The verse I want to focus the sermon on this evening was in verse 10 where the Bible read,
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.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to
your trust the true riches?
And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that
which is your own?
So according to the Bible, the Bible uses the word faith or faithful a lot.
And faith can mean a lot of different things.
Of course we're all saved by faith, for by grace are you saved through faith.
But in this context, the Bible is taking it in another direction.
And there was a word that I was thinking of when I was thinking of this sermon.
It was loyalty.
That was going to be the title of the sermon, but I changed it to just faithful because
sometimes you could be loyal to a fault, right?
I mean you could be loyal to something that you shouldn't be loyal to.
But the Bible doesn't use the word loyal a single time, but it uses the word faithful
a lot.
It uses the word being faithful.
And I really feel like when you think of the difference between faithful and loyalty, faithful
is something that you can never really be ashamed of.
I mean if you're always faithful in that which you're supposed to do, if you're doing that
which is right, it's always going to be a good thing.
Whether it be at the job, whether it be the things of God, whether it be whatever it is,
being faithful is always a good attribute.
And the Bible is saying, look, the guy that's faithful in the least, he will also be faithful
in that which is most or that which is much, okay?
Now I want to focus on a few different ways.
I want to focus on the things that are the much, and I also want to focus on things that
are the least in this sermon.
So we're going to kind of look at it in different areas.
I have seven areas that I've kind of highlighted that I want to just kind of look at from a
topical perspective of the Bible and see the importance of being faithful.
What does it mean to be faithful?
How can we be faithful?
What's the practical application of being faithful in our lives?
Well go if you would to Revelation chapter number three.
Revelation chapter number three.
People today aren't faithful, you know, and if you've memorized Psalms chapter twelve,
the Bible says, help Lord for the godly man seeseth for the faithful fail from among the
children of men.
It's hard to find faithful people.
It's hard to find people that are loyal, that are willing to stick it out when it's tough,
when things aren't going well, when things aren't easy.
People like the easy road.
They like things that are comfortable.
They don't want to do anything that's hard.
And when you're faithful, you're one that will stick it out when it's hard, when it's
tough, when you don't want to do it, you just do it anyways.
That's someone that's faithful.
Some people have this idea that being faithful is doing the things that you want.
I just really want to do this.
You know, being a faithful wife is not necessarily, hey, I'm always going to do what my husband
says when I agree, it's when he doesn't agree.
As a husband, as a leader, it's saying, hey, if I'm doing something the Bible's not saying,
I need to change.
I'm going to be faithful to whatever God's word says, not what I want, not what I think
is right.
Hey, I'm going to go to church, not because I want to every time, but because I know that's
what the Lord wants me to do and I'm going to be faithful.
So my first point is church, being faithful in church.
And the reality is, in the flesh, every single Christian will not want to go to church at
some point in their life.
Maybe you didn't even want to come to church tonight.
It's just the reality, okay, that in the flesh, in the normal man, some things are hard to
do.
You know, doing things that are right, doing things that are godly, many times there's
going to be struggle, there's going to be temptation.
And we see, how can you be faithful in church?
Well, you've got to decide I'm always going to be in church, period.
That's what it means to be faithful.
Hey, it doesn't matter what church, it doesn't matter where I'm at, I'm going to be in church
on Sunday morning.
I'm going to be in church on Sunday night, Wednesday night, whatever it is, you're going
to be in church.
Look at Revelation chapter 3 verse 1.
And unto the angel, the church, and Sardis write, These things saith he that hath the
seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know thy works, that thou hast a name that
thou livest and art dead.
Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not
found thy works perfect before God.
Now, what I want to point out is the fact that, well, why would someone not go to church?
Let's say someone is going to church.
They're going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, whatever their pattern is,
they've been going.
But then all of a sudden, they get out of that pattern.
They stop going three times a week, they just stop going to church, whatever it is.
What do they say, well, my church, you know, I don't like some of the things that are going
on in my church.
You know, my church, I don't like all the preaching, I don't agree with everything,
I don't agree with all the programs, I don't like it, it's kind of boring.
Whatever the excuse is, they have some type of excuse, don't they?
But we see in Revelation chapter three, this isn't a great church.
There's a lot of problems at this church.
And the reality is, even Pure Words Baptist Church, I guarantee it's not perfect.
I guarantee there's going to be problems.
I guarantee there's going to be things I say you don't agree with, or certain events or
activities or decisions or whatever.
These are going to happen at church that you don't personally agree with or like.
And the question is, hey, should I still go to church?
Should I still be faithful?
The answer is yes.
The answer is of course you should go to church.
God's not talking to the people outside of church.
He's talking to the people that are still going to a bad church, but at least they're
in church.
Because you know what, it's a commandment to not forsake the assembling of ourselves
together as the manner of some is, some people just forsake.
God's not talking to them, He's talking to the people that are in them.
He says be watchful and strengthen the things which remain.
What does a faithful person do?
Well they look at their church and they say, well this isn't perfect.
These people aren't perfect, these decisions aren't perfect, but you know what I'm going
to do?
Instead of just quitting and leaving, I'm going to strengthen the things that do remain.
Hey, I don't like the soul winning program at my church.
Well strengthen it.
Hey, I don't like this aspect of church.
Well strengthen it.
You know, nobody's real friendly at the door.
Well then you be friendly at the door.
You know, nobody's making coffee.
Well you make coffee.
You know?
Well there's not any water.
I'm not saying you have to get the water.
I'll take care of the water.
But I'm just saying, you know, when there's something that's not perfect or you don't
like at church, why don't you decide, hey I'm going to step in.
I'm going to fill the void.
I'm going to be the person to take it over.
Instead of having the opposite reaction and saying, you know what, I'm just going to quit
going to church now.
You know what, I just don't like the preaching.
You know, there's no good church.
There's nowhere I can learn the Bible.
This is a bad attitude.
But throughout the Bible, there's plenty of people that are going to churches that
aren't perfect and God's so glad that they're in church.
Go back to chapter 2.
Go back to chapter number 2.
Look at verse 1.
Unto the angel of the church of the Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth
the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, and thou thou canst not bear them which are
evil.
And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them
liars and hast borne and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast
not fainted.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works, or else
I will come into thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou
repent.
So in this church, they've got a major issue.
They're about to lose their candlestick, which represents the fact that it is a church.
God's saying this church is so close to not even being a church.
You better start repenting.
But he's not saying people leave the church.
He didn't say go, you know, quit the church, just stop going to church.
No, he's saying repent.
So the difference is, some people that just forsake church, that's not a faithful person.
The faithful person sticks it out in church, decides to keep going, and continue to make
the church better.
If every single person in this room decides to just start leaving church when they don't
like something, nobody will be here, everybody will be gone.
You know what a church is comprised of?
People that are faithful.
People that decide, you know what, I'm just going to go to church anyways.
Now I want you to be excited about church, don't get me wrong.
I don't want you to have this attitude like, oh, I got to go to church, you know.
I want you all to be excited.
I want there to be fun programs.
I want, you know, the singing and everything to be great.
But the reality is, sometimes you're just going to be like, I just got to go to church.
You know what, the faithful person, he's already purposed in his heart, I'm just going to
go.
You know what, and God says, look, when you're faithful, and which is least, you're also
going to be faithful in much.
And we're talking about going to church, this isn't the biggest commandment.
This isn't one of the major commandments.
How many verses in the Bible say go to church?
We have like not forsaking ourselves, but it's not a lot of verses.
So this is probably, in my mind, in some degree, a lesser commandment of just being faithful
to church every single time.
Obviously, it's really important.
Obviously, I'm not trying to downplay every commandment of God is important, but if we're
comparing it with other, you know, verses, there's a lot more verses that say a lot of
other things that are more important, right, or that more emphasis throughout the Bible.
So even something like church, you say, well, is it really important that I go to Sunday
night service?
I mean, you know, is that really the biggest thing?
Is that the most important thing?
But we see the person that decides to be faithful and little, God's like, wow, I really like
how this guy is faithful in this.
I'm going to bless him with much.
I'm going to bless him with a lot more than he has right now because he's faithful in
that which is little.
Go back to Hebrews chapter 10.
Let's look at the verse that we've been talking about.
And look, there's a lot of bad reasons to leave a church.
People leave a church because, well, I don't agree with the pastor on everything.
What person do you agree with on everything?
Every single little doctrine, every single little finer point.
And look, I'm not talking about disagreeing with the Bible, like which Bible we should
use, which gospel we should preach.
I'm not talking about major core issues.
I'm not going to go to that church.
I'm not going to go to a church where I can't even agree with the pastor on which Bible
to use, on what salvation is.
That's not something we can have agreement on.
But at the same time, when it comes to minor things or little things, I'm not going to
agree with every single person.
You're not going to agree with every single person.
You don't have to agree with me on every issue to come to this church.
But the core doctrines of the faith, yeah.
We've got to be in agreement on those, otherwise what are we doing here?
We don't have any unity.
It's going to be chaos and whatever.
Look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 21, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that
promised.
Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another in so
much the more as you see the day approaching.
Now when you read this in context, why is he telling you not to go to church?
The reality is he's saying it for other people.
He's saying the reason why you're in church is for other people.
You're supposed to be provoking other people to go to church.
If everybody stops coming to church, it has a domino effect.
Everybody stops wanting to come to church.
If everybody's going to church, it has the other domino effect.
Everybody wants to start coming to church.
That's how the Bible describes it, and it's just how life is.
Hey, I can't wait to see you Sunday night.
Well, I'm not going.
Oh, okay.
Well, I guess I'm not going to go either.
Hey, I'm not going to go Wednesday night.
Okay, I don't want to go either.
I'm not going to go to church anymore.
I'm just going to go fishing.
That's going to be like Peter, right?
I go fishing.
And what do all the disciples do?
Well, let's go fishing with Peter.
Who cares about church?
We've just been with Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, for three and a half years.
Let's just go fishing.
Look, if they can do that, we can decide, hey, I don't really want to go to church.
I can be in the flesh.
If the disciples that were literally with Jesus Christ can get backslidden, we can get
backslidden too.
So the reality is when you start feeling that temptation of being backslidden, you have
to decide, well, am I going to be faithful though?
Am I going to be faithful to church?
And don't get what I'm saying wrong here.
I'm not saying, oh, I have to be faithful to Pure Words Baptist Church for the rest
of my life.
That's not what I'm saying.
You should just be faithful to church.
And whatever church is the best church for you, go to that church.
This is my opinion about church.
You should be somewhat, and I'm going to use this word carefully, selfish when it comes
to church for you and your family.
Whatever is the best church for you and your children, you go to that church.
You say, I'm going to serve God the best at this church.
Go to that church.
I don't want you, you'd be like, man, I'd be really serving God well if I went to this
church.
Then go to that church.
Why would I want you to come to my church if you honestly would serve God better with
your life somewhere else?
The purpose of me having this church, of getting up and preaching, is to help you better serve
Christ.
That should be the goal of a pastor, that should be the heart of a pastor, is to try
and help you serve Christ better.
So if you would literally serve Christ better somewhere else, go there.
But look, you're not going to serve Christ better at a church that's not using the King
James Bible.
That's not preaching the gospel.
That's not preaching the whole council of God.
So already you've got to eliminate all those.
And if you start eliminating all those, then it gets really narrow.
But I'm saying honestly, whatever is the best church for you, that's where I would go.
You say five minutes from my house, I don't care how close it is to my house.
I'm going to take my kids to the best church as possible for them because it's more important
for them to hear the sound preaching, to get the truth, to know the truth, than for me
to drive an hour or two hours or whatever.
I mean there's all kinds of things that you have to make decisions on.
What are you going to be faithful to?
Why would I be faithful to the truth?
I want to be faithful to God.
I'm here to serve God.
That's my purpose.
That's my goal.
That's my desire.
Am I perfect?
No.
Are you perfect?
No.
But obviously that's why you go to church, to provoke others to serve Christ.
But only that, hey, it's for your children.
You're provoking your children to go to church.
You know a father that doesn't take his kids to church, they're not going to want to go
to church when they grow up.
But if you train up a child in the way he should go when he is old, he will not depart
from it.
Well, we went to this one church.
I don't agree with the Bible they use or their soul winning methods or their music.
We just went there.
Well, guess what you're teaching your children?
Hey, it's okay to compromise on the truth.
It's okay to just do whatever.
That's why it's important to go to the best possible church.
Now go if you would to Proverbs chapter 11, Proverbs chapter 11.
And when you see problems in a church, when you see people doing things that are wrong,
the temptation is to gossip about it, to judge these people, to be negative about them.
What would a faithful person do?
What we're talking about being faithful, obviously being faithful is being in the church.
But you know what?
There's plenty of people that can be in church every single time the doors are open and they're
still not faithful.
They're always back talking to church.
They're back talking to the pastor.
They're talking evil of other people.
They're causing divisions amongst the brethren.
They're trying to cause division and strife.
Look at Proverbs 11 verse 13.
A tail bear revealeth secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
Why are you at church?
Are you at church to help other people serve Christ?
Are you at church for your children to learn the Bible?
Are you at church to learn the Bible yourself, to serve God, to put others first, esteeming
others better than thyself?
That type of person is a faithful person.
And that type of person, they will conceal their lips.
When they see something wrong, when they look at somebody else and they're like, they're
not doing something right, they're not going to go around and say, well, you see what so-and-so
is doing?
They're not, you know, doing this right and this wrong, you know, whatever.
They're not dressing perfect.
Did you see this person?
They're smoking or they're doing whatever.
Now I'm saying, look, if someone's like committing adultery or molesting children, obviously
I'm not talking about concealing that.
We should, you know, if they're on the premises, we should, you know, a child molester?
Use death, use death, use force right there.
I'm not going to allow and tolerate that.
I'll be upset that you didn't use, you know, deadly force whenever that's caught.
But we're talking about minor things, trivial things, things that you see that aren't perfect,
where you say, hey, I used to be like that.
Conceal the matter or go to them in private or try to help people.
This is a faithful person being faithful in the little things, trying to love one another.
We see that the Bible constantly, you know, teaches us loving one another.
One of the biggest things in the New Testament is how the church is supposed to love one
another as our, you know, your own brother, as your own member of your own body.
I mean, that's what Romans chapter 12 constantly emphasizes that everyone in here, it's like
your own hands and feet and eyes and no one hates their own flesh, but nourisheth and
cherishes it.
So if you actually looked at other people like they're your family, like they're your
part of your body, that you love these people, it's going to be a lot harder for you to want
to be, you know, disingenuous with them, spreading lies and gossip and rumors.
So you want to be a faithful person, what's your motivation to come in church?
I think when you get your heart right, then you could be a lot more faithful.
Now go to Numbers chapter number 12, Numbers chapter number 12.
So it's important to go to the right church, to be faithful to church, to have the right
spirit because you're going to, all your kids are going to pick up on everything.
You know, even though you're physically in the building, but you sleep during the services,
like I'm just confessing faults of family members of mine.
I know family members of mine, they would sleep at church every single time they'd go.
It was like their nap time.
It was like, what's going on?
Like, you really care about the things of God and look, your kids will pick up on this.
If you're not, if you don't pay attention, you don't really care, you know, the pastor's
preaching one thing and you're just like, whatever.
Now look, if you disagree with me on something, every man is the head of his own house.
He can teach and instruct his children what he believes is right and wrong.
You don't have to agree with me, children.
Your parents are your final authority, not your pastor.
I'm not your final authority.
Your dad is and your mom is.
You should harken and listen to them because they're right.
Do whatever they're saying.
But obviously I'm just giving general wisdom to the body to help edify the body.
Obviously we believe in the priesthood of the believer.
Every person, every saved believer is a priest and the man is the head of his home.
I'm not trying to get inside your marriage.
I'm not trying to get inside the mechanics of, you know, you're disciplining your children,
you do whatever you want.
But I'm going to tell you what the Bible says, I'm going to tell you what I do, I'm going
to give you my personal opinion and then you get to influence whatever you want.
But children should look at their parents as their ultimate authority and obey their
parents.
But if the dad's just asleep at the wheel, it's going to send off the wrong messages.
If you want to be faithful, you got to be there physically and mentally with the heart
too.
Not only that though, what's another way we need to be faithful?
How about with just God's word?
Look at Numbers 12 verse 7.
My servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all mine house.
You say, why did God pick the certain people that he did in the Old Testament?
Why did he pick Moses?
You know why?
Because Moses was going to be faithful in all that God instructed him.
Moses was not a perfect man.
Moses was a murderer.
Talk about somebody you wouldn't think he'd pick.
But guess what?
God knew that Moses was going to be faithful with all of God's commandments.
So what did God give to Moses?
Moses is wandering in the wilderness with nobody around, just trying to find a sheep.
And God's about to give him the ability to lead millions of people out of Egypt.
Why?
Because he that is faithful in least is also faithful in much.
He saw what Moses was doing.
He knows Moses' heart and he says, you know what, he's been faithful for 40 years of his
life.
That's a long time.
You know what?
Let's see what happens the next 40 years.
And he was faithful in all his house.
You don't know what God can do with you if you're faithful and little.
The question is, are you going to be faithful and little?
There's so many people, they're always complaining about all the opportunities they don't have.
When you look at them, squander all the opportunities in front of them.
They're like, you know, I don't have any joy in my life.
I don't have any purpose.
You know, God's not doing anything with me.
Well, where were you at soul winning time?
Where were you at church on Sunday night?
Why aren't you bringing your kids to church?
Why aren't you teaching and training your kids?
You know, I had a lady call me and she's just, she's crying.
She's very distraught.
She's very upset.
She's like, my husband and I, he left me.
He wants a divorce.
He doesn't want to have any more children with me.
And it's not fair.
I want more children.
And you know what?
I would love for her to have more children.
You know, I don't want women to go through that.
That sounds horrible.
I said, do you have any children?
She says, yeah, I have a daughter.
I said, okay.
Well, what church are you going to?
Well, we're not going to church.
So you have a child and you're not taking the one child
that God's given you to church, but now you're
crying and wailing because God won't give you more children.
Well, why doesn't God want to give you more children?
What if you actually took your child to church?
Why are you so focused on the things
that you don't have rather than the things that you do have?
And you know what?
There's plenty of people that have bad situations.
There are a dime a dozen.
Look in America.
There's a lot of judgment for our sin today.
There's a lot of people that have
all kinds of circumstances that aren't great.
I mean, how many people are divorced?
It's like over 50%.
How many people have murdered their own children
that we talked about this morning?
How many people have made all kinds of horrible decisions
already that are affecting their lives
and instead of being, oh, woe is me, and self-pity,
and oh, God doesn't love me, and wah?
What are you doing with the things you have?
What are you doing with the children that you do have?
What are you doing with the opportunities
that God has given to you?
Are you faithful in that which is least?
I mean, think about Moses.
Hey, I was sold unto the pharaoh's daughter.
I didn't even get to be raised with my own parents.
Then I was raised up.
Then I ended up seeing people in bondage and slavery,
my brethren.
I tried to rescue one of them.
I ended up kidding and murder.
Now I'm just out in this desert wilderness.
This guy can have a pity party if he wanted.
This guy could be self-loathing.
But you know what, he was still faithful.
He still loved the Lord.
He was still ready to serve the Lord.
And when God has the calling, now he
needed a couple of talking to's, let's be honest.
He was like, well, send another, send another.
But we knew that Moses was going to be faithful.
And here's the question, are you going
to be faithful with that which God's already given you?
You have a King James Bible in your hand.
You know how many people in this world
do not have all of God's word in their hands
and their fingertips?
Here's my question.
Are you going to be faithful with what God's given you?
The word of God?
Talk about something that's not just least.
This is much.
I mean, this is a lot right here.
But people don't want to read their Bible.
And then they get led astray by all these false prophets.
What's wrong with our country?
Nobody reads their Bible.
You know what?
If all the same people in this country
read their Bible for an hour every day,
I bet things would be a lot different.
They wouldn't really want to go to Joel Osteen's church
and hear lies every single second.
They'd be like, this doesn't make any sense.
This guy is talking crap.
This guy doesn't even know what the Bible says.
You know what?
Because people don't know what the Bible says,
then they just love the lies.
They just want the lies.
They want what's coming out of their wicked heart.
Go, if you would, to Revelation chapter 19.
Revelation chapter 19.
The Bible says in Titus 1, for a bishop
must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed,
not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker,
not given a filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality,
a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate,
holding fast the faithful word as he
has been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine
both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
What a great verse.
Holding the faithful word.
You know what's faithful?
This book.
Every single one of its promises, they always come true.
God's word is always true.
It will always happen.
This is where we've got to put our faith and trust in.
So you say, I want to be a faithful man.
Well, get this book in your heart.
Get what God's word says.
That'll make you faithful.
You say, I don't feel like I'm a very faithful person.
Start reading God's word more.
Start getting more of God's word memorized and studied
and put in your heart.
That'll help you become more faithful.
Look at Revelation 19, verse 11.
And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse,
and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True.
And in righteousness, he doth judge and make war.
God's word is faithful.
Jesus Christ is faithful.
He is the definition of faithfulness.
Look at chapter 21, verse 5.
And he that sat upon the throne said, behold,
I make all things new.
And he said unto me, write, for these words
are true and faithful.
The Bible is faithful.
Look at chapter 22, verse 6.
And he said unto me, these sayings are faithful and true.
And the Lord God of the holy prophet
sent his angel to show unto his servants
the things which must shortly be done.
So if this is faithfulness, if the words that we literally
have, how many verses do I need to show you?
You want me to show you more?
There's so many verses that say this is faithful.
Why would people go to a non-King James church?
This is where you get the faithfulness.
And when people depart from this book, guess what?
They're departing from faithfulness,
the faithfulness of the text, the faithfulness
of God's commandments.
Look, do you want to get the New Living Translation, which
has eight times in it that you have to repent of your sins
to be saved?
Good night.
I mean, how far do you have to go?
Do you have to go to the Hawaiian Pigeon version?
I'm not going to read that tonight.
Look, I would not go to a non-King James only church
no matter what.
I mean, if they invite me to come in and preach,
then I'll come in and preach against all their corruptions.
But I'm saying I'm not going to go there to visit just
to hang out and hear the preaching.
Look, I want to be faithful to God's word.
How can you be faithful to God's word
when you're hearkening to lies, when you're hearkening
to this deception and deceit?
Go if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter number 2,
2 Corinthians chapter number 2.
Look, you will be corrupted.
The Bible says, be not deceived.
Evil communications corrupt good manners.
A good Christian that knows the Bible, that believes the truth,
that goes soul winning, that gets
into a non-King James only church, they will backslide.
Don't be deceived.
You will.
You will lose the truth.
You will lose grip of reality.
You will lose a firm stance.
You will not become faithful anymore.
You will lose that faithfulness.
The Bible says, if the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do?
Without this book, we can do nothing.
Why did I name it Pure Words Baptist Church?
Because we can't do anything without it.
It's so important.
It's so crucial.
You want to know where I stand?
Yeah, on the King James Bible.
I'm always going to stand there.
We always need to teach and preach it.
And look, there's plenty of King James only churches.
They won't even tell you one time why they use it.
I mean, I've been to a King James only church.
I didn't hear one sermon on Bible versions.
I never heard a contrast of verses.
I never heard why for one time, for a whole year and a half.
And you know what?
The kids get raised up in those churches,
and they don't know why they're King James only.
So on their Facebook, they're posting NIV, NLT,
all the people in the church.
There's not unity in that church.
Look, we need to constantly preach and understand
why we use the King James Bible, even if all the adults agree,
just for the children's sake, just for the children
to hear the truth and to learn the truth.
Look at 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17.
For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God,
but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God,
speak we Christ.
So you want to be faithful.
We've got to stick to this book for the rest of our lives,
not just now.
Look, there used to be a time where this is the only thing
anybody would use.
But people got away from it.
Why?
We've got to continue to be faithful to God's word.
Go to chapter 11, chapter number 11.
Look, and if you have a corrupt Bible,
you're going to have a corrupt gospel.
You're going to have corrupt teaching.
You're going to have corrupt doctrine.
That's where you get the corruption.
It starts with this book.
And when they start twisting this book
and corrupting this book, you're going
to have a lot of other corruptions.
Look at verse 3.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtlety, so your mind
should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Show me the non-King James only church
that's got the gospel right.
I mean, they got a solid gospel presentation.
They're getting people saved.
Doesn't happen.
Doesn't exist.
And even if you could find it, the exception
to prove the rule, I don't believe it exists.
Go if you would to Proverbs 5, Proverbs chapter 5.
And one other place.
Go to 2 Corinthians 5 through, since you're right there.
Maybe you still got a finger.
Look, we got to preach the gospel.
That's the first works, isn't it?
And if we're going to be faithful to it, God's saying,
look, I'm about to take this church's candlestick away,
because they're not preaching the gospel.
So if we're going to be a faithful church,
we've got to be preaching the gospel, which means ergo,
we've got to have the Bible.
What are we talking about right here?
We're not talking about the least commandments.
We're talking about the greatest.
We're talking about the most important.
But we see the people that are faithful in the least,
they're also going to be faithful in much.
If you're faithful with what book you got,
you're going to be faithful with the gospel.
And not only that, you're going to be faithful preaching
the gospel as well.
The Bible says, I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart.
I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.
I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth
from the great congregation.
You know what, we're supposed to share our faith.
We're supposed to preach the gospel.
We're supposed to testify to other people.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2, I'll read for you,
and the things that thou has heard
of me among many witnesses, the same
commit thou to faithful men who should
be able to teach others also.
So when he's giving instruction to Timothy,
he's saying the guys that are going to be preachers
and pastors, these guys need to be faithful guys.
Don't just give this to somebody.
Don't just hand it over.
Don't just say, hey, this guy came off the street
and wants to be a pastor.
Lay your hands on him.
Just send him out.
No, it needs to be someone who's faithful.
What have we already learned?
Well, someone's going to church.
It's someone that's not just physically present,
but their heart and their mind's present as well.
Not only that, they're sticking to this book, aren't they?
They're sticking to what God's word says.
They're taking the things that are least,
and they're using them.
So you say, hey, pastor, when you're
thinking about qualifications of a bishop,
what are you thinking about?
Well, how is this guy handling all the little things,
the things that don't seem that important to most people,
things that seem, well, who cares?
How is he handling those?
How much diligence and care is he taking in those?
Because if he just blows off all the little stuff,
he's going to blow off the big stuff too.
Look at 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17.
Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,
old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
Look at verse 18.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation.
To wit, that God was in Christ reconciled the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them,
and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us.
We pray you in Christ's stead.
Be ye reconciled to God, for you hath
made him to be sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
and him.
Well, you're just saying stuff.
How do I know it's true?
OK, show me the non-King James only, soul-winning church.
Just doesn't even, I mean, have you ever run into a Christian
that's going soul-winning with an NIV?
It doesn't happen.
Why?
Well, if they can't be faithful with this,
how are they going to be faithful with a much harder job
of going out and preaching the gospel?
They're not.
But you know the guy that has this book close to his heart?
He's going to also be faithful enough to be an ambassador.
God's saying, hey, I've given you
the ministry of reconciliation.
I'm going to trust you with the gospel.
God has entrusted you and me and every saved person
in this room with the gospel to get it to the world.
He's entrusted you.
He wants you to do it.
The question is, are you going to do it?
Now, you know what's really easy?
Deciding I'm only going to use this book.
That's pretty easy in my mind.
I'm not really wavering on that or deciding
to go pick up an NIV at the bookstore today.
But you know what?
Making sure I give every single person the gospel,
that's really hard.
But you know what?
The guy who's going to be faithful in that
is also going to be faithful in keeping
this book close to his heart and reading his word.
Go to Proverbs chapter 5 where I return.
So look, we're talking about things
that are least and much, greater and larger.
But we have to realize that it's all the same.
The guy who's faithful and little is faithful and much.
Some people, they've attacked me about having children.
And they say this.
They say, well, if you have a lot of kids,
you can't really give every kid a lot of attention.
You'll be neglecting your children
and not giving them all the special attention they
need and all this junk.
But here's the reality.
The guy that was going to be a negligent father with one kid
was going to be a negligent father with 10 kids.
And you know what?
The dad that was going to be a faithful dad with one kid,
he's going to be a faithful dad with the 10 kids.
It doesn't matter how many kids you have.
What kind of person are you?
What kind of character and integrity do you have?
That's the type of parent that you're going to be.
Multiplying it by kids doesn't matter.
And I said this.
Well, I would rather go play basketball
with me and my 10 kids than me and my one kid.
It'd be more fun anyways.
So I don't even get your analogy.
It doesn't make any sense to me.
Look, who that is faithful in list a little and least
is also going to be faithful in much.
I'm not worried about how many kids I have.
I'm going to let God take care of that.
And I hope that he blesses me with many.
But that's a stupid argument to say, well, you know,
you can't have too many things because you
won't be able to pay attention to them
or give them much attention.
Here's another thing that's being forsaken today.
How about spouses?
Just being faithful to your spouse,
something that used to seem like taken for granted
in this country.
I mean, people used to be faithful to their spouse.
But today, I mean, adultery is rampant.
Today, affairs are rampant.
Today, divorce is rampant in our country.
Look at Proverbs chapter 5 verse 15.
Drink waters out of thine own cistern and rutting waters
out of thine own well.
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of waters
in the streets.
Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee.
Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice
with the wife of thy youth.
Let her be as the loving hind in pleasant row.
Let her breast satisfy thee at all times,
and be thou ravished always with her love.
And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman
and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
So the Bible's saying, look, we should
be rejoicing in our spouse.
Isn't that what the Bible says?
Look at verse 18.
Let thy fount be blessed and rejoice
with the wife of thy youth.
Now, here's some help when it comes to marriage.
You need to take satisfaction in your spouse.
You need to think about your spouse.
You need to enjoy your spouse.
This is how you're going to be faithful to your spouse.
And when you're getting joy and satisfaction
from someone that's not your spouse,
then you're in dangerous hot water.
He's saying, look, you need to only be drinking out
of your well.
Meaning what?
The only satisfaction I should be getting from any woman
is my wife.
That's what I should be doing.
When you get away from that, when
you start tasting other waters, now
you're getting in trouble.
Let's look at chapter 6.
Look at verse 23.
For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light,
and reproofs of instruction are the way of life,
to keep thee from the evil woman,
from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Lest not after her beauty in thine heart,
neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
For by means of a whorish woman, a man
is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress
will hunt for the precious life.
Can a man take fire in his bosom,
and his clothes not be burned?
Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
So he that goeth into his neighbor's wife,
whosoever toucheth her, shall not be innocent.
He's saying, look, you can't dabble in this.
You can't just go off just kind of testing the waters,
touching other women, getting intimate with other women,
hanging out with other women.
If you want to be faithful unto your wife,
she's got to be the only satisfaction you get.
Same goes for women.
If women want to be faithful unto their husband,
they're not going to be going out on dates with other guys,
chatting up with other guys, hanging out with other guys.
Look, they're going to be talking to their spouse,
hanging out with their spouse, having
their mind and their affections kept to their spouse.
Because where your affections are, look,
your heart's going to be there also.
You've got to spend time with your spouse,
develop these things.
You can't just dabble with them.
You say, I want to be faithful.
Well, you've got to keep your thoughts
and your mind and your actions in line.
Because no one just, people don't just commit adultery.
People don't just, you know, I've been faithful.
I'm happy with my wife.
Things are great.
I'm just going to go commit adultery
to this random person.
That's not how it works.
You know how it works?
They start getting disgruntled with their spouse,
but there's this person at work.
And man, they're nice.
I like to look at them.
They chat me up.
We have the same interests.
We have better interests.
And then all of a sudden, you do something
that you shouldn't, especially.
And you say, man, I really wanted to go see this movie.
I want to go do this thing or whatever.
My wife didn't want to.
And they're like, oh, man, I wanted to too.
Oh, yeah.
Hey, I really wanted to go try that new restaurant
on the corner, but my wife doesn't like Mexican food.
Well, maybe we should go there for lunch sometime.
Yeah.
Let's go have lunch there.
And then they go have the lunch.
Then it just starts to build the relationship.
Then they start talking.
Then they start texting.
Then they start touching.
And then one thing leads to another.
Look, you can't take hot coals and not get burnt.
And look, it started with something seemingly innocent.
They're just talking.
Then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, my spouse
doesn't like this, or I don't like that.
They like it.
Look, and the grass always looks greener on the other side.
It's not.
It's not greener on the other side.
And you say, I want to be faithful to my spouse.
Well, don't even get close to the line.
Don't have relations with people that are not your spouse.
I'm not going on lunch dates with other women.
That's just not going to happen.
Now, obviously, you're in a group setting.
I'm not saying, like, physically, women can't
be present with me at lunch.
I'm saying, look, I'm not going to go alone
with some woman that's not my wife unless it's
like my mother-in-law or my grandmother, OK?
I'm just saying, obviously, we're
taking practical application.
I'm not going to take some strange woman that I
don't know off with me.
I'm not going to be texting them.
I'm not going to have their phone number
and be calling them all the time.
This is just not going to happen.
I'm going to distance myself.
I'm going to put protection so that I
can be faithful unto my spouse.
That's how you're faithful.
Look, what was David doing?
He's wandering around, just looking.
Then he sees Bathsheba.
Then he invites her over to her house.
Look, this guy's in hot water.
This guy is close to committing adultery.
Then he does.
He commits adultery.
Go over to Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5.
Look, it's important also to think positive thoughts
about your spouse, to be thinking positively,
thinking about the good things about them.
If you want to be faithful to your spouse in lots of ways,
you need to always talk positively about your spouse.
You should never talk negatively about your spouse to anyone.
That includes parents.
And look, a lot of people love to talk badly
about their spouse or their parents.
This is a horrible, horrible idea.
Look at Ephesians 5, verse 29.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the word.
That he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh,
but nourisheth and cheriseth it, even as the Lord the Church.
For we are members of his body, and of his flesh,
and of his bones.
Now go, if you would, to Song of Solomon.
So the Bible's saying, look, we're
supposed to love our spouse.
And men, especially, you're supposed
to love and cherish your wife.
Think about your wife.
Rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
And when you're going around talking evil of your spouse
to your parents, there are a lot of times
going to take side with you automatically.
And it's just going to fester your marriage.
It's going to be this problem, this thorn in the side.
And you start having negative thoughts driving division
between you and your spouse.
You and your spouse should be one.
You should be us against the world, us against everything.
We're in one.
I'm always going to talk positive about my spouse
to every other person.
That doesn't mean that you, within your own marriage,
aren't going to have disagreements.
Guess what?
You're going to disagree.
You're going to have problems, OK?
But you should handle that as one unit, as husband and wife
alone, not as this public affair,
not in front of the in-laws.
This is only going to be bad for you.
And it's funny.
I like the Song of Solomon.
But it's funny that you get marriage advice from the guy
that had 700 wives.
When you think about that, it's kind of interesting.
But obviously, this is God's word.
Obviously, holy men of God spake as they're
moved by the Holy Ghost.
It wasn't just their own volition.
But we see Solomon apparently has a great ability
to make women fall in love with him
and he has this interesting chapter of the Bible.
The Bible says, hatred stirs up strifes.
But love covereth all sins.
If you love your spouse, then cover all the sins.
No spouse is perfect, myself included.
My wife can attest that I'm not perfect.
But obviously, she's not going to talk evil of me
to any of you, OK, right?
But we see, look, nobody's perfect.
Nobody's right all the time.
People make mistakes.
People lie.
People exaggerate.
People are frustrating.
People are annoying.
And the person that loves is just going to cover all that.
When you're dating, all those things are present.
But you were just so infatuated with a person,
you just covered it all.
You were just like, oh, they're great anyways.
I just love the fact they lied to me.
I love all their annoying habits and the way
they smack when they eat.
I love the fact that he doesn't brush his teeth.
Then you get married and you're like, wow,
I don't like that anymore.
That's not as cute as I thought it was.
Go take a shower, buddy.
You know, I mean, different things.
It's cool that he was messy in college,
but man, don't be messy in the bathroom anymore, right?
But look at Song of Solomon, chapter number four
is where I want to look.
Look at verse one.
Behold, thou art fair, my love.
Behold, thou art fair.
Thou hast dove eyes within thy locks.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead.
Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn,
which came up from the washing.
Whereof everyone beareth twins, and none is barren among them.
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,
and thy speech is comely.
Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within my locks.
Thy neck is like the Tower of David builded for an armory,
whereon there hang a thousand bucklers,
all shields of mighty men.
Now in the book of Song of Solomon,
you have to be careful because it's like this love song where
the man's talking and the woman's talking.
They're kind of like talking, so sometimes it's
kind of hard to discern exactly who's talking who.
But in this portion, we have Solomon talking to his wife,
and he's praising her.
He's talking well of her.
This is what you should do in your marriage.
You say, I want to be faithful in my marriage.
Well, pick out all the great attributes in your wife
husbands and tell them that.
Hey, I just really like your teeth.
That's kind of a weird one, right?
I like your neck.
I mean, this sounds like a serial killer.
No, I'm just kidding.
But this is obviously, this is just an example.
You don't have to actually say verbatim.
I'm just saying, you pick out all the attributes.
I have to say this.
So we were in church one time, and somebody
was trying to compliment my son.
And he's like, I really like his neck.
And like, that was real creepy.
Don't compliment people on their neck.
So obviously, I'm just saying, this is just an example.
This is just a template.
But we see he's taking attributes of the people,
and he's just saying, I really like it.
And you say, how are we already faithful in my spouse?
Pick out the attributes you like of your spouse and praise her.
Tell her constantly.
You read the psalm, or you sing the song of Solomon,
it's just constantly praising one another,
praising one another, praising one another.
They're talking well of one another.
This is how you have a good marriage.
This is how you're faithful to your spouse.
You're constantly praising one another.
You're constantly speaking well of one another.
This is the practical application.
The Bible says husbands love your wives.
Like, what do I do?
What does that look like?
It looks like you're constantly telling her
how beautiful she is and all the things you like about her
and praising her.
We even see in Proverbs chapter 31, the virtuous woman,
she's praised of her husband.
She's praised of her children.
So you say, hey, you want your wife to really like you?
Tell her how beautiful she is.
Tell her all the things, why you married her, why you like her.
This is going to help your marriage.
Go to verse 11.
Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb.
Honey and milk are under thy tongue,
and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
What did Proverbs 5 say?
It said, rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
So he's looking at his wife.
I like when you talk to me.
I like thy lips.
When you speak to me, it's so pleasant.
I like the way you sing.
I like everything about you.
He's just rejoicing in how much he loves his wife.
He just needed 700 more of them.
No, I'm just kidding.
But we see this is the example of what a husband should
be like with his wife.
And vice versa, we even see the wife's praising Solomon.
He's the fairest of them all.
She talks how wonderful he is.
And this is how you have that great marriage,
how you can be faithful in your marriage.
Now go if you would to Psalm 78.
Psalm 78.
So we've looked at a couple of different things.
We looked at being faithful at church.
We looked at being faithful with God's word.
We looked at being faithful with thy spouse.
These are some big topics.
These are some major topics.
But we're also looking at some finer points in there,
some finer ways to be faithful.
Look, obviously the Bible doesn't
say thou shalt compliment thy wife every second.
Is that really a big commandment?
But I'm helping you.
If you're faithful in that which is least
and you're constantly complimenting your wife,
guess what?
That guy is not the same guy that's committing adultery,
unless he's just this psychopath or something.
But obviously, normal people can't
have their affections constantly on their wife
and then be thinking about other people.
When you start putting all your affections on your wife,
that's going to help you stay faithful unto your wife.
So we see how through the little things,
you can get the big things too, can't you?
I want to be faithful for my whole marriage.
Guess what?
I need to be faithful in the little parts of my marriage
too.
That's what's going to drive me through.
How about children?
A lot of people just don't want to punish their children.
And you say, I want really good children.
I want my children to behave.
I want my children to love God.
Look, you've got to be faithful in the punishing
of your children.
If you don't punish your children faithfully,
they won't be faithful children.
You've got to, the Bible says foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child.
But the rod of correction shall drive it far from them.
So if you don't beat them with the rod,
you're not going to get the foolishness out of their heart.
It's not going to happen.
All the lecturers are going to do it.
No, the lecturers are going to make it worse.
The lecturers aren't going to help.
You've got to get the rod, and you've
got to beat them with the rod.
That's how you're going to get the foolishness out.
And I see parents, they don't spank their kids.
It's like, I've never seen, I've been around people.
I'm not talking about anybody in this church.
I've been around people, and I've seen them constantly,
and they never spank their children.
Their children will not be good children.
It doesn't matter what other things they do.
Oh, they go to church, and they're so nice.
Look, you want to have good children,
you have to employ the rod.
You have to have punishment.
The Bible says, let me read for you.
Not only this, though, you need to teach your children.
You need to train your children.
The Bible says, I will sing of the mercy of the Lord forever.
With my mouth will I make known my faithfulness
to all generations.
So it's important for parents to instruct their children.
Obviously, what's the minor part of that?
Just using the rod.
What's the major part?
Having them learn all the Bible, helping
them be an educated person, being instructed,
being a good person.
You know how they're a good person?
We've got to be faithful in little things
like the punishment.
Because if you're not faithful in that,
they won't be a good person.
But I want my children to know everything.
Look at Psalm 78, verse 1.
Give ear, O my people, to my law.
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable.
I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known.
And our fathers have told us we will not
hide them from our children, showing to the generation
to come the praise of the Lord and his strength
and his wonderful works that he hath done.
For he established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers
that they should make them known to their children.
Now, is that a suggestion?
He's saying, look, teaching your children is a commandment of God.
You know, there's so many parents today.
They drop their kids off at the public school.
That's where they get all their secular education.
They drop their kids off at the children's church.
That's where they get all their Christian education.
And the parents teach their children's nothing.
Zip, nada.
How can you read this book and then come away with, hey,
I should teach my children nothing?
Look, he's saying you've got to teach them everything.
That's so important.
And the parents that are faithful and the little,
they're going to also be faithful in the much.
You want to raise great children,
you've got to teach them.
You've got to train them.
Somebody else is not going to do it.
And if somebody else does it, it's going to be bad.
You don't want other people teaching and training
your children.
You want to teach and train your children.
I don't want to teach and train your children.
I want you to teach and train your children.
You know who's the best teacher for your children?
You.
Not me, not someone else.
We're not going to set up the Christian school.
I don't think I'm superior.
Hey, I'm going to be able to teach your children.
We're going to have the Christian school.
Come hear me teach your children.
We're going to bring in the women, expert teachers
and teach your children.
No, I think you're the best person for your child,
every single one of you.
You say, I'm not that smart.
Well, I think you are.
And I think you're capable.
I think every mother is capable of teaching their child.
Every father is capable of teaching their child.
And I want them to do it, nobody else, solely
their parents.
That's what the Bible teaches.
That's what the Bible commands.
Don't be going to Romans chapter 16 now, Romans chapter 16.
So we're kind of going to go through these ones
a little bit quicker, but they're still
just as important.
Not only should we be faithful with the children that we have,
and I refer back to the story that I already said.
Look, the one woman, I feel bad.
I said, I'm sorry that you're in this situation.
That sounds terrible.
You know what God wants you to do?
Be faithful with the kids you have.
You should be taking that child to whatever church
is a good church in your area.
And look, this person lived in a city
where they had a great church.
I'm not saying a good one, a great church,
and they weren't going to it.
I said, move right next to that church
and take that child to that church and serve God faithfully.
And you know what?
You don't know what God could do.
You don't know how God could change and bless your situation.
If he starts seeing you be faithful with that,
why couldn't he turn you into a Moses?
Why couldn't he give you a lot more than you
thought you were going to have?
Look, there's a lot of people like Hannah.
She didn't think anything was going to happen.
She bore six children that it tells us about.
Six children, that's a lot.
What about being a faithful friend?
You know, another thing that today's culture
doesn't really have.
What would be a faithful friend?
Well, a faithful friend would be one
that's going to stick it out when it's not going well.
The Bible says he that hath friends
must show himself friendly.
So the Bible kind of already emphasizes the reality
that most people are kind of only friends with people
that are friendly to them, you know,
doing good things for them, people that have money.
The Bible talks about the guy that has a lot of money
has a lot of friends.
You know, the guy that's poor and always begging,
he doesn't have a lot of friends.
He kind of burns out all of his friends.
So we see a lot of times friends are very circumstantial.
But that's not how Christians should be.
We shouldn't be circumstantial friends.
We should decide, I'm just going to be your friend.
I'm going to love you.
And I'm going to tell you that which is right
and hang out with you and help you no matter what.
But you know what?
A faithful friend also will say things that aren't pleasant.
That's why the Bible says, faithful
are the wounds of a friend.
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
You know who is a good friend to you?
Who will tell you what you need to hear,
not what you want to hear.
And the guy that's always telling you what you want
to hear, the Bible likens him unto an enemy.
So a guy that's not looking out for you.
The Bible has a lot of bad examples
of people that will do this.
We see one of Solomon's sons, Amnon.
He has a bad friend who gives him bad advice.
Jonadab, I believe his name is.
Don't quote me on that.
But Amnon, he loves his sister, Tamar.
And his friend tells him, well, why don't you get sick?
Why don't you pretend you're sick
and you can coax your sister in?
And then he ends up taking advantage of his own sister.
Disgusting, horrible.
And he should have been put to death.
And his dad won't put him to death.
And it destroys his life.
Two years later, his other brother kills him.
We see his other brother, Absalom, takes his life.
God gets the vengeance on him.
And what?
From the bad advice of his friend.
Like a faithful friend will say, whoa, buddy.
Get that wicked thought and throw it out the window.
Don't have foolish thoughts.
Why don't you think of things that are pure and honest
and holy and righteous and do that which is right?
You're a king's son.
What are you doing having this kind of a thought?
Look at Romans chapter 16.
What about a faithful friend?
Look at verse 3.
Greek, Priscilla and Achilla, my helpers in Christ Jesus,
who after my life laid down their own necks,
unto whom not only I give thanks, but also
all the churches of the Gentiles.
Paul had some great friends, friends
that would literally lay down their own lives for him.
That's a great friend.
Someone who is faithful unto death,
not for their own life, for someone else's life,
for their friend's life.
So you say, we're talking about being faithful.
The Bible gives us a lot of examples.
The Bible gives us a lot of definitions.
It's a lot of challenges.
This one's a hard one.
I mean, deciding to lay down your own life for somebody else
is a great attribute in a person.
So you know who the person is that would do that?
Someone who's faithful in the little things.
You know when your friend's doing something bad,
doing something wicked, something that's not right,
a faithful friend will tell you, don't do that, buddy.
Don't go to that bar.
Don't date that girl.
Don't go and be this person.
Go to the right church.
Read your King James Bible.
Hey, I didn't see you out soul winning.
Why aren't you coming soul winning?
Can I buy you lunch?
Let's go soul winning.
You know, that's the faithful friend.
And the guy that's not even doing that,
there's no way he's going to lay down his life,
his brethren.
Talking about putting the bar at a really high level, right?
I mean, literally laying down your own life,
that's a great attribute in a person.
That's what Jesus Christ did.
He's the greatest friend.
He laid down his life for us.
That's what he says in John chapter number 14.
Go, if you would, to Colossians chapter 3.
We're almost finished this evening.
The Bible also says in Micah 7, though, in verse 5,
trust ye not in a friend.
So we have to balance these things.
This is how I look at friendship.
You can control how good a friend you are to others.
You cannot control how great a friend's other people are
to you.
So what we should do is we should always
strive to be a faithful, loving friend to as many people
as we have.
But we should always put our trust in the Lord,
not necessarily in our friends, not trusting in man.
We should always trust in God.
But we should try to be the type of person
that could be relied upon, that could be faithful unto others.
Now this, how about our jobs?
Look at Colossians 3, verse 22.
Servants obey in some things and a couple things.
Servants obey in all things your masters
according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers,
but in singleness of heart, fearing God.
And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord
and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord
ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance,
for ye serve the Lord Christ.
You know, I've heard people, usually like young single guys,
they have this idea.
They're like, man, I just wish I was
in full-time Christian service.
But they can't hold down a job.
They don't have a good job.
They're not faithful at the workplace.
They're complaining about their boss.
They always are job hopping.
They don't have any skills.
It's like, well, why would God look at you and say,
you can't even hold down a job.
You can't even do what the boss is saying at work.
You're not even respectful at work.
I'm going to put you in full-time Christian service,
because somehow that's going to magically fix things.
You know what?
It's not.
The person that has character when
it seems like it's insignificant has character
when it is significant.
And the person that doesn't have character, guess what?
They still don't have character when it's more important.
You know what?
This is what the lottery does to people.
The lottery just magnifies your attributes.
It magnifies your character.
If you're a really generous, godly person,
winning the lottery theoretically
shouldn't necessarily change that.
Because you know what?
That person would probably just give it all away
and get rid of the money and not want
to have anything to do with it.
You know what?
The person that's a drunk loser, when they win the lottery,
guess what?
They just drink a lot more, and they're a bigger loser.
It doesn't change anything.
It just magnifies their attributes.
They're a greedy, selfish jerk.
They're just a bigger, greedy, selfish jerk.
Look, and obviously the love of money is the root of all evil.
We're not talking about their desires.
We're just talking about adding fuel to the fire.
That's all money does.
It just adds fuel to the fire.
When you have a lot of money, it's
just going to magnify whatever person you are.
If you're a really horrible person,
money's going to make that real manifest.
Some people, you don't really realize how bad a person
they are because they're just dirt poor.
They don't have the ability to show you how bad a person they
truly are.
If they had a lot of money, they'd be like, oh,
you're a lot worse than I thought you were.
And we see, look, this is the same with the Christian life.
Christians that are faithful and little,
those are the ones that are faithful and much.
Those are the ones that are righteous over much.
The Bible says, a faithful man shall abound with blessings,
but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
So if you're late to work, if you're not doing a good job,
if you're stealing from your employer,
if you don't get your task done, if you don't stick up
your boss, you're constantly throwing your boss
under the bus at work, you're not sticking up for him.
Look, you're not faithful.
And look, God's looking down.
He sees everything you do.
And look, I'm not saying any of us are perfect.
I've done things that are eye service.
I haven't been perfect on the job.
We should strive to be.
We should correct ourselves.
We should look at God's word and say, you know what?
Ultimately, I'm doing this for God, not just for man.
And repent and be a faithful man and decide,
I am going to serve righteously.
I am going to do that which is right,
even when nobody's paying attention,
even when it seems like nobody knows what I'm doing.
Let's go to the last one I want to look at.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 4, a couple more verses.
So I've looked at a lot of different things.
Looked at being faithful at church,
looked at being faithful with God's word,
looked at being faithful with our spouses,
with our children, with our jobs.
So I'm just kind of picking topics that I think,
hey, here's some areas where they're really important.
But what's the really insignificant things
that people aren't paying attention to?
People aren't disciplining their children.
People aren't stuck on the King James Bible.
People aren't going to church faithfully.
People aren't faithful on every single job
that they have.
People aren't always praising their spouse.
And then you see the ramifications of that.
You say, why do people commit adultery?
And why are people not going to church?
And why are people not soul winning?
It's because they're not faithful in the little things.
It's because they're not doing the little things.
If they're doing the little things,
they would be faithful in the big things.
It's just a symptom of the character and integrity
of their heart.
If they would start working on the little things,
the big things will take care of themselves.
That's why Jesus Christ was always
getting at the heart, not the things
on the outward appearance.
He says, look, if you start cleansing
that which is on the inside, the outside
will take care of itself.
Like the guy that gets all of God's word in his heart,
he'll start dressing right.
He'll start doing the things that are godly.
He'll start speaking right.
Look, all the outward appearance stuff, that's superficial.
This is what false prophets like to focus on.
They try to get people just to change the superficial,
but they don't understand why.
They don't actually believe it.
If you go to a holiness Pentecostal church,
a holiness Pentecostal church, they
have a lot of the same standards that
an independent fundamental Baptist will teach and preach.
How to dress, how to be abstained from worldliness,
watch movies, do a lot of these things.
But you know what, none of those people actually believe that.
None of those people could show you
in the Bible a verse that proves any of those things.
And you know what?
If you show up dressed inappropriately,
they'll kick you out.
At this church, I don't throw people out
for doing things that I disapprove of,
that are obvious sin, that the Bible says are wrong.
Because I know if I get the word in their heart,
it'll get fixed.
You know what, the guy will get the haircut.
The woman will put on the dress.
The guy will stop dressing like an effeminate fag.
I don't know why you want to do it, but you need to stop.
But I'm saying, I'm not going to just throw them out of church
because they do something that's not quite right.
I'm going to preach them what the Bible says,
try to get in their heart, and that'll
fix all the other stuff.
When you start getting God's word.
Look at 1 Corinthians 4, verse 1.
Let a man so account of us as the ministers of Christ,
as stewards of the mysteries of God,
moreover it is required in stewards
that a man be found faithful.
But with me it is a very small thing
that I should be judged of you.
Or of man's judgment, yea, I judge not mine own self.
For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified.
But he that judges me is the Lord.
Now the Bible says, look, a steward is supposed to be faithful.
So here's my question, my last point.
What responsibilities do you have,
and are you faithful with them?
That's different for every single person.
Women have different responsibilities than men.
Men have different responsibilities than women.
Children have different responsibilities than parents.
So we all have different responsibilities.
Children, how well do you obey your parents?
How well do you hearken to your parents?
How well do you do the things that they instruct you
and teach you?
Do you only do it when they're looking,
when they're paying attention?
Because guess what, that's how you're going to be on the job.
That's how you're going to be when it's on your own.
How are you doing wise with the children
that God's blessed you with?
How are you doing with his commandments?
Are you serving your husband like you would
the boss at work?
Husbands, how are you treating the boss at work?
Are you loving your wife?
These are the type of things, my question is,
are you faithful?
Are you a good steward of what God's already given you?
God's given us so much, especially in America.
We have so much wealth and prosperity,
it makes me sick sometimes when I go out soul winning
and I knock on the doors and I see all these people watching
the NFL game and they could care less about God.
They could care less about the Bible.
Man, it makes me wish that our country was a lot poorer,
maybe people care about God a little bit more.
And you know what, we all in this room
have a lot of blessings.
We have a lot more than just food and clothing.
And we should just like, what are you doing
with the things God's already given you?
Because God's already given you a lot
and he's looking at you and he's saying, you're a steward.
How good a steward are you?
That's one thing I can really appreciate about my mother
is that she always taught me to be a good steward.
No matter what I had, no matter how much or little or a lot,
she's like, you should always be faithful
with whatever you have.
God's paying attention.
You know, God notices how well you're doing
with these things.
Go if you would to Psalms 31, last place I'll have you turn.
We're reading through the book of Samuel
and you say, why did God handpick Samuel?
Well, in chapter two, it says,
I will raise me up a faithful priest
that shall do according to that which is in mine heart
and in my mind and I will build him a sure house
and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.
So it says, look, Samuel's gonna do what I want.
That's why I picked him.
That's why I chose this guy.
That's why he came out of nowhere
and just entered into the priesthood.
Now, obviously he was of the correct lineage
and I proved that in chapter one,
but we see Samuel, why is God anointing this guy
and choosing this guy?
Because he's faithful.
Why is God gonna choose you to do anything great,
give you more blessings
because he finds you faithful with what you have.
Look at Psalms 31 verse 23.
Oh, love the Lord all ye his saints
for the Lord preserveth the faithful
and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
God will preserve the faithful.
Now we looked at a lot of ways to be faithful
and I haven't covered everything anywhere close.
You look at the word faithful in the Bible, it's a lot.
I was just trying to take the topics
and the areas that I think affect most of us
that we see a lot of people struggle with,
areas that I wish people would just get right.
Look, if you got God's word right,
if you got your spouse right,
if you got your children right,
you're gonna do really well.
You're gonna be doing real great.
Just get those areas under control.
If you're going to church
and you got the King James Bible
and you're going soul winning
and your spouse and your children are right,
wow, you're doing great.
So these are some areas that I just want to focus on,
but we also have other responsibilities
and how well are you doing
with the other tiny responsibilities that you have?
Because the Bible says,
you will plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
It's arrogance and pride that says,
I don't need to be faithful in the little things.
Who cares?
You know, apathy, whatever.
Just looking at things and saying,
well, if it was more, then I would take care.
Then I would do right.
That's just pride.
That's just arrogance.
They're not content.
They're not humble enough to accept what God's given them.
The guy with the one talent says,
well, if I had the 10, then I would do something with it.
Well, I got the one, you can bury it.
You know, who cares?
I got one kid.
If I had 10 kids, I mean, we'd be going to church
and we'd be serving God,
but God's only given me the one.
So I guess I'm not gonna go to church.
I'm not gonna teach the one child I have.
I'm not gonna take, you know,
to be thankful for the Lord for what I do have.
We should be thankful for what we do have
and serve him and be a good steward
and be faithful to what he's given us.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for your word.
Thank you so much for all the gifts and blessings
that you've given unto us.
Thank you for being the perfect example
of how faithful you are.
The fact that you are faithfulness,
that you are the one that, you know,
died on the cross for us.
You were a friend to us when we didn't even deserve it,
when we still don't deserve it,
that you still wanna bless us
in all kinds of ways that we won't ever deserve.
I pray that we would decide to be faithful
in all that you've given us.
We would consider all the things that you've given unto us
and decide it's important for me to take diligence
and care with what you have given me.
I pray that everyone in this room
would just learn to appreciate
more the things that they have.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.