Dressed for Success

Well, if you would please open your Bible this evening to Genesis chapter 21, we're going to continue our series on the life of Abraham, Genesis chapter 21 beginning in verse 22. Back in 1975, a man by the name of John Malloy wrote a book called Dress for Success, and it was written for the corporate world basically, and the thrust of the book was to demonstrate how appearance would lead to impressions that would then either benefit you or not in your business. I was finishing up my last year at Piedmont Bible College that year, and a professor in one of our pastoral classes had us read that book, it had just come out, and he wanted us to read it. I guess he was thinking, you know, let's help these preacher boys when they get out in a church, understand what title, where with what suit, and what clothes will absolutely be so repulsive to a congregation that they wouldn't hear a word you say, and that kind of thing. Well, you can tell that it didn't do me any good. The book really didn't do me any good at all, and of course nobody wears what they wore in 1975 anyway, so that's okay. But John Malloy became a bestseller, there were a couple of spin-off books of that, and he became a consultant to many major corporations, because everybody wanted an edge on how to be successful, and if wearing the right clothes can get you a better sale, then by all means, let's have this guy in and have him teach us how to do that, and he was a really hot item in the late 70s and early 80s. Well in the passage we're going to look at tonight, we're going to find that Abraham has become successful. If you want to use those words, he has become very prominent and influential kings, and the mighty men of his day are seeking his favor, they are concerned about having his good will, and Abraham has become a very important man in that part of the world. He would rank among the mighty men of his day, but there is no mention of upward mobility in his job, there is no mention of the newest tent with all of the latest conveniences, there is no mention of trading in for a new camel, the hottest new camel to ride, there is no mention of a bunch of new robes in his closet, there's no mention of that kind of thing, that we often associate with success. What is mentioned is his character, and when the Bible talks about success it talks about character. What we're going to see here tonight is some insight into character qualities that Abraham had developed and had cultivated in his walk with God over a period of time, and those made him successful, influential in the right way he had an impact on the culture around him, because he had developed that kind of quality of life. It's interesting to me that the Bible does talk about putting on and putting off character qualities, and in Colossians 3 for instance uses a word putting off and putting on that was a Greek word for clothing in that day, to dress, to discard some kind of clothing and put on other kinds of clothing, but in Colossians 3 all of the things we are to put off our bad character qualities, all the things we are to put on are good character qualities. What we're going to see with Abraham tonight is that he was dressed for success, but in a godly way it was not his material appearance that caused him to be successful, it was his walk with God that caused him to be dressed for success if you will. Let's take a look at his wardrobe tonight, we're going to find out what it meant for him to be dressed for success, and in God's eyes what it would mean for us to be a success and have an impact in our culture around us. First of all we'll find that Abraham was a man of honor. Look at verses 22 and 23. At that time Abimolek and Fycle, the commander of his forces, said to Abraham, God is with you in everything you do. Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien, the same kind, kindness I have shown to you. Now Bimolek's respect for Abraham is very clear in this passage. You read these words and it's very clear that he had Abraham very high in his esteem. He recognized God's favor on Abraham and he requested peaceful relationships with Abraham. He asked him to actually swear an oath to enter into a covenant or a treaty, if you will, where he would do no harm but he would show kindness to his people because he respected Abraham so much. The fact that he had his commander of forces with him demonstrates how important this was and how significant Abraham was. This would be like in our country the president and the secretary of defense going to enter into communications with another foreign power about having good relationships with that foreign power. This is the kind of a steam and respect that Abraham has. He is certainly a man of honor. And there are, I think, some lessons we can learn about respect from what we see here in these two verses. Abraham's respect that he had gained in Bimolek's eyes and please remember who Bimolek was. Bimolek was the king of a group of people who would later become the Philistines around Gharar. This is the same guy where Abraham visited some four years prior and tried to pass off Sarah as his sister. Remember that story? It was the second, at least the second time Abraham had done that. But Abraham has had some interaction with Bimolek before and it was not very good. So about four years have passed and you wonder how has Abraham become such a man of honor and respect in a Bimolek's eyes. And I think there are several things that are indicated in this passage. One is that respect is earned by a consistent life. Abraham had consistently lived for God over the four years since he first had that debacle with Bimolek. Obviously, his first experience with Bimolek was not good. It showed a very severe failure and probably he lost respect as a result of that. And he's had some time to make up for that, if you will, to overcome that failure. And Bimolek has watched him over the next four years or so. Because it was a little while before Isaac was born and Isaac in chapter 21 is already three years old by the time we get to this place. So somewhere around four years have passed. And he has had some time, thankfully, to overcome his past failure. And for Bimolek to watch him closely enough to where he sees in Abraham's life that the Lord is at work day in and day out in this man's life. Now, that gives some encouragement, doesn't it? Because we all blow it from time to time and to think that we are able to recover those losses with consistent, godly living is an encouraging thing. And Abraham evidently was able to do that. So a lesson we can learn about respect is that respect is earned by a consistent life. And that consistent lifestyle can overcome an early bad start, if you will, or an early failure. Second lesson I think we can learn about respect from this passage is that unbelievers are watching our lives. Unbelievers are watching us. They are aware of the way that we live. And we ought to live so that unbelievers can respect us, can have the kind of respect that a Bimolek grew to have for Abraham. Even to the point that he would say, I can see that God is with you and everything you do. We don't even know if a Bimolek really understood much about the true God or had any kind of relationship with him, but he could see God in Abraham's life. And so there's quite clearly this observation of Abraham over a period of time. You know the Bible says in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 16, in the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. It's exactly what we find happening here with a Bimolek. And it ought to be happening with us as well, that as we live out our lives before the people around us in this world, that we live in such a way that when they watch us, they can see the kind of lifestyle that reflects well our relationship with God and points them to God. They can see a difference in our lives. You see unsaved people do not care what you say if it's not backed up by the way you live. Unsaved people do not care how often you go to church. They don't care how much or how big a Bible you carry. What they care about is how you live. Is it consistent with what you say? That's what unsaved people are looking for. Is your relationship with God something that makes a difference in life for you? If they can see that, then they'll begin to have the kind of respect and treat you as a person of honor that may eventually lead them to inquiring about what makes a difference in your life. May give an opportunity to witness to them. Is your supposed relationship with God affect the way you do business with me? Does it affect the way you react to situations in your life? Does it affect the way you treat people? I'm going to watch an unsaved person is saying, I'm going to watch and see what difference it makes in your life. Unsaved people are watching us. The third lesson I think we can learn from this story about respect and honor. Abraham being a man of honor who earned the respect of outsiders is the importance of respect. The absolute importance of respect. One verse in the Bible tells it better than any words I could give. So just look at this verse, Proverbs 22, 1, a good name is more desirable than great riches and to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. You can make it in life, but if you do not have the respect of unbelievers in God's eyes, you're a failure. So what's your ambition in life? What are our goals in life? They ought to be primarily to have a good name to be esteemed in the sense that we give a good reflection of our Savior in this world. Abraham was that kind of a man and over a period of time developed that kind of respect from a Bimilek. A man of honor. Secondly, Abraham was a man of integrity. Look at verse 24. Abraham said, I swear it. In other words, the Bimilek's asked him to come into this treaty. Abraham says, I will. Now, verse 25, then Abraham complained to a Bimilek about a well of water that a Bimilek servant had seized. But a Bimilek said, I don't know who has done this. You did not tell me and I heard about it only today. But what happens here, I believe, is in kind of a back door kind of way, a demonstration of integrity on the part of Abraham. But in order to understand how it exemplifies integrity, we need to understand what integrity is. That's a word that we throw around a lot and we use a lot and we know it means something good, but we don't often stop to think about what that word means. And so, for just a few moments, I'd like to do a little bit of expansion of that word. It's a good word. It incorporates several biblical kinds of distinctives. And so, let me talk about what integrity means. If you were to go to a dictionary and look up the word integrity, you'd find several different definitions, but you could summarize the word integrity in three words. Let me give them to you. The first one is credible. A person of integrity is credible. And what I mean by that is they are authentic. They're genuine. There's nothing fake about them. They're credible. Sometimes that word is even used of things that are made, not just of people. A few years ago, I read a consumer report type of thing. It was in another type of publication. And it was talking about the number of goods that are copied and imitated in the world. I mean, everything from pizza to car parts, to jewelry, to perfume, and all kinds of things are imitated and counterfeited. Brand names are copied. And an inferior product is made, which is sold to be equivalent to the original or even by the name of the original. And there was a guy who was quoted in this article who said he estimated that probably $20 billion cost to the American public because of this. And it was an advisor to the president for consumer affairs. And this is what he said. He said the integrity of the marketplace has never been challenged as it is today. He was using that word in the sense that I'm using it now, something that's credible. It's not a fake, it's genuine, it's authentic. And the Bible teaches that if we're to be people of integrity, we must be people who are credible. We must be people who are authentic and genuine. Nothing fake about us. The second word that you could use to describe this word integrity with is the word consistent. Consistent. The dictionary actually says this, affirm adherence to a code of values. What it means is you don't change, you don't shift with changing times and changing views and opinions of things. You stick to what is right. Actually if you were to look it up in a dictionary you might find the word incorruptible used. That's a good Bible word. The Bible teaches that someday our corruptible bodies will be changed into incorruptible bodies which means they do not change. They don't decay. To be a person of integrity means you don't just go with the flow of opinion and when somebody changes and it becomes politically correct to believe one way and politically incorrect to believe another way, you shift your opinions. Integrity means that you believe what the Bible says and you maintain that. You're consistent in the midst of all the change around us. And then the third word that would describe this word integrity is complete. In other words the quality of being complete or undivided. You come as advertised. Some of you probably got some things for Christmas that required that you put them together. You open up the box and you pull out the sheet of instructions. And usually the first thing you look at, right, if you're doing this right, the first thing you look at is everything that's supposed to be in the box, right? The 4,000 screws and the 600 nuts and bolts that are supposed to be there and all the little Allen wrenches and things that you're supposed to work. All that stuff is supposed to be in the box and you're supposed to lay it out, right? Count it all and figure out if it's all there. Because if it's credible, it's complete. It has everything that it advertised to have. I remember a number of years ago when we were living in Indiana we had a man in our church who would buy up old houses in town, renovate them and rent them out for apartments. And he decided to buy a couple of old storefronts in South Whitley and renovate them and open a couple of stores. So he did and one of the stores he was going to open was a toy store. So he got in this huge tractor trailer load of boxes of toys and he's going to unload them and sell them in this store. One of the toys he got is probably 100 boxes. I'm not exaggerating. It was at least 100 boxes of the game. I don't even know if they have it anymore. Mouse trap. You remember that game? It's one of those games where you start a little ball rolling at the top and it rolls down, hits a lever and that kicks off some other little contraption and the ball goes somewhere else and then it hits something else and something falls and bangs against something else. It goes through about 50 of these things before finally a little thing falls over a mouse. That thing had a gazillion parts to it. And the box that is supposed to have this many parts and he had bought these games from a kind of a second hand type deal where they've been returned. So none of the games had all of the parts. Well, he and his wife Lou asked Gene and I if we would like to spend an evening with them. And we got roped into taking these 100 boxes of games and it was actually a lot of fun. And picking out pieces of some games to put with others so that we could actually get a complete game. Why? Because if he's going to sell them in his store and it says it's got all the parts in the box, it's going to have all the parts in the box. It's going to be complete because what? He's a man of integrity. That's why. Now I've gone to some length to describe what integrity really means. That it means to be credible, consistent and complete because the church has in Warren Wiersby's words, the book he wrote a few years ago, an integrity crisis. All of the scandals in churches over the past 20 years basically come back to integrity. Are people living as they advertise themselves to be? Are we really credible or are we living a fake? Are we really genuine? Are we consistent in our lifestyle? Most, if not all, of the crises and tragedies and schemes that have happened in church life in the last 20 years or so have gone back to this issue of people who were saying one thing and living enough. Now how does that apply to Abraham? Let's go back to the verses and we'll see how Abraham demonstrates himself to be a man of integrity, how Abraham showed integrity in his life. Back in verse 24, he has agreed to this covenant. I will make a covenant with you and then immediately he complains. He says, well that doesn't sound very much like a man of God, but don't wait a second. He complained to a Bimilek about a well of water that a Bimilek servant had seized. But a Bimilek said, I don't know who has done this, you did not tell me and I heard about it only today. Now here's the point. Abraham agrees to making this covenant, but he sees a problem immediately that will hinder this covenant agreement between a Bimilek and Abraham. Unless it is dealt with at once and so he makes a Bimilek aware of it. Abraham is not the kind of man who is going to put on an heir of good will. He is not the kind of man that's going to say, oh, pat him on the back, everything is okay, we are just fine and dandy, we have a great relationship. No, there is something wrong and he will not agree to the covenant unless that wrong is brought out and dealt with. He is a man who is credible, consistent, complete, he will not say one thing and tolerate another. He will be consistent in his beliefs. Do we have integrity in all of our relationships, our relationship with God, relationship with our families, relationship with your co-workers, relationship with others? Do you just let things slide when you know they need to be dealt with? Do you just fake it, go along and not really get to what needs to be gotten to in your relationships with others? Are you a person of integrity, credible, consistent, complete, Abraham was and he would not go into this covenant unless the issues that could come up later and would hinder it were dealt with. Now I am not going to talk about football coaches, okay, let's just slide right over that one, we are not going to talk about that tonight, but are you a man of integrity, a person of integrity? Abraham was a person of integrity. Thirdly, he was a man of honesty, he was a man of honesty versus 27 to 32. So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to a bimolec and the two men made a treaty. Now this is the same kind of treaty that Abraham had made with God or actually God required, I believe back in chapter 15, remember we talked about ancient near eastern treaties at that time where animals would be brought and those animals would be split, they would be killed and then divided in half, half the animal will be on this side, half the animal will be on that side, the two parties making covenant would walk in between them. And indicating by that action if we break this covenant, this is what's going to happen to us right over here, very vivid object lesson, okay, we stake our lives on this agreement, that was the way they made treaties and covenants in those days. And so that's what's happening here with these animals, but then look at verse 28, Abraham set apart seven U-lams from the flock. This is in addition to the other animals, this is unexpected, this is not something that's normally done, verse 29, and a bimolec asked Abraham, what does the meaning of these seven U-lams you've set apart by themselves? See this is not a part of other treaties that had been involved, then he wasn't expecting this, verse 30, he replied, except these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well. So the place was called Bersheba because the two men swore an oath there. Now honesty is very close to integrity, it's a little more specific. It has to do with specifically our speech being a person of our word. And Abraham in their covenant, Abraham demonstrates that he's a person of his word. So just think about for a moment, their covenant and how Abraham kept it, Abraham makes this covenant and then he says, I want to prove to you how serious and sincere I am about being a man of my word. I told you about a problem I had with some things that had happened and I want to make sure that you understand this well of water. I did dig it. I'm not trying to get an advantage over you by what I said earlier about this problem between my guys and your guys, I dug that well. In fact, I will stake seven of my U-lams on that. I want to show you, I am honest, I dug that well. So that's one way he shows his honesty. A second way he shows his honesty is that he kept his word. You read the rest of the life of Abraham, there is never a problem between Abraham and a Bimilech again. There's never a breach of treaty. Now when Abraham dies, some of a Bimilech servants will go around and start filling up the wells that had been left to Isaac. And that will be another problem later on for Isaac to deal with, but as long as Abraham was alive, the treaty was kept. I think a Bimilech and his people had such respect for Abraham. They knew Abraham would keep his part of the treaty. He was a man of honesty. The question I think we all need to ask ourselves is, do we keep our word? Are we people of honesty? You know, honesty is a very tricky thing. It affects a lot of things that we do. Do we honor contracts that we have made? Do we honor our marriage vows? Do we honor our promises to our families? Do we keep the commitments that we have made to others? Do we keep our promises to pray for people? Are we really people of our word? How many times have you told someone, well, I'll be praying for you. That's the last time you ever think of it. Could I just suggest that when someone kind of in passing leaves you a prayer request and you say, well, I'll be praying for you, that if you don't have the opportunity, like, is necessary for me. If I don't get to write it down, I'm probably going to forget it. So if you don't have the opportunity to do that, as they walk away, breathe up a quick prayer to the Lord right then. You know, and I'm not trying to say, this is taking an easy way out, but at least keep your word to the extent that you will pray for them and ask God to help remind you of that until you have an opportunity to write it down or pray for them later. Be a person of your word. Do you keep your promises to keep confidences? When someone comes to you to bear their soul and their heart and asks you, listen, I've got to talk to someone, but this can't go beyond this room. Do you keep that? Do you keep those confidences? Are you a person of your word? Are you a person who constantly exaggerates? Or are you a person of your word? Are you a person who shades the truth to fit your own purposes? Someone has said that the most dangerous untruths are truths that are moderately distorted. Do you shade the truth just a little bit in your favor to make you look better? Are you double-tongued? That's a good old time expression, isn't it? It simply means that you say one thing about an issue to one person and then something completely different to another person about the same issue. Double-tongued. Are you a person of your word? Are you honest? I read a quote a few years ago that I don't know that I'll ever forget. I'm glad I wrote down the man's name or I would have forgotten the professor's name. His name was Matasori Serrat. He's a professor of mathematics at Vanderbilt University. Whenever he would give a test, he would say this. He'd say, I'm giving two tests today. One of those tests is a test in trigonometry. The other is a test in honesty. If you must fail one of those tests, fail the test in trigonometry. There are a lot of people in this world who can't pass trigonometry test. There is no good person in this world who fails the test of honesty. I don't know how many students that shook and made them realize they shouldn't be looking at somebody else's paper and shouldn't cheat. I don't know if it had much effect or not. But what the man said was right. There are lots of things that we do in life that really present more than one test to us. Lots of things we do in life present us with the test of honesty. Are we going to be people of our word? Will we keep our word? Even if it makes us look bad, we must keep our word. Be honest. Abraham was a man of honesty. He proved it with the seven U-lams to show a Bimolec. He had truly dug that well and then he proved it by keeping the treaty. But there's one other thing about Abraham we see in this passage. He was a man of godliness. There are two marks of it in verses 33 and 34. First of all in verse 33. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Bersheba and there he called upon the name of the Lord the eternal God. Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. The first thing that demonstrates Abraham's godliness is a worship that is genuine. Notice it says he planted a tamarisk tree and there he called upon the name of the Lord the eternal God. A tamarisk tree is a tree that had big leafy branches. It was really kind of a large shrub but it did very well in arid climates and in the climate that he is in southern part of Israel, the desert area. This is the kind of tree that would provide some shade and respite from the heat. Typically this would be a place and this seems to be what Abraham does here, a place that would be a quiet shady place to worship god. Now Jews are very good at planting trees to memorialize things. If you were to go to Jerusalem today you would find a museum called the Yad Vashem. The Yad Vashem is the place where they commemorate all the Holocaust survivors and particularly all the people who helped hide Jewish Holocaust survivors in Europe during World War II. If you were to walk around that place you would find trees planted in memory of all of those people. There is a tree there planted in memory of Cory Tin Boom. I've got a picture of that. It's interesting to see the placards and the designation of trees to some people that you would recognize. But you know they are very good at memorializing through planting a tree. This tree was planted in memory of how good God had been to Abraham and what God had done to deliver him. So he uses this place as a place to worship God and he calls on the name of the Lord. So he is a godly man because he is looking for a place to worship God in a genuine way, to praise God for his blessings to him. But the second aspect of being a godly person that Abraham demonstrates is a walk with God that is fresh. A walk with God that is fresh. Why should I note the name of God that he uses here? And there he called upon the name of the Lord the eternal God. In other words, at this point in his life he worshiped God as the eternal God. In other words, what God means to him at this point in his life what he's been thinking a lot about lately is the fact that God is an eternal God. It's interesting to trace the names of God in the life of Abraham because they change. It's not that God changes. It's that Abraham is either given by God or calls God by a different name depending on what's going on in his life. For instance, if you look back at chapter 14, chapter 14, verse 22, this is the name that Abraham gives God right after he rescues lot. Remember lot had been taken captive by some kings that were doing battle in the area. And he has rescued lot and brought him back and brought all the the spoils of battle back. And he's worshiping God. And in verse 22, he says, Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I have raised my hand to the Lord God most high God most high God who is sovereign, who is most high, who rules over all things, who has the power to work out circumstances like going after five kings and defeating them all and coming back with lot. That's God most high. That's God who is sovereign. Now look at chapter 17 and verse 1, get the context here in chapter 17, verse 1, this is right after Abraham has had a child by Hegar and he has demonstrated unfaithfulness and a lack of faith in that. And in chapter 17, God is going to reaffirm his covenant with him and tell him that he will have a son by Sarah. Now look at how God addresses himself to Abraham, verse 1, when Abraham was or Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am God Almighty, God Almighty, the God who is able to do all things, emphasizing his strength, his power. Now look, you have doubted me, Abraham, and you have chosen to go your own way in figuring out how I am going to give you a son. I want you to know, I am an Almighty God, I have a God of all power, all might, I can do anything. It is not impossible for you to have a child of age 99, I am God Almighty. So you see, when Abraham was faced with certain things in his life, there was a name that either God gave himself or that Abraham called God by that reminded him of what was going on in his life. So let's go back to chapter 21. At this point in his life, he calls upon the name of the Lord, the eternal God, El Olam, the eternal one, the one who lives forever, the one who is eternal, what's been going on in Abraham's life? He's just had a son, Isaac, and he just had a son when he was 100 years old. You know what he's been thinking about? He's been thinking about the God who is eternal. The God for whom time is of no essence. The God for whom it doesn't matter if you're 25 or 95 or 105 doesn't matter. If you want you to have a child, you're going to have a child. Because time is of no essence to him. That's what Abraham's been thinking about. And so his worship and his walk with God is fresh. What he's thinking about, how he worships God, what he's praising God for, relates to what's going on in his life right now. Now here's the reason why I'm bringing this up. Why I think this text is important. Are you using the same testimony you had 25 years ago? If someone were to ask you to give your testimony about what God means to you, what the Lord means to you, would it sound the same as it did 25 years ago? What would that say about you if it did? Well, it might say that that's just kind of a well-rehearsed testimony, and that's the first thing that comes to mind. And we could give you the benefit of the doubt on that. But it might also say, God hasn't been doing much in your life lately, has he? Or either you have not been aware of it, haven't been paying attention to it. Because what we are seeing and thinking about right now about what God is doing ought to be our testimony right now. I mean, right now, this year, or maybe in the last year, I haven't known how much of this year yet. But in the last year, is God a God of faithfulness to you? Or would you say that in my life right now, God is a God of love. In my life right now, God is a God of providence. I'm seeing him work out some really unusual circumstances in my life. Would you say that God is a God of mercy right now in your life? Is that what you're experiencing of his person and character right now? Would you say that he's a God of patience right now? That's not that he's not all of those things all the time. He is. But what is he to you right now? A walk with God that is fresh, that is not 25 years stale, is a walk that says, this is what God is doing in my life right now. I'm recognizing it. That's how I'm worshipping him. That's what I'm praising him for. What he's doing now in my life. And so at one point, he may be God Almighty to me. And I'm praising him for that. At another point, he may be God the eternal one. And I'm praising him for that. But Abraham is a man whose walk with God is real. It's fresh. It's not old and stale. I would challenge all of us. And the reason I'm thinking so much about this, I guess, is a couple of weeks ago we were somewhere where someone just kind of out of the blue asked me, what's your favorite verse? And I'm not one that does that kind of thing a lot. You know, that favorite verses and that kind of thing, a life verse and all of that. But I had trouble thinking of one. It took me a moment. And then I kind of gave one that was probably a favorite of mine 30 years ago. And that got me to thinking. And then when I looked at this text this week, I thought, you know, at any time in our lives, we ought to be able to say, this is the portion of the Bible that is really special to be right now. The question that threw me was, what is your favorite verse? I don't know how to answer that. What I should have said is, you know, I was reading in Matthew 8 this week right now. That's my favorite passage in the word of God. Because that's where God's speaking to me right now. I think that's the kind of walk that we need to have with God where our walk with Him is fresh, our worship is fresh. And we are people who are in touch with what He's doing in our lives. That's the kind of walk that Abraham had. That's what made him a godly man. This is really dressing for success. Doesn't matter what kind of clothes you've got or don't have, dressing for success means that you are a person of honor. That you live in such a way as to gain the respect of people who are even outside the faith. Dressing for success means that you're a person of integrity. You're not a fake, you're genuine. You live what you believe, you're consistent. You are complete, you come as advertised. You claim to be a Christian, people can see. That's how you live. You're a person of integrity. Dressing for success means that you're a person of honesty. You keep your word. You're a person who knows that your word is important and you keep it. Dressing for success means you're a person of godliness. That you worship God in a genuine way and you walk with God in a way that's fresh and new and you sense what He's doing in your life as it changes day by day. You're thankful to Him for that. That is what it means to be successful. If you're that kind of person in God's eyes, you're a successful person. That's what will make you successful and have a steam and respect in the eyes of unbelievers. Would you bow with me for closing prayer? Father, thank you for the example of Abraham tonight and how he demonstrates to us what it really means to be a person who is successful, to be a person who loves you and honors you and lives for you faithfully has the kind of testimony that speaks highly of you in this world. Help us, Lord, to be those kind of people as we go forth into the marketplace this week and the workplace and the neighborhood that we live in. Help us to be the kind of people that Abraham demonstrated himself to be with the Bimalak and others in that country. Help us to be faithful to you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.