Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in
thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh
righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.
He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth
evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbour.

In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he
honoureth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth
to his own hurt, and changeth not. He that putteth
not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against
the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never
be moved (Psalm 15).

Psalm 15 gives us a biblical description of an
honorable man. Many have been blessed by
knowing such people in their lifetimes.

An Honorable Man

As a young man I understood honor because my
father raised me that way. I understood it because
both my grandfathers were honorable men; they
would rather die than lie. And my grandmothers
were honorable women.

I understand what the psalmist means when he
writes about the kind of honor “that sweareth to his
own hurt, and changeth not” (Psalm 15:4).
I understand and respect the kind of person
who is going to do the right thing regardless of
what it may cost. My dad lived this way in front of me.

He tithed from the day he and my mother
were married in 1927. On their wedding day
they made a commitment to one another and to
God that they would tithe every dollar God
gave them all the days of their married life.

God honored that commitment and supported
them through the years. They did not understand
many things He tried to teach them because they
knew very little about faith. However, the Lord took
care of them anyway. During the Great Depression my
dad never went 24 hours without a job.

Mother and Dad lived on an old, dry-land farm in
northwest Texas. The only things in abundance there
were sand and flies. Yet my daddy had a job because
God took care of them.

Eventually, a fellow hired Dad to work in the insurance
business. Dad was very successful at it; so just a few
weeks after he went with the company, he was moved
to Fort Worth as district manager. The man who hired
Dad had been planning for a long time to start his own
company. He was building up reserves while still working
for the company that hired my dad.

But this company had laws, rules and regulations
against the sort of thing this man was doing, and
some of it was even against the laws of the state of Texas.

This man finally announced he was starting his own company.
He had the money and backing to do it, but he needed
my father to make it work. He offered Dad a lot of money
and a big chunk of the company. He wanted Dad to do for
him in the new company exactly what he had been doing under
him with the other company. This man based a great deal of his
planning on Dad’s acceptance of his offer.

It came down to a lawsuit between Dad’s company
and this man. If they could prove he had done some
things wrong, it would cut off over $100,000 from his
new company’s financing. That was around 1956 when
$100,000 was a great deal of money. This man was
depending on that money to help establish his new
insurance business.

At the trial, my dad was the deciding witness.
If the lawyer asked him, “Has this man ever approached
you to work for him doing the same job you’re doing for
your present employers?” and Dad answered no, the
case would be closed. The man would get the
$100,000 financing, and my father would get a huge
chunk of stock and lots of money, along with a high position
and much prestige. If Dad testified that the man had
offered him a job with the new company he was planning
to start, the man would lose the $100,000 and Dad
would get the privilege of keeping his old job.

I was about 19 years old at the time, and was thinking:
Whew, what’s Dad going to do? If he takes the stand and
answers that question one way, he’s an instant multi-millionaire.
(The money was already in the till, and the stock was
already made out.) If he answers the other way, all
he gets is his old job.

Wondering what Dad was going to do, I watched as he
took the stand. He wasn’t a bit nervous or anxious.
He didn’t have any sweat breaking out on his brow.
I couldn’t believe he could be so calm.

The lawyer asked the question: “Did this man offer
you a job with his new company doing the same thing
that you are doing now?” Without a second’s hesitation
Dad answered, “Yes, he did.”

When it was over, he stood up and walked away.
He left all that money lying on the table and
the stock untouched. Later I said, “Boy, Dad,
how did you keep from saying what that man
wanted you to say?” “It would have been a lie.”

It was as simple as that. To get that money, that stock,
that position, Dad would have had to lie. There was
never any question in his mind. He just went right on
with his business. He gave no more thought to the matter.
Every time he would see the man he had testified against,
he would walk up, shake his hand and ask how the new
company was coming along. That man had such respect
for my dad; he loved my dad all his life.

My father is over 80 years old now. His word is still
yea or nay. One of the reasons he is so quick to tell
the truth is because it is the honorable thing to do.
He learned early in life the meaning of honor.

Kenneth Copeland – Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, gloria copeland, kenneth copeland ministries commitment, honor

But in a great house there are not only
vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood
and of earth; and some to honour, and some to
dishonour (2 Timothy 2:20).

Notice, in a great house there are not only
vessels of gold and silver but also of wood
and earth. Some to honor, some to dishonor.
Which are we? How do we determine which
we will be?

A Vessel of Honor

If a man therefore purge himself from these
[faults, sins], he shall be a vessel unto honour,
sanctified, and meet for the master’s use,
and prepared unto every good work. Flee also
youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith,
charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord
out of a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:21-22).

How do you become a vessel of honor?
By purging yourself. By conducting your life in
honor and humility. By fleeing from youthful lusts
and following after righteousness, faith, love and
peace with all those who call on the Lord out of a
pure—and honest—heart.

Honor God, Not the Flesh

Let no man beguile you of your reward in a
voluntary humility [or in false humility, telling you
that you are no good and so unworthy] and
worshipping of angels, intruding into those things
which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly
mind, and not holding the Head, from which all the body
by joints and bands having nourishment ministered,
and knit together, increase the with the increase of God.

Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye
subject to ordinances, (touch not; taste not; handle not;
which all are to perish with the using;) after the
commandments and doctrines of men? Which things
have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility,
and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the,
satisfying of the flesh (Colossians 2:18-23).

Don’t honor your flesh. Don’t do what your flesh
wants to do. Instead, honor God. For instance,
if you are honoring God, you will treat your
boss like you should—not because it’s your religion,
but because it’s the honorable thing to do. You won’t
act any other way, because you know what the Word
says to do. When you live by the Word and will of God,
you are living the honorable life.

Kenneth Copeland – Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, kenneth copeland ministries honor, vessels of honor

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane
and vain babblings: for they will increase
unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat
as doth a canker (one translation says “cancer”):

Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who
concerning the truth have erred, saying that
the resurrection is past already; and overthrow
the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord
knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one
that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity (2 Timothy 2:15-19).

In this passage we are told to avoid those who
babble all the time, who tell lies, who have their
conscience seared to the place that it shipwrecks
their lives.

We have seen this take place in all different
kinds of ministry and churches. It has come to the
attention of the entire world. This kind of thing has
been happening in the Body of Christ among charismatic
people, among word of faith people, in epidemic
proportions. It is an attack of the devil. He intends
to destroy us.

Honorable people do not lie.

Kenneth Copeland – Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, gloria copeland, kenneth copeland ministries honor

Christian people can be snobs, though. Some can
even be so upright and uptight that they don’t live
honorably, even when they think they are. I’ll give
you an example.

I knew a woman in Pensacola, Fla., which is the
home of a U.S. naval base with hundreds and hundreds
of sailors. When one aircraft carrier docks
there, 3,000 people or more may disembark and head
to town. Most of the people there know when a carrier
or some other large warship has docked.

This dear lady would take tracts with her name
and phone number on them and go to every newsstand,
pornography shop and tattoo parlor she could
find. The first thing she would do would be to open
the centerfolds in those girlie magazines and put
tracts in them.

Soon after, some sailor would open one of those
magazines. He probably had sounded big and tough
the night before, but he knew he was just a 19-year-old
boy who was a long way from home. No money. No one
to call. Nothing to do but look at that magazine.

Then he would find that tract right next to the main attraction
and call the person whose name was printed on
the tract. That is when things would start happening!
This is just the way it happened, time and time again.
That woman rescued those young sailors out of sin.

She took them home, prayed for them, fed them, took
them to church, cleaned them up and sent them back
to the Navy as different young men—by the hundreds.
Was she honored for her work? God honored her.

But her church kicked her out because somebody saw
her coming out of one of those ugly places where she
had left her tracts one night.

“Don’t you know you’re liable to get demon-possessed
if you go in there?” she was asked.

“No, I’m not going to get demon-possessed,” she
answered. “Some little puny demon is not going to
run me off—and it ought not run you off either.”

Still she was kicked out of the church, so she started
her own church. I preached in it. She didn’t want to
start her own church, but she had to have a place of
worship—and she needed a place to bring the sailors.

She was a mother to many servicemen. Some of
them would call her and say “I don’t have any business
looking at those dirty old magazines. I know better
than that. I wish you would pray for me. I haven’t been
acting like I should since I joined the service.”
The woman honored God by doing what she
was expected to do, instead of acting like a silly,
sissy, wimpy, no-faith, dishonorable “Christian.”

Those sailors were not coming in to the church, so
she went out to take the gospel to them and bring
them to the Lord. She was kicked out by those who
were too upright and uptight to recognize real
honor when they saw it.

Through it all, she kept an honorable attitude. She
held faith and a good conscience.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

admin Kenneth Copeland, gloria copeland, kenneth copeland ministries honor