What is the most valuable thing you own?

Your Reputation!

Your Reputation

• Makes you who you are

• Makes you who you will become

• Goes with your everywhere you go

• Is very hard to replace

• Can easily become tarnished

• You get stuck being a certain person

Matthew 13:57Only in his hometown and in his own house

is a prophet without honor.

Reputable Names

• A name defines the essence of you

• You can easily acquire a nickname

• A nickname is given for a reputation

• Your name gives first impressions

• Some nicknames...

Making Things New

• God makes all things new

• God makes something out of nothing

• God transforms and creates

• God changes our heart and mind

• God can even change our name

2 Corinthians 5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation; the old has gone,the new has come!

Genesis 1:1-2Now the earth was formless and empty,

darkness was over the surface of the deep,and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

The business of Godis reconciliationand re-creation

Psalm 51:10Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Genesis 32:28Then the man said,

“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God

and with men and have overcome”

What’s in a name?

• Jacob means he grasps the heel; figuratively, he deceives.

• Israel means he struggles with God.

• Israel became the chosen people of God because Jacob persevered.

• Israel developed a reputationin the region and changed history

What is Reputation?

• trustworthy• responsible• respectful• gracious• not playing favorites• reliable• loyal

Nehemiah 13:12-13All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms. I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of

Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the

supplies to their brothers.

Trustworthy & Responsible

Colossians 4:2,5-6Devote yourselves to prayer,being watchful and thankful.

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders;make the most of every opportunity.

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,

so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Respectful & Gracious

James 2:1,9My brothers, as believers in our glorious

Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism.But if you show favoritism, you sin

and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

Don’t Show Favoritism

Esther 9:4Mordecai was prominent in the palace;

his reputation spread throughout the provinces,and he became more and more powerful.

Reliable & Loyal

Luke 16:10Whoever can be trusted with very little

can also be trusted with much,and whoever is dishonest with very little

will also be dishonest with much.

Develop Your Reputation

• Be wise in how you act

• Be wise in what you say

• Guard your heart

• Use your brain

• Don’t get polluted

• Be true to yourself

1 Timothy 4:12Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are

young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

How You Act...

James 3:5-6Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body,

but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.

The tongue also is a fire,a world of evil among the parts of the body.

It corrupts the whole person,sets the whole course of his life on fire,

and is itself set on fire by hell.

What You Say...

Proverbs 4:23-24Above all else, guard your heart,

for it is the wellspring of life.Put away perversity from your mouth;

keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

Guard Your Heart!

Use Your Brain!

2 Timothy 1:7For God has not given us the spirit of fear;

but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind

James 1:27Religion that God our Father

accepts as pure andfaultless is this:

to look after orphans andwidows in their distressand to keep oneself from

being polluted by the world

Don’t Get Polluted

Matthew 15:11What goes into a man's mouth does not make him

“unclean” but what comes out of his mouth,that is what makes him “unclean”

Be True To Yourself

Proverbs 23:7As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.

Protect Your ReputationAllow God to Change You