I'd like the ushers at this time, Brother Paul, to pass out those little pieces of paper to every person, including children, every person to get one of these little slips. And if you would just hold these in hand, I'll let you read them. Something that I want to, I was hoping everybody would be here today, but we'll just do with what we have and who we have. So I want you to take a moment just to read those little slips that is not an invitation to you, it's an invitation for you to use. I so appreciate Neva inviting Ron and Wally here this morning, that's an invitation. And you folks so graciously accepted, you're here, we appreciate that. This is a tool for you to use to invite others. And I know what you're gonna do, you're gonna pull your phones out and start looking at that QR code, right? And that's just fine if you do, but that takes you to our visitors page. Imagine somebody inviting you to his church. Sometimes you receive an invitation from somebody to go to a church. And it's a nicely printed brochure. The paper is expensive. It's got slick graphics on it. And you're going, wow, this is really neat. But let's say that the person who gives you that invitation at the same time is unfriendly. You smell alcohol on their breath perhaps. There's just something that's not right about that person who is issuing the invitation. It might be a wonderful church, and yet you declined the invitation because of the person who invited you and what you think of him. In other words, it's what we call somebody's testimony. If The testimony of a pastor must be what is listed in 1 Timothy 3, same for a deacon, that he has to uphold such and such a testimony, blameless, the husband of one wife, not given to wine, no striker, no brawler, so forth and so on. If it is important enough for the pastor and for deacons to live up to a testimony, Are you absolved of any responsibility to have a testimony as a non-pastor, as a non-deacon? In other words, how important is your testimony? Everyone has a testimony. Your testimony is what people know to be true about you, or not even true. It's what everyone perceives to be true about you. And you may say, well, perception is not reality. What people perceive of me is not true. Oh, if they only knew. Doesn't matter. What they perceive to be true about you is what they think is true. Your testimony. Some have a Jonah testimony. Everybody knows about Jonah. Jonah and the big fish. What was Jonah's testimony? You can note it in Jonah 1, verses 9 and 10. You don't need to turn there, but you may if you want to. When he was in the boat in the midst of the storm there in the Mediterranean Sea and they were overcome, the sailors said, when the lot fell on Jonah, they said, tell us about yourself. What is going on here? And he said, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto him, why hast thou done this? Here's the key. For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Here's a man who said, when he got on the boat, he says, I want you guys to know I'm fleeing. I'm running. I mean, that was his testimony. That was his spoken testimony. That was his actual testimony. And then when the storm came up, the Bible says, you know, the men knew he had fled from the presence of the Lord. That was his testimony. Of how many Christians is that their testimony? They're running from the Lord. Oh, you may not be running lickety split. You may not be running real fast and you may put on airs that, you know, I'm serving the Lord. But in reality, you're running from him. Your testimony. How you conduct yourself in this world is important. Your testimony is not only what people say about you, it's what people say or think about God because of you. What do people think of God because of you? And I want you to think about yourself, not somebody at home, not somebody sitting beside or in front or behind you. What do people think of God because of you? That is the essence of a professing believer's testimony. I think you would agree with me that Christians today are acting more and more like the world. They have an attitude, and I'm gonna quote from somebody who wrote this, this is from a Christian, that when God changes me on the inside, he often leaves the outside as it is. That's a professing Christian, a professing Christian leader. God has changed me within, but on the outside, he's just left it as it is. In this book that I read, they said that they are comfortable They're comfortable with what the culture obscures, the Bible message. They're comfortable with the culture obscuring what the Bible says. And therefore, that's what they do, they obscure the Bible message. Professing Christians are becoming more and more comfortable with a pagan culture. By the way, it shows in what you post on Facebook. I am not on Facebook. I'm not saying it's bad to be on Facebook. I'm just not on it. I don't want to mess with it. And if you're on it, I just want you to know the likes that you put on there, it's part of your testimony. The pictures you post on there, it's part of your testimony. The language used, or the language somebody else uses that you say, I like this, you just put the thumbs up. You'd better be careful with what you put the thumbs up for. That is affecting your testimony. But I want you to note the title of this message if you read it in the bulletin that was sent to you. The essence of a good testimony. What is the essence of a good testimony? We have an example of somebody like that in the Bible. Of a man who had this testimony, he pleased God. Would people be able to say that about God because of you? He, she pleases God. That's what people know about him. That's what people know about you. In other words, what people knew of this man was due to his relationship with God. He was not a man pleaser. He was a God pleaser. That was his testimony. He wasn't running around trying to get people to like him. He was trying to get people to think of God as they should. More important than what people think about you folks, is what people think about God because of you. God had told the children of Israel, way back in the book of Exodus, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. Now when you think of the word peculiar, you think of somebody who was odd, eccentric, somebody who's kind of queer in the way they act. That's not what peculiar means there. The word peculiar means personal property. Ye shall be my personal property above all people. And when you look at somebody's personal property, you look at how they keep it up. You look at if it's dressed nicely, if the weeds are taken out and so forth. You think about the person in relation to what their property looks like. And if you're God's property, people look at you, Israel, Old Testament Israel, and they say, wow. And what was Israel's testimony like? Those idol worshiping. God rejecting people who belong to him. The first part of that verse, it was Exodus 19.5 that says, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. The first part says this, if ye will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my personal property. And I want you to look at a man who had this testimony that he pleased God. Who is that? That's Enoch. And I want you to see about him in two passages, Genesis chapter five and Hebrews chapter 11. I'm going to start with Hebrews chapter 11. Because what is recorded in Hebrews 11 is what all of the individuals in Hebrews 11 were known for. What if there would be a book written about you, about what people know of you? Not an autobiography, but a biography. What somebody else writes about you, what would they say? What would be your biographical sketch? When we have speakers come here, I ask that speaker, I say, could you send me a bio, which is a biographical sketch? And they say, you know, this such and such was born in, you know, they give me a long and I have to condense it to get it on the bulletin or whatever. Preached at this church, served at this church, his wife's name is such and such, they have so many kids, so many grandkids, and that's that person's bio. But it also includes, what they've done for the Lord. What would your bio read? What would you be known for? Anymore, if you want to know a person's character, go to their Facebook page. Employers are doing that. The FBI is doing that. If they want to know something, oh, let's go to his, and then they scrub it so that only they know and they can tell you what they want the media to tell you. People are turning more and more to social media. Your testimony is known somewhat by what has been posted on Facebook. Hebrews 11 is known as the Hall of Faith. It's the Hall of Faith. It's a book of those who lived by faith. So just for the sake of the illustration of Facebook this morning, let's call Hebrews chapter 11 Faith Book. a book about the faith of these individuals. It's a chapter that records what these individuals are ultimately known for, what was posted about them in our Bibles. And what one man had posted on his wall in this faith book is summarized this way in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 5, the last part of the verse, he pleased God. That was his testimony. That is what he was known for. He pleased God. This morning, let's examine Enoch's testimony. In light of us issuing invitations to people, he pleased God. Wow, what a testimony. What a thing to be known for. What do you ultimately want to be known for? What would you like inscribed as the epitaph on your gravestone? Can you imagine? He pleased God. And I want us to look at three things this morning from both Hebrews chapter 11 and also Genesis chapter five. So I'll be taking you to Genesis five here in just a moment, but I'm gonna give you my outline right up front so you can have it and you can understand where we're going. What does it mean to please God? What does it mean? Because it says he pleased God. What does that mean? And so we're going to look at the reality of pleasing God. That's my first point. What does it mean to please God? The reality. Secondly, what does it take to please God? What does it take to please God? That's going to be the requirement for pleasing God. Thirdly, What does it profit to please God? Everybody's interested in profit. What does it profit to please God? In other words, the reward for pleasing God. So first of all, let's go to Genesis chapter 5, keeping your fingers there in Hebrews chapter 11, or perhaps a little marker. Genesis chapter 5, where we first read of this man, Enoch. And here we're going to see the reality, the reality of pleasing God. What does it mean to please God? So Genesis chapter 5, verse 21 is where we first read of Enoch. He's actually mentioned in verse 19 as the son of Jared, but in verse 21, and Enoch lived 60 and five years and begat Methuselah and Enoch walked with God. After he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years, and Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Twice in this passage, verse 22, and again in verse 24, you read this, Enoch walked with God. Genesis 5 introduces us to Enoch. All kinds of names are mentioned in Genesis chapter 5. Ten names are mentioned. And in the case of every one of them it says, and he died. Except one. Not Enoch. I like to call this the hall of fate. The fate of every sinner is to die. But Enoch walked with God. That expression, Enoch walked with God, denotes a devout life. A life lived in close communion with God. Walking with God implies going the same direction. Does it not? How could you walk with somebody if you're not going the same direction? It implies that you're on the same page. It implies that you're in agreement with him. How can two walk together except they be agreed? We read later on in one of the minor prophets. Are you walking with God? What if your child walked with you as Enoch did with God? Because in his walking with God, he pleased him. What if your child walked with you in such a way that he or she pleased you? Wouldn't that be something? A little girl was telling the story of Enoch in her own way. Enoch and God, she said, used to take long walks together. And one day they walk further than usual and God said, Enoch, you must be tired. Come into my house and rest. And God took him. They were in such agreement. They were in such that desire for him to go the same direction as God. Of all others in Genesis chapter 5, we read that such and such lived after he begat such and such for so many years. For example, just go to verse 10. And Enos lived after he begat Canaan 815 years and begat sons and daughters all the days of Enos were 905 years and he died. Now that's repeated. Eight times in Genesis chapter 5. Such and such begat such and such in this many years, and then he died. Look at verse 22, however. Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years. And God took him when he was 365 years old. This means that almost 80% of his life he was walking with God. And I want you to note the preposition. Enoch walked, preposition, God. You fill in the prep, let's find some other prepositions to put there. I often do this in my Bible study to really make the word that is actually put there mean something to me. And so let's change the preposition. What is the preposition? It's the word with. Well, let's use another preposition. How about Enoch walked after God? Now you can make that sound good, you can make that work, couldn't you? To make it a compliment to Enoch. Enoch walked after God, but that's not what it says. How about Enoch walked before God? You can even make that work. But each of those has a negative connotation. If he walked after God, he'd let God go first, and he kind of followed from a distance. If he walked before God, you'd say, well, he's right in front of God, but he's going before God. But when you say that Enoch walked with God, they are side by side, and it implies communion. They were in communion together. Some believers, live. Others experience real living. They walk with God. There's the reality of pleasing God. What does it mean to please God? Secondly, and this takes us back to Hebrews chapter 11, if you kept your finger there, or if you kept your piece of paper there, you can get back there quickly. And we go to the requirement for pleasing God. What does it take to please God? Hebrews 11.6 tells us what is required to please God. But since we haven't read verse five, let's do that. Hebrews 11.5, by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony. that he pleased God. Now let's go on to verse 6 because verse 6 follows on purpose. But without faith it is impossible to please him. Notice that Paul, excuse me, that the writer of Hebrews has mentioned pleasing God that Enoch pleased God and now it talks about how it is impossible to please God without something. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So Hebrews 11.6 tells us what is required to please God. What is it? Faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Let me stop right here and mention something again. Everybody has faith. Let me say it again. Everybody has faith. You have faith. I have faith. The drunkard has faith. The atheist has faith. Everybody has faith. The issue is faith in what? Faith in whom? In whom have you placed your faith? In whom does the atheist place his faith? He trusts that there is no God. Fingers crossed. The drunkard's faith is in The liquor bottle, because that's where he runs whenever he gets into trouble and he doesn't want to face the issues and he doesn't face things. Well, I'm going to just go get a drink. His faith is in that, that that's somehow going to take care of his problems. The drug addict and his marijuana in his crack or whatever. Everybody has faith in their parents, in their pastor, in their church. But we're going to see here, that he that cometh to God must believe, that's the verb form of faith. Faith is what you believe in. You must believe that God is. That is so simple. That God is. Enoch pleased God. Enoch therefore had to have had faith. And if you have faith in God, you trust in Him, you rely upon Him, then you please God. If you please God, it must be true that you have faith in God. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. And it later on says, here's what that faith is in, that God is. That's how you start. He that cometh to God must believe. In other words, you must believe in God's existence. You must believe that he is. Let me say this, everybody believes in a God, even the atheist. His God may be the atheist's manifesto. His God may be the communist's manifesto. Everybody, everybody believes in something or someone. Most people believe in a God. When this says you must believe that God is, it literally says this, you must believe that the God is. The God. The God of the Bible. You must believe in the God. And if you truly believe, and the God who really exists, you will do everything you can to seek him. Otherwise, you don't really believe he exists. Can you imagine truly believing that there is a God and then doing nothing to seek him? That's the condition of most people. What pleasure God receives in this. Dan Unruh believes in me. He believes I exist. He has to take it by faith. That's this whole chapter. He has to take it by faith. Parents teach their kids the most ridiculous things to believe in. There's a Santa Claus. There's an Easter bunny. There's a tooth fairy. And yet they won't teach them the most obvious thing. God exists. And one day you're going to stand before him and give an account of yourself to him. He made you. You did not evolve. You have a creator. Capital C, he made you. He that cometh to God must believe in his existence, that is that he is. Secondly, he that cometh to God, verse six, must believe in his promises. You see that in verse six? That he is and that. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You must believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him or literally seek Him out. And the one who seeks God out will find out that God is a rewarder. for seeking Him out. Many times you'll read this in the Bible about seeking God and the one who seeks God will find Him. But it is a continuous thing. You must keep on seeking Him. Jeremiah 29, 13, ye shall find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. I guarantee you this morning, if there's somebody here who doesn't know God, if you don't know where you're gonna spend eternity, whether in heaven or in hell, if you don't know that, let me tell you something. If you genuinely, fervently, passionately seek for God, you will find him. In fact, that might be why he brought you here this morning. As a way to show you once again that you can find him through his word. But let me say something. People often apply that only to salvation. You know what, if you're truly saved, this is what's going to be true of you all of your life. You will all of your life every day be seeking God out. You will be diligently seeking him. What do you mean by that, pastor? You will be diligently seeking what is his will for me today. What is God's will for me right now? Is it to be in church or not? What is God's will? And you see, when we ask God what he wants me to do, it's not a matter of, well, I don't feel so good this morning. I'm not contagious, but I don't feel sick. I don't feel like going to church. You just didn't please God. You just pleased yourself. There is the requirement for pleasing God. That you believe that he is. and that you believe his promise, he will reward you. Well, that brings us to the third and the last point. Well, what is the reward? What is the reward? What does a prophet to please God? And I've got two rewards that I see from scripture. And we go back to Genesis chapter five. Go back there with me, please. Genesis chapter five. And I've got two words that indicate the reward for pleasing God. And they both end in lation. So you should be able to remember this. There's revelation and there's translation. Revelation, that's one of the rewards for pleasing God. And two names. in the Bible indicate God's revelation to Enoch. Did God reveal anything to Enoch as a man who walked with him that perhaps other people didn't know? Will God reveal anything to you that maybe others don't know? He reveals to Enoch two things, and these two things have to do with two names. The first name that I want you to see that God revealed something to Enoch is the name of his son, Methuselah. Methuselah. If you were to look up the name Methuselah in a Bible dictionary or a Bible encyclopedia, you know what it will tell you his name means in Hebrew? His name in Hebrew means this, he dies and it is sent. When he dies, It will come. How did Enoch know to name his son Methuselah? God had to have revealed that to him. In what year did Methuselah die? If you do all the math in this chapter, you're going to find out that the very year the flood came, Methuselah died. Again, what does his name mean? He dies and it is sent. The very year the flood upon this earth comes, Methuselah dies. And what happened the year that Methuselah was born? Go back to 22 of chapter five. And Methuselah, excuse me, and Enoch walked with God. after he begat Methuselah. The very year that Methuselah was born, when Enoch named his son Methuselah, that's the year it is recorded in scripture that Enoch began walking with God. God had revealed something to him that something is going to happen, and he began walking with God. Now folks, it may take something like that, just some scripture, and you need to be in the Bible every day. and you will read something. God can reveal something to you from his word. I'm not talking about anything outside of the word of God. I'm not talking about some kind of a vision. I'm not talking about some voice talking to you. I'm talking about God speaking to you through his word, where he will give you something, where he will apply his word to you for a situation in your life, where you can say, thank you, Lord, for speaking to me through your word today. where it changes your life. You ever had something like that in your devotions? Where you're reading your Bible, or perhaps a message, the preacher's preaching out of passage like I'm doing this morning, and God convicts your heart through it, and it changes your life? Somebody gets under so much conviction, they come forward and say, I believe God's calling me to preach. I believe God's calling me to be a missionary. I believe God's calling me to do such and such. Methuselah, he dies and it is sent. That was a revelation to Enoch. Then there's another name, and it's a New Testament name that I want to give you. It's the name Jude, J-U-D-E, Jude. Well, you say, well, what does the New Testament have to do with Enoch? I've already seen Hebrews chapter 11. By the way, he's also mentioned Luke chapter three in the genealogy of Christ, Enoch is. But did you know that Enoch is mentioned in the second to the last book of the Bible, the book of Jude? Go to the book of Jude with me. I already gave you a big hint. It's the second to the last book in the Bible. So right before Revelation, you've got the book of Jude. And here, Jude is recording a prophecy of the Old Testament Enoch. He's verse 14 of Jude. He's talking about these false prophets, these people who run after all kinds of sensuality and so forth, and it says this in verse 14, and Enoch also, the seventh from Adam. You'll find out that when you, if you go back to Genesis 5, you count down at what point does Enoch come after Adam? He's number seven. Enoch, also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, these people, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. This is a prophecy. Enoch, way back in the Old Testament, thousands of years before Christ, is prophesying of the coming of Christ. And it's not even of the first coming. It is of the second coming because he comes with 10,000s of his saints. We just celebrated Christmas. When Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem, how many thousands of saints did he come with? He didn't. But one day he will come with ten thousands, millions of his saints. Who are these saints? They are the holy angels and they are the saints of God. You, if you're a Christian, and I will come with him. And Enoch prophesied about that. He knew of the flood coming. He named his son Methuselah. And he knows, or he knew of the judgment of the Lord coming, with ten thousands of his saints. God reveals things to those who please him. Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 2.14, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. You walk with God, and you will have the Holy Spirit who dwells within you as a Christian, And if you're walking in communion with Him, God will reveal things to you. If you're not walking in communion with Him, if you're not pleasing Him, you may be a Christian, but He's not going to show you anything more. If you've been rejecting the things He's already revealed, how is your walk with God? So that's one reward for pleasing God, revelation. But what was the second word? Does anybody remember? Translation. Oh, you mean I can translate my Bible? I can translate out of the Greek? I can translate? No. It's the translation you read about in Hebrews chapter 11 and in Genesis chapter 5. Look at 524 of Genesis. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. Now, typically today, when we say, well, God took him, we mean, what do you mean? He died. What does it mean here? He was not, for God took him. Lest you doubt what took him means, let me read again Hebrews 11.5. Here's what took him means. By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death. and was not found, because God had translated him. For before his translation, he had this testimony that he pleased God. Three times in Hebrews 11.5, the word or some form of the word translate is used. Do you get the idea that Enoch was translated? The word means he was removed. He was taken and it clearly says he did not see death. It clearly says he was not found. You ever wondered what people in that day thought? Where did he go? Where is he? There was a man who we know pleased God. Where did he go? And the same is going to be said I think within a few years here. Where did Dan Unruh go? And Brandon and Jamie and Gio and just go through the whole list. Where did they go? Well, there was a translation that took place. There was a removing that took place. You see, Enoch typifies the rapture. At least to me, there's nothing in the Bible that says it typifies, but to me, that's a perfect picture of the rapture. You've got ten names in the book of Genesis, in Genesis chapter 5. You've got Adam, he begat Seth, he begat Enos, he begat Canaan, he begat Mahalaleel, he begat Jared, who begat Enoch. who begat Methuselah, who begat Lamech, who begat Noah. There's the 10 names that you have in Genesis chapter 5. And all of them are registered as, and he died except for one, Enoch. And of him, Genesis 5.24 says, he was not, for God took him. If you go back to that, if you look at Genesis chapter 5 and verse 24, you'll notice that there's a word that is in italics, and so you can translate it without that word in italics. And it says, of all these other nine, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died, and he died. And of Enoch it says, not he. And not he, for God took him. Enoch lived the least amount of time on earth. People read the lifespan of people in Genesis chapter five and they go, oh, come on. Oh no, oh no. People live that long. Methuselah? 969 years. Adam, 930 years. Some of them lived to be, I think it was Lamech, 777. Some of them 800 and something, but almost a millennium, these people lived. Enoch, out of all of them, lived the least amount of time on earth. I've already mentioned how many years he lived. It matches the number of days in a year. He lived only 365 years. Only. Man, we think it's great if somebody lives to be 90. What happened to Enoch could be a type of the church at the rapture. One day believers will not be found. Twice in Genesis chapter five, Enoch's testimony was he walked with God. Now, if you're back in Genesis chapter five, and I would encourage you just to flip back there, look at chapter five, look at the two times it says somebody walked with God, both of them being Enoch in 22 and in 24. Now go to chapter six and note verse nine. Of one other man, that phrase is given. These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. And Noah, out loud please. Noah walked with God. Noah walked with God. He could be a type of saved Israel during the tribulation who overcame Satan by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. Noah too walked with God. You know what? God rewards those who walk with him. It doesn't mean you're not gonna go through a lot of trials and tribulations as Noah did. but God rewarded him. In faith book, that is in Hebrews chapter 11, what is posted about Enoch is that he pleased God, that he walked with God. Folks, you can invite people to come to Christ, but if your testimony does not reflect the fact that you yourself have come to Christ by the way you talk, the way you act, the way you live, your invitation means nothing. You can invite a person to come to church, but if their opinion of God is not scriptural, why would they want to come to a church where you worship Him? Is your testimony this morning more like Jonah's or is it like Enoch's? Jonah running from the Lord. Enoch walking with the Lord. Which is it? Would it be said that before the rapture, that is your translation, that you like Enoch had this testimony that, put your name there, pleased God. Your outreach, your mission in this life is directly tied to your testimony. and whether it is good or not. And the essence of a good testimony is that you please God. That alone will make your invitation effective for someone to come to Christ or even to come to church. It's your testimony. I don't know about you, but I wanna have a clean testimony. I don't know about you, but I wanna please the Lord. I don't know about you, but I wanna walk with him. That's the only thing in life that fulfills, the only thing, nothing else does. Can you honestly say this morning, I am walking with God? There may be somebody here who says, I don't even know what it means to walk with him. I can't honestly say that I'm walking with him. Because I'll say this, if you're truly walking with God, it's going to be like that little girl said, that you just walked right where you walked with him every day and you just found yourself in heaven, either through the translation or through him taking you as he's taken billions of others. Are you walking with God? He can't use you if you're not. And that makes me wonder, why is it God isn't using Why isn't God using her? And I think we have the answer.