(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The part of the chapter that I wanted to look at first was in verse 21, where the Bible read, His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents. Behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant! Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. And the title of my sermon tonight is faithful over a few things. I think that's a really good phrase. He actually repeats it twice in this parable. He says that unto the man that had the five talents, and he says unto the man that had the two talents, that they were faithful over a few things, meaning from the master's perspective, they weren't given that much. They weren't entrusted with very much in the story. They were given just a few things, something that seemed maybe small or insignificant or not a great value. But I kind of want to explain this parable for just a few minutes and then we'll get into the sermon. We see in the beginning of this parable, it says in verse 14, for the kingdom of heaven is a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered on them his goods. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey. So at the beginning of this parable we see there's a man, he's going to travel into a far country, so he delivers goods unto his servants, and he gives one guy five, he gives another guy two, and another guy one. Now he then leaves after in verse 16, he goes on his journey. He doesn't necessarily tell them what to do in this parable. It doesn't explain if he gave them instructions on what to do with the talents, it doesn't say if he told them what they should do with the money or how they should, if they should give it more back or what to do with it, he just entrusted it to them and then he leaves and then it's up to them to decide what to do. Look at verse 16 says, then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. So the guy that had the five talents, I don't know in this parable, it doesn't seem like he's instructed what to do, but he decides, I am going to do something with this talent. I'm going to be profitable unto my servant, I'm going to do something great. He was faithful with what he had, he had faith in what he was given. He didn't just, well I'm not going to really use this, I'm not going to really do anything with it, I don't really have much faith in my master. We see the guy that had the one talent though, he doesn't have any faith. It says there in, look at verse 24, it says then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art in a hard man reaping where thou is not sown and gathered where thou is not strode. And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth, lo there thou hath that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gathered where I have not strode. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then in my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which hath ten talents. Run to every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now this is one of these type of parables where false prophets and false teachers love to try and illustrate this to say, well see you got to do the works, you got to do something with what God gives you, you got to work hard, and you got to hope that at the end of the day he won't catch you into hell. But that's not really what I believe, it's obvious it doesn't know what the Bible's teaching here because the Bible clearly says in multiple places that if you believe in Jesus Christ you'll go to heaven. Has nothing to do with your works, has nothing to do with how you live your life, has nothing to do with trying to earn more rewards or earn more goods or earn more souls or earn whatever good works this guy is kind of illustrating through this parable. The Bible says, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. The Bible makes it extremely clear that all you have to do is believe on Jesus to be saved. But I think in this parable we see that the first two servants were faithful with what they had been given and the other man did not have any faith. So if we compare those two things then it kind of makes sense why this guy would go to hell. He had no faith. The Bible says without faith it's impossible to please him. We see that God's wanting to give everybody a gift, the gift of eternal life, but he didn't really want it. He just buried it in there and then just wanted to give it back to him. He didn't want it. He didn't want it. He didn't have any faith in what the servant had entrusted unto him. But I don't think that this parable is really, you know, explaining salvation. That would just be if you were trying to look at it with a salvation lens. The primary, you know, instruction of this is what are you doing with God, with what God's given you? Are you going to be faithful with even the little things that God gives you in your life? And the thing that I think we all need to understand is that everything builds upon itself. Nothing just starts out just fully made, fully going. All things have to start somewhere and then they grow or they get bigger. Go to Hebrews chapter five if you would, Hebrews chapter five. The Bible says in Isaiah 28 verse nine, Whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line. Here a little and there a little. The Bible is saying, hey, things are going to grow. Things are going to develop. That's just the natural course of this world. We start as a baby who knows nothing, who's completely dependent on our parents. But then we need to grow and mature and we understand more things slowly. First we begin to be able to understand letters and numbers. Then we can be able to read, then we can gain knowledge, then we can become wise, then we can be wise enough to understand how to be saved, then we can really be wise according to the Bible. But we see that there's a progression. It doesn't just, you don't just start already know everything of the Bible. I already know everything. I already got it all. I don't, I don't need anything. Even Jesus Christ, the Bible says, learned. He gained in stature and the Bible makes it clear that everything continues to grow or continues to develop or continues to have a learning phase, learning knowledge. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Babies need the milk to grow and they need to grow. Nobody wants a baby to just be a baby forever. They want it to grow and the same thing should be with us. We should not desire to be a baby the whole, the whole rest of our life. A baby Christian, a baby anything. Maybe even a baby at your job. You don't want to go to your job and basically never really learn how to do the job. You never have any, it'll add an experience to go with your job. They're like, this guy is just a rookie every single day of his life. He can never get the training right. He can never do it right. It's like it's his first day every single week. Nobody wants that. You want to be able to grow. You want to be able to have knowledge. You want to be able to continue to take on more responsibility, more knowledge, more work, do greater things. Grow. Look at Hebrews 5 verse 12, for when, for when, for the time you ought to be teachers you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the Oracle of God and are become as such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for he is a babe, but strong meat belongeth to them that are a full age. Even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Again, the Bible is admonishing people to grow, to develop, to learn more, to do more. So I'm not going to say that we shouldn't have the desire in our lives to do more with the things that God's given us to basically yield more fruit, yield more goods, yield more knowledge. Obviously that's what we need to do, but sometimes people have this unhealthy view where that's the only thing they're focused on. They're just focused on the next step. They're just focused on getting to the next promotion. They're just focused on where they're going to get to next. They can't wait until they get to the next stage in their life. Oh man, I just can't wait until I'm a teenager. Oh man, I just can't wait until I can try. Oh, I just can't wait until I can leave my parents' house. Oh, I can't wait until I get married. Oh, I can't wait until I have kids. Oh, I can't wait until my kids grow up. Oh, I can't wait until they have grandkids. And then all of a sudden you're like, man, I wish I could go back and start over because all I was wanting is for the future to happen. I was never living in the now. I was never living and taking in the fullness of the present. I was always looking to the future and always desiring the future more than what I have now. I wasn't just being faithful with what I had now and taking and embracing the things that I have been entrusted now, I'm always just looking for the next step, looking for the next thing I can get, looking for the next stage. Where can I be in five years, in ten years? All I'm, all I'm thinking about is that. I'm not going to be faithful with what I have now because I'm just too focused on the future. I just can't wait to get to that next stage. So I'm willing to cut corners. I'm willing to skip things. I'm willing to think more highly of myself than I ought to think. And rather than just digging down and just embracing where you're at, embracing the present, embracing what God's given you and entrusted you now and being faithful over a few things. I think right now it's important that we embrace now. We should not be disappointed in any stage that we're in because I think a lot of times people they're, they get really upset with some stage that they're in. Maybe the beginning stage or maybe they're, they're right after the beginning stage or maybe the ending stages of something. They always get discouraged. They don't like something. Maybe, you know, like we just had a newborn. Sometimes people are like, I don't really love the newborn phase because it's hard and they cry a lot and they're so dependent. But the thing is, is if you're always looking for the next step in your kid's life, then you're never going to really soak in and enjoy the moments that you have. And when you have that kind of mentality, maybe you're not giving as much diligence or as much love or care or affection to the things that you have now. I mean, just the very beginning, all stages of a child's life are important. There's not an unimportant stage with your child. And sometimes the most trying or the most difficult times in a child's life are the most important of a, of that of a parent, of that of a parent to come in and maybe correct the child or instruct them or teach them or give them the guidance that they really need. We see in the teenage years is probably arguably, I don't know from experience, but just as people describe one of the hardest times in a child's life. But talk about one of the most crucial times in a child's life. That's when a child is really getting exposed to the evils of this world. They're getting exposed to so many different things. They're having a lot of thoughts for themselves. They think more highly of themselves than they ought to think. And it's a time for the parents to really dig in and teach them the Bible, teach them the Word of God, teach them how to be humble, teach them what truly is wisdom, what is truth. Where do you find the right answers in life? Because they are going to have to make decisions for themselves soon. They are going to have to decide where they want to go with their life. What do they want to spend their life doing? What do they want to follow? And you got to trust in the Word of God and say, hey, I'm going to train up a child the way he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. But I'm not going to despise this time that I'm in. I'm not going to despise the little bit of time that I have with them now that maybe seems grievous. I'm going to fully dive in. I'm going to be faithful with what God's given me. Go to Genesis chapter 32, or Genesis 37, I'm sorry, Genesis 37 and we'll start in verse 2. You know what? You never know when God is just going to open a huge door of opportunity to you that you didn't even see coming. And the Bible makes it clear that God rewards those that are faithful of a few things. This is not just one isolated event in the Bible, this is throughout the whole Bible. God is constantly trying and testing men and he sees the men that are faithful with a few things and he entrusts them with more. And it's going to be applied to, I believe, literally every area of your life. It can be applied to your job, it can be applied to your family, it can be applied in all spiritual kinds of aspects as far as, you know, administrations of the church, it can be the soul winning, it could be all kinds of leadership positions. I mean, it's infinite number of possibilities how you could apply this. But we just need to get the principle and understand it, get it in our heart so then we can apply it to all the areas of our life that we need to because everybody's in a different stage of life. Everybody's been entrusted something different according to his several ability he's given unto them. We see with the master he's given some five, some two, some one. We shouldn't despise the fact that we only had one talent. We should say, hey, he's given me this one talent, I'm going to do the best I can with this one talent, with this one child, with sleeping, you know, sweeping the floor or cleaning the toilet or whatever they've been instructed to do. Hey, this one soul winning time, this one anything that God's given to you, we should be faithful with just a few things because you never know when God's going to open a door and it's going to be something much more than you never expected. Look at Genesis 37 verse 2, these are the generations of Jacob, Joseph being 17 years old was feeding a flock with his brethren and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. Now if we think about the story of Joseph and his brethren, we basically have two extremes of what I'm talking about. We have one who is a faithful servant who works hard, his name is Joseph. We see that later in the Bible how he's a very hard worker. Contrasted with his brethren, he's having to come and bring an evil report, meaning what? They're not doing their job well. Now you could argue exactly what that means. They're probably being slothful or lazy or not, you know, maybe they're letting the sheep get taken by wolves or something, or maybe they're just losing the sheep. Who knows exactly what they're doing, but we know they're doing a bad job because Joseph's coming and bringing an evil report. So they're not taking seriously the job that their father is entrusted to them. Their father is entrusted to them, the sheep, but they decided that it's not important enough to them to make sure they do a good job. They're not going to do a good job because they don't think it's that important apparently or they don't want to, they're not a hard enough worker in their heart. They're not going to be faithful with a few things their fathers entrusted them with. Let's skip down to verse 13. It says, And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Come and I will send thee unto them. And he said unto them, Hear him not. And he said unto them, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again. So I sent him out of the veil of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? And he said, I seek my brethren, tell me, I pray thee, where they feed the flocks. And the man said, They are departed thence, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan. So the father doesn't even know where they're at. I mean, it seems like the brethren probably aren't taking their job seriously. I mean, if your manager thinks you're in one place and you're really not there, usually that's not a good sign. Most of the time, if you're not where your boss thinks you're at, it's probably not a good thing. Now, obviously, it could be, you know, well, there's no food here, there's a pray, we move. But already knowing that they have an evil report, and then the fact that their father doesn't even know where they're at. We see these guys aren't probably taking their job very seriously. They're not being faithful with what their father has instructed them to do. Go to Genesis 39, go a couple more chapters. The Bible says in Psalms 12, 1, Help, Lord, for the godly man cease for the faithful fail from among the children of men. It's an epidemic today, how there's not faithful men anymore. There's not people that want to be faithful over little, they want to be faithful over much in their heart. But you know what that causes people to do? To be lazy and slothful and irreverent of the job that they've been given to do. They think, well, I'm too, you know, important to sweep the floor and really do my job well and to be diligent and to do good. So they end up not doing it. They're not faithful with the few things they've been given because they think more highly of themselves than they ought to think because they're too prideful because they're too arrogant and they're always looking for the next stage. But it makes, it's just evident in the Bible and the world today that those that aren't faithful with the few, they're not going to be faithful with much. God's infinitely wise. He understands that. That's why he's not going to bestow unto somebody that's not faithful many things to watch over unless it's just a curse or a judgment or he wants it to go epically bad. But God in His wisdom is not going to entrust somebody with many goods or many things that can't even be faithful with a few things. That should just be manifest to us. Look at Genesis 39 one. We'll read about how Joseph was different than his brethren. It says, and Joseph was brought down to Egypt and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard in Egyptian, brought him in the, of the hands of the Ishmaelites, which had brought him down vivid. And the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian, and his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight and he served him and he made him overseer over his house and all that he had put into his hand. And it came to pass from the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptians house for Joseph's sake. And the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand and he knew not aught he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. So we see in the story, Joseph is eventually sold by his brethren to some Ishmaelites and the Ishmaelites take him down to Egypt, then he's taken into Potiphar's house. Now at this time, I think a lot of people could have a really bad attitude about the fact that they weren't doing anything wrong. Now they've just been sold by their brethren into captivity, they're taken to be a slave, they could just be real bitter, they could be real angry and just decide, I'm not going to work hard, I'm just in the back, woe is me, everything bad always happens to me, nothing good ever happens to me. We see that wasn't Joseph's attitude. He was faithful even in the little things that he was given. Even in a horrible situation, being sold into slavery, being in a foreign country, maybe not even speaking the tongue when he first moved down there, I mean it's likely that maybe he couldn't even communicate with a lot of people when he was there. That's got to be really frustrating. Imagine just being dropped off in a foreign country that you have no idea where you're a slave all of a sudden. I think it's pretty easy for us to skip over that reality and put ourselves in a situation and realize, well this guy is really faithful to just immediately decide to be a hard worker. We see that was in his heart. It was in his heart to always be faithful with everything that was entrusted unto him. I like what it says in verse 6, it says, talking about his master, Potiphar, it says, and he knew not all he had save the bread which he could eat. Joseph was so trustworthy, he was so loyal, that Potiphar didn't even watch any of his affairs. No micromanagement, no checking in on him, he's just like, Joseph's got it. The only thing I even know is the bread that I eat, the bread that he serves me. That's the only thing I have to worry about. He's so loyal, he's so faithful, he's such a hard worker, I don't even have to look into his affairs, I know it's going to be taken care of. That's the type of worker that God's looking for, that we should be as Christians. One that the boss can say, hey, if you hand it to, you know, brother John, it's always going to be done. It's always going to be done really well. He's going to make sure it's always done to perfection, it's perfect. I don't even have to worry about it. I know it's always going to be done exactly right. That's exactly what the Joseph's being like here. Potiphar has that much confidence in his servant Joseph, says that he was a goodly person and well favored. And it says in verse four that he had served him. He is in this opportunity, he doesn't know what he's going to do. He decides, I'm just going to serve my master, I'm going to serve this guy, probably wasn't even saved, probably wasn't a Christian, maybe didn't even know any of the Bible, but he just decides, you know what, I'm going to serve him. He was faithful with what the situation he was in. Go to verse 21, it says, but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison and the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand because the Lord was with them and that which he did, the Lord made to prosper. So in this part, Joseph ends up getting falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. He's thrown in prison. Even worse situation. I mean, he's already got a horrible situation after horrible situation. Now it even gets worse. Now he's thrown in prison. It seemed like it was kind of looking up. Now he's, you know, he's the top servant and this, this is a gypsum's house. Maybe the gypsum seems to be probably wealthy as an implication of the story, but now he's thrown into prison and the Bible says that God showed mercy on him still and it seems, we see that Joseph again, an even worse situation, things keep getting worse for him. He's still faithful. He's still a hard worker. I mean the prison, he immediately is running the prison it seems like in the story. Maybe this is a period of years or a long time, but in the story it's just immediately he's the, he's the ruler of the prison basically. And it says in verse 23, the keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand. Now we have two witnesses. We have two guys that are saying, look, this guy is just so faithful. He's such a hard worker. I never have to look at anything he's doing. I just know it's going to be right. I just know I have complete faith and trust. This guy is faithful with anything I give him, anything I trust him, he's going to make sure the job gets done. Again, the attitude that we should have as Christians, go to Genesis 41 now, go to Genesis 41. So we see with Joseph, he's faithful with the few things that he's been given. He's so faithful that his, you know, secular, unsaved bosses, they can trust anything to this guy. They know and have complete confidence in this guy. Now think about God's perspective of Joseph. He's looking for a man to save the world basically, to save Egypt and all them that would come under him to buy corn. I mean the whole world's going to experience this great famine and through the Lord's might they can all see the power of the Lord. He's looking for a man. Who's he going to choose to be the man to rescue all the people, to rescue his people, to rescue the Egyptians? He's going to, he's going to get the guy that's so faithful, he doesn't even have to look under his affairs. He doesn't have to micromanage him. He doesn't have to worry if the job is going to get done. This guy is always faithful in every situation, whether or not it's good or bad, I mean basically all the situations Joseph's had so far have been bad. So then he's in prison, he ends up interpreting a dream for two other prisoners. They forget about, the butler forgets about him, but then later Pharaoh has a dream and they need someone to interpret. Nobody can interpret it. The butler talks to Pharaoh and says, hey, there is a guy, I remember this guy. He gave me the interpretation of my dream. He said, I'm going to be restored to your hand. Maybe we should get this guy. So they bring out Joseph and then Joseph interprets the dream and he says there's going to be seven years of famine and they need to find a man that will take, there will be seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine and they need to take up a portion of the good of the bountiful, you know, blessing that God's given them so that they can be spared in the seven days, seven years of famine. And Pharaoh says, and look at verse 38 of chapter 41, and Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such a one as this is? A man and in the spirit of God is. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, for as much as God has showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. Thou shall be over my house and according unto thy word, shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. So interestingly again in verse 40, look what Pharaoh says. He says, according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. He said, look, I'm not going to rule the people. You're going to rule all the people again and trusting him with every single detail. He says only in the throne am I going to be, you know, greater than you and at your word everybody's going to be ruled. Everybody's going to obey your, your word and everything that you say. The picture, you know, sometimes you can, you see the picture of Jesus Christ being submitted unto the Father, but we all have to obey his word, we're all ruled by his word. We see Joseph being second in command, but being over the entire, you know, Egyptian empire. But the interesting thing is now that he was faithful over a few things, God's entrusted him with many and trusted him with basically everything. I mean, eventually we see the whole world suffers in this famine and comes into Egypt to buy corn and that's why Egypt gets great riches, why they gain so much wealth. Look at verse 55 says, and when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph what he say it to you do. So whatever Joseph said happened, but why did Joseph get in that position? Because he was faithful over a few things. He was faithful his whole life. He just purposed in his heart, no matter what situation I'm in, no matter what God's entrusted me with, no matter what I had to look over, I'm going to be faithful with it. I'm going to use it for good. I'm going to multiply. I'm going to increase. I'm going to do well with what God's given me, no matter what it is, and in a lot of his situations, they're pretty bad situations. He didn't have very much to look over. I mean, looking over the prison, I don't think very many people think that's like the highest job, the best job to ever have, the most important thing. People probably think that's not that important, but Joseph took it important enough and God said, hey, here's a guy that we can trust many things with. We know we shouldn't necessarily always base any of our doctrines or beliefs on parables and stories. I think that this story, this thought is carried through the entire Bible, but I say the clear statement comes, I believe from Proverbs 28 verse 20. The Bible says, a faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh taste to be rich shall not be innocent. The Bible says a faithful man shall abound with blessings. That doesn't necessarily say immediately or you're going to start out with it, but he's saying, look, if you continue to be faithful in your life, if you're faithful with your job, if you're faithful with your family, if you're faithful with the word of God, God's going to give you many blessings. I believe in this life and the next. He's going to bless you in your job. He's going to bless you in this life with your children. Not only that, you're going to be blessed with spiritualness. If you're being faithful, if you're a wise steward of what God's entrust you, he's entrusted every person that saved the gospel. Are you faithful with that talent of the gospel that is given you? Say, well, I don't have a great job. I don't have great things going on with my family. Maybe I'm not. I don't have really a family. Maybe I'm a solo person. You still have the one talent at least. I mean, at least you have the gospel. What are you doing with the one talent that God gave you the gospel? Are you going out and getting people saved or are you just burying it under the, you know, in the earth, just hiding it? And God's like, well, I can't use this guy. Why don't we just get rid of him? Why don't we take away from him what he has and give it to somebody else? Just like the church at Ephesus in Revelation, which they didn't do the first works. So God said he would take away their candlestick. He would take away what they had, what it even seemed to have. The guy's like, I only have one talent, but he's like, I'll even take that from you. I'll take, even because you thought it was little, you didn't, you didn't take very much interest in it. I'll even take what it seems to have, what you seem it to have. Go to a Luke chapter 15 if you would, but we see this all through the Bible. We see Elisha, he's described as the man which poured water on the hands of Elisha. He wasn't above being the man of God's servant, about doing menial tasks of just washing the man's hands or doing, you know, all kinds of probably servant type tasks, things that nobody would think are very important. But he was faithful to Elisha and then God gives him a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Wow. Who doesn't want a double portion of Elijah's spirit? Talk about a big thing to be entrusted with. Elijah was first faithful with good God had given her and we see in a lot of these stories that they're being faithful for long periods of time and then all of a sudden it's like God opens this door and they're entrusted with much. You never know when God might open a door and trust you with so much more than you can even imagine. I don't believe that Joseph thought for one second he was about to be the rule, the second ruler in all of Egypt being in that prison house, but you know what he said, I'm going to just trust in God. I'm just going to be faithful to what I have. And even if he died in that prison, he could believe, well, I'm going to be faithful over much in heaven. God's going to reward me in heaven. Was he even an Amos? Amos, Amos is taken from the sheep bowl and becomes a prophet. He said I was a herd man and a gatherer of sycamore fruit, but I believe that God was looking at him being a faithful servant of whatever he had. I mean just this lowly guy with some no jaw, but he knows, hey, if I give this guy the word of God, he's going to go preach it unto the Edomites and the Moabites and those of Tyre and those of Jerusalem and those of Israel, he's going to make sure my, my word goes forth. I don't believe this guy was slothful and lazy. I believe he was faithful in all that he had. Good. I'm not, I'm not going to have you turn there. Exodus chapter two. We also see even women exhibiting the same behavior. Jochebed, the mother of Moses says, and the woman conceived and bear a son and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hit him three months. She took it seriously that God had given her a child. The Bible makes it clear that God's the one that opens the womb. God's the one that brings forth the child. God is the one that makes the bones grow in the womb. He's the one that, you know, gives all children according to the Bible. I preached a sermon on that called conception. I'm not going to belabor that point, but God's the one that gives the children and Jochebed didn't take that as well. It's just another boy. I mean, they're going to probably kill me if I keep him. So I might as well just throw, you know, kill him to or let the Egyptians have him. It's not a big deal. Being a mother is not that important. No, she knew that her job as a mother was important. She knew that her child was a goodly child, so she hit him. So she tried to preserve his life. So she tried to save the child. And then what happens? Moses delivers the people of Israel. He becomes one of the greatest leaders of all time. Look at Luke chapter 15, go to verse number eight. We're going to see another story of another one. It says in Luke chapter 15 verse eight, Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost. We see the diligent woman, she's not going to squander any of the goods that's been bestowed on her. She's not going to take it. Esteem it not important. Well, I've only been given ten bucks, so if I lose one dollar, what's the big deal? No, she sweeps the whole house. She's diligently searching for this talent. She wants to have all of her money. She wants to be a good steward of every single thing she's been given, every single thing she's been trusted. We see that the diligent woman, the faithful woman, she's going to not esteem her job as unimportant. The job of a mother is extremely important. I mean, the phrase is what, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. I mean, the Bible even makes it clear that women are such an important role in a young man's life. We so see so many young men do that was just right in the sight of the Lord. It seems like from their mother, from the implications of their mother. We see the mother teaching their children good wisdom in the book of Proverbs. You say, well, I'm not that important. I'm just a mom. I just have some kids. Why can't you just be faithful over the few things God's given you and have faith to know that the Lord will reward you with much, will reward you with even more? You say, well, I'm not taking very good care of the one kid I've got. Maybe that's why you don't have any more. Maybe God doesn't want to trust you with more kids or any kids because you're not going to be faithful with what you have. God doesn't want to give a living, breathing soul to someone that's not faithful. Obviously, we see the heathen and unsaved constantly reproducing, but I believe God wants to entrust children to those that are faithful, those that want to raise them right, those that want to take them to church and teach them the Bible and get them saved. That's why we see a lot of independent Baptist families being really, really multiplying. We see the children of Israel multiplying more than the Egyptians. We see God giving more conception, more multiplication to those that are His people. I don't think that's a coincidence. Obviously, it could also be partly that they're following His commandments. If we go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 1 Corinthians chapter number 10, I'll turn with you to, why do you say, what's the reason for the sermon? Well, I was going to work and it was a few weeks ago and it was early morning and I was running in to work with another guy. He says, man, this work thing is really overrated, isn't it? And I just said, I said, well, I like working and I said, having a job is way better than not having a job. And the guy was just kind of like, yeah, yeah, you're right. And they just kind of went away. But you know, that's the attitude of a lot of people today. A lot, most people today don't want to be at work. They don't want to go to work. They don't want to work hard. They don't want to be faithful to the little they've been given. Help, Lord, for the godly man, Cephas, for the faithful bail from among the children of men. People don't want to be faithful today. Their parents are not instructing their children to be faithful to the little things they have. No, they have a thousand toys and they can just break them and throw them around and disregard them and they can break other people's stuff and they can just tear things up and they don't have to eat all their dinner and they can just, whatever they want. And then they grow up and they're horrible human beings. They're horrible adults. They're not faithful to anything they've been given. They've never been entrusted anything that they think is worthy of them. They're too puffed up. They're too arrogant. They think, well, I'm just this great person. Why don't people just give stuff to me? I'm so entitled. Why can't I just get a raise already? Why can't I just be promoted already? It's like, why can't you just be faithful to what you've been given? Why can't you just do the job you've been given? Why can't you just stop being a thorn in my side and be somebody like Joseph, who I don't even have to look at what he's doing. I know it's going to be a good job. I know it's always going to do right. And if you have that attitude, if you have the right attitude, you're rare in this world today. It's a rare thing. I've seen a lot of different workplaces. I've seen a lot of different people. My generation is terrible. They're so entitled. They think they just earned everything already. They're so deserving. They can't just be faithful to what they've been given. They can't just be faithful on the job. They can't be faithful if they've been entrusted. They think more highly. They're always looking to the next step. Oh, man, I can't wait to be the CEO. I can't wait to be the president. I can't wait to be the manager. Man, if I was running this place, it would just be great. But they don't even get their own job done. You're like, you wouldn't be a good manager. You can't even do the job well. You're always late. You're always lazy. You're never wearing the right uniform. You can't follow any of the policies and procedures. You're constantly lying to the boss. You never even fill out your time card right. Oh, but you would be a good manager. Of course, I believe it now. No, we need to be faithful to the few things we've been given. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, look at verse 12, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take he, lest he fall. There is no temptation taking you, but is such as common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you be tempted above that you're able. But what with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. The Bible makes it clear that God is not gonna entrust something undue that you could not handle, you could not manage. In the primary context of this verse, it's talking about sin. It's talking about wickedness. It was talking about the children of Israel. They're sinning and they're doing all this wickedness stuff. And they were in it simple unto us. And we're not gonna be tempted with some great temptation that we couldn't overcome. God's not just dangling fornication and adultery and all these things from people knowing that they're gonna just fall into it. Knowing that they're just gonna go into it. They have no chance to escape. There's no way they could ever get out of it. He's just like, hey, I'm gonna tempt you with this evil and you're just gonna fall into it no matter what. You just can't overcome it. No, God's gonna only tempt you with that which you're able to overcome. I think the same thing is him entrusting us with work. But isn't it great to not be unemployed? Isn't it great to have a job? Isn't it great to have something to do? But you know the Calvinist today, he doesn't believe that. He doesn't believe anybody has any job to do. God's in the control of everything. God's the one that's taking every single action and every single decision of every single person. So that verse that I just read for you doesn't even make any sense. Because every time somebody commits fornication and adultery and sodomy and rapes somebody and there's murder, it was God that was doing it. And how could that verse even make sense if he said, well, he's not gonna tempt you with something that you couldn't escape. But then he's the one making all the decisions. Ultimately saying, hey, well, I'm gonna make you commit fornication, but I didn't tempt you with something that you couldn't have overcome. I mean, it sounds like there's a decision that you could have made. It sounds like there was some kind of condition or some type of hypothetical in which you could have overcame that temptation. But according to the Calvinist, no, everything's already decided. You're gonna commit all the sins you're already gonna commit. You have no control over it. God's making all the decisions. It's utter foolishness, it's utter nonsense. You know why people believe that stuff? Cuz they're selfish, lazy jerks. Because they don't wanna take accountability for their sin. They don't wanna take accountability for the fact that they're selfish, that they're lazy, that they never wanna do anything good. So they have to punt it off on God and say, well, I guess God's in control. Cuz if he wasn't, I would have to go out there and do soul living. If he wasn't, I'd have to actually follow his commandments. If he wasn't, I'd actually have to be a good person and read the Bible. Instead of just pontificating about Calvin and all these false prophets from the past, believing all this heresy, reading some stupid book called The Pilgrim's Progress, and just believing, let's talk about Bunyan. Let's just sit around and hope God saves people. Well, I guess he didn't want anybody to get saved through me. No, that's true because you're a selfish, lazy jerk and probably unsaved. I mean, if you believe Taoism and you truly believe it to its end, I don't see how you could even, some would have the gospel in your heart. Some would have the Holy Spirit teaching you anything. I mean, to believe that God's in control of every single action means you didn't believe that you believed on Jesus Christ. You don't think you believed on him. God made you believe or some stupid variation thereof. Bible says in 2 Timothy 3, says this, know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unfameful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fears, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such, turn away. For of this sorter they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now if you take that section of scripture and you apply it to Calvinism, you have to believe that God is one wicked God. I mean, he's causing all these people to do all these wicked, filthy, abominable acts over and over and over. The majority of people are doing it. What a sick, perverted view of God they have. They have another God. My God is true and holy and righteous. Neither can he be tempted with any evil. Neither can he be tempted with any man. But the Calvinist believes he's constantly forcing people to do wicked, abominable filth. That's not the God of the Bible. That has nothing to do with scripture. There's no scripture that says that. Why is God giving us all the commandments and using the word if and trying to say, hey, I want you to be faithful over the few things. But actually I'm in control and I'm not gonna let you be. I mean, you may have wanted to be faithful over the few things, but I'm in control so you can't. That's what the Calvinist believes. It's false, it's wicked, it's stupid. The Bible says in James 1-13 that no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. Now how is that verse true in the light of Calvinism? How could you say, hey, I'm being tempted with some evil, but it's not God that's doing it. But somehow God's in control of that situation? Nonsense, foolishness. No, they're being tempted by Satan. They're being tempted by their own lusts, by their own desires, by their own weakness in their heart. They're not tempted by God. Go to 1 Samuel 16 if you would. We see, the Bible makes it clear that God wants us to have choice. That's why he created us. He gave us free will. He doesn't want a bunch of robots to serve him. And with those choices, we can decide if we're gonna be a faithful servant over the few things we've been given. Don't buy into this Calvinist garbage that wants to see, well, God's really in control of everything. God's really gonna make all the decisions and you don't really have any parties already decided everything. No, if he finds you faithful over little things, he'll reward you with much. He'll give you interest even more onto you. That's what I want. I wanna have more. So I need to be faithful with the few things I've been given. I do not look at what I've been given and say, well, it's not that important. It's not that big a deal. I'm just doing it for a little while. No, I need to be faithful in every moment. I need to serve him just as much as every other person in this room. I need to never get too puffed up and arrogant about anything I have in my life. My family, my job, my spouse, the things that I've been entrusted to the Lord, the gospel. I should always take them all seriously. Decide, God's put me in this position. God's allowing me to be here. I've gotta be faithful with everything he's been given unto me. Bible says in Proverbs 14, in all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. There's profit in your labor. There's profit in what you're doing. Whether or not man sees that, whether or not you think it's the most important thing in the world, God sees what you're doing, and he wants to entrust those that are faithful over little with many things, with the rural cities. You see this even with David. Look at verse 16, verse 6, it says that it came to pass when they were come, that he looked on Elijah and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. So the Bible says God's like, I'm not looking for the wisest man after the flesh. The guy that's the goodliest looking, the guy that's the strongest, the guy that everybody's like, well, this guy's gonna do great things. He's looking at the heart. He's saying, this guy doesn't have a good heart. He might have a good, you know, flesh. He might be tall in stature, he might be really strong, but his heart's not right. I can't use this guy. God wants to use people where their hearts are right, like Joseph. Go to chapter 17, look at verse 27. Says, and the people answered him after this matter, saying, so shall it be done to the man that killeth him. And alive is all his brother heard when he spake unto the men. And alive's anger was kindled against David, and he said, why camest thou down hither? And with whom has thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. We know when Samuel came to anoint David, he wasn't found. They said, well, he's just keeping the sheep. And we see with his older brother's description, he says, what? You just left those few sheep in the wilderness? He just has a menial task. He just has a non-important job. Nobody really cares. You just had a few sheep and you couldn't even watch them. You're just coming down here to spy the battle. Saying what? He didn't look at what David was doing was that important. He said, well, it's just those few sheep. He's just a keeper of the sheep. He's not that important. Why are you here at the battle? I'm a servant of Saul. I'm someone great. But is that who God uses to destroy Goliath? No, we know in the Bible he uses David, a man who's faithful even over the little that he had. What did he do? He saved the lamb from the bear. He saved the lamb from the lion. He was faithful over what he had to watch. He esteemed his job important. He was following what God had given him, what his father entrusted unto him. And then God uses him mighty. God uses him to slay thousands. Yay, become the king of Israel, one of the mightiest men of the Bible. What is the theme we keep seeing? We see men who are just little stature, who just have almost nothing, but they're faithful with what they have and God makes them big rulers and entrusts them with many things. He entrusts them with all kinds of goods. You can see how Jesus gave this parable and it makes so much sense with the whole testament. And we see this over and over and over. We need to be faithful with the few things we have. We need to be faithful with the few things that God's given unto us. Even in a secular perspective, I know whenever I graduated from college, I don't recommend anybody ever go to college, horrible decision, but I couldn't get a job. I decided to go into banking, I hated it. And I was deciding I wanted to get a different job. So I was looking into computer science and I was looking into accounting. And I started going back to college to get a master's degree I didn't enjoy going back to college at all. I talked with a guy, he was a developer. He said, if you wanna be a developer, don't waste your time in college, just come, we'll train you. You can start out brand new. So basically starting completely over. And it was gonna be paying like I was starting completely over too. But I decided, hey, I think this has better career advancement, it's more interesting, it's something I would enjoy. I liked the idea of it. So I went for it and I started out. Now I took a pay cut, it was a lot of extra work. I had to try and learn a lot of different things. I was kind of being thrown to the walls, thrown in the fire. They weren't really instructing me very much, but I tried my hardest to be diligent with what I had. And they promised that after a year or so that I would get a substantial raise, that I'll get more money, I'll get enough money to kind of live. I was just starting my family. So how much money I was making was very important because it's expensive to have children. Anything that has a child knows or multiple children, man, it's expensive. And it was just very important. So I worked really hard, I tried my best. Then the year comes around, they just don't say anything. Nothing happens. Then I just keep working and keep working, keep trying hard. They're saying I'm doing a good job, just no money. You know, just year came and went, plenty of time came and went. Finally, they gave me a menial raise, not even as much as they promised in the first year. I kept working for them, kept working. Eventually I wanted to go to Phoenix to be trained to be a pastor and to start doing more spiritual things for God. And I decided to come to Faith Board Baptist Church and I asked these guys if I could just remote for them, just work for them off the side. Because I liked them, they were good guys, they were really smart, I enjoyed working with them. Even though they didn't pay that well, I was like, it doesn't matter, I can live on little. But I just kept trying to work hard. And every project I got, I didn't just take it as, well, it's not that important, I constantly tried to learn, I was trying to use the best technologies, I was trying to use the right methodologies, I was trying to do a very good job every single time. Not knowing where I was going, not knowing what I was trying to learn, not knowing if the technologies I was using were good. And then after a few months they decided, well, we don't really like the remote thing, we're not able to communicate with you well, so we're gonna have to just let you go. So now I'm just in this new place, just bought a house, been here for about a month, don't have a job. But you know, all the work that I've been doing, all the research that I've been doing, all the skills and the technologies that I've been learning and understanding and using, it was like every job was open up to me. I mean, I applied to all kinds of different places, it was easy for me to get a job. I didn't know that, I couldn't have expected that. But you know what, I think because I was just faithful to what I had been given, I had been a hard worker with what I had, many opportunities were opened up to me. And I'm not saying that God's just gonna give you all kinds of wealth and untold riches and we should seek after that, but I'm saying if you're faithful with little, you never know when some door may close and another way open and now you're making more money or maybe you have more goods or maybe you have more things to be entrusted or maybe you have a better position of leadership or maybe now you're able to do more things for God or maybe you're able to do bigger things for God, you're in a more receptive area, you're being able to do so many even more than you wanted to. You never know what God has in store for you, but if you're faithful with what you have, something can always happen where you can have even more. It can happen in every area of your life. We see even with Laban and Jacob. I mean, Jacob constantly had his wages changed over and over and over. Laban keeps telling him, well, I'll give you two of you. Finally, God's the one that gives him all of Laban's cattle. He basically just spoils all of his goods and goes off and now he's wealthy, now he's richest. God's not gonna just forget all your labor. You're not laboring in vain if you're laboring for the Lord, even in carnal things. Go to Titus chapter one. Be the last area that we'll look at, Titus chapter one. The Bible says in 1 Timothy three, says, this is a true saying, the man desire the opposite of a bishop, he desire the good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For a man who not out of rule's own house, how so he take care of the church of God, not a novice, must be lived up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Now in the description of someone who would be qualified to be a pastor, what do they have to be? They have to be a faithful father. They have to be a faithful husband. They have to be a faithful over the little things God's entrusted them. If they can't even be faithful with their own children, how are they gonna lead a flock of people? Adults, men, women, all kinds of other children. I mean, it's hard enough to rule your own children. Imagine ruling other people's children, way harder. We see the guy that can't even take care of his own family, can't even be entrusted with the things that he's been given already from God. He's not qualified to be a leader or a bishop of the overseer of the church. We see God wants to entrust those that are faithful, what they've been given to be faithful over much. God makes that clear in this passage. He also makes it clear in Titus chapter one, look at verse five. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou should set in order the things that are wanting, and are being elders in every city as I appointed thee. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-lilled, not soon angry, not given a wine, no striker, not greedy filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, lover of good men, sober, just, holy, tempered, holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. We see this guy's gotta be faithful. He's faithful when he's been entrusted the word of God. He's faithful with his family. His children aren't accused of riot and unruly. This guy can take care of his house. He can now take care of the house of God. Now that he's been faithful over little, God says, hey, this guy has the opportunity now to be faithful over much, over the house of God. What's more important than being a pastor in today's world? What's more important than the man of God ruling and leading the children of God? I can't think of a more important job, something that, a higher thing to be called for as far as just a job in this world. Bible says in 1 Timothy 10, and let these also first be proved. Then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless. Even so must their wives be great, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife ruling their children in their own house as well. The Bible says even the deacon and the deacon's wife. The deacon's wife has to be faithful in all things. And the deacon, he has to be ruling his children in his own house very well. The Bible makes that clear. Every office of God, you have to be faithful with the little things that you've been given for him to be faithful over much. He takes this very seriously. I haven't even turned to every single place or turned to every single story or every single scripture. I mean, it's all over the place that God wants to entrust those that are faithful of little with very much. But do you really believe that? Do you really believe that in your life? And I heard this phrase, I thought it was pretty good. It says, dress for the job you want, not the job you have. I thought that was pretty interesting because I think that's how we should take every job that we have. We should take every job with his complete seriousness. Say if I was the owner of the company, how would I work? Would I work extra hard? Would I be able to do it on time? Would I do anything deceitful? Would I be cheating on the time card if it was my own company? No, I would be, if it was my own company, I would be doing it right and I'd be making sure everything's doing perfectly and I would never fail on the job. I mean, Jesus Christ has entrusted you with the gospel. Are you gonna take that as your own? Are you gonna be a representative of Jesus Christ? Are you like, well, I'm just gonna let God do it because I'm a Calvinist and God controls everything. No, take ownership of what you have. And we need to not only be faithful over the few, we need to be faithful over the few things we have. So why? So then we can be faithful over much. If you want to be faithful over much, you must be faithful over the few things that God's entrusted you. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for all the examples in the Bible that we can learn from. Thank you that you're such a wise and loving God that you would not entrust those that are leaders and rulers that are unfaithful with many goods and with many people's souls and lives. That you would entrust pastors that have worked hard and that are faithful over the few things that they've been given so that they can also be faithful over much. I pray that we'd always have this attitude and we would just always be grateful for the things that we have. Even if we have one talent, that we would spend it all on you, that we'd use it wisely, that we'd multiply it, all for your glory and honor. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.