- Give me the Bible,
star of gladness gleaming 
>> Today we are blessed with
a wonderful gift from God --
the Bible.
This book is God's living Word.
In its pages we are told,
"For the word of God is living
and powerful
and sharper
than any two-edged sword."
It is in this book of books
that we find the answers
to all of men's questions
and need.
This morning, your area
Churches of Christ,
welcome you to a program
committed to that perfect
law of liberty.
 Thy light shall guide me
in the narrow way 
>> As we present
the living Word.
 Precept and promise,
law and love combining 
 Till night shall vanish
in eternal day 
>> Now, here is your host,
Ray Sullins.
>> What a privilege we have
this morning to join together
in the study of God's
living Word on this,
the last Sunday of 2023.
And we welcome you
to our program.
And we thank God that you have
chosen to be with us this day.
We are excited
about the opportunity
that we have to glorify our God
this day, on the Lord's Day.
Therefore,
may we each do our part
to make this time acceptable
in his sight
and according
to his perfect will.
Now, as we begin
our offering to God,
will you bow with me
before his throne in prayer?
Our God and Father in heaven,
we thank you so much
for this day
and the many
great blessings of life,
the privilege that we have
to have lived
another year and, father,
to again hopefully accomplish
those things in it
that are according
to your will
and that have given glory
to your name.
And, father, help us this day to
worship you in spirit and truth,
and to give you
our very best,
that we might always be found
acceptable in your sight,
and in the end, receive
the reward of heaven eternally,
that we might live
with you forever and ever.
And, father, give us the health
and the strength every day
to live as you have asked us
in your perfect Word.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
This morning, we want to
start our songs of praise
by singing a song that will
challenge us to understand
just how blessed we are to be
in the Kingdom of God.
So won't you join in with
the congregation at this time
as we sing together
"I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord."
>>  I love Thy kingdom, Lord 
 The house of Thine abode 
 The church
our blest Redeemer saved 
 With His own precious blood 
 I love Thy church, O God 
 Her walls before Thee stand 
 Dear as
the apple of Thine eye 
 And written on Thy hand 
 For her my tears shall fall 
 For her my prayers ascend 
 To her my cares and toils
be given 
 Till toils and cares
shall end 
 Beyond my highest joy 
 I prize her heavenly ways 
 Her sweet communion,
solemn vows 
 Her hymns of love and praise 
 Jesus, thou friend divine 
 Our Savior and our King 
 Thy hand from
every snare and foe 
 Shall great deliverance
bring 
 Sure as Thy truth shall last 
 To Zion shall be given 
 The brightest glories
earth can yield 
 And brighter bliss of Heaven 
>> As we look
around the world today,
we see a lack of respect
for our fellow man,
which seems to be
increasing day by day.
People are often less concerned
with committing violent crimes
or even doing against others
what really they desire to do,
no matter what the consequence,
no matter what the outcome.
How sad it is
to continually see
that there is moral decay
in our country
and even throughout
the world.
And we might at times wonder
what could be the problem
or what could be behind
all of this.
Furthermore, it's often
difficult to figure out
why all of these types
of things happen
and why they are going on.
Well, we may even not be sure
about the reason
for these things
or really why they happen.
But I do know the answer
to all of these problems.
And that answer is God.
Yes, even when we wonder,
"Why do people
keep doing such bad things?"
or, "Why do awful things
happen in our day and time?"
the only good and true
and sure answer, again, is God.
As our society and the world
seems to decline
in different ways,
we must ask ourselves
the question,
"Are we going
to follow the world
and embrace the things
of the world,
or can we embrace God
and those things that are
according to his perfect will?"
In my opinion,
I think that we can see
that our country has continued
to embrace him less and less
over the past several years.
But the reality is,
is that all those sin
and things might be
around us in this world.
We've never gone too far
to turn back to God,
or to find our way
back to the proper place
to again accomplish those things
that he has asked
and required of us,
and to get back on track
as we need to.
One thing that I ask us
to consider about our society
is even in relationship
to some of the views
that our society has.
What about the example
of the home?
Does it match up with what God
wants of us, what he requires?
Why not ask the world
what the home is today?
I'm afraid you'll find out
that we have again
moved far away from the things
that God desires,
including encouraging people
to cohabitate
or to do those things
that, again, are contrary
to what we really read
in God's Word, the Bible,
those things that are clearly
not established
according to
Christian principles,
or those who would desire
to put God first.
Furthermore, we may again
address the issue of life
from the standpoint
of God's will,
that we might better
understand the role
that we should each play
in relationship
to accomplishing
what God wants in his way.
May we each examine ourselves
and see if we are fully living
and functioning
before God or not,
whether we are doing
those things
that are according to his will,
and submitting to him,
and making therefore him
pleased
in the things that we do
and say.
The question is, for all of us,
are we willing to make
the world a better place
by putting God
first in everything
and doing those things that are
according to his perfect will?
Why not choose to put God first,
even today?
This morning, we will again
continue our series of study
which is entitled
"A Special People."
And our topic today
is "A Special Dress."
So please continue with us
this morning.
And after
our next song together,
we will return with this lesson
from God's Word.
As far as our guest speaker,
we are happy to again
have Brother Trey Sullins
with us.
Brother Trey is
one of the ministers
at the Kansas Expressway
Church of Christ,
and he's also
a full-time instructor
at the
Bible Institute of Missouri.
We look forward to him leading
our main study of the morning
in just a few minutes,
after our next song together.
So won't you to join in
the next song of the day.
The name of the hymn --
"The Last Mile of the Way."
>>  If I walk
in the pathway of duty 
 If I work
till the close of the day 
 I shall see the great King
in His beauty 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
 I shall rest
at the close of day 
 And I know there are joys
that await me 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
 If for Christ
I proclaim the glad story 
 If I seek
for His sheep gone astray 
 I am sure
He will show me His glory 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
 I will rest
at the close of the day 
 And I know, there are
joys that await me 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
 And if here
I have earnestly striven 
 And have tried
all His will to obey 
 'Twill enhance
all the rapture of heaven 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
 I will rest
at the close of the day 
 And I know
there are joys that await me 
 When I've gone
the last mile of the way 
>> Good morning,
and thank you so much
for being here with us
on this Lord's Day.
It's always a pleasure
that we can study God's Word
and worship him.
So thank you again.
We've been looking at a special
people over the last few weeks
and studying
how we as God's people --
that is, those who are baptized
into Christ --
are those who are special.
Those who have a peculiar,
unique nature about them
is what that Word means.
And all the different aspects
about this being special
is really what
the Bible is about,
and particularly what
the New Testament is about.
What does it mean to be special,
to be a Christian?
And so we're looking
at this time from, again,
1 Peter 2:9.
We want to read that passage
as we have used it
as our main focus over the last
several weeks for the topic.
And it says there, "But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
His own special people
that you may proclaim
the praises
of him who called you
out of darkness
into his marvelous light."
See, that special people --
that is, those people,
who by their nature,
do and act and live
and behave in a way that is
different from other things.
That's what the word
"special" means, of course.
And so what we want
to talk about this morning
is a special dress
or a special, even, adornment,
the way that we appear
to those in the world
and even to God himself.
And so thinking
about this topic,
it's something that is
scattered in a few different
passages throughout the Bible,
as far as its location
is concerned.
But it is one
that's always consistent,
really, throughout all of time,
that God wants a people
who look different
than those who don't follow him.
He wants a people
who appear to follow him.
And that seems self-explanatory,
doesn't it?
But that's truly the way
that he wants it.
He doesn't want a people
who always seem to be
like everybody else.
He doesn't want a people
who blend in,
but he wants a people
who, as we might say,
stick out like a sore thumb.
Not because we are so unusual
or because people think
we're weird in the way
that we look
or even the way that we act.
But because we look reverent,
we look respectful.
We look as a people who are
trying to be something different
than the easiest path
that life can lead us onto.
A few examples of this
are found throughout
the Scriptures, as well.
We'll start off in 1 Timothy
and the chapter 2 of that book
because in the context here,
we have the Paul --
our author Paul and the
Holy Spirit writing to Timothy,
talking about basic attributes
that those of the church
are supposed to have --
those of the Kingdom
and those who are Christians
are supposed to have.
He says here in verse 9
of this passage,
"In like manner also,
that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel,
with propriety and moderation; not with braided hair,
or gold, or pearls,
or costly clothing;
but which is proper for women
professing godliness
with good works."
Now, contextually, because of
the way the passage was written,
he's dealing primarily
with women in this.
But we could also look as well
to 1 Peter in chapter 3.
And another passage in
1 Peter chapter 3 says
basically something
to a really similar effect.
1 Peter 3,
and we'll begin there also
in verse 3 of this passage.
And it says,
"Do not let your adornment
be merely outward,
arranging the hair,
wearing gold,
or putting on fine apparel.
Rather, let it be
the hidden person of the heart,
with the incorruptible beauty
of a gentle, quiet spirit,
which is very precious
in the sight of God."
So, these two passages,
and rightfully God's law,
is the same for all mankind.
It's just
the individual instructions
that he gives for each role
of man and woman.
But rightfully, we could say
that it's not good for a woman
to dress in such a way
where she's appearing
to bring glory to herself.
Nor is it right for a man
to do that either.
If our focus in life
is to appear a certain way
so that people look at us,
then obviously
we're missing the point.
God wants us to be a people
who are not so much hidden,
but who don't bring
honor to ourselves.
Where when people see us,
they think, "That person
must be living for God.
That person must be
trying to live good."
And that's what both of those
two passages told us at the end.
You might have noticed
how it said -- how it shows
a woman who professes godliness
and even shows good works.
And both of those showed
similar ideas at the end.
Here in 1 Peter 3,
it said,"Rather rather let it be
the hidden person of the heart
with the incorruptible beauty
of a gentle, quiet spirit."
Then saying that God loves
a person like that,
desires a person like that.
So that's how we ought to be.
Our focus ought to be
on the inside.
Now why is that so important?
One of the things we'll see
as we go through this study is
that if you fix the heart,
if you change the heart
to be the humble,
quiet spirit
that it's supposed to be,
then the outward comes
with that anyway.
See, we're not supposed to wear
fake things on the outside.
We're not supposed
to be arrogant
and even covetous on the inside,
but then on the outside,
we appear as though
we are good and humble.
That doesn't even
make sense, does it?
But if we are humble
on the inside
and we work at being
a humble people,
then our outward appearance
is going to go with it.
That dress that we have
as a Christian
will follow suit
with the heart.
And after all, really what
the outward appearance is,
is a manifestation
of how our heart is.
If we want people to see us
and to look at us
and to bring glory to ourselves,
that's where
our outward appearance
is going to go, right?
The heart is going to direct
those actions of the outward.
But nonetheless,
as we keep thinking about
this idea of dress,
being a special people who look
different from the world,
one of the things
that's always interesting
is this is how it's always been.
If you jump all the way
back there
to the Book of Deuteronomy
with me for just a moment,
there's a passage here
where it was being explained
to these Israelites,
in chapter 18,
how they were to look different.
Now, these Israelites
were coming out of Egypt
and heading up to
that land of Canaan,
where God was going to
give them this land.
And as they were entering
into that land and appearing
before all of
these different Canaanites,
God was telling them,
"You have to be different.
You even
have to look different."
If you'll notice with me there,
Deuteronomy 18:9,
it says,
"When you come into the land
which the Lord your God
is giving you,
you shall not learn
to follow the abominations
of those nations.
There shall not be found
among you anyone
who makes his son or daughter
pass through the fire,
or anyone who practices
witchcraft, or a soothsayer,
one who interprets omens
or sorcery,
or one who conjures spells,
or a medium,
or a spiritist,
or one who calls upon the dead.
For all who do these things
are an abomination to the Lord.
Because of these abominations,
the Lord your God
drives them out from before you.
You shall be blameless
before the Lord your God."
Now, in all of this,
there's a whole lot more
throughout the Old Testament.
He mentions in various places
how they aren't
to tattoo their bodies,
how they aren't even to --
men shouldn't wear
the clothing of women,
and women shouldn't wear
the clothing of men.
Why? Because we're not
supposed to act,
or they weren't supposed to act,
like the rest of the nations.
They were supposed
to be different.
Now, why would all this
be the case?
Because when people
see the Israelites,
or as our lesson follows,
when people see us,
they should think,
"There's something
different about that person.
I want to know
what they're doing.
I want to know
why they act different,
why they look differently."
Because when they search
into that "why,"
what they find is
Galatians 3:27.
If you turn with me there
to Galatians 3:27,
what they find is
that the guiding reason
for why a person of God
is special
isn't because we're seeking
to be different.
And in Galatians 3:27,
the Bible says this.
"For as many of you
as were baptized into Christ
have put on Christ."
See, he describes it almost
as though putting on Christ
is like a garment.
It's something that we wear,
something that we are dressed
in as followers of God.
And certainly that makes sense.
What would it mean
to wear Christ?
Well, to look like him,
of course.
As we might say, to sit or to stand in someone else's shoes?
Well, to put on Christ
means to be like Christ,
to look like him,
to appear like him.
So you're acting in the way
that he acts.
You're talking in the way
that he talked.
You are even dressing in the way
that he would dress.
Which of course,
as the Bible indicates,
wasn't a way
that brought glory to him.
As the Book of Isaiah
explains to us,
he was humble and lowly,
even in appearance, as it says.
So all these things show us
that as Christians,
as followers of God,
we've got to be different.
And when people
dig into that "why,"
they see that we are different
because we're wearing Christ,
because we're trying to be as
God wants us to be.
Now, hopefully, then
what that leads people to do
is to see if that's the reason
why they're different,
why they look different, even, why they're special.
"Then maybe I want to be
like that, as well.
Maybe I want to wear Christ,
as well."
See, that's the goal
in all of this.
We want God to have the glory,
and we want to be able
to even show our example
as godly people,
even through our dress.
You know, you'd never
quite think about what you wear
as something
that's that important.
But even if you will test
this out someday,
wear your nicest clothes,
maybe your best suit
that you might have,
or your finest dress
or whatever it is,
and go out to places
and you'll notice people
will start
to treat you differently.
You ever notice,
on even Sundays,
how sometimes you notice
people in dress clothes?
Your first thought is what?
"Those people are probably
coming from worship service."
Those are great thoughts. Why?
Because it puts
into people's minds
that there's a God out there
that we need to do something
differently.
Now, as we've been talking about
being different
and being special
this whole time,
one thing we have to bring up
is that looking differently
in our dress
isn't as it's described,
a lot of times, as we see
by our society around us.
See, the world and the society
around us says,
"You look different
by being yourself
and expressing yourself."
Those things aren't
necessarily bad,
but that's not what
the Bible tells us.
Wearing big, bright hair
colorings
or big, bright fancy clothes,
or anything like that,
all brings attention to us.
The different and special
that the Bible says
is that we're different
and special
because we're not
bringing attention to ourselves.
People see us,
they don't see us.
They see God.
See the difference there?
Where I might wear
the finest suit I can,
with neon colors on it,
maybe have some flashing stuff
going on with it,
where are you looking?
At me.
You're not looking at God
at that point.
But if I dress in such a way
that appears to be respectful
and reverent,
especially in a setting
like a worship setting,
then people see, "This person's
living for God."
Their attention is directed
somewhere else.
And that's, after all,
the whole point, isn't it?
That's what we want
to accomplish with this,
is to direct people's attention
somewhere else.
I want to look at our passage,
who we were looking
at a moment ago,
one more time there,
in 1 Timothy 2,
because there's something there
that's mentioned
about these women --
two things that really
don't seem to connect.
But then you think
about it logically,
and our study
is what we're --
is exactly what we're talking
about this whole time,
that these things
certainly connect.
In 1 Timothy 2 again,
and in verse 9.
Once more he says,
"In like manner also,
that the women adorn themselves
in modest apparel,
with propriety and moderation,
not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing --"
now, here's
the important part --
"but which is proper
for women professing godliness."
Now, as we said earlier,
rightly,
the idea would be the same
for men and women,
that a man shouldn't wear
these things
that draw attention to himself,
and a man should also
profess godliness.
But that's what
we ought to think.
Do our clothes, does our dress,
does how we present our hair
and our face and everything else
in our bodies profess godliness?
The word "profess" there,
the idea is to speak forth
or to show out,
or to scream out,
even, godliness.
When people see us,
do they see God?
Now, how simple of a task
is that -- wearing clothes
that show respect to God?
Doing that would mean
not showing our skin
if we can help it.
And obviously, we always can,
hiding the parts of our bodies
that ought to be hidden,
putting on
even respectful clothing
when we go to places
where it should be respectful.
This is how we,
as Galatians 3:27 says,
put on Christ.
>>  I bring my sins to Thee 
 The sins I cannot count 
 That all may cleansèd be 
 In Thy once opened Fount 
 I bring them, Savior,
all to Thee 
 The burden is
too great for me 
 The burden is
too great for me 
 I bring my grief to thee 
 The grief I cannot tell 
 No words shall needed be 
 Thou knowest all so well 
 I bring the sorrow
laid on me 
 O suffering Savior,
all to Thee 
 O suffering Savior,
all to Thee 
 My life I bring to Thee 
 I would not be my own 
 O Savior, let me be 
 Thine ever, Thine alone 
 My heart, my life,
my all I bring 
 To thee,
my Savior and my King 
 To thee,
my Savior and my King 
>> Let me thank you again
for choosing to be with us today
for the "Living Word" program.
I hope and trust that together
we have all benefited
from this service to our Lord.
And let me invite you back every Lord's Day morning at 7:30
as we give this time
to our Creator.
But for now, let me ask if you
have any questions or comments
about today's lesson.
Maybe like a free transcript or
a free CD or DVD of the program,
or possibly we could assist you
with free Bible materials
or free
Bible correspondence courses.
No matter what your need is,
please feel free to contact us
at the following address --
2540 North Kansas Expressway,
Springfield, Missouri 65803.
Many of these items are also
available on our website.
That address, TheLivingWordProgram.com.
Or if you prefer, you may
call us at (417) 869-2284.
May we all strive to dress
in such a way
as to give God the glory,
and to represent Him
as faithful children of God.
Therefore, let's all follow
the standards set in God's Word
to show Christ to the world
around us each and every day.
>> Our prayer is to help
the world know more
about God through
this television program.
"The Living Word"
has been brought to you
under the oversight
of the elders
of the Kansas Expressway
Church of Christ
in Springfield, Missouri,
with the assistance
of the following area
Churches of Christ.
>>  To seek and save the lost 
 Give me the Bible,
holy message shining 
 Thy light shall guide me
in the narrow way 
 Precept and promise,
law and love combining 
Till night shall vanish
in eternal day