1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:04,680 For those of you who were here last week, I have some good 2 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:08,840 news. Obviously you can tell my voice 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:15,680 is doing much better, but it was actually a really rough week. 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,120 I decided I wanted to get stronger, increase my one Rep 5 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:24,400 Maxes at CrossFit, so I started a steroid cycle the other day. 6 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:30,120 Thank you. That was a joke. 7 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,920 Well, that was truth, but part of it. 8 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:41,960 No, you see, I have a history of pneumonia, have had pneumonia 9 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,080 full blown pneumonia a couple times, walking pneumonia a 10 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:48,880 couple times. So once I get sick, you would 11 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:53,480 literally think I'm dying. It sounds absolutely horrible 12 00:00:54,200 --> 00:01:00,800 when I start coughing. So I have been to the doctor so 13 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,960 many times over the years just to make sure my lungs are clear. 14 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,040 So the other day I went, they said OK, no you're good, but 15 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,160 hey, this is pretty bad so we're going to put you on a steroid. 16 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,800 So just took my last one of those this morning. 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:20,320 So I will now be returning to a weekend version of me no longer 18 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:24,720 on the steroids, but hopefully this morning I can get through 19 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,320 this without entering into a coughing fit. 20 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:39,320 If I do, my apologies. It'll be weird for both of us in 21 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:43,080 1983. Jonathan Cain wrote these words 22 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:48,600 on a napkin. Hwy. run into the midnight sun. 23 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:53,760 Wheels go round and round. You're on my mind. 24 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:57,240 Restless hearts sleep alone tonight. 25 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,160 Sending all my love along the wire. 26 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,880 They say that the road ain't no place to start a family. 27 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,240 Right down the line. It's been you and me loving a 28 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,479 music man Ain't always what it's supposed to be. 29 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:17,640 Oh girl, you stand by me. I'm forever yours faithfully. 30 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:18,560 Yes. Somebody sing it. 31 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:20,400 Thank you. I was going to attempt to sing 32 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:21,800 it, but I don't have that this morning. 33 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,360 Jonathan's desire with these lyrics was to express 34 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,160 faithfulness to his wife. Sure he was, he was on the road, 35 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:34,000 but his heart was back home with his wife. 36 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:40,040 Ironically, they divorced shortly after Journey released 37 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:46,560 this hit song. So what does it mean to be 38 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,840 faithful? To have this fruit of the spirit 39 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,480 of faithfulness as we begin, I want to make sure we understand 40 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,360 what we're dealing with. And there are three primary uses 41 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,680 of the word faith in Scripture. So I want to walk through those 42 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,480 first real quick. The first category of faith is 43 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:08,680 probably our most natural understanding of the word faith, 44 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:12,680 and this is belief in the gospel message. 45 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:14,720 This is belief in the gospel message. 46 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:19,040 We talk about placing your faith in Christ, trusting in him alone 47 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:24,440 for salvation, trusting him to deliver us from the power of sin 48 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:29,440 in this life and then from the penalty and presence of sin in 49 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:32,960 the next life. We've committed ourselves to 50 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:38,320 Christ as Savior and and Lord. In Romans 51, Paul writes. 51 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,360 Therefore, since we've been justified by faith, we have 52 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:43,640 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 53 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,840 We're no longer enemies of God because of the faith that we've 54 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,200 exercised in Jesus redeeming work on the cross. 55 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:54,440 So that's belief in the gospel message. 56 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:59,280 Second, the second version of faith or category of faith is is 57 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,360 the basic content of the Christian message. 58 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,800 Jude 3 refers to the faith that was once for all delivered to 59 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,080 the Saints in Galatians as Paul was giving a bit of a history 60 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,480 lesson on his life and recounting the churches, the 61 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,000 early churches hearing about him. 62 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:24,440 He said of the early church in Galatians 123, he says they only 63 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:29,160 were hearing it said he who used to persecute us is now preaching 64 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:33,040 the faith. He's preaching the faith he once 65 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:37,440 tried to destroy the people. I've heard reports of this man 66 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,280 Paul, and they were astonished because obviously his reputation 67 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:45,800 wasn't good since since he was known to be somebody who tried 68 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,480 to destroy the Christian faith, he wanted to destroy the content 69 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:57,600 of the Christian message. The third category for faith is 70 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,920 found in the fruits of the spirits, and this is of course 71 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:05,760 where we will focus our time this morning in the context of 72 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,400 the work of the Holy Spirit does in the life of a believer. 73 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,680 Here's the definition Faithfulness is the quality of 74 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:19,680 being true, trustworthy, and reliable in all one's dealings 75 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,920 with others. Faithfulness is the quality of 76 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:29,480 being true, trustworthy, and reliable in all of 1's dealings 77 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,360 with others. For those who. 78 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,080 Paul used this word in his instructions to Timothy 79 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,400 concerning appointing church leaders and he says this about 80 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:42,760 these church leaders and what you have heard from me in the 81 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:47,720 presence of many witnesses and trust to faithful men who will 82 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,000 also be able to teach others. These were these were men who 83 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,880 would who were faithful they were they were true. 84 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:56,920 They were reliable in their dealings with others and for 85 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,360 those who are called to serve as leaders of God's people. 86 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:06,080 Now as then faithfulness should be a defining quality of their 87 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,240 character. Can you trust them? 88 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,440 Are are they reliable? Are they, are they faithful to 89 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:18,320 what God has called them to? You see, faithfulness is far 90 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:24,200 more important than than success or recognition or popularity. 91 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,360 Now where does our own faithfulness comes from? 92 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:33,080 Of course, our faithfulness comes from God's faithfulness, 93 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,800 just as we've done each week as we've looked at each of these 94 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:42,640 fruits, we look at this quality exhibited in God's character, 95 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,000 God's faithfulness. His faithfulness is the source 96 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,640 of our own faithfulness. We can't produce it on our own. 97 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:53,120 Just like with all these virtues, we need the Holy Spirit 98 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:58,560 to produce these in US. Thinking back a few months ago 99 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:05,440 to Exodus 34 when when God was introducing himself to Moses, 100 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,200 most of you are here, but just as a reminder is said in Exodus 101 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:13,240 34, six the Lord passed before him and proclaimed the Lord. 102 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:18,000 The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and 103 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,280 abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 104 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,640 This is how God introduces himself. 105 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,600 This is his character. He says, this is who I am. 106 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,560 That last word is a met. I'm getting fancy here. 107 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:40,160 I'm putting Hebrew and Greek words up on the screen now. 108 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,920 So for those of you who want to see what these things look like, 109 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:46,160 there you go. That is the Hebrew word emet. 110 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:51,000 It is read from right to left. Now, emet can obviously be 111 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,840 translated as faithfulness, but it's actually also related to 112 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:59,880 the word Amen. And Amen is a transliteration of 113 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:04,960 the Hebrew word Amen and is a way to say that's truth or 114 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,360 that's right. But you see, faith isn't simply 115 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,320 theoretical. It also has to do with stability 116 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:19,560 and reliability. When Moses needed needed help 117 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,440 holding up his hands over over the battle against the 118 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:28,840 Amalekites, her and Aaron came up to him, put a rock under him 119 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:33,240 and they propped his hands up so that his hands are said to be 120 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,440 Emet. They were stable, they were 121 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,799 steady. When Emet is used to describe 122 00:08:40,799 --> 00:08:44,360 people, that describes their reliability and and their 123 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:49,000 trustworthiness. When Moses appointed leaders in 124 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:54,080 Israel, they were to be people of Emet, people who are 125 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:58,680 trustworthy and who wouldn't take bribes or distort justice. 126 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:03,160 And then we come to the New Testament. 127 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,560 We also get a glimpse of God's faithfulness and 1st 128 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:12,200 Thessalonians 524 He who calls you is faithful. 129 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:18,240 He will surely do it. The word used here to describe 130 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:23,600 God is pissed off and it means faithful or reliable. 131 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,000 So when we take these words into consideration, we get the full 132 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:35,320 picture of who God is. God is truth. 133 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:40,040 He's steady, He's unwavering, He's He's reliable, He's 134 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:46,000 trustworthy and faithful. And it's with this understanding 135 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:50,880 that the Hebrew Scriptures repeatedly call God a rock. 136 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,560 He is a rock. He doesn't change and he's 137 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,720 always consistent in his character, even when we 138 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:03,840 ourselves may be prone to changing and and fluctuating 139 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:08,920 passions. As we learn to depend more on 140 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:14,520 him, we too become a met. We become stable, we become 141 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,720 steady, we become faithful and reliable. 142 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:25,120 So this morning we're going to look at 5 examples, 5 persons in 143 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:30,160 scripture who who displayed this reliability and faithfulness. 144 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:36,320 The first person we look at this morning is Onissimus, and what 145 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:41,120 we learn from Anissimus is that faithfulness is characteristic 146 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:47,400 of the transformed Christian. Faithfulness is characteristic 147 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:52,400 of the transformed Christian. Who was Anissimus? 148 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:58,400 He, like the three other names on this list, is fairly obscure. 149 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:02,800 His name only occurs 3 times in all of Scripture. 150 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:08,320 He had been enslaved to a gentleman named Philemon and and 151 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,600 Paul had written a letter to short letter to Philemon. 152 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:16,640 Many of you are aware of that, but Nissimus was a Roman slave 153 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:21,960 who somehow managed to escape from Philemon in Colossae and he 154 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:27,560 fled all the way back to Rome. Now, it's believed that in order 155 00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:33,000 to finance his trip all the way back to Rome, he likely stole 156 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:38,640 from Philemon in order to make that 1200 mile journey back to 157 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:43,600 Rome. Once in Rome though, you see, 158 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,120 Onissimus came under the influence of Paul's ministry and 159 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,480 he was subsequently converted to the Christian faith. 160 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:56,320 Naturally, Paul started discipling Onissimus and helping 161 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:01,400 him grow in the faith and as an Ismus group, Paul desired to to 162 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,440 send him back to Colossae to to Philemon. 163 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:11,800 Now the goal wasn't necessarily to send an Ismus back to be a 164 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:18,640 slave, but the goal was to send an Ismus back to be a partner in 165 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,480 the ministry. And Paul says a forgiving 166 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:28,240 brother in Christ. Paul then wrote to the Colossian 167 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:36,120 church and he sends this letter to the church with Taichakis in 168 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,840 Colossians 4/8 through 9. Paul says I have sent him that 169 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:44,160 is Taichakis to you for this very purpose, that you may know 170 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:47,040 how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. 171 00:12:47,680 --> 00:12:52,800 And with him, Onissimus, our faithful and beloved brother, 172 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,720 who is one of you, they will tell you of everything that has 173 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:02,000 taken place here. Sure, as a messenger, part of 174 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Onissimus task was to tell the Colossians how Paul was doing. 175 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,760 But Onissimus wasn't simply a messenger. 176 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:17,000 Paul says he's a faithful and beloved brother, just like the 177 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:22,120 Colossians are. Onissimus had been unfaithful to 178 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:27,520 his master, Philemon. He'd stolen from him and left. 179 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:34,360 But now he'd become a follower of Christ, and he'd been 180 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:39,720 transformed by his new master, Jesus Christ. 181 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,560 So how did this happen? When Jesus enters the heart of 182 00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:50,840 the Christian, when we choose to place our faith in Jesus, the 183 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:54,960 Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts home and and he 184 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:58,600 becomes the interior decorator, if you will. 185 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:04,560 As he moves in, he starts to rearrange everything. 186 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,960 Sometimes that means the furniture. 187 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:10,880 Oh, it's been there a long time. It has to go. 188 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:15,040 The walls need to be repainted. The closets have to be cleaned 189 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:21,760 out. The Holy Spirit takes over and 190 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:27,720 he transforms our lives so that our lives look more like him. 191 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,200 But you see, sin wants to keep us from surrendering every 192 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:40,400 aspect of our hearts to God. Sin keeps demanding rents of us 193 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:45,360 and and it'll keep us from faithfulness if we allow it to 194 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:49,480 stay and we aren't trying to root it out of our lives. 195 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:59,080 When we, like Onissimus, commit to rooting out that sin, then 196 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,280 we're transformed by the power of the Spirit working in us and 197 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:06,120 we become faithful to the cause and work of Christ. 198 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:13,360 Faithfulness LED Philemon to free Onissimus, and faithfulness 199 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:19,520 works in Onissimus, eventually leading him to his seems pastor 200 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:25,680 the church at Ephesus. Christ working in Onissimus made 201 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:29,480 him a faithful brother to Paul. So faithfulness is a 202 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:33,560 characteristic of someone who is accepted Jesus Christ. 203 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,680 Our next person that we're going to look at this morning is 204 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:42,480 Lydia. Lydia teaches us that 205 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:46,560 faithfulness is essential for spiritual development. 206 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:52,840 Faithfulness is essential for spiritual development for us to 207 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:57,400 grow. Acts 1614 says one who heard us 208 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:01,640 was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of 209 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:03,840 purple goods who was a worshipper of God. 210 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:08,120 The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by 211 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:12,120 Paul. Lydia was a business woman and 212 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:16,920 and she sold purple clothing. This is noteworthy because 213 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:20,520 clothing made of purple material was quite expensive. 214 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:25,080 So since purple was expensive, this meant that she would have 215 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:30,120 had a rich clientele and she herself likely would have been a 216 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:34,760 woman of a means. She may also have been the first 217 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:37,080 Christian on the continent of Europe. 218 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,560 Then verse 15 continues, And after she was baptized in her 219 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:47,560 household as well, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me to 220 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:51,400 be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. 221 00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:58,480 And she prevailed on us. Lydia had a strong desire to be 222 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:00,280 discipled in the Christian faith. 223 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:05,000 So she begged Paul and Silas come, stay, stay at my home and 224 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,240 teach me more. She wanted them to know that she 225 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:10,359 met the criteria to be discipled. 226 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:15,880 She said, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, then 227 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:21,079 come to my house and stay. She's saying, hey, I've 228 00:17:21,079 --> 00:17:25,560 demonstrated the sincerity of my faith with with my life. 229 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:29,520 You can see that I'm faithful. So please come teach me. 230 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,720 Lydia wanted to grow in the faith and and she knew 231 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,240 faithfulness was necessary for this growth to happen. 232 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:45,080 Doctor Howard Hendricks is one of the most famous Bible 233 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:49,560 teachers of all time. He was a professor at Dallas 234 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:54,520 Theological Seminary for more than 60 years. 235 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:57,080 Do we have any DTS people in the room? 236 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,080 I don't think we do. Has anybody met Doctor 237 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:02,640 Hendricks? Have you? 238 00:18:04,040 --> 00:18:10,160 Doesn't surprise me. He's an outstanding man. 239 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,280 Throughout his time there. It's DTS. 240 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:16,880 He was able to disciple upper management, CEO types, 241 00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:20,680 professional athletes and other notable leaders in the church 242 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:24,280 like Chuck Swindolla, Tony Evans, Joseph Stoll, Chip Ingram 243 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:29,920 and Doctor David Jeremiah. So he is influenced Christianity 244 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:35,120 significantly in the 60 years that he was ministering at 245 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:39,680 Dallas Theological Seminary. Now, due to the rigor of his 246 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:43,600 schedule, he had one very significant stipulation. 247 00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:50,280 Gentlemen, if I'm going to invest myself into you, and I 248 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,800 can hear his voice, that unique voice that he had, I would try 249 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:56,960 to imitate it, but it would probably cause a coughing fit. 250 00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:00,720 Gentlemen, if I'm going to invest myself into you, then I 251 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:05,840 expect you here at 5:00 AM on the morning in question, 5:00 252 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,280 AM. I have a very important meeting 253 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:13,560 at 5:00 AM and it is not with anybody, it is with my pillow. 254 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,840 But due to the rigor of his schedule, 5:00 AM was it. 255 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:24,040 You are to be here. You are not to be late. 256 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:26,880 You are not to miss. If you aren't here, then you'd 257 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,080 better be in the hospital or else at the morgue. 258 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:39,440 Don't call in sick. Crawl in sick sounds pretty 259 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,880 hardcore. He was a serious guy, but he was 260 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,000 absolutely loved. Some of these executives would 261 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,760 rearrange schedules and take red eye flights from business trips 262 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,840 just to be there at 5:00 AM in order to be discipled by 263 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:59,960 Professor Hendricks. He demanded faithfulness from 264 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:03,880 his disciples, but that's because his his faithful mentees 265 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,880 knew what it meant. To be discipled by Doctor 266 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:12,880 Hendricks. The biblical standard hasn't 267 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:18,480 changed, but the problem is that the 21st century church is 268 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:22,320 gradually lowering the bar when it comes to spiritual 269 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:27,320 development. In the last two years, Gallup 270 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:31,840 polls have determined that 30% of Americans regularly attend 271 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:39,520 worship services, but less than 10% of those are deeply 272 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,880 committed Christians. If we take that to be 273 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,920 representative of this this room, then only 1/3 of the 274 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,600 people in here are committed and faithful to Christ. 275 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:56,320 Now I'm hoping that we skew those numbers a bit towards the 276 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,440 positive, but you get the picture. 277 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:05,080 Commitment and faithfulness are part and parcel to being a 278 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:10,960 follower of Christ. Some questions to consider. 279 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,720 Are you faithful in your worship attendance? 280 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:18,760 Are you faithful in your relationship with God? 281 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,480 Are you diligent to make time for Him each day so that you can 282 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:28,480 grow in Him? If everybody in the body, if 283 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:34,760 everybody's faithfulness looks like yours, what would that look 284 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:40,720 like? Lydia had a desire for spiritual 285 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:44,640 growth, and this was demonstrated by her faithful 286 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:49,960 life. Next, you know this guy Paul. 287 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,720 Paul teaches us that faithfulness is required for 288 00:21:55,720 --> 00:22:01,160 ministry. Faithfulness is required for 289 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:10,510 ministry. I heard about an unemployed 290 00:22:10,510 --> 00:22:16,430 pastor who said I can tell you one thing, I'm faithful. 291 00:22:16,630 --> 00:22:21,310 I am not a quitter. I pastored 3 churches and stayed 292 00:22:21,310 --> 00:22:31,320 with all three until they died. He may have been faithful in his 293 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:36,000 ministry, but I'm not sure if it was the Holy Spirit's working in 294 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:41,920 him or if it was his own will that was working in those 295 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,040 congregations. One thing he did have right, 296 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:51,480 though, is that faithfulness is essential to ministry. 297 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,840 Paul wrote to Timothy in First Timothy 112. 298 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:02,080 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, 299 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:08,000 because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service. 300 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,760 Paul was grateful that because he'd been faithful to Christ, 301 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,320 God had given him the opportunity to serve on behalf 302 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:21,840 of the name of Jesus. Now, sometimes when we talk 303 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:26,240 about servants in the ministry, we talk about fat Christians. 304 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,240 Lest you be offended, fat Christians are faithful, 305 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:38,440 available, and teachable. That is what fat Christians are. 306 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,200 Faithful, available, and teachable. 307 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,840 These are the types of people that that we want in ministry. 308 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,720 Has the person proven themselves to be faithful in living for 309 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:57,760 Christ day in and day out? Have they made themselves 310 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,440 available to serve or is there response each time you ask them 311 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:05,680 to get involved? Oh no I'm sorry I'm busy that 312 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:08,960 afternoon. I need to go home and give the 313 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:13,880 cat a bath. Thank you for laughing, that was 314 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,440 a joke. Are they teachable? 315 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:23,480 Does this person want to grow? I would just like to say we've 316 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,440 never given our cats baths. They do that every day on their 317 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,280 own, so we don't have to do that. 318 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,480 It's really kind of nice. Anyways. 319 00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,680 Do they have a desire to learn more and to be coached along the 320 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,000 way? Do they want to grow? 321 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:45,240 If someone's fat, then then they are perfect for ministry. 322 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,560 They're perfect for leadership and serving. 323 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:57,240 First Corinthians 4/2 reads. Moreover, it is required of 324 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:01,320 stewards that they be found faithful. 325 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:06,280 The steward is someone who has been entrusted with care over 326 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:09,720 God's resources. And here Paul says this person 327 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:16,920 needs to be faithful. Faithfulness isn't optional, 328 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:22,040 it's mandatory. Doesn't matter how intelligent 329 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:26,400 you are, how talented and gifted you are, or how charismatic your 330 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:33,400 personality is. If you weren't faithful, then 331 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:41,760 you can't be depended on. Most of us are familiar with the 332 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,160 operatic tenor name Luciano Pavarotti. 333 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:51,760 He was considered one of the greatest operatic tenors of all 334 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:55,240 time. Over the years, he had a number 335 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,520 of singing contracts with the Chicago Lyric Opera House. 336 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:05,840 However, he proved to be extremely unreliable and 337 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:11,240 cancelled 26 out of 41 scheduled performances. 338 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:17,000 The final straw was a season opening performance that he 339 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:20,520 cancelled less than two weeks before rehearsals were supposed 340 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,560 to start. You don't do that in the opera 341 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:28,120 world. The Chicago Lyric Opera House 342 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:35,080 had had enough and they banned Pavarotti for life. 343 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:44,560 If you're not reliable, if you don't do what you say you're 344 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:50,520 going to do, then your ministry potential won't be what it could 345 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:57,360 be if you were faithful. So let's step out of the 346 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:02,240 ministry context for a moment and consider what does it look 347 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:06,720 like to be stewards with our lives? 348 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:14,440 The first category where we need to be stewards is with our time. 349 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:18,600 We need to steward our time well. 350 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,880 Ephesians 5 verses 15 through 17 reads. 351 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,480 Look carefully then, how you walk. 352 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:33,760 Not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time 353 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:38,280 because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, 354 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:40,400 but understand what the will of the Lord is. 355 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:48,160 What do you do with your time? Do you use it well or do you 356 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:52,280 whittle it away? Unfortunately, our phones have 357 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:56,800 become major distractions. There's Facebook X Instagram, 358 00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:02,320 Snapchat, Amazon even. I know how it can be so easy to 359 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,040 lose so much time on Amazon. You start shopping for 360 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:06,320 something. The next thing you know that 361 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,040 carts full of like 10 items, right? 362 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,840 Nobody's going to agree. I know all these apps can 363 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:16,800 consume your day if you're not careful. 364 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:23,360 Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, YouTube, whatever your favorite streaming 365 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:25,560 service is. Do you spend a lot of time 366 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,280 bingeing shows? I can honestly say we do not 367 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,560 binge shows. I don't have the patience for 368 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:35,600 that. I like to watch something and 369 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:39,640 then leave it. We have never binged shows in 370 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:40,480 our home. It's great. 371 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,480 Makes me feel like I'm a little bit in control of this, right? 372 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,320 I don't know if we have any gamers in the room, but this is 373 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,760 another area that can consume hours of our time. 374 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:59,680 All our hobbies, all our forms of entertainment must be kept in 375 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,720 check. We need to have control over 376 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:09,280 over these areas rather than allowing them to control us. 377 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,880 So Paul tells the Ephesians, be careful how you use your time 378 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:20,280 because the days are evil. I don't know about you, but I 379 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:25,520 don't normally think of the day. Thank you God for this new day. 380 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:29,200 This day is evil. No, that's not generally how we 381 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:34,320 look at the day, right? But no, the day is looking to 382 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:38,800 chew you up and spit you out if you're not careful. 383 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:45,200 So how are you navigating your use of the day? 384 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:52,560 Verse 17 said not using our time well is foolishness. 385 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:57,800 So steward your day well and you'll be in a better place. 386 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:01,240 So we need to steward our time well. 387 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:06,160 We also need to be stewards with our abilities and gifts. 388 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:10,640 Stewards with our abilities and gifts. 389 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:18,640 First Peter 410 through 11 reads as each has received a gift. 390 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,320 Use it to serve one another as good. 391 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:26,320 Stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever speaks as one who speaks 392 00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,800 oracles of God. Whoever serves as one who serves 393 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,920 by the strength that God supplies in order that in 394 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:37,960 everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. 395 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:49,240 For years I thought this thing that was growing inside of me, I 396 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:56,000 had somebody tell me 15 years or so ago that I need to be 397 00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:03,080 preaching. I, I kind of kept kicking that 398 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,440 can down the road, but I would take all the opportunities I 399 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:10,240 could get to fill the pulpit when I was at Cornerstone. 400 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:16,600 And, and as I did this, the gift kind of began to grow in me. 401 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:22,000 Now, when we want to know God's will for our lives, one of the 402 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,480 factors that we consider is what does the body have to say? 403 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:34,080 Does the body confirm that gift? Each time I would feel the 404 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:37,920 pulpit, God would speak to me as the body would confirm what I 405 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:41,640 already knew in my heart. Someday God would Take Me Out of 406 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:49,480 the worship world and make me a full time preacher as a steward 407 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:51,160 of this gift God has placed in me. 408 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:55,920 Now I get the privilege of using this gift to serve Pleasant View 409 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:02,440 each and every week for years, perhaps even decades to come. 410 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:06,920 Just to be clear, that is my goal. 411 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,320 My goal is to be here. A long time. 412 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,920 Pastor Ed was told he would retire here. 413 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,400 Maybe I'll retire here. That would be 20 something 414 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:21,280 years. I don't know. 415 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,320 But I don't even know what retirement looks like. 416 00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:25,840 Really. Like, I don't know. 417 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:27,280 I don't really have a vision for that. 418 00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:30,040 A lot of actually, no, you're right. 419 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:31,680 I do keep hearing that from people. 420 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,440 Yes. I don't know how I ever, 421 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:40,320 however, lived, you know, the normal life is like I have so 422 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:41,840 many things to do now that I'm retired. 423 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:43,560 Yeah, actually, maybe I'll just stay working. 424 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:52,480 That's better that way. So how are you stewarding your 425 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,240 time? How are you stewarding your 426 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:58,520 abilities, your your gifts that God has given you? 427 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:06,760 Are you sitting on them kicking the can down the road as I did? 428 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,200 I do believe God worked in his perfect timing, though, right? 429 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:14,720 Because if I'd started looking down that road, I wouldn't be 430 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:17,160 here right now. And I believe God has brought 431 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,480 brought our stories together for a specific reason. 432 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:26,240 The fourth person I want to look at is Hanani. 433 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,680 You're like who you really had to pay attention when you were 434 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,680 reading through the Old Testament to know instantly who 435 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:37,480 Hanani is. He was the he was the prophet, 436 00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:41,480 Nehemiah's brother. The book of Nehemiah details how 437 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,640 oh oh I should back up because I totally skipped over what the 438 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,360 actual point is. Faithfulness is rewarded with 439 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,960 advancement. Faithfulness is rewarded with 440 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,360 advancement. Which is also my opportunity to 441 00:33:55,360 --> 00:34:04,480 take a drink of water. So Hanani shows us that 442 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,520 faithfulness is rewarded with advancement. 443 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:10,280 He he comes on the scene you see in Nehemiah. 444 00:34:10,679 --> 00:34:14,920 Nehemiah and his construction crew left Babylon with with the 445 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,000 King's permission and the King's authority. 446 00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:22,400 They left Babylon to travel 900 miles to Jerusalem to rebuild 447 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:27,360 the city walls. And as we enter the scene in 448 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:31,600 Nehemiah 7A, substantial amount of work has already been done. 449 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:36,639 Is God worked amazingly through Nehemiah and his crew, This 450 00:34:36,639 --> 00:34:41,159 project suddenly has come to completion. 451 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:45,400 And Nehemiah 7 one through 2 reads Now when the wall had been 452 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,600 built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the 453 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:52,520 singers and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother 454 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:57,160 Hanani and Hananiah, the governor of the castle charge 455 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,040 over Jerusalem. For he, Hanani was a more 456 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,680 faithful and God fearing man than many. 457 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:09,760 He was a more faithful and God fearing man than many. 458 00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:16,720 A new day was dawning for the Jewish people in Jerusalem. 459 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,080 The temple had been rebuilt. The wall had been rebuilt. 460 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:23,680 Homes were being rebuilt. The Jewish people had spent 70 461 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,920 years in the Babylonian captivity. 462 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:34,840 But we're now being permitted to return back to their homeland. 463 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:42,360 And before this, Hanani had only been a messenger. 464 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:49,080 However, he'd proven himself faithful in that task. 465 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:51,680 And because of this, and apparently he'd also proven he 466 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:55,520 was worth his medal, Nehemiah placed him in charge of the huge 467 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:58,840 Jerusalem gates. His job was to make sure that 468 00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:03,520 the gates were opened and closed on schedule, both in the in the 469 00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:09,240 morning and in the evening. And since he'd been faithful at 470 00:36:09,240 --> 00:36:13,800 what he'd been assigned to do as messenger, he could be trusted 471 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,080 in this new task. And he was promoted to something 472 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:23,080 more significant. Hanani demonstrated the 473 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,120 principle. Faithfulness is rewarded with 474 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:30,200 advancements. He proved himself faithful in 475 00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,360 the opportunities that were before him. 476 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:38,600 Which brings us to our points, the need to be faithful in our 477 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:43,600 opportunities. We need to be faithful in the 478 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:54,960 opportunities before us in Matthew. 479 00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,680 In Matthew 25, Jesus gives us the parable of the talents. 480 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,480 A man was preparing for a journey, and he gives us 3 481 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:09,040 servants, 5 talents, 2 talents and one talents. 482 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:14,240 He goes away, He comes back. The man who had received 5 483 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:18,720 talents, you know the story. He has managed to earn 5 more 484 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,480 talents. The one who received 2 talents, 485 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:26,240 he also earned back two more talents. 486 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:31,760 The one who received one talent, he knew his master to be shrewd, 487 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:35,880 so he went and buried it, didn't even put it in the bank so that 488 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:43,920 it could earn interest. And the master in response to 489 00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,920 the first servants, the master says to that first servants who 490 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:52,520 had earned back five more talents, he says, well done, 491 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:58,040 good and faithful servants, you've been faithful over a 492 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:00,600 little. I will set you over much. 493 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:04,560 Enter into the joy of your Master. 494 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,720 God is seeking servants who are faithful in the little, in whom 495 00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:15,560 He can entrust to be faithful in much. 496 00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:21,640 When I think about this, I think of my own story. 497 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:28,920 My time in the ministry started. This may be a little hyperbolic, 498 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:36,320 but it started where every pastor begins ministry as 499 00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:40,600 Colonel Commode, the church janitor. 500 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:45,080 That's why I started. I was church janitor. 501 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:47,520 I don't even know how many years I was janitor. 502 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:49,280 It actually started in high school. 503 00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:53,440 I started working for the school for the church while I was in 504 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:57,240 high school. Worked for the church all 505 00:38:57,240 --> 00:39:00,840 through college. Even after I graduated college, 506 00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,040 I still was working for a church. 507 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:10,080 Louvian and I would such a romantic way to spend your time 508 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:13,200 dating each other, cleaning the church. 509 00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:16,000 She would help me clean on Saturdays. 510 00:39:16,920 --> 00:39:22,640 That was where I started. Then as I entered formally 511 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,800 entered the ministry as worship leader. 512 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:33,920 It was without pay and as I was faithful, God would continually 513 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:37,400 give me more. I would be faithful in that. 514 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:41,240 God would continually give me more and more until I would 515 00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:45,400 eventually become a full time associate and worship pastor 516 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:53,040 when we were in California. God would continually bless as I 517 00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:58,040 would step out in faith and be faithful to what He had called 518 00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,080 me to. By the way, I think this is a 519 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:02,760 perfect time to tell you that when we moved here from 520 00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:06,280 California. There was a significant, 521 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:09,280 significant cost that we weighed. 522 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:16,240 You see, at that time, Chipotle was an hour away. 523 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:26,040 We said, OK, we can do this. We'll go to Iowa City once a 524 00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:33,240 month, and we can do this just a number of months. 525 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:38,920 We arrived in February of 2011. By the fall of 2011, God 526 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:44,520 rewarded our obedience. And there were then at that .2 527 00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:47,480 Chipotle's to be found in the Quad Cities. 528 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:54,440 You're welcome. So we need to be faithful with 529 00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:59,000 the opportunities given to us. I do hope you know I'm speaking 530 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:04,840 just in fun. But God does reward obedience. 531 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:11,840 The last person we want to look at this morning is Antipus. 532 00:41:13,240 --> 00:41:18,320 Antipus shows us faithfulness in our witness. 533 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:25,560 Antipus was a member of the church at Pergamum. 534 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:29,080 This was one of the churches John wrote to in the opening 535 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:35,280 chapters of Revelation, Revelation 2 verse 13, Jesus 536 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:39,320 says to the church at Pergamum, I know where you dwell, where 537 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:44,120 Satan's throne is, yet you hold fast my name, and you did not 538 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:48,880 deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, 539 00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,880 who was killed among you or Satan dwells. 540 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,400 This church was located in a difficult region and was 541 00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:02,360 considered Satan's Thrones, or maybe Satan's headquarters if 542 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:07,320 you will. Pergamum had temples to Zeus, 543 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:12,320 Athena, Dionysius, and Asclepius who was the Greek God of 544 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:16,880 healing, who was symbolized by a serpent on a stick. 545 00:42:18,480 --> 00:42:22,600 On top of this, there were other Pagan temples there, as well as 546 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:27,560 temples dedicated to worshipping emperors Augustus and Trajan. 547 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:34,960 This was a very Pagan place. The Christians who live there 548 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:39,160 faced specific and dreadful challenges to their faith, yet 549 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:44,600 they did not deny Christ even on fear of death. 550 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:51,640 They were faithful in their witness and Antipus proved 551 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:58,520 himself faithful until death. Antipus was faithful until 552 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:04,320 death. Historic tradition holds that 553 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:08,600 Antipus had been brought before Caesar and and told to confess. 554 00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:10,800 Caesar is Lord. Antipus responded. 555 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:16,160 No, Caesar, you aren't Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. 556 00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:23,880 Caesar's executioners then placed Antipas inside a large 557 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:29,800 brass bowl that was heated with fire until he was literally 558 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:39,280 roasted to death. Something I want to highlight 559 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:47,680 here is Jesus calls Antipas his faithful servants, his faithful 560 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:52,240 witness. Sorry and witness is actually a 561 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:58,040 translation of the word Martus, from which we get the word 562 00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:03,000 martyr. However, you see, Martus was 563 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:07,920 originally understood to refer to someone who testifies to the 564 00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:11,520 existence of someone or, or something. 565 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:18,400 The word Martus is used numerous times in Scripture to say I 566 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:21,600 testify to this or I witness to this. 567 00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:24,560 I, I bore witness to this person. 568 00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:31,840 That person is giving evidence or proof as a martyr. 569 00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:36,080 They're giving proof that someone or something exists. 570 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:43,040 Matthew 1017 through 18 reads Beware of men, for they will 571 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,720 deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 572 00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:50,440 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake 573 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:56,040 to bear witness before them. And the Gentiles. 574 00:44:57,520 --> 00:45:01,440 Jesus told his followers they would be dragged before kings to 575 00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:05,880 it literally, says Martyr Ray. Oh, that is to testify. 576 00:45:06,600 --> 00:45:11,160 You'll be dragged before them to testify to the life of Jesus. 577 00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:21,440 Now, as Christianity continued to spread throughout the known 578 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:28,520 world in the 2nd century, persecution began to increase. 579 00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:33,760 And as persecution increased, so did dying for one's faith. 580 00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:40,440 And it was only then, in the 2nd century, that the words Martus 581 00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:45,960 and Martoreo began to refer to someone who died for their 582 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:54,920 faith. So in a scriptural sense, being 583 00:45:54,920 --> 00:46:01,160 a faithful martyr means to be a faithful witness in our living. 584 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:10,520 In a scriptural sense, being a martyr is being faithful in our 585 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:15,760 living. Antipus lived a life that 586 00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:19,480 witnessed to the authenticity and power of Jesus Christ 587 00:46:19,720 --> 00:46:26,400 working in him. Later in Revelation, John wrote 588 00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:34,360 of how believers overcome Satan. He said, Revelation 12/11 They 589 00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:38,400 have conquered him Satan by the blood of the Lamb, and by the 590 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:41,720 word of their testimony. That is their witness, for they 591 00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:44,240 loved not their lives unto death. 592 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:50,880 That word is martorious, their witness for Christ. 593 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:56,120 Their word and lives speak to the power of Christ working in 594 00:46:56,120 --> 00:47:05,320 them to defeat Satan. This is their faithful witness, 595 00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:10,880 faithfulness and living out their witness before others. 596 00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:18,320 The pinnacle of Jesus faithfulness is found in his 597 00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:23,480 sacrificial death on the cross in Mark 1045. 598 00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:27,360 Jesus said even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to 599 00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:31,640 serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. 600 00:47:34,680 --> 00:47:37,840 This profound statement encapsulates the sacrificial 601 00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:40,880 nature of Jesus mission on earth. 602 00:47:43,040 --> 00:47:47,400 The cross represents the ultimate act of faithfulness as 603 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:51,400 Jesus willingly offered himself for the redemption of humanity. 604 00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:57,640 Believers then are called to reflect the sacrificial love 605 00:47:57,640 --> 00:48:01,280 with a faithful life that it aligns with the transformative 606 00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:05,160 power of the cross and and it shares the life saving, life 607 00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:12,920 saving message of the gospel. That is what a faithful life 608 00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:17,040 does. It aligns with the power of the 609 00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:20,840 cross and and it shares the message of the gospel. 610 00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:26,800 Now, faithfulness isn't always easy. 611 00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:33,040 Sometimes it calls for sacrifice, putting others before 612 00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:37,200 ourselves, and giving generously, just as Jesus gave 613 00:48:37,200 --> 00:48:47,200 his life for us. But if we are faithful, we'll 614 00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:53,320 find that it was worth it. Let's bow our heads and close 615 00:48:53,320 --> 00:49:02,480 our eyes. God, we come to you this 616 00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:09,440 morning. Our desire is to live lives that 617 00:49:09,440 --> 00:49:15,280 are that are evidence of the Holy Spirit working in us. 618 00:49:20,810 --> 00:49:25,690 You working in US, Holy Spirit, to to transform us, to bring 619 00:49:25,690 --> 00:49:29,490 about that, that characteristic that that virtue of 620 00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:38,440 faithfulness. May we continually give evidence 621 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:48,880 of that fruit in our lives. Would you grow in US a desire 622 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:51,640 for spiritual developments? Would would you grow this 623 00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:57,320 faithfulness in us for ministry? Would would this faithfulness 624 00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:04,920 even lead us to opportunities for promotion and advancements? 625 00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:17,040 As we're obedience to you, May we daily, day in and day out be 626 00:50:17,040 --> 00:50:25,160 living witnesses for you. It's in the power of Jesus name 627 00:50:25,760 --> 00:50:28,680 we pray these things. Amen.