witnessing for Christ. He didn't win, he didn't win people the Lord every day. He almost every day he won somebody to Christ. Why? Not because he was talented, not because he had the gift of gab, not because he was special, not because he was different than me or you, but because he always took an opportunity and he was faithful in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I could go on and on. Mark, the Mark became famous. But Mark was famous not just because of the gospel. He was famous because he was a quitter. And Paul thought of him like that. But his reputation changed as he became faithful to God. And then God used him again. How about Luke? Luke, the physician turned evangelist. He was a man in the Word of God, in the New Testament, I believe, whose praise, whose reputation, the things that were good about him that people talked about was because of his love of the gospel. The gospel. Titus took with him the brother whose praise was in the gospel. At least once, maybe twice now, I've told about Pili and Tang. He's one of my heroes in Burma. And bear with me if you remember this story. I'm sure that not everyone in this sanctuary this morning remembers the story of Pai Lien Tong. But Pai Lien Tong and his young wife, she became pregnant. They were going to have a child, and as the days drew near, soon the time came for her to deliver the child, and she died in childbirth, brokenhearted. living in a very remote mountain village on the border of Bangladesh there in western Burma, where there was no electricity, where there was no running water, where there was none of the conveniences that you and I enjoy in America and even in Kenya. He grieved, he mourned for his wife for several weeks, and then one day he picked up a bag, a little black bag, and he had in that bag, he put his Bible, and a change of long G, and then a spiral-bound notebook. And he picked up that bag, and he took his infant son in his other hand and arm, and then began to walk out of that village and he walked down the mountain road. And the mountain road went down and then around the ravine and then back up to another mountain peak and it was rugged. And all that day he walked in the hot sun and then the rains came. And he kept, that night he slept by the side of the road and he kept his son underneath his Longzhi, he tried to protect him as best as he could. And the morning came and the sun came out and he began to walk again. And he walked all that day and slept by the side of the road. And he walked a third day and then a fourth day and a fifth day and now eight days and nine days and finally came to another village. And now, Pai Li and Tong begins to, he walks into this village, there's no church there, there's nothing but a Buddhist temple, there's no, just some bamboo huts, but there's a lot of people. And he begins to witness to a young couple, and they invite him to their home, and they wanna hear more about this man, this God who became a man, to die on a cross, to pay for our sin with his own blood. And so he begins to explain more and more, and he ends up, and he witnesses to that young family, and he wins them to Christ, and he moves into their one-room bamboo hut. And there they let him live in the corner. They have no furniture. They just have bamboo mats. There's no chairs. There's no tables. So he lives in that corner. They put a sheet up to give him a little privacy from all of their family activities. And there he and his infant son live in the corner on the floor in that one room bamboo hut. And he lives there while he's witnessing to other families and as he's winning them to Christ. And he now has a small group of believers. And now he is He is teaching them the Word of God. And as these people gather, they become a church. And he trains a young man to be their pastor. And when that young man is sufficiently trained, he puts his Bible and his chains of longy and the spiral-bound notebook in the black bag. He picks up the bag, he picks up his infant son, and he walks out of the village and down the road. And he walks for another 10 days. And he comes to another village. And he wins a family to Christ. And he moves in with them while he's winning others to Christ. And he starts a church. And he trains a man. And then he goes on. And he walks some more. And on and on and on. So now, 30 years later, I'm in Burma. My preacher boys come to me and say, Baji, we want you to meet an old preacher. I said, where is this preacher? They said, far. I said, how long will it take us to go there? They said, couple days. I said, how will we go? They said, we don't know, but we wanna, I said, I'll rent a vehicle. And so I did. And we went out of the city and the rented vehicle broke down. We fixed it along the side of the road and we went all that day and then we slept that night in a little guest house along the side of the road and then the next day we arrived at the village. And as we were there in that village, we, very narrow roads and deep ravines of dirty, moving water on both sides of the lanes. And finally we stopped and I tried to get out but there was no place to stand. just that deep ravine of dirty water. And through the jungle on a very narrow path, a white-haired man is waving, and he's coming closer. And as he gets closer, he reaches out his hand, and I jump across the ravine, grabbing hold of his hand, and he takes me by the hand and he leads me down that narrow pathway through the jungle to a clearing where there is a one-room bamboo hut built on eight-foot stilts, no electric, no running water, nothing, just bamboo mats to sit on. I take my shoes off. I climb up the bamboo steps. I follow him to the opposite corner of this one-room bamboo hut. Now 60 other people join us, and they are coming in. And the bamboo hut is swaying. And he says, please sit here. And so I sit Indian-style in the corner. And he hands me a guitar. And I sing a song with the guitar. And then one of my preacher boys, he says, Bhaji, it is now your time. They want you to preach. They want you to teach them out of the Bible. And so I took my Bible and I began to give them a Bible lesson. And when it was all done, the people bowed very graciously. They shook my hand and they exited that bamboo hut. And now I am left alone with just a couple of my preacher boys and this white haired man. And I'm sitting there on the floor in the corner of that one room bamboo hut. And I said to the man, I said, I don't even know your name. He said, I am Pailin Tong. I said, sir, tell me your story. He begins to reach in the bag. I wanted to say something polite, if not intelligence. And I said, sir, you have a nice home. And one of the preacher boys leans over to me and he says, Baji, Pailin Tong has no home. I said, no. He said, no, he has no home. I leaned over to Pai Liantong and I said, sir, tell me your story. And he begins to tell me how his wife died in childbirth 30 years before that. And now he reaches for a black bag. And he opens that black bag, and he pulls out his Bible. And then he pulls out the chains of Longji. And then he hands me a spiral-bound notebook with yellow pages and curled-up corners. And the spiraling is coming unwound and hanging out of one end. And you can tell that it's very old. But Paili and Tong hands me that notebook, and he says, my story is in this notebook. And Brother MacDonald, as I opened the cover of that notebook and I began to turn the pages one after another, I saw the signatures of over 6,700 signatures of Buddhist people he had led to Christ over the last 30 years, one at a time, with no salary, no missionary support, no home, no pillow for his head, no benefits, many times no utilities, nothing at all except a Bible, a change of Longji, and a spiral-bound notebook. And people don't know who he is. They've never heard the name of Pai Li and Tong. I put it in my book because I know man is famous in heaven, and I've tried to make him famous on earth. But if he's famous, he's not famous because of riches, and he's not famous because of talent, and not famous because he's a soloist, or an artist, or an instrumentalist. He is famous, his praise is in the Gospel. Paul says, the brother whose praise is in the Gospel. But he says in verse 19, and not that only, but who are also chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace, administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind." What's he talking about? Look at verse, go back in chapter 8. This church was famous for something, folks. They were well known. Oh, we know about the immorality in Corinth, do we not? We know about this church that was known. There were some awful things that went on, and Paul was very plain in his speech, in his admonition, as he scolded them because of their compromise with this church in 2 Corinthians 8, they had overcome those things. And now, because of the change, because of a change that only Jesus Christ can make, now they're famous not for the immorality, they're famous for something else. Look at verse 1. We want you to know of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how then a great trial of affliction and the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear record, yea, beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying us with much eternity that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the suffering. of the ministry it says, And this they did not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God, insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also." Was it finished? You betcha it was, because they allowed Jesus Christ and His grace to change them. churches all over America and around the world that are all about religion. They're all about pomp and circumstance. They're all about ceremony. They're all about comfort. They're all about attention. They're all about promoting themselves. But this church wasn't. They were famous for the grace of God. just like the brother whose praise was in the gospel. Yeah, I sing. And yeah, I lead singing. And yeah, I go to the mission field. And yeah, I have a beautiful wife. And yeah, God has blessed me a whole lot. And yeah, I've had great parents. And yeah, I drive a really nice Subaru outside, you know? And yeah, I can play a mean game of foosball. And I can probably beat at least two-thirds of this crowd in ping pong just because I'm so competitive. But I just want to be famous for the gospel. That's what I want. Why do you go to Burma? I go because Jesus said to go. If people want to know what Bajibab is about, I would like them to know he obeys God. want to know what Bajibab is about I would like them to know that because I obeyed God He put His love for the Burmese people in me and it changed me. If people want to know what Bajibab is about I'd like them to know that yeah I fought God for two years but when I finally gave up God showed up and Thousands have been saved despite my lack of faith and those years of fighting God and not understanding. I didn't understand. I understand now, hun. God wants us in Burma. God wants us in Kenya. God may want us shortly in Nepal. know where else. But I'd like to be famous for the Gospel. I think as a person can be famous for something, I think a church can be famous for something. I think a country can be famous for something. We used to be famous for the right things. Just last year I President Macron in France, he said, we don't want to let the debauchery and the immorality of America influence our French culture. And I'm thinking, France? Really? But that's not the point. Comparing themselves among themselves They were not wise. The point is not who's looking down on us. The point is that we are becoming famous for the wrong things all around the world. We used to be famous as the greatest missionary country, sending country in the whole world. You know who is now number one? South Korea and their Presbyterians. Preacher, I want my praise to be in the Gospel. How about you? In 2024, Church, why don't we just decide to go on? Why don't we just go forward and decide that we Our lives are going to be about the gospel. Our families are going to be about the gospel. You say, our families? Yeah, because Jesus is coming. You know, so many people's families are about football. Am I talking to you? I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be personal. but we're God's children, and we're independent, fundamental, Bible-believing Baptist people. Let's go with the gospel. Let's stand together. Preacher, you come. Father, You know our hearts. Lord, we do pray for America. Pray for our church. Pray for my church, this church, churches all over America that we would have revival. Lord, we pray for revival in America, but America will never be revived. We'll never see a great awakening until the people of God in Your churches across this great land come alive for God. Let our praise be in the gospel. Thank you, Lord, for the day. Thank you for another year that's gone by, but we look forward to 2024 serving you. Lord, help us be faithful. In Jesus' name I pray.