Credibility

Bunbury

Men’s D/S

16/04/10

“Credibility”

Intro: Tonight I want to speak about something that every one of us have in varying degrees & every one of us need more of.

Men / women of God who have this also have power / ability

People who don’t have it find there is a day when they need it but b/c they have no reserves have none.

This resource that I am referring to is the resource of credibility.

Let’s think about our personal ‘Credibility’.

Text: 1 Samuel 18:5 (NKJV) So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

# 1. Credibility – who needs it?

A. To answer that Question – you do!

a. Most people don’t u/s the value of credibility until they don’t have any.

*** Me going to the bank for a loan many years ago. As a young man I had been working for some years but had no money saved, no assets / nothing to suggest I was moving ahead in life. After filling in the application the man at the bank said – sorry, we can’t loan you the money! Why? B/c you’ve been working for a few years now, have no money saved, have nothing of any value & we can’t see anything that suggests your life is moving in the right direction financially!

i. That was a blow but it taught me an impt lesson about credibility – you don’t realise the value of it until you don’t have any!!!

b. David was a man who had power b/c he had credibility.

i. Think about men in the Bible that had power – some b/c of money / birth / inheritance.

ii. But others b/c of this issue – they had credibility w/ people. e.g. David / Samuel / Job / Daniel / Paul.

iii. Dict def – credibility = able to be believed / trusted / able to have confidence in.

B. Gaining credibility is like depositing money in the bank.

a. In other words you aren’t going to gain credibility w/o making some deposits.

i. There’s no mystery about credibility – you have to earn it & accumulate it.

ii. Comes as a result of right decisions / wise choices / sound judgment / sensible behaviour.

iii. We see all these things in the life of David in our text.

Vs 5. So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

iv. Here’s how David made deposits into his credibility account -

- went out wherever Saul sent him – he obeyed commands

- and behaved wisely – he was wise in his behaviour

- set him over the men of war – he accepted responsibility given to him

- he was accepted in the sight of all the people – he built a history of rapport

v. Here’s the interesting thing – what worked for David then will work for you today.

C. If you have made deposits you can make withdrawals.

a. You can only draw on credibility if you have established the habit of making deposits.

i. Simple principle in if you don’t put it into the account you can’t take it out of the account!

ii. If you want people to believe you / trust you / admire / have confidence in you – what reason have you given them to do that?

iii. Think about Daniel – he gave the kings servant a reason to believe him.

iv. Of Joseph the Bible says ....

Genesis 39:4 (NKJV) So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.

v. Joseph made deposits so there came a time when he was able to make withdrawals.

# 2. The credibility crunch.

A. As is the case w/ money we can have a credibility crisis.

a. The Bible has a great deal to say about failure in the area of our credibility.

i. Need to recognise that no matter how much credibility you have established you can quickly diminish it.

*** Boy who cried wolf! Here is a classic story dealing w/ a credibility crisis. At the crucial time when he desperately needed people to believe him & come to his assistance no one would believe him. Why? B/c he’d used up all his credibility credits.

ii. If you fail in the credibility test often enough you’ll end up having a credibility crisis.