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Alright well I'm gonna start a new series today and the first part of the series is well it's actually the series is called found faith the found faithful series so talk about faithfulness I'm gonna preach about faithfulness today and there was just so much in here I didn't want to make like another hour and a half long sermon so I figured I'd break it up there might be another two or possibly three sermons out of this but let's look and focus in on verse number one where the Bible says let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God moreover is required in stewards that a man be found faithful let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for this great day you've given us pray Lord that you'd help us to have our hearts tuned in to your word Lord that we wouldn't be thinking about what we're gonna be doing after church or what we're gonna be doing this week but Lord that we've just taken an hour here this morning and focus in on what the Bible says and Lord in the in what the Bible says about being faithful Lord and I pray that you'd help us as a church that maybe Lord there's some areas in our lives that we're not being that faithful in the Lord I'd pray that this series would help people to just recount their lives and the things that they're doing in this church the things that they're doing at work the things that they're doing at home and Lord realize that faithfulness is a great big part of the Christian life and that Lord we need to be found faithful we pray I pray Lord right now that you fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me boldness as I preach your word in Jesus name we pray amen so Paul here is saying let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ so what was Paul he was a minister of Christ he was an apostle he was like an evangelist he was he went around and planted churches and started churches and it says and the stewards of the mysteries of God and so Paul was great a great teacher in the Bible and he definitely was a steward of the mysteries of God and the Bible says moreover it's required of a steward that a man be found faithful hey if you're a steward of something then God expects you to be faithful in that stewardship so what is a steward well a steward is someone that manages or looks after somebody else's property so really we're just here working in God's vineyard as Christians and he's he's he's built the vineyard and we're just supposed to work in that and bring forth fruit right and so whatever that is that we're stewards of there's many different types of stewardship in our lives and it could be you know stewardship like being a good steward of any task that you've been tasked with at this church it could be the fact that you're a pastor or trying to become a pastor and the things that you have to be faithful in to get to that point and it could be just you know stewardship over your own money how are you spending your money are you spending your money wisely are you saving anything are you laying up for your children there's just many different things that Stewart that that we could would count as stewardship of put the Apostle Paul's talking here specifically about being faithful as a minister and so that's the first point I want to make but what does faithful mean let's just get a definition right now of what faithful means faithful means loyal constant steadfast reliable are you faithful are you reliable if I give you a task are you reliable can I count on you to do the tasks that I've asked you to do if are you reliable at work do you actually show up for work do you actually work while you're at work are you reliable can the boss send you out in a task and say hey go do this and then you do it is that's that's called being reliable that's called being constant and steadfast and so obviously you know being faithful has some different terms and meanings but mainly what I want to talk about is being loyal and constant steadfast and reliable and anything that we do as a Christian see we're supposed to be different the Bible says come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will I lost it receive you yeah I will receive you okay good night okay I need to take some gingko but before I preach anyway I had everything with that was like wait what's the last word and I will anyway okay so we're supposed to be good stewards of what God's given us we're supposed to be faithful to the things that we've been tasked with whether it be in life well here's another thing you should be faithful with how about your marriage just be faithful in your marriage how about kids being faithful in the faith and being found faithful and a good child in their parents home those are things I mean these are all things that I'm gonna preach about in the next coming weeks but today the first point I want to preach about is being faithful in the ministry which is where we get our verses here so there are men that desire the office of a bishop or a pastor in this church or even in churches other than this church maybe churches that are friends of ours or whatever see being becoming a pastor in some churches is a cakewalk you know all you have to do is go to Bible College for four years and then they just stamp you and send you back and maybe if you're ultra talented you go to some bigger church and become an assistant pastor there but you know a lot of churches they send someone out from Bible College they're wet behind the ears they don't haven't even read the Bible cover to cover one time I literally there was a guy that came back as an assistant from Hyles Anderson to the church we used to go to and they don't require Bible reading there and I asked him if he'd read his Bible cover to cover one time nope so here I am a layman at the church trying to instruct an assistant pastor of the fact that he should read his Bible cover to cover one time that was before I became a pastor that's before I planted the church here this is what's being rolled out in Baptist churches today is people that have no qualifications look the qualifications of a bishop are there for a reason it's because if you don't meet those qualifications then you should not be a pastor if you're not married if you don't have children you have no business being a pastor now if you want to call that person like a full-time worker or whatever that's different but I'm saying a pastor someone just takes over others people there's men that take on pastor at jobs and they're not even married or they're newly married and then how many times do you think that they've read the Bible cover to cover when they got to there because obviously they missed the qualifications of a bishop completely though Jesus always said have you not read hey have you not read that you shouldn't even become a pastor if you haven't even read the Bible one time cover to cover or you're not even married or don't have children I mean I think that's just really weird but in churches like this church we take the qualifications seriously and if there's someone in here wants to meet those qualifications you know I'm happy I'm glad I want more pastors look we got three church plants that need pastors right now so I'm happy to have someone trained to be in the ministry and take over one of those churches that you know why because I want to start more churches I never want that to end I want it to be to where we're always starting new churches and we're always starting new church plants and that we're what trying to get the message out there we're trying to reach the darkest corners of this country and other countries for the gospel what otherwise what's the purpose of us being here you know we're saved if you don't plan on going someone and then you might as well just go straight to heaven so we need to be found number one faithful in the ministry so and so maybe there are people that used to want to be pastors but then they saw what all the kind of pastors like us go through and like maybe I know don't want to be a pastor you know because we're constantly being attacked by people all the time they're always trying to find some little niche and look we don't need to give them the ammo to shoot at us with so look we we get attacked constantly I don't like being attacked but it's just part of the ministry so look if you're afraid of being attacked all the time then don't don't go in the ministry because if you can't handle the heat then get out of the kitchen right if you can't if that's not something that you feel like you can handle then don't even try because it's something that you have you know and obviously you have to learn to deal with it the first times you get attacked it's worse I was talking about this in my sermon Thursday but you know the first time you go through a persecution of some kind it's not it's not as bad the second time if you're dealing with the same type of stuff right so but let me tell you something this job is not easy now you can sit there and say Oh Pastor Thompson all he has to do is just get up and preach that's it really is that what you think come step in my shoes for a week because I do work a full-time job still and you know I still I'm fielding phone calls and emails and having bozos attack me all the time and pastors attacking me all the time and just all kinds of things going on so but anyway it's not just about preaching being a pastor is not just about preaching so if you're wanting to go in the ministry look I want people to go in the ministry don't get me wrong but I don't want the wrong guys to go into the ministry the wrong ones that can't meet the qualifications you have to be a cut above you have to be a cut above your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ I'm not saying saying that you're better than them but you do have to be better than them as far as your works as far as what you're doing your amount of Bible reading your amount of pray praying for other people a better husband than your fellow brothers a better you know a more faithful Bible reader more faithful soul winner and a faithful preacher if you never get up and look there's opportunities to preach in this church can I get an amen there's lots of opportunities I make sure to give people opportunities you know why because I want to develop people I want to develop preachers and even if you're never gonna be a pastor I still want you to preach you know I you know would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets that's what Moses said you know Joshua was like Lord Moses forbid them he's like why envious out for my sake I want everybody in this church to be a preacher including the women like whoa Pastor Thompson you're stepping across line I want the women to preach the gospel you know there's churches like ours that the women still don't go out so honey the women in our church go so and they they strap kids to them and they got like trains behind them you know and that's great I'm glad and so when I see like women at other churches struggling to go so and it's like where's the husband at hey have your wife go so wanting teacher to go so wanting and look she shouldn't have to care for all the kids if you have ten kids and you're making your wife take all of them and you're going by yourself with your homie come on guys you gotta you gotta give your wife a break okay so but you know if you want to be in the ministry you got to be a cut above the way you dress shows something and people will get down well it's not about what you wear it is kind of about what you wear there was a guy at another church I've probably told this story before but he was so winning and he was wearing a t-shirt and flip-flops and a pair of shorts and a backpack nothing in the world wrong with that but when the police come and they say who are you what are you doing here you know if he would have been in a suit and tie and a Bible in his hand do you think that the cop would I ask him what he was doing there probably not so how you dress out so when he does show something to people I think that we should all go and look it's not a requirement of mine well a requirement though is that you should be wearing a collared shirt and I probably let that slip sometimes I'm sorry but I think that we should you know if you're not gonna wear a shirt and tie and a jacket at least wear a collared shirt if you have on with stupid t-shirt on while you're out soloing that's a bad testimony it is and then you got your wife standing right next to you but look you have to be a cut above everybody else look do you see men in the Bible that were just like just regular dudes they got called to preach I mean God saw something in them that he said hey I want that guy right there he saw what was a lie should do and when he called him to preach plowing a field working he said that's the guy I want right there so we got to understand that God is looking for somebody that's it that's exceptional and what they do and exceptional they their work show forth and their faithfulness shows forth are you going to church are you taking your family to church with you those things speak volumes to the Lord and look we're right now I'm talking about pastors okay I'm talking about if you want to be a pastor or some kind of full-time worker you have to be found faithful in the ministry and you know to be faithful to preach you know when you get an opportunity hey would you like to preach for me on Sunday night and you're like look those are opportunities that you need to take because what's God looking at your faithfulness are you faithful to preach hey when I call upon you are you gonna be ready when God calls upon you are you gonna be ready let's turn to first Timothy chapter 1 first Timothy chapter 1 and if you notice at the end of this chapter he says that Timothy was faithful where's that verse that I was listening as it was being read anybody got it mmm help me out somebody I can't see what is it 15 ah for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ you have not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel now Sunday no but I was talking about where we're out in first Corinthians I'm sorry I had you turn to first Timothy but I was trying to find that verse where it talked about Oh Timothy yeah verse 17 for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church so he sent Timothy why because he was faithful in the Lord now look at first Timothy he's writing this scripture these scriptures to Timothy it says and I think Christ Jesus verse 12 our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me in to the ministry so why did God enable Paul and county why did he kind of me because he counted him faithful you know Paul was going around torturing Christians that to me doesn't seem like he's very faithful but he was faithful in the torturing wasn't he he was faithful and what he was doing even though he was bad he was doing something bad but he was doing it in ignorance and unbelief so God saw something in Saul that maybe the Christians didn't see in him but when he became our on our side he did great things for God didn't he and it says that he counted Paul faithful and look Paul was what he didn't just send him out right away did he because he had to go to Antioch for like a year before he even was sent out so look at Jeremiah chapter 12 verse 5 see if you want to be sent out as a pastor if you want to become a pastor someday God it's not just me that's gonna have to find you faithful it's God that's gonna have to find you faithful Jeremiah 12 5 says if thou hast run with the footmen and they have weary D then how canst thou contend with horses this is what I'm talking about you have to be a cut above look if you can't even beat your fellow Christians in a foot race you know so to speak if you can't beat them and how you act how your family is how you how good of a husband you are how good of a father you are how good you are at reading the Bible and praying and doing all these things that God wants you to be faithful in how are you gonna expect to be a pastor someday if you show up less to church than your other brothers that are in this church if you show up or if you never take the opportunities to preach that you have if you are the worst husband in the church or maybe you're just mediocre look God's looking for a superstar he's looking for somebody that excels in these areas and if you can't even beat like what's God trying to tell you here in Jeremiah 12 5 he's saying hey if you can't even beat your other guys in a foot race then how are you gonna race a horse how are you gonna do great greater things than other men do if you can't even beat the ones that you're with and I'm not saying beat them down I'm trying to show you this in a spiritual way that you're supposed to be a cut above you're supposed to be your works are supposed to be greater you can't just be a zero Christian now a zero Christian is someone that does everything that they're supposed to do but someone that does and I'm not saying you're a loser I'm just saying that you're just doing what God requires of you which isn't wrong but if you're just doing the bare minimum you're just doing just enough you know if you're want to be a pastor someday or you want to go in the ministry someday you have to be better you have to do more works than everybody else and you have to be someone that someone looks at and says hey that's the guy right there it has to it should be obvious who the next pastor is gonna be it should be obvious who the next up-and-coming pastor is gonna be if it comes out of this church it should be people shouldn't be like well I don't know about that guy he's got some problems his wife's got problems his kids got problems I don't know why pastor was picking him it should it should be obvious who that person is and so it says and if in the land of peace where now trusted is they weary thee how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan so look in the time of peace before kovat hit how are you doing spiritually where are you going someone in every week where you're going and doing all the you know were you faithful to church and now that Kovats here it's like how do you think you're gonna be a superstar in the kovat crisis when you weren't a superstar in the time of peace you know I'm saying that's what the Bible is trying to tell you here so if you want to be a pastor someday look there's you got to be you got to rise above you got to be a cut above and you got to do greater works than everybody else around you that's what I think do you think it God's just saying well I looked and I saw that mediocre guy in the church and he was just barely doing everything he needed to do I'm gonna pick him doubt is that what you think God does I'm not saying that they have to be like some you know if they're always going look how many times I went so many brother I went three times this week that's not that's being puffed up that's a different sermon but look we shouldn't be puffed up either look everything should be done in humility it's not like you should be saying well you know you're just like flexing your chest muscles like one at a time to don't don't don't don't it's obvious that I'm the next pastor if that's your attitude that he definitely shouldn't be the next pastor so let's look at turnover to act chapter 13 so in a time of peace if you can't get the job done then how are you gonna do be successful in the hard times and look the 2020 should be a reminder for us and it should be a wake-up call to many people that may be right maybe we deserve to be put in this position right now you know and obviously our church does great works but were we slipping before the COVID hit I mean maybe we were but I definitely want to look in and reflect back on where I was doing wrong things as far as like maybe I wasn't doing my best you know I'm not always up here I should be always up here but I'm not always I'm still a man I'm still a human being I still make mistakes but we should all do some self-reflection from time to time and and so that we know because look if you always think you're doing the best then you're not really self-reflecting are you you're not really looking inside your heart to see where you're really at because if you always think you're on top of your game you always think you're doing great then this book is never gonna help you because you're just you're just too great I'm just doing too good I'm too good of a Christian and that's not that should not be our attitude we should we always have work that we need to shore up in our lives so you know if you're the one if you're getting smoked spiritually or in physical tasks by your peers how are you gonna run a church and look again running a church is a hard job and it's it's gonna be a challenge regardless of how much of a stellar superstar you really are but you know at least you know God's gonna be able to see your life and say hey that's the guy I want that's the pastor's wife I want that's the one that's the family that I want to start a church and be a light in a dark place for me and so if you're just mediocre you'll never be a good pastor you'll never be a good pastor you'll never even you should never even attempt to be a pastor if all you are is just mediocre and in your Christianity and if you can't take criticism please don't become a pastor because part of being a pastor is starting to become a pastor is people are gonna look at your qualifications they're gonna say well how's he in that area how's he in child rearing how's he as a husband how is he as this houses how's the pastor's wife dealing how is she on Facebook is she just the biggest Facebook gossip that there is is she just the biggest you know big mouth loudmouth on the internet then I you know I don't think that that you know the Bible says you're supposed to have a meek and quiet spirit so it's not a big loudmouth trying to tell everybody everything that isn't their business to tell people that's right so if you can't take criticism don't become a pastor and look if your past if your wife can't handle the ministry then don't try to be a pastor it's a package deal folks you know they don't have to have some kind of qualifications where they've read the Bible ten times or they've read they can't you know they should be spiritual though they should be have a spiritual bone in their body and may be willing to help and help meet their husband you know help fitting to their husband if your wife is not willing to do any of that stuff then don't even bother or maybe she just needs to work on some stuff and tell you know because you you have to strive to meet the qualifications and so not everybody's just ready you have to meet them and it takes time so it maybe your wife isn't perfect on those things right then but you know by the time you go to try to get in the ministry that she better be shored up and man you better be shored up too you're in let's see I had to turn to Acts 13 look at verse 1 Acts 13 verse 1 says now there were in the church at that that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers as Barnabas and Simeon which was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manan which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul as they ministered unto the Lord don't miss that part as they ministered unto the Lord what were they already doing before they got called to preach they ministered unto the Lord so and it says and they fasted and the Holy Ghost said separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them he didn't say separate unto me you know mediocre Joe and mediocre Jack to the ministry he said these people were already doing the work they were already preaching they were called prophets and teachers and Saul called Paul is one of those people look at what it says as they ministered they fasted separated to be Paul or Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I've called them and when they had fasted and prayed they laid their hands upon them and sent them away did he just call the most mediocre people in the church or did he call the people that were already doing work and there were already rising superstars in the church and I don't mean that in some kind of a worldly way I just mean that you could tell when you saw Paul preach or heard Paul preach there was something different about him than there was the other people in the congregation when Paul went out soul winning people got saved in droves I'm sure when Paul was teaching a passage out of the Bible at the church at Antioch I'm sure he was doing a great job always doing it and I think that everybody could see that they were great spiritual men in the church before God ever separated them and sent them out but they were there for a while they were there preaching at that church it's not just like hey Pastor Thompson I'm gonna give you a call hey would you mind just sending me out I think I'm ready I got all the stuff I'm good to go and I've never seen your eyeballs in church before that's that's an unrealistic request so I need to know that you can do the job so you know and we have three evangelists that work for our church and I think that they're doing a good job of what they're doing look the kovat hit at a weird time that whole thing hit right when we went and ordained Chad brother Chad he's doing a great job isn't he I mean if you can see what they're doing up there they're doing great works up there and you know Hawaii is in total lockdown and they still got you know a good few families there that are still being faithful and still winning souls but it's kind of hard to go so any when the whole islands locked down isn't it it makes it more difficult so everybody's in a different position you know even in Canada they're in a different position so like they never really got fully shut down like we like we did here or like Hawaii did so but anyway God's looking for people to step up and be exceptional and so if you still want to stop if you want to be a pastor you better step up and be exceptional I want to take notice of you I think God and I think God's gonna take notice of you if you do that also so turn to Proverbs chapter 20 verse 6 powers chapter 20 verse 6 Proverbs 20 verse 6 the Bible says most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness I'm so good people do that at the door all the time you know how many times people said that at the door yesterday when we're out so many how many times brother Dylan where's he at he's downstairs of course but we I heard it probably at least three times four times maybe we knocked a lot of doors yesterday we didn't get any salvations but we definitely had some adventures that we got into I got a lady sicked her dog on me and she was like some kind of freak of nature but anyway all we were being really nice too we're just up hey want to invite you to church and then she's just like this you know giving the evil eye when we walk up to the next door what are you doing knocking on people's doors she's all mad and that was nice at first but then she's like why can't you just let people go to church on their own why do you have to knock on people's doors I said because that's what the Bible says we're supposed to do mind your own business she's like oh yeah that's your that's not your house is it was a mind in her own business and then she sticks her dog on me and the dog like got from like me to Remy before the like chain stopped it or whatever little did she know you know that there was some ammunition there and like Dylan was ready to shoot this dog he's like just give me an excuse I had my knife on me I don't know if I would have been able to pull it out in time so I still haven't mastered it yet but a dog might have gone to some trouble I don't even know I'm bringing that up but anyway I just want to tell a cool soul in story but anyway let's see Robert's 20 yeah it says every man will proclaim his own goodness and people do that when you're out at the doors but but people also do that in church I'm a good Christian or they act like they're a good Christian on Facebook when their lives are wreck you know and that's that's sad that people do that but it says but a faithful man who can find it's God's word here but a faithful man who can find what does that say to you it means that they're rare faithful men are hard to find it's rare that they're faithful and look to be found faithful to be put in the ministry is even more rare do you see just tons of pastors being turned out by our churches no because there's not a lot of faithful men out there there's not a lot of men that can meet the qualifications because we live in a wicked and perverse generation and so most a lot of people have they'd probably have been a great pastor had they not ruined their qualifications you know look I'm not trying to beat anybody down that's messed up their qualifications but you know we need faithful men and if you want to be a pastor you got to be a cut above you got to be in the upper echelon of people in this church as far as what your works are and how spiritual you are so you know that's a that's something to strive towards that's something that you need if that's if that's you you want to be a pastor someday or you want to be a full-time worker someday you need to strive towards those qualifications now so number one was being found faithful in the ministry number two this morning is faithful to God being found faithful to God look at Luke chapter 16 so look we got to be faithful to God in our lives we can't just be out for ourselves and how much money we're gonna make and how nice of cars we're gonna have and how you know how great we're gonna do at our jobs look I want you to do great at your jobs but if your job causes you to sacrifice your spiritual life then you're you're not right with God I'm just gonna say it right now if you're sacrificing your spiritual life for money right now you're not right with God if you can't balance the balance and you're never in church because you're not doing it because you just want to work so much overtime or work all and make all this money then look that you're not being spiritual that's the opposite of being spiritual let's look at Luke chapter 6 16 verse 1 it says and he said unto his disciples there was a certain rich man which had a steward and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods and he called him and said unto him how is it that I hear this of thee given account of thy stewardship for thou mayest no longer be steward were no longer be no longer steward excuse me so looked at and look if you get tasked with a job at this church and you're not faithful in that job you're you're gonna be no longer a steward also I don't you know look I know I realize that people volunteer stuff here and things like that and I'm kind of getting into a point that I'm gonna make here later but look if you can't be faithful in the smallest things then how can I use you to do anything else and so look at what it says in verse 3 says then the steward said within himself what shall I do for my lord taketh away me from me the stewardship I cannot dig to beg I'm ashamed you know this guy's like I'm not gonna go out and dig trenches I'm not gonna be a utility worker I'm gonna be you know and he said to beg I'm ashamed he's not he doesn't want to stand on the street corner and say we'll work for food but also he's not gonna go do the hard work he's a white-collar worker is what he's saying he's like I'm not gonna do all this stuff I'm pushing pencils bro that's what my job is says then the steward says I'm resolved what to do that when I am put out of the stewardship they may receive me into their houses who's he talking about well the people he's about to cut breaks to right now verse 5 so he called every one of his Lord's debtors unto him and said unto the first how much O is thou unto my Lord he said a hundred measures of oil and he said unto them take thy bill and sit down and quickly write 50 so this guy is known as the unjust steward so it's not what he's doing here is not right but we're talking about a person that's not saved and they're trying to just save their own bacon it says and he said uh-huh let's see verse 7 then said he had to another how much or and how much O is thou and he said in hundred measures of wheat and he said unto him take thy bill and write four score and the Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light and I say unto you make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations so he that is faithful and that which is least is faithful also in much this is a principle in the Bible we need to learn here okay if you're if you're faithful in the least then you're also gonna be faithful in them and much so whatever task you have to do here whatever you you've volunteered your time to do here with if you're faithful in those things then guess what I'm gonna look at that I'm gonna go man and I'm gonna pass someone on the back right now that probably gonna get embarrassed about it but brother Temo you know what he comes here every week and he takes the garbage out he makes sure the recycling is out and that's not a very think worthy job but brother Temo thank you so much for being faithful in that because I would have to drive 20 25 minutes every week and do that Temo said well I'll say but it's by my house it's on the way home so he you know Temo does work a lot of hours he does do a lot of hard work the Bible says let another man praise you okay so I'm praising you right now Temo all right so brother Temo is faithful in that job and guess what he's back there learning the video stuff right now because you know what Temo has been faithful in a little bit and you know Temo preaches whenever I ask him to I mean he's I don't think he's ever said no to me unless it was maybe at the last second or something but I can count on him to be faithful I can count on him to do the little tasks that I've given him and now I want to put some more on him you know and that's what I that's what I'm look I look I want to develop people in this church to be spiritual juggernauts but if you're not faithful in just the little things that I give you it's hard for me to to put more on you so am I saying no I'm just gonna throw you in the trash because you failed to take out the trash one time no I'm not gonna do that I want to still help you almost to develop you I'm look I'm not gonna even demote you from that job you know it's a volunteer job I realize that it's hard for me to I can't believe you didn't do the baptistry this time because it's like these this is all volunteer work I understand that and I'm not paying you to do these things but you know what who do we ultimately work for anyway so when you're being faithful these things don't look at it like I'm being faithful what Pastor Thompson told me to do being faithful with something God entrusted me with okay so where was I at here so verse 10 let's look at it again 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 I'm not gonna take someone that's unjust or that that just doesn't do the work in a small thing that I've given them and just continue to pile on more stuff to them I'm gonna wait until they can actually get faithful in that one thing and if they can't ever get faithful in that one thing it's really difficult for me to use that person and it's gonna be very difficult for God to use that person because who's this ultimately talking about who what is that what is number two being faithful to God because ultimately that's who we're trying to be faithful to look at verse 11 if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon who will commit to your trust the true riches so if you're not faithful just in your day-to-day life in the money that God has given you I mean just think about this tithing if you're not even faithful and tithing then how are you gonna be trusted with the true riches God's the one that gave you that money God's the one that said hey you know give back the tenth give back the tithe and look I don't preach about tithing a lot but I always have to say that because people start getting mad as soon as you start preach about tithing but that was the Old Testament really well then how do you think we run New Testament churches I don't I don't remember the the tithe being taken away in the New Testament but anyway it says who will commit to you the true riches what are the true riches the riches of the kingdom of God you know the riches and rewards that we're gonna get in heaven and even the riches of just running things in a church I mean just think about the you might think that you have a thankless job but of whatever you do here I'm sure you know I don't I can't remember how many times I've asked or told Timo thank you for that I probably told him a few times but I'm thanking him publicly right now because I appreciate it and I do remember things like that maybe I don't say it enough of how great of a job everybody does in this church and how much people help I really appreciate it because I can't do it all by myself that's just a fact so but but I'm just trying to tell you if you're given a task to do something please be faithful in that task because ultimately you're supposed to be pleasing God not me it says and if if thou has been faithful in that which is another man if and if excuse me what verse 12 and if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's who shall give you that which is your own so that's I mean I would just apply that to work even like if you can't be faithful working for someone else how are you gonna start your own business you know how are you gonna if you can't be faithful on something that God has entrusted you with how are you gonna be faithful with the things that you have you're just not that's the lesson he's trying to tell you so look at verse 13 no servant can serve two masters for either he'll hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and mammon and so mammon is basically just like materialism but it mammon it could be money it could be boats it could be cars it could be whatever else you want but the Bible says right here you cannot serve God and mammon you can't you can't serve the Lord and your own whatever lust you have in this world that we can't do that see the opposite has to be done we have to be faithful in the things that God has entrusted us with and then he's gonna give us the riches you understand that look turn to Luke chapter 12 verse 15 Luke chapter 12 verse 15 Luke chapter 12 verse 15 the Bible says and he said unto them take heed and beware of covetousness for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth let's read that again take heed beware of covetousness what is covetousness wanting things that other people have wanting something that you might you shouldn't you shouldn't want a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth whatever that is you know that's not what our life should all be about ok verse 16 and it says and he spake a parable unto them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits and he said this will I do I will pull down my barns and I will build greater and there I'll bestow all my fruits and my goods so to me this guy he already has enough he already has all that he needs he's about to retire and he's got all this stuff and it says in verse 19 and I will say to my soul soul tells me how prideful the guy is thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine knees eat drink and be merry he's just like this all he's caring about is the things of this world the things of this life but look at what God says God's angry about this it says but God said unto him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided what what good is it that you've got all this the Bible says what good is that you should gain the whole world and lose your own soul but what good is it God says you know what you you have this wicked idea in your heart to just just eat drink and be merry and have an easy life and you're building you're pulling your barns down and building bigger he said they'll fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee and whose things shall these be the hat that thou has provided so is he the layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God that's not talking about just giving money to God it's talking about just being rich in general towards God caring about the things of God who should we be faithful to we should be fit faithful to the things of God not the things in our pocketbook not the bank account not how much money you're about to retire with and where I work it's a big deal that people talk about retirement all the time how much retire how much are you putting in I'm not putting in Jack Dibley squat you know why because I don't like playing the stock market now I just I feel like that's gambling my money so I don't sit there and put dump a bunch of money I mean my work provides money and puts that in there but I can't stop them from doing that be nice that they just add it to my paycheck right now that'd be cool but look what it says and he said under his disciples therefore I say it to you verse 22 take no thought for your life what you shall eat neither for the body what you shall put on the life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment consider the Ravens for they neither sow nor reap which neither have storehouse nor barn and God feed at them how much more are you better than the fowls and yes we're better than birds in which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit if you then be not able to do the things which is least why take ye thought for the rest consider the lilies how they grow they toil not they spin not and yet I say unto you that Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like one of these if then God so clothed the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow it is cast in the oven how much more will he clothe ye are you oh ye of little faith so God's gonna provide for your food God's gonna provide for your clothing why are you worried about these things it says and seek not that what she shall eat or what you shall drink neither be of a doubtful mind for all these things do the nations of the world seek after this is what the world seeks after this is what the Gentiles seek after in another parallel passage and your father knoweth that you have needed these things and you know what God's promised to take care of us so what are you so worried about but rather seek ye the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you fear not little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom God look God wants to give you the kingdom but you know what you got to do you got to seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness and then all these things will be added unto you see if you're doing it in reverse order I just want to get rich I want to build my barns I want to I want to have all this stuff and then when I have all this stuff that I can sit back and kick back and have my ease and say eat drink and be married I'm just gonna still sit and chill and retire I'm gonna go to Hawaii for six months of the year then the other half I'm gonna you know be here whatever that's not what God wants for your life do you understand that we only have one life to live here our life is like a vapor yeah so if you're caught up in materialism you're caught up in money you know you should be caught up in putting God first and then God if you if he desires he's gonna give you all the things that you want David never saw the righteous forsaken or his seed begging for bread so you know God is gonna take care of us number one we need to be faithful in the ministry number two we need to be faithful to God number three is last my last point I'll try to get through it quickly is being we need to be faithful in our works in our works and now what I'm talking about is our good works in church so I'm still gonna be harping on you about that but then I'm gonna go and about what our vocation should be like so let's turn to Colossians chapter 3 verse 23 Colossians chapter 3 verse 23 the Bible says in verse 23 and whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men see this is another motivation that men have that and and women that we want people to see our good works we want people to see those things we want people to see how hard of a worker we are so there's some people that just will work hard when the boss is around have you ever seen those guys I hate that you know I like to be caught working I used to be my boss would come up and they have this GPS and they'll come up and just surprise you wherever you're at and it's like all these times in a row I'm just like oh hey you caught me working good you know and so because he's trying to sneak up on us right so I want to be caught working I don't want to be caught you know playing some video game on my cell phone or something but some people that's all they care about is what people perceive them as why don't you have some integrity in your heart and and what and want God to see you for what you are and want other men to see you for what you really are and if what you really are sucks and you need to change it right so it says you know whatsoever you do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men knowing that the Lord of the Lord he shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ who's our who's our master the Lord Christ you know and the Bible says knowing that the of the Lord he shall receive the reward of the inheritance that's what I was talking about in the previous scriptures right is that you know the true riches are the kingdom the true riches are the souls that we're gonna be able to see in heaven and say and they're gonna be able to walk up to us we won't even probably remember them and they'll be like Justin thank you for coming to my door that day thank you for knocking on my door thank you for caring thank you for kind of yelling at me and getting getting me so I because sometimes like you gotta you gotta learn to you know you gotta be nice to people the door but sometimes you gotta just tell them straight and I know Justin does that when he goes and knocks on people's doors but some people need to be scared straight some say with fear pulling them out of the fire hating even the garment spotted by the flesh sometimes we've got to scare people with fear again to get them saved but I want God to look at me and say hey you know I'm gonna give you the true rewards because you were faithful in the little things that I gave you here on earth so Ephesians chapter 2 turn to Ephesians chapter 2 I'm really trying hard to stay within my confines today well we got ten more pages to go I'm just joking Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them so God has given us we're the when he created us a new creature that new creature is supposed to be going out and doing good works he created us unto good works now when we explain the gospel sometimes people get the idea that we're saying hey just get saved right now and live your life however you want really so you know whatever I want is walking three miles yesterday in the hot sun when nobody's answering and talking to us and so that means that you're just knocking more doors or walking further and further is that is that whatever I want I mean do you think that's whatever I wanted to do because look let's just face it sometimes so when it's hard there's sometimes when you knock the first door that person gets saved you knock a couple doors down that person gets saved that's a nice so winning day that's an easy soul winning day that's like whoo but you know what yesterday when I got home on my back hurt from walking on the concrete for two and a half straight hours that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do but I did it get into some adventures I was happy about that I got into you know I hopefully turned someone's heart towards the Lord about racism I'll talk about that tonight but we had a black lady answer the door and told us that the Bible says that all black people are ugly I'll talk about that tonight you just so you better be here tonight so I talk about that but anyway it's just a little juicy tidbit for later but anyway look we should the Bible says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works and God's ordained us that we should walk in them what are your duties as a Christian what are your duties what should we be doing well you know that could be a whole nother sermon actually so I'm not gonna you know just think about what your duties are at this church think about what God expects you to do as a Christian think about what God expects you to be like as a father as a husband as a wife you know what does God expect from us he expects a lot I mean that's a big topic isn't it what are your duties as a Christian that could be at my next sermon series what are your duties as a Christian well think about those things how about this what are your responsibilities here at this church what are you responsible for what is in God what is God enabled you to do at this church because you know back in that verse I just showed you in 1st Timothy where was it that says that he enabled me where is it in the wrong spot I have another senior moment all right yeah 1st Timothy 1 12 it says I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful put him in the ministry look God is enabling every single person in this room to work for him and get rewards and he wants everybody to walk in good works and to do good works the thing that he created us to do and so but what about this question have you been faithful in those things have you been faithful in the responsibilities that you have in this church have you been responsible for the things that God expects you to do as a Christian what about the ushers if you're an usher here are you being responsible in the things that you're supposed to be doing you know when someone walks into the into the church service late are you getting up and sitting that person are you wearing your usher badge today it's getting quiet in here ushers did you remember to print out the page that need to be printed out that's me but you know and every once in a while we all have to be reminded of what our duties are and things like that I understand that but I mean what what whatever your responsibility is you should be doing it with all your might and all you know if you're responsible so people are counting on you like if I'm right in the middle of writing a sermon then I have to like say who's doing soul winning tomorrow because I'm sitting there fretting about it because there's people that weren't aren't here that that needed to pass it down to somebody else and it's not passed down yet or nobody's receiving that message and you know I I just I know it's it's it's volunteer work but if something's our biggest day if we don't have people ready to go soul and ready to lead then we're gonna be in trouble so you know and those are just things that you should think about like what task have I been responsible am I responsible for am I doing those tasks to the best of my ability so many leaders so I need you to make maps I need you to be responsible and and and and know where to go and how to lead people make sure you have invitations things like that and again we all fail sometimes and forget things not talking about that how about people that are in the cleaning ministry I mean have you just been clean on the cleaning ministry one day and then the next day you're just not on it and nobody knows where you went I mean I've thought many times I was just hiring someone to be the cleaning person here just so it's not a headache for me and I'm not mad at you or anything like that I just when someone says hey I'm gonna be here every other week or whatever then they're never there or they just stop coming and it's like nobody noticed I'm gonna head out you know I mean we need to be responsible for the things that we say that we're gonna do but God expects you to fulfill your duties if that's something and if you can't do it anymore then just come say something but like just to dip out without ever saying anything that's not something that I think God would be pleased with how about making bulletins Ryland no stepping on some toes today I beat him up every week about it he's doing a great job actually now that I've beat him up from the pulpit a few times he's he's done great look it looks nice doesn't it I think it looks good anyway he's doing a good job but see and that's part of training you know you're not always gonna be excellent at everything you do right at the beginning but he's doing a great job I'm happy with that video ministry we need look anybody that's whatever you're doing here we need you to be here and be responsible for the tasks that you're doing okay and I look I'm not trying to beat people up today I just want to remind you that we should be doing our best when it comes to the things that we've been tasked with at church and if you can't fulfill those tasks and just say hey you know what I can't do this anymore or whatever but if you if it's your responsibility to be somewhere at a certain time you can't just call like five minutes before so I'm just talking about make it today you know so or if like one of the rules where we were preaching in the assisted living ministry was if you can't preach that week if it's your week to preach you got like six or seven weeks where that you're not preaching then find someone to fulfill your spot and do it in a timely manner so that people have time to think about it you know Robert a couple times was just stiffed you know having to preach himself after he wasn't expecting to do that and I was one of the ones that did it to him I'll just flat-out admit it I just forgot like I like I met I screwed up and I felt really bad about it but he covered for me but like I he shouldn't have to do that he shouldn't have to put up with that from his pastor you know it's just wicked I'm look I'm not up here saying I'm any better there's things I slip in too but I'm just trying to help us today to just like let's get spiritual let's stay spiritual let's be responsible and let's work for God as if you know everything depends on it because it kind of does because there's a lot of churches aren't doing anything and so when our church is doing something we need the people that are doing something to be responsible and be there for it all right so our minutes our music ministry hey don't show up two minutes before the service and you know people can't count on you or after the service look if you're supposed to be here playing the piano or leading songs please be here in a timely manner where we can get things going okay and you know being faithful is an attribute that God requires to bless you even bit with bigger and better things like we talked it like I've talked about in the sermon so as far as working outside of the church turn to Ephesians chapter 6 Ephesians chapter 6 I'm just gonna start reading because I'm almost out of time servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye service as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with God with good with excuse me with goodwill doing service as to the Lord and not to men knowing that whatsoever good thing any man do it the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free and he masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatening knowing that your master also is in heaven neither is there respect of persons with him so you know when I'm threatening Ryland on the job site he gets tired of it but no it's seriously I mean if you're someone that's in charge of people and you're just treating people like dirt all the time you know you've got to reign yourself in I've had to reign myself in a little bit too so you know look I'm preaching to myself here so we got a rant we got about a reign ourselves and be patient with people and things like that but also we're not supposed to do things like I said as men pleasers be but as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart you're working if you wherever you work at whatever your job is been outside of this building whatever your secular job is look think about it this way you're not working for that person only you are working for them but the higher power that you're working for is God and he sees the 25 minute breaks that you take he sees that you didn't put all your effort into some tasks that you were asked to do he sees that maybe you were looking on the internet when you're supposed to be working he sees that you're sloughing off and not working as hard as you could he sees when you just randomly calling sick all the time for no reason he sees that you know he sees all this stuff so we need to understand who we're working for now ladies it's a different story you're supposed to be working at home so first Timothy chapter 5 verse 14 for symmetry first Timothy 5 chapter 14 or first Timothy 5 verse 14 so what God's will for a woman is to marry their children guide the house that's what it says right here I will therefore that the younger women marry their children guide the house give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully see husbands they go out to work and you know the wives are supposed to stay home that's what the Bible teaches okay so you can get mad about that all you want but that's what the Bible teaches so that's your job make it a real job isn't it a real job and look women actually work a lot harder than men do in a lot of ways they're the ones up with the baby in the middle of the night while you're snoozing away and you know taking care of the children 24-7 while you get to rest but also on the other foot you know some the guys need to get their sleep so they can go out and work you know if you work some kind of crazy job where it's like cars are whizzing past you or maybe if you didn't get enough sleep you're gonna drill something through your hand or you know things like that I mean we do need to get our beauty sleep right guys but but ladies you have a job to do too and playing on Facebook all day is not part of that job now I'm not saying that you know you can't be on Facebook I'm just saying if you have got a bunch of littles running around that's all you're doing is playing on Facebook then you're not doing your job God's gonna look at you and he's gonna go that lady is not being faithful in her job right so we need to understand that we all have our roles to play and we need to stay in our own lanes right guys are supposed to go out to work and bring home the bacon and pay the bills and leave the home and we have great responsibility you know when God looks down when our families a wreck you know who God blames he blames the man as we've learned in Genesis chapter 1 2 & 3 okay we he looks at us and he holds us responsible for it we have a great responsibility but ladies your responsibility to guide the home is just as important because you're the one with the kids all day you're the one training them up most of the time at home when we get home we're the ones that get the spankings right which that isn't always the greatest thing to walk into either do you know what your kids did spank them right now it's like I just walked in the door can I like take my shoes off first can I get on Facebook for a little while you gotta bring me this right I walk in the door like well give your husband 20 minutes to not kick his feet off before you hand him the screaming baby okay hi honey I'm everybody needs to defrag right Titus chapter 2 verse 5 says to be discreet chase keepers at home obedient to their own husbands and look when I marry people I say to to honor and obey that's part of the you know don't roll your eyes back there mrs. Thompson just cuz it's your birthday honor and obey obey that means when the husband tells you to do something that's what you should do don't sit there and give me this garbage this feminist garbage of 2020 I'm not saying that you're supposed they're supposed to be your footstool okay men don't get me mixed up we all have our roles to play but look when the husband says hey we're going to this church that's what church you go to if your husband says hey we're gonna have Bible reading time tonight that's what you're gonna do if your husband says hey I want you to get up and cook breakfast for me in the morning you should probably do that or cook it the night before you know you can zap in the microwave I'm good with that but if I have no breakfast to go to work with I'm not a happy camper gonna tell you that right now if you're keeping the home that means feeding your husband when you're when your husband comes home it should not be to a house that doesn't smell like savory meat it should smell like savory meat or savory noodles with meat in them but why because it says the word we're obedient and you know you're not supposed to be obedient to other people's husbands I don't know where these cuckoos get this idea that every man every woman should obey every man no matter what that's the stupidest doctrine and usually it's spiritual teenage punks that that have that doctrine for some weird reason like they take a verse like like these verses and say you're my footstool you obey yeah see how long that lasts how long your marriage lasts when you act like that when you act like a horse's rear end all the time if you're just all and you're never loving look the Bible says we're supposed to love our wives and so loving your wife isn't treating them like your footstool but again the woman is supposed to obey the husband see husbands like respect husbands want respect you don't want to be a Rodney Dangerfield husband no respect right got no respect at home respect your husband's obey your husband's do what's right you know if they ask you to do something do it but husbands you should also love your wives all right I'm done let's pray Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much God for the scriptures and Lord there's just so much that we need to be faithful in Lord and and thank you for reminding us this morning of those things through the Bible and I pray that each and every person here represented would think about the things that they're responsible for and Lord answer themselves the question of whether or not they're fulfilling that faithfulness to you to their family to their church Lord I pray you'd help us today and help us to get those things right that are lacking in our lives Jesus name we pray amen all right our last song be song number 34 I know that my redeemer liveth