Faithfulness
Only the King James translates this “Faith”
Faithfulness is important to your destiny and life.
Faithfulness= reliable, consistent, trustworthy.
Ephesians 6:5-8 (AMP) 5 Servants (slaves), be obedient to those who are your physical masters, having respect for them and eager concern to please them, in singleness of motive and with all your heart, as [service] to Christ [Himself]— 6 Not in the way of eye-service [as if they were watching you] and only to please men, but as servants (slaves) of Christ, doing the will of God heartily and with your whole soul; 7 Rendering service readily with goodwill, as to the Lord and not to men, 8 Knowing that for whatever good anyone does, he will receive his reward from the Lord, whether he is slave or free.
- When we are serving those in authority faithfully…we are serving God faithfully.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 (NKJV) 1 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
- Faithful…Not Perfect.
- Don’t wait to be Perfect to be used…just get Faithful.
2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV) 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
- Ability to teach is important BUT…Faithfulness is more important.
- You can teach “Job Skills” but Faithfulness is a fruit of the Spirit that must be developed.
- EX: My sons…be faithful at your job and you will be promoted…that’s worth more than skill.
- EX: Gowty…just faithful on the job…got promoted to production manager in 6 months.
- I closed 2 print shops…I was the last to leave.
- Even when business is closing…stay faithful…better to stay to long than not long enough.
- EX: I don’t come to church only when I feel like it…I get tired too.
What does Faithfulness look like? God is Faithful
Hebrews 13:5 (AMP) 5 Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]
Romans 8:31-39 (NKJV) 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (AMP) 9 God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
- This is what the fruit of faithfulness looks like.
- If God is Faithful…then you are faithful…it is the fruit of the spirit…it’s in you.
Areas of Faithfulness
Faithful to the Word:
Mark 4:14-20 (NKJV) 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. (Matt 13:19…Lack Understanding) 16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. 18 Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
- Being faithful to the word in your life brings Blessings and Benefits.
- Different levels of faithfulness bring different levels of benefit.
- The word must be final authority in your life…be faithful to it.
Faithful to God: (How we relate to money measures our faithfulness to God)
Matthew 6:19-34 (NKJV) 19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
- God wants to be the center of your life…Let Him…this is faithfulness.
- Quit depending on your own ingenuity.
- Gen 11…make name for selves…Gen 12…I will make a name for you…This is being faithful to God.
Faithful to your Calling: (How we relate to money measures trustworthiness in responsibility)
Luke 16:9-13 (AMP) 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), so that when it fails, they [those you have favored] may receive and welcome you into the everlasting habitations (dwellings). 10 He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest and unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the [case of] unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not proved faithful in that which belongs to another [whether God or man], who will give you that which is your own [that is, the true riches]? 13 No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely).
- To be trusted in Kingdom things…we have to be tried in our faithfulness regarding money.
- If we don’t trust God in our material things…v10…very little thing
- When we pass the “money test”…God can trust us with Kingdom business (People)
- When we pass the “serve under someone else test”…God can trust you with your own Ministry.
We Benefit from Faithfulness
1 Kings 3:3-13…Solomon is Faithful and life was good
Then he was not… Matthew 6:24 (NKJV) 24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.(Money, Material things)
Ecclesiastes 2:3-11 (NKJV) 3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. 4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. 7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. 9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. 11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.
- When Solomon was faithful…material things were a blessing to him.
- But when he was not…they became a curse.
- Faithfulness blesses our lives and others as well.
- No wonder this is a Godly attribute.
David…Mephibosheth
2 Samuel 9:1-13 (NKJV)
- David is faithful to his covenant to Jonathan long after Jonathan’s death.
- David is a man after God’s own heart. (1 Sam 13:14)
I’m Sorry, this did not get recorded