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This is the end of the video, thank you for watching and see you in the next video. This evening, in your hymnals, if you would, turn to hymn number 308, I Surrender All, hymn number 308. Hymn number 308. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. All to Jesus I surrender, All to him I freely give, I will ever love and trust him, In his presence daily live, I surrender all, I surrender all, All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all, All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at his feet I bow, Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me Jesus, take me now, I surrender all, I surrender all, All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all, All to Jesus I surrender, Make me Savior, holy thine, Let me feel the Holy Spirit, Truly know that thou art mine, I surrender all, I surrender all, All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all, All to Jesus I surrender, Lord I give myself to thee, Fill me with thy love and power, Let thy blessing fall on me, I surrender all, I surrender all, All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all. Good singing will open with a word of prayer. Dear Father, thank you for this time that we have to gather together as a church. Thank you for all the souls that we got saved this afternoon. I pray that you would bless this 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 hymn, if you would, turn in your hymnals to hymn number 361. Did you think to pray hymn number 361? We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. There you left your room this morning, Did you think to pray, In the name of Christ our Savior, Did you soon pour love in favor, As a shield today? Oh how praying rests a weary, Prayer will change the night today, So in sorrow and in gladness, Don't forget to pray, When you met with great temptation, Did you think to pray, By his dying love and merit, Did you claim the Holy Spirit, As your guidance day? Oh how praying rests a weary, Prayer will change the night today, So in sorrow and in gladness, Don't forget to pray, When your heart was filled with anger, Did you think to pray, Did you plead for grace my brother, That you might forgive another, Who had crossed your way? Oh how praying rests a weary, Prayer will change the night today, So in sorrow and in gladness, Don't forget to pray, When sore trials came upon you, Did you think to pray, When your soul was bowed in sorrow, All of Gilead did you borrow, At the gates of day? Oh how praying rests a weary, Prayer will change the night today, So in sorrow and in gladness, Don't forget to pray. Definitely looking forward to seeing people work on that. On the inside is our service times listed. Sunday morning at 10 30, Sunday evening at 4 30 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. I 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 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 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 for a pregnancy. Also our upcoming events this weekend is the Heritage 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 would 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 going to have a chili cook off at 6.30 pm. 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 going to have prizes for the first, second and third place in a general competition. And you know that's a free for all. You can put beans in it. You can put grenades, hammers, P-51 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 will 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 sang about. Don't forget to pray. Don't forget to pray for your brothers in Christ and 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. Alright let's go to our third song. Alright for our next hymn if you would turn in your hymnals to hymn number 448. Brethren we have met to worship hymn number 448. Hymn number 448. Go ahead and start there right on the first. Brethren we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the Word? All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down. Brethren pray and holy manna will be showered all around. Brethren see poor sinners round you slumbering on the brink of woe. Death is coming. Hell is moving. Will you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers and our children sinking down. Brethren pray and holy manna will be showered all around. Sisters will you join and help us? Moses' sister aided him. Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin? Tell them all about the Savior. Tell them that He will be found. Sisters pray and holy manna will be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely. Let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for sinners till our God makes all things new. Then He'll call us home to heaven. At His table we'll sit down. Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around. Good singing as the offering plates are being passed around. Turn in your Bibles to First Timothy chapter number one. First Timothy chapter number one. First Timothy chapter number one. Good evening. 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 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 of faith unfeigned. 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 sinners for unholy and profane for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers for man slayers 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 acceptation 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 longsuffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him 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 unto thee son Timothy according to the prophecies which went before on thee that thou by them mightest 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 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 1 Timothy chapter 1 and we just pray that you give brother Oz 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 the most powerful and one of my favorite chapters actually it's really a special chapter and I love verse number 12 of 1 Timothy 1 where it says this. And I thank 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 imposter 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 3 Hebrews chapter 3. 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 someone that's faithful being someone that's loyal. But this absolutely is something that we should strive for. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2 while you're turning there. I'll read for you Daniel 6 4 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. 2 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's out there right. There's not a lot of Daniel's. These are people that are actually described as faithful. Stay there I'll read for you Psalm 12 one says help Lord for the godly man seeseth 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 of 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 going to happen it's going to happen when God says he's going to 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 going to leave you hanging. God's not going to let you down. You know you're not going to 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 going to 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 1 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 counsels 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. It doesn't matter how old the counsels 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 going to 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 sayeth the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee and my words which I 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 sayeth the Lord from henceforth and forever. So notice in Isaiah's day God is saying look Isaiah I'm putting words in your mouth. And these words they're not going to depart from your mouth or your son or your son 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 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 original divine languages. And we believe that it's perfect and without error in the original eight 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 going to 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 going to do when it comes to salvation. Titus chapter one verse two 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 six 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 100% 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. It 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. 2,046 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. Which is 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 can 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 divorce 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 that are not being faithful. That are 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 living 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 going to break his covenant with us. Look at Malachi 2, verse 14. Yet ye say, wherefore, because the Lord hath been witness 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, covenant. 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 to 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 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. 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 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. And you know, we need to get back to a culture and 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 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. The type of person you're going to marry in the future is often way lower caliber than the one you married at first. Which is why people that get divorced and remarried often have higher divorce rates the second time. Don't do it. You know, another way that we need to be faithful is 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. The Bible says that a wicked person borrows and 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, So, you know, the Bible is using this carnal truth to illustrate a spiritual truth. You know, when you feel that first cold 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. The Bible is 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 going to give this message to you and I want you to relay it to this other person. The master is not thinking, I wonder if he's going to change my words. I wonder if he's going to paraphrase me and not communicate exactly the words that I'm saying. I wonder if he's going to 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 we should be as soul owners? 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? Do 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 seven 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 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 falleth 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 going to 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 going to give this person a job and I'm going to rely that this person is going to get it done. That he's going to do what I say. Go to Luke Chapter 16. See, it's not the 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 is very faithful. I'm going to 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 going to think this person isn't going to 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've 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 going to do a good job. I'm not going to put a lot of my effort and energy into it. I'm not going to 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, OK, you want to have your business someday. Well, then we 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 concealeth 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. Will you just pray for me that you don't need to go up to the 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 tail bearer. Go to Proverbs 18. Proverbs 18. Proverbs chapter number 18. Notice verse number eight. It says this. The words of a tail bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. So a tail 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 tail bearer is someone that is just complete blabbermouth. They have to tell everyone, everyone else's business. And the Bible says that the words of a tail 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 X, Y, Z. 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. 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. Hey, 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 or something. Don't you expect that he's not going to 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. 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 task, 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 going to be working with trade secrets or sensitive information. And if you're going to want to progress in your company, you're going to 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 one 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, coworkers, 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 five. 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, that doesn't try to hold anything back. It's just someone that tells the truth. Go to Titus chapter one, Titus chapter number one. 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 one, verse nine. It says 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. 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 church before where pastors are reading and they're doing a whole sermon on Romans one and they just conveniently skip half the chapter. And it's just like, why would 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 lucre's sake. So it's 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 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 Christians 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 four. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. You know, in this life, oftentimes we're going to 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 five 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 in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and 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 going to come. It could come the very first second of your shift. It could come at the sixth hour. It could 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? To me, that just makes sense to be consistent, to be faithful in this because you don't know the hour. And, you know, it'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 in due 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 loved me 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 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, sayeth the Lord. So think about it. The 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. He 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 word. 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 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 his 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 going to 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 going to 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 going to take though? It's going to take people to be faithful. It's going to 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 going to 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 loyalty or faithfulness to their friends whatsoever. And I'm just going to 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 going to end up? You're going to be a person that has no friends. Whereas if you're someone that's faithful, 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 going to 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 going to 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 first time they're offended, the first time someone crosses them or does something that they are not 100 percent approval of. I mean, they're just done. 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 Wal-Mart 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 Wal-Mart 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 going to go there. OK. But here's the thing. People are like, oh, man, church made me mad. One bad thing happened at church. 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 going to 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 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 going to abound with blessing when someone can remain faithful and someone can remain loyal. Go to Nehemiah Chapter seven. You know, you know, who's going to be blessed? The person that remains loyal to their spouse. You know, who's going to 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 going to do after that? You're not going to 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, Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe. And of the Levites, Pedahiah, 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 31, verse 23 says, O 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? What about leadership? You know, faithful leadership also is rewarded. Look at Proverbs 29, verse 14. The king that faithfully judgeth 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 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 they 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 pray that you would 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. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, if you would, grab a hymnal. We'll go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service. Hymn number 405 in your hymnal. The banner of the cross, hymn number 405. Hymn number 405. We'll go ahead and start there right on the first. There's a royal banner given for display to the soldiers of the King. As an ensign fair we lift it up today, while as ransomed ones we sing. Marching on, marching on, for Christ count everything but loss. And to crown Him King, toil and sing, beneath the banner of the cross. Though the foe may rage and gather as the flood, let the centre be displayed. And beneath its folds as soldiers of the Lord, for the truth be not dismayed. Marching on, marching on, for Christ count everything but loss. And to crown Him King, toil and sing, beneath the banner of the cross. Over land and sea, wherever man may dwell, make the glorious tidings known. Of the crimson banner now the story tell, while the Lord shall claim His own. Marching on, marching on, for Christ count everything but loss. And to crown Him King, toil and sing, beneath the banner of the cross. When the glory dawns, His drawing very near, it is hasting day by day. Then before our King, the foe shall disappear, and the cross the world shall sway. Marching on, marching on, for Christ count everything but loss. And to crown Him King, toil and sing, beneath the banner of the cross.