surrender all hundred eighty hundred and eight and start there right on the 1st
all to Jesus father thank you for this time that we have together together as
a church thank you for all the souls that we got saved this afternoon
brother you would bless the singing at this time Lord and give brother Oz a
feeling of your Holy Spirit as he preaches from your word Lord in Jesus
name I pray amen for our next him if you would turn in your hymnals to him
number 361 did you think to pray him number 361 they're right on the first
is our memory passage of the week Hebrews chapter 6 verse 9 hopefully the
sermon this morning can fire you up to memorize this great chapter in the Word
of God definitely looking forward to seeing people work on that on the inside
is our service times listed Sunday morning at 1030 Sunday evening at 430
p.m. and of course our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock we also have
all of our soul winning times listed there highly encourage you to get
involved in a soul winning time and if for some reason someone ever had a
schedule issue where they couldn't make any of these times do please let me know
and I'd be happy to get that accommodated for you and of course our
soul our Saturday rally is the one that I really push and hope people attend and
it's been very fruitful so far so if you'd love if you'd like to join us on
Saturdays we definitely would appreciate that nursing home ministry schedule and
preachers is listed there for people to take a look at as well as our year to
date statistics for salvations and baptisms make sure we're reporting those
numbers to the soul winning leaders there and if you get one throughout the
week you can always text or email me please be in prayer for mrs. Reed
pregnancy also our upcoming events this weekend is the heritage of Lord
conference at Cedar Hill and I heard today that they had 240 maybe even a
little bit above 240 people there at the conference so that is a great day for
them very excited to see the Lord blessing steadfast Baptist Church and
our pastor and we're very excited for him to be coming and preaching for us
next Sunday so I highly encourage everyone to come to that and invite
family and friends it'd be great to have a packed house for pastor Shelley next
Sunday we're definitely looking forward to that and on October 31st we are gonna
have a chili cook-off at 6 30 p.m. this has always been a lot of fun for ones
that I've been involved in in the past I've never won but I still have had a
good time so very excited for that and we're gonna have prizes for the first
second and third place in a general competition and you know that's a free
for all you could beans in it you could put grenades hammers p51 Mustangs
whatever you want to put inside of it but for the preacher's pick there can be
no beans in that one so if you want to win that prize that's the one that I'll
be the sole judge of that one that'll have a special prize but no beans so
again if only one person decides to soften their heart and to bring a
beanless chili that person will win so there is a reward for the righteous in
this situation here really looking forward to that and then a couple days
after that will be the faithful word Baptist Church missions conference very
excited to be a part of that and to talk about my trip to Germany during that
conference so looking forward to that on the back remember our prayer list there
like we just saying about don't forget to pray don't forget to pray for your
brothers in Christ in his church and if you ever have a prayer request need
please let me know I'd be happy to add you to that prayer list all right let's
go to our third song all right for our next team if you would turn in your
hymnals to him number 448 brethren we have met to worship him number 448 him
number 448 start there right on the first brethren we have met to worship
and adore the two as the offering plates are being passed around turn in your
Bibles of first Timothy chapter number one first Timothy chapter number one
first Timothy chapter number one the Bible reads Paul an Apostle of Jesus
Christ by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ which is
our hope unto Timothy my own son in the faith grace mercy and peace from God our
father and Jesus Christ our Lord as I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus
when I went to Macedonia that thou mightest charge some that they teach no
other doctrine neither give heed to fables and in endless genealogies which
minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith so do now the
end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience
and a faith on fame from which having which from which some having swerved
have turned aside unto vain jangling desiring to be teachers of the law
understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm but we know that the
law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing this that the law is not made
for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for
the sinners for unholy and profane for murderers of fathers and murderers of
mothers for manslayers for whoremongers for them that defile themselves with
mankind for men stealers for liars for perjured persons and if there be any other
thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the
blessed God which is committed to my trust and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord
who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry
who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained
mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief and the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus this is the
faithful saying and worthy of all its expectation that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners of whom I am chief how be it for this cause I obtained
mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering for
a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to to life everlasting now
unto the King eternal immortal invisible and only wise God be honor and glory
forever and ever amen this charge I commit I commit unto thee son Timothy
according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them might
us war a good warfare holding faith and a good conscience which some having put
away concerning faith have made shipwreck of whom is Hymenaeus and
Alexander whom whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to
blaspheme heavenly father Lord we just thank you so much for this day we thank
you for first Timothy chapter 1 and we just pray that you give brother Oz the
the words to speak and just give him a special blessing Lord help this
congregation to focus on your provision in Jesus precious name we pray amen one
of them one of the most powerful and one of my favorite chapters actually it's
really a special chapter and I love verse number 12 of 1st Timothy 1 where
it says this and I think Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he
counted me faithful putting me into the ministry one of the things that I really
love about this verse is that in this verse we kind of get a glimpse into the
heart of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because Paul explains the reason
why Jesus put Paul in the ministry what was it that the Lord Jesus Christ saw in
the in the Apostle Paul that made him fit to be in the ministry Paul said for
that he counted me faithful and so when Jesus was looking down at who to put in
the Apostle Paul's position he saw the Apostle Paul what he really liked about
him was the fact that he was faithful now go to Hebrews chapter number three
Hebrews chapter three you know the Apostle Paul has a lot of really great
attributes but when it comes to the main reason why Jesus chose the Apostle Paul
it was because that he was faithful and of course we know that the Apostle Paul
is writing this scripture under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so it's
not like he's tooting his own horn or something like that saying like oh yeah
of course Jesus picked me I'm faithful like of course you know this is the Word
of God we're reading here so we know it's really true you know the Apostle Paul
really was faithful and he's not the only one look at Hebrews 3 verse 3 it
says wherefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the
Apostle and High Priest of our profession Jesus Christ notice who was faithful to
him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all his house so when Jesus
was looking down at the Apostle Paul he really liked that he was faithful why is
that well because the Apostle the Lord Jesus Christ the High Priest of our
profession he himself was faithful so this is a Christ like attitude for us to
have as people being faithful even Moses who was greatly used by God the Bible
describes him in Hebrews 3 verse 2 as being faithful in all his house now the
Oxford dictionary definition of faithful is this remaining loyal and steadfast
and when you think about the life of the Apostle Paul the Lord Jesus Christ Moses
these are men that remained loyal these are men that were steadfast and this is
kind of a rare trait today in our society of being being someone that's
faithful being someone that's loyal but this absolutely is something that we
should strive for go to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 while you're turning there
I'll read for you Daniel 6 for says then the presidents and princes sought to
find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they could find none
occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful neither was there any error or
fault found in him so you know when the enemies of Daniel were scrutinizing his
life they were looking for a way to accuse him they were looking for a way
to talk bad about him they couldn't really find anything and why was that
because Daniel was someone that was faithful second Timothy 2 verse 1 says
this thou therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and
the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses the same commit
thou to notice faithful men who shall be able to teach others also so of course
today and even during the time where the New Testament was being written there
was a great need for faithful men and you know what that need is still very
present today where we need in our country faithful men we need in our
church in our institutions faithful men and faithful women because this is a very
godly attribute that God is looking for but the problem is faithful people
unfortunately are very hard to find there's actually very few people that
are faithful and you know everyone will proclaim their own goodness in fact let
me let me read this verse for you could stay there Proverbs 20 verse 6 says this
most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness so the Bible says hey most
people will tell you they're great I'm a good person I'm a faithful person but a
faithful man who can find so the Bible is actually saying yeah people say
they're great but when you actually get down to it it's really hard to find
someone that's faithful there's not a lot of Apostle Paul's running around
there's not a lot of Moses is out there right there's not a lot of Daniels these
are people that are actually described as faithful stay there all right I'll
read for you Psalm 12 one says help Lord for the godly man ceaseth for the
faithful fail from among the children of men so again the psalmist here is just
crying out saying God help me the faithful are failing the godly man is
ceasing the faithful are failing you know it's rare to find a faithful person
and so the title my sermon this evening is this be faithful be faithful this is a
rare trait today in our society but go to if you would Deuteronomy chapter
number seven this evening I want to give you several statements regarding being
faithful and kind of going through the characteristics of what faithfulness
looks like what a faithful person actually is in the Bible as I try not to
burn my tongue off here Deuteronomy chapter seven number one faithful people do
what they say they will do faithful people do what they say they will do
this is one of the main characteristics of a person who is faithful look at
Deuteronomy 7 verse 9 it says know therefore that the Lord thy God he is
God the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love
him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations so here we learn
that God is faithful what is it that makes him faithful where he is a God
that keeps his covenant right God is not going to break his word when God says
something's gonna happen it's gonna happen when God says he's gonna do
something he will do it you know this is why the Bible says in Romans 10 for
whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed what that means is God's not
gonna leave you hanging God's not gonna let you down you know you're not gonna
call upon the name of the Lord and then die and find out man I trusted in Jesus
Christ and I went to hell no God's not gonna do that why because God is faithful
God is someone that is going to do what he says he's going to do he's not going
to break his word go to Isaiah 25 Isaiah chapter 25 let's look at a few verses
here in the book of Isaiah Isaiah 25 verse one says oh Lord thou art my God I
will exalt thee I will praise thy name for thou has done wonderful things thy
counsels of old are faithfulness and truth so the Bible says thy counsels of
old are faithfulness and truth when you think about this phrase thy counsels of
old it kind of makes me think about the fact that no matter how old this book
gets no matter if we go on and Christ tarries for another thousand years that
the councils of the Lord will always be faithful and true it doesn't matter how
long ago in human history these words were physically penned down on this book
you know the Bible says thy word is forever settled in heaven and it doesn't
matter how long we go on in this world doesn't matter how old the councils of
God are whatever God says he will do he will do whatever his word says it will
always be faithful now go to Isaiah 59 Isaiah 59 when I think of this idea of
God being faithful and doing what he says he's gonna do one of the things I
think about is the preservation of scripture that God promised us to
preserve his word now many people today they don't believe this promise they
don't believe that God has preserved his word they think it's been lost or
buried well look at Isaiah 59 verse 21 it says as for me this is my covenant
with them saith the Lord my spirit that is upon thee and my words which I've
put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy
seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and
forever so notice in in Isaiah's day God is saying look Isaiah I'm putting words
in your mouth and these words they're not gonna depart from your mouth or your
son or your son's sons forever and so you know I believe that God has
preserved his word today I don't believe that the word of God was ever lost to
human history that the whole world never had the word of God that he was buried
in some trash can in some Catholic monastery and Constantine von Tischendorf
had to dig it out of a monastery to give us the word again of God again no I
believe that God was faithful because God when it comes to being faithful a
faithful person is someone who does what they say they will do and I believe
that when he told Isaiah that he will preserve his words I believe that God
has done that and today you have a lot of Christians where you read the
doctrinal statement of various churches and it'll say something to the effect of
well we believe that the word of God was given us in the in the original divine
languages and we believe that it's perfect and without error in the
original ain't languages but really that's a really worthless belief because
what they're saying is hey we used to have the word of God somewhere but now
we don't you know that doesn't really benefit me for someone to say yeah we
used to have the perfect word of God what can I do with that but you know
what I can do is if I believe that God's preserved his word and I believe he's
done that through the King James Bible in English now I could actually take this
Bible and I could realize hey God's been faithful God's kept his promise God's
kept his word and that enables me to have faith in what I read in the Bible
and so that's actually the mentality that God wants us to have and if you
don't believe that God preserved his word what you're saying is that God isn't
faithful and you know that's quite a charge to be leveling against God that
God wasn't faithful God messed up God dropped the ball and didn't keep his
promise no God is faithful he kept his promise go to Titus chapter number one
you know God is gonna do what he says he will do when it comes to the
preservation of Scripture but you know God also will do what he says he's gonna
do when it comes to salvation Titus chapter 1 verse 2 says this in
hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world
began you know like I said this morning you and I we could lie to each other but
when God makes us a promise we know that he's going to be faithful and God
promised us eternal life if we believe on his son and because of that we can
have hope we can have hope of eternal life because we know that God has not
lied you know we learned about this morning in Hebrews 6 where it says which
hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast you know why is
it that we could have such a strong hope when it comes to our salvation when it
comes to being secure in Christ well it's because we know that God is faithful
you know if we had any doubts as to whether or not God would fulfill his
promise then you'd be like well I'm not a hundred percent sure I'm saved but if
you believe God's word if you know you've put your faith in Christ if you
know hey the Bible says I'll never lose my salvation then you could have that
hope that's like an anchor of your soul I'll read for you Psalm 119 verse 138
says thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful
you know God's testimonies and his commandments they're righteous they're
very faithful he's always going to do what he says that he will do and you
know for us the way that we apply that in our lives if we want to be faithful
we simply have to do the things that we say we will do now the first thing that I
think of when it comes to being faithful is marriage I have some marriage
statistics that I found here says this 50% of all marriages in the u.s. will end
in divorce 50% every 42 seconds there is a divorce in America 86 divorces per
hour 2046 divorces per day 14,364 per week 746,971 per year wives most often
file for divorce at 66% on average some years has soared to nearly 75%
unfortunately oftentimes it's the wife that's initiating divorce 60% of
cohabitating couples will eventually marry however living together prior to
marriage can increase the chance of getting divorced by as much as 40% the
divorce rate for couples with children is as much as 40% lower than those
without children just funny because most people will blame divorce on stress from
having kids but the statistics actually do not support that claim it's actually
more often people with children are less likely to get divorced than people who
don't have children divorce 43% of children in the United States are being
raised without their fathers and you know when you just look at our society
you could just see so much damage so much chaos so much wrecking of the home
that's happening in our nation because of divorce and why is it happening it's
because people are not being faithful and you know like the Bible says most
men will proclaim their own goodness most people will tell you they're faithful
but the reality is one out of two people are getting divorced in America so at
least half of them you know for sure they're not faithful why because they're
not doing what they said they would do what is it that people say that they
will do when they get married they say that they're not going to get divorced
that's literally part of the vows pretty much let me read some of them for you
this is what the husband says traditionally at weddings I've been to
this is what I've heard pretty much every marriage I've ever been to says
this I husband take the wife to be my wedded wife to have and to hold from
this day forward for better for worse for richer for poorer in sickness and in
health to love and to cherish till death do us part isn't that what people say
till death do us part and then three years later they're divorced and then
seven years later they're divorced then their wife you know doesn't cook as good
as they thought and they divorced them well then their husband's a little more
messy than they expected and the wife divorces him because apparently most of
the time it's actually women initiating divorce so it shows that there's a lot
of ladies out there they're not being faithful they're not doing what they
said they would do because here's what the lady says I wife take the husband to
be my wedded husband to have and to hold from this day forward for better for
worse for richer for poorer in sickness and in health to love cherish and obey
till death do us part so what are people saying today when they get married they
are saying I am going to stay with you until I die for better or for worse
whether we have a good marriage whether we have a terrible marriage whether
we're rich beyond our wildest dreams or whether we're dirt poor whether we're
healthy and fit and just live in life really excited or whether we're
completely unhealthy and have tons of problems till death do us part and look
before you ever get married you better get this sunk deep into your heart that
you're not making a commitment with someone for a year or for two but that
you're making a commitment for life and you don't want to be like the world who
is so unfaithful today that they decide to break their vows no we as Christians
need to be faithful we need to do the things that we said we will do go to
Malachi chapter 2 Malachi 2 you know earlier we read about how God is not
gonna break his covenant with us good Malachi 2 verse 14 yet you say wherefore
because the Lord hath been witnessed between thee and the wife of thy youth
against whom thou has dealt treacherously yet she is thy companion and
the wife of thy notice covenants isn't that what you're entering into when you
get married you're entering into a covenant you're making a vow you're
making a promise you're making a covenant saying that you will do
something verse 15 and did he not make one yet had he the residue of the Spirit
and wherefore one that he might seek a godly seed therefore take heed to your
spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth so notice
that God was witness we saw in verse number 14 that God was witness between
thee and the wife of thy youth God was there God was looking down from heaven
and he heard the words that you spoke at the altar he heard you say to have and
hold for richer for poor for better for worse in sickness and in health till
death do us part God heard you say those words he's been witness between the wife
of you and your covenant and you know what when someone desired desires to
break that covenant when someone decides I'm not going to fulfill the words that
I've said you know what that is that's dealing treacherously with the wife of
your youth it's someone that would deal treacherously it's not someone that is
dealing faithfully and you know I'm so sick and tired of hearing people give
excuses for divorce you know I'm tired of Christian preachers giving excuses
for divorce I'm tired of independent fundamental Baptists when I read their
books and they get to the chapter on divorce and it's just always giving
excuses for divorce look never divorce it's never right it's always dealing
treacherously it's always being unfaithful there's never an excuse to
divorce look at Malachi chapter 2 verse 16 for the Lord the God of Israel say
it that he hated putting away for one covereth violence with his garment say
it the Lord of hosts therefore take heed to your spirit that you deal not
treacherously so look God hates it when you put away your wife when you divorce
your wife or you divorce your husband that is something that God hates but
what do people do for one covereth violence with his garment you know what
what I think this is talking about sometimes the word violence simply means
to violate and here's the thing if you're married and you go and commit
adultery like the beginning of this chapter is talking about where God is
kind of comparing Israel to someone that's adulterous when you go and you
commit adultery against your spouse you know what you're doing is you're
violating her or ladies if you committed adultery on your husband what are you
doing you're violating him you're violating your vows you're dealing
treacherously and God hates that the Bible says it's not being faithful go to
Psalm 37 Psalm 37 and you know we need to get back to a culture in a society
that thinks that divorce is wrong that doesn't put up with it that doesn't
think it's socially acceptable and you know if we had a society like that like
this you wouldn't have the huge problems today that you see oftentimes in places
like Chicago or Detroit where you have a large group of black children growing up
without their fathers you know that's a terrible thing and some people be like
oh you're you're racist just for pointing that out look what I think is
racist is telling people that it's cool to divorce so that all these black
people's communities are being destroyed by not having a dad by not having a
family unit you know I think you're the racist if you're not telling black
people the truth and I don't care if you're black or white never divorce
because it will destroy your life it'll harm your children it'll ruin your home
economically you know you decide to get remarried in the future that's the type
of person you're gonna marry in the future is often way lower caliber than
the one you married at first which is why people that get divorced remarried
often have higher divorce rates the second time don't do it you know another
way that we need to be faithfuls in our financial commitments
Psalm 37 21 says the wicked borroweth and payeth not again but the righteous
showeth mercy and giveth you know we need to do what we say we will do and if
you borrow money from someone you should pay back Bible says that a wicked person
borrows it does not pay again and you know I understand that we live in a
society where the Jews are oppressing people financially with wicked usury high
interest rates but you know the Bible doesn't say that it's okay to steal as
long as you're stealing from a Jew no if you get a loan if you decided to take
out a loan and it's high interest hey that was your fault you should just pay
that back though because otherwise you would be guilty of being someone that's
not faithful and in fact wicked if you borrowed and did not pay back go to
Proverbs 25 so number one we saw that faithful people do what they say they
will do number two faithful people are reliable faithful people are reliable
Proverbs 25 verse 13 says this as the cold of snow in the time of harvest so
is a faithful messenger to them that send him for he refresheth the soul of
his masters so you know the Bible is using this carnal truth to illustrate a
spiritual truth you know when when you feel that first hold of the year the
first cold of snow and time of harvest what does it do it refreshes your soul
so by the way don't hate on snow okay the Bible speaks positively of snow by
was literally comparing a faithful messenger to the cold of snow and when
you have a faithful messenger someone is reliable you know you're saying hey I'm
gonna give this message to you and I want you to relay it to this other
person the the masters not thinking I wonder if he's gonna change my words I
wonder if he's gonna paraphrase me and not communicate exactly the words that
I'm saying I wonder if he's gonna kind of twist my message that would not be a
reliable person a reliable person is like hey your boss says go tell person
this and you tell them exactly that and isn't that how isn't that how we should
be as soul winners when we go and we go and talk to people in the community
shouldn't we be a faithful witness shouldn't we be a faithful messenger
where we're just telling them exactly what the Bible says we're not coming up
with our own message we're not twisting the words of God we're saying hey I'm
just the messenger here's what God said shouldn't we do that when we're
preaching if you get the opportunity to preach we should be a faithful messenger
where we just we take the words of God and we explain what God's saying we
don't add things to it we don't take things away from it you know we want to
make sure that we're being faithful messengers there was one time that I was
working as a manager of a company and I walked in in the morning to see one of
the employees just completely asleep just on the job just I'm the only one
there I opened the door and this person is just completely asleep and I just
thought in my mind this person is not reliable I can't trust this person this
is not a faithful person because I'm just thinking if I give this person a
task to do I can't even trust him to stay awake during work hours how am I
supposed to trust this person to do anything meaningful and you know that you
should think about that in your day-to-day life thinking about hey am I
being a reliable person am I being a flake am I communicating things that
people ask me to exactly how they want me to or am I just taking liberty to do
whatever I want go to Proverbs 13 Proverbs 13 verse 7 says this a wicked
messenger falleth into mischief but a faithful ambassador is health a wicked
messenger falleth into mischief you know if we were to just use our carnal mind
we would probably think something like an unlucky messenger falleth into
mischief I mean think about if you're a boss and you give your an employee a task
and every time you give him a task he just he happens to fall into mischief I
mean every time it's like oh I ran out of gas on the way to do this task boss or
oh man I got all the way there boss but I forgot the company credit card I can't
do what you asked me to do or just like there's all these just they're just
falling into mischief all the time I mean what an unlucky person no the Bible
says that a wicked messenger fall it into mischief why because this person is
not faithful they're not reliable a person that's reliable is a person what
it says but a faithful ambassador is health you know your boss isn't gonna be
stressing out and getting heart problems from how much of an unreliable employee
you are when you're a faithful ambassador when he thinks hey I'm gonna
give this person a job and I'm gonna rely that this person is gonna get it
done that he's gonna do what I say go to Luke chapter 16 see it's not though
it's not the lazy messenger that falls into mischief it's not the unlucky
messenger it's the wicked messenger and you know many people that are
unfaithful are wicked in this world today go to Luke 16 we get this principle
taught by Jesus Christ in Luke 16 10 it says he that is faithful in that which
is least is faithful also in much and he that is unjust in the least is unjust
also in much so when we think about the word faithful how it's used here think
about what we're talking about someone that is reliable you know if you at
work show yourself to your boss that you're very reliable in the small things
that he asks you to do well he might be like hey this person's very faithful I'm
gonna give them more to do and you know it's the same exact thing with God you
know God is constantly looking down at our lives nothing escapes his eyes
nothing escapes his watch he sees whether or not we're reliable he sees
whether or not we're faithful and if God looks down from heaven and he gives you
something small to do and he sees that you're not reliable well then he's gonna
think this person isn't gonna be reliable if I give him something big to
do but if we actually as Christians take everything in our life seriously the
small things we take the small things in our life very seriously God might say
now here's a person that I could entrust with more here's a person that I could
bless with more and so when it comes to being faithful you got to realize that
in life the small things really are the big things and this is true with God
this is true with work this is true you know you children you want more freedom
from your parents you know the small things lead to the big things and if you
want big things in this life you better be faithful in small things look at
verse 11 if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who
will commit to your trust the true riches and if you have not been faithful
in that which is another man's who shall give you that which is your own you know
sometimes I hear this attitude from men at work where they're so jaded working
for someone else and they're discontent working with someone else and they have
a desire to work for themselves and to start their own business and look that's
a great desire to have to want to work for yourself and start your own business
but you shouldn't have this attitude where it's like well since I'm working
for someone else I'm not gonna do a good job I'm not gonna put a lot of my effort
and energy into it I'm not gonna put my heart into it because I would only do
that for myself no the attitude you should have is that regardless of where
you are if you desire to be your own boss someday then how much more should
you really care and put effort and energy into another man's business and I
think that really I just I wonder sometimes if Christians don't realize
that so much of our life is just simply by having the blessing of God on us and
it's not about how smart you are it's not about how well you plan things and
sometimes I'm thinking like okay you want to have your business someday well
then what you should do is have God get on your side by you being really faithful
in another man's business not disparaging the business or not caring
about it go to Proverbs 11 Proverbs 11 number three this evening faithful
people are trustworthy faithful people are trustworthy Proverbs 11 verse 13
says a tale bearer revealeth secrets but he that is of a faithful spirit
concealeth the matter you know us as Christians it is a virtue to be someone
that can be trusted with information us as Christians we should not be going
around and just blowing off our mouth about everything we know about every
person about every situation about every drama why because the Bible says that a
person that's of a faithful spirit conceal it the matter so you know when
someone comes up to you in confidence and confides in you for something you
know you shouldn't be unfaithful you shouldn't be untrustworthy and just
start blabbing that off to other people if someone's coming to you in trust now
of course if someone you know in secret is coming to you and lying or railing or
gossiping that's a different story you know that needs to be dealt with but if
someone just comes up to you and says like hey man I'm struggling in this area
well you just pray for me that you don't need to go up to brother so-and-so and be
like yeah brother so-and-so is really struggling with this problem and it's
like that's not someone that's being faithful that's someone that's being a
tale bearer go to Proverbs 18 Proverbs 18 Proverbs chapter number 18 notice
verse number 8 it says this the words of a tale bearer are as wounds and they go
down into the innermost parts of the belly so a tale bearer is someone that
just goes around telling tales telling stories telling information that they
know even if it's true information I mean the tale bearer someone that is
just complete blabbermouth they have to tell everyone everyone else's business
and the Bible says that he that the words of a tale bearer are as wounds
think about a wound like you got a big cut on your arm or a big cut in your
body what is a wound do it hurts you right and when someone is going around
and tail bearing it's like a wound in the sense that it hurts you it harms you
and think about if you go out into this world isn't there certain people that
you just expect discretion from you know when you go to a doctor and you tell the
doctor about your problems don't you just expect that the doctor is not going
to go tell everyone your problems I mean what if you went to the doctor and you
said hey doctor I'm dealing with XYZ here's all my issues I need your help and
then you get on Facebook and your doctor has just posted this person has this
medical problem and this issue it's like what in the world is going on and that
would hurt you right that would harm you'd be like what is wrong with this
person this person is insane right or if you went to a lawyer and you said you
know here's legal issues I'm needing help with if he blasted that that would
be weird okay how about a pastor if you go to your spiritual leadership you go
to your pastor and you tell them about an issue you ask him for help for
something don't you expect that he's not gonna go blabbing out your business to
everyone right but here's the thing that's how we should all be we should
all be people that are not tail bearers that are concealing a matter that are
not revealing other people's secrets why because that harms people and that hurts
people and if you think about this in business too you know if you wanted if
you want to be trusted by your boss to do some big tasks some important work for
your company you know you want a promotion in order for that to happen
your boss has to trust you you know and if you're some sort of like mid-level
management and you want to get higher oftentimes you're gonna be working with
trade secrets or sensitive information and if you're gonna want to progress in
your company you're gonna have to be trusted by your boss so again you can't
be someone that your boss tells you something in confidence and you just go
blab it off to all the other employees well that's someone that's not faithful
I'll read for you Ecclesiastes 10 1 as you turn to Proverbs 14 the Bible says
dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking
saver so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honor and
think about this verse in the context of revealing secrets you know you could
spend your whole life building a reputation of being trustworthy building
a reputation with your friends family co-workers pastor whoever that you're
someone that can be trusted of information but it only takes just one
time pretty much to ruin that trustworthiness and so you should take
that very seriously that you know being faithful being trustworthy is not just a
one-time event is not just being faithful one time no it's being faithful
for forever for your whole life otherwise you could ruin it very very
quickly and when you lose someone's trust it's very very very difficult to
gain it back again that's just the reality of this world you know think
about if a spouse cheated on their spouse I mean it's possible that that
person would never be trusted again and so we got to take the decisions we make
very seriously now number four when it comes to faithfulness faithful people
tell the truth faithful people tell the truth look at Proverbs 14 verse 5 a
faithful witness will not lie but a false witness will utter lies you know a
faithful person is going to tell the truth they're not going to purposely
mislead or purposely misguide people or try to get all crafty with their words
so that technically they're telling the truth but they're saying in a really
weird way so as to deceive people you know a faithful person is someone that
just says it like it is that just says the truth that doesn't try to hide
anything but doesn't try to hold anything back it's just someone that
tells the truth go to Titus chapter 1 Titus chapter number 1 you know today we
need preachers that will tell the truth we need pastors and men that get up and
stand with the Word of God to tell the truth look at Titus 1 verse 9 it says
holding fast the faithful word as he have been taught that he may be able by
sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers you know we know
that the Bible is true we know that the Word of God is faithful but we also need
just men of God to be faithful to the Word of God and to be true and to tell
the truth about what it says you know so many pastors and so many Christians are
so dishonest with the Bible and you know I've sat in in church before where
pastors are reading and they're doing a whole sermon on Romans 1 and they just
conveniently skip half the chapter and it's just like why won't you just be
honest with what it says why are you why are you being deceitful with this verse
with this chapter you know hold fast to the faithful word the Bible's true just
say what it says verse 10 for there are many unruly and vain talkers and
deceivers especially they have the circumcision whose mouths must be
stopped who subvert whole houses teaching things which they ought not for
filthy Luker's sake so notice one of the jobs of a preacher is to hold fast to
the faithful word and to shut the mouths of the deceivers out there to say like
no hey I've got the truth here this person's lying and it's totally
appropriate at times for a preacher or a pastor to call out individuals
especially for lying especially for misrepresenting the Word of God verse
12 one of themselves even a prophet of their own said the Cretians are always
liars evil beasts slow bellies this witness is true wherefore rebuke them
sharply that they may be sound in the faith go to Proverbs 27 Proverbs chapter
number 27 you know we need preachers today that are holding fast the faithful
word sticking true to what the Bible says not deviating from it and coming up
with their own opinions or lying about things and even calling out false
prophets that are lying that are teaching false doctrine Proverbs 27 when
it comes to not lying think about it in this context Proverbs 27 verse for
faithful are the wounds of a friend but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful you
know in this life oftentimes we're gonna have conflicts even within our church
and you know we're flesh at the end of the day we're all sinners we're going to
do things wrong to each other from time to time and so one of the things that a
faithful person does is that they don't lie and the Bible says faithful are the
wounds of a friend you know sometimes even maybe in this room it might be
appropriate to say something that on the surface might hurt someone else's
feeling and harm someone temporarily but if you're what you're saying is true
then that's actually the loving and faithful thing to do to someone you know
it's actually being a faithful friend when someone you know crosses the line
biblically or just some you know some sort of conflict in our church it would
be faithful to tell that person that they're wrong and to explain to them why
and that's not attacking them that's not doing anything you know super wrong or
weird anything like that that would be actually being faithful go to Matthew
24 Matthew chapter number 24 Matthew 24 number 5 this evening faithful people
are consistent faithful people are consistent look at Matthew 24 verse 30
verse 43 it says this but know this that if the good man of the house had known
and what watched the thief would come he would have watched it would not have
suffered his house to be broken up therefore be ye ready also for in such
an hour as he think not the son of man cometh you know think about a watchman
someone's job is to stay up at a property or at a military base or
something like that and to watch for threats wouldn't you want that person to
be faithful wouldn't you want that person to be consistent what if that
person had a 10-hour watch and they were only watching nine out of those 10 hours
would that be someone that you would want being a watchman no because look
what it says if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come he would have watched so you know if you're a watchman you never know
when evil is gonna come it could come the very first second of your shift it
come at the sixth hour it can come at the very last second so if you're a
watchman you'd want to be consistent in your watching the whole time being
faithful right you know this is why I personally recommend men you know if you
decide to carry a firearm in your life which I highly recommend that men do
this I highly encourage you to do this every single day I highly encourage you
to do this everywhere in your life that you possibly can because hey you don't
know what hour the thief is coming you don't know what hour the violence is
coming and to me it doesn't make a lot of sense to be like well you know I'm
going on a soul-winning trip to Chicago so now I'll bring my firearm or it's
like you know I'm going to a rough gas station tonight so I might carry this
evening it's like why don't you just carry all the time everywhere and to me
that just makes sense to be consistent to be faithful in this because you
don't know the hour and you know that's the same thing spiritually let's keep
reading verse 45 says who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord
hath made ruler over his household to give them meat and dew season blessed is
that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing verily I say
unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods you know Jesus wants
us also to be faithful and wants us to be consistent in our spiritual life that
when the Lord comes he finds people consistently faithfully living the
Christian life you know God doesn't want you to just read your Bible once cover
to cover and say I'm good you know God wants us to consistently read our Bible
every single day God doesn't want you to just hey I went to church one time after
I got saved I did go to church no what he wants is for you to consistently go
to church that's a faithful person you know think about in your marriage wives
do you want your husband to just have loved you once it's just like one day my
husband loved me and it was great we just have a great marriage because my
husband at one point or do you want him to consistently love you you want him to
be faithful right you want him to love you every single day you know husbands do
you want to say like my wife my wife obeyed me one time she submitted one
single time we have a great marriage because one time she submitted or do you
want her to submit every time right and it's the same thing with God when he
gives us something to do when we get something in the Word of God that's
calling us to do something God doesn't want us to be like well Lord I went
soul-winning one time no God wants you to keep going soul-winning he wants you
to keep going to church he wants you to keep reading your Bible and keep being
faithful what is that that's consistently go to Jeremiah 23 Jeremiah
chapter 23 Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 28 the Bible says the prophet that hath a
dream let him tell a dream and he that hath my word let him speak my word
faithfully what is the chaff to the wheat say it the Lord so think about it
Bible says that if you have God's Word he wants you to speak God's Word
faithfully and of course one way that we've already talked about is when God
gives us his word he wants us to be true to the message of what he's saying
doesn't want us to deviate to the right or the left or you know give our own
thoughts or opinions he wants us to preach what God says but also when we
have the Word of God he wants us to preach it faithfully meaning
consistently you know God didn't say hey Jeremiah go preach my word and he's like
I preached one sermon I'm done no he wants Jeremiah to keep preaching the
Word of God and for us like I said he doesn't want us to just go out and
preach the gospel to every creature just go out and preach the gospel just one
time he wants us to consistently faithfully preach his work you know
preachers in this world people that have any position pastors deacons evangelists
you know God wants those people to keep preaching the Word of God not just like
well hey God I preached a sermon one time no God wants you to keep preaching
he that speaks God's Word preach it continuously preach it faithfully
preach it preach it consistently go to Proverbs chapter 28 Proverbs chapter
number 28 you know this is why it's so great to have three services a week
because we're just being consistent we're being faithful we're not just
every once in a while hearing the Word of God or obeying its commandments you
know we're coming together three times a week we're being faithful that's what we
should desire this is why I highly encourage people by the way to pick at
least one soul-winning time a week that you are going to be faithful to and not
just say like well I'll just go soul-winning every once in a while when
I feel like it but actually you just look at your schedule and you say I'm
gonna mark a time that I go soul-winning every single week and for
some people it's two times or some people it's three times and you know
again I've said this before and I'm always gonna push this I hope people try
to come to our Saturday soul-winning time because I've seen in other churches
the Saturday soul-winning rally grow into something with hundreds of hundreds
of soul winners where a great great work for God is being done and what's it
gonna take though it's gonna take people to be faithful it's gonna take people to
be consistent to participate in the ministry Proverbs 28 my last point this
evening is number six faithful people are rewarded faithful people are
rewarded Proverbs 28 verse 20 says this faithful man shall abound with blessings
but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent you know people
that are very successful financially often are people that have been very
faithful in the little things they've done the little things well they've
taken care of other men's stuff really well and they've done it consistently
for a very long time and now they're bounding with blessings and this applies
to every area of our life that if we're faithful people that God is gonna reward
us for that but you know people that aren't faithful they have a lot of
problems in their life you know there's people there's so many people today that
they have no lawyer or faithfulness to their friends whatsoever and I'm just
gonna tell you if you're a person that you could just drop any friend like a
bad habit so fast you know what you're gonna end up you're gonna be a person
that has no friends whereas if you're someone that's faithful that where the
Bible talks about how a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for
adversity when you're that type of friend when you're a faithful friend
you're actually gonna find that you have a lot of really really good quality
friends not just superficial Facebook friendships but actually real people
that you actually interact with in real life that you're gonna be blessed from
having that relationship you know people today they're so unfaithful when it
comes to church you know some people they could just drop church like a bad
habit where the fair the first time they're offended the first time someone
crosses them or does something that they are not a hundred percent approval of I
mean they're just done they're they're completely done they're not faithful at
all whatsoever and it's just so weird how people are like this with church
because they're not really like this with other institutions because quite
frankly I go to Walmart and I see stuff that pisses me off all the time but I'm
not just like I'm never stepping through the doors of a Walmart ever again I
mean they sell Halloween decorations which is wicked so I guess I could I'm
just done with them for forever no if I'm around one and I need to go there I'm
just gonna go there okay but here's the thing people are like oh man church made
me mad one bad thing happened at church what one thing was said from behind the
pulpit that I didn't like one person at the church crossed me or did something
uncharitable I'm just done with church I'm quitting on church well you're
probably not gonna be the person then that this proverb is talking about that
abounds with blessings because you know what recently Steadfast Baptist Church
just experienced their 10 year anniversary and thank God there are some
people there that have been with that with Steadfast Baptist Church for 10
years and those people were faithful those people went from starting in
someone's living room where no one knows about them there's very few people and
now this morning at Steadfast Baptist Church there was 240 people in church you
know what that is that's a person that's gonna abound with blessing when someone
can remain faithful when someone can remain loyal go to Nehemiah chapter 7
you know you know who's gonna be blessed the person that remains loyal to their
spouse you know who's gonna reap a lot of blessings the person who in their
70s and 80s and 90s are standing by the wife of their youth rather than throwing
in the towel when you're 40 throwing in the towel when you're 50 and then what
are you gonna do after that you're not gonna be blessed Nehemiah 7 verse 2 says
this that I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the ruler of the palace charge
over Jerusalem notice for he was a faithful man and feared God above many
why was this person placed in charge why was he promoted why did he receive this
blessing because he was faithful why was Moses blessed because he was faithful
why was Daniel blessed because he was faithful why was Jesus blessed because
he was faithful why did the Apostle Paul get put into the ministry because Jesus
Christ counted him faithful and so there is a reward today for being faithful look
at Nehemiah 13 Nehemiah 13 verse 13 and I made treasurers over the treasuries
Shelemyah the priest and Zadok the scribe and of the Levites Petahiah and
next to them was Hanan the son of Zachar the son of Mataniah for they were
counted faithful and their office was to distribute unto their brethren you know
these people were put in positions of having responsibility and being trusted
by Nehemiah and why did they do that notice what it says for they were
counted faithful and so we don't want to get impatient in life where we think
like man it seems like it seems like I'm doing right I'm doing my best I mean of
course I'm a sinner but it seems like I'm working really hard I'm following
the Bible I'm doing everything I need to do and it just seems like things aren't
working out for me look according to the Bible you will reap what you sow and
that applies both negatively and positively so if you are a faithful
person I promise you the rewards are coming I don't know when I don't know
God's timetable for every individual but I know that there is a reward for being
faithful a few more verses here go to Psalm 31 Psalm 31 Psalm chapter 31 verse
23 says oh love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the
faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer you know don't you want in
times of trouble in times of fear and anxiety maybe even in times of literal
physical danger don't you want the Lord to preserve you don't you want the Lord
to take care of you well look what it says for the Lord preserveth the faithful
you know I want that protection from God I want that blessing from God and if I
want to reap that reward what do I got to do I got to be faithful last verse
we'll look at is Proverbs 29 Proverbs 29 what are we talking about we're talking
about that faithful people are rewarded you know what about leadership you know
faithful leadership also is rewarded look at Proverbs 29 verse 14 the king
that faithfully judge at the poor his throne shall be established forever you
know God can set up one king and lower another God can exalt people God can
abase people God can cause people to be castaways or God can establish someone
and the Bible says that the king that faithfully judges the poor his throne
shall be established forever so you know if you ever find yourself in some sort
of position of leadership and you want to keep that leadership or even be
provoked promoted higher you know you need to take it very seriously that it's
not just guaranteed to you tomorrow no but rather you have to be faithful you
have to continue to do the things that God wants you to do just a quick recap
here number one faithful people do what they say will do number two faithful
people are reliable number three faithful people are trustworthy number
four faithful people tell the truth number five faithful people are
consistent number six faithful people are rewarded you know I would just
encourage everyone this evening to continue to be faithful in the things of
God be faithful to your spouse be faithful to your friends you know be
faithful to your employer be faithful to your church just be faithful because
it's a rare thing to find let's pray Lord thank you for this day and thank you
for this great wisdom in your word and the admonitions found therein I just
prayed that you'd help us Lord to be the exception that we wouldn't just be
people that go around and proclaim our own goodness and think in our minds that
we're so great but actually Lord that we would be one of the few that are
faithful that we would be reliable that we would do the things that we say we
will do that we could be trusted with information Lord that we would
faithfully preach the Word of God that we would be consistent in our good works
Lord and I pray that you would just reward us for being faithful love you
and Jesus we pray amen all right if you would grab a hymnal we'll go ahead and
sing one last song to conclude the service in number 405 in your hymnal the
banner of the cross in number 405 number 405 start there right on the first
there's a royal banner given for display to the soldiers of the key as an ensign
fair we lifted up to date while as ransomed ones we see